Intimidated to go to DLP

[kentear]

First, intimidated is not the right word but close to what I mean. Some background…I am from the US and have traveled extensively in this country. I’ve been to Paris only once on a business trip back in 1999. I LOVED it and have been dying to go back ever since. I don’t speak French other than “hello”, “good bye” and “My name is Jack. I live in France” form 9th grade French class. My name isn’t Jack but that is what I learned in class so it stuck with me . You get the picture.

I'm not too keen on the idea of a tour group to be honest. However, to help take away some of my apprehension, I thought I would give it a try and find a tour of Paris & London that included DLP for a day or two in the itinerary. It is not that easy. I searched the internet and found nothing. I went to a travel agent who said they were not aware of any but they could book the necessary arrangements for me if I wanted a side trip. It is the whole concept of a side trip that has me a little worried. I can best describe the feeling as going to underground hideout and not knowing the secret handshake. Know what I mean?

I’m looking for thoughts from those of you who have been that feel/felt like I do. Did you do it on your own or were you able to find a tour? What would you do differently next time if anything? Thanks!

 

[Bexx]

Welcome to the DLP board kentear

Are you worried about how to actually book the side trip, or the thought of DLP itself?

 

[TMM]

I have seen reviews for Adventures by Disney and they do a London and Paris tours with an add on of DLP.

http://abd.disney.go.com/abd/en_US/destination?name=LondonParisLandingPage

Looking at the cost of it, I am sure it would be cheaper to do it yourself. However, DLP would not necessarily be a side trip since Disney is the tour organizer.

Good Luck!

 

[chrismoo]

What I would do is book a flight to London, (as London's better then Paris ) Expedia or simalar.

Then book a trip with Eurostar http://www.eurostar.com (which is the train that links London to Paris via the tunnel) takes about 2.5 hours to 3 depending on train.

Then book another hotel in paris for sometime then you could book a few days onsite at disney for the end.

Then you can either get a return ticket on the train back to London or you could arrange your flight from Paris instead.

Don't worry about not knowing French, its not a problem in Disney and any touristy areas in Paris won't have a problem either.

 

[Cyrano]

Hi kentear 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

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Chris has some good advice. I'm sure you would be fine but let us know what questions that you have

 

[NIK]

I've been on my own twice so far - booked a coach trip that went door to door to make the journey easier but at the parks it was no bother at all on my own. I had a fab time. To be honest I prefer going by myself as I can go on [or not go on] whatever I want. I never felt uncomfortable on my own in any of the restaurants or anything.

Go for it I say

 

[alyssa810]

My DH and I went to London and Paris on our honeymoon, and we booked everything ourselves. We've found that looking online for deals/sales/rates have been just as good but in most cases better than using a travel agent. We flew into CDG, spent a night in the Loire Valley, came back to Paris to check out Versaillles, then drove up to DLP. OUr first night was at the holiday inn, which we liked better than NB, then we headed to NB to check in and get our tickets. We have about the same level of French as you, although I also learned how to ask if they accept travelers checks!! I had bought a book called "Just Enough French" at the France pavillion at Epcot before we went....it was a help...a little help. anyway, the restaurants all have menus in English, you just need to ask, and we found that most CMs we encountered spoke English, some more reluctantly than others. My biggest surprise, IMO, was the lack of "disney spirit" and overall cheeriness among many CMs. We were also there during Easter weekend, so it was very crowded and very busy in the parks and hotel.
We flew from Paris to London on BMI- we were in WDW about 3 months earlier, and we grilled the kids at the UK Pavillion for tips and they suggested BMI, EasyJet, and Ryanair for cheap flights between the cities. We're also started to look into a trip just to DLP for early next year, and we were looking to take the the train, but we've decided that we'd probably just rent a car again.
I guess what it comes down to is that we booked on our own; the only tours we did were outside London (where we didn't have a car) to Windsor castle & Stonehenge. DLP is definitely easy to do on your own, but I also thought that the public transportation in both London and Paris was great- easy to follow even with the language barriers!
As far as being "an american in paris," we found that the folks at the hotels and the touristy places were very pleasant, and we didn't experience any anti-American sentiment anywhere. In fact, at DLP, there were some people more eager to pin trade with us once they found out we were from the States! Anyway, it's certainly worth the side trip if you can do it- the creme brulee is reason enough

 

[tinkerbell of winter]

First, intimidated is not the right word but close to what I mean. Some background…I am from the US and have traveled extensively in this country. I’ve been to Paris only once on a business trip back in 1999. I LOVED it and have been dying to go back ever since. I don’t speak French other than “hello”, “good bye” and “My name is Jack. I live in France” form 9th grade French class. My name isn’t Jack but that is what I learned in class so it stuck with me . You get the picture.

I'm not too keen on the idea of a tour group to be honest. However, to help take away some of my apprehension, I thought I would give it a try and find a tour of Paris & London that included DLP for a day or two in the itinerary. It is not that easy. I searched the internet and found nothing. I went to a travel agent who said they were not aware of any but they could book the necessary arrangements for me if I wanted a side trip. It is the whole concept of a side trip that has me a little worried. I can best describe the feeling as going to underground hideout and not knowing the secret handshake. Know what I mean?

I’m looking for thoughts from those of you who have been that feel/felt like I do. Did you do it on your own or were you able to find a tour? What would you do differently next time if anything? Thanks!

Well this is what I did..........I wanted to go to Europe, but I also wanted to do a couple specific things in Paris-Disneyland and a Star Wars Expo. So....I booked a trip that had a few free days in Paris and did it that way. It is super easy to take the metro in Paris and then the RER to Marne la Valle/Disneyland Parc. I would recommend a tour, some guided portions but also plenty of free time in paris and london. London is very expensive, I prefer to spend my time where the Euro is the currency as I feel I am not spending as much money. A Paris/Amsterdam trip is always cool! I don't know how old you are but I am 30 and went with EF College Break and had a great experience.

Trafalgar also has tours, as well as go ahead vacations.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! I went by myself to Europe, but toured with a tour group, it was great!

 

[JulieWent]

I know someone else has already suggested it, but I wanted to second the Adventures by Disney tour. We're signed up for this next summer. We, too, are a little intimidated for our first time. We want to get the hang of it before we try it on our own. So, we thought we'd let someone else do the work. ABD doesn't have Disneyland Paris on its agenda, but at the end of its Paris itinerary, it is now taking a bus to DP. We're going to do that and then take the shuttle to the airport three days later. That seems fairly do-able by our new-bie standards.

Anyway, just wanted to chime in.

Julie

 

[kentear]

Great info everyone! I did consider Adventures by Disney but after looking at the brochure I don't think the prices are in my ballpark. It seemed really expensive, even by Disney standards. I'm glad to see the those who did it on their own didn't have any problems getting to DLP. So much to think about

 

[woody73]

You have many advantages. First, you studied French in school. Second, you have been to Paris on business. Third, flights are inexpensive from JFK to CDG. (We had none of these. But now visit Paris twice a year, and got DLP Annual Passports.)

Once you arrive at CDG, all you need to do is get to DLP, and you will be fine. The easiest and most economical way for a non-French speaker is to take the VEA bus. You can't miss it. It's the one with Mickey Mouse on the side. It only goes to DLP.

At DLP, many cast members speak English. From there, you can book a bus excursion to Paris. Or if you are adventurous, take the RER train from DLP to Paris for a daytrip.

Woody