Trip Report The Trip of Many Firsts - May 26th-30th 2013

[dlpSteve]

I started writing the trip report articles for my website but thought I'd post it here too, the place where I have been chatting about Disneyland Paris for 10 years now!!

Part 1 Disneyland Paris Trip Report May 2013: Driving There

This most recent trip to Disneyland Paris, May 26th-30th, was a last minute visit booked just a few weeks before departure. Usually we get plans sorted at least 6 months in advance, so I wasn’t quite prepared for the £500 cost of booking the Eurostar, our usual method of transportation between the UK and France. What to do now? Well, I could drive, I mean, I’ve been a passenger on a drive to Disneyland Paris, didn’t look that hard.

I’ll confess, before this trip I had never driven abroad, let alone on the wrong, I mean, other side of the road. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to cope with going off of junctions on the right, going around roundabouts the opposite way to what I’m used to and trying to work out the kilometres to miles conversion so I’d be able to keep to the speed limit. Then again, everyone else manages, so why shouldn’t I be able to? The answer is of course that I could manage, so I booked tickets on the EuroTunnel and set about working out which way to go, after turning right at the bottom of our road.

I have to confess that even though I had some wonderfully written directions, detailing a route through some beautiful French countryside, I instead chickened out and borrowed someone’s Sat Nav, as mine doesn’t work outside of the UK. I’m sorry Victoria, I was weak and took the coward’s way out, but I was also coerced by the powers of the Dark Side as Mark’s Sat Nav comes with Darth Vader turn by turn navigation instructions.

The first part of the drive was a doddle, but so it should have been, as it was just down to Folkestone, where I was able to drive on my beloved left hand said of the road. We arrived at the Eurotunnel terminal an hour early, and as we check in automatically, thanks to clever technology that scanned my number plate and then welcomed me, we are told that we have to board our intended train as they are full up on earlier ones. No problem, who doesn’t need the chance to powder their nose before setting off on a journey under the English Channel. That’s what we thought anyway, but as we made our way to the car park a stewerd ushered us towards the boarding lane and off we go, onto a train that will depart 40 minutes earlier than ours. 40 minutes? That’s almost an hour, give or take, ahead of schedule and almost an hour, give or take, earlier that we’ll eventually get to Disneyland Paris than we had initially planned. Result!

If you thought sitting on the top deck of a double decker train was strange, try driving to the top deck of a train – pretty surreal. We were on the train in just a few minutes thanks to a rapid boarder control check – we must be trustworthy looking people. Once inside there’s not much to do, though there are regular opportunities to powder ones nose should the need arise.

35 minutes after we leave Folkestone and I’m driving on the right side of the right, both literally and by the laws of this new foreign land. It’s not nearly as complicated as I had anticipated, especially with a handy reminder from the Sat Nav as to which side of the road I should be driving on. So people join the road from my side of the road – hey I can handle that, and within a few miles I’m even venturing to the left, you know, to overtake other cars in maneuvers that make it look like I actually know what I’m doing.

It’s a pretty straight forward drive from Calais to Val d’Europe, using two big motorways, the A26 and the A1. Yes there are a few other roads before and after, but everything is so well signposted I think I could handle it even without using a Sat Nav, though I doubt I’ll be putting that theory to the test any time soon. You go through one toll, but it’s different to how tolls are handled here in the UK. Instead of going through one toll and paying there and then, you go through an automated ticket machine first, on the A26, and then a good while later, you go through the payment booth, when you are now on the A1. The toll was €21,30 and they take cash and cards, as well as having both automated and manned booths.

It was such an easy drive that I didn’t even require the company or reassurance of my wife and son, which was quite fortuitous as they both fell asleep, waking some later when signs for Disneyland Paris started to appear n the side of the road. The 2 hours and 45 minute journey flew by, and after a much more relaxed drive than I had imagined, we were in Val d’Europe and I was driving straight past our Apartments. Some might have called it a mistake, I like to think of it as an opportunity to show off how comfortable I was driving in France, a veritable pro at this point.

We left the house at 7am and got to our apartment at around 2.30pm local time, a six and a half hour incident free journey. The cost of the journey, both there and back, was £105 for the Eurotunnel, £70 for fuel and £36.40 on tolls. That brings the total to £211.40, a saving of £288.60 compared to Eurostar, and that doesn’t factor in the cost of driving to the Eurostar station and parking there for 5 days, which would bring the saving to nearer £370 in reality.

Would I drive to Disneyland Paris again? Yes, without a shadow of a doubt. It was cheaper, gave us more freedom with journey times and meant we could take far more clothing and food then we’d ever need. The French roads are very easy to navigate and places to get fuel are in abundance on the way. I think I’d only go back to using the Eurostar if I needed to visit the parks for just one night, when the drive there and back would be a bit tiring in such a short time. For now I’m a Eurotunnel convert, and plan to use that method of traversing the Channel for our next visit too.

Next I’ll be talking about my first experience of staying off site.

 

[aliscrapper]

Great first day Steve.

Loved hearing about your adventures on the Podcast.

Makes me think that one day in the future I could drive the trip to Mickey!

Looking forward to the next instalment!

 

[cherrymarzipan]

Really enjoyed being taken along on the ride - we always drive too. Loved how you spun the "driving past the apartments" bit! Looking forward to the next instalment.

 

[dlpSteve]

Thanks for reading the first part - it's taking it's time but I'm getting there! The next part is finally here, though some may already have seen it on my website here.

Disneyland Paris Trip Report May 2013: Staying Off Site at Séjours & Affaires Serris Val d’Europe

So I have covered the driving there part of this trip report, and now comes where we stayed. For the first time in 14 trips, we were going to stay off site, as in not in one of the Disneyland Paris resort hotels. I’d priced it all up before but never seemed to find a price which was cheaper than staying on site. That was until I explored more than just the partner hotels, and also annual passports.

In the past I had heard people talk of how cheap it was to stay off site and so now it was time to put that theory to the test. I wanted to go as cheap as possible and in doing this I booked, after just a few hours of deciding we were going to actually go on this trip, a room at the Premiere Classe Marne la Vallée – Bussy St Georges. We are a family who spend little time in the hotel, so what could go wrong with a hotel that only cost £154 for the 4 nights? First of all were the reviews, which I should have read a few more of before I booked, which talked of it being very noisy and not very comfortable. That’ll teach me to sort by price and book the one at the top.

The second problem was that the second bed, which would be for my 5 year old son Lucas, was attached to the wall and hung over the main double bed at a right angle to it. As much as that seemed like it could be an adventure at first, I wasn’t sure I’d get any sleep knowing he was suspended above me, and I wasn’t keen on him being stuck up there so high during the night. One problem – I’d booked using a lower no cancellation price…oops. I did a bit more hunting around and found that someone had stayed there just recently with a 5 year old child, only to find the bed had a label on it saying that the hanging bed was for children of 6 and above. Could this be my way out? I hoped so and emailed Booking.com to request a cancellation based on the room not being suitable and the information on the website not being complete.

To their credit they got back to me very quickly, on a Sunday, and within an hour my booking had been cancelled at no cost to myself. Less encouraging is that their website still doesn’t let you know that the bed is not for anyone under the age of 6. As efficient as they were with my refund I’ll never again book with Booking.com, not now I can see that even with updated information they haven’t changed their website and subsequently people will continue to book what could be unsafe sleeping conditions for children under the age of 6.
Next I read a lot of reviews on Trip Advisor and also on several Disney forums. This led me to the Séjours & Affaires Serris Val d’Europe apartment hotel (aparthotel). It seemed well placed with only a short walk to both the RER station and the shopping centre, which contained among many other shops, a big supermarket. I went ahead and booked an apartment with a main bedroom, kitchen, bathroom and lounge with a sofa bed. It was more expensive at £225, but I had peace of mind that it was more than likely going to be a far more pleasurable experience than staying in the hotel with the hanging bed.

I found it very easily, after driving past it, and one of the first things I had to do was sort out the parking. I’d read a review which mentioned having to book parking so I did just that, and my email was replied to very quickly with confirmation that my reservation had been received and confirmed. Check in was very quick and efficient, and I was soon driving through not one, but two, remote activated security doors and into the underground parking area. Not only did I feel safe in the knowledge that my car would be out of harm’s way for the duration of our stay, but there was another entrance into the aparthotel from this subterranean level. The parking was an extra cost of €8 (£6.79) a day. Well, I say per day, they could quite easily have said my car was there on 5 different days and charged me €40 (£33.95), but they instead charged me for 4 days at €32 (£27.16).

Once inside the apartment I was surprised at how big it was, and delighted to see a walk in wardrobe in both the hallway and the bedroom. The bathroom and bedrooms were both roomy and the kitchen was small but functional, and didn’t need to be any bigger for its intended use. Everything was clean, from the linen to the furnishings, to the bathroom fittings and the crockery & cutlery in the kitchen. To say we were delighted with the apartment would be an understatement – why had we spent a decade paying more to stay in hotel bedrooms with far less space, and with no lounge and kitchen?

Séjours & Affaires Serris Val d’Europe Lounge

Séjours & Affaires Serris Val d’Europe Bedroom

Séjours & Affaires Serris Val d’Europe Sofabed

Séjours & Affaires Serris Val d’Europe Hallway

Séjours & Affaires Serris Val d’Europe Kitchen

Séjours & Affaires Serris Val d’Europe Bathroom

All unpacked we made our way to the train station, after getting directions from the very friendly lady behind reception. In around 5 minutes we were there, already. The area around the apartment and en route was very nice, and being a commercial district was populated by very decent looking people. Train tickets cost just €1,40 or €10,90 if you bought a batch of ten, €5,45 for children aged 4 to 10. I bought all the tickets during the trip from an automated machine which had an option for instructions in English, but there were also manned booths.

The train journey itself took about 3 minutes, and trains were very regular, though late in the evening they would sometimes wait for 10-15 minutes at the Disneyland Paris Chessy station before departing. We managed to get a seat on each and every journey, and the trains never got so busy that people were jammed on like a London Underground train during rush hour.

Walking back to the apartment, even as late as 12.30am, we never felt unsafe and the area was very well lit. The apartments were very quiet and we never had any problems with noisy neighbours. Though we never tried it, the aparthotel did have a breakfast room and offered breakfast at €8 for adults and €4 for children under 13 years old. Be warned though, there was no kettle, so if boiling water in a saucepan is too much effort to get your morning coffee then take one with you.

Outside Séjours & Affaires Serris Val d’Europe

Approaching The Val d’Europe Train Station

All in all our experience at Séjours & Affaires Serris Val d’Europe was very pleasurable and will not hesitate to stay there again on future trips to Disneyland Paris. The total price, including taxes (€0.99 per adult per night) at £6.72, train tickets at £27.75 and the aforementioned parking was £286.04.

The next thing we needed were annual passports (APs) which thanks to Lynette, who also recommended the aparthotel, I got from CE Multi-Advantages. I paid €20 to register to use the website and then the cost of Fantasy APs was €125 each for my wife and I, and thanks to a deal they were doing, only €35 for Lucas. Converting to pounds sterling that comes to £258.84, and the grand total for the aprthotel option with APs to £544.88. When I looked at booking a package to stay on site in the Hotel Santa Fe, it would have cost me a little over £1,000. That means I made a saving of £455.12, which when you combine that with the saving of £370 we made from driving rather than Eurostar, then this off-site self driven holiday was £825.12 less than staying on the Hotel Santa Fe and traveling by Eurostar. Also worth noting that you get Extra Magic Hours with APs, so you can stay off site and still ride Peter Pan’s Flight with less than a 60 minute queue.

The whole experience was very easy and enjoyable, and when you are saving that much money there’s no real argument against staying off site, is there? I won’t lie, it is nice waking up in a Disney hotel, and I did miss walking along the Rio Grande River and past Lake Disney every morning. However, when you consider that now we have APs, we could book another 3 trips of this kind with the money we have saved. Well, it makes you think.