Hi there, new guy here :D - Suggestions for a different kind of DLP vacation...

[dag1986]

Hi everybody,


My name's Dario and I'm writing from Italy.


I'm an avid reader of these sites and forum, I find them to be the best there is around the web about DLP, even though visiting them it's like a knife in my chest when I'm in abstinence for some magic (like I am right now...!)


I've been 3 times to our beloved parks (June 2006, January 2013, January 2014).


I'm planning another visit by the Second half of November/very beginning of December. That been said, "unfortunately" the last two times I've been to DLP were on the 7th of January, right after the Christmas Holidays, which is, from my experience, the best moment to visit the park. Me and my girlfriend experienced a maximum of 15-20 minutes wait at Crush's, while in several other attraction we were entering and exiting multiple times without even waiting a couple of minutes, PLUS you still get to experience the christmas mood, since this year the decorations were still on when we left, January 10th.
So...I'm kinda worried that visiting in that range of dates (Second half of Nov/Beginning of Dec) would be crowded...any experiences on that?


Furthermore, my intention is to go and buy the annual passports in advance, I'm planning on staying in a non-disney hotel (I know, this means depriving the experience of a big, big piece of magic) since my intention would be to stay at least a week.
So the question is: do any of you have any experience to share regarding external hotels or -better- apartments w/kitchen with an easy and smooth connection to the park and reasonable prices? I'm kinda curious to check how cheaper that plan would be compared to booking the classic "hotel+tickets+half board" packages.

I have a very preliminary plan, and Adding those options (Apartment+Annual Passport) to an easyjet fly to CDG and the TGV departing from the airport (Best invention ever)...I'm planning to spend about 1000Euros/820Pounds for the two of us, 7 days, meals excluded.


Any thoughts on all this crazy talking?


I apologize in advance if the answers I'm looking for are somewhere in the forum already, but I tried to find them, unsuccessfully!


All the Best!

[never2old]

We bought our APs last year (renewed them a few weeks ago), and have been staying off site every time since. First I thought it would be tough (I really love staying in the Disney hotels, particularly the New York), but although it's true that you lose some of the magic, it's not that bad... Plus we've saved lots of money, and I rather visit more times and stay off site, than only once onsite!! We also like appartment hotels, better value and they give you a lot of flexibility when it comes to meals.

The last couple of times we've stayed in the Hipark Residence. We have a little girl so we went for the suite (separate bedroom, and living room with sofa bed plus a kitchenette), and really enjoyed it. The rooms are spacious enough so that you can really relax. We tried the breakfast in the hotel, it's really good, but last time we simply took our own food; we ended up having dinner and breakfast in the room, and only lunch in the parks, so again saved quite a bit of money. The best thing about the hotel is the location, it's really really close, particularly if you go and park in the Disney Village (2.5 EUR per day with your AP, except on Sundays). We always park there, it's a lot closer to the parks than the main car park so even if we need to pay, it's money well spent...

We've also tried the Parks & Suites Prestige, it feels slightly more basic than the Hipark but it's not bad; it's also further away but nothing too bad (maybe 5 minutes instead of 2...)

Weekends in December are very very busy, but during the week it should be nice and quiet. The last week of November is supposed to be one of the quietest!

[gemma2806]

I went last year for the last week in November arriving Sunday and leaving Saturday. This was the best time I have ever visited the parks. All the decorations were up for Christmas, all the shows were on and everything was magical! There were no queues, every ride was either a walk-on or a 5-10 min wait. Crush's coaster was a 15 min wait in the middle of the afternoon! I would definitely recommend going this time of year but leaving on Saturday was perfect timing as the crowds piled in and every ride was at least an hours wait, the bigger rides were 2 hours wait!


I'd say definitely go in November and if you're giving for 7 days go Sunday till Saturday 

[PrincessEnya]

I can also highly recommend Hipark Serris! Love this hotel!

[vampira]

Me and my husband stayed at Hipark Serris last year, and I can definitely recommend it! We had a little kitchen in our room, but we decides to have breakfast in the hotel and that was nice too. We could see the tower of terror from our window! I liked that! It's pretty close to the parks but you can use the free shuttle too.