Disneyland Paris - booked for next May - I surprised myself!

[Mazzy]

Air Miles have a lot to answer for, as they sent me a letter this morning advertising 'half miles' flights and I just couldn't resist and have booked flights to Paris for May 2003!

We had no plans for next Summer at all, but you know what it's like when you see an offer and before I knew it I had booked it, it happened that fast! LOL!!

For 1000 miles and £123.50 in total I got 4 return flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle from Manchester. I didn't think there was much chance of them being available as it is during the late May school break, but there was no problem!

So... no doubt I will be asking loads of DLP questions and the first one is has anyone been at the end of May. What can I expect regarding hours, weather and most importantly of all, crowds!!! Will there be fireworks in the eveings? We will be there from Monday to Friday so hoping it won't be too crowded.

As we will be there for 4 park days (not counting the Monday as we will arrive late) I'm wondering whether Annual Passes may be better, does anyone know where I can find out the costs. I have a Disney Club card, hoping I can get a discount on passes and room.

Thanks for any help with this. It will be nice to know that when we come back from WDW in January, to the cold, cold UK, we will only have just over 4 months to wait before we get another Disney fix!

 

[lisag1]

Mazzy,

We came back from a very quick visit to DLP on Tuesday and I noticed they had an offer on A/P's. I think they were reduced to approx 102 euros for adults, sorry can't remember kids prices. I'm not sure about opening hours for May but it was open until 11.00 p.m. when we were there and yes they do have fireworks. Unfortunately we only managed to get on one ride and the heavens opened (torrential rain) and we were soaked, even with Disney ponchos on Unfortunately Adam our youngest wouldn't let us put one over his buggy so we had to leave

If you want info on A/P's you have to look at the disneyland paris website and click on the french version and that is where the current prices are for annual passports, but obviously it is in french so you'll have to get someone to translate unless you can speak french, of course .



Good luck

Lisa

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

My guess is that hours will be 9am to 8pm for the Disneyland Park, and perhaps 9am to 5 or 6pm for the Walt Disney Studios. A good website to check for the cost of DLP hotels and various ticket combinations is http://www.dlp-guidebook.de/index_e.htm

I'm not sure what the discounts are for DC members (I am a DLP shareholder which offers good discounts, so haven't used a DC card there in a long time). I'm not sure what the breakeven point is for annual passes v. hopper passes - it used to be 4 days, but with the new park at the resort the annual passes are more expensive. My guess is that a 4 day hopper would be cheaper, but if you think you might want another visit to DLP within 12 months then you should get APs.

Regards

Rob

 

[WDWfan uk]

Woohoo Mazzy ...... where are you staying?

Regards the hours, they do vary greatly according to the season- last June when Janice and I went, we had 8.00pm closing and in August when I went with the family it was until 11.00pm.

Looking at May this year the entire month was 9.00am - 8.00pm as Rob says.

Although we didn't use the Disney Club card for our resort stay ( we'd already got a deal and had unlimited access to the parks during our stay), we used it when and where we could in the restaurants and shops. Some of the shop assistants looked perplexed at the DC card - they evidently hadn't seen it before (!!), but we got 10% discount on merchandise in most places. We didn't seem to have much success with the card in the resort restaurants, but I don't know if that's changed now.

 

[Mazzy]

Lisa - sorry to hear you got rained on, I hope you still managed to enjoy your trip!

Rob - I've found out from the website that 6 days is the breakeven point for APs, so I will have a think about that option. Thanks for the link, it's a great site isn't it?

Shirley - not sure where we are staying yet, it really depends on what is left in the coffers after our WDW trip at Christmas! I'm glad to hear you managed to use your Disney Club card for some things - they don't seem to be very up to date regarding the card do they? Let's hope things have improved by next year.

 

[kazzie]

Mazzy,

You impulsive woman

That is a great trip to look forward to

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Mazzy, if you are thinking about staying on-site you should know that they have extremely high occupancy rates for all the hotels, and often book out completely in some. You might not want to leave it too late before booking accommodation.

Regards

Rob

 

[Astrid]

Great news Mazzy!

The kids stayed at Davy Crockett's Ranch and absolutely loved it, there was loads to do there apparently and the swimming pool was fantastic.

Astrid x

 

[Penny12]

That's great Mazzy!

And YES, to what Rob said about the hotels - those hotels fill right up!

Also, just a little something to bare in mind about getting AP's. DLP reservations are (or were atleast) a pain in the backside. Policy is that you cannot book a Saturday night room without having a ticket included in the price. Now obviously you don't want that if you've an AP, but both times I booked I spent a long time going back & forth insisting that I wanted Room Only...also some reservationists are more helpful than others I know you are there Mon-Fri this time, but it may come into play next year.

And the DC. Well, sometimes you really have to push that to get your discount as most the people there don't know what it is. If they look blank, tell them it is the new name (ha! like from 2 years ago) of the Magic Kingdom Club - sometimes that does the trick. If not, politely tell them that if they can't help, perhaps the manager can - in which case, they'll pick up the phone and get the answer they need. Only once have I failed to get the DC discount (so I dug out my Shareholders card instead, hehehe) but that was in a tiny store in the Marketplace I think. Remember, you've paid for that DC membership, so you are entitled to your discount, no matter how small it is. You have every right to insist that you get it. (On all store purchases inside and outside the park and table service restaurants I believe too)

DLP is a fantastic park...but their Admin is something else

 

[richard3330]

Disneymad & Rob are right... You shouldn't leave it too late to book your hotel room - They fill up VERY FAST.

Hope you have a great time!!!

 

[Mrs Dazzle]

Mazzy - a woman after my onw heart . . . something to look forward to after your WDW trip. (just gotta sort something out for me now ).

 

[Mazzy]

I have used the DLP website and asked for a quote for May (doing it that way i will get my 10% off with the DC Card) and the short email reply was that they were unable to give me a quote. I'm assuming this is because they don't have the rates for May yet? I do know that in the past their brochures have only covered a few months at a time.

Has anyone booked for that time of year and how far ahead did you book?

Still wondering about the crowds, after a re-think we will now be arriving on the Tuesday (after late May Bank Holiday Monday) staying for 3 nights and home on Friday. As it's midweek I'm hoping it won't be too busy, or maybe I am completely wrong there!?! Will there be fireworks midweek in May? And will I save on the cost of the hotel staying midweek?

Hope someone out there can help with these questions, and help me get the most from my trip!

Thanks

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

DLP don't load hotel prices into their booking system very far ahead, so that might explain why you can't get a quote from their online system. Perhaps you could ring the UK office to ask about prices, and to see if you can get DC discount that way.

I doubt whether there will be fireworks on a weekday in mid-May. My guess is that the park will close at 8pm, so no fireworks and possibly no evening parade. Attendance mid-week is normally much quieter, so this should make up for a lack of fireworks. Hotels are normally a little bit cheaper as well. The DLP Internet Guidebook (see link in my earlier message) has a rough guide to hotel prices, so you can see what the difference in price is between the different hotels, even if you can't see exact prices for next year.

 

[Mazzy]

Thanks for that info Rob, I think I would accept having no fireworks if the crowds are low. I wonder if you have the 'phone number for the UK office? Thanks

 

[WDWfan uk]

Certainly weekdays are less crowded than the weekend unless there's a holiday over there - we didn't have fireworks on that last trip either and I really wanted Janice to see the park at night-time as it is so pretty lit up, but we had such a good time that really, it was still worth it!

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Originally posted by Mazzy
Thanks for that info Rob, I think I would accept having no fireworks if the crowds are low. I wonder if you have the 'phone number for the UK office? Thanks

It used to be 0990 03 03 03, although it's been such a long time since I called this office it might well have changed.

Regards

Rob

 

[Mazzy]

Thanks Rob - I'll give it a try.