Sound the Twilight Bark and Pass the Chocolate Croissants - A London & Paris PTR

[jenseib]

Welcome home

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

glad you are back home safely!! Happy new year to you too!!!!

 

[Charleston Princess]

Welcome home and Happy New Year to you, too!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Welcome Home! Happy New Year!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Welcome home

glad you are back home safely!! Happy new year to you too!!!!

Welcome home and Happy New Year to you, too!

Welcome Home! Happy New Year!

Thank you all!! It's good to be getting back into our routines again. DH had to work on Sunday (Vikings game) and we all had Monday off. Today was a bit tough to get going!! Plus it was cold and windy!!

I wanted to share some pictures from Christmas and our trip so I'm uploading them now.

But FIRST... BIG NEWS!

We actually took another step in planning our trip!
We bought our train tickets to and from London/Paris!!! We'd been watching the fares on RailEurope and they were pretty high. DH checked Eurostar and found a really good deal. Not first class or anything, but we're saving some $$!

So now our basic schedule is this:
Fly out of MN at about 4 pm on Leap Day 2/29 (No 24 hours at MK for us!)
Change planes in Philly and arrive in London around 9:30 am on 3/1
Spend a couple days with our friends in London
Take the train to Disneyland Paris on Sunday 3/4
Spend two and a half days at DLP and two days seeing Paris (not sure about Versailles yet)
Take the train back to London on Friday 3/9 (Sarah's 11th birthday!)

Now I just have to fill in all the details of what we will see and do! I've got a list in my head and DH got guidebooks for London and Paris for Christmas, so I'll start digging into those too.

I need to decide whether it is worth it to get a London Pass (or Paris pass for that matter). It covers the admission to a ton of places and gives you front of the line access (like a fast pass!!) There are a lot of free museums, but the big ticket attractions have fees. Once we decide what we want to see and the costs of those things, it will be easier to decide. Anyone ever used a city pass like that? I know they have them in NYC and Philly.

Now we are planning our DLP stay. We had been going back and forth between Hotel New York and Newport Bay Club. Then we thought, we'd go cheap and stay at Santa Fe or Sequoia Lodge. Today, DH thought, "Hey, we have DVC points that we bought prior to the big rule change about resale points. we could use them at DLP!" So he looked into points needed to stay at Hotel New York. It's 30 per night. Now we don't have a lot of points, but we're thinking we can use points for two nights and pay for 3 nights. DH is going to call DVC tomorrow and look into it. We could get a really good deal and save over $500 that way!!! I'll keep you all posted! It would be so nice to try to keep some of this trip under budget!!! Especially since we just got the bill for the DVC annual dues!

Well, it's getting late and my pictures are still uploading to photo bucket, so maybe tomorrow I can share them with you.

 

[Charleston Princess]

Hurray for buying your train tickets!!! Awesome!!! This trip is getting close very quickly!

I can't wait for you to head to DLP -- what a fun thing to do, and no matter where you stay, it will be great! Just roll the dice for which hotel.

 

[jenseib]

Wow, this trip is going to be here before you know it!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Wow sounds like you've got a lot accomplished in way of the trip!! Congrats on getting a good deal on the train tickets and for sorting out all the DLP hotel details! Looks like everything is falling into place. So how long exactly is that flight from Philly to London???


What is the big rule change about the resale points? I haven't looked at DVC in awhile, so I guess I'm out of the loop....

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Sounds like you have a good plan in place Sheree. Now to the fun part, filling in all the details!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Wow sounds like you've got a lot accomplished in way of the trip!! Congrats on getting a good deal on the train tickets and for sorting out all the DLP hotel details! Looks like everything is falling into place. So how long exactly is that flight from Philly to London???

I think it's 6 or 7 hours, but with a 5 or 6 hour time difference, it is like we leave Philly at 9 something p.m. and arrive in London at 9 a.m. the next day! Crazy!
What is the big rule change about the resale points? I haven't looked at DVC in awhile, so I guess I'm out of the loop....

DVC has made a rule that if you buy resale points after March something 2011, you can only use those points for limited purposes. You cannot use them for DLP, cruises, and some other special "collections". You can still use them at any DVC resort, or trade through RCI. We have one contract we bought prior to that date, so even though it's resale, we still get to use those points for whatever we want. We mostly would use our points for WDW, HHI, Vero Beach or California, so we were just fine with that change. We'd continue to buy resale in the future should we ever have enough $ to add on! I guess Disney was losing out on some direct sale contracts and wanted to put some restrictions on resale in hope of having the direct sales pick up again. It's just so much more expensive!

Dave read some more hotel reviews and we are still undecided. We'll see what the DVC people say today and go from there.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Hurray for buying your train tickets!!! Awesome!!! This trip is getting close very quickly!

I can't wait for you to head to DLP -- what a fun thing to do, and no matter where you stay, it will be great! Just roll the dice for which hotel.

The more I read and plan, the more excited I get!!!

Wow, this trip is going to be here before you know it!

Not yet! I'm not ready!!! I have WAY too much to do before then!!! I just looked at the calendar and my weekends in February are all busy. I better use my January weekends wisely!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

I hate it when I submit a reply and I get that 504 error message - then I do it again and it shows up twice!!!

 

[Pluto_fan]

Hooray for train tickets!

Here's my suggestion...definitely look into what DVC says, but also shop around the different countries' DLP websites. I checked your dates for a standard room at Newport Bay (because I'm a geek, sorry! ). On the US site, it was $1542 (5 nights with 6 days of park tickets, because that's how they sell it). On the UK site it was 807.80 Pounds, or about $1260. On the Irish site, it was 956.20 Euros, or about $1230. DLP apparently doesn't really market to North Americans, but they usually have good deals going on for people who live closer. They don't mail you anything, so it doesn't matter what you put for an address. I made our reservation through the UK site with no problems.

Could you make the DVC reservation without park tickets? Obviously with the regular reservation you'd have more park days that you need. But if you could do a DVC reservation with no tickets for the days you go into Paris, and a regular reservation for the days you go to the parks, that might make sense.

Regarding City Passes...we have found that in some places they are a good deal, and in other places they're not. It's really worth spending some time thinking about what you're going to want to do, and how much you would spend. It won't be a busy tourist time, so "Fastpass" won't be as big a deal as at other times of the year. On the other hand, it is nice to be able to go into a museum that's included on a pass and not feel like you have to stay a long time to "get your money's worth". I really recommend the Rick Steves guidebooks to help decide what sites sound most interesting, and he also gives a rundown on whether the passes are a good deal. I will also think about what we've done in London and Paris, and give you my .02 on them.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Sheree... I am soooo excited for you!! I think I told you we are considering skipping WDW for this year? We want to go when the entire expansion is complete, ...so I am thinking this summer might be a good time to do a UK trip! Of course, we have to see exactly when,and how outrageous the flights are when we go...right now they are around $600-$800 a ticket....of course, that might change and I could be at WDW again! So,...let me know the deets on the London leg of the trip...We would fly direct from Houston going over,...on the way back I would want to stop in New York and stay a couple of nights...kinda get back on US time! then fly in from NYC to here...I think from new York, it's 8 hours..sound right?
Have you gotten any good tips from the people over on the UK boards here?

 

[Monny2AE]

Hooray for train tickets! Your plans look great! Hope everything works out with DVC and you get to save some money on the hotel.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Hooray for train tickets!

Here's my suggestion...definitely look into what DVC says, but also shop around the different countries' DLP websites. I checked your dates for a standard room at Newport Bay (because I'm a geek, sorry! ). On the US site, it was $1542 (5 nights with 6 days of park tickets, because that's how they sell it). On the UK site it was 807.80 Pounds, or about $1260. On the Irish site, it was 956.20 Euros, or about $1230. DLP apparently doesn't really market to North Americans, but they usually have good deals going on for people who live closer. They don't mail you anything, so it doesn't matter what you put for an address. I made our reservation through the UK site with no problems.

Could you make the DVC reservation without park tickets? Obviously with the regular reservation you'd have more park days that you need. But if you could do a DVC reservation with no tickets for the days you go into Paris, and a regular reservation for the days you go to the parks, that might make sense.

Regarding City Passes...we have found that in some places they are a good deal, and in other places they're not. It's really worth spending some time thinking about what you're going to want to do, and how much you would spend. It won't be a busy tourist time, so "Fastpass" won't be as big a deal as at other times of the year. On the other hand, it is nice to be able to go into a museum that's included on a pass and not feel like you have to stay a long time to "get your money's worth". I really recommend the Rick Steves guidebooks to help decide what sites sound most interesting, and he also gives a rundown on whether the passes are a good deal. I will also think about what we've done in London and Paris, and give you my .02 on them.

Oh, thank you for all this information!! Turns out we will NOT be using our DVC points as they charge $400 transfer fee, plus you HAVE to buy park tickets with that deal. So I think we'll stick to the original plan of just paying for it. I have to check out the other countrie's sites. Thanks for checking that!!!

We started making a list of attractions/museums etc. and prices to see if a Pass would be a good deal. We got the Rick Steves books for London and Paris for Christmas!! Good reading!
Keep all this good info coming! It really helps!!

Sheree... I am soooo excited for you!! I think I told you we are considering skipping WDW for this year? We want to go when the entire expansion is complete, ...so I am thinking this summer might be a good time to do a UK trip! Of course, we have to see exactly when,and how outrageous the flights are when we go...right now they are around $600-$800 a ticket....of course, that might change and I could be at WDW again! So,...let me know the deets on the London leg of the trip...We would fly direct from Houston going over,...on the way back I would want to stop in New York and stay a couple of nights...kinda get back on US time! then fly in from NYC to here...I think from new York, it's 8 hours..sound right?
Have you gotten any good tips from the people over on the UK boards here?

I think at $600 a person, I would be ALL OVER that trip to UK!!! From here, in the summer, we were looking at $1400 a person! That's why we're going in winter!
I think it is less than 8 hours from NY, so that wouldn't be too bad. Spending a little time in NYC would be cool too!

Hooray for train tickets! Your plans look great! Hope everything works out with DVC and you get to save some money on the hotel.

Oh yeah!
We are saying no to the DVC method (we'll find some other way to use those ponts I'm sure!), but if I do what Kathy says, I can still stay at one of the more "deluxe" hotels and still save $$.

We're going to wait to book until the next billing cycle on the credit card
BTW - just in case you were wondering, Disney Reward dollars CANNOT be used in DLP. I already asked. Saving those for the October trip - should pay for at least a couple park tickets!

 

[eandesmom]

Sheree, I am just now getting caught up everywhere and am so sorry for your loss

Congrats on train tickets and your extra contract. Sounds like you are getting some great info on how to get the best hotel deal

No clue on the city passes, it seems to me whenever I travel once I look at those and balance out what I plan to go to, versus what is included in the pass, it almost always costs me more to use the pass so I'd be doing the exact same thing, lots of research and pricing!

 

[MEK]

I think its crazy that you have to buy a park ticket if you use your DVC points. What's up with that?

I am a little surprised to find that the prices from the UK and Ireland are about $300 lower for the package. Interesting and good to know!

Glad you got your train pass. Your trip is coming together nicely.

 

[RinkyTinkyTinky]

Sheree, your plans sound wonderful!! I seriously cannot wait to read your TR. I can't believe it's so close too! You don't have much time to be deciding what you are going to do. I think that would be the hardest part of planning a trip to Europe anyway. There is just soooooo much to see and do. How in the world do you narrow it down? I can't wait to hear what you decide on!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Sheree, I am just now getting caught up everywhere and am so sorry for your loss

Congrats on train tickets and your extra contract. Sounds like you are getting some great info on how to get the best hotel deal

No clue on the city passes, it seems to me whenever I travel once I look at those and balance out what I plan to go to, versus what is included in the pass, it almost always costs me more to use the pass so I'd be doing the exact same thing, lots of research and pricing!

Thank you Cynthia.
We are figuring it all out - albeit slowly. We will be trying to figure out our days and what we really want to do and costs. It is a lot of research, but I love it!! It's challenging me, since the WDW trips are to the point where I don't do much planning, and it's pretty easy for me now.

I think its crazy that you have to buy a park ticket if you use your DVC points. What's up with that?

I am a little surprised to find that the prices from the UK and Ireland are about $300 lower for the package. Interesting and good to know!

Glad you got your train pass. Your trip is coming together nicely.

Yeah, it's weird. We talked to our credit card company today about how they do things internationally. That was an interesting conversation too. The UK site has a better deal for the two hotels we're considering. More on that later. But it seems that we may be able to go through that site and book anyway. Whatever saves us money!

Sheree, your plans sound wonderful!! I seriously cannot wait to read your TR. I can't believe it's so close too! You don't have much time to be deciding what you are going to do. I think that would be the hardest part of planning a trip to Europe anyway. There is just soooooo much to see and do. How in the world do you narrow it down? I can't wait to hear what you decide on!

Thanks!!! I'm so excited to go and take tons of pictures and then share with all of you! We are working on our lists of must-dos and trying to narrow it down with what we have time for and money to do!! That's the hard part!!