Advice for our trip to DLP

[shushh]

Just thought I'd ask the more experienced for their thoughts and opinions on when we should do DLP. I apologise if some of the answers to my questions have been answered previously but there is a lot of information to be absorbed and I'm very confused at the moment...

We'll be arriving on Saturday 8th Dec from Sydney which is a Saturday morning. The flight arrives at around 9am at CDG. We then leave the Paris area on Sunday morning 16th December. We would like to spend 2 days at the park but we can be easily convinced to spend 3! Ideally we'd like to stay onsite and we're keen to be there either at the beginning of our stay or the end and not have to move our children and luggage around!

Do you think it'd be better to check in on the 8th and then check out on the 12th? I'm estimating that by the time we get to the hotel and dump our bags it'd be around 11-12? (we're planning to get a private transfer). We'd then grab lunch, try to stay awake by browsing downtown Disney and we'll probably crash close to 6pm. On the Sunday, we can either go sightsee one of the nearby towns or head to the outlet. And then we'll go to the parks on Monday and Tuesday. This way we'll miss the business of the weekends and Wednesday. Do you think the Sunday will be that bad? Should we just go to the parks on the Sunday?

Alternatively, we can do it at the end of our stay in Paris. So go there first thing Thursday morning, dump our bags, hit the parks Thursday, Fri. Downtown Disney or the parks for a third day on Saturday before leaving early Sunday morning.

I was going to the 1AP to get the discount off the room rate and hopefully get francilien tickets for the rest of the family but I was told that the discount isn't really that good anyway. A reason for this is that we'll be staying onsite without going to the parks for some of the days and we didn't want to get charged for the tickets as well! Was going to get the Fantasy AP but the blockout dates included the 8th and the 9th. Is it worth getting APs for all 5 of us, seeing as we'll get the 20% discount?

I guess I should just wait to see if any deals come out for December as well as check out sites like promoparc etc closer the the date? I'm also starting to get confused as to which are e-tickets and which aren't? Important for us as we're in Australia and I'm guessing they'll charge a bomb to post stuff here!

I'm sorry for the ramble. Would appreciate your thoughts!

 

[jothp]

I would think that as you are staying offsite you would probably be better off just paying for the package rather than getting annual passes, by the time you have factored in the cost of the passes the package will probably work out cheaper. I think I would do disney at the beginning of your holiday so you are there monday and tuesday I have never been in the park on a Sunday so can't help you there.

 

[torsie24]

If you book a package online you'll get length of stay tickets, so I wouldn't personally pay the onsite premium and then have 2 days not using my tickets.

If you arrive on the Saturday morning you'd be at DLRP by lunchtime, so could check in, unpack/freshen up grab and Earl of Sandwich or something and have a little wander through the parks without feeling like you need to ride anything etc.

DLRPs village is nothing like DTD, you'll be done with it after 30 minutes, so you don't need to schedule any time there, it wouldn't fill a day.

Sundays often aren't too bad crowd wise, and Mondays and Tuesdays are amazing, so if you use the Saturday as a bit of a relaxing day and just have a meal and a wander, you'll be ready for some good rides by Sunday, and even then if you're tired by the evening you'll still have 2 full days to get everything done.

The benefit of being there on a weekend is that as it's early in the Christmas season, things like the night parade might only be on during a weekend, so if you're awake enough you could catch that.

 

[DLPDreams]

I can't help on all your questions but the lovely ladies above have. But what I will say is that the nearer you get to Christmas, the busier it will get. And, it gets very busy at Christmas. So, I too would do DLRP at the beginning of your stay rather than the end.

There are some great hotels within a 5-10 minute shuttle bus of the parks which might work out better if you don't plan to use tickets for all the days you are in a Disney hotel.

 

[Ms Poppins]

I agree that you'll get the best of the parks if you stay at the beginning of the week.

I'd also hold off booking anything until later in the year as there will most likely be offers for the winter period.

 

[shushh]

Thank you all!

I didn't know much about Disney Village and assume it was similar to DTD so thank you for correcting my assumption! I will wait until closer to the date and see what deals come up.