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Original poster

Eurodisney- Where to book for best deal? Hotel reccomendation & eurostar

74 replies

SugaryBits · 03/07/2008 12:56

We are hoping to go to eurodisney around Sept 9th/10th for 5 nights. I have got some prices from the disney website but was wondering if it would be cheaper to look else where for prices? Also, would it pay to wait and book a bit closer to the time?

Also which hotel would you recommend? I have been looking at the Vienna Dream Castle- it is rated 4 star, the same as the DisneyLand hotel but less than half the price as it is not on site. Has anyone stayed there? Or would we be better at a slightly cheaper hotel on site- not too keen on the look of the Santa Fe or Cheyenne.

Lastly eurostar- is it better to book as a package or separately? The price for 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant is around £600 on the disney site- this sounds a lot to me.
TIA for any advice or recommendations

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DontCallMeBaby · 03/07/2008 19:32

It's worth costing up packages vs doing things separately, we went on the Shuttle (ie took the car) and it was actually much cheaper to do that as a package direct with Disney rather than booking it separately. Whereas when I priced up flights it was way cheaper to book direct with AirFrance than go via Disney. Odd.

£1,274 sounds a lot - our total package (two adults, one child, five nights, tickets to the Buffalo Bill show added on) was £878 last month.

Five nights was good, four would have been okay, three we'd have missed a lot of stuff. Four full days meant we could spend half a day in the pool (stayed at Sequoia Lodge) without feeling we were missing stuff in the parks, and it was good to have a little break.

Original poster
SugaryBits · 03/07/2008 19:36

The best price the eurostar site is giving me is £306, which is still half the amount disney want! Only drawback is that we would have to change trains on the return journey but thats not the end of the world! Will definitely book separately!

I'm going to pop into the travel agents to see if they can do any better deals as I am fed up of searching the net! I hate the thought of paying more that I have to!

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wonderwomanakaeandh · 03/07/2008 19:42

what dates are you selecting I'll see if I can work out the direct route for you

Original poster
SugaryBits · 03/07/2008 19:47

leaving on 8th, these are details I got although I'm not really too worried when we go. DS goes back to school on the 18th so as long as we are back, ideally 16th I don't mind! Thank you wonderwoman!

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wonderwomanakaeandh · 03/07/2008 19:58

right will have a look now (your link timed out) thats the day we wanted to go (dd1 4th birthday is on the 7th and this is part of her pressie but dh couldnt get that week off)

Original poster
SugaryBits · 03/07/2008 20:00

Thank you so much, I have been looking for so long it's giving me a headache!

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wonderwomanakaeandh · 03/07/2008 20:04

I can only get the same as you but that is direct (leaving 8.53am on the 8th and returning at 19.37 on the 11th)

if however you got the 7am train with 1 change (at lille) going and returned on the direct 19.37 train it'll only cost £182 in total for all of you

Original poster
SugaryBits · 03/07/2008 20:06

Thanks, that is so much better! Can't believe Disney charge so much over the eurostar price!

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wonderwomanakaeandh · 03/07/2008 20:08

no problem - I know re disney we didnt think we'd be able to afford to take them and then we worked it out seperatley it came in around £550 cheaper, let us know how you get on booking??

Original poster
SugaryBits · 03/07/2008 20:09

I will, although the disney site seems to have crashed on me now!

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wonderwomanakaeandh · 03/07/2008 20:12

maybe after the time you spent in it its giving you a break!!

Original poster
SugaryBits · 03/07/2008 20:16

I can't stand having so much choice! There are so many sites offering the best deal ever, which turns out to be the most expensive yet! I think at least I have decided on the hotel. The Dream Castle looks nice and is about the same price as the santa fe and the cheyanne. Being off site seems to bring the price down quite a bit and apparently there is a shuttle really regularly to take you to the park.

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wonderwomanakaeandh · 03/07/2008 20:46

maybe pop into local travel agents and take a print of the lowest price you have found they can normally match/beat it??

Original poster
SugaryBits · 03/07/2008 20:47

I think I will do that. Have you told your DD you are going? We aren't going to tell ours, they are going to be so suprised!

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Fimbo · 03/07/2008 20:56

I stayed at the Dream Castle. Although they advertise it as being off site it is less than 5 minutes away on the shuttle bus. You could walk from there to the Parks quite easily especially on a nice day.

The only thing I would say about the Dream Castle is we found the people next door to us were quite noisy (we had a room that could have interconnected with them, so I don't know if they are all like that) but you could hear conversations word for word and there child went to bed a lot later than ours and was bouncing around until all hours.

Also the food is very very very expensive we were £140 for 2 meals at the hotel (and that included children's portions).

If you do go try to get the train to Val d'Europe it is one stop down the line, there is a massive hypermarket there and you can buy nice things for the hotel room or to make up packed lunches.

Most of our spending money was spent on food.

wonderwomanakaeandh · 03/07/2008 21:02

No we havent told them (well dd2 is only 18months so wouldnt give two hoots as long as we keep her fed!!) dd1 will be so excited she talks about the princesses all the time (in fact having a princess party on the 6th sept)

She is desperate to go and we said it cost far to much money and she emptied her money box to see if there was enough in there to pay, so we are going to tell her when we get on teh train, we have bought a new digital dvd camcorder specifically to record her reaction when she realises where we are going (oh andmy parents having them on the sunday afternoon so we can sneakily pack clothes etc and get suitcase in car without her knowing)

Original poster
SugaryBits · 03/07/2008 21:11

Thanks Fimbo, I did anticipate the food would be quite pricey! In fact I anticipated everything there would be quite pricey, which is why I want the getting there bit to be as cheap as possible!

WW- I love surprising the DC, I wasn't going to tell DS until we actually got there, just to see the look on his face when he sees it! I think that is the thing I am most looking forward to to be honest!

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wonderwomanakaeandh · 03/07/2008 21:16

I am planning to pack snack food in the suitcase, we'll feedthem up at breakfast (and take some extra bits of fruit ) and then take cereal bars/biscuits etc for snacks, neither of mine are big lunch eaters and they normally have a good evening meal, friends have recommended rainforest cafe in teh park fairly reasonable and good food

Fimbo · 03/07/2008 21:19

There are handcarts with hotdogs etc. round the parks. Disney Village also has

wonderwomanakaeandh · 03/07/2008 21:23

fab will write that in my little book of hints and tips! thanks fimbo

Fimbo · 03/07/2008 21:26

If you do take the Eurostar, triple check your tickets, some families on our trip back were not seated together. We also had to turf a young French couple out of our assigned seats, I think they had missed a previous train and were told to get on ours, but they kept sitting in everyone else's seat. The eventually pushed off to another carriage where they must have got a seat.

Original poster
SugaryBits · 03/07/2008 21:26

Thanks Fimbo, less spent on food= more to spend on lots of Disney tat to bring home!

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Original poster
SugaryBits · 03/07/2008 21:27

Sorry, that sounded a bit sarcastic, didn't mean it to!

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marymoocow · 03/07/2008 21:29

We went in May and booked it all independently. We stopped in the Explorers hotel, which was fantastic. Think we booked it through Expedia, and got a really good price. We found that the earlier you booked it the better the price was (watched it going up and up after we booked). We went on Eurostar from St.Pancras to Paris, and then got the local train to Disney. This meant that we could choose the time that we left. Couldn't tell you how much it cost though as we used our tesco clubcard points for it.(think they've stopped that now though). We did price up a package through the travel agents and even that came up as double the amount that we paid.

Whatever you choose to do, hope you have a great time.

yvonnek · 03/07/2008 21:29

hi,

i'm just back.

we spent 2 nights/3 days. we stayed in the cheap santa fe. it was cheap, but you get all the facilities of the other hotels if you ask.

for exampl - we got tons of extra stuff toiletries/towels/blankets/kettle/tea/coffee

just by askings.

also once you counter in the fact that you get all 3 days park tickets for everything including, it's definately cheaper to book seperately.

there is a free bus service, but it's a lovely walk by the river and woods to get there.(pavements and fence alongside water)

also . . .. this was my favourite bit. if you bought anything and stayed in a disney hotel, they delivered it to your hotel for you at the hotel free of charge !!

but 5 days is defo 2 much. by the end of our 3rd day we were shattered. ur up at the crack of dawn every morning. then walking all day till you fall into bed.

book a couple of nights somewhere in paris thats a lot cheaper and you might be able to afford one of the nicer hotels in the parc.

oh and every day in the hotel you get a chance to meet the characters in the foyer. this is really valuable if your kids getting autographs. the ques for some of the characters was over an hour