Disneyland Paris May 2019 - help please!

[imabeautifulfennelcalledjoan]

Any DLP experts on here? I need you!

I've never booked a holiday more than a year in advance but I'm trying to be organised. We're planning a trip to DLP during May half term 2019 - four nights in DLP followed by a couple of nights in Paris as DD (who will be seven by then) is desperate to see the Eiffel Tower.

Anyway, I've had a look and it seems that the special Early Booking Advantage deals (one or two nights free) for booking Disneyland hotels run out on 11 April - ie in two days time!

We definitely want to stay in the park so we can nip back to the hotel for naps etc as smallest DC will only be three when we go.

We can't stretch to the Disneyland Hotel unfortunately. We were hoping for the New York hotel but it's unavailable for our dates. Sequoia would have been a goer except for the fact that the pool will be closed for refurbishment when we go. So Newport Bay looks to be our best bet.

So...first of all, do you think it's essential that we book the hotel before this Weds when the Early Booking Advantage deals run out? Or will more deals spring up, giving us more time to make an informed decision? I feel quite nervous booking something so early, especially when we can't actually book our Eurostar yet as it's so far in advance.

Secondly, which of the more affordable Disneyland Hotels do people recommend?

Any tips would be gratefully received! I will do loads of research before we go but pointers from Disney experts would be so helpful.

TIA.

We stayed in Paris-Oasis apartment in central Paris, and sequoia lodge in DLP. It’d be much cheaper to book return Eurostar to central Paris and then get the train out to DLP for that part, it takes 50 mins or so.

Check out annual passes too, I think the break even point is 3 or 4 days park entrance though there are different ones with different blackout dates. May be particularly good if you decide to stay in a partner hotel. You get a discount in the hotels but it might not be as good as the other offers. Check out also the other European countries Disney pages, they have different offers and sometimes much cheaper than the UK page.

Is there anyway you could switch and do the Paris trip first? We’ve just come back (last night) from DLP and DS (4) was absolutely shattered by the end of it. I can’t think of much worse than taking him straight on a city break afterwards.

Oh and we stayed at Newport which was fine. Only really used it for sleeping and breakfast. If you can afford it I’d recommend upgrading to compass club as there’s no queue for breakfast and you get a free fast pass a day. We didn’t queue for more than 20 minutes the whole holiday and went on everything.

Check out annual passes too, I think the break even point is 3 or 4 days park entrance though there are different ones with different blackout dates.

Not any more.

We have been three times. Stayed in DLH once and Sequoia Lodge the other two trips - Golden Forest. On our second trip which was the longest one (4 nights) we did a day trip to Paris in the middle.

I second the poster who points out how tiring it is. We loved all our trips but it is full-on exhausting. I would not have wanted to be packing up & then moving hotels after a full-on DLP stay. Make sure you book your Eiffel Tower tickets. We didn't and the queue there was much longer than any in Disney.

Thanks for all the tops. They're much appreciated. Good point about how tiring it is. I'm actually wondering whether DLP plus Paris sightseeing minibreak is just too much to do in one go when the DC are still pretty small.

*tips not tops

Annual pass stay off site, probably for the the duration. Or air b n b in Paris.
Off site hotels are actually nearly all same distance as many on site's hotels.
On

They are all built for Disney. The annual pass also gives you access to extra magic hours. The off site are so much cheaper and if you go on the the fb groups it's astonishing to hear people asking whether Disney hotels have basics in the rooms like fridge or kettle!!
Many say off site are far nicer than than Disney hotels. Relais looks great and raddisson blue. Some where Disney hotels look like huge chicken farms where illness and food poisoning is rife! The buffets!

People travel to and fro from Disney to Paris... Let stay at campsites in and around.

Also be careful over may half term next year as there is big holiday in France so try and avoid that

Op people say it's about 15 minutes walk but there is a free shuttle from adagio.

Don't bother with meal plans, most people on budget feel they are expensive. Very easy to self cater from a adagio... We manage to self cater from one fridge 😂😂.

*SunwheretheFareyou, thank you! You are speaking a lot of sense.

Since I last posted, we've had a complete rethink and are veering towards Airbnb and annual passes. Self catering will be so much cheaper and easier. It also means we can afford to go for a full week and I'm looking at Val d'Europe as we can also then hop on the train into Paris for a day. There are some lovely spacious places available for a fraction of the cost of hotels. It is amazing!

The only thing we won't have doing it this way is a pool but I think we'll live.

I didn't realise it was a big French holiday in May next year though! That scuppers things a bit as we are tied to school holidays.

Only other optiom is Easter but I don't think you can use annual passes then? Well, not the ones we were looking at anyway.

Do you mean Ascension Day on 30th?

Right, we're going to do annual passes so we've got Extra Magic Hours covered with those.

But I am going round in circles re accommodation.

Option 1 - We could get a lovely reasonably priced two bedroom apartment on Airbnb. It's right by Val d'Europe for the full week. We'd be able to easily self cater, nip out to the restaurants in Val D'Europe and DH and I could sit and have a bottle glass of wine in the evening once the kids are in bed. We could also just hop on the train to central Paris for a day trip, which is also the aim of the trip. Also it looks all French and lovely - boulangerie around the corner etc etc. But no pool.

Option 2 - We could go to Explorers (for £200 cheaper than the Airbnb place) with breakfast included and unlimited use of that fab pool and soft play. BUT we'd be all crammed into one room together so no chilled out wine in the evening, and would have to run the gauntlet of those buses. And I can imagine it being really busy and full on and not very relaxing after the madness of Disney.

Option 3 - The Adagio which has a pool and is self catering so covers both bases. But I don't like the look of the single pull out beds in the lounge, given that we're staying seven nights.

DILEMMA!

Any advice from people who've done any of the above? TIA.

Have you checked the blackout dates on your APs? Passes are much much more expensive now.

Yes, I've checked and we'd be able to use them for our dates and also for the following Feb half term the following year if we wanted to reuse them.

I've found Magic Plus Pass passes for £860, for all four of us, from Supertrips. I think there may be a further discount for kids with a code but I can't work it out until I start adding in all our names and the trip is still quite a long way off (May 2019).

It just means that we can break up the trip with a day in Paris or just chilling out if we want to, rather than feeling pressured to do four straight days in the parks.

Just looked again and it says that only Halloween and Christmas periods are excluded with the Magic Plus pass.

You need to buy APs within 6 months of the date you’ll be using them too. So the price might change.

Yes, good point! Will factor that in, thank you.

Option 1 or 2 sounds better.

I might add self catering from a wonderful french supermarket you will eat far better than being stuck with the dlp park food all the time!

We have stayed in one hotel room at HOtel Eyelesse but we didnt mind no pool.

Assecion day is only one day - but on the DLP for brits facebook people have recommended avoiding a few days of that may holiday but you will be fine if you re org your days in paris and those at dlp.

After years of research buying the AP is certainly what I found to the better cheaper option. We love ours ferry is so cheap/tunnel with tesco, our hotel is about 75 euros a nights, large fridge in room, so we can self cater our own breakfast, lunch from local places...take into park and then eat in park later or back in val de eruope,

the shuttle from expolores seems to get more complaints than the one hotel eylsee and adgaio share.

The only time hotel E shuttle was bad was literally right after illumiations, with the AP you can drive into the park as well, we do both.

Magic plus only has a few days black out at christmas and halloween, even then its a few days...nothing major.
We already saved so much from free pushchair hire and free car parking then % on food and gifts from the park

arghh

1 or 3 sounds better sorry.

BTW we are going at xmas - its only a few days in xmas and a few days of halloween, so if you want those seasons they are still accesible.

Thanks SunwheretheFareyou - it does sounds like the AP will work for us. I have definitely ruled out Explorers now having read some more recent reviews - I think it'll be too hectic for us.

Do you always stay at Hotel Elysee? I like the look of it - just wasn't sure how big the rooms would be.

Yes we do stay there. Bit in shared quadruple room, ie two large beds in room although treated ourselves to a suite for our next visit in May it was 502 for four nights, usually we pay about 75.

Can't fault it, such comfy beds, so convenient for food and Disney.. We love it. People say of some other hotels... It's just a bed but we enjoy this hotel as part of our experience 😀. It doesn't have pool... But we don't have time to to use one anyway but can't deny it would be nice.

We are on tight budget and want to get monies worth out of pass. Reviews of hotel eylesse are very good it won award last year.