London & Paris ABD Trip Advice

[HarleyRose]

I'm considering this trip in 2016 with my husband but I have a few questions about itinerary & the trip itself.

I really don't have an interest in Versailles is possible to just stay in the city? If so do I lose out on the money for that portion?
How much extra is the add-on for Disneyland Paris? Does it include transportation?
How much would you say would be a good food budget per day?
Does Disney give you many opportunities along the stops for shopping or picture taking? Any good shopping sites you would recommend?
Is there transportation to the London Eye/Arc de Triomphe?
Do you recommend train/bus pass & if so how many days would you actually use them?
Do they stamp your passport at train station in Paris or during your flight home?


I would appreciate all the help & tips you can give me.

 

[sayhello]

I'm considering this trip in 2016 with my husband but I have a few questions about itinerary & the trip itself.

I really don't have an interest in Versailles is possible to just stay in the city? If so do I lose out on the money for that portion? You don't have to do any of the activities on the ABDs. You can sit out on anything you want. But you will not receive any sort of refund or pro-rated cost for activities you skip, nor will they cover any activities you decide to do instead.

How much extra is the add-on for Disneyland Paris? Does it include transportation? Not sure about this one. I'm sure someone who did this will answer.

How much would you say would be a good food budget per day? Some days, all your meals will be included. Other days, you might have a meal on your own. Neither London nor Paris is cheap, so it depends on what you're looking for in on-your-own meals. I'd budget the equivalent of $40 per person, and you'll even out (some will be more; some will be less!).

Does Disney give you many opportunities along the stops for shopping or picture taking? As far as shopping is concerned, you won't have time at *every* stop, but there will stops where you can shop. And there is a TON of time to take pictures. Any good shopping sites you would recommend? I know the folks who did not climb Notre Dame had a lot of good shopping in the area near the cathedral. The itinerary has been restructured a bit since I took the trip in 2011, so hopefully someone who has taken it more recently can speak to things like this (like I don't think the trip gives you time in Harrod's any more).

Is there transportation to the London Eye/Arc de Triomphe? When I did the trip, we got tickets to the London Eye, but getting there was on your own. And the Arc de Triumphe is easy walking distance from the Hotel.

Do you recommend train/bus pass & if so how many days would you actually use them? Really depends on what you plan to do. I only had a pass for my pre-days in London (I got an Oyster card). I didn't find there were enough trips other than that to warrant it. But your mileage may vary!

Do they stamp your passport at train station in Paris or during your flight home? I have a stamp from Heathrow airport, from the train from London to Paris (but I don't recall which end it was stamped. It says "Londres" so I'm assuming it was a French official, most likely in London). Then a stamp from Charles de Gaulle airport (Roissy). And I have a stamp from returning into the US.

I would appreciate all the help & tips you can give me.

Hi, HarleyRose! Welcome to the DISBoards and the ABD Forum. I hope those answers help! Let me know if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer. As I said, the itinerary has changed a bit since I took the trip (We didn't go to Windsor) but I'll answer what I can! It's a great trip. You'll love it!

Sayhello

 

[Woodview]

To be honest I find it difficult to understand Why you wish to make this trip.
I feel that you are being Pushed into doing the trip &

that you think that you will not enjoy it.

Sorry if this upsets you ... ... I could be wrong & if this is the case

then I will try to give some advice.


It is the questions that you ask makes me think that this is the way you

feeling

 

[rxtiger]

I'm considering this trip in 2016 with my husband but I have a few questions about itinerary & the trip itself.

I really don't have an interest in Versailles is possible to just stay in the city? If so do I lose out on the money for that portion?
How much extra is the add-on for Disneyland Paris? Does it include transportation?
How much would you say would be a good food budget per day?
Does Disney give you many opportunities along the stops for shopping or picture taking? Any good shopping sites you would recommend?
Is there transportation to the London Eye/Arc de Triomphe?
Do you recommend train/bus pass & if so how many days would you actually use them?
Do they stamp your passport at train station in Paris or during your flight home?


I would appreciate all the help & tips you can give me.

We just got back and the answers you were given are still true. Actually, Versailles was one of favorites parts. We have been there before, but the bike riding through the gardens was fantastic!

We also did the DLP add on. It would be cheaper do it on your own, I'm sure, but the official add on covered transportation to DLP and from DLP to the airport by private car. It was really first class. You have a choice in hotels, but we stayed in the DLP Hotel (pricey) and it was a little over $1000 per person extra. Much cheaper at the New York Hotel. I highly recommend going to DLP though!

 

[HarleyRose]

Hi, HarleyRose! Welcome to the DISBoards and the ABD Forum. I hope those answers help! Let me know if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer. As I said, the itinerary has changed a bit since I took the trip (We didn't go to Windsor) but I'll answer what I can! It's a great trip. You'll love it!

Sayhello

Thank you so much. This really put my mind at easy. We haven't done a Europe trip yet and I'm sort of nervous since I know this will be my only opportunity to do Paris so I want to get right. I do have one question I forgot to ask. Where is the best place to do currency exchange? Thanks again for everything Sayhello.

 

[HarleyRose]

To be honest I find it difficult to understand Why you wish to make this trip.
I feel that you are being Pushed into doing the trip &

that you think that you will not enjoy it.

Sorry if this upsets you ... ... I could be wrong & if this is the case

then I will try to give some advice.


It is the questions that you ask makes me think that this is the way you

feeling

I can understand why it seemed that way in my earlier post. I have dreamed of going to Paris since my first visit to Epcot so believe me in no way is this a forced trip if anything it probably is for my husband. I have never been to Europe before and this may be my only chance to do Paris so I just want to make sure I hit everything that's important to me. The London portion of trip hits all our marks on attractions to visit. I'm a nervous traveler to begin with so I like to have as much knowledge ahead of time as possible and to not have to worry about food, transportation, and long lines for attractions seem like a no brainer. We have done disney vacations in the past and have loved every experience plus we are deeply considering becoming DVC members in the next couple years. This is sort of our test run so we know if we should sign up later for Germany, China, Egypt and so on. Thanks again for any help you can provide.

 

[HarleyRose]

We just got back and the answers you were given are still true. Actually, Versailles was one of favorites parts. We have been there before, but the bike riding through the gardens was fantastic!

We also did the DLP add on. It would be cheaper do it on your own, I'm sure, but the official add on covered transportation to DLP and from DLP to the airport by private car. It was really first class. You have a choice in hotels, but we stayed in the DLP Hotel (pricey) and it was a little over $1000 per person extra. Much cheaper at the New York Hotel. I highly recommend going to DLP though!

Thank you for the response. I love the idea of transportation being handle for us. No driving sounds like heaven to us. We live in California and the traffic is always bad here so I the idea of no driving is wonderful. I was wondering do they give you fastpasses as well? I know I'm going to be so distracted with picture taking DLP being a huge Sleeping Beauty fan I would hate to miss a good ride.

 

[sayhello]

Thank you so much. This really put my mind at easy. We haven't done a Europe trip yet and I'm sort of nervous since I know this will be my only opportunity to do Paris so I want to get right. I do have one question I forgot to ask. Where is the best place to do currency exchange? Thanks again for everything Sayhello.

You're welcome. ABD is a *fabulous* way to do a first trip to Europe! They take care of all the logistics: transportation, moving your luggage, most meals, VIP entrance to sites, excellent local guides, etc. And if you don't speak French like I don't, they help with the language issues. If there is something in Paris you feel you will miss, and Versailles is not interesting to you (although I agree with rxtiger that I really enjoyed it) then skip it and do what you'd like.

As for currency exchange, what I do is get a small amount at either my bank or AAA before hand. My bank does not charge any exchange fee, and neither does AAA if you're a member. I always like to arrive with at least a small amount of the local currency in my pocket (in case I need to take a taxi, buy a bottle of water, or whatever). Then use ATM's to get any additional money. As long as you have a 4-digit pin on your ATM card that doesn't start with a zero, you should be OK, and ATM's have the best exchange rate.

I think this is a good choice for a trip, but beware! As I've told many others, ABD's are addictive!

Sayhello

 

[abdgeek]

I'm considering this trip in 2016 with my husband but I have a few questions about itinerary & the trip itself.

I really don't have an interest in Versailles is possible to just stay in the city? If so do I lose out on the money for that portion?
How much extra is the add-on for Disneyland Paris? Does it include transportation?
How much would you say would be a good food budget per day?
Does Disney give you many opportunities along the stops for shopping or picture taking? Any good shopping sites you would recommend?
Is there transportation to the London Eye/Arc de Triomphe?
Do you recommend train/bus pass & if so how many days would you actually use them?
Do they stamp your passport at train station in Paris or during your flight home?


I would appreciate all the help & tips you can give me.

I definitely understand your uneasiness about taking a European trip. What I like about ABD is that all you have to do is show up and they take care of everything else. I am a DVC member and use my points for ABD trips(others will tell you it's not a good use of points--they're your points so do what you want if you become a member) and I also travel solo. Traveling with ABD gives me peace of mind when I travel overseas.

Sayhello gave lots of good advice. My only other suggestion would be to look into doing either pre or post-nights thru ABD. That way you can see anything that was on your list that ABD didn't do. I've done three ABD's(Greece, Med Cruise Add-on, NYC) thus far and have my fourth(Italy--July) and fifth(Australia) next year. I usually fly in a day or two early and stay a day later to see the additional things I have on my list, most of which are museums and some other sites. You can book cheaper hotels for the pre and post nights, but I like booking with ABD because they will take you to the airport and your extra stays usually include breakfast and wifi--one less thing for me to worry about. You may want to look at Tripadvisor to see what there is to do in London and Paris that ABD isn't doing. Maybe see a broadway show, go to museums, etc.

You're asking the right questions now, so keep researching. You can also call ABD for the Disneyland Paris question. They should be able to answer it based on the prices for this year and let you know how it works.

 

[paddles]

Hi - just wanted to give my 2 cents about the Paris itinerary. I haven't done the London/Paris trip, but have traveled in Paris a lot (and lived there for a year as well).

I think Versailles is one of the most magnificent places to visit in terms of the palace and the garden. You may really regret skipping that (and that particular ABD is so expensive, its a pity to skip things).

I recommend adding post-days to Paris and seeing more of the sites/museums: Sacre-Coeur and Montmartre area, Musee D'Orsay, Musee Rodin, shop at Galeries Lafayette (near Opera) or Les Halles, get a meal at St. Germain des pres, have coffee near the seine and people watch.....

There's so much to do there, and while ABD hits a few key sites, it looks like other key ones are missing.

I would also get a nice hotel near the Louvre or Tuileries for your post stay, since that's such a beautiful area to stay and you can walk around. The taxi ride to the airport is about 60 euros, and you'll probably save a lot more than that by not going through ABD for the post stay. Their quote is always so high (and personally, I think they should refund people a small amount if they book pre/post stays on their own and not use ABD transportation. I've never understood that - even if you book the exact same hotel as ABD is using, they won't provide transportation even though you've technically paid for it in the price of trip )

 

[Woodview]

Hello Harley Rose,

Thank you for your response & I was wrong in my assumption.

Now Plan ahead & enjoy your trip.

The best place to obtain Euro money ( London uses £ Sterling )

is in your Local Bank . Or use your Main Credit Card .. There will be a

currency fee ADDED on by your Bank on any transactions made OUTSIDE

of USA.

Next best is your ATM card ( Debit Card ) you will / should have your

PIN numbers for this.

DO NOT CHANGE MONEY at a Currency Booth

Change money INSIDE a BANK.

Euros are just like USA money

1 cent, 2 cent 5 cent , 10 ,20, 50 cent 1 euro coin , 2 Euro Coin

5 Euro Note , 10 Euro & 20 Euro & 50 Euro Notes .

There are 100 Euro and others notes BUT YOU would find it hard to get people to take them

Paris is a wonderful City to see & go & sit back and wonder at Past

History that has taken place at Versailles & Paris

 

[mathgeek]

The only thing I can answer is the DLP add-on, but it might not help you much since I'm traveling solo. I'm doing the 2-night add-on at Hotel NY, which was around $1500. It includes transportation to the hotel and back to the airport, the hotel, 3-day park hopper, and VIP FastPasses. I know if you chose the Disneyland Hotel it was about twice as much. They also gave an option of adding on additional days.

I wish I could answer more, but I haven't been on this trip yet. I leave on Sunday!

 

[rxtiger]

Thank you for the response. I love the idea of transportation being handle for us. No driving sounds like heaven to us. We live in California and the traffic is always bad here so I the idea of no driving is wonderful. I was wondering do they give you fastpasses as well? I know I'm going to be so distracted with picture taking DLP being a huge Sleeping Beauty fan I would hate to miss a good ride.

I understand! At our hotel, the package included 1 anytime fastpass per day per member of your party. You could use it on any fastpass attraction. Otherwise, it was like the legacy FP at WDW.

 

[HarleyRose]

You're welcome. ABD is a *fabulous* way to do a first trip to Europe! They take care of all the logistics: transportation, moving your luggage, most meals, VIP entrance to sites, excellent local guides, etc. And if you don't speak French like I don't, they help with the language issues. If there is something in Paris you feel you will miss, and Versailles is not interesting to you (although I agree with rxtiger that I really enjoyed it) then skip it and do what you'd like.

As for currency exchange, what I do is get a small amount at either my bank or AAA before hand. My bank does not charge any exchange fee, and neither does AAA if you're a member. I always like to arrive with at least a small amount of the local currency in my pocket (in case I need to take a taxi, buy a bottle of water, or whatever). Then use ATM's to get any additional money. As long as you have a 4-digit pin on your ATM card that doesn't start with a zero, you should be OK, and ATM's have the best exchange rate.

I think this is a good choice for a trip, but beware! As I've told many others, ABD's are addictive!

Sayhello

Thanks for the advice. I really want to do China but I'm waiting for the Shanghai Resort to be built before we make the trip out. We will visit Hong Kong Resort during post days. We liked the mediterranean add on but since they got rid of Venice we'll wait & hope they bring it back. The Baltic add on looks really great as well. My husband really wants to the Germany one. I have a feeling we will be pretty busy for the next few years if London/Paris is a great trip.

 

[HarleyRose]

I definitely understand your uneasiness about taking a European trip. What I like about ABD is that all you have to do is show up and they take care of everything else. I am a DVC member and use my points for ABD trips(others will tell you it's not a good use of points--they're your points so do what you want if you become a member) and I also travel solo. Traveling with ABD gives me peace of mind when I travel overseas.

Sayhello gave lots of good advice. My only other suggestion would be to look into doing either pre or post-nights thru ABD. That way you can see anything that was on your list that ABD didn't do. I've done three ABD's(Greece, Med Cruise Add-on, NYC) thus far and have my fourth(Italy--July) and fifth(Australia) next year. I usually fly in a day or two early and stay a day later to see the additional things I have on my list, most of which are museums and some other sites. You can book cheaper hotels for the pre and post nights, but I like booking with ABD because they will take you to the airport and your extra stays usually include breakfast and wifi--one less thing for me to worry about. You may want to look at Tripadvisor to see what there is to do in London and Paris that ABD isn't doing. Maybe see a broadway show, go to museums, etc.

You're asking the right questions now, so keep researching. You can also call ABD for the Disneyland Paris question. They should be able to answer it based on the prices for this year and let you know how it works.

Thank you so much for the input as a DVC member. We went to one of the seminars onboard the DCL but we didn't get much detail on how the points system works for ABD trips. How many points does it take for you to travel on ABD trip if you don't mind me asking? How was the med add-on? Did you do a trip report I could read up on? We really would love to do Monte Carlo, Rome and Venice as well.

 

[HarleyRose]

Hi - just wanted to give my 2 cents about the Paris itinerary. I haven't done the London/Paris trip, but have traveled in Paris a lot (and lived there for a year as well).

I think Versailles is one of the most magnificent places to visit in terms of the palace and the garden. You may really regret skipping that (and that particular ABD is so expensive, its a pity to skip things).

I recommend adding post-days to Paris and seeing more of the sites/museums: Sacre-Coeur and Montmartre area, Musee D'Orsay, Musee Rodin, shop at Galeries Lafayette (near Opera) or Les Halles, get a meal at St. Germain des pres, have coffee near the seine and people watch.....

There's so much to do there, and while ABD hits a few key sites, it looks like other key ones are missing.

I would also get a nice hotel near the Louvre or Tuileries for your post stay, since that's such a beautiful area to stay and you can walk around. The taxi ride to the airport is about 60 euros, and you'll probably save a lot more than that by not going through ABD for the post stay. Their quote is always so high (and personally, I think they should refund people a small amount if they book pre/post stays on their own and not use ABD transportation. I've never understood that - even if you book the exact same hotel as ABD is using, they won't provide transportation even though you've technically paid for it in the price of trip )

I know many people love Versailles but I know personally I would rather visit Place du Tertre, Moulin Rouge, and the Opera house. I would love to do some shopping in my free time at the Galeries Lafayette or Les Halles as well. I will for sure check out your other suggestions. Any other helpful tips would be appreciated.

 

[HarleyRose]

Hello Harley Rose,

Thank you for your response & I was wrong in my assumption.

Now Plan ahead & enjoy your trip.

The best place to obtain Euro money ( London uses £ Sterling )

is in your Local Bank . Or use your Main Credit Card .. There will be a

currency fee ADDED on by your Bank on any transactions made OUTSIDE

of USA.

Next best is your ATM card ( Debit Card ) you will / should have your

PIN numbers for this.

DO NOT CHANGE MONEY at a Currency Booth

Change money INSIDE a BANK.

Euros are just like USA money

1 cent, 2 cent 5 cent , 10 ,20, 50 cent 1 euro coin , 2 Euro Coin

5 Euro Note , 10 Euro & 20 Euro & 50 Euro Notes .

There are 100 Euro and others notes BUT YOU would find it hard to get people to take them

Paris is a wonderful City to see & go & sit back and wonder at Past

History that has taken place at Versailles & Paris

Thanks again Woodview.

 

[HarleyRose]

The only thing I can answer is the DLP add-on, but it might not help you much since I'm traveling solo. I'm doing the 2-night add-on at Hotel NY, which was around $1500. It includes transportation to the hotel and back to the airport, the hotel, 3-day park hopper, and VIP FastPasses. I know if you chose the Disneyland Hotel it was about twice as much. They also gave an option of adding on additional days.

I wish I could answer more, but I haven't been on this trip yet. I leave on Sunday!

Thank you for the response. I was actually considering NY Hotel instead of the DLP Hotel so this was actually really helpful to me. Please feel free after you get back to let me know how the add on went at NY. Have fun and safe travels.

 

[HarleyRose]

I understand! At our hotel, the package included 1 anytime fastpass per day per member of your party. You could use it on any fastpass attraction. Otherwise, it was like the legacy FP at WDW.

Thanks for the info rxtiger.

 

[abdgeek]

Thank you so much for the input as a DVC member. We went to one of the seminars onboard the DCL but we didn't get much detail on how the points system works for ABD trips. How many points does it take for you to travel on ABD trip if you don't mind me asking? How was the med add-on? Did you do a trip report I could read up on? We really would love to do Monte Carlo, Rome and Venice as well.

As long as you buy direct from DVC, you can use your points to book WDW/DL, DCL, RCI--all resorts, ABD, and Concierge Collection(usually high end hotels). If you buy resale, you are limited to using your points on WDW/DL and some RCI.

Below is the link to the 2015 ABD Points Chart(I hope it works): http://advc.disney.go.com/media/dvc...charts/2015/adventuresbydisney/2015abd618.pdf

The points are based on double occupancy and I have to pay the 40% single supplement for ABD when I travel and the almost 100% DCL single supplement when I cruise--it used to be about 40% and I'm really bummed that it went up. As you can see, some of the trips require a lot of points, so if you're planning on getting a 160 point contract you probably would need to pay OOP because you won't have enough points even if you used three years worth of points which you can do(I started out with 160 points and soon realized that was not enough for what I wanted to do once I saw the ABD point charts--it's a lot less points to take the cruises). On each of the ABD trips I've been on, there were usually a couple of DVC members.

The Med Cruise Add-on was the first ABD I did in 2011. I loved it and was hooked from that point on. It was also my first Med Cruise. I liked that I saw more than I could have seen on my own and later realized that the ABD combined about 2-3 excursions a day. What I didn't realize was that I could not see the Med in one cruise. I will be going back for the third time this summer to finally see the rest of the things I still haven't seen. My second DCL Med Cruise, which was 12 nights, I didn't do ABD because the first seven days was the same thing I had done before. I just did the DCL excursions and let me say, there is a big difference in what goes on with ABD vs a regular excursion. ABD has a content expert on the tour, DCL has a third party person who takes you to the site but has limited knowledge of the site.

Unfortunately, I haven't done any trip reports because everyone else has done them. If you choose to do the Med Cruise, you should be able to see Monte Carlo, Rome and Venice. We literally did Rome in a day with the ABD add-on(didn't see David--Academia closed on Monday which was when we were in Rome and Pantheon--saw everything else). I loved Monte Carlo and we had lunch overlooking the ocean at the Fairmont Monte Carlo and had time to shop or go in the Casino. The bus also took us on part of the Grand Prix and we saw the markings on the road where the cars line up.

When I purchased DVC, I did so to go everywhere Disney went--not just to go to WDW. Right now, that's six continents and I'm happily vacationing my way through all of them. Good luck in your decision.