Euro Disney / spending & collecting points

[Woody]

Good morning all,

So I think I’ve identified a 5 day period in March where there are no school holidays in any country and wanting to treat my toddler to a few days away at Euro Disney. It will be our first ever trip abroad!

Looking at the most effective way or either spending or collecting points.

We’d like to get the Euro Star and my partner has lots of Amex points in his account that we can convert.
Would this be a good way to use some of his points?

Also I believe you can book Disney hotels through virgin holidays and earn virgin points? As it’s our first ever trip abroad I’d love to stay on site.
Or am I missing a good way of spending Amex points?

Any advice or tips from anyone who’s been before would be so greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much.

[The real Swiss Tony]

If you stay on site, do book the Disneyland hotel. The others are a decent hike from the park gates but still come at a hefty premium. You would in my opinion be better off staying somewhere offsite with good connections to the park.

Also make sure you check other booking channels, as the last time we went (admittedly a good few years back) it was significantly cheaper to book a Disney hotel via Expedia rather than any other way. That would obliterate the value of any points earned.

And can you book using Eurostar points onto a connecting service? You really want to be changing at Lille onto SNCF for Marne la Vallee rather than going all the way into Paris then getting the metro out.

One more cost comparison to do would be looking at a BA flight & hotel booking. Again you may find that the flight component is as good as free.

[ed_fly]

Train from CDG to Marne le valley is very expensive for the 15 mins it takes, though nice and easy. The Disneyland hotel is very expensive and personally not sure it justifies 2x price of the other on site hotels just by location, but if you can afford it, then why not. Staying on site brings early entry benefits (or did recently) you can walk or take shuttle bus to the on site hotels like marvel, Newport bay, sequoia etc. try the cash back sites if booking with cash.

[Ant M]

Friends stay at Val d’Europe where there are various hotels – Ibis, Moxy etc as its one stop from Disney and the hotels are a lot cheaper, so if you want a cheaper alternative to the Disney hotels then thats an option

[lollyfry]

As a frequent DLP visitor, personally I think Sequoia Lodge is the sweet spot for onsite hotels. It’s considerably cheaper than the Disneyland Hotel, Marvel New York and Newport Bay and not too much further to walk (about an additional 10 mins to the Disneyland Hotel)

I’ve always found MagicBreaks to be a good booking site as you can pay just a deposit and then the balance a few weeks before you go

[Bill]

Please forgive me for going off topic, however my question is related to the upper age limit. My kids will be 11 and 10 next summer. I suspect they’re too mature for DLP so we have been considering Parc Asterix. Would that seem a logical alternative?

[NorthernLass]

If they’re young-ish 10 and 11 then definitely – and you will save a fortune over going to Disney! The on-site hotel, Les Trois Hiboux, has a very quaint, cabin-in-the-woods feel.

[Bill]

NorthernLass wrote:

If they’re young-ish 10 and 11 then definitely – and you will save a fortune over going to Disney! The on-site hotel, Les Trois Hiboux, has a very quaint, cabin-in-the-woods feel.

Thanks

[LD27]

@Woody. Some time since we went to DLP as kids are now adults. We have also always visited by car, but we do know France and Paris well.

How exciting. Your first trip abroad and with a toddler. I think travelling with Eurostar would be a good way to travel and also I would stay on site. We’ve stayed at the Sequoia Lodge and Newport Bay. We liked both. We decided it wasn’t worth paying almost double the money to stay at the Disneyland Hotel even though it meant less of a walk but if you want to splash out and can use points, why not. The advantage of staying on site is that you get an early entrance to the park and no hassle with transport. With a toddler it means you could go back to the hotel for an hour or two if she needed a sleep and then go back refreshed. We often made two trips to the park when my kids were young.

@Bill. We used to stop off at Parc Asterix driving back from southern France. It’s not the easiest place to get to by public transport, but definitely better value than Disney. Whether you go there, to DLP or any other theme park depends what you’re wanting – they might all have rides for different age groups, but they are each unique in their theme. So definitely have a think about what you/kids actually want. We live close to the M25 in Surrey, within 15 minutes drive of Chessington WoA, 30 minutes of Thorpe Park and an hour from Legoland (when all works well!). So my kids regularly visited all these parks from an early age with school, friends and family. They still enjoyed their visits to DLP and only really lost interest in any of these Theme Parks once they had discovered Orlando, California and other parts of the world.

[NorthernLass]

There’s a dedicated bus from CDG to Parc Asterix, if you’re flying.

[Swiss Jim]

The queue though was enormous a few weeks ago (before Olympics). Fortunately I wasn’t joining it…

[NigelHamilton]

It takes a surprisingly long time to drive to Disneyland Paris. Train is much better, but usually more expensive. I don’t know if you can still do it but the biggest bargain was to travel in a motorhome and stay over in the car park (basic, but there are showers). In 2018 it was €10 a night with an annual pass but €35 otherwise, and loads of people did it. We lived on the other side of Paris so was perfect for us. The first time we went with smaller kids, we stayed in Seqoia Lodge.

My other tip is to do the opposite of what everyone else does, and get to the far side of the park as quickly as possible. You can then get on all the rides over there (pirates of the Caribbean is great) before the queues begin, then work your way backwards.

I’d also be amazed if a 10 and 11 year old didn’t enjoy it. There are several more exciting rides that should suit them. For toddlers, absolutely take a buggy (assume you would anyway, but they get really tired with all the excitement, and you can stay for the light show which is spectacular

[NigelHamilton]

One further tip, it can be busy every day, especially at weekends but also on Wednesdays, as most French schools don’t operate on a Wednesday. Getting there (the parc) early or staying late is a good strategy.

[Bill]

Thanks for the tip re CDG bus. Although we are flying we are considering staying at the Novotel Roissy Saint Witz and using a hire car to get to and from Parc Asterix for a couple of days. Then tentative plan to head to the med (perhaps Antibes)