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[tom_mitchell]

Hi all.

long time since ive been no here,

im planning a trip with my partner to Disney in march next year.

were looking at booking the euro-star from London direct

however there is currently only 1 train in each direction arriving at Disney at 1400 and leaving Disney at 1600.

departure time is fine but i thought there would of been more options. so that we could arrive earlier? 

am i just trying to book it too early or is this the standard way it works.

it also seems like it might be cheaper to drive rather than get the train... any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance

Tom

[polar vixen]

Only 1 direct trai per day and even then its only on selected days. You i think the earliest train with a crossover at lille gets you there about 11.30 ....or 12.30 not that much of a difference to getti g the later direct train.
For us its all about travel time. Driving might be cheaper just takes roughly 3.5 hrs from leaving eurotunnel. Ferry of course even longer.

[dencarter]

For the absolute best choice of arrival times, consider buying a eurostar ticket to Paris, then take the RER to Disneyland. There are two trains an hour from London to Gare du Nord, with a journey time averaging 2h20. An hour after arriving in Paris you'll be at the parks entrance. The RER ticket is €7.90 and trains are roughly every 10 mins.

[rocker]

There are lots of daily services from London to Disney, but as mentioned, only one direct service (& this is only on some days).  The others are a Eurostar to Lille, then a connecting TGV from Lille to Disney.

The direct service is shown on the Eurostar web site before those that connect at Lille because SNCF - who run the trains for the Lille to Disney leg, only sell their tickets a 3 months in advance.

You can either go via Paris as dencarter mentions, but for me, I find this a faff (& an extra expense).  The change at Lille is straightforward so I prefer that. 

If you want to get an idea of times & fares via Lille, just try putting details in for a journey on the same days of the week, but on a date sooner than your travel date.  Trains connecting via Lille are currently available to book until 12th March so it won't be long before your travel dates are available anyway.  Best of all, you can figure out the days your journey tickets will go on sale, make a note in your diary & grab them at the best price

Two things of note.
1. All Eurostar trains to Lille go to Lille Europe station, however, some SNCF (TGV) trains go from Lille Europe, but others go from Lille Flanders station.  Lille Flanders is a 10 minute slow walk from Lille Europe.  Click on the bit in blue that says "1 change" below the train times on the Eurostar booking page & it will say of it's a Lille Europe or a Lille Flanders train from Lille to Disney.

2. secondly, sometimes "Standard Premier", only cost a little more than standard tickets.  Sometimes they can even cost less than a standard ticket for a given journey so do have a glance at the premier fare before you book, you may be able to get some extra luxury 

[dlpowl]

We've done the Eurostar but as we live almost a 4 hour drive north of London, it didn't work for us.  We now drive which we much prefer.  We set off early, about 6.30am and arrive at Folkestone about 11.30am.  Get the Eurotunnel about 1pm so arrive in France about 1.30pm and get to DLP about 4.30pm. 

We do this the day BEFORE our Disney holiday starts though and stay at a nearby cheap hotel that first night.  On our next trip we're staying a Kyriad chain hotel about 10 mins drive from the park which cost €65 for 5 of us..  So we arrive about 4.30pm, check in, go to a local restaurant for some dinner then get an early night.  We wake up early the next day and go to our Disney hotel about 7.30am, check in, get our park tickets and make it into the park for Early Magic Time!  Fresh, well rested and not missing a single minute of precious park time!  This works best for us.  We also do the same on the last day, stay until park close then stay at a nearby cheap hotel so we can get a good nights sleep before travelling home the next day.   So we don't actually spend any of our Disney park time travelling, although we have come home on the last day before rather than tagging another night at a cheaper hotel onto the end of the holiday.  We spend such a lot of money going to DLP that I personally think it's a false economy to waste park time travelling.  I'd rather just pay the extra €65 for the hotel.   You can add an extra nights accommodation only onto your Disney holiday as well if you like so that you don't have to book somewhere different but this is obviously more expensive than €65!   Although depending on the hotel, it's not necessarily going to be massively expensive.

That's just how we do it and what works for us anyway, 

[Colbert]

For the absolute best choice of arrival times, consider buying a eurostar ticket to Paris, then take the RER to Disneyland. There are two trains an hour from London to Gare du Nord, with a journey time averaging 2h20. An hour after arriving in Paris you'll be at the parks entrance. The RER ticket is €7.90 and trains are roughly every 10 mins.

This has to be the best approach for the OP as it's an easy transfer in Paris for an adult couple and also can be booked 6 months ahead so cheap prices and the widest choice of options. Eurostar are constantly running discounts so be sure to book during a promo period.

I suppose with a troupe of children the Paris change may be a bit more stressful though.

[tom_mitchell]

Thankyou everyone your help has been very useful. I have a few more subjects to bring up in due course which I will post in the correct areas :-) we are now booked though :-) beginning of March :-D

[DisneyRon]

I suppose with a troupe of children the Paris change may be a bit more stressful though.

Make that 2 changes, and that second one doesn't leave much room for error (though trains run every 5 minutes).
You take a train to Châtelet-Les Halles, then you can board the RER to Disneyland (Marne-La-Vallée Chessy).

[wimmekepunk]

Make that 2 changes, and that second one doesn't leave much room for error (though trains run every 5 minutes).
You take a train to Châtelet-Les Halles, then you can board the RER to Disneyland (Marne-La-Vallée Chessy).

Luckily the RER to Marne-La-Vallée is just across on the same platform from the train between Paris-Nord and Châtelet-Les Halles if I remember it correctly (and the same kind of luck on the way back).

[DisneyRon]

Make that 2 changes, and that second one doesn't leave much room for error (though trains run every 5 minutes).
You take a train to Châtelet-Les Halles, then you can board the RER to Disneyland (Marne-La-Vallée Chessy).

Luckily the RER to Marne-La-Vallée is just across on the same platform from the train between Paris-Nord and Châtelet-Les Halles if I remember it correctly (and the same kind of luck on the way back).

True, it is just across the platform (or at least, it was last time I went).