Booked Eurostar For Easter 2008!!!

[kevankiki]

Had a message left on my answerphone yesterday to say that Eurostar was open for booking next March, I was a bit miffed as I had also given them my work number, still I called last night and spoke to a very helpful lady called Hayley who was still able to deal with my booking. We are now booked 21st - 24th March 2008

St Pancras is not so convenient for us as Waterloo, so I have booked from Ashford, though this can be changed at no charge! I need to work out the logistics of getting there.

Those familiar with the Disneyland Direct timetable may be interested to know that, with the new timetables, the train will now arrive an hour earlier and leave an hour later from Disneyland. This means we have to be at Ashford around 8.30am! Seeing as Good Friday is presumably a bank holiday I need to check train times with rail enquiries, hopefully the 6am train is still running from our village. An alternative might be to go the afternoon before and stay over, are there any cheap hotels close to Ashford International, that are convenient?

Or maybe there is another station we could be dropped at, that DH could take us to and collect us from, I've no idea what routes run out of Ashford International and again it would be worth talking to rail enquiries about this too. It would also help our return journey, as we arrive back at Ashford at 8.40pm and would probably miss the next available train, consequently we would not get back to our village until 00.18am!

We still need to find somewhere to sleep too, I guess taking sleeping bags and sleeping in Disneyland Castle isn't an option?

I'm not sure at this time whether to stay on site or off site, if I can get a good discount on a Disney hotel using our Dream Passes then I might just got for it, otherwise the Holiday Inn seems about the cheapest option at around £60 per night (no breakfast though). Or perhaps converting Tesco points to Air Miles would be an option? So much to plan, but I love the planning part most of all!

Will update my ticker thing later, we are so excited!!!!

 

[meeko cat]

Yay

Happy planning

 

[Cyrano]

Great news

 

[Ware Bears]

Woo hoo Annette, great news!!!

I'm sure some have mentioned staying at the Holiday Inn at Ashford if you do decide to travel up the night before.

I'm still a bit peeved about the Eurostar relocating to St Pancras, as it's just not so convenient on the way home although I don't mind travelling out from there as we do like staying in London for a day or two beforehand.

Depending on how we get on with flying in October we might well decide to fly next summer as well.

 

[kevankiki]

Since my posting DH has said he can't understand what I am flapping about, he sees no problem in running us up to St Pancras! I've clocked it and it's actually only 45 miles from here, it is in the Congestion Charge zone I note so does anyone know if this would be payable on Good Friday and BH Monday (though I think we come back late enough to avoid the charge anyway). Also, I wonder what it's like round that area, is it as busy as central London (or is it actually central anyway?)

So, what I may actually do is change my booking to go from St Pancras, though not just yet.

I did consider flying (probably £50 cheaper), however we would have to go from a London airport and this wouldn't be any less hassle than getting to St Pancras really. We'd also have the hassle at the other end, and the added cost of getting from the airport to the park (maybe more than £50?), and Eurostar is just so convenient!

I rang Disney yesterday but they don't have discounted rates available for next March yet, anyone know how the system works if you call the French number?

 

[wintergreen]

I tried booking for the same time period via the U.S. online booking agent here in the States, and was not able to do so because I am outside 180 days of my travel date in the U.S. Does anyone know if I can book via telephone in the U.S. so that I can get this taken care of sooner? Thanks!!!

 

[kevankiki]

Just looked on the Eurostar web site and under contact details it says:

Telephone Bookings
Call us on 08705 186 186 or if calling from outside the UK +44 (0)1233 617 575 from 8am to 9pm

I think it's worth giving them a call as it appears they can take bookings over the phone before they are available on the site. When are you looking to go?

 

[wintergreen]

March 18. I'm a bit worried about the decent prices being snapped up before the ability to book on line, as that is a holiday week.

 

[kevankiki]

It is 6.15pm here in the UK so you should be able to call them right now!

Good luck

 

[wintergreen]

Would do, but I'm at work (oops, maybe I shouldn't be reading the boards right now either). Will try over the weekend. Thanks for the info.

 

[kevankiki]

Doesn't specify whether the phones are open over the weekend, worth a try though, perhaps Saturday morning UK time (so long as that's not the middle of the night for you?). If not, then maybe your time is far away behind us to try last thing on a Sunday night, i.e. 9am UK time?

Don't leave it too long though, as I don't think I got the cheapest possible tickets!