DVC Points at Disneyland Paris

[disneymath]

Has anyone recently used DVC points to stay at DLP?

Considering doing this next July but have a few questions. (I realize I can't book until like 6 months out, but I have time now to do the research, so ...)

1. If I book two rooms (there are 8 of us), do I need to pay the $95 fee twice?

2. Is breakfast included with a points booking like its is with DLP rooms booked with cash?

3. I know park tickets are not included with the points. Do tickets need to be booked right away through MS or can they be added later / through a third party?

4. Sequoia Lodge is 44 pts per night, Newport Bay is 48 ppn ... is NB worth the extra 4 pts per night (isn't it further from the parks)?

5. Is there anything else I should be aware of regarding a points stay at DLP? (Or just a stay at DLP in general?)

Thanks in advance!

(FWIW: My points are direct, so can be used for DLP stays. I realize it's not the best use of points, but I'm exploring all my options. )

 

[boswellnakia]

We stayed at Sequoia May 30-June 5th of this year. Overall, we were glad that we went to DLP, but it wasn't a trip that we'll look to redo anytime soon.

Overall, I missed the Disney magic which was most evident in the employees there. On the day that we arrived, we switched rooms twice and should have switched a third time but we just dealt with it. The first two rooms were immediate air conditioner issues. The third instance was water coming out from a wall that we called the front desk and maintenance and was told twice they were sending someone. At that point, we only had two more nights and just dealt with it.

We opted out of doing points on our stay and went with a discount that was being offered on the French site for a version of free dining with tickets included. Looking back, I wish we had found an apartment to rent somewhere. We spent 2.5 days there and that was plenty; we could have used the extra days in Paris for sightseeing.

While we were there, Newport was under a major renovation. We walked back to Sequoia once, NP would have been a longer walk. They have decent bus transportation and would probably ride their shuttle at both resorts.

The breakfast offered is continental like you would see an many hotels...pastries, cold cuts, cheese, yoguart, cereal. When we entered for breakfast, there was no screening or separation of people. When we arrived, we had to select a pre-arranged dining time. We chose 8am and they give you "tickets" that you present as you enter the breakfast area each day.

 

[disneymath]

Boswellnakia ... thanks for sharing your experience ... We are trying to make a short stay at DLP work b/c we will already be in Europe and it seems like a wasted opportunity not too.

While we may end up with an Oop package or even an offsite stay, hopefully someone will be able to share their points stay experience. With NB being renovated, it does get a slight edge in my mind.

 

[McCrae]

I wouldn't waste your points.... You can easily do DLP in a day, it's very small.

Stay in Central a Paris and take a short train journey to DLP... It's very easy.

IMO DLP just doesn't work.... It's more like DIsney with a Grinch.


Lots of fantastic things to see in Paris.... DLP wouldn't make my top ten

 

[bobbiwoz]

I am waiting for the point charts to show. We will use them for a 3 night trip next May after DCL's EBTA cruise to Copenhagen! I will book 2 rooms, and asked about the fee. I cannot find the e-mail response, but if I remember correctly, if I book both rooms at the same time, it is one $95 fee.

Looking forward to seeing the Ratatouille experience! We love that movie!

Bobbi

 

[zavandor]

3. I know park tickets are not included with the points. Do tickets need to be booked right away through MS or can they be added later / through a third party?

Depending on the number of days, an annual passport can be cheaper than the tickets. Also, you can buy tickets wherever you want: there are often offers.
A quick note: if you are staying onsite, blackout days do not apply. So check the price for the Fantasy passport even if it's blocked out while you are there. The Francilienne has a 2 days cooldown after you buy it and this is often a dealbreaker (unless you'll spend days 2 and 3 of your vacation in Paris)
.

4. Sequoia Lodge is 44 pts per night, Newport Bay is 48 ppn ... is NB worth the extra 4 pts per night (isn't it further from the parks)?

They are almost at the same distance. The only real advantage is for the Disneyland Hotel, that is right above the entrance.
To go to the other hotels, you pass the Disney Village (sort of Lilliput Downtown Disney), then you find the New York hotel.
Then Sequoia and Newport. Then Cheyenne. Finally Santa Fe.
From the park to the Santa Fe the distance is about as from the Hollywood Studios to the BWV.
I would go for the Sequoia, I like it more than the NB.

5. Is there anything else I should be aware of regarding a points stay at DLP? (Or just a stay at DLP in general?)

Point charts are awful. You would do much better renting points and paying out of pocket.
And you can book directly through the european Disneyland Paris websites. Each country has its own different offers and there are no restrictions on who can buy from where. If you are not resident in the country of the website you are booking from, you just have to pay full in advance. You could call the UK call center (to find an english speaking operator) and tell them: "I want to book using the xyz country offer".
On the DLP Planning board there are often posts about the good offers on the different country websites.

 

[disneymath]

I wouldn't waste your points.... You can easily do DLP in a day, it's very small.

Stay in Central a Paris and take a short train journey to DLP... It's very easy.

IMO DLP just doesn't work.... It's more like DIsney with a Grinch.


Lots of fantastic things to see in Paris.... DLP wouldn't make my top ten

If we don't stay onsite, it will be at a nearby offsite place ... coordinating mass transit for 8 ppl is rarely "easy" and the cost can add up quickly.

This side trip is NOT about visiting Paris. (My mom, sister, and I have been, allbeit 20 years ago. The boys are too young I think to appreciate most places ) ... though we MAY try for a visit to the Eiffel Tower.

 

[disneymath]

I am waiting for the point charts to show. We will use them for a 3 night trip next May after DCL's EBTA cruise to Copenhagen! I will book 2 rooms, and asked about the fee. I cannot find the e-mail response, but if I remember correctly, if I book both rooms at the same time, it is one $95 fee.

Looking forward to seeing the Ratatouille experience! We love that movie!

Bobbi

We're thinking of adding 3 nights post DCL Iceland/Norway!

Points charts are out on DVC members site ... I'm sure that's where I got the 44ppn and 48 ppn. If I recall, May is a lower season than July, so weekday points will be lower. Hotel NY was 59 ppn I think and DLH was over 100ppn.

Thanks for the info about the $95 fee!

 

[disneymath]

Thanks for the info, zavandor!

I'm definitely keeping my eye on offers like the current uk early booking one with kids under 7 free.

I won't rent my points, so in my comparison I can really only value them at the cost of annual dues ... which doesn't make things super awesome or anything, just not quite so awful!

 

[boswellnakia]

If you decide on Eiffel Tower, try booking those tickets the day (moment) they are released as they tickets for presale sold out in 10 minutes for our visit on Jun 4th. Because of the time zone differences, I had to buy them in the middle of the night and was glad that I had.

What I was referring to is that DLP was nothing like our multiple experiences at WDW. Even DL was better. I liked the person who said it was Disney with a Grinch. We were almost disappointed and it was across the board...resorts, dining locations, food quality for the price, bus transportation ... We referred several times that it was like many other non-Disney amusement parks that we had been too. They do have a some unique rides. DLP Park has more "thrill" rides as I think two rides do inversions...Space Mountain and the Indian Jones ride, but these won't be of interest if your kids are young. The disappointment on our end was that we were expecting it to be similar to WDW or DL and for what we paid for the trip, we could have been in a true deluxe resort with the magic.

As I'm a planner, I found it hard to find out information before arriving so I felt "lost" as I toured. If you have any specific questions about the parks, let us know. Hope you have

 

[supersnoop]

Have you looked into the EuroDisney Shareholder Club? You have to own 100 shares of EuroDisney stock (currently about $550 worth). It gives you a 15% discount on tickets and food, and 10% off of room packages.

Like others have posted, DLP is best as a day-trip from Paris, not the other way around. Granted, we were there on the day of the World Cup final four years ago, but we finished our touring plan by 2:00 p.m.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We're thinking of adding 3 nights post DCL Iceland/Norway!

Points charts are out on DVC members site ... I'm sure that's where I got the 44ppn and 48 ppn. If I recall, May is a lower season than July, so weekday points will be lower. Hotel NY was 59 ppn I think and DLH was over 100ppn.

Thanks for the info about the $95 fee!

Thank you! Found the charts. We will pass on Saturday night, but will book 2 nights 2 rooms, at the Disneyland Hotel.

For us the France visit is about DLP and the Beaches of Normandy.

 

[MrShiny]

We used points to go in 2008. We stayed at Hotel New York, which I recommend. It was very close to the parks and very nice. Breakfast was included (which was also a nice continental breakfast with good variety).

At that time (keep in mind the Euro was high then - about $1.55) we found it was a pretty good value as we were a family of 4 so finding rooms around Paris wasn't that easy (2 or 3 was much more prevalent). We did spend time in Paris too (at the Hotel des Bains in Montparnesse in the 14th arrondissement, which we found to be a delightful neighborhood) and did take the train (RER) to "Parcs Disneyland." This was about a 45 minute trip. It does get crowded during rush hour, as we found travelling with all our luggage. We actually took the train twice - once for pin trading and then once to check in.

We left from Disneyland on the train to London which was very convenient. Straight from Disney Village to St. Pancras in the heart of London.

We liked Disneyland Paris quite a bit. We had early entrance as hotel guests, but only into Fantasyland (which before New Fantasyland seemed incredibly large). The detail is wonderful there and the oddness of things familiar yet different was neat. I do admit the rides seemed a bit creakier than their US counterparts. We had no issues with the cast members. We even had one offer to assist us with taking our bags to the train on check out in a way that seemed really above and beyond.

The Disney Studios park was OK, but no where near as neat as Disneyland itself. Although that new Rataouille land they are building looks pretty neat.

I do recommend Disneyland Paris for any Disney fan. Our trip seemed to have the perfect balance of DLP and Paris itself - we did two nights in each I believe.

 

[disneymath]

If you decide on Eiffel Tower, try booking those tickets the day (moment) they are released as they tickets for presale sold out in 10 minutes for our visit on Jun 4th. Because of the time zone differences, I had to buy them in the middle of the night and was glad that I had.

<snip>

As I'm a planner, I found it hard to find out information before arriving so I felt "lost" as I toured. If you have any specific questions about the parks, let us know. Hope you have

Thank you for the Eiffel Tower tip ... How far in advance are the tickets released?

I understand what you mean about being a planner and feeling "lost" ... I've been going through that with the planning for our upcoming DL Anaheim trip. I think a lot of the problem is being so familiar with WDW - although it's a lot of planning, it's second nature. DL and DLP are new territory that seem like they require less planning overall, but DIFFERENT planning than I do for WDW!

Once I had the getting to CA logistics figured out, the actual park stuff wasn't so much of a worry anymore. (That's not to say that I don't check the DL CA boards daily for new tips!). We're ready to enjoy what the parks have to offer and make the best of it. (Honestly, since I own at BLT and VGC isn't always easy to get at 7 months, I'm a bit worried that we may like Disneyland enough to want to return frequently!)

Anyway, back on topic, I'm hoping the same happens with my current lost feeling about the DLP planning, but if specific park questions come up, I know where to ask!

 

[disneymath]

We used points to go in 2008. We stayed at Hotel New York, which I recommend. It was very close to the parks and very nice. Breakfast was included (which was also a nice continental breakfast with good variety).

<snip>

I do recommend Disneyland Paris for any Disney fan. Our trip seemed to have the perfect balance of DLP and Paris itself - we did two nights in each I believe.

So breakfast was included in 2008 for points stays, hopefully that hasn't changed.

Hotel NY would be my choice if we can get a cash package at an acceptable rate ... I can't justify the points for HNY (only because we want to get back to WDW late in 2015 or sometime in 2016 and it would eat up too many points). SL and NB are just that many fewer points to fit my plans.

Thanks for sharing your positive experience at DLP!

 

[cwdefouw]

We went in 2004, stayed at Hotel New York, breakfast was included. The way that we understood it I s that breakfast was included for everyone staying at the resort, so there was really no way to exclude DVC members staying on points. Of course back then park admission was included as well. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.

 

[MrShiny]

It also looks like they no longer require you to buy park tickets for all days (at least from the text). I did look up cash rates on the DLP web site and (although they include tickets) it still looks like points might be a good deal (at least during the week).

It looks like right now Eiffel Tower tickets are on sale until 10/31/14. http://www.toureiffel.paris/

We also did the Buffalo Bill Wild West show at DLP. We had Member Services get us the tickets (which worked out well because they charged us too little but then when they realized that let us have it for that price). It is a little bit of the "Medieval Times" format of you cheer for this guy, but I really liked it aside from that. It attempts to recreate a bit of a historical Buffalo Bill show, and I must admit the stampede of buffaloes I found pretty impressive.

Aside from that in Paris we did the Louvre (they have a great map of where just to see the "famous stuff" as it is huge), Notre Dame and stopped by the famous English bookstore, Shakespeare and Co.

We had a very nice lunch at a cafe across from Notre Dame on the left bank, https://www.facebook.com/CafePanis

In DLP, we had dinner at Blue Bayou in their Pirates, lunch at Walt's (which is on the second floor of Main Street!), and also dinner at the Steakhouse in Disney Village (which we wandered into and liked mainly because it is decorated in Chicago memorabilia).

The detail in Disneyland is above that in the American parks. The castle is wonderful. Real stone, a balcony you can walk out on to view Fantasyland, and of course a dragon in the dungeon.

We had a great time. This was June and we had just come from Italy, so Paris was like walking into air conditioning (not cold but very pleasant).

 

[disneymath]

Thanks for all the extra info MrShiny ... much appreciated!

 

[MrShiny]

You're welcome! Hoping to go back in a couple of years.

These might be helpful too:

http://www.dlpfoodguide.com/

http://www.dlpguide.com/

 

[MrShiny]

This too:

http://www.dlptoday.com/2014/07/08/...land-paris-the-complete-grand-opening-report/