• This topic has 29 replies, 23 voices, and was last updated 7 years ago by DezB.
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  • Euro Disney
  • YoKaiser
    Free Member

    Anyone been and tips for booking accommodation and food? Park tickets and wotnot. How many days is needed or best? Thinking of doubling up a trip to Disney and a Euro park* afterwards.

    *Or if there is anything similar available. Any suggestions?

    coolhandluke
    Free Member

    Went and did all that years ago but I suspect that the on site hotels are still horrendously expensive.

    We ended up doing a weeks holiday in a Eurocamp static caravan for the same money 2 nights in a eurodisney hotel would have been.

    Spent a day at the park, it was enough for us.

    pyranha
    Full Member

    First time we went, we stayed in a Formule 1 at Esbly, for less than the cost of a campsite (we’d been camping in the Alps so just the pitch cost). Depending on the ages in the party, you may only want somewhere to crash and that, or a slightly less cheap, hotel might suit.

    For Park tickets, consider how much time you’ll spend there and if you’re likely to return (hard to know until you’ve been). Not been recently so check how current the rest of this paragraph is. You could, once inside, pay to exchange a day pass for an annual pass. This works well if you total 3+ days – for instance we did two days at the end of one holiday and a couple at the beginning of the following year. Annual pass included free parking (or used to). The information is on the website, but in French only.

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    takisawa2
    Full Member

    Look up CE Multiadvantages, it’s a French travel / tickets firm. I’m not sure if they still do them but we bought annual Gold passes for less than a 3 day pass. Had two summer trips & a Xmas trip. You get in the park earlier, discounts on food, souvenirs & best of all free parking. (That was €13 when we went, 3 yrs ago…).

    Your a captive audience in the park, & food is horrendously expensive. E.g.: a McDonalds type burger meal at £15 a head…
    There’s an actual McD’s a short walk from the entrance, it’s about the cheapest eatery I’m afraid. There’s a mini-supermarket type shop in the station outside, for drinks, snacks etc. Ignore the rumours that they make you bin food on the way in, they don’t. But places to sit & eat in the parks are few & far between.
    After many trips there I wouldn’t relish going back.
    We camped, there’s two sites quite close, one of which I’d highly recommend, with a pool, nice little bar & food set up.
    I wasn’t a fan of Disney, but I totally loved France.
    A day trip into Paris is a must.

    rob2
    Free Member

    I think a lot depends on when you want to go and your budget (obviously!)

    We went when the kids were 3&4. Went outside school holidays, so miles cheaper. Stayed on site at the main hotel. I think it was about £700 all in for three nights. So not cheap but for the children it was fantastic and I was sceptical but it was excellent.

    Food is horrendously expensive so we used to make sandwiches at breakfast and stash them and took the fruit for later.

    On days spent, I’d say two days is plenty.

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    We got treated by the outlaws 3-4 years ago, so cost not really an issue, but we stayed at the furthest/cheapest of the site hotels (had a “Cars”/desert theme iirc) and it was still only 10-15 minutes walk to the entrance.

    The buffets – especially breakfast – can be a proper international bun fight. Food on site is expensive as you’d expect, but a decent breakfast, nick some rolls, ham and cheese from the breakfast buffet for lunch time picnic, and the evening buffets, meant we only bought a couple of drinks and an ice cream during the day.

    3 days was enough for us to “do” Euro Disney given the age of the kids at the time.

    If you are on site, you get an early entrance pass to jump the queues at the start of the day. Do that, wander back to the hotel at lunchtime for a nap, then head back late afternoon for a late night waiting for the fireworks. The rides also go quieter in the evening.

    If you are doing Euro Disney only, go on the daily Eurostar that goes straight to the park – luggage goes straight to the hotel, you go straight into the park, and reverse on the way back. Well worth it.

    I expected to hate the place. Not a big Disney fan, it all looked too new and clean and shiney and fake. Took me a couple of days before I realised that that is what a theme park should look like. Would happily go again.

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    It’s over crowded, the queues say 90 mins but it’s usually 2 hours, 80% of the buildings in the park are shops, of the remaining 20% – 15% of them are cafes that sell crap food at 500% the price you would pay outside the park. It’s expensive to get in, expensive to stay close and terrible value.

    It’s he unhappiest place on earth and I will never go back.

    leffeboy
    Full Member

    Haven’t been there for a while but is awesome if kids are correct ages. On site food is expensive but they do list their restos with prices online so check beforehand and go to the cheap ones. Avoid rush hour. 2 days is enough. It’s not for the adults

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    We have done Euro Disney many different ways from fairly cheap staying quite a drive away to the resort hotels including main Disney “show piece” one right at the gate. A lot depends on the age of your kids, when they are little they are so excited they work themselves into a frenzy and imo a rest midday / early afternoon is a good idea – thats where on site hotel’s score. Yes we of course found the in park food very expensive so picnic or just suck it up and pay the bill. Some of the themed lunches with a “show” are good fun. The parades are a highlight inc later ones with lights and fireworks (again the ability to go back to a hotel helps).

    Enjoy I loved taking ours there, they used to go dressed up in character outfits … happy days

    tommid
    Free Member

    We went last year when my daughter was about to turn 5. We went on the Eurostar and stayed on the park in the Sequoia lodge. We booked all of our meals with Disney and selected our restaurants based on some feedback from friends, I thought this was an extravagance, but in hindsight it was the best deal and far cheaper than eating on the park unbooked. We stayed two nights and had three days on the park, which was more than enough, while I enjoyed it and tommid Junior loved it, I couldn’t take any more saccharin sweet fun.

    robbie
    Free Member

    Went 2 years ago, booked with disney stayed at Davey crockets ranch, 2 nights with 3 days passes, this was cheaper than doing it seperate as the passes are really expensive on their own, plus with Disney you get in earlier and free parking, then we drove to le Croix De vieux pont, Euro camp and stayed for 5 days it was great for the kids with a man made beech and great pool. I would do the same again. You just have to take Disney for what it is. Sometimes the ques are big but the free fast passes work well. 2.5 days should see you round both park’s.

    harrytoo
    Free Member

    Watching this post with interest as the Mrs is keen to take our kids….

    Does it matter what time of the year, she has priced up February half term and thinks its doable, but does the place become miserable in the cold and wet?

    I suspect so…..

    pocpoc
    Free Member

    We’re booked in for this Feb half term for the first time ever.
    Kids 2, 5 and 6 so should be great for them. I’m dreading it!
    Mrs PP got a good deal (I think) and we’re there Mon to Friday in the Seqioua (?) place with breakfast and an afternoon buffet included along with park tickets for around £700 which seems OK to me.
    Just got to make sure we grab enough from the breakfast buffet to last through the day. Friends went a couple of yeard ago and mentioned something about paying €6 for a cup of tea! 😯

    nickc
    Full Member

    I love the euro Disney shop, listening to French couples having angst driven existential arguments about it all is one of life’s simple pleasures.

    BillOddie
    Full Member

    We’ve been twice.

    Stayed at the Newport Bay the first time and the Hotel Cheyenne the second time.

    Despite me being a right grumpy f***** we had a great time.

    Both were fine, the Newport bay breakfast was less of scrum as you could get a priority breakfast pass with some rooms. This is more important than it sounds as you no longer had to queue (we waltzed past some long queues every morning). That being said I don’t recall horrid queues at Cheyenne.

    Tips:
    1) Take a f****** shed load of snacks, I think I took about 3kg of snacks in my bag last time, Clif Bars, apples, haribo, etc etc.

    2) Cheap food places just outside the parks in the Disney Village are the omnipresent McDs and the actually reasonably priced and quite decent Earl of Sandwich.

    3) FastPass the big popular rides first thing.

    4) Comfortable shoes, 2 pairs.

    5) Comfortable bag for snacks etc.

    6) Eating in the Park, there is Buzz Lightyear Pizza place that wasn’t too bad cost wise and it was buffet so you could “get your money’s worth”, don’t recall eating anywhere else, probably just did snacks.

    7) We did Cafe Mickey both years, once for Dinner (I still have nightmares about the bill) and once for Breakfast (upgrade – by far the better option), you get a decent meal and the kids get to meet a decent number of characters. If they are too old/cool for the characters and associated photos (not sure I was too old for it to be honest!) give it a miss and save your Euros.

    8) There is a Starbucks in Disney village that feels cheap compared to coffee in the park and coffee in the hotels is shit. I think I took a pack of caffeinated High-5 tablets too, because you need to be caffeinated as f*** to deal with Disney first thing.

    9) You can get in the park early with Disney Hotels, find out which good rides are open early and take advantage, this doesn’t mean the Dumbo ride which seems to have a massive queue for a rubbish ride even at 9am.

    10) Forget your kids holiday money wallets until the last day, that way they won’t spend it on some junk they see in the first shop and then nag you for something else on subsequent days.

    BillOddie
    Full Member

    does the place become miserable in the cold and wet?

    We’ve only been in Easter, both of whch have been cold, 2015 was wet on the first day too.

    You’re under cover but exposed to the cold a surprising amount of time but take ALL the warm waterproof things and take spares of things like hats and gloves.

    epicsteve
    Free Member

    We’ve been loads of times as my wife and daughter (who’s 25!) are big Disney fans. They love it although my son (who’s 20) and myself aren’t so tend not to go in.

    A couple of days is plenty. Can’t really comment on costs as in recent years we’ve been in a motorhome and, as you an overnight in the car-park there, that’s a pretty cheap accomodation option.

    lister
    Full Member

    We went last summer. After 2 weeks self catering in the Alps we treated ourselves to the full catered option in a Disney hotel. That also turned out to be the best value for us in terms of time on site/travel hassle etc.
    The cheapest option also turned out to be us booking through our local, independant travel agent! After weeks trawling the options on the internet for both on and off site accom I popped in one Sat morning and they sorted it all for much less than I’d been able to find.
    Our kids were 8 and 9 and it was perfect for us to be a 5 min bus journey from the park. It meant early mornings in were easy to sort and we could go back to chill for and early dinner before heading back out in the evening.
    We were there at the end of August and temp was always about 30 C all day every day! It was a bit unpleasant as our room in the western themed Cheyenne hotel didn’t have air con but it was survivable.
    As others have said, we took breakfast rolls and ham etc for lunch so only bought icecreams and a handful of snacks. We also had vouchers for a daily ‘teatime treat’ which was an icecream and drink in the afternoon.

    It’s not really my thing, we went to Florida a couple of years ago courtesy of the inlaws and you just have to buy into the whole experience, including the queuing(!), and get on with it. It’s fun watching european folk being forced to queue, they really don’t like it!

    Best thing we did was queue from 730am to get our kids into the Jedi school experience, they loved it and it was worth 3 hours of queueing to see them battle Darth Vader in stage with light sabers!

    freeagent
    Free Member

    We went Christmas 2015 – 2 nights/3 days, staying at hotel Cheyanne (cowboy themed)
    The hotels on site are expensive but very convenient as they are only a short walk, or 5 mins on the shuttle bus from the front gate.

    We also booked through local travel agent who was super helpful and quickly found us the best deal (cheaper than on-line)

    I think most of the main points are covered above – stock up from the breakfast buffet for lunch as food inside super expensive, and the fast food places are crap.
    They let you take ‘packed lunch + drinks’ in with you but no glass bottles or alcohol.
    We took loads of drinks/crisps/flapjacks/etc with us – that way you only have to buy one meal per day.
    We did a meal package before we went and pre-booked Buffalo Bills (great show – basket food) dinner with the Disney princesses (superb food and hot princesses)
    We also ate in Planet Hollywood (good – and fair prices)
    We did live it up a bit but it was funded by my work Christmas bonus.
    My Daughters were 7 and 4 at the time and totally loved it.

    We’re going back this Easter – got a good deal which is buy 2 nights, get 2 free, so we’ll have 5 days of park passes.
    This is too long really but I’m actually cycling to Paris arriving on day 2 of the Disney visit, so my wife/kids will get the train into Paris to meet me, and i’ll travel back out with them.
    Can’t remember which hotel we’re in but in has an indoor pool.
    When we looked at logistics for getting them out to Paris to meet me, and cost of hotels in Paris for the 4 of us, Disney started looking a bit more reasonable!
    My kids will be 6 and 9, and still totally love Disney so I’m really looking forward to it.

    BillOddie
    Full Member

    We did Buffalo Bills too, defo worth doing!

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    does the place become miserable in the cold and wet?

    Cold and Wet is preferable to Warm and Wet – we went in July – it was 25c but very wet – we had jackets it became a choice of be dry and too warm, or wet and of course you’ve got to drag everything around with you.

    Honestly, I feel like a lone nutter waving his fist at the Moon – but I have NO IDEA why anyone would willingly go there, for Free, let alone pay a decent pile of cash for it.

    If and only if you’re kids are utterly Disney mad you should consider it.

    As a family activity – it fails miserably, is a very busy, pushy and shovey place to be, small children don’t like standing in queues for hours at a time – no one does, but children especially hate it – the queues are endless, it’s a multiple lines of just utterly fed up kids and their parents begging them to behave.

    As a theme park – it’s okay, their big-ticket rides are very good, but they’re not exceptional, I’ve been on better in smaller, quieter parks.

    It’s location is just wrong – it’s in Paris, or near to – no one takes a family holiday in Paris, I don’t know anyone who went to Euro Disney and actually visited Paris whilst they were there, I’m sure some do, but why I don’t know, City trips with kids, sod that. So it’s a destination in it’s own right – it’s a long way to go for a day trip and more than one day in there would send me over the edge.

    Value for Money – none, there is none, none, none, none, none none if you strip away the marketing and ‘Disney magic’ what do you buy for your many hundreds of pounds? Plastic crap, and 6-8 rides in a theme park, punctuated by lots and lots of standing around.

    I can’t be right, I seem to be alone in thinking what a horrible place it is – I must be missing something mentally, the Mickey Mouse gene perhaps – but to me it seems other parents must think they have to take their kids to some Disney themed plastic nightmare at least once in their life or they are forever doomed to quiet embarrassment at the school gates when the other parents talk about when they ‘did’ Disney.

    twiglet_monster
    Free Member

    Does it REALLY have to be Disney?

    If not, then there’s a whole number of other European theme parks who would gratefully receive your Euros. What the alternatives lack in Disney-ness they make up with original attractions, great service and more reasonable prices (on the whole).

    A few from the top of my head

    Europa park, Germany – in my view the best theme park in Europe by miles. Flights direct to Baden Baden, and short bus ride in.

    Parc Asterix, France – huge and wonderful. The full Gallic park.

    Plopsaland (don’t laugh) – smaller and a few dotted about France/Belgium.

    Toverland, Holland – easier than you think to get to from normal Channel ports. Mostly indoor but amazing outdoor rides too.

    TM

    YoKaiser
    Free Member

    Thanks all, loads of good stuff 😀 Kids will be 8,6 and 4 so ideal age. I’m thinking 2nights for 3 days will be enough and spend a bit more on accommodation as in on site hotels. Good tip with trying the local travel agent too.

    I reckon we’ll be going late June early July so hopefully miss the English school holidays but I’m not sure about the rest of Europe. Any ideas if its quieter mid week?

    P-Jay 😆

    twiglet_monster
    Free Member

    oh and if you are going to do the Disney thing once in your lifetime, save up and go to Florida.

    The Disney estate is 67 sq miles – the size of Greater Manchester – the scale is breathtaking.

    TM

    YoKaiser
    Free Member

    Europa Park! I used to go as a kid, had entirely forgot about it. No not necessarily Disney but it is the best known I suppose and easiest to get a package, mainly because I hadn’t heard of the others. We are looking at something different to the traditional 2 weeks in Spain which is turning out to be a load more expensive than I’d like to pay and a Disney/Europark type holiday was an easy alternative.

    binners
    Full Member

    A mate got back from there recently with his missus and two kids. He assures me that the rest of mankind hasn’t even got close to the ruthless efficiency with which Disney can so rapidly separate you from absolutely all your money.

    So if you fancy getting bent over…..

    canny1
    Free Member

    Deffo quieter in midweek.
    Went last November, 4 days wed-sat, Saturday easily the busiest

    ski
    Free Member

    Take them to Disney in Hong Kong, if you time it right (not when mainland China have their holidays) less waiting for rides, great Disney hotels and you can spend some time in HK

    I have been to Disney in the US, Paris and HK is my favourite to visit 🙂

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    There are some miserable buggers on here!

    “It’s a small world after all!”

    DezB
    Free Member

    It’s the unhappiest place on earth and I will never go back.

    I’m with P-Jay.
    I will never forget that place and screaming in the blank face of some European who wouldn’t give me any personal space in the 2hr queue for the 20 second Lightning McQueen ride.
    Cold & wet? It was a complete nightmare in the dry & hot I can assure you.

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