Visit Report 3-7/09/07 Great holiday!!!

[dansnd]

NEW- I've added a visit report to the end of this thread

Hi,
I am looking to book a holiday for a group of us (me, my wife, Rebecca (5), Nicholas (2)) and my in-laws around September. I've looked through various websites, hotel booking sites, hotel sites and even the official site and am having trouble deciding which is the miriad of possibilities is best.

Going the 'official way' via the Disney site seems very expensive (I was offered 3-7/9 one standard and one double at the Kyriad including breakfast and tickets for 1066 pounds). Via france.bookings.com the rooms at the Kyriad cost 384 and 300 Euros each (no payment in advance just credit card verification) and I could get five Fantasy passports for 129 Euros each for a total of 1329, which is a lot less. Several sites point out that booking the hotel yourself is likely to be cheaper. That children go free offer seemed so attractive but I guess it isn't.

The main difficulty I have is passports (as in tickets to Disneyland, not the travel documents). Various sites have different prices and it is often unclear if annual passport discounts apply. I phoned the disney booking line but they had no idea how much tickets were, how annual ticket discounts applied etc, they were clearly briefed to sell accommodation packages only. Email enquiries to the official website get an automated reply "We are too busy to get back to you'.
Here are my questions:

1. It appears that French school holidays end on 4-5th September (registration on 4th, school starts on 5th - I wish I had paid more attention in my French classes now!). Will the 3rd,4th be busy? As weekends are busier and flights are a lot more expensive (Skyeurope Bratislava-Paris, Orly) I think Monday-Friday is a good option (at least Alton Towers, Chessington, etc in England were much better during the week). We could easily go a week later but the later we go, the colder it will get (on average)

2. We arrive at Orly at 9.25 on Monday and leave at 20.10 on Friday. How long does it take to get from the airport, dump suitcases and get out and vica versa? Is it still worthwhile getting tickets for Monday an/or Friday? I have found details of the buses from the airport to Disneyland and understand we would need to get off at Disneyland trian station and catch a shuttle bus to the Kriad.

3. Tickets. Help I'm confused!!
I assume it is a no-brainer to get at least one Fantasy annual passport. Is it correct that I can get discounts on other Fantasy passports? Three of us (me, Zuzana and Rebecca live at one address [luckily the in-laws live elsewhere] Or is it 5 people at same address =20% or nothing? The 365.com website has prices of 116.50 EUR for a three day pass, Disney show 128 EUR. Is it worth getting 3 day tickets from Disney and claiming 10% discount. Can I book the Fantasy ticket and other tickets at the same time and still get the discount?

4. I wouldn't mind seeing Paris for a day or so. What chance have I got of persuading Rebecca that we shouldn't go the Disneyland for 1 day? (may be a hyperthetical question!)

5. I saw a budget planner for a trip but can't seem to locate it now. I'm sure there are other costs that need to be planned for. Can anyone point me in the right direction for a good trip budget planner.

6. Has anyone bought the birthday party and/or fairy outfit options? Were they worth it? Rebecca is mad about fairies and will be 6 in early October so we are thinking about an early birthday celebration.

7. Do Fantasy passport holders get to use the buggies free of charge or is that just for the Dream passport holders?

8. Has anyone stayed at the Kyriad? I assume they won't be too bothered about Rebecca sleeping in the bunkbed (she does at home) but isn't 6 yet (they specify min age 6). Trip Advisor reviews seem good and it is close with a free shuttle bus.

9. How strict are they with the 1.20m height restrictions? Becky is about 1.16m tall so do we need to ensure she has high-ish trainers. She is pretty brave about rides so will want to go on everything possible.

10. I assume Nicky doesn't need a Passport but can't find a minimum age anywhere on the Disney site, could someone confirm that I don't need to buy a ticket for him?

Thanks in advance for your help

(yes, I have seen the sponsorship thread and am very likely to try that as well)

 

[A Small World]

Hello and welcome.

To try and answer a few of your questions.

In the past we have always booked through Dis direct but we are in the process of booking a few days in Summer so looking at different sites and I agree it is confusing but I think its just a matter of keeping looking and when you hit on one book it. There was a thread recently with useful sites to book Have you looked at this?
Dont forget the Dis prices will include tickets and travel as well. I think its difficult to book room only direct with Dis but can be done via other sites. However this wont include travel as well.

Fantasy Passes- From what I can gather you cannot get a discount for family unless all live at same address however im sure someone reported that noone checked address details.

You can get a sponsor which will give you 10% off but you have to have had your ticket for so long before you can sponsor anyone else so you couldnt get one then sponsor rest of family to get money off.

If you buy 3 day package you will not get money refunded if you upgrade to Annual Pass- we found this out when we tried to do this recently however you can buy day passes to get you into park then get money back if you upgrade to annual.

You can get 10% off day passes for friends/family if you have one AP but this will mean queueing each day to buy tickets and will work out more expensive in long run.


Only holders of dream passes can get use of strollers free. This also gets you into park for Extra Magic hours
You could buy one dream pass to get extra discount in shops and free stroller etc but other members of family couldnt use EMH -only Dream AP holder.
Think Ive read recently that under 7s can get free dream APs this year. Will not need pass for youngest until 3. but will need to put name on booking form etc.

Have never stayed at Kyriad so can comment. Have you looked at Explorers though? They do rooms with connected bunk room so would get all family in one room- may work out cheaper (unless you want your privacy and more space)

Think it will be worth visiting Paris for day especially if you've never been before.
Im sure daughter will understand and enjoy seeing different sights.

Have fun and remember part of the fun is in the planning so enjoy!!!!!!



We took our own Princess dress with us as got it much cheaper than in Dis. DD wore it round park.

 

[Cyrano]

Hi dansnd and welcome to DLP DIS board
We are a friendly bunch here so please join in on any other thread or if you have a number of questions then just start a new thread for each

If you have not had a look yet, posting guidelines can be found here and details regarding help on signatures here

I think most of your questions have been answered. Regarding height restrictions this is done for safety reasons so I'd not recommend trying to elevate the height of any child. It will give you a reason to go back for any of the coaster type rides that DD is to little for

 

[Ware Bears]

Hi Dan, welcome to the DIS!

1. It appears that French school holidays end on 4-5th September (registration on 4th, school starts on 5th - I wish I had paid more attention in my French classes now!). Will the 3rd,4th be busy? As weekends are busier and flights are a lot more expensive (Skyeurope Bratislava-Paris, Orly) I think Monday-Friday is a good option

We've been to DLRP in the summer and the day after the *offical summer season* ended the parks were noticeably less crowded so I'm sure you will find that week in September fine ~ and hopefully the weather will still be lovely. Weekends are busier than weekdays so Mon-Fri is always a good choice.

 

[dansnd]

Thanks. That free Fantasy passport for the under 7's offer looks good, I just hope I can twist their arms into giving Nicky a passport too (as he will be under 3 but who, knows we might be back within a year).From the sound of it, the staff at the annual passports office seem to make up many of the rules as they go along anyway!

I'll ask in the thread about combining that offer and sponsoring (I assume you can't). Presumably the 10% reduction for tickets also applies to 3 day passes.

 

[A Small World]

It is only Dream passports which are free for under 7s- from what we can gather adult has to buy one as well.

10% only applies to day tickets as far as Im aware not multiday passes

 

[Cyrano]

Thanks. That free Fantasy passport for the under 7's offer looks good, I just hope I can twist their arms into giving Nicky a passport too (as he will be under 3 but who, knows we might be back within a year).

Answered this in another thread

 

[dansnd]

Thanks for the advice.

We have picked up another adult and girl to our party so now the plan is this:

One person but a Fantasy AP and get a child passport free (someone said that the offer only applies to Dream but I can't see any mention of this on the official site, there it appears to apply to all annual passports)
Everyone else gets a Francilian Passport (4 adults and 1 child over 7) and I cross my fingers that they give Nicky a free Francilian passport. We do Disneyland on Monday, Thursday and Friday. (with no bonus on multiday passes, it makes more sense to buy an annual passport - I KNOW someone will end up wanting to go to Disneyland on Wednesday but me and Becky and Nicky can go and I could get a daily pass for 10% less if the worse happens)

 

[xtine]

I was under the impression that Francilian passports were only available to people living in certain areas of France?

 

[Cyrano]

I was under the impression that Francilian passports were only available to people living in certain areas of France?

AFAIK anyone can now buy this passport

 

[wideeyes]

Hi, we went the first week in september in 2005(1st-5th) and it was the quitest time I have ever been, almost no queues. We did not spend the week end in the main park, as we went to paris for the day and spent the sunday at the studios so I am not sure how busy it was however WDS was extermely quiet on the sunday.

 

[scoobysnax]

2. We arrive at Orly at 9.25 on Monday and leave at 20.10 on Friday. How long does it take to get from the airport, dump suitcases and get out and vica versa? Is it still worthwhile getting tickets for Monday an/or Friday? I have found details of the buses from the airport to Disneyland and understand we would need to get off at Disneyland trian station and catch a shuttle bus to the Kriad.

4. I wouldn't mind seeing Paris for a day or so. What chance have I got of persuading Rebecca that we shouldn't go the Disneyland for 1 day? (may be a hyperthetical question!)

6. Has anyone bought the birthday party and/or fairy outfit options? Were they worth it? Rebecca is mad about fairies and will be 6 in early October so we are thinking about an early birthday celebration.

2. The VEA shuttle is regular and takes 45 mins to the hotel. The hotel-DLP shuttle (pink bendy bus no. 54) runs every 10 mins and is huge and free.
We used RER trains to return and the cost was similar to VEA but the hassle of changes.

4. We checked out on Friday and did Paris. From DLP you get the RER (red line) 13 stops I think to Gare de Lyon. Be careful as the ticket does not allow you to get off and then continue later in the day as I assumed it did
I put the luggage in left luggage at Gare de Lyon for 9€ for 72 hrs then say Eiffel Tower, had lunch in Bastille then walked around for a bit. Found a kiddies park for Milly for half an hour near the Opera Bastille.
From Gare de Lyon it's one stop to Chatelet les Halles then a simple change to teh RER Blue line and all the way to CDG.

6. There are loads of little DDs wearing their outfits, even in 29C heat Milly wore hers on the final evening for a treat and got loads of "awwww" looks from women... (it's a great ice breaker when you'r wife ain't around )

 

[nifferwilko]

Thanks for the advice.

We have picked up another adult and girl to our party so now the plan is this:

One person but a Fantasy AP and get a child passport free (someone said that the offer only applies to Dream but I can't see any mention of this on the official site, there it appears to apply to all annual passports)
Everyone else gets a Francilian Passport (4 adults and 1 child over 7) and I cross my fingers that they give Nicky a free Francilian passport. We do Disneyland on Monday, Thursday and Friday. (with no bonus on multiday passes, it makes more sense to buy an annual passport - I KNOW someone will end up wanting to go to Disneyland on Wednesday but me and Becky and Nicky can go and I could get a daily pass for 10% less if the worse happens)

I thought that francillian passports couldn't be used on the 2nd and 3rd day after purchase?? Someone correct me if I'm wrong - oh, I see you're not using them the 2nd and 3rd (tuesday and wednesday) - ignore me

 

[tttessa]

Hiya,

I would say to take your own outfits - DLRP prices for dressing up stuff are Horrendous!! (some at 60+ Euros!!!)

Also, the height thing - it really is about safety - friends of hours "pushed" it a bit - their DD was 114 and she wore trainers with platforms, but hated the R+R rollercoaster as she did't "feel" secure - I know these things are spec'd for much shorter bodies, but depends on how she is with that...

The other coaster rides are up to 1.32/1.4 m anyhow except for BTM which is way down at 1.02 cos it doesn't go upside down.

Cheers,
Tessa

 

[dansnd]

Becky is about 118cm and hopefully will be a bit taller come September. I'm pretty sure that if 120cm is specified it'd probably have been tested down to 115cm or less anyway. I think there is only one ride with a 120cm limit anyway.

 

[Cyrano]

Becky is about 118cm and hopefully will be a bit taller come September. I'm pretty sure that if 120cm is specified it'd probably have been tested down to 115cm or less anyway. I think there is only one ride with a 120cm limit anyway.

I would not risk my child's safety by such a guess. Why would Disney put a 120cm limit if it could be 115cm

 

[dansnd]

As an engineer, all safety limits must have a safety margin of error. Most lifts have 8+ cables, a single cable could hold the maximum weight allowed in the lift!
Trust me, if a ride is safe for someone who is 120cm high, it isn't dangerous for someone who is 118cm high. In any case, from the reviews of rides, the only 120cm limit ride is meant to be pretty tame.

 

[dansnd]

How do I get in to get my passport without paying for both me and my daughter? As I understand it, they will refund the cost of one 1-day passport but not 2. Do I have to rely on sweet-talking at the main entrance or do I just have to pay 38 Euros for nothing?

 

[Ware Bears]

I wouldn't bother with buying one day tickets ~ I would just ask for the Annual Passport plus the free one at either the ticket booth or alternatively at Guest Services. They will issue you with temporary annual passports which you then exchange for permanent ones at the Passport Bureau.

 

[dansnd]

In the first week of September we went to Disneyland, Paris.There were 8 of us in all - me, Zuzana, Nicky and Becky (we left Freddie the iguana at home), Zuzana's parents also called Daniel and Zuzana and Zuzana's cousin Stano and his 11 year old daughter, Ninka. I decided to go during the week to minimise crowds at Disneyland and schools started on 3rd. We booked Sky Europe from Bratislava to Paris, Orly and I booked a minibus (Grey Shuttle Buses) as it was only a little bit more than us catching the VEA buses to Disneyland.

We arrived at 9.30 in Paris after an early start to find that it was raining very heavily (not at all what Accuweather had forecast). We were pleased to see someone waiting or us, a lot less hassle than looking for the way to the bus stop and we were taken straight to Hotel Kyriad, which took us about 40 minutes (cost 112 Euros). It took ages to book in and we had to dump our suitcases as we couldn't get rooms until 3. Apart from this long wait and the battle for breakfast, the hotel was ideal. It is rated as 2 star but looked more like 3 star to me. The food was good, rooms OK for size, and the hotel has a free shuttle bus to Disneyland (about every 10 minutes but actually ran every 17 minutes then 3 minutes until the next bus), price very good at 75 Euros for a double and 98 Euros for a family room (4 of us) including breakfast. If we go again, I'd stay there for sure. (They even ahve a small Disney store - remember you don't need to carry all those bags around Disneyland - they deliver them to the hotel for FREE.

So having, dumped our bags we borded the (empty-ish) shuttle bus to Disneyland. We arrived at about 12, and chatted to the ticket clerk in Polish. We bought Parisien Yearly Tickets for 89 Euros each and got one free for the kids under 7 (Becky and Nicky despite Nicky being just 2). These are cheaper versions of the yearly tickets and are not valid on the 2 days after you buy them. Fine by us, we wanted 2 days in Paris anyway. Seems far more sensible than paying 56 Euros for one day!!! Disneyland looks wonderful, they really have paid attention to detail, Everyone kept stopping to take photos, I wanted to get to the rides. We managed to make our way to the Annual Passport Office and we had to wait a while there, but the savings are worth it.

Right next to Passport Office is Buzz Lightyear. This is a great ride for the kids (and adults too) and I got Fastpass tickets rather than join the normal queue (the information display said waiting time was 30 minutes, I later found out that the wait is usually less than they say). I then noticed that Space Mountain had a waiting time of 5 minutes. When I went there with Zuzana about 10 years ago, I remember we gave it a miss as there were 90 minute queues! I asked who wanted a quick ride and Zuzana, Stano and Daniel joined me whilst the kids had a look around Discoveryland. There was no queue, we went straight to the gates to board the net cars! When the cars pulled up, we noticed some rather pale-faced people climbing out, a look of shock. We soon found out why, Space Mountain is fast and there isn't much light (I really didn't see much in there at all the first time) so you don't know which way you will turn/loop. We joined the others and zapped aliens in Buzz Lightyear. This was Nicky's favourite and i think everyone liked it. The Fastpass is a bit of a waste of time if the queues are small as the Fastpass queue merges with the regular queue leaving you up to a 10 minute wait. Not much but not as good as Big Thunder mountain.

We then went to Videopolis for the standard burger and chips meal and saw the Lion King show. If the performers were lip-synching they were very good at it, I could tell, if they were singing hey were excellent! (they also have to sing in French, we were just lucky we went in for an English show). With the speed of Becky's eating, the show finished and I dragged Stano, Ninka and Zuzana off to try Star Tours (Fastpass was broken and had a 45 min wait so we gave up on that) and saw Honey, I Shrank the Audience instead. It was good in places but a bit disappointing, we never got around to taking the kids, I think they might have been a bit bored. Then we all had a go on Autopia, Nicky liked it but it was rather dated and Zuzana couldn't steer our car at all and we went to Fantasyland where we saw It's a Small World (fantastic, lots of little singing puppets in national dress, everyone loved it), rode on Casey Junior (Nicky loves trains), went on Lancelot's Carousel, saw Pinochio, had a quick Fastpass diversion to Big Thunder Mountain, gave Peter Pan a miss due to the predictably long queue and ambled into Adventureland.

We navigated our boat around Pirates of the Caribbean which everyone thought was great and seeing seven o'clock approaching fast, shot through Adventure Island and managed to board Indiana Jones at around 6.58 with a minimal queue (maybe a minute!) . Becky watched us hammering around at high speed (Nicky was already asleep) and at five past we managed to go on again!!! The rides were officially closed so we started to head back and managed to see Aladdin's Passage, Cinderella's Castle and the Dragon's Dungeon (Becky was a bit afraid, if was a fierce looking dragon). We were exhausted.

The next couple of days we toured Paris and even got portraits of Nicky and Becky done - good likenesses although they look older. We sampled snails and saw the Sea-life centre near Disneyland. Another 2 tiring days and still 2 days of Disneyland to go!

I tried my best to get everyone up as soon as possible so we could get in before the queues started to form but to no avail and by the time we got into Walt Disney Studios, there was already a queue of over an hour on the Nemo ride. Still we managed to ride on the new Cars ride (Nicky was very excited), saw the stunt show (very very good, not sure if the kids were into it as much as me though), rode the Aerosmith ride (no queue!), everyone went into Armageddon and even Nicky loved the effects although quite a few kids needed nappy changes I suspect. Saw a performance from High School Musical and later saw a very good flourescent show with Donald Duck and characters from lots of Disney films. We managed to get on the Nemo ride after a wait of about 45 minutes. It was quite a lively ride considering that small kids were allowed on, probably the fastest turns out of all of the rides, very very good. We did the tour bus (complete with explosions and a flood coming down on us), took pictures with Monsters and rode Armageddon a couple more times, because nobody else in the park was going on it. IMHO it is the most white-knuckle ride there. We gave up on a very busy Disney Village as all of the restaurants were very full and went back to the hotel. As the self-service breakfasts were always crowded, we hadn't considered the restaurant for dinners but in fact the food was excellent (eat as much as you want (17Euros) also helped) - everything I tried was superb and I tried a lot of things! We would probably have eaten there every night had we known how good the food was. Sure taking a tray and self-service takes a little away from the experience, but tucking into your third-portion of jummy cake/flan/souffle kind of makes up for it.

On the final day we did all of the big rides we liked and those we had missed on the first day. Becky managed Big Thunder Mountain 5 times, she relly is afraid of nothing. We just about had tome to see the big parade and Becky was in heaven when Cinderella came to chat with her. We then had to rush off to the airport through rush hour traffic (another advantage of a minibus) but made it with little problem. Our flight was delayed but Nicky was awake after his afternoon nap so entertained everyone by singing 'We will rock you' very loudly. Fantastic.

Despite what I've read, EVERYONE at Disneyland (and the hotel) were friendly and helpful. I'd like to thank Cinderella for making Rebecca's holiday even more special by coming over and chatting with her.

Thank you all for your help in making this a great visit and I'm sure we'll be back (seeing as we have season tickets!)

Photos at www.tatranka.sk/rebecca.html

Dan