Booking Disneyland Paris from Australia

[dollarmite]

I checked the DLP forum but couldn't find any info there.

Has anyone booked a stay at Paris Disney from Australia? I'm looking at 4-5 nights in late September/early October for 2 adults and 1 teenager.

Looking at their official French site it's about $AUD3700 for 5 nights at the Disneyland hotel including park tickets. It was around the same price via a UK site I found (and have now forgotten). Have I missed somewhere on their site where it's possible to book hotel only?

I can't seem to find anywhere to book the hotel only - Expedia says it's sold out for almost every single night I tried between now and November (it makes me doubt that they actually have it on their system at all). Webjet was between $5,500-$10,000 for the 4-5 nights.

I did find a park tickets only site, which quoted around $1000.00.

I'd love to stay at the official DLP hotel, but if these ridiculous prices are the only option, does anyone have recommendations for any of the other on-site hotels?

TIA.

 

[Aust]

I was at DLP about a year ago. I went with my sister in law who's a travel agent at Flight Centre so she booked through them. From my research on other sites it looks like all the hotel accomodation always comes with DL passes included - I couldn't find any for just room only.

We would have loved to stay at the Disneyland Hotel but it's so expensive! We stayed at Sequioa Lodge, it was fine, it looks like a less fancy version of Grand Californian but in the same style. The rooms were fine and it's less than a 10 minute walk to the park gates through Disney Village. Price was much more reasonable.

 

[AussieNSW]

I checked the DLP forum but couldn't find any info there.

Has anyone booked a stay at Paris Disney from Australia? I'm looking at 4-5 nights in late September/early October for 2 adults and 1 teenager.

Looking at their official French site it's about $AUD3700 for 5 nights at the Disneyland hotel including park tickets. It was around the same price via a UK site I found (and have now forgotten). Have I missed somewhere on their site where it's possible to book hotel only?

I can't seem to find anywhere to book the hotel only - Expedia says it's sold out for almost every single night I tried between now and November (it makes me doubt that they actually have it on their system at all). Webjet was between $5,500-$10,000 for the 4-5 nights.

I did find a park tickets only site, which quoted around $1000.00.

I'd love to stay at the official DLP hotel, but if these ridiculous prices are the only option, does anyone have recommendations for any of the other on-site hotels?

TIA.

We stayed last year about 1 week earlier and used world travellers from the uk. We were able to book a deal with them that gave us 2 free nights. It was a deal for the UK. They allowed me to book via their web site but I had to ring them with payment and they also allowed me to put a deposit down. Have a look on tripadvisor they have some information about deals for select countries. We stayed at the NewYork and were pleased with it.

 

[dollarmite]

Thank you for the feedback. I was hoping I'd missed some other options, but it seems not unfortunately. I will check into cheaper hotels, although the DLP Hotel looks so beautiful. Ah well. I've visited the Park before, but it was soon after opening so can't really remember many details.

I was checking park reviews at different sites, and the official DLP Facebook page reviews in particular are very negative, mainly in regards to smoking. I detest it with a passion and am actually rethinking the whole visit because of it. The lack of characters seems to be another problem. I'd welcome any feedback on the smoking issue from those who have visited in the last 6-12 months.

 

[Aust]

I really hate smoking too, and was concerned about it, but didn't find it too bad. I found it worse in Paris itself.

Lack of characters - I didn't see any in the parks at all in 2 days! It was raining on and off so maybe that was why, but I was surprised not to see any. We met Tigger in the hotel lobby one morning but that was it.

 

[backinoz]

It's worth the price of an international phone call to call them and book direct (or it was when we went). We stayed at the Sequoia Lodge - were planning on doing the budget option and spending longer in the park but it ended up being cheaper to add a night and stay at the nicer hotel. I'd say it's the equivalent of a moderate hotel in WDW. Re the characters - we saw plenty in Jan 2013 BUT there's no orderly queue, just push and shove and hope you get a photo and autograph (especially with the more popular ones). The park itself is beautiful, and well worth seeing, despite the 'character' issues. IMHO 3 days is plenty to see everything in the parks if you're there during off-peak times. (This is from some-one who thought 5 days in DL/DCA wasn't quite enough). Good luck with the booking

 

[Aussie Wendy]

We went in 2013. I stalked the UK forum on Disboards to get up to the minute info on when a deal was released. You can use the Paris Disney deals for whichever country is the best once you factor in exchange rates - you don't have to live in the country they are offering the deal in (it's all explained in numerous posts on the UK Disboard site). In the end it was a UK deal I got. We stayed at their "value" equivalent Hotel Cheyenne which was fine. It cost us approx with exchange rate from pounds $915 for 4 nights for 2 adults though I am pretty sure they had kids under 7 free deal at the time. Breakfast and tickets for 5 days entry was included in the price (it was 560 pounds). The price the whole time I stalked it for 12 months was always lots dearer to buy direct from Australia. Some of the deals offered by Expedia etc were better but not as good as the direct UK deal. We had no issues with smoking but we were there early in the season (May). Not as many characters about in the parks (not as many as US parks) though the hotel always had some on rotation out front at the start of the day. We loved the park, it was very beautiful and had a lot of things unique to Paris. Next door Walt Disney Studios wasn't as good but had a few iconic rides.

 

[norhel]

I checked the DLP forum but couldn't find any info there.

Has anyone booked a stay at Paris Disney from Australia? I'm looking at 4-5 nights in late September/early October for 2 adults and 1 teenager.

Looking at their official French site it's about $AUD3700 for 5 nights at the Disneyland hotel including park tickets. It was around the same price via a UK site I found (and have now forgotten). Have I missed somewhere on their site where it's possible to book hotel only?

I can't seem to find anywhere to book the hotel only - Expedia says it's sold out for almost every single night I tried between now and November (it makes me doubt that they actually have it on their system at all). Webjet was between $5,500-$10,000 for the 4-5 nights.

I did find a park tickets only site, which quoted around $1000.00.

I'd love to stay at the official DLP hotel, but if these ridiculous prices are the only option, does anyone have recommendations for any of the other on-site hotels?

TIA.

I've stayed at Sequia Lodge and Santa Fe, and been satisfied every time. And DLP has and is working to renovate the hotels.
DLP normally doesn't sell room only on the internet as far as I know, but you can try to give them a call and ask.

 

[dollarmite]

We went in 2013. I stalked the UK forum on Disboards to get up to the minute info on when a deal was released. You can use the Paris Disney deals for whichever country is the best once you factor in exchange rates - you don't have to live in the country they are offering the deal in (it's all explained in numerous posts on the UK Disboard site). In the end it was a UK deal I got.

Thanks for the tip! *Runs to check out UK Boards*

 

[zanzibar138]

We went in 2013 too. We stayed at Hotel l'Elysee which was very reasonably priced and a short free bus ride away or one cheap train station. Also allowed us to save money on food not having to eat at Disney all the time. And a very nice, spacious and comfortable hotel I might add. But I get that sometimes you want to stay in the Disney bubble. We were there for 5 days so I got annual passes for us all through some French discount website... CE something...

Please don't be put off going to the park. Yes, it does tend to get some negativity on the boards from those comparing it to WDW. Don't compare it. It's a different country with a different culture. Enjoy the differences. FWIW I think DLP is the most beautiful park, and we also enjoyed the studios. We saw a few characters out and about, but they do tend to get mobbed. If characters are important to you it might be worth doing a character meal. Personally I preferred to enjoy the more unique aspects of the park, attractions etc that you don't see in the US. We also had great interactions with CMs. They might not be as in your face as their American colleagues but again, it's a different culture, and they were all friendly and helpful.

Things to watch out for include personal space issues, adults clearly there just for their kids (and expecting everyone else to be the same - expect some funny looks if you line up for a character without any children!), language barrier issues and, yes, smoking. Personally we noticed the smoking, and it did bother us a little, but I wouldn't miss out on the DLP experience because of it.

 

[Norkai]

My wife and I stayed at the Disneyland Paris New York hotel in May last year. The UK website had a good deal for the time we were going so we called Disneyland Paris reservations to see if we could book the deal even though we were from Australia. The operator was very friendly and told us that unfortunately she could not book that offer for us. After going through the international deals that were available, and seeing how expensive they were compared the UK deal, the operator put us on hold for a few minutes. When she returned she told us that she had spoken to someone in reservation for the UK and was going to transfer us through. UK reservations were excellent and allowed to secure the deal. The only downside was that we had to pay the booking in full right there and then.

My experience with the New York hotel was not good and would not recommend it based on my experience, however, the park itself is a wonderful park.

 

[ssour]

If you ring the reservations office in Paris (not the UK) you should be able to book a room-only without the tickets.

We were there in September and the smoking really bugged me. I'm convinced it's what had me coughing for weeks after we got back home. Must have set off some type of allergy or something.

 

[aussiecookfamily]

From a Disney fan who always stays onsite at both Disneyland and WDW I just couldn't justify it at Paris. We also stayed at the Hotel Elysee at Val d'Europe, it was a good hotel for a good price with a massive shopping centre opposite where we had some lovely meals. We also noticed the smoking but it didn't put us off. If you want to see characters the the Walt Disney Studios Park has a wonderful "event" called Disney's Star'n'Cars, when we were there in August 2014 it was on twice per day. Everyone stands around a big circle and the characters come in and walk around the circle talking and having photos etc, there were at least 8-10 characters with a good mix of common and rare characters. As it is not well signed or explained in the brochure you only need to turn up about 5 mins before starting time to get a good spot, and in 20 mins you have meet 8 characters, come back an hour later and you get to meet 8 more. Unfortunately on Day 2 and Day 3 they had the same characters, but we were still very impressed.