Best time to book for December 2014?

[SleepyNonah]

We're looking at taking our two monsters to DLP during the Christmas season this year.

Flights wise the 2nd of December to either the 4th or 5th would suit us best and looking at the prices and hotels, it looks like the Cheyenne would be our best on-site option. So far, visitdlandparis.com is giving us the best price of £529.00 (2 nights free + 1 child under 8 going free) for the 4 nights including tickets and breakfast.

Is this as good a deal as we're likely to get? Checking the same time-frame for November we'd be looking at £907.90 also comes with free half-board meals/

I can't imagine that even at DLP prices, half-board for 4 days is worth almost £400?

I did spot that the character greetings at the hotels will be stopped by December which worries me a little. We went back in October 2009 and found it impossible to get a photo of the kids with any of their favourites (think all actually managed to get was one of my wife with Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas). Are the extra magic hours good for character meetings inside the park?

 

[cdsmiler81]

Hello and welcome!!

A quick answer with regards to the characters, the meet and greets in the parks, including the ad-hoc non-advertised ones, are now all manned by a CM who make everyone queue! So if you're in the queue, your monsters will meet the character! We met LOADS last week!

C x

 

[SleepyNonah]

Delighted to hear that, our little fella was only 4 the last time we were there and he couldn't understand why the other children wouldn't take their turn in the queue!

 

[Christieand]

Does that price include the hotel, park tickets, and flights? If so it sounds like a great deal!

 

[SleepyNonah]

Nope, just hotel and park tickets.

We're considering early January now as 4 nights / 5 days of passes for Cheyenne comes to £336 then and Flights from Dublin to Beauvais are reasonable too (can be had for approx €110 p.p.)

Transfer from Beauvais is a bit pricey but thinking of a car hire and so far looks like we could get everything bar our meals and spending money for a shade under €1,000 for 5 days.

 

[cdsmiler81]

When in January? As if you choose the week commencing 5th Jan, you can get REALLY good prices AND the first two days will still have the Christmas celebrations taking place (I believe the last day is the 6th, although if it's anything like this year the decorations may still be around for a few days after! But the parades and any other Christmas themed shows will stop after the 6th). Might be a consideration??

C x

 

[SleepyNonah]

We're looking at arriving on the 6th

Is there a complete list of the optional extras and prices available anywhere? The sites all include the meal plans, character breakfasts etc. but I'm seeing mentions of guided tours of the park, princess make-overs, breakfast in the DLH. options to order baloons in the room etc.

A full options list would be brilliant to help the budget!

 

[cdsmiler81]

I'm not sure if there's an official extras list, but I can tell you some from my experience:

DLH Breakfast has just gone up to 35E per person!!
There's a Segway tour around the Lake and hotels (I think) for about 15E (you can find info about this near the New York Ice Rink.
Facepainting inside Studio 1 - 12E, but a few designs are 8E.

I DID ask about the Princess makeover once but I can't remember the details - we decided against it, bought DD a dress from the Disney Store before we went (£30), I did her hair in a simple Cinderella bun on the day, and we were going to have her face painted too (didn't though, long story!) but worked out a LOT cheaper than the makeovers, but I know some on here have done them.....

Thats a start -others I'm sure can also help!

C x

 

[SleepyNonah]

Thanks for the tips, spotted the thread about the increase in the DLH breakfast alright, this forum is brilliant!

 

[DLPdaft]

The Guided tours of the Parks at DLP are fabulous, but I wouldn't recommend them with young children (ie under about 10 years old) as its 2 hours of walking around the parks talking about them, no rides etc.

You might find some interesting stuff in our Very Useful Information threads at the top of the forum .

 

[SleepyNonah]

I've been scouring through the links in it!

Our monsters will be 6 and 9 by the time of the trip and are both good walkers anyway so can't see the walking tour being a problem for them. I think Santa is going to be giving the kids the holiday tickets under the tree this year so will need to mail the hotel to make sure they'll play along!

 

[DLPdaft]

I've been scouring through the links in it!

Our monsters will be 6 and 9 by the time of the trip and are both good walkers anyway so can't see the walking tour being a problem for them. I think Santa is going to be giving the kids the holiday tickets under the tree this year so will need to mail the hotel to make sure they'll play along!

its not the walking thats the issue for a 6-year old in my opinion - will your 6-year old be happy listening to a tour guide rambling on for 2 hours about the influences behind the park architecture etc?

 

[SleepyNonah]

The 9 year old would. The 6 year old will, I suspect be too fascinated by all the things she's seeing to pay any heed to the guide.

 

[SleepyNonah]

Pulled the trigger and booked the flights and hotel Cheyenne for January 6th to the 10th.