First timer advice needed please???

[debphil]

Hello! Its my first post so apologies in advance!!

I am planning on taking my family (me, dh and 2 boys aged 4 and 7) to DLP just before Christmas. We are trying to do this as economically as possible but dont want to slum it (if you know what I mean). The plan is to fly to CDG and from then on I have no idea! I have looked at various hotels and was very close to booking the holiday inn until I realised how much the park tickets would cost and it seems cheaper to book a disney hotel with tickets included(?).

PLEASE can anyone advise where would be good to stay with 2 boys the ages they are (needs to be somewhere you DONT need a car!)3 nights from 16th December? And will 2 days be sufficient to do DLP as I would really like to take the boys into Paris for the day. Dh needs to be converted as he thinks 5 minutes at DLP will be 5 minutes too much for him!!!!

Thank you SO much in advance for any advice or tips you can give me!!!
Thanks

 

[cap'njack.]

Personally staying on site I'd say to go for the Santa Fe or Cheyenne.

I'd advise going for as long as you can afford to as I don't personally think that you can see everything that DLRP has to offer in any less than 5 days (well you never see everything as I still find new things everytime I go)

We booked off site and bought AP's as it worked out cheaper for us (but our accomodation only cost £39 for 4 nights ) but you would probably be better off booking on-site direct with Disney!

 

[torsie24]

I'd suggest the hotel cheyenne for you.

Only a bit more expensive than the santa fe (the cheapest disney option) and its cowboy themed! Each room has one double bed and bunk beds and it about a 15 minute walk to the parks.

Book direct with the disneyland paris website for the cheapest deals. Kids under 7 go free and they frequently do extra nights free!

And most importantly - welcome to the DIS!!!

It's VERY addictive!

 

[dlpfan]

staying onsite is a great experience for d whole family.
cheyenne hotel is a good budget hotel (will be visiting march09 - we booked online directly through disney website)
regarding transport from airport to resort check out vea shuttle buses
thats what we used and find them very reliable.

 

[debphil]

Thank you so much for your replies - I'm finding all the advice on here invaluable!!!!!

 

[DLPdaft]

Hi debphil,
Elaine, Jackie, Elaine and Reid welcome you to the DLP DIS board

We are a friendly bunch here so please join in on any other thread or if you have a number of questions then just start a new thread for each

If you have not had a look yet, DLP posting rules are here
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1477038,
DIS posting guidelines can be found here
http://www.wdwinfo.com/guidelines.htm

 

[joolz1910]

Hi, I'm a package girl at heart so I would always go with the 'whole holiday' approach. Booking direct with Disney seems to be the cheapest way to go - including flights, transfers, hotel and park tickets. I would say you need about 3 days in the parks to make the most of it with two young children. If I had sons, I would definitely go to Cheyenne - the cowboy theme would probably appeal to them. Good luck!

 

[torsie24]

Hi, I'm a package girl at heart so I would always go with the 'whole holiday' approach. Booking direct with Disney seems to be the cheapest way to go - including flights, transfers, hotel and park tickets. I would say you need about 3 days in the parks to make the most of it with two young children. If I had sons, I would definitely go to Cheyenne - the cowboy theme would probably appeal to them. Good luck!

Good point! I think sometimes when flights/transfers are involded a disney package can help.

They rip you off with the eurostar though! Hence why I book the two independently!

Glad you find the DIS so helpful deb! It really does make for amazing trips! I got SO much more pleasure out of my most recent one since discovering the DIS, and it really made disney even more special for me!!

Trip reoprts are always some of the best help fr me! There's a separate trip report board at the top of the main board! (Also a link to mine at the bottom of my signature. )

 

[DLPdaft]

I would also agree with others - for your first trip, especially with young children, you will need the 3 days in the Disney parks - even more so at Christmas season, when there are extra shows etc

 

[cookie334]

I agree the Cheyenne would be perfect for you, it's cheap but a very good hotel especially with the kids. We stayed there in June with our 3 (6, 4 and 9 months then) and they absolutely loved it.

If you're booking direct with Disney another way to save a bit is to go through Quidco as they give you 6.5% cashback. If you're booking half board you will also get money back on that too

 

[ema74]

I agree with everyone. Cheyenne is fab if you have boys. We have two girls and my DD1 loved it! She keeps on wanting to go back there to play in the playground

Christmas season is lovely!!! It's cold but IMO it's probably the most magical of all (haven't been for Halloween so can't compare but I love Xmas!)

3 days would be enough to not rush around in the park.

Re: booking, we always book directly with Disney and then book Eurostar separately. Maybe it's worth phoning Disney and asking them how much etc all together. They're really nice and very helpful.

Enjoy planning

 

[PJackson]

I too would see if you can persuade your DH to stay at DLP for the whole 3 days - it will be busy when you go and you will not get to see everything (well you never do) but might not get the best out of it in just 2 days esp as you might want to take in the Studios as well as the Park (the boys will love both!)

Re flights and cost - it depends on which airlines are available to you whether you book them with Disney. We are lucky to have Easyjet from Newcastle and while cost of flights have gone up Disney couldn't give us Easyjet prices on the flights they were offering (think they were Air France and not direct either). I agree about booking accom direct with them though - don't think it gets much cheaper elsewhere!

 

[Cyrano]

Remember that the partner hotels are also served by frequent shuttle buses.
While you will not get some of the perks of staying in a Disney hotel you can grab some wonderful bargains. Holiday Inn, Explorers Hotel and Dream castle are positively reviewed by those that stay there.

The hotel thread is a good place to look at all the offerings

 

[debphil]

Gosh, I am so very grateful for all of your responses!
So the outcome is that we will fly from leeds on jet2 - great price (£260 for us all) and book the cheyenne for 3 nights - (£382 for the four of us including park tickets). Seems like a good deal to me!!!
Thank you SO much.
I will be back with more questions about what exactly to do for the 3 days!
Many thanks again!!!!!