Go west with Mickey- Disney land Paris

[Jennywallpaper]

Hi I'm just looking for some information on Go west with mickey, they are an independent travel agent on Facebook. Has anyone has used them or have any reviews or information regarding them? They have gave me a quote and it's £200 cheaper than booking directly through Disney themselves but I'm a little sceptical and don't just want to hand over a lot of money without knowing if they are a reputable company. Thanks

Hi, I have no experience of Go West with Mickey, though I have heard of them.

I just came on to say that there is a facebook group called Disneyland Paris for Brits that is really amazing for information, and if you post on there others who have used Go West will be able to let you know if it is good.

We booked through Magic Breaks which has so far been very good, but we haven't gone yet (going next month).

Thanks @shimmersun I'll check them out. Did you find magic breaks much cheaper than booking directly with Disney? We're hoping to go next August and they seem to have a good offer on now but I'm new to all this so not sure if I'd be better waiting to see If I can get a better price later on in the year.

I think the prices are pretty similar, but we chose magic breaks as we wanted to pay a deposit and then pay the balance 12 weeks before departure.

The offer that is on currently for August 2020 is 25% early booker plus free half board meal plan. If you would be wanting a meal plan that is a pretty good saving!

When we booked ours (Jan 2019) we got the free half board meal plan. In April 2019 the offer changed to 30% room discount. When I repriced at that point out of interest, including flight prices going up the same holiday would have cost us an extra £1200 which is madness.

Out of curiosity I just priced a the same week in August 2020 as we are going this year and the price is the same as we paid in January. I have no idea if there is a time that the price would go down, but that free half board is definitely the best value deal I have seen!

Though this is our first time going too, so hopefully someone more experienced could help....definitely check out the facebook group, they are really knowledgeable.

That's really helpful thank you. It seems the free half board is the best way to save then, I'd definitely want a meal plan as I think it just saving worrying about spending money to much as at least your meals are covered. Do you with magic breaks are you able to pay some off between as well? I'd like to be able to pay some off but not be tied to a set payment each month iykwim?

Yes you can, it's not a set monthly payment or anything. You pay the deposit when you book and then the remaining balance is there and they tell you the date it needs paid by, and then you can log in and pay it off as much as you like, when you like, as long as the balance is paid by the final date. It is usually 12 weeks before departure.

One thing I would say is don't book flights through them. They quoted us almost double the price that we ended up paying direct with Easyjet.

I haven't heard of them. I used Magic Breaks, it was very slightly cheaper than booking direct. We drove so can't comment on flight prices.

We had a meal plan, breakfast and dinner. The food is massively over priced and a bit shite tbh, Chez Remy was particularly bad and my husband actually walked out of ADC. The hotel buffet for dinner a Sequoia was great.

Have a look at the Dib on Facebook, more info than you can ever get through on there!

That sounds great @shimmersun we'll need to book our flights separately anyway as they aren't released until 9 months before and id like to get the rest booked soon, just worried I'll end up paying extra for the specific dates then!

@babysharkah we were thinking of staying at the sequoia lodge so that's great news, did you do any of the characters dinning? My DC will be 4 and 6 and I'm not sure if they would enjoy it, and I know they wouldn't eat with everything going on. Is it maybe better just to let them meet the characters in the park?

Thanks for your help!

We did the character breakfast which I would highly recommend, loads of characters, more 'picky' food which dts liked . They didn't eat a thing at ADC but it guarantees you meet the princesses without having to queue.

You can't guarantee you'll see them in the park. We saw the Cheshire Cat, queen of hearts and Woody in the park and that was using the app to queue.

I would definitely recommend the buffet at sequoia over any of the themed restaurants in the park. It depends if you want to want to walk back to eat and go back for the fireworks or if you even want to see the fireworks at all.

Sequoia is a bit tired but had everything we needed and about a ten minute stroll to the gate.

At the breakfast we had Micky, Minnie, piglet, eyeore, Donald, tigger, the three from duck tales and a couple of others I can't remember.

That sounds brilliant, I'd rather do that than the princesses as they would both be happy with it and it sounds more relaxed than the princess lunch, that would maybe be something just for DD and me when she's a bit older.
Did yous use the pool at all? And where there any characters in the hotel? I've read some things about them being around in the mornings.

We had goofy, Micky and woody in the hotel. My kids were up early so first in the queue. We went swimming twice as a bit of chill out time from the parks. At sequoia it gets very very busy early evening but we went on our last
Morning and it had to ourselves!

What time of year did you go @babysharkah ? I'm so excited now, definitely going to book as soon as possible! Do you have any other tips?

Op I was on the Disney brits Facebook group and distilled general advice for Disney is buy annual passes and stay off site.

Off site hotels are same equa distance as on site, most have free shuttles to and from park.

Most off site are very good standard and probably better than Disney hotels.

Far better value for money, you have option to return which takes pressure off as its so busy you won't know what your doing 1st time round.
Annual passes also have perks eg own special entrance, avoid hotel guest queue.
Money off food etc.

There always seemed to be posting on that group about reoccurring food poisoning outbreaks.... People feeling ill after the buffets.. It totally put me off... One particularly bad few weeks people said, puking was going on in the park, perhaps norivirus going round? On site doctors said it was horrendous and spreading like wildfire.

We managed to visit and get out without incident smaller off site hotel.

We ended up going quite a few times.
Also bear in mind your dc could be scared by characters!

Mine were happy to wave at them rather than queue for the soundless 'hug'. If yiu sit in Disney hotel (non guests have access) you will see all the characters going on and out the restaurant.

Do hang out at the hotel, down and upstairs... As many character meets spring up there.... And without huge queues.

I'm in that group and never heard anything about food poisoning or norovirus. Though its clearly something that can easily spread in such a concentrated environment.

Annual Passes for a first time trip have never made sense to me. You might go and hate it. They are only good value if you are going a few times a year. And staying of site is definitely cheaper but there is no EMT which if you are going in summer/peak times is probably the only way to get on anything without queuing for hours.

Strange shimmer it was all over it in Nov /December!

With an annual pass you do get emt. That's being allowed in early.

Not only that you get a special entrance, so we had literally instant access to the park but the 'on site hotel guests' were in massive queues.

We walked straight pass with our annual passes. We had fridge in our hotel room (off site) not many on site do, so we were able to self cater a bit and ate at counter service in parks... About 45 euro for 4.

We didn't wildly enjoy our first trip... By trip 4 we were a slick oiled operation! Gliding from ride to ride with very little queueing once we got a hang of fast pass system.

BTW I'd always advise anyone to check annual pass prices against any rates they get elsewhere.

There are different levels, we had magic plus.

Our magic plus was £190 last year, hotel around 70/90 per night and two visits we had junior suite... Access to huge supermarket, fresh baguettes everyday etc.

We worked out each visit into park was around £13 in the end.(tickets)

Tesco vouchers for tunnel and ferry.
Took our own cereal for breakfast.

The magic flexi annual pass is €259 each so I really don't think it would work out any cheaper by the time you factor in the free half board against what we would pay for food if we were self catering. I can see the benefits if you where sure you would be returning within the year but it's not something we would be sure about, and to be honest I like the idea of staying on site and getting the full Disney experience.

Yes that's true op.
I went down the ap route because our budget was very tight, I couldn't have afforded a trip without them, but I knew we would definalty return and treated our first trip as reconnaissance Misson /bonus holiday in Feb when we don't normally go away. It wasn't too much of a painful drive for us.

Enjoy!

For anyone who later looks at this post....

www.facebook.com/groups/2396268187146802/?ref=share

I haven’t seen any bad reports but their Facebook feed is worrying

Do not touch them! They're not correctly registered with the ICO, they're not ABTA bonded and don't have alternative insurance in place, they don't have a trade contract with Disney so are making last minute bookings on Expedia and customers are arriving in Paris to find their holiday is not as they booked. And if anyone dares to complain the owner threatens them or tells them she will take her own life if they don't back off.

What they appear to do it take money from people booking but they don’t actually book your trip at that point. They then use that money they have from you to make a last minute booking for another customer who is just about to go. They are using Expedia and the likes to do it so not actually booking with Disney.

People going aren’t getting confirmations. When you request it you are threatened. On arrival people aren’t getting meal plans or photopass so have to sort that on arrival.

GWWM don’t respond to messages and use threatening behavior such as no holiday when you raise questions.

Their insurance is questionable and some customers are going to solicitors, the police and action fraud etc to get their money back.

Don’t touch them with a barge pole.

Oh and they cleared out their bank accounts so anyone doing a claim back via their bank account can’t.