This time next week! 7 days to go... First time visitor, a few Q's :)

I can't believe how fast the time has gone, and this time next week we will be in the air and on our way to CDG Airport!

But I have a few questions...Of course!

So we are first time visitors, staying for 4 nights at Sante Fe. I booked this resort because I didn't want to pay through the roof, as we won't be using much of the hotel's facilities (we never do!) Its just a place to sleep but I wanted to benefit from EMH, so this seemed like a good choice.

My Frist Question is TRANSFERS! I read in detail about the TGV and also about the RER A & B to get to DLP from CDG. My question is, which one?

Now TGV is showing at £90 return for both of us on the days/times we need and I know its much quicker, but how much is the Metro RER line going to cost if we go that way via Paris? It is worth the cost to spend £90 or not? Am I just being a cheapskate?

Secondly, Is it relatively easy to figure it out where to go etc?

This is my brief plan for the week, any suggestions welcome. We are brand new to DLP but have done WDW Twice!

Wed 22nd April, Land in Paris around 3pm, given time to get off plane - transfer, aiming to arrive at Santa Fe at 5-5.30pm? Reasonable?

Check in, unpack, change and head to Magic Kingdom for something to eat (Just counter service) and then see Dreams. We probably wont go on any rides or anything, just relax and have a nosey round for our first evening

Thursday 23 April - Up bright and early we have breakfast included in our stay, so I assume we eat at the hotel? Then stroll to Magic Kingdom for rope drop (Do they do rope drop at MK DLP?) Either way be there for opening at 8am!

Hit all the headliners that we need want to do, characters etc. Is there anything we should go to first, as a MUST?

Stay in the park probably all day, but not sure where to book for dinner? Do I stay in MK, any recommendations (not character meals please, OH not a fan) or do we go to Disney Village?

Friday 24th April - Small lie in and then head to Studios Park for 10am opening, and head straight to Crushes Coaster first, is this the busiest one? try and complete all the rides/shows etc in the day.

Then dinner at Buffalo Bills wild west show? (I thinks that's the name!)

Saturday 25th April - Early start and a full day and night in Paris, think we'll just get the RER line straight to the city centre, Notre Dame and Eiffel Tower are our main do's as we missed them a few years ago. We've dinner booked at our favourite little back alley restaurant

Sunday 26th April, our flight is at 4pm, so we're hoping for an early start, breakfast, check out and leave our suitcases at the hotel, then try and get anything we've missed or revisit our favourites again before getting back to the hotel at 1pm to collect our cases, and get the train back to CDG airport for our flights!

We have no hold luggage, only cabin bags if that helps with anyone's advice regarding times etc!

Also any advice for first time visitors from you seasoned visitors that we might miss and should spend the time doing etc?

Thanks all x

Congratulations, you must be so excited!

Bumping this as I can't help you with transfers from CDG I'm afraid.

The Santa Fe breakfast is served in the main building. It can get very crowded with long queues but by going early you should avoid this. Breakfast opens at 07.00. The park opens at 08.00 and you will need your hotel easy pass to enter at this time. EMH only gives access to a few rides in Fantasyland and Discoveryland (Peter Pan, Dumbo, Carousel, Buzz, Space Mountain spring to mind although I think Dumbo is closed for refurbishment at present) not the whole park. There are also queued character meet and greets. These are usually Micky, Donald, Pluto, Goofy, Tic and Tac. It is a good idea to get some of these rides under your belt before the park opens but at the same time if it is the characters you are really after I would advise queueing for them first. The reason for this is that the Main Street area of the park is open to everyone from 09.00 and the character queues can get very long from then on.

Make sure you explore the castle, both upstairs and below where the dragon resides in her lair. The Swing into Spring season is beautiful and there will be pretty detail and planting everywhere as well as the themed parades and shows which are not to be missed. In the Studios the Ratatouille area is beautifully themed and a must see.

Equally Paris is gorgeous in April too and the best time to just stroll along the Seine lined with trees in blossom.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday.

If you want to do Crush, you need to get earlier to the Studios. Officially they open at 10:00 but the gates open earlier. You should try to be there by 9:30, and then join the people running towards Crush (though apparently now there's also another morning race towards Ratatouille). I've seen Crush up and running around 9:45 already, not sure if they always do that or only when the morning queue gets too long...

The Ratatouille area is gorgeous, and if you can go back in the evening when it's all lit up is even better. The ride is brilliant too, and between fastpasses and single rider you should be able to do it once or twice

If you're spending a day in the Studios, try to go for lunch in the Cafe des Cascadeurs, it's a little diner (close to the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster) that has the best burgers in the park. Or if you have a bigger budget, the Bistrot Chez Remy is really good, delicious food (though not cheap); better to book it in advance though.

If you're going by train, you may want to consider leaving your bags directly in the station Sunday morning; they have a baggage service (on the first floor, it's clearly indicated) and it's not too expensive (particularly if you only have small bags). It will save you a trip back to the hotel and give you a bit more time in the parks (the station is very close to the park entrance)

Hope you have a wonderful holiday!

Azza1987 said:

My Frist Question is TRANSFERS! I read in detail about the TGV and also about the RER A & B to get to DLP from CDG. My question is, which one?

Now TGV is showing at £90 return for both of us on the days/times we need and I know its much quicker, but how much is the Metro RER line going to cost if we go that way via Paris? It is worth the cost to spend £90 or not? Am I just being a cheapskate?

Secondly, Is it relatively easy to figure it out where to go etc?

Wed 22nd April, Land in Paris around 3pm, given time to get off plane - transfer, aiming to arrive at Santa Fe at 5-5.30pm? Reasonable?

Sunday 26th April, our flight is at 4pm, so we're hoping for an early start, breakfast, check out and leave our suitcases at the hotel, then try and get anything we've missed or revisit our favourites again before getting back to the hotel at 1pm to collect our cases, and get the train back to CDG airport for our flights!

We have no hold luggage, only cabin bags if that helps with anyone's advice regarding times etc!

Also any advice for first time visitors from you seasoned visitors that we might miss and should spend the time doing etc?

Thanks all x

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Hi, The RER will cost you 17€05 pp but will take over 2 hrs to do - For the price of the TGV I'd be looking at a shared shuttle with RS Transports - people who have done it here have rarely shared and it costs around 70€

I don't know where you are coming from or which terminal you land at but it can take a fair while to get through the imigration and baggage claim at CDG so you could be a lot later at SF especially if you take the RER

Again when you leave if you are flying say to the US you need to be at the airport 3 hrs before and if you are flying short or medium haul 2hrs even with cabin bags.

hth

Hi All,

Thanks so much for all this information Just one sleep left to go....! I'm so excited.

Transfers - I've booked the TGV train on the Sunday for our return journey at 14.02 which gets us into Terminal 2 at 14.11 I think and our flight is at 15.50 also from Terminal 2 so we'll have just shy of 2 hours which I hope is enough to get through security and find the gate.

When we land tomorrow, Im hoping we can get the TGV train as well but Im not pre-booking as unsure on times to get off the plane, get through passport control and find the station etc. Hopefully it'll be fairly straight forward! Do I just look for TGV signs?

Thanks for info re EMH, I didn't realise it was only limited rides/meets that were open, I thought it would be the whole park like WDW does. Never mind, we'll still get there early I think to make sure we get everything done whilst we are there.

I'll make a note of the burger place, My finance loves a good burger so that'll definitely be one to go too!

Thanks so much for the station baggage tip, that's definitely worth while doing so we don't have to trek across the park when we are done on our final day.

Now just to pack, and ship the cats off to my mums tonight! We're not taking hold baggage, so this could be quite a task!

Tomorrow!!

Please let me know if there's much price difference between booking the TGV in advance and waiting until you arrive in Paris I'm fairly sure the TGV will be heavily signposted from the airport.

The burger place interests me too, so remember to tell us what you think (although I'm veggie, my boyfriend will enjoy a nice cheap burger)

I hope you have a lovely time and the weather stays as nice as it's been for you!!

Komble said:

The burger place interests me too, so remember to tell us what you think (although I'm veggie, my boyfriend will enjoy a nice cheap burger)

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They do have an apparently very good veggie burger...

Komble said:

Tomorrow!!

Please let me know if there's much price difference between booking the TGV in advance and waiting until you arrive in Paris I'm fairly sure the TGV will be heavily signposted from the airport.

The burger place interests me too, so remember to tell us what you think (although I'm veggie, my boyfriend will enjoy a nice cheap burger)

I hope you have a lovely time and the weather stays as nice as it's been for you!!

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I've not been in since we've come back and tbh looking at the menu change don't think we'll bother - he's the latest menu and my review

http://www.disboards.com/threads/cafe-des-cascadeurs-restaurant-review.1424991/

Hope you are having a great time Azza and enjoying the sunshine

Carrie_Cat said:

I've not been in since we've come back and tbh looking at the menu change don't think we'll bother - he's the latest menu and my review

http://www.disboards.com/threads/cafe-des-cascadeurs-restaurant-review.1424991/

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It looks like the prices have gone up quite a bit but that's not too bad. I'm wondering what the portion sizes are like in comparison to Annette's - I used to love the Annette's veggie burger back in 2010 but they've changed it a few times from what I see..

elena_n2o said:

They do have an apparently very good veggie burger...

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The veggie burger sounds good, might be worth checking out - though anything could change before 2016, haha!

How much did the TGV cost purchasing the day of arrival vs. prebooking? Were there issues finding available seats?

Hi all!

Sat here at Marne Le Villes waiting for our 14:02 TGV train to take us back to CDG!

So I booked our return tickets in the UK and just collected them when we landed at CDG, I paid £29 for two of us (£14.50 each) but the ticket is printed at €18.50 each or €37 total. Which is pretty much bang on for current exchange rate.

We landed about 14.50 and just followed the signs for the rail station, it wasn't that clear that this was also for TGV as it only listed RER on the signs but we assumed it would be the same station. Found the yellow ticket machines easily enough but has a bit of a wait for the next TGV train which wasn't until 16.12 so about an hour but we decided to wait for TGV instead of RER in and out. The tickets were €29 each or €58 total. Which again is bang on current exchange at 1.3 to the £1. There was no struggle getting seats and no huge lines for the machines.

But we did land mid afternoon on a Wednesday so I'm not sure how much difference that would make on a Saturday arrival!

We used the RER to get in and out of Paris on Saturday and our day tickets were €33 for both of us I think.

If I'm recommending what I prefer TGV was easy, very quick and comfortable for the time we were on the train but equally it isn't hard to figure out the RER in and out of the city and your ticket would be a bit cheaper. So it depends on whether you have to wait for the next TGV train or want to save a few €'s!

I'll post a trip report shortly with my views as a frequent WDW visitor but first time DLP visitor!

Thank you everyone for your help!

Azza1987 said:

So I booked our return tickets in the UK and just collected them when we landed at CDG, I paid £29 for two of us (£14.50 each) but the ticket is printed at €18.50 each or €37 total. Which is pretty much bang on for current exchange rate

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What website did you use to book your tickets?

Also, quick question - when booking your tickets in advance, how did you work out the timing? I'm concerned that we may either miss our train or be far too early

Hope you had a lovely trip, I look forward to reading your trip report!

Komble said:

What website did you use to book your tickets?

Also, quick question - when booking your tickets in advance, how did you work out the timing? I'm concerned that we may either miss our train or be far too early

Hope you had a lovely trip, I look forward to reading your trip report!

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I only booked our return train tickets back to CDG with TGV for that exact reason, being unsure on times etc. It was perfectly fine on our way out, but personally I wouldn't book on the way out in case the flight was delayed or there was lengthy queues at security and you miss your train. We had an hour wait between our flight landing and the next TGV train going to DLP, but we just got a sandwich and waited. It wasn't unpleasant but the station is very busy so we sat outside in the covered bit at the top of the platforms. There is always trains going to and from the station, I doubt you'd ever have more then an hour to wait for a TGV train but if you did you could always consider getting the RER B to Challet Le Halles, and then RER A to DLP Not sure on time it would take as we didn't do that route, but others might have a better idea on time it takes.

We had no issues on our return train, got on it at 14.02 promptly, arrived at CDG at 14.12 and we were through security and passport control by 14.45 and our flight didn't leave until 15.50 so we had about 35 minutes to kill before they started boarding the flight.

Wow, thanks sooooo much! That really helps!
Was there much price difference between pre-booking and buying on arrival at CDG?
If I end up booking in advance for both journeys I'll make sure I leave a good amount of time to allow for delays, security queues etc. I think the RER takes around 2 hours, so it might be worth holding out for the TGV, especially for the convenience.

Very informative, thanks so much. I may just do the same thing and book the return ticket and just wait to get to CDG to book the ticket to DLP. That way I can get on the first TGV available, rather than have to wait for the one I booked or worse yet miss the TGV because of a flight delay.
Do you remember what terminal you landed in and how long it took to walk to the TGV station? Also did you have luggage to pick up or did you just travel with carry on bags? If you had luggage how long did that take approximately?

I would love to read your trip report, please link it here!!

Liza111577 said:

Very informative, thanks so much. I may just do the same thing and book the return ticket and just wait to get to CDG to book the ticket to DLP. That way I can get on the first TGV available, rather than have to wait for the one I booked or worse yet miss the TGV because of a flight delay.
Do you remember what terminal you landed in and how long it took to walk to the TGV station? Also did you have luggage to pick up or did you just travel with carry on bags? If you had luggage how long did that take approximately?

I would love to read your trip report, please link it here!!

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It will be longer for your family as you are coming in from the US and not Europe - afaik - and therefore you've got immigration to go through. Baggage claim is also often long for the long haul flights.Depending on who you are flying with you could be arriving at T1 or T2- If it's T2 the TGV/RER are located at this terminal so you could walk it if you are at T1 you will have to get the bus or the train to T2 first.

The TGV tickets are sold with an option of changing your train if you miss the one you booked. It's slightly dearer but still cheaper than buying a walk up fare in the height of the tourist season or at the weekend.

We'll probably just buy the tickets with the option to change in case we miss it. We're actually flying in from Italy, so still within the EU. My whole family lives there, so we spend time with them in the summer.

We're flying in on Air France from Naples.