Help needed with Villages Nature and Disneyland Paris passes

[Disneylandfirsttimer]

Hi all, first time posting and first time going to Disneyland Paris, please be kind and constructive as we’ve made a mistake! my partner booked our family holiday to Disneyland, staying in Villages Nature.

We were looking into which days to go the park and have realised that in order to get the 2 free included day passes to the parks advertised on the website, it looks like the booking had to be done through the official Disneyland website. My partner booked directly through Villages Nature, not knowing that this could mean we don’t automatically get passes included.

Has anyone else made this mistake and if so does anyone have advice on how to get these free passes which would have been included or can we use our wristbands from Villages Natures to prove we are staying there to gain entry to the park?

Many thanks for any constructive answers!

The tickets included if you booked through Disney direct wouldn’t have been ‘free’ it would have been part of the cost of that package. You need to scan Disney tickets to enter the parks. You will have to buy tickets separately.
When do you go? You could cancel your booking with Villages Nature and rebook with Disney, but I suspect your booking with Villages Nature was much cheaper than booking a package with Disney.

Thanks for your reply@Alwaysneedmoresleep

I think you are right, there’s never any such thing as a free lunch! I called up to enquire about how much the package would have been, (had to check over phone as website won’t allow online booking for our size of party, hence us needing a cottage)

So it’s kinda hard to compare like for like in this case since we booked late last year for this July and prices will change so close to holiday but from the kind of quotes I was getting was pretty much double what we paid for the cottage.

This kinda reassures me actually that we weren’t missing out on some good deal. My partner actually had budgeted separately for park tickets, so it’s not a huge shock leaving us short but I had thought all this time we had went for the whole package and it was just the other night we were talking about how many days would we spend on the parks that I realised we hadn’t got the package.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I may well be on the thread with random queries as and when things occur to us, we’ve done Centre Parcs before so at least that side of it is familiar to us!

Hi. We’re looking at booking Villages Nature for Disneyland. However very wary with the reviews online.

I know this is an old post but how was the cleanliness and general upkeep of the accommodation ? Did you stay in a premium, standard or VIP?

Hi, we stayed in standard accomodation with two double rooms and two twin rooms, a shower room and a bathroom, we had no issues with the cleanliness of the accommodation, the shower did spill over the tray a little during what I felt was not a particularly long shower! So you may want to watch for that and pop a towel on the floor in case!

The place came with dishwasher tablets but otherwise supplies were a bit sparse but the supermarket on site is ok. There’s not a big selection of restaurants onsite compared to UK Centreparcs and opening times can bit a funny. We were happy with the waterpark onsite, that was ideal for our young non swimmer kids. Let me know if you have any other questions

Thank you for sharing. I’m really glad you had a good experience with the accommodation - you’ve made me feel more confident with booking.

We went to Lapland last year and was told by the travel agent it’s similar to Center Parcs but all the lodges were privately owned and decorated differently. It was pot luck with which lodge you ended up with. The one we got was terrible - pokey and cupboards full to the brim with random stuff. Think 20 different mugs/cutlery etc for a 6 bed lodge, VHS(!) player with old tapes, tiny black and white TV.

so I’m really glad to hear Villages Nature will be a similar set up to Center Parcs UK. For every negative review, there are a few positives not shared. I have some questions, thank you for your help:

1. on arrival, how easy is it to find the check in desk by foot? We’ll be arriving by shuttle bus.

2. how often are the shuttle buses to Disneyland ? And were there massive queues getting the bus back after the fireworks? If so, would it be too far to walk?

3. I’ve read somewhere that the on site restaurants close early, did you find anywhere nearby to eat. could we get a taxi to a nearby restaurant for example?

🙏

Hi, we went to Villages Nature in May half term a few years ago, we went by car (you get free parking at Disneyland even if you booked through CP). I don’t have experience of the shuttle or local taxis.

The swimming pool is great - our kids loved it.

In terms of food: we found the Vapiano pizza place a bit disappointing and service was slow (compared to other branches of the chain). For an evening meal I advise to arrive before the rush or much later as there were long queues for tables at peak times. We did have a lunch in the creperie and that was absolutely fine in terms of service .

The on-site supermarket is fine but again, also tended to have long queues just before dinner time. We found it handy shop offsite but if you have no car that could be tricky.

We ate dinner outside CP/Disney only once, in the Buffalo Grill which is 10 mins drive from CP and food was exactly what you’d expect and fine - but I’ve no experience of taxis in the area.

The Centreparc site does push the natural wilderness angle - it isn’t manicured. But we liked this just fine. The pool is very good - note that local people buy day tickets to swim, so it busier on French holidays and weekends.

We liked the woodland play area and the children’s farm with attached indoor play and cafe.

The CP site is quite large - we opted for a ground floor apartment by the lake as that sounded nice - but our view was blocked with by tall reeds and the birds were really loud so that didn’t pan out very well! We took scooters so our kids could get around easily but if we hadn’t done that, I think it would be better to pay a bit more /take a smaller place near the pool.

Hi sorry just getting round to replying, to answer your questions-

1. The check in building is right where the shuttle bus drops off/sets off from, you will definitely see it! Local taxi drivers seem to know to drop off there too

When the shuttle bus drops you off, take a photo of the bus timetable at the bus stop- we did this and it was handy to refer back to, and do same at the other end the first time you get the bus back from Disney for timing your journeys back - that end of the terminus when we were there was the furthest from the Disneyland Park entrance/exit and especially when there’s crowds it can take time to get to it

2. The shuttle buses were 2 per hour, there were queues getting on the buses for magic hour opening times, go earlier than you would think! There’s a small park at the bus stop there for kids while adults keep a place in the bus “queue”. We were never unable to board but even turning up at what we thought was enough time, we found we adults had to stand. One time a bus didn’t turn up or was late to the point it was time for the next one. Also handy to know- they only took cash when we were there.
   I can’t speak to how the queues were for fireworks- we actually were there during the Paris riots and curfews- it all happened just as we arrived and so the buses stopped running before the fireworks and shows at end of day, we had to leave by a certain time and got the bus before last bus to be certain of getting back before the curfew.

3. The restaurant times were strange and a bit more limited compared to UK Centre Parks, we ate out in Disneyland on the days we were there, we tend to eat early anyway, just our kids routine, we ate at 6pm as we do at home, it may be an issue if you are used to eating later. The surrounding town we passed through on the shuttle bus looked nice and if we had more time I’d have liked to have explored it, there may be better eating options there and taxis weren’t hard to come by when we were there.

Hope all this helps!