Disney by coach?

[Labyrinth]

I have seen this:http://www.newmarketholidays.co.uk/Details.asp?dlc=11574&pid=1590&WS=3&sMnem=FAMILYF&gMnem=DISNEYP&pCat=DIH&hT=DSG&fNPC=

It seems alright though you only get a 1 day ticket. Has anyone tried it?  

[jonathan]

On my first visits to DLP back in '96 and '98 we did this.  First trip was with school and was coach and the Shuttle though the Channel Tunnel.  It's a long and awful journey compared to the ease and speed of travelling by Eurostar but then of course that is reflected in the price.

We only got a 1 day ticket to the park with the second day being spent in Paris and the hotels were in the Paris area rather than in DLP like Ibis or Formula 1 hotel etc.

I dont really enjoy coach travel when its an hour or two up the road let alone hours on end to another country but thats just me.  These sort of packages arent for me as I like at least 6 days in the resort.

[Lani]

I did the Newmarket Christmas 3 day/2 night coach trip last month and I have mixed feelings about it.
The major pros and cons

Pros-
The price - This is the main reason we went with a coach trip (the last time I went to DLRP by coach I was very small and can't remember it). As the trip was something I was arranging and paying for I was looking for the best price so I had more money to spend on meals/souviners. I will say, it is agreat price that they offer and I think you'd be hard pressed to easily find an offer to match however the cost reflects the experience (and I will get to that in the cons).

Ease of planning - I imagine it is a relief for some people to know once they have booked it all they have to do is get to their pick up point and then that's it.

Minimal pick up points - Compared to some other tour operators I thought that there was a decent amount of pick ups and we were very lucky to be the second from last meaning we didn't have to get on our coach until 10:50am

Plenty of rest stops - I never had to use the onboard toilet (ew) as we had ample stops and time at each to get a (brief) something to eat.

Cons -

The length of the journey! - Whilst we didn't get on the coach until late morning we soon found out that some people had been on the coach since 6am which to me wouldn't have been a massive deal (I once did a 34hour coach trip to Croatia) however even by 11am you could see that the children were flagging and it was not a great start to the holiday for the parents or the kids who had both had enough already! We didn't arrive at the first of the two hotel stop offs (Santa Fe and Cheyenne) until around 9:30pm French local time meaning the journey for us had been 11hours+ and for others much longer! Now for some this may not sound that bad but all I had running through my head for the journey was that last time I visited DLRP I used the Eurostar and it took less than half that time from door to hotel :/ If paying the extra to go by train is an option - DO IT! I know companies like Leger allow you to add on Eurostar as a supplement to the coach price.

The control - For me the very worst thing was not being able to plan accordingly. I had estimated our arrival time and once we were driving from Calais to DLRP our driver gave us his ETA which was broken down into two halves either side of a rest stop. It matched up pretty well with my estimation (around 8pm local time) and it was going to be only an hour from the last rest stop so we decided to forgo eating dinner their (quality burger restaurant - bleh) and grab something to eat either at Disney Village or one of the hotels. However for a reason still unknown to me (we met no traffic at all) we didn't end up at the Cheyenne until about 10:30pm and obviously by the time you've dumped your bags and gone back to the shuttle bus station it was pretty late. Not a great start to the trip eating dinner at McDonalds at about 11pm when I was planning an early rise!

Being in a group booking - I studied hotel management last year and know quite a bit about the ins and outs of group booking like those done with a coach company and I can say I just didn't feel as much of a valued guest as I did when I stayed before. We were booked in by a Newmarket rep who as lovely as she was wasn't very helpful when I asked about the possibility of breakfast in the park and gave us out our information packs all at once meaning we had to discern where our room was (just told the number and had the worlds smallest map on the outside of the envelope) turned out to be Sundance :/)

Overall I have sworn never to do it by coach again as I just can't justify the wasted time and aggro just for saving a bit of money. I mean we had to block off all of Saturday, Sunday and Monday for the trip which amounted to one day in Disney. If I had done it by Eurostar we could have had another evening in the park and another almost full day. Just my thoughts anyway.
One thing I will say though is don't be put off by the Newmarket name - I did a lot of googling around and they have an awful lot of bad reviews but tbh all my grievances were with coach trips in general, the company itself was more than satisfactory.
(Sorry if this is a bit more detail than you were expecting, we had a great time in Disney but I really, really think that going by train just extends the magic that bit more).

[jonathan]

From someone who has experienced this sort of travel recently it shows that nothing changes much!  Like I said I couldnt recommend it at all especially if you have children in the group.

My kids moan on the 2 hour Eurostar trip- theyd drive me insane on a coach.  A few years ago I know someone who booked with Leger and upgraded to using the Eurostar for not much more.

If youve been by Eurostar before this will be a major letdown and if youve never been before this will probably out you off for ever!

[Zee79]

Ive travelled by coach since i was about 7 years old. We did this all the way to Spain when it used to take nearly 2 days! I did it when i was 4 months pregnant - worst part was not being able to take travel sickness tablets (i'm travel sick at the best of times). We even went to disney with my two children- the eldest 4 at the time sat next to me and my 9 month old on my knee. It wasn't bad with them it was the fact that even though we paid the extra for the better seats my back couldn't take the time travelling any more.

If your budget is limited and you can stand the journey length then coach isn't too bad. We drive to Disney now but still seem to have more room in the car than on the coach for our legs (my hubby is over 6ft tall). It's also probably because we can choose when we want to stop. I don't think i would travel by coach for the sake of 1 day in disney though, we always did 2 days in and that wasn't great now when i look at it but that is because we used to at least a 3 nights stay.
We used siesta travel for the coach trips.

[jonathan]

I guess it all depends on where you live as well.  I live 20 minutes or so drive away from Ebbsfleet station, so being so close to Eurostar i just have to use it lol.  But living in other oarts of the UK getting to Kings Cross, Ebbsfleet, Ashford aint so easy I guess.

[Zee79]

I guess it all depends on where you live as well.  I live 20 minutes or so drive away from Ebbsfleet station, so being so close to Eurostar i just have to use it lol.  But living in other oarts of the UK getting to Kings Cross, Ebbsfleet, Ashford aint so easy I guess.

It isn't. I'm up in the North East so need to change trains, often cost a  fortune in tickets or use coaches to get  down there and need to set off at ridiculous times. I would love to travel by eurostar but using the car costs us about £500 less and that includes 2 hotel stays near tunnel, petrol and tunnel with booking early. Have tried and best tired to get a cheap ticket but to  no avail and with me working in school i can only go during holiday times.
 The last time i used a coach to get there it cost us £300 each for the 3 days.

[Traceyfoz]

I guess it all depends on where you live as well.  I live 20 minutes or so drive away from Ebbsfleet station, so being so close to Eurostar i just have to use it lol.  But living in other oarts of the UK getting to Kings Cross, Ebbsfleet, Ashford aint so easy I guess.

It isn't. I'm up in the North East so need to change trains, often cost a  fortune in tickets or use coaches to get  down there and need to set off at ridiculous times. I would love to travel by eurostar but using the car costs us about £500 less and that includes 2 hotel stays near tunnel, petrol and tunnel with booking early. Have tried and best tired to get a cheap ticket but to  no avail and with me working in school i can only go during holiday times.
 The last time i used a coach to get there it cost us £300 each for the 3 days.

I have travelled with siesta a long time ago and it was fine but not sure if I would want to travel for so long with children...have you considered flying? When I booked it was cheaper to fly than go on Eurostar ? (From north east)  

[Zee79]

Looked at flights this year and still expensive. We are happy to go by car because we share costs at the mo. If just the four of us went then we would def fly or use eurostar. Kids actually enjoy the journey- DVDs, books, own picnic in car, stopping for food, hotel stays. They think holiday is longer.

[Labyrinth]

From someone who has experienced this sort of travel recently it shows that nothing changes much!  Like I said I couldnt recommend it at all especially if you have children in the group.

My kids moan on the 2 hour Eurostar trip- theyd drive me insane on a coach.  A few years ago I know someone who booked with Leger and upgraded to using the Eurostar for not much more.

If youve been by Eurostar before this will be a major letdown and if youve never been before this will probably out you off for ever!

I have been before on Eurostar.

Thanks for advice everyone I don't think it's for me.  

[Ravenseye]

I did lotsa research on Disney by coach as my budget isnt even 'above average' for our trip there this year. I found the best price was with Newmarket Holidays, and finally decided it made more sense to bite the bullet and pay marginally more to go via Eurostar. Yes, its gonna cost me more to get us to St Pancras and back, but the extra cost compared with coach was about £60 in total. Crazy!
What swung it for me was when I found out that they can change the pick up point if there arent enough people booked to go from the one you chose!! That could add miles and money to the budget! After I read that I figured I'd cut my losses and just head to St Pancras anyway. Sooo excited now  /