1st time to DLP a few questions

kelmac284

Lover of all things Disney since 1975
Joined
Jun 25, 2005
Sorry if this is answered somewhere else but I was looking on the thread and I still am a bit confused.

We are thinking of staying at Hotel Cheyenne. We arrive from the US around 1 p.m. on a Sunday. We then planned to take the TGV from CDG airport to Marne Le Valley. I am assuming there are then buses that would take us to the hotel. My question is we are thinking of booking through Expedia. Do you get the same early entry using them as you would booking through Disney direct? Also it says airport transportation but I wasn't sure if it was included or what. It is very confusing.

Also I know many people have said to go through an alternate site for tickets like Spain or Great Britain. If I purchased our park tickets through another countries site how does that work? I read somewhere they email you the ticket or something?

I feel like I am in completely over my head LOL. We basically want to come in Sunday and crash because of jet lag. I purposedly planned monday as a down day to sleep in and just visit the village and the hotels so we could get acclimated a bit and then we plan to go to the parks on Tues. We only have the one day and then we will leave wed morning and planning to take the RER A back into paris proper.

If there is anything else that would be helpful I would love to know.

Thanks so much
 
I would definitely go to the parks on Monday ( I would already go on Sunday to just walk around and get familiar with the park), you will be done within an hour with the village. And the hotels are really not that special to spend more than 10 minutes to explore the lobby etc.

For airport transportation included, I would look closely or ask what they mean by this exactly.
 


You're welcome!
By the way, the advice to look at different country sites are for the package deals. Those can differ per country. If you are buying tickets & hotels separately, the ticket price should be the same. The only difference between Europe & the UK can be the exchange rates to your own currency.
 
You're welcome!
By the way, the advice to look at different country sites are for the package deals. Those can differ per country. If you are buying tickets & hotels separately, the ticket price should be the same. The only difference between Europe & the UK can be the exchange rates to your own currency.

Ok yea we are going to book the room I think through expedia but I went on the UK sight and it looked like the tickets were about 25 dollars cheaper buying through them vs the US site. Hopefully that is accurate
 
We basically want to come in Sunday and crash because of jet lag. I purposedly planned monday as a down day to sleep in and just visit the village and the hotels so we could get acclimated a bit and then we plan to go to the parks on Tues. We only have the one day and then we will leave wed morning and planning to take the RER A back into paris proper.

Honestly this plan is a waste of time and money. Having been to Disneyland California and Disneyland Paris multiple times, there is no comparison between hotels and things to do on non park days.

I also think you are over estimating jetlag and recovery and acclimatisation. I have been visiting California every year for the past 8 years, flying 11 hours direct transatlantic.

Landing at 1pm and going direct to Disney, you will most likely check in to your hotel around 3pm. Hotel Cheyenne is more like an American motel style hotel. All the rooms are located in separate buildings with inside corridors. There is no pool, and only a bar, restaurant and small Disney shop on the premises.

I would estimate that by 5pm latest you would be back on the shuttle bus to Disney Village and the parks.

Disney village is no where near like Downtown Disney in California. You will walk through it and think, is that all.

This is the link to the full info about Disney Village https://www.disneylandparis.com/en-us/destinations/disney-village/

You will have done with Disney Village on Sunday evening / Sunday night

Just so you know, the evening fireworks and animations show projected onto The Castle is not visable outside of the park. Unlike Disneyland California, you can not see them from Disney Village.

If you dont book the standard hotel and park tickets package from Disney you wont even have the option to go see the fireworks on Sunday night.

On Monday, honestly, its a total waste of a day. The hotels are not resorts. They are mainly just for sleeping and relaxing at the bar. By mid afternoon you will so bored and regretting not being able to enter the parks.

You have such a short time anyway, why waste park days?

The most sensible and best use of your time and money is to book direct with Disney, stay at Hotel Cheyenne and have access to the park on your arrival day, departure day and 2 full days.

That way you can relax and see everything, not have to rush or miss things, ride your favourites multiple times and get the best possible experience at Disneyland Paris.
 


We arrive from the US around 1 p.m. on a Sunday. We then planned to take the TGV from CDG airport to Marne Le Valley. I am assuming there are then buses that would take us to the hotel.

You need to check the departure times of the TGV from the airport to Disney. The TGV has limited departures from the airport, and while the travel time is extremely fast, it is really only worthwhile if the departure time is less than an hour after your flight lands.

Any time I have gone to Disney, the TGV departure time has been about 2 hours after my flight lands.

You will also need to check what terminal you flight lands, what terminal the TGV departs from and the transit time between the two.

Marne Le Valley is the name of Disneyland train station. When you arrive at the train station you will need to manage your luggage yourself. There are no luggage porters to help you. You will need to come up to ground level. The free hotel shuttle buses are just beside the train station, at ground level. You may have to wait for the next bus

Whenever I go to Disneyland Paris, I use https://magicalshuttle.co.uk/ This is an independent bus company who have the licence to go onto Disney property.

They will drop you directly at the front door of the hotel. Their departure point is in the corridor which links Terminal 2E and 2F. Journey time is approx 1 hour on the freeway.
 
Disney Village Paris from Google Maps

disney village.JPG

Downtown Disney California From Google Maps
downtown disney.jpg
 
You need to check the departure times of the TGV from the airport to Disney. The TGV has limited departures from the airport, and while the travel time is extremely fast, it is really only worthwhile if the departure time is less than an hour after your flight lands.

Any time I have gone to Disney, the TGV departure time has been about 2 hours after my flight lands.

You will also need to check what terminal you flight lands, what terminal the TGV departs from and the transit time between the two.

Marne Le Valley is the name of Disneyland train station. When you arrive at the train station you will need to manage your luggage yourself. There are no luggage porters to help you. You will need to come up to ground level. The free hotel shuttle buses are just beside the train station, at ground level. You may have to wait for the next bus

Whenever I go to Disneyland Paris, I use https://magicalshuttle.co.uk/ This is an independent bus company who have the licence to go onto Disney property.

They will drop you directly at the front door of the hotel. Their departure point is in the corridor which links Terminal 2E and 2F. Journey time is approx 1 hour on the freeway.

thanks I appreciate all this because I truly have no clue. Honestly MY plan was to fly in Sunday take the rest of the day and go to the parks on Monday then back to paris on Tues but my mom who is in her 70's, thinks we will need the extra day. I do like your plan though and if we are there anyway we might as well have tickets. That way if we are tired we don't have to go but if we aren't we can. My only concern is so far we have only purchased our tickets GOING because they are SO expensive. We have not purchased our returns yet because we will be flying home from Spain and it costs more than our outbound tickets so we were waiting a bit to get caught up on the credit card payments LOL. I thought if I booked through Expedia I wouldn't have to pay up front but apparently that is not true. I wish there was a way to compare all the countries without having to go one by one. So far I have prepared UK, US and Spain and it seems the UK package is the cheapest. Any hints there about cheaper or does that seem to be the case?

I love the idea of the bus. The TGV seemed reasonable but I didn't see that it was not that reliable. Do you have any idea how much the bus is per person? I went on the site and put in my info but it wanted me to enter everything as if I was booking the trip and I didn't want to accidentally do that just to find out what it costs but if it is reasonable I think that is a better option for sure! Also is there one location to catch it at De Gaulle? I have obviously never been there so not sure where to catch it. We are flying on Norwegian so I have no clue what terminal that will be vs where the trains/buses are.
 
thanks I appreciate all this because I truly have no clue. Honestly MY plan was to fly in Sunday take the rest of the day and go to the parks on Monday then back to paris on Tues but my mom who is in her 70's, thinks we will need the extra day. I do like your plan though and if we are there anyway we might as well have tickets. That way if we are tired we don't have to go but if we aren't we can. My only concern is so far we have only purchased our tickets GOING because they are SO expensive. We have not purchased our returns yet because we will be flying home from Spain and it costs more than our outbound tickets so we were waiting a bit to get caught up on the credit card payments LOL. I thought if I booked through Expedia I wouldn't have to pay up front but apparently that is not true. I wish there was a way to compare all the countries without having to go one by one. So far I have prepared UK, US and Spain and it seems the UK package is the cheapest. Any hints there about cheaper or does that seem to be the case?

I love the idea of the bus. The TGV seemed reasonable but I didn't see that it was not that reliable. Do you have any idea how much the bus is per person? I went on the site and put in my info but it wanted me to enter everything as if I was booking the trip and I didn't want to accidentally do that just to find out what it costs but if it is reasonable I think that is a better option for sure! Also is there one location to catch it at De Gaulle? I have obviously never been there so not sure where to catch it. We are flying on Norwegian so I have no clue what terminal that will be vs where the trains/buses are.

It isnt that the TGV is unreliable its just its a high speed/long distance train that happens to stop at DLP (Marne la Vallee) as its first stop (about 10 minutes after it leaves Charles de Gaulle). This makes it a very quick journey but the timing does have to fit into place and you also need to get from your arrival terminal to the station which will probably mean taking a free airport bus to get you from one to the other.
You will need to manage your own luggage as there are no porters to do this for you.

How many people are going? You mentioned your Mum in her 70s who may be tired and jet lagged after the long journey so to me a better option is to book a private shuttle from the airport.
You will be met at your arrival terminal by someone holding a sign with your name. They will probably help you with your luggage and then you will be taken directly to your hotel.
No finding your way through the airport (Charles de G airport is extremely large and spread out) , having to go from one terminal to another and no having to find your way to your hotel at the other end
 
It isnt that the TGV is unreliable its just its a high speed/long distance train that happens to stop at DLP (Marne la Vallee) as its first stop (about 10 minutes after it leaves Charles de Gaulle). This makes it a very quick journey but the timing does have to fit into place and you also need to get from your arrival terminal to the station which will probably mean taking a free airport bus to get you from one to the other.
You will need to manage your own luggage as there are no porters to do this for you.

How many people are going? You mentioned your Mum in her 70s who may be tired and jet lagged after the long journey so to me a better option is to book a private shuttle from the airport.
You will be met at your arrival terminal by someone holding a sign with your name. They will probably help you with your luggage and then you will be taken directly to your hotel.
No finding your way through the airport (Charles de G airport is extremely large and spread out) , having to go from one terminal to another and no having to find your way to your hotel at the other end

Yes that def sounds good considering we will be very tired. We leave Oakland at 5:30 saturday night so we have an overnight flight and I have never flown into De Gaulle. Only been to Europe once in the 80's and flew into Schipol in Amsterdam. My mom has flown to Paris before but it was also many years ago. Will def look into a shuttle. Just trying to keep the costs down.
 
Yes that def sounds good considering we will be very tired. We leave Oakland at 5:30 saturday night so we have an overnight flight and I have never flown into De Gaulle. Only been to Europe once in the 80's and flew into Schipol in Amsterdam. My mom has flown to Paris before but it was also many years ago. Will def look into a shuttle. Just trying to keep the costs down.

Have a look at this thread -its an old one but has the numbers of shuttle companies. A lot of people recommend Ezey Shuttle

https://www.disboards.com/threads/travelling-to-dlp-by-plane.1004423/
 

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