*Help - Travel from the US...

[DisneyaHolic23]

It looks like I may get to do an unexpected trip to Disneyland (so weird to write, since I think of Disneyland as being in California!!) I have NEVER been to Europe, but my daughter is working there, and has a week off. We thought we might give it a try.

I have so many questions:
1. Is there a site anyone can suggest for airfare? It is so expensive, and I wondered if there might be a better site for oversees flights.
2. How much will my dollar be worth in Paris?
3. Is there a good site from which an American can purchase park tickets?
4. How much of an issue will language be? I speak NO French...

I know I will have a million more questions. I have been to Disneyland and Disney World so many times, but have always wanted to go to Disneyland Paris!! I can't wait! Thanks so much for ANY advice!!

 

[Cyrano]

Hi DisneyaHolic23 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.

Hopefully others will be along to offer some help.

Regarding the language you'll not have a problem. Most CMs speak English and shows are provided in both French or English. Or are served by headphones in your own language.
A few place mercis and s'il vous plait will make your visit all the more of an experience

 

[ElenaP]

1. Is there a site anyone can suggest for airfare? It is so expensive, and I wondered if there might be a better site for oversees flights.

I can't give you any help here, but I can tell this is a VERY bad moment to fly across the ocean. We had to cancel a perspective trip to WDW next Jan because the airfare for the 4 of us (2 are children) was over 2500EUR...

2. How much will my dollar be worth in Paris?

Paris is not a cheap city, but if your daughter lives there, she will know the "right" place to eat and shop. The resort is expensive, both souvenirs and food are overpriced, and with the current exchange rate you will find them even more so. Counter service food is nowhere as good or as abundant as in WDW, and I personally prefer having a serious meal in a proper restaurant (Walt's, Inventions...): at least that is good food, well prepared and well served. But that's just IMHO!!

3. Is there a good site from which an American can purchase park tickets?

I suppose you are not staying in the resort for the night? You might know that the hotel price includes breakfast (a nice one!) and tickets. If you are staying elsewhere, you can (1) buy the tickets online on the DLRP web site (2) buy an Annual passport through the web site or mail (3) buy the tickets at the gate directly. Check the prices on disneylandparis.com, as an AP can be better value if you plan to go for a few days, and entitles you to discounts in restaurants and shops.

4. How much of an issue will language be? I speak NO French...

I noticed that if you address a French person in French and then go on in English, they are happy! It is the same for me here (Italian in Italy), so I always do that. As Cyrano said, learn a couple of handfuls of terms to throw in the conversation, and you'll get warm responses No problem for the rest, CMs speak at least a rudimental English.

Hope it helps, and enjoy the parks!!!

 

[BelleBoo&AmisMum]

It looks like I may get to do an unexpected trip to Disneyland (so weird to write, since I think of Disneyland as being in California!!) I have NEVER been to Europe, but my daughter is working there, and has a week off. We thought we might give it a try.

I'm north of you in Seattle! We leave on Sunday for five weeks with my in-laws in France.

I have so many questions:
1. Is there a site anyone can suggest for airfare? It is so expensive, and I wondered if there might be a better site for oversees flights.

I found our airfare doing a search through http://matrix.itasoftware.com/cvg/dispatch we're flying out of Vancouver and into Amsterdam but it ended up being almost $2,000 less for the five of us, so we're making it work. We've also flown into Paris and London - we took the Eurostar from London to Lille. There's a shuttle from Seattle to Vancouver if you end up finding a cheap airfare out of Vancouver, it's costing us a whopping $145 for the five of us!

2. How much will my dollar be worth in Paris?

These days, next to nothing. The exchange rate is seriously not in our favor, you can check it daily at www.xe.com

3. Is there a good site from which an American can purchase park tickets?

If you just want tickets you can buy them at the park or at http://us.offers.disneylandparis.com/tickets/index.xhtml If you want tickets and hotel try to work your way through the French site, seriously, you'll get a better deal. We did the American site first then the French and the difference was $100 or more. Go to www.disneylandparis.com the start page has several flags at the bottom, then at the right hand side it says other countries, click that and find United States. I've found their website to be quite buggy and hard to navigate though (in English or French)

4. How much of an issue will language be? I speak NO French...

I've done ok with my broken bad high school French, my husband refuses to bail me out. Only time it's been a problem has been at a hotel and he didn't understand what was going on either. A few basic phrases will do wonders though, but overall the French people are very friendly and helpful! Have a great time!

I know I will have a million more questions. I have been to Disneyland and Disney World so many times, but have always wanted to go to Disneyland Paris!! I can't wait! Thanks so much for ANY advice!!

I'll be around on email, feel free to PM if you have questions!!

 

[EuropaParkFan]

Hello,

I have just booked a trip to Disneyland Paris in October. But I was already planning to visit relatives in London. The airfare is truly outrageous right now, but it is STILL possible to find the rare good deal to Europe. I actually burned all of my frequent flyer miles for this trip, as I never go to Europe when the airfare is over $700. Airfares have increased but flyer miles have are still worth the same (for the time being). Since the fuel hikes and lowering dollar, you CANNOT get anything for under $900 USD to Paris from the states. There is a forum you may want to check out called Flyertalk. If you are really flexible you can find a flight on their mileage run forum. I saw Chicago to London roundtrip for $358 USD taxes and fuel included, but you must fly many legs and go at an exact time, but deals can be had.

As for the prices AT Disneyland Paris itself.... It is basically twice as expensive as an Orlando Disney World Vacation.

So a 7 day WDW vacation in a deluxe hotel is exactly the same money price as a 4 day DLP vacation in the Disneyland Hotel (deluxe)

But Remember:

This is 4 days instead of 7 (Half)
This is for 2 parks instead of 5 (Half)

That is not to say that 5 Orlando parks beats Paris 2 parks, maybe not?

As for meals inside the DLP resort.... The most expensive Character Buffet Dinner will run you around $60 USD for an adult, if this gives you an idea.

This is actually NOT as bad as Hong Kong Disneyland, where the bottles of coca cola ran around $6 USD inside the park. Contrast this with Mainland China, where the same bottle of coke is 30 cents USD.

Basically:

1. Items in Disneyland parks always cost more than the cities they are located in.

2. Paris is one of the most expensive cities in Europe

3. Every Euro costs 1.5 dollars.

We Americans are getting hit with a triple wammy!

But I think it should all come down to the airfare. If you can get airfare under $1000, then go for it. Just budget accordingly......

EuropaParkFan

 

[ema74]

2. Paris is one of the most expensive cities in Europe

EuropaParkFan

It is, but it's cheaper than London... How long will you be staying in London for?

 

[EuropaParkFan]

It is, but it's cheaper than London... How long will you be staying in London for?

Right you are ema74,

London IS more expensive than Paris, so not a good idea for any Americans to come in from London if they can help it. Best to fly directly to Paris CDG airport.

But in my case, I am visiting relatives in London (primary), and going to Disneyland (secondary). So I don't have much choice.

I am staying in London about 5 days after the DLRP holiday. Only 1 night in St. Pancreas before.

EuropaParkFan

 

[RCDisneyFan]

I can't answer most of your questions, being in the rudimentary phases of planning a Disneyland Paris trip from the US myself. However - you didn't mention when you're planning to go...but I do have some general advice on selecting US based flights:

In general, airfare changes on both a seasonal and a daily basis - flying during the summer will cost you more for the same itinerary than it will during the fall... You'll generally find airfares are higher on Mondays than the rest of the week. I usually do a daily check of airfares for a couple of weeks to understand the ballpark range. If you want to check multiple carriers (and a few travel sites) at once, you can go to kayak.com

So if you can wait until summer is over to buy your flights, but if your trip is in the next 30 days or so, you're pretty much at the mercy of the airlines (I think.)

 

[sherette7769]

I know the airlines from the US are killing vacations right now. I'm an American living in Germany and my family just paid $1200 ea. round trip from Detroit to come visit!

If you can swing it, it will be well worth it! Since the Euro is an everyday thing for us here I can tell you that as long as you plan on spending $1.62 for 1 Euro, you won't be surprised. It hasn't been at $1.50 in quite a while. You may also want to make sure your own bank doesn't charge you a fee for purchases by your Visa or ATM/Debit card ... that can hit you hard too since it's usually at least 2% of what the original price was.

If there's anything I can help you figure out ... I'm here! Hope you will be able to make the trip!

Sherette*

 

[Cyrano]

Hi EuropaParkFan 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.

 

[EuropaParkFan]

sherette7769,

I found something really cool concerning bank cards in DLPR. There are a couple of BNP Paribas ATM machines in the Disney Village (correct me if I am wrong). Why is this significant? Well if you bank with Bank of America (USA), Barclays (UK), ScotiaBank (Canada), or DeutscheBank (Germany), you get 100% free ATM withdrawls at BNP Paribas machines in France. All of these banks participate in the Global ATM alliance. I hear these banks even eat the interbank currency exchange fee (not even a 1% charge), if you withdraw from one of their ATMs.

The problem is, with 1.6 euro to the dollar and climbing, it doesn't seem to help that much. LOL