Planning June 2023

[kpd6901]

So, a couple years ago, I had inquired some into DLP as part of a graduation gift trip for my oldest son. Since then, however, COVID has changed things about how things operate. At this stage of the game, we need to determine how many days to fully experience the parks. Secondly, I need to figure out how to book things via the different country sites.

1. Pre-Covid, announcements were made about the development of WDSP, with Frozen theme and SW theme, in addition to an Avengers area. Construction was halted, obviously, but if we are looking for June 2023, which of these might we reasonably be able to anticipate being ready by then?

2. This will be the first trip for most of us to Paris, so we will do some exploring of the city prior to our trip. We don't want to try to rush and squeeze everything into just 1 or 2 days at DLP. Based on projected additions to DLP and WDSP, would 5 days be complete overkill? Would 3-4 days be reasonable? (We are a family of 5, including 3 boys of 18, 14, and 10, at the time of the trip).

3. I had seen the tips before about checking around the various national sites to find the best deals/offers. Just today, when looking, I did find different rates in US Dollars, UK Pound Sterling, and in Euros from Ireland, as expected. However, when I checked the sites for Iralt, France, and Spain, I found that all 3 also had the same rates in euros as the Irish site. Should I just assume that there are all the same due to Covid reducing the need for marketing specials? Relatedly, pre-Covid the different sites would maybe have different deals, with discounted rooms or meal plans. Is that also something that was/is/expects to be a feature of DLP planning? If so, is there usually a place to find available offers or a website that performs this service and posts all current offers by country?

4. Finally, as a graduation gift trip, our local high school usually finishes the very last few days of May. We would leave in the first couple days of June. I've looked some at the local holiday schedule, but I don't know when European schools get out for the summer (is summer vacation similar to American schools)? Should we do DLP closer to the beginning of our trip due to potentially lower park crowds or would that not make a difference for the first half of June?

Thanks so much!

 

[Karin1984]

Hey there!

1. There have been no announcements about when to open. Avengers is your best bet to be open by then. I wouldn't count on Frozen and they say Star Wars is back on the shelf due to disappointing reactions in the US.

**EDIT** Today ED92 (the biggest French fansite) published an article about the expansion, they said Summer '22 for Marvel, Summer '24 for Frozen en Summer '26 for Star Wars.

2. I personally think 5 days is overkill. If you go during the week before the school holidays start, in 3 days you should be able to do everything at a leisurely pace. With 4 even more leisurely.
Keep in mind that if you book a package through Disney, you get park entrance for all days you are on site. So 3 nights = 4 day park tickets. Even when you arrive during the day, or leave midday, you will still have access. If you arrive during the day on your arrival day, you can still go into the park to get familiar with the layout, do some rides without / short lines, see the fireworks.

3. At the moment there are no special offers for any country because of Covid measures in different countries changed quickly the past two years. I do presume that this will return at some point. And yes, then you can compare and price out the best option for your family.

4. Look at https://publicholidays.fr/ and https://publicholidays.fr/school-holidays/ From the second week of May to the first week of July are usually good, especially during the week, because schools are still in session. I would stick to just looking at the French holidays. The German, British and Spanish holiday schedules influence crowds only a little, but have more regions, so really hard to determine what the effect is. Do keep in mind that there are 3 national holidays in May 2023. If you look at Thursday May 18, you can bet that Friday 19 will be busy as well, due to people extending the holiday into a long weekend.

 

[kpd6901]

Thank you so much for this. Pretty bummed that Frozen won't be ready for our trip, but it's understandable, obviously. That just means that we will have to plan a return trip later on!
A couple of booking-related questions:

1. When is booking usually available? Is it a certain length (11-12 months) prior to your date, or do bookings open up in a block-style format?
2. I have a travel agent, but am I able to book directly thru DLP and transfer the reservation to the agent after booking, if needed? (She has had some personal difficulties of late and she might not be available when bookings are opening.)
3. With WDW, you can book your vacation, and then when offers become available later, you can modify/change your booking to the new offer (based on availability). With DLP, is that also something that may be available? When offers do inevitably come back, and we have already booked, can we then alter our booking to gain access to the offer? Relatedly, say we book under the Irish site, and then a new offer is available elsewhere that better suits us, can we switch to the new offer even if we've already booked under a different national site? (I know you can initially book from any country's offer, but do modifications work the same as initial bookings?)

Thanks a lot!

Hey there!

1. There have been no announcements about when to open. Avengers is your best bet to be open by then. I wouldn't count on Frozen and they say Star Wars is back on the shelf due to disappointing reactions in the US.

**EDIT** Today ED92 (the biggest French fansite) published an article about the expansion, they said Summer '22 for Marvel, Summer '24 for Frozen en Summer '26 for Star Wars.

2. I personally think 5 days is overkill. If you go during the week before the school holidays start, in 3 days you should be able to do everything at a leisurely pace. With 4 even more leisurely.
Keep in mind that if you book a package through Disney, you get park entrance for all days you are on site. So 3 nights = 4 day park tickets. Even when you arrive during the day, or leave midday, you will still have access. If you arrive during the day on your arrival day, you can still go into the park to get familiar with the layout, do some rides without / short lines, see the fireworks.

3. At the moment there are no special offers for any country because of Covid measures in different countries changed quickly the past two years. I do presume that this will return at some point. And yes, then you can compare and price out the best option for your family.

4. Look at https://publicholidays.fr/ and https://publicholidays.fr/school-holidays/ From the second week of May to the first week of July are usually good, especially during the week, because schools are still in session. I would stick to just looking at the French holidays. The German, British and Spanish holiday schedules influence crowds only a little, but have more regions, so really hard to determine what the effect is. Do keep in mind that there are 3 national holidays in May 2023. If you look at Thursday May 18, you can bet that Friday 19 will be busy as well, due to people extending the holiday into a long weekend.

 

[Karin1984]

1. 10-11 months in advance is normal.
2. I do not think transferring is possible. But I wouldn't be too worried about booking exactly on opening day. For a lot of people in Europe this is a weekend getaway destination and those are not booked far in advance. It is not even a given that on opening day you get the best prices, unlike Disney Cruiseline for example.
3. This together with 2, this seems to be an American custom. Here it often even specifies that if you buy something and the next day it goes on sale, that's then too bad.
What you can of course do is book it, and if something better becomes available, cancel it and book a new one. Provided you have a cancellable booking.