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[mariezp]

I am in the beginning planning stages of a family vacation to Europe in 2014.  /  While we just happen to be "in the area" we will be stopping in to spend a day or possibly two at DLP.  Seeing as how it will most likely be a one time trip of a lifetime I am seriously considering splurging on a stay at the Disneyland Hotel. I am sure I will have many questions over the next 18 months but the main ones I have not found answers to so far are:

1. How far in advance can you make reservations for the Disneyland Hotel?

2. Do any of the suites have private sleeping areas with a door between them and the living area?

3. How much time should be allowed to travel on the TGV from the Disneyland Paris station to Charles de Gaulle? And, how early should I arrive before our flight? Is the airport as horrible as I have been reading about?  


Thanks in advance for any advice you have to share!

[captain rocket]

Can't help with the hotel questions (DLH is horrendouslly overpriced in my opinion!) Very convenient location though! If my assumption is correct and you are coming from North America, you should be prepared for European hotels to be a little less luxurious than those on your continent for the cost, especially Disney hotels. Having said that, I am sure you will have a great stay there.
The TGV train takes 10 minutes from Marne le Vallee to Charles de gaulle aeroport and costs in the region of  20/30 dollars each way per person. Your airline will tell you how early you have to check in at the airport, if you are flying to somewhere else in Europe, most of our low cost airlines allow on line check in, which will make things easier. I don't believe CDG is horrible, but it is very, very, big and the walk from the terminal I always use when flying there (My airline is usually easyjet) can take 15/20 minutes from arrivals area to TGV station.
If there are four of you or more, then a private shuttle transfer would be less expensive and will take you from just outside of your arrival area straight to the front door of the Disneyland hotel and would probably be less expensive than any other option and much more convenient. Transfer time is approx 30/40 minutes.
You keep those questions coming, the depth of knowledge that the members of this forum have is awesome and i am sure they will be able to answer any questions you have.

[Zee79]

We often book a year in advance like any normal holiday if using a company other than DLP.  if booking through DLP itself you sometimes have to wait until the new prices come out for DLP we had to last year. We wanted to book for 2013 but had to wait until Nov 2012 for the new prices (we had annual passes which is why we used DLP this time round). If you are unsure just give them a call.

[mariezp]

Can't help with the hotel questions (DLH is horrendouslly overpriced in my opinion!) Very convenient location though! If my assumption is correct and you are coming from North America, you should be prepared for European hotels to be a little less luxurious than those on your continent for the cost, especially Disney hotels. Having said that, I am sure you will have a great stay there.
The TGV train takes 10 minutes from Marne le Vallee to Charles de gaulle aeroport and costs in the region of  20/30 dollars each way per person. Your airline will tell you how early you have to check in at the airport, if you are flying to somewhere else in Europe, most of our low cost airlines allow on line check in, which will make things easier. I don't believe CDG is horrible, but it is very, very, big and the walk from the terminal I always use when flying there (My airline is usually easyjet) can take 15/20 minutes from arrivals area to TGV station.
If there are four of you or more, then a private shuttle transfer would be less expensive and will take you from just outside of your arrival area straight to the front door of the Disneyland hotel and would probably be less expensive than any other option and much more convenient. Transfer time is approx 30/40 minutes.
You keep those questions coming, the depth of knowledge that the members of this forum have is awesome and i am sure they will be able to answer any questions you have.

Thank you very much, captain rocket,  for your response! You are correct. We will be traveling from North America...  Decatur, Texas to be exact. I have planned quite a few trips to Disneyland park in California and several to Disneyworld in Florida but the planning involved in traveling abroad and to Disneyland Paris is way out of my comfort zone! I am so am grateful for any and all advice I can possibly find.

Yes, just glancing at the prices for the Disneyland Hotel is quite a jaw dropper! I have never in my entire life spent anything even close to the rates I am seeing anywhere I have ever traveled. In my mind I am thinking  now that I will go all out but when the time comes to actually book the arrangements we'll see if I can still bring myself to spend such an exuberant amount.  We do not make a habit of staying places that are especially luxurious so I doubt that we would be disappointed. On the contrary. If we do end up actually staying there I am sure that it will be amazing to us because of the location and simply because it is a Disney property. Nonetheless, thanks for the heads up that it might not be quite up to American standards. That is good information for me and appears to be something I will need to try to keep in mind when I am making our lodging arrangements throughout Europe.  

I am glad to know that the train trip from DLP to the airport is pretty direct and short to the airport. I am in awe of the public transportation options in Europe! However, quite frankly, I am terrified that we will be terribly inept at coordinating our departure times and routes. I will be praying that we don't spend an excessive amount of time missing our connections and goofing up our whole itinerary on days we travel by train! Can you tell we live in an area where public transportation is virtually non-existent?

Also, thanks for the tip on the private shuttle. I will definitely keep that in mind and be sure to compare the options.

When it comes to airports.... I think I have managed to calm my near panic about Paris' airport being so horrific. After doing a little searching it turns out that our home airport, Dallas/Fort Worth is the largest airport in Texas, the second largest airport in the United States and the seventh largest airport in the world. After knowing we have survived it I think it's fairly safe to say that CDG will most likely be similar by comparison so surely we will be able to survive it as well. Also, I'm figuring if we use CDG when we fly out rather than when we are flying into Europe it won't be nearly as catastrophic if they lose our luggage, we are delayed or anything else if we are just heading home.

Just to test your theory as to all the knowledge floating around here I will be sure to do all I can to put everyone to the test!

We often book a year in advance like any normal holiday if using a company other than DLP.  if booking through DLP itself you sometimes have to wait until the new prices come out for DLP we had to last year. We wanted to book for 2013 but had to wait until Nov 2012 for the new prices (we had annual passes which is why we used DLP this time round). If you are unsure just give them a call.

Zee79, thank you for offering your insight on my question about advance booking. I am a nut when it comes to planning ahead of time. If they would let me I would book right now! I probably miss a lot of money saving deals by being so impatient but I would much rather know that I can have the room I want on the dates that I need. My peace of mind and not having to panic over a glitch in my plans is worth a whole lot more to me in the long run. Do you have any recommendations on who I might use that I could book with in that year advance time frame? I haven't brought myself to call Disney direct with any questions just yet but I have a feeling they will be hearing from me sometime soon!






So, now that I have made a couple responses I do have another new question for the day. I am trying to decide if we should visit the park near the beginning of our trip or at the end.  Here are the current dates I am considering:

Option 1- August 31-September 1 (Sunday, Monday)
This one reflects my son's suggestion of seeing London when we arrive followed by Paris and then embarking on the majority of our trip which will be spent primarily in Germany. My concern with this idea is that with so much walking at DLP we might start out already tired before we even get a good start. However, this plan might be good because it does not include Saturday and I would think a Monday usually might not be quite as busy. On the other hand,  I know at DL sometimes Mondays can be almost as busy as a Saturday. Would this be the case in Paris especially since it would still be in August?


Option 2 - September 13-September 14 (Saturday, Sunday)
This idea includes both Saturday and Sunday so I know to expect it to be busy but would it be slightly less crowded since it would be in September? I, personally, lean slightly towards this plan for two reasons. 1.) I like the idea of DLP being the last thing on our trip so we could go out with something somewhat familiar (seeing as how we love our Disney parks) and I know we would be sure to go out with a bang. And, (2.), I was thinking that since DLP requires so much energy that saving it til the end would leave us so tired we would be able to sleep through most of our homeward bound flight. The main concern on this one is the thought of excessive weekend crowds. Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how weekend crowds at DLP compare to crowds at DL in Anaheim? I know we will make the best of it even if it is crowded but it really would be nice if I could make a somewhat educated guess allowing us to make the best use of the small amount of time we have to spare.


Neither option seems to be perfectly ideal to me since they are both on the weekend. Heck, I would rather be in the park during the middle of the week but it is what I have to work with. So..... if you had to choose, which do you think would be the better choice? And why?

[Zee79]

It starts to calm down a little by the end of August in DLP  because U.K go back to school beg of Sept so it would be if any Europeans still on holiday. DLP is always busy no matter the time of year just certain times are busier than usual.

In relation to your question about who to contact it would be best to use the web to search for those offering DLP trips. We use either DLP itself (I was actually speaking to an American when booking in November,  we had fun trying to understand each other on the phone- my north east England accent and his southern , we had a laugh about this when he commented about it so I pity anyone who is not native English speaking trying to understand us over the phone haha)  we also use disneylandparisdirect.com who often book quite far in advance.

I think I would choose option 2 because of how tired you can be after a trip to DLP. I often need a holiday after coming home   I can't help with comparing to Anaheim with not ever visiting here but you can expect the big attractions to have the worse queues so fast passing and using extra magic hours if staying in one of the onsite hotels is the best option.