Eurodisney - I could do with some advice from some "old hands"

[MrsFogi]

We'd like to take the dcs to Eurodisney this year for a few days (probably the Easter hols). However rubbish as it sounds I don't know where to start - when I google Eurodisney I get a billion hits. Can someone tell me what has worked for them and who they booked with so that I at least have a starting point rather than spending the rest of today following lots of links and ending up in total confusion.

we stayed in the princess castle main hotel. it was expensive but they met lots of characters on site at meal times and you are right on the park. the weather will be the same as the UK so take plenty of layers, hats, gloves and wet weather gear. nothing is worse that wandering around and being wet. get the main Disney brochure from the travel agent. we took the Eurostar then another train and this worked ok if a little fraught with kids.

We booked directly with euro Disney and then sorted out transport separately. One thing I will say about transport is that it was cheaper for us (our dc were under 5 so free on Eurostar) to drive a landrover discovery from North Yorkshire, stay over night at tunnel in a hotel, pay for tunnel and petrol than it was for the Eurostar or plane.......Disney is about 3hrs drive from the tunnel by the way!

First thing I'd do is price up your dates on the official Disneyland Paris website (I think it's just disneylandparis.co.uk).

I would never book the Eurostar via them as it's usually much more expensive so price up your dates on eurostar (or flights or whatever) but still do a dummy run on DLP website to see what's cheaper too.

If you book via travel agent you will get the same price as DLP site- minus the £15 ish booking fee and you can pay deposit and balance at later date but if you book via website then it is pay all now.

Search for the website DLP guide and start there. It has everything you could possibly need to know and more...really useful and has links to forums and other helpful pages

Webooked direct, via their website. The Trip advisor forum is excellent, has a very good FAQ section and some great experts posting there. Have fun!

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowForum-g2079053-i21935-Disneyland_Paris_Seine_et_Marne_Ile_de_France.html

We booked separately. Flights with easyjet from Glasgow (£180 for 3), Adagio aparthotel for 4 nights (£200) and we bought annual passes which were cheaper than daily passes or 3:2 passes etc (£330 via supertrips).

When I compared with Disney online the above is about £200 cheaper than staying onsite - the adagio is still on the shuttle bus route and is actually quicker to get to than some of the onsite hotels!

Annual passes give us reductions in the park, EMH so there is a good chance we will make a return trip at Christmas time.

I hear if you want to stay onsite, double checking prices with the French Disney site can come in cheaper.

Look at booking lunch or dinner at some of the Character sittings - we are going to Inventions for dinner - usually you have 6-8 characters there. Yu don't have to be staying in a Disney hotel to meet them. Cafe Mickey for breakfast is the same. BBWWS is good but again don't book with Disney for this - some sites like ticketmaster in france and supertrips have tickets much cheaper.

If I were you I'd have a good read through the DLP pages on trip advisor and have an idea of what you want and then go from there.

Always book your travel separately otherwise you will pay a huge premium. That said eurostar tickets for Easter have been out for a while so all the cheap seats are likely to be gone already. I nearly always drive there anyway, its so easy and much cheaper especially for larger families.

Staying offsite and buying discounted tickets or annual passes is often the cheapest way to do DLP, but being in a Disney hotel is lovely too, and I think I'd do that for a first visit anyway. definitely compare French (and other countries) and UK site's prices as they have different offers to each other. I think UK has 2 nights free right now, but France has under 12s free so it depends on your DCs ages and how long you want to go for, as to which one works out better for you. You are allowed to book on which ever site you want or book by phone to pay 15% deposit now and balance 60 days before travel.