Going to Disney Paris is it worth paying for insurance?

[sississy]

It is going to be our firts visit to Disney paris, DD is turning 5 and we finally can afford something nice to do.
I was first looking to stay at the big pink amazing hotel, but I can not justify the price unfortunetely for us is going to be just too much, so I am almost settled with the Sequoia Lodge 2 nights (DD doens't mind walking) - Full Board meal (as DH will die if I take breakfest for lunch) and tarin tickets.
Should I pay insurance too? It will add an extra £42 or £57 on the final price.

Any help, suggestions, great appreciated, I need to book until the 31st january to enjoy their discounts.

I would say that you need some form of holiday insurance. However, have a quick google - you may be able to get annual European travel insurance for much less. We have in the past. We always have annual holiday insurance now so never take out the individual ones.

We've just booked under the DLP current offer for the summer :)

Also can anyone tell me if 2 nights are enough or should I go for 3 mights as there is swimming pool at the hotel and I am sure DD and DH will enjoy going a lot.

Thanks so much for the insurance tip, good one!

I would say 3 nights is better as you can then allocate one full day for each park. Then you have the day you arrive and the day you leave - which are often only half days to either spend time in the pool or visiting anything you have missed so far.

We only really use the parks tbh but we will have PILs with us this time and they have never done Disney before and we will need to go at a slower pace than normal, so may actually use our resort facilities a little. We've chosen to stay at Davy Crocketts for the flexibility.

I would always get insurance when leaving the country, not worth taking the risk of something happening

Thanks so much for all the replies. Now any opinion on the half board - full board meals? is it really worth it?
They say that we will have one ticket per night per person, so do the meal tickets come with the date>? I mean, for example, if we don't have lunch on the arrival date can we keep the lunch ticket for the last day in the park?

I definately think 3 nights would be better, there is so much to do and the park is huge! Does your bank not give you free travel insurance with your account, I know my Natwest and Lloyds one does?
When we went there was a deal that meals were included, I think if you can full board would be good as there restaurants were very pricey, especially lunch!!
Hope this helps!

I would say three nights would be much better as otherwise you would only get one whole day. When I went I did the half board option and that worked out well. Big breakfast and then chose different places for lunch which varied from a very light snack to a full blown character buffet lunch thing we booked then three course dinner in the evening.

If you take full board you will be committed to going back to the hotel for lunch or do they offer a voucher system that can be used at the park?

What risk do you want to insure yourself against? Personally I wouldn't bother for a trip to France.

Please get travel insurance ... If you got I'll I think that wilst the e111 is required, you could be charged for other stuff. Check out travel supermarket for cheapest policy if your bank does not offer it for free. Don't use Disney as I think it will be expensive.

By the way, if you haven't got an e111 form then you can do it online.... It is free.

Go for 3 nights and stay on site.

Not sure if prebooking meals saves much money. You will get breakfast if on site. Take snacks.

E111 (as was, now EHIC) will cover you for all medical costs in France. The only thing you wont get is repatriation costs. But that is a very minimal risk.

Hi,
We have family annual travel insurance, but when I booked a DLP trip for my son and girlfriend I bought her travel insurance from the Post Office - very reasonable. I would not travel abroad anywhere without insurance.
Full Board will give you one voucher for a buffet or table service restaurant ( can be used for lunch or dinner ) and also a voucher for certain fast food ones.
Whether you need this or not depends on how hungry you get and if you are used to having 3 meals per day.
When we had the free dining offer a few years ago, we had two vouchers each per day, but did not use all the fast food ones in the end. With a good breakfast and 3 course or buffet dinner we were not hungry for lunch as well.
It also depends on when you are going, and park hours. If the parks close at 6pm, you can book dinner for say 6.30 - 7pm, so you may not need lunch. If parks close late you may want lunch if not having dinner until say 8pm.
Dinner in the parks depends on closing time. When parks close earlier you need to make reservations for dinner in the Village or Disney hotels.
People staying in the Associated hotels can add HB or FB to their package, but can't use the vouchers in their hotel.

Sorry - that is one table service / buffet voucher and one fast food voucher per person per night booked.
Kids under 3 yrs eat free in table service and buffet restaurants owned by Disney, so you don't book meal plans for them.

Tesco do a very cheap travel insurance have used them this year and last for DLP. last year it cost £11 for 2 nights, not much at all on the cost of the holiday but frankly if it had all gone wrong (or even just if the kids got the flu) I knew I would be able to re-book.

This year cost more, but thats cos DS health needs are different. They were still the cheapest who would cover us though

Sissisy - I have just written a detailed review of Sequoia Lodge following my trip earlier this month. It might help you. I forgot to include that there is no free wifi in the hotel - you have to pay. I will be adding photos when I get them loaded.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g226865-d262682-r123421613-Disney_s_Sequoia_Lodge-Marne_la_Vallee_Seine_et_Marne_Ile_de_France.html

Meal plan vouchers are only dated for your stay - not per day. There is nothing to stop you using two buffet / table service ones or two fast food ones on the same day.
We had a day in Paris in August 2010, so didn't use vouchers that day. We used them for lunch in Inventions buffet on our last day instead.
We had PLUS vouchers, and Inventions is PREMIUM category, so they deducted the value in Euros of the vouchers from our total bill. If you use vouchers in this way, you don't get the soft drink or bottle of water pp included, as outside the meal plan category.
Using your vouchers in a lower category restaurant is not cost effective, so decide where you may want to eat before booking HB or FB.

Bunbaker - there are 3 meal plan categories, with restaurants in the parks, Disney Village and Disney hotels, so you don't have to eat in your own hotel.

You can see resort prices of fast food, buffet and table service restaurants on DLRPMagic website - check when they were last updated though. It is a very good website for DLP information in general, including meal plans.

www.dlrpmagic.com/planning/

Prices of merchandise and food can be seen on the ongoing PRICES thread on the TA DLP / MLV forums. Posters add to this when they return from trips, so the last pages are most recent.
The thread has been running since March 2010.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g226865-i2224-k3501664-Prices-Marne_la_Vallee_Seine_et_Marne_Ile_de_France.html

Also see the DLP Latest News thread for current happenings in resort. Lots of refurbs/ repainting is going on at present, ready for 20th Anniversary, and all the Disney hotels are slowly being refurbished and redecorated.

Buy your insurance online, a family trip in europe costs nothing (£20 or so) and the difference it makes is huge.

Ds1 in hospital in menorca with private travel insurance, in private hospital, translator provided, private en suite room, futon for me and dh to sleep next to him, english paper in the morning, games provided for ds1, seen, scanned and admitted within an hour

Ds2 in hospital in majorca using E111, waited for 4 hours with screaming child in the hottest room ever, not a word of english spoken, hospital resembled rhe one from Jacobs Ladder! Staff were rude, uncaring, and pretty unreasonabe at treating a nine month old. It was not a good experience

Hi thanks for all the great tips!
I am going for 3 nights, and I will book the Buffalo Bill Show (it is a barbecue dinner show right?) for one night and Princess Dinner for other night.
Than choose a good restaurant for the other night, maybe Planet Hollywood...any sugestions??
We will eat loads for breakfest, take dried fruit and cereal bars in my bag in case we are hungry at lunch time (and maybe some rolls from breakfest as everyones seems to be doing...)
I will have to book my Eurostar separately as Disney website is not doing it for me...
I will have a look at sainsburys travel insurance as I dont shop at tesco and dont have their fidelity card..
Anyone ever used sainsbury's travel insurance?
Sorry but I don't know what E111 is??
I neer bought insurance but now I am just worried if one of us cant make it on the day or something happens there...maybe I am getting old..or at least more responsible...

E111 doesn't exist any more. You need an EHIC card, which effectively gets you the local equivalent of the NHS in European countries. Apply here www.ehic.org.uk/Internet/home.do

DO NOT pay for it; if you google EHIC you will get a bunch of sites offering to get you one for a fee, DO NOT do that, it is free!

Don't add BBWWS to your package yet.
When are you going? Tickets for the Wild West dinner show ( 3 courses plus alternatives for vegetarian and non pork diets ) are cheaper on French ticket websites. They currently go up to end of March.
? 39 for 6.30pm show and ? 30 for 9.30pm show. The show does not open on Weds or Thurs.
They are currently selling adult tickets for child price in resort, but this promotion ends on 7th Feb. This is low season, and usually fairly quiet, so they are probably trying to increase sales.

I prefer Rainforest Cafe to Planet Hollywood. RFC usually gets better reviews.
Annettes Diner has the nearest thing to proper American burgers in resort, with good size portions.

La Grange in Billybobs, La Cantina in Hotel Santa Fe and Chuckwagon cafe in the Hotel Cheyenne are all Standard category buffets with lots of choice of starters mains and desserts. They are all you can eat, so good value for money if you are hungry!

The buffets in Hotel New York, Sequoia Lodge and Newport Bay hotels are all Plus category, so slightly more expensive.

The restaurants in the Disneyland Hotel are Premium category.

You can only book Auberge DC for dinner with Princesses if they stay open for this, which depends on park hours/ time of the year / day of the week. Sometimes last reservation time is late aftenoon. Check last seating time with dining reservations for your dates. The 3 course meal can take 2hrs, so they have to allow time for this before park closes.

0033 160 30 40 50.

Figgygirl please reply asap I am booking tonight.
from 15 - 18 March, I dont know id Meal with the Princess will be dinner or lunch yet they just offer us to chose the date.
And in which website can I buy BBWWs? Is it reliable?
Do I collect tickets overthere or will they send by post?

Compare the price of booking hotel/ tickets package and Eurostar separately, with hotel/ tickets / transport package with Disney. If direct Eurostar availability is not showing online, then phone Disney instead on 08448 008 111 or 08448 003 003.
You may find it is available over the phone.
Eurostar can also book train / hotel/ tickets packages, so get a price from them as well.
If the direct train is full, the alternative is to change at Lille.
The direct train does not run on Tuesdays or Saturdays outside UK school holidays.