Newbie to this board - Please help!

[GuardMusic]

DLP experts: I seek your knowledge!

For nearly a year, my BFF and I were planning to do Adventured by Disney to London/Paris in Sept. 2009.

Then the prices were released a couple of weeks ago. In less than an hour, we quickly determined this was more than we wanted to spend (and we both have doctorates!). Hello?! The price jumped $1000 from 2008. Simply crazy.

So we've looked at a number of other tours, but none of them ever felt just right. There was no eureka moment. We looked at Globus, Trafalgar, General Tours, and more. Either they were too hands off, didn't include enough days, had no air conditioning in questionable hotels, etc. The closest we came was General Tours. We're most worried about Paris as neither of us has ever been there and neither of us speaks the language; I've already been to London.

Then last night it finally came altogether.

We're going to do 4 nights in London and still have to choose the hotel, although we're down to some finalists. We'll have a 3 day London Travelcard, Original sightseeing tour hop on/off bus, travel to/from & admission to Windsor Castle, travel to/from Oxford, transfers to Eurostar and direct transport to... (wait for it) Disneyland Paris, where we will stay at least 3 nights at Sequoia Lodge, park tickets, travel to/from downtown Paris (2 day visite pass), 2 day museum card, hop on/off tour bus, and "Magical Express" to CDG.

We're also planning to fly on SkyMiles.

We probably won't do theatre tix. We already have Lion King tickets when they come to our area on tour.

So that's it. We feel we'll get the experience we want this way and still get Disney in there without paying the Disney price.

Feedback is welcomed. I will have a number of questions over the coming year, so I'll get them started here:
- how much should we budget for meals?
- should we go into Paris on our own or take one of the Disney excursions? We want to do the Louve, Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elyesse, Seine cruise? (SORRY for the bad spelling!)
- review of Sequoia Lodge? (My BFF loved Wilderness Lodge so I let her pick this one. I love the Beach Club, but I'll be there in Dec. so I'm sacrificing the Newport hotel)
- should we consider Disney's "half board" option? We will probably be in Paris 1 or 1.5 days of the trip. Is this plan good for one meal per day? If we skip a day, can we then use two meals on the same day?
- how much time should we plan for DL, Studios, and Village?
- Should we do the trip london/paris or paris/london?

ALL other advice is welcomed!
Gayle

 

[GuardMusic]

Bumping to first page, as no one has replied to me yet.

Is this what I can expect at DLP?
Gayle

 

[cap'njack.]

Q: How much should we budget for meals?
A: About 20 Euros for Lunch and 50-60 for Dinner, try this website for rough prices of food at DLRP http://www.magicalkingdoms.com/dlp/menus/index.html

Q: Should we go into Paris on our own or take one of the Disney excursions? We want to do the Louve, Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elyesse, Seine cruise? (SORRY for the bad spelling!)
A: Personally I'd take one of the Disney Trips to Paris, however with the RER just by the Disneyland Hotel then it would be very easy to junp on an RER train to get to Paris to do it by yourself. I'd have a look at the tours when you get there and decide from there. Disney offer and evening tour to Paris if you don't want to loose and precious park time.

Q: Review of Sequoia Lodge? (My BFF loved Wilderness Lodge so I let her pick this one. I love the Beach Club, but I'll be there in Dec. so I'm sacrificing the Newport hotel)
A: This thread should help with this one http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=788952

Q: Should we consider Disney's "half board" option? We will probably be in Paris 1 or 1.5 days of the trip. Is this plan good for one meal per day? If we skip a day, can we then use two meals on the same day?
A: The plan is a great way of budgeting and I would definatly be using it in October if we were not staying off-site. You could skip a meal one day and then use two the next for lunch and dinner or if you have the basic half board plan then I think you can use two vouchers for some of the very expensive restuarants

Q: How much time should we plan for DL, Studios, and Village?
A: I would say to do everything in DL you would need 2-3 days, the Studios as about a day if you see all the shows or about half a day if you don't. Villiage is just shops and restuarants that can be done either before the parks open or after they close in the evening. I'd ensure that you make the use of the two hours EMA in the morning to do Fantasyland, which gets busier during the day than any other land.

Q: Should we do the trip london/paris or paris/london?
A: Personally I'd do the trip Paris/London, but then I live near London and worked there for 4 years so I am probably biased, I'd still go for Paris/London though as the DLRP trip will be more hectic than the London one!

I hope this has answered your questions, although if you have any more just start a new thread and you'll get answers. Usually best to keep it to one or two questions per thread as some people will read that questions and then give up trying to answer them all!

 

[Demonica]

- how much should we budget for meals?

In Disneyland? It depends on where you want to eat! All places are fairly pricey but there's fast food up to expensive table service. Try dlpfoodguide.com which will help you.

- should we go into Paris on our own or take one of the Disney excursions? We want to do the Louve, Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elyesse, Seine cruise? (SORRY for the bad spelling!)

I'm afraid I can't answer that well. Some people on here have taken the trains into Paris and said it was much cheaper and very easy.

- review of Sequoia Lodge? (My BFF loved Wilderness Lodge so I let her pick this one. I love the Beach Club, but I'll be there in Dec. so I'm sacrificing the Newport hotel)

If you check the top of the screen there's "sticky" threads with links to posts about all the different hotels. Reading through the SL one might help. I've only stayed in Cheyenne so far but have heard good things about SL too. So much so I've booked it for my Nov trip.

- should we consider Disney's "half board" option? We will probably be in Paris 1 or 1.5 days of the trip. Is this plan good for one meal per day? If we skip a day, can we then use two meals on the same day?

I haven't used HB so maybe someone else can help. Don't think it would be worth it if away from the parks for a day or so, not sure sorry.

- how much time should we plan for DL, Studios, and Village?

It depends on how many rides you want to do. Personally I'd want at least two days in DL, one day in Studios and wander round the village at night. The village is mainly just restaurants and shops so if time is limited just stick to the parks.

- Should we do the trip london/paris or paris/london?

Whatever's cheaper! lol

 

[cap'njack.]

Oh and try this website for rough food prices and menu selections

http://www.magicalkingdoms.com/dlp/menus/index.html

 

[McDuck]

I haven't been yet...going next weekend for the first time. My DH and I booked one dinner at Blue Lagoon for our first anniversary...that's 28 Euros per person for a set meal. According to a guidebook I purchased, your basic counter service meal of burger-fries-drink will run about 10 Euros per person. We're figuring to budget about 20 -30 Euros per person per day for food, but we expect to do counter service a lot. Our package includes breakfast at the hotel.

If you like I can let you know when we come back what we spent.

Wow...replies while I was posting...I'll have to show this to DH...may need to up our dining budget...

 

[cap'njack.]

Wow...replies while I was posting...I'll have to show this to DH...may need to up our dining budget...

Just be aware that some of the prices will have increased, so always add a little extra! My budget went from £150 for two adults and one child and it's £250 now! Seems that the price has increased since I went in 2004 and the Euro rate has dropped too!