Help, planning future trip to DLP via Countryside in England..

[nitaworm]

I need help filling in the blanks for my trip.

I am flying into BHX staying for 5 days then
- Taking the train to London from (what is the name of the train that leaves here and goes to London?) - Also, is there a benefit to doing a guided day tour over finding your way around yourself? Is it easy to navigate?

- Staying in London for 2 nights (where is a good central (reasonably priced) place for 6 people to stay?)

- Going to Disneyland Paris for 3 nights (What types of transportation can I use to get us, our bags, and kids as easily and stressfree as possible to DLP?)

- While at DLP do they have guided day tours from the resort?

- Fly out of Paris (is there shuttle service from the DLP resorts to the airport?)

What should I purchase before we travel? How far in advance? Should I do Paris/London first before going to BHX?

Thanks!

 

[torsie24]

5 days in brmingham? Do you have family there?

It's a very small city, and really doesn't need a whole day, but I'm assuming from your thread title perhaps you are staying out in the country or something.

If not then I'd say you're better to do 2 days in birmingham and 5 in london.

Virgin trains run a good service from Birmingham new street to london euston, and they also stop at birmingham airport on the way.

I live in london so have never stayed in a hotel here, but this one:

http://www.radissonedwardian.co.uk/leicestersq.html

is a perfect location for anything you could wish to see!

 

[ukstitch]

If you're travelling to DLRP from London then by far the best option is the Eurostar, which will take you from London St. Pancras, direct to the Disneyland Paris station.

Not too sure on the others I'm afraid, so I'll leave them to somebody who knows properly

 

[Cyrano]

Hi nitaworm and welcome to 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, DIS posting guidelines can be found here.

 

[nitaworm]

Thanks for the welcome!
Hmmm, are there any guided bus day tours that leave DLP that not only go to Paris but also London? It would save me a lot of time. I could just take the train to DLP from the resort we are staying at then take a guided bus tour. That way we could stay @ DLP for a little longer.

 

[tripodjw]

From DLP you can get bus tours that do tours of Paris (or you can get the train yourself and make your way around on the metro (subway/underground).

You'll struggle to do a day trip to London from DLP on a bus. It is at least 6 hrs drive including a ferry across the English channel.

Without meaning to sound rude, you do realise that London and Paris are in different countries?

 

[nitaworm]

Oh yes I do realize there is a 2 hour train ride from London to Paris (and separate countries that use different currency - didn't realize the currency issue until I was reading some tour books), although I know that from London there are some companies that do a guided tour of Paris in a day trip. It still looks as if its best for us to go to London for 1 night, do a guided day tour, then go to DLP stay onsite and do a 1 day guided tour of Paris for what we want to see and the time we will be there (10 days total). Hoping that I can catch a guided day tour from a DLP resort so I don't have to think much or worry about interpreting or speaking in French (but I do speak some and my daughter will be studying French that year).

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

You can get a bus that leaves the Hotel New York that takes you on a tour of Paris, not sure what days it runs though or how much.

 

[Tillybud]

if you check out the DLP website and the 'even more' section it gives you details about excursions into Paris, you can do a full day trip as well as evening trips. Hope this helps.

 

[nitaworm]

This helps me tons. I am still researching the specifics of this trip and its a lot work.

 

[Li-sa]

If you have a 10 day trip in total and you do fly to BHX Birmingham there's plenty to do in Birmingham for 2 days (Thinktank, Jewellery Quarter, Museum and Art Gallery, Sealife, Botanical Gardens, Cadbury World etc). I would allow another 2-3 days for London (National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Madam Tussuad's plus the other tourist things like bus tour.) Birmingham is much more compact than London though, so it's much easier to see several 'sights' in one day.

If you want budget accommodation try Travelodge or Premier Inn.

That would then allow 4/5 days for DLP and 1 day for Paris.

 

[nitaworm]

Ok, I have changed things around again. To accomodate prices.

I have to do a roundtrip ticket from US to LON and I arriving on a Thursday and leaving on a Sunday.

So from

Thurs-Sat = London
Sat-Tues = Birmingham
Tues=Take train from Birmingham to LON, then Eurostar to DLP
Tues-Fri = Disneyland Paris
Fri-Sun= London then home

Now my Problem

Do I book the DLP portion with Disney? Eurostar?

Should I go really cheap and stay at Holiday Inn @ Disneyland Paris, and hope they have a shuttle to the park?

Should I get 2 rooms at the Sequoia? since its 6 of us?

What should I do about food in DLP? Is it cheaper to pay for the plan?

 

[torsie24]

OK, I might upset soem midlanders here......but here I go....

Is there something specific you are going to Birmingham to see?

As I certainly wouldn't sacrifice days from a london/paris trip to visit birmingham!

You'd be much better to visit Oxford or Cambridge or somewhere with a bit of history and charm, rather than Birmingham!

Maybe I've only seen the bad bits of the city, but I've spent a few days there at the Bullring and stuff and am yet to be impressed....I certainly wouldn't suggest a visit to B'ham to any of my American friends.