Anyone use points to go to Disneyland Paris?

[Inkmahm]

exactly! you can book the room via telephone or expedia (European sites) and find the tickets for relatively low cost in France

I booked the hotel through our corporate expedia site so my advantage is not having to pay upfront. They charge my credit card the morning I check in. The official Disney hotels were booked so I ended up with one that was on the Disney site online but not really a Disney hotel. As long as I get EMH, I don't care.

Tickets I'm still not quite understanding. I'd like to buy in advance IF I can get a discount. Otherwise, I'll just buy when I get to France.

 

[bavaria]

From what I have seen, the non-Disney hotels are actually often nicer than the majority of the Disney hotels! (well, at least the guest rooms) Even the Hotel New York is somewhat sparse. But the Holiday Inn and a few other offsite hotels look quite nice.

kathleena stayed at the Holiday Inn last year I believe and I think that she was happy with her stay.

 

[tubtruck]

or not!

Very difficult to book through an American travel agency, to be frank. You can book room only on www.expedia.de (NOT the American site; unless they have recently added room only)

Or you can call the number for English speakers at DLRP however the UK posters here report that it goes to a Florida call centre (those of us using non-English phone lines are directed to European based agents)

Why not try www.expedia.co.uk there is "room only" on here and I imagine more folks on here will be able to read it being the English site rather than the German one, though it will be in British Pounds rather than Euros.

I would advise any Americans to always check the UK versions of the hotel sites before booking at WDW as well, I tend to check both the American and English whenever making cash reservations this inludes both disney.co.uk as well as disney.com, expedia, opodo etc. Sometimes the UK sites have some cracking deals. Last year I managed to get a weekend in the Poly off disney.co.uk at a massive discount to the price on disney.com
Also if you have relatives in the UK and you are only going for one trip per year consider getting the uk and Ireland only 14 or 21 day Ultimate tickets rather than an annual pass, they are quite a bit cheaper even with the DVC discount on annual passes. Disney wont post UK passes to the US or Canada but it may be possible to get them through one of the ticket agencies based in the UK that do the printed tickets that are converted to a proper ticket at the on site ticket offices.
Plenty of info on the UK DVC board of decent companies to buy them from in the UK and their web site addresses.

 

[Carl Aird]

So I should NOT use my DVC points to go to Disneyland paris?!
Then whats the point of being a member?
You suggest I book as a regular non member and get my ticlets once there correct?
Anyone know who to call to get a complete price quote as a DVC member
BUT
Before I become a member
because I would like to comapre the 2
This was a big reason I wanted to become a mamber
to go to Disneyland paris
but not my entire stay!

 

[tubtruck]

Stays outside the DVC resorts are just not worth the points, from a money point of view you would be better off renting them out to some one who wants to say at a DVC resort then spending the money on your reservation for Disneyland Paris. Its about time Disney looked at this as at the moment the points required are way too high.

 

[Lynne M]

So I should NOT use my DVC points to go to Disneyland paris?!
Then whats the point of being a member?

For most, the point of becoming a DVC member is to stay at the DVC resorts. That's what membership is meant for, that's where you get the value.

Just pay cash for your non-DVC trips, in the majority of cases it will be cheaper. Sometimes much, much cheaper.

If your primary reason for buying DVC is to go to non-DVC resorts, you're not going to be happy with your membership.

 

[Carl Aird]

HEY King of Prussia!!
LOVE THE MALL
THANKS FOR ADVICE!
Were thinking about that now!
we were planning to use it 2x a year
once for a WDW or Disneyland and second for a NON Disney resort like Paris, London or Vegas (Cher is there now you know soits a must)

 

[CarolA]

If you are going to France to see Paris PLEASE don't stay at DLP. It's a beautiful park. (IMHO much prettier then the US parks) but it's still the Magic Kingdom.

There are LOTS of resonsably priced accomodations in Paris that will allow you to actually experience the city without a 40 to 60 minute commute each way....

 

[bavaria]

If you are going to France to see Paris PLEASE don't stay at DLP. It's a beautiful park. (IMHO much prettier then the US parks) but it's still the Magic Kingdom.

There are LOTS of resonsably priced accomodations in Paris that will allow you to actually experience the city without a 40 to 60 minute commute each way....

CarolA and I totally agree on this point... .and say it over and over again.

I used to even go to DLRP FROM Paris - it was 40 minutes from the time I left the building to arriving at the park and a day at DLRP is far less exhausting than a day at WDW, so I could commute to and from Paris to the park easily

There is far more to the world than just Disney, and I personally don't understand going to one of the most amazing cities in the world and just focussing on Disney. To each their own, but to me it saddens me to think that people bypass Paris to see Disney only

 

[Inkmahm]

Why not try www.expedia.co.uk there is "room only" on here and I imagine more folks on here will be able to read it being the English site rather than the German one, though it will be in British Pounds rather than Euros.

I would advise any Americans to always check the UK versions of the hotel sites before booking at WDW as well, I tend to check both the American and English whenever making cash reservations this inludes both disney.co.uk as well as disney.com, expedia, opodo etc. Sometimes the UK sites have some cracking deals. Last year I managed to get a weekend in the Poly off disney.co.uk at a massive discount to the price on disney.com
Also if you have relatives in the UK and you are only going for one trip per year consider getting the uk and Ireland only 14 or 21 day Ultimate tickets rather than an annual pass, they are quite a bit cheaper even with the DVC discount on annual passes. Disney wont post UK passes to the US or Canada but it may be possible to get them through one of the ticket agencies based in the UK that do the printed tickets that are converted to a proper ticket at the on site ticket offices.
Plenty of info on the UK DVC board of decent companies to buy them from in the UK and their web site addresses.

Wait, we get DVC discount on annual passes that are good at Disneyland Paris? What kind of discount? Are the 14 day tickets from the UK cheaper than buying a two day park hopper ticket at the park?

 

[Inkmahm]

CarolA and I totally agree on this point... .and say it over and over again.

I used to even go to DLRP FROM Paris - it was 40 minutes from the time I left the building to arriving at the park and a day at DLRP is far less exhausting than a day at WDW, so I could commute to and from Paris to the park easily

There is far more to the world than just Disney, and I personally don't understand going to one of the most amazing cities in the world and just focussing on Disney. To each their own, but to me it saddens me to think that people bypass Paris to see Disney only

I"ve been to Paris for sightseeing before and will likely get there again in the future. This next trip to France is for work purposes and I'm just adding a couple days at the end to see Disneyland Paris for the first time. In my case, I think it makes more sense to stay near Disney in a hotel where I can get EMH access.

 

[bavaria]

I"ve been to Paris for sightseeing before and will likely get there again in the future. This next trip to France is for work purposes and I'm just adding a couple days at the end to see Disneyland Paris for the first time. In my case, I think it makes more sense to stay near Disney in a hotel where I can get EMH access.

definitely - if you are going to DLRP only, it is best to stay onsite. But we sometimes see people planning for longer and going to Paris each day; that can get very tiring to travel back and forth each day!

 

[tinkerbell 766]

I am an English DVCer and used some points for a stay at DLRP a month ago. I agree that having to pay for a length of stay pass is a bit of a pain but for me it doesn't really matter as I would be paying for them if I were buying a package, which is what I have done in the past. I do not visit Paris as I have done so many times before and purely go to DLRP for my Disney fix. Paying with points makes it possible for me to stay at the Disneyland Hotel (next best thing to actually staying in Disneyland Park!!!). I could not justify the expense of it otherwise. Since I can only afford to go home every two years or so, it's nice to be able to use my points for a luxury fix, even if I do now have to buy length of stay passes. My advice would be stay at DLRP on points and buy passes for the amount of days you wish to visit the parks and then move to a Paris hotel for Paris siteseeing or obviously vice versa. By the way to the poster who said that the Holiday Inn etc offsite hotels are better than the onsite ones, I totally disagree and the bus service for these hotels is awful. Just my humble opinion

 

[Carl Aird]

I was'nt going to France just to do DLP I wanted that to be my home base
A benfit I thought I would have as being a DVC member
I wanted to do the park just 1 or 2 days and Paris the rest of the time
But if I have to buy tickets for my entire stay it dosent pay to do that!

 

[zorro77]

My wife went to Disney Paris in Nov. of 07. Stayed two nights at the New York. At that time she still got the park tickets with her stay. The morning breakfast was great and loved the hotel. Was easy to book the resort for that time of the year. It was cool when she was their but able to see what she wanted in the two days.

 

[bavaria]

I was'nt going to France just to do DLP I wanted that to be my home base
A benfit I thought I would have as being a DVC member
I wanted to do the park just 1 or 2 days and Paris the rest of the time
But if I have to buy tickets for my entire stay it dosent pay to do that!

no, it doesn't pay. And walking around Paris can be a very long day; taking the train back 40 minutes at the end of each day can make it feel very long.

May I suggest that you stay in Paris for the part of your trip to see Paris, and then move for the last or first few nights to a DLRP hotel. That way you are making better use of your time, and not paying for something you do not need.

As someone said earlier, using DVC points to stay 'outside the system' is not good value; the recent changes to DLRP via DVC make it even less of a value

 

[Maribel]

I booked my DLP stay with points and saved hundreds of dollars, even though I paid for the Length of stay tickets.
Here is my story:
I have two kids, 4 and 1 year old. They are offering packages right now where the kids under 7 stay and play free. This is valid for both cash and points reservations.
I wanted to stay in Disneyland Hotel, since this is the closest to the parks and we probably won't come back to disneyland paris for a very long time, so I wanted to be "extra special". We are living in madrid (spain) for a couple of years, and it's going to be hard for me to use my points in WDW until next year, so I'm splurging.
Now, to the numbers. For a 4 night stay (sunday to thursday) we are using 184 points. Tickets were $384 for two adults (kids free).
If you value your points at $10 that is a total of $2224
I actually value my points not at what I can get from them, but at what I actually pay for them, which is around $6, so to me, I'm actually paying aprox $1500
for a 4 night-5 day stay, including breakfast and tickets.

Now, I just went to the site recommended previously by other poster to check on room only for the same dates and I got 2932 EUROS, that is around
$4251. I don't understand dutch, but it looks that the package does include the tickets (the description of the package reads Standardzimmer-Mit Parktickets).

BTW, this is about the same price I was quoted directly on the DLP website before I decided to use my points.

Other advantage of using my points is that I'm paying my points monthly instead of lump sum without interests, so it doesn't matter when I book, I will pay the same amount each month. That to me is great.

So, do your math, and please take into account how you vacation. I mean, for some, it doesn't make sense to use their points outside of WDW because they use all of what they have on their vacations at WDW. For them, it makes sense to pay cash on all other vacations. Others prefer to rent their points for cash and then use that to pay for they vacations. You should know that this is kind of tricky and have some work involved in order to have a good deal. If you are up to it, go for it. I for once want to use my points for my family and not have to deal with renters, contracts, paypal, etc.

There may be other situations where using points is more expensive than paying cash, specially if you are going during weekend nights. I can tell you I spend two weeks researching the hotels, prices in both the US and Spain, using points, etc and for what I wanted my best and chepeast option was using points during weekdays.

I hope this helps you, and please let know if you have questions since I just went through this.

 

[bavaria]

II don't understand dutch, but it looks that the package does include the tickets (the description of the package reads Standardzimmer-Mit Parktickets).

While I do understand and read some Dutch, this is not Dutch, it is German. Standardroom with park tickets.

 

[Maribel]

While I do understand and read some Dutch, this is not Dutch, it is German. Standardroom with park tickets.

Ups, my bad. Thanks.
As you can see, I don't understand German either.

 

[Carl Aird]

Thats was really the element to close the deal for me
I know its sounds silly
when we went to WDW we had plans for our next trip to be Paris
when we heard of the DVC and that it included DLP we got very excited and wanted to sign up right away it seemd just what we wanted
but now...
I guess everyone has something silly to hear to close a deal
sometimes its stupid car mats thrown in to close the deal on a new car