Trip Planning Logistics Help!

[coloredimage]

Long story short I'm about 80% positive I chose the wrong university for my postgrad work and the only thing that's going to get me through until I can go home again is planning a trip to Disneyland Paris.

What I've mapped out so far is that I want to travel from my university to London, and take the Eurostar to Disneyland Paris on the 16 of December. My plan is to spend the late afternoon/evening of the 16th and the entirety of the 17th in the parks, then head out on the 18th for home.

My biggest problems at the moment are these:

- I'm torn between where to stay. I've only been to DLP once before, last April, with a friend whose parents gifted us very generously with their DVC points so we were able to upgrade to Sequoia. As I'm traveling by myself this time, I'm trying to decide between Santa Fe and Davy Crockett Ranch. I haven't heard much about Davy Crockett Ranch so I was just wondering what you all thought, as people who have far more experience with this park than I do

- Traveling. I'm going to read up on the Eurostar website about so I'm not too worried about that, but my main concern is going home. I'm not sure if I should leave from Charles de Gaulle or go back to Heathrow. I'd be traveling to America, and I suppose I'm just not sure which is the best to travel out of. I've only been through CDG once, traveling between France and Ireland, and I've only been through Heathrow twice, once from America and once from Ireland, so I'm not sure which is the most direct back to America or the sanest for me to go to.

So those are my questions. Sorry that they're wordy - I overthink how I want to explain and ask things sometimes. I hope it all makes sense.

Any tips anyone wants to give about traveling through DLP alone would be so greatly appreciated! This is my first time going to a Disney park by myself, so any favorite spots to sit and people watch or take pictures is lovely. Any dining tips are appreciated as well. I don't plan on having many sit down meals, but maybe one special one if I can afford it would be nice to sit, enjoy the atmosphere, etc.

 

[Alahis]

If you travel by car, it's perhaps a good idea to stay at the Ranch...Because there isn't a shuttle between DLP and the Ranch....And it's a bungalow-camping-thing like that resort, they have no "rooms like in an hotel".
If you only travel by train, then, maybe you should stay at the Santa Fe, because it's in the park property (so they have a shuttle service) and it's a room-resort.

 

[loladelorean]

It's a shame about your disappointment in your university, but I'm glad you have a DLP trip to look forward to
I can't be a tremendous help here, but what I would say is that the Davy Crockett Ranch is only accessible by car, so unless you are planning to hire a car this is probably not an option for you.
I should think CDG would be just as easy to get to America from as Heathrow but there will be other more seasoned travellers who will be able to help you with this I'm sure.

 

[Danauk]

From those two choices I would suggest the Santa Fe as the Davy Crockett Ranch is a little way out from the main park complex and I believe you need a car to get to the parks from there. If you want to have one special sit down meal in the parks I would suggest Walts as it is unique to Disneyland Paris and the atmosphere is nice. Plus if you get a window seat you can people watch people walking up and down Main Street from there.

As for the flights back home, I am not sure what the flight options are from CDG to America but if there were suitable flights from there I would choose to fly back from there. I'm not sure what the prices are but if you fly back from Heathrow you have the additional expense of getting back to England and getting to Heathrow when you are already near CDG airport.

 

[Mum to Belle]

Hi!

I agree with the others that Davy Crockett isn't an option unless you are planning on hiring a car as it is not on a shuttle route. Whereas Sante Fe is on site with a shuttle bus to the parks. Cheyenne gets good reviews on here too.

There have been a few solo trips for DISers recently and here are links to the trip reports I can remember, there are probably more!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2419270

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2476348

Walts is a great restaurant and they do a great value Quick lunch which you can eat and watch the All Star Express pass by below on Main Street.

Happy planning!!

 

[coloredimage]

Thanks for the help so far! I was leaning towards Santa Fe but as I didn't know much about DC I'd figured I should ask

 

[hildasmuriel]

I would add that you may want to think about the strikes that are going on in France at the moment. If they continue towards December, it may be prudent to come back to Heathrow and travel from there.

 

[coloredimage]

Ah yes, I wasn't even thinking about the strike. Thank you!

 

[Flossbolna]

I think the strike issue is something to consider (however, I think I remember that strikes happened at Heathrow at one point as well, so this is something that might happen everywhere at some point anyway...).

I think there is no huge difference between LHR and CDG with regard to flights to the US. I have connected throught CDG twice and while I don't like it as a connecting airport (huge distances). I think it would perfectly fine for departing flights. I never had a problem to find my way around without being able to speak French. I would suggest to price out both options and take the cheaper one for you. If you travel back to London, I would give myself one day between return from DLP and departure to the US however and would not plan to go directly from Eurostar to airplane.

 

[coloredimage]

I think I'm going to price out flights tonight and figure out the best between CDG and LHR. Thanks for the input, flossboina. The suggestion about taking a day in between if I end up having to go to London's a good one, I would just have to see how it would fit into my budget if I do end up taking a return trip with Eurostar.