Disney and me… Part one, hotel and travel.

01/25/16
Disney

Its no surprise I love Disney, its pretty much the only thing I have the motivation to save up for, its my favourite place to visit and I just love everything about it. Because I love Disney and we go quite often as a family I get quite a few messages asking me about booking a trip (I love this please always msg me it makes me so excited to talk about Disney), however in my excitement to encourage everyone to go to Disney I sometimes forget some helpful bits and pieces so I thought I would do a wee helpful Disney trip post. I am no expert compared to others but I hope this helps.

The first thing you need to be aware of is the refurbishment that’s on going quite a few rides are closing over the next few months to allow for the park to look and be at its best for the 25th anniversary which should start in april 2017. these closures haven’t bothered me on my last visit and I am ok about them on our next visit. However if it is your first visit you might want to take this into consideration and there is quite a bit of green fencing around the park. However there does seem to be extra characters out and about to make up for this and there is even a new show running from February to may this year so there’s plenty to keep you entertained.

I always find it cheapest to book with Disney directly www.disneylandparis.co.uk and the two days two nights free offer is you best value offer, and booking around a year in advance you have the best chance of this offer. Booking further than a year can sometimes seem very expensive but that is because offers haven’t been applied yet.  Half board is usually then is replaced by 30% off and free half board. It is also worth checking other countries Disney pages such as Disney.fr or Disney.ie as they all get different offers and can work out better depending on the age of your family. The French site doesn’t book as far in advance with their offers but they do regularly offer under 12s stay and play free instead of under 7s.

Hotels, there are 6 onsite Disneyland hotels – we have stayed in Cheyenne, Santa Fe and Sequoia lodge. There is also Newport bay (recently refurbished and beautiful), Hotel New York (due for referb after Cheyenne) and of course the main Disneyland hotel. There is also the Davy crocket ranch but you need a car to stay here.

Cheyenne and Santa Fe are the most basic Disneyland hotels they are slightly further walk (5mins more) and they are cheaper. Santa Fe is cars themed and Cheyenne is cowboy themed and after its refeb this year it will have a soft toy story theme. Here you get an allocated time slot for breakfast (you can choose which suits) and when you arrive you find a seat yourself. These Hotels do get rather busy at breakfast time however we always go for a 7am breakfast in order to get into the park for magic hours and we’ve never had any problems with this and its not too busy. The breakfast is pastries, cereals, cold meats and cheese and rolls and toast with orange or apple juice, hot chocolate (amazing!!), tea and coffee. Ben, the kids and I all really enjoy these breakfasts. My kids love the Cheyenne (it has bunk beds) and say its their favourite of all the hotels we’ve stayed in, I love Santa Fe cause it was the first we stayed in and Ben is a total Sequoia lodge convert.  The walks from these Hotels all take 10/15 mins and it is a lovely walk by the lake , and particularly nice at night as it helps to calm the kids down after a long day in the park. All hotels have a shuttle bus that goes every 10/15mins these are fine but at peak times can get quite busy and especially after dreams (night time projection show and fireworks) everyone heads to them at the same time so it is much quicker and more relaxed to walk. For us we don’t spend a lot on our hotel because we spend very little time in it.

We are heading for our 7th Disneyland Paris trip (over 10 years) this year, our first four trips where by Eurostar and our last two and next one are flying.

Eurostar (book as early as possible for cheapest tickets) is a wonderful way to travel to Disney, it takes you straight to the park and if you book travel directly with Disney (its nearly always more expensive this way) you get Disney express added in for free where you drop your bags at the station and they get delivered to your hotel. You can also add on Disney express these days without booking travel directly with Disney and it costs around 20 Euros.

Flying from Belfast to CDG – This has been the best option for us the past two times we went, the first time we flew with EasyJet and they had an early flight so we made the most of our first day in the park but these flights seem to have stopped and also there is no flight on a Saturday so our second trip was via Belfast but we stayed an extra night booking into the Kyriad which is a Disney partner hotel with a shuttle to the park but cost 60 euro for the four of us for one night – however I did change this around two months before we went as travel republic had a cheap rate on Cheyenne room only so we went for that so as not to move hotel.

This time we are flying from Dublin to Benvenue airport with Ryanair and also the day before and staying offsite for one night, these flights where around £200 cheaper and even the increase in transfer cost still makes it much cheaper.

Transfers: (from cdg)

we always book a private transfer it is always between 120 and 140 Euro it is quick and reliable and there is someone waiting for you once you have collected your bags and they take you directly to the car and help you with your bags if needed. The journey takes around 40 minuets and some companys have dvd players in the back for kids, all have cars seats of different sizes.

previously we have used – RS transport – http://www.rstransports.com/

and easy shuttle – http://site.ezyshuttle.com/

Prestige also come highly recommended and I have several friends who have used them. http://www.prestige-transfer.com/?gclid=COD8xrPaxcoCFcG6Gwods5EJfw

You can also use the magic shuttle – it costs 20euro per adult and 16 per child shuttles run every 45 mins from 9pm to 7.45pm This is a good option if it suits your flight times and there are 4 or less of you in your group other wise it can work out cheaper for a private transfer.

There is also the option of the train that goes from the airport to Disneyland directly and only takes around 15mins this costs somewhere around 80 euros however I haven’t tried this myself so cant offer much advice.

 

 

 

Comments are closed.

0 Comments

There are no comments yet.

BritMums