Booking a trip from the UK?

[Sarah28]

Hi all

Firstly, Happy Thanksgiving to you all, hope you have a great day!

This is my first time in the Disneyland thread and was wondering if there was any UK Dissers around to ask about booking a complete holiday to Disneyland? We live right near the bottom of the UK so we visit Disneyland Paris quite frequently, have recently returned from Disney World, but would love to visit the original park now!

I know Disneyland is not as popular with the UK as Disney World is, so I would love to hear how other people have booked their trips? I am interested in booking a complete package type thing if possible (Flights, Accommodation, Park Tickets etc). Is this something that a travel agent like VH could put together?

Thanks for any help, much appreciated!

 

[alix1979]

Not exactly an expert, but we visited Disneyland in Sept for the first time from UK (we're from Kent).
We've also been to Paris and Orlando several times and the first thing I would say is - Disneyland in California is lovely but not enough there to make a whole holiday. Well not from the UK, as the flight is so long - around 10 hours.

We did Disneyland & DCA on a mini road trip, starting Vegas and stopping at Anaheim, LA, Monterey and San Fran (we flew back from SF).
This cost approx £3k for 2 adults and was booked through Thomson.

We spent 2 full days in Anaheim, 1 in each of the parks. We then returned for an afternoon to do a Halloween tour and see fireworks. So even if you wanted to laze around etc - you wouldnt really need anymore than 4 days.

Its wonderful to see the original park and we had a brilliant time - but it's much more similar in size to Paris than Orlando and you couldn't fill a 2 week holiday here. Well you could if you were planning to do LA/Universal/Warner Bros beach etc.

If you say more about your plans/how many travelling etc - might be able to help with approx prices

 

[ukstitch]

I've never seen a complete package, but I find it easier to just book everything direct as you seem to get a number of "perks" by booking seperately and directly that you don't get by going through somebody like expedia.

I use the following:

- flights: virgin or british airways
- hotel: easy to book direct with whichever. Most US hotels seem to give a cancellation policy that means you can cancel almost up to the day of arrival with no fine for doing this.
- Park tickets: again this is something i book direct through the disneyland website and then print them at home
- Airport transfers: I like to use the Disneyland express which again i can book direct online

 

[ben1993]

DLR isn't marketed to the UK so there aren't really any package type holidays available that would be worth booking. Much easier to DIY.

I'm looking into DLR next as a break from WDW, although most people would only recommend 3 or 4 days I could easily spend a week there, but that's up to you and your pce at the parks, we tend to sleep in a bit , spend a lot of time at the pool and lazing around etc. Look into splitting the trip with the beaches in the O.C. and Vegas or SanFran.

 

[Sarah28]

Thanks for your feedback all, very helpful

Not exactly an expert, but we visited Disneyland in Sept for the first time from UK (we're from Kent).
We've also been to Paris and Orlando several times and the first thing I would say is - Disneyland in California is lovely but not enough there to make a whole holiday. Well not from the UK, as the flight is so long - around 10 hours.

We did Disneyland & DCA on a mini road trip, starting Vegas and stopping at Anaheim, LA, Monterey and San Fran (we flew back from SF).
This cost approx £3k for 2 adults and was booked through Thomson.

We spent 2 full days in Anaheim, 1 in each of the parks. We then returned for an afternoon to do a Halloween tour and see fireworks. So even if you wanted to laze around etc - you wouldnt really need anymore than 4 days.

Its wonderful to see the original park and we had a brilliant time - but it's much more similar in size to Paris than Orlando and you couldn't fill a 2 week holiday here. Well you could if you were planning to do LA/Universal/Warner Bros beach etc.

If you say more about your plans/how many travelling etc - might be able to help with approx prices

Hi Alix1979, I'm originally from Kent, but moved to sunny Brighton a few years ago

Here's a bit more about my plans: Just me and my other half, both mid/late 20s - He's a maths teacher so we are limited to school holidays. We both love Halloween and ideally would love to go during October half term. Not sure if we'd be up for doing a self drive thing - was just looking for more of a package type thing (I know they don't do them as such but was wondering if would be easier if somewhere like VH could tailor make us a trip). I was toying with the idea of staying onsite - not sure if anyone would recommend this? No idea on prices yet, just trying to figure out the whole thing first

I've been doing a bit of research, and knew it was much smaller in comparison to WDW, but that's what we're looking for for this trip. I've always wanted to go to DL and thought seeing as we are limited to school holidays, thought it would be more manageable to do in a week in Oct half term comfortably with lots more time to relax and take it easy. We recently did WDW in a week which was great, but we were so tired after!

I've never seen a complete package, but I find it easier to just book everything direct as you seem to get a number of "perks" by booking seperately and directly that you don't get by going through somebody like expedia.

I use the following:

- flights: virgin or british airways
- hotel: easy to book direct with whichever. Most US hotels seem to give a cancellation policy that means you can cancel almost up to the day of arrival with no fine for doing this.
- Park tickets: again this is something i book direct through the disneyland website and then print them at home
- Airport transfers: I like to use the Disneyland express which again i can book direct online

Hi UKStitch, that's really helpful for you to list everything you use I did think it probably would be more cost effective to book everything direct.

DLR isn't marketed to the UK so there aren't really any package type holidays available that would be worth booking. Much easier to DIY.

I'm looking into DLR next as a break from WDW, although most people would only recommend 3 or 4 days I could easily spend a week there, but that's up to you and your pce at the parks, we tend to sleep in a bit , spend a lot of time at the pool and lazing around etc. Look into splitting the trip with the beaches in the O.C. and Vegas or SanFran.

Hi Ben1993, yes we would be looking into exactly the same thing - going for a week and taking it at a much slower pace!

If anyone has views about staying onsite or not, would love to hear about them. Thanks all - much appreciated

 

[ben1993]

The onsite debate for DLR is really about how much of a Disney purist the person is :lol: Unlike WDW there is no real advantage to staying onsite that makes it worth the (very large) extra cost, but, if you're a geek like me then you just wouldn't be satisfied without staying at a Disney resort.

All 3 of the hotels are expensive, but if you do want to stay at a Disney hotel, look into renting DVC points and staying at a studio at the Grand Californian, it should work out a lot cheaper than even Paradise Pier (but still more than many offsite hotels). Just a thought! That's what I'll be doing anyway.

 

[A Small World]

Here's a bit more about my plans: Just me and my other half, both mid/late 20s - He's a maths teacher so we are limited to school holidays. We both love Halloween and ideally would love to go during October half term. Not sure if we'd be up for doing a self drive thing - was just looking for more of a package type thing (I know they don't do them as such but was wondering if would be easier if somewhere like VH could tailor make us a trip). I was toying with the idea of staying onsite - not sure if anyone would recommend this? No idea on prices yet, just trying to figure out the whole thing first

I've been doing a bit of research, and knew it was much smaller in comparison to WDW, but that's what we're looking for for this trip. I've always wanted to go to DL and thought seeing as we are limited to school holidays, thought it would be more manageable to do in a week in Oct half term comfortably with lots more time to relax and take it easy. We recently did WDW in a week which was great, but we were so tired after!

If anyone has views about staying onsite or not, would love to hear about them. Thanks all - much appreciated

Hi Sarah - I went last year for October half term with UK Stitch and DD (10) We flew from Heathrow Saturday morning and home again the following Saturday evening. We spent 4 full days and 2 part days in the parks. As well at Disney we went to Seaworld in San Diego for a day and Knotts theme park for another day. We also did the Disney Halloween Party in the evening after going to Knotts. It was plenty of time to do what we wanted and do the rides several times
We stayed off site at Hojos which is quite a popular hotel amongst dissers - as we spend so little time in the hotel it didnt seem worth paying onsite prices especially as several of the off site hotels are within walking distance and as close as the onsite ones.

We are going again next month and again staying at Hojos but this time are heading to Vegas for a few days as well

 

[alix1979]

Sounds like a nice relaxing time! I would say though, deffo rent a car! The Disney Village is nice to eat in for the evening (as is Steakhouse 55) but for a week - it would become quite limited for choice. Even driving 10 mins out will open other options for you. Also - as other posters say, there is Knotts etc and I'd say a visit to the beach here is a must : so lovely!!
We stayed for 3 nights in the Best Western Stovalls Inn which is about a 10 mins easy walk into Disney. It was very good for the price, very similar to most of the other hotels in that walking vicinity.
We also stayed for 1 night at the Disneyland Hotel - just because it looked nice!! The rooms have been renovated, have lovely light up, carved headboards etc. The walk is a little shorter and the "magic" factor is ramped up - but this is all you truely gain. As per other posters, you dont really get any added extras like you do in WDW

 

[A Small World]

Just to add we didnt have a car for the week we were there. We used Gray Line to take us to Seaworld and Knotts

http://tours.coachamerica.com/graylineanaheim/toursAna.cfm

They were very efficient and collected/dropped off at our hotel.

We also didnt feel the need to go further afield to look for eating places- we ate mainly in the park and hotels (Steakhouse 55, Napa Rose, Storytellers, Blue Bayou, Goofys Brunch ) and Mimis one evening and McDonalds on our way back from the Halloween party

 

[Sarah28]

Thanks for all the feedback guys!

A Small World - your trip sounds perfect to me, exactly what we are looking for. Good to hear that you don't have to hire a car to get about, but might be something we could look into

Alix1979 - good to hear your thoughts about staying onsite - I think we were thinking about staying onsite to be closer to everything, but as you say, if most things are walking distance to the parks, that would be just as ideal, and most cost effective!

I did a very rough costing the other night, and it did work out about £3000+ for the both of us (I did it with onsite hotel) - I was most surprised about the flight prices to be honest so this is something I think I would need to look further into - especially as we would probably be going Saturday to Saturday which would include weekend supplements

Any other insights would be appreciated! Thanks all x

 

[Huff]

4 days at DLR is generally enough to see and do everything without being rushed. 4 days gives plenty of time to take in the small attractions and time for dining etc. 3 days is plenty if you are more commando style but would not recommend it for 1st visit.

If staying onsite or at one of the walking distance resorts theres no need to rent a car. Also, most of the areas major resorts just down the road have free shuttles or use the Anaheim Transit shuttles to/from Disneyland.

Theres numerous other parks in the region to fill out a long 1 or 2 week vacation. Universal Studios, Knotts Berry Farm, Sea World, Magic Mountain, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Safari Park, Legoland, Beaches, Wineries and more. Grayline offers hotel pickup for many of those or rent a car for the day (we drive on the right side of road though!!).

You may wish to split your stay rather than stay at Disneyland the entire vacation.