Idiots Guide to DLP, please...

[roscoepc1]

HI all! Heading to DLP with my daughter for the first time September 13-15, 2016. Finding their website to be almost impossible to navigate compared to the WDW one. Horribly slow loading of pages, freezing etc.

Hoping for an "idiot's guide" from those who have been. IF I can finally get the site to work properly, can you do something similar to MY Disney Experience? Ie, can I add and link reservations etc. I booked our rooms through Expedia, so will need to add tickets etc.

I *think* we will be flying to CDG or Orly from either Manchester or Leeds...there too I need help. We are Canadian, and this trip is my daughter's high school graduation gift once we get to Huddersfield in UK for University. To make matters worse, we are rural, so all the transpo options and info are reading like greek to me, as there's no such thing as public traspo here. You either drive your car or don't go, where we live, lol.

We are booked at the B&B Hotel, and I will be buying our "buy 2 days get 3" tickets this week.

To make matters more interesting, our hotel confirmation etc is in French...I am functionally literate there, but any finite details or more complicated terms are not in my vocabulary. It's really been a circus compared to the ease of WDW!!

 

[JolandaK]

Hi! There is a site dlpguide.com which can help you out. They have different topics on planning and stuff. There is no such thing as my disney experience in DLP. Fastpasses are paper ones you get at the attraction. There is an app (search for disneyland paris and you will find it, it is simply called disneyland) where you can track the waiting times, closed attractions etc.

We always go by car so with transportation and stuff I cannot help you. I know there are disneybus transfers between CDG and the park, but that's about it for my knowledge of transportation. Maybe the site above can help you out too.

 

[BadPinkTink]

hi @roscoepc1
anything bought though the official website, either by phone or online is a package ie, hotel AND park tickets.
B and B hotel when booked through the Disneyland Paris website will include park tickets. You say you have booked through Expedia? Booking the hotel and park tickets separate like this actually works out dearer. Deals like the get an extra night free, free dining plan, kids go free, etc etc on the Disneyland Paris website all apply to the packages.

Is your expedia booking easy to cancel? If I was you I would cancel the expedia booking of the hotel, and book the package through Disneyland Paris website.

Websites to check are
http://www.disneylandparis.co.uk/
http://www.disneylandparis.ie
http://www.disneylandparis.fr
http://www.disneylandparis.nl
http://www.disneylandparis.be
http://www.disneylandparis.de
http://www.disneylandparis.it

Different websites have different deals. You can book through ANY website, it does not matter that you are not from that particular country. I am from Ireland and I booked my last trip in February 2016 through the French website. All Disneyland Paris bookings are electronic, you just get a confirmation email. No tickets or other documents are mailed to you.

When you arrive at your hotel, you will receive your park tickets at check in.

Disneyland Paris does not have Magic Bands but has paper entry tickets and legacy Fast Pass. You can not link reservations, like you do at WDW

Disneyland Paris dining reservations can not be booked online, only by phone 60 days before arrival. The phone number is +33 1 60304050 They have English speaking people answering the phone.

There are various travel options from Charles de Gualle to Disneyland Paris. I use Magic Shuttle http://magicalshuttle.co.uk/ which is a 40 minute coach ride from the airport direct to your hotel Tickets can be bought online or at the ticket desk

Other people use private shuttle or TGV train.

 

[BadPinkTink]

@roscoepc1

B and B hotel is a partner hotel, ie a good neighbour hotel. It is not one of the Disney onsite hotel. I havent stayed there but it was one of the bus pickups on my last trip. It is located about 15 minutes bus ride from the parks. As it is not an onsite hotel you will not have access to Extra Magic Hours. This means you can only enter the parks at 10am, as EMH is from 8am to 10am for onsite hotel guests.

You will need to take a bus from B and B Hotel to the parks. This is a free shuttle bus and the hotel will have the times of the bus pick ups at the park and hotel. The bus will leave you at Disney bus station, which is just beside Disney Village and the Park entrances.

Disneyland Paris has 2 parks, the main park and Disney Studios, These are located beside each other and most people get park hopper tickets and park hop multiple time in a day.

Disneyland Paris footprint is very similar to Disneyland California footprint. The ride and attraction audios are in French but this is barely noticeable, especially to anyone familiar with Disneyland California and WDW.

Disneyland Paris is undergoing a major refurb program at the moment. Check here for the closures list http://holidays.disneylandparis.co.uk/eep.html

Restaurant opening times are released in 3 month blocks and can be found here http://disneykindofday.blogspot.ie/2015/04/restaurant-opening-hours-disneyland.html

Park shows, parades and scheduled character meets program is updated on a weekly basis and can be found here http://download.disneylandparis.com/Disneyland-Paris_Shows-and-Parades.pdf

Fast passes are legacy paper ones. The machines are located beside the rides. In the Main Park, the rides which have Fastpass are
Indiana Jones
Buzz
Space Mountain
Star Tours

In Disney Studios
Ratatouille
Tower of Terror

Many rides and attractions in Disneyland Paris are either unique to Paris or are different to their counterparts in WDW / Disneyland California.

The main night time show is called Dreams. This is a firework, animation and fountain show projected onto the Castle. It is on every night at park closing time. You will need to check park closing time for the days of your visit.

 

[roscoepc1]

Thank you SOOO much! I can cancel our booking quite easily. According to the prices on the UK site, it was cheaper to book separately, but I hadn't thought of the EMH etc. Tricky issue with EMH is that every dollar counts, so not sure I can swing a partner hotel anyways. *shrug*

Thanks for the links! I will do some research! Right now I can get "buy 2 days' tix get 3" without a pkg, will do some figuring and find the best option.

I did find a great deal on our plane tickets from Manchester to CDG, return, so I snapped those up this afternoon.

Star Tours and Indiana Jones will be closed when we're there. I'm not flexible on dates though, so nothing I can do there...Shannon and I both understand French and speak it passably, so the French bit isn't an issue for us....

 

[BadPinkTink]

none of the partner hotels include EMH, so honestly I would look at Santa Fe, the budget onside hotel. When you factor in whats included, the prices seem more reasonable.
Partner hotels are
B and B
Exporers
Magic Circus
Kyraid
Dream Castle

Santa Fe onsite budget hotel
Continental Breakfast
Walkable to the park, and very frequent shuttle bus
EMH
Shopping service
Park hopper tickets

B and B Hotel
off site partner hotel
breakfast
infrequent shuttle bus
not walkable to the park
does not include EMH or shopping service
Park hopper tickets

 

[roscoepc1]

From everything I can find, using the above links and with the exchange on our dollar, it's still over $200 cheaper to do it separately, although I would need to buy our suppers. Yes, we lose EMH....will have to think about it.

 

[chmurf]

Try through Walt Disney Travel Company UK (I haven't seen it mentionned among the many links on this thread)

http://www.disneyholidays.co.uk/disneyland-paris/

choose hotel only. it says hotel only but it includes tickets, as was previously mentionned it's only packages

there's a free half board deal for your dates. Prices are in Sterling though, do the conversion.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Try through Walt Disney Travel Company UK (I haven't seen it mentionned among the many links on this thread)

http://www.disneyholidays.co.uk/disneyland-paris/

Just be aware though that this is a third party site licenced to sell Disney holidays, not a Disney site. I saw someone on another forum get confussed by this. She thought she was booking direct with Disney.

 

[HappySlinky]

I have problems using the UK site on Internet Explorer, it works a lot better on Chrome.

 

[ashley0139]

You can also call Disneyland Paris to get hotel only prices, which might be different from what it would be in the package. It was for me - for a package they wanted $900 USD and the hotel for 3 nights was $354 plus $158 for the park tickets for 3 days (buy 2 get one free). But I had to call to get that price. For my 3 night stay, it was only $100 more to stay at Santa Fe vs B&B. It ended up being 110% worth it, for the onsite perks and, when my foot got injured, being able to easily go back and forth between parks and hotel. It's something I highly recommend if you can swing it.