Disneyland Paris Hints and Tips Part 1
Booking Your Disneyland Paris Holiday

Visiting Disneyland Paris for many people is a dream holiday, for some it may be a once off visit for others they get hooked after their first visit and return every few years.

Everyone has one thing in common though, to make it the best holiday ever.

This not a sponsored or promoted post. I have not been paid or given any free products or services to recommend or mention any company. These are my own views gathered from previous holidays to Disneyland Paris. The photo is my own, taken by myself on a previous visit.

Even though we live in a digital age, Irish people still very much rely on their local travel agent, especially for a major holiday package like Disneyland Paris.  This unfortunately leads to Irish people not getting the best deals or even experiencing half of what the parks have to offer.

First The Basics

Disneyland Paris is located to the west of Paris city, about 1 hour drive from Charles de Gaulle airport.

There are 6 onsite hotels and 1 self catering cabin style location,  ranging from the luxury Disneyland Hotel to the family friendly budget Santa Fe.

There are also  8 of Partner Hotels located in the area around Disney. These are independent hotels which pay a fee to Disney .This fee allows them to be associated with Disney and listed on Disney website. These hotels are cheaper than onsite hotels but they don’t have the extra perks that Disney gives their onsite hotel guests.

In Disneyland Paris there are 2 parks, Disney Main Park (where The Castle is) and  Walt Disney Studios Park  These are located right next to each other, about 5 minutes walk apart.

A high street shopping area called Disney Village, which is accessible without a park ticket is located just outside the entrances to the parks. Disney village has a number of global restaurant chains as well as independent bars and restaurants.

The prices listed on the Disney website are usually for hotel and park ticket packages. The park tickets include your arrival day and departure day. There are other types of tickets available, both on-line and at the park gates, including annual passes. Most people just book the hotel and park ticket package.

Booking Your Disneyland Paris Holiday

Most Irish people book Disneyland Paris through a travel agent but don’t realise they can book exactly the same package direct with Disney either on-line or over the phone. Irish travel agents will only give you the package price which comes up on their screen, but this may not necessarily be the best price for that particular package.

The best way is to book direct with Disney. This takes a little bit of time and effort, but is not really that hard to do.

Most Irish people don’t know that each country in Europe has a different Disneyland Paris website and that Disney put different offers on the different country website. You can book ANY offer currently listed on a Disneyland Paris website, not just the offer specifically for your country.

For example, I had a look at the French Disneyland Paris website and the Irish Disneyland Paris website. I had them both open in different tabs, and put in travel dates, hotel and number of people. The SAME package on the French website was €300 CHEAPER than on the Irish website.

Disney do this as people in different countries stay for different lengths of time and visit at different times of the year.

Disney websites to check

How to Book Your Disneyland Paris Holiday

So you have checked all the different websites and found a great deal on say the French Disneyland Paris website, now what do you do?

Well you have 2 options

  1. Book online through that Disneyland Paris website
  2. Book over the phone direct with the Disney central reservations call centre

Booking On-line

You can book directly though any country Disneyland Paris website. When you do this you will pay the full amount at the time of booking. If you are using a different country website, leave the country as the default county and just fill in the rest of the details. If you are using a country in an unfamiliar language you can use Google Translate to help you understand the different sections.

At the end of the booking process, you will get a confirmation number. Make a note of this. You will receive a confirmation email, but this may take up to 2 days.

That’s it, your Disneyland Paris holiday is booked and paid for.

Booking Over The Phone

You can also book over the phone, but this takes a bit more effort and time. When you book over the phone direct with Disney, you pay a deposit, around 15% of your total package and the balance is payable 30 days before your arrival date.

Ring the phone number listed on your home country Disneyland Paris website; in this case the Irish phone number is 01 605 83 83. Tell them you want to book the offer listed on whatever country website, example, the French Disneyland Paris website.  They most likely will transfer you to an English speaking person from that country’s Disneyland Paris call centre. After you have been transferred to the correct Disney call centre, confirm that the package price you have chosen online is the same as the package price you are now booking on the phone.   They will give you a confirmation number, make note of this. You will also get a confirmation email, which sometimes takes up to 2 days.

There are then 2 ways to pay the balance. You can repeat the phone call procedure and pay the balance over the phone, or you can pay the balance online.

No matter which way you booked, either online or over the phone, you can check your booking details through Disneyland Paris website.

Go to whichever country website that you have booked with, not your local country. Irish people who have booked an offer on the French website, for example would need to go to the French website.

At the top right of the page you will see MY DISNEY ACCOUNT. Click on this and fill in your details on the register page.  When you log in go to the section MY RESERVATION and put in your confirmation number and the surname of the person who made the booking.  You will then see your booking details. If you have just paid a deposit over the phone you will see a payment section to pay the balance.

Congratulations, you have done the hardest part; you have booked your holiday package.

Transport From The Airport To Disneyland Paris

The last thing to do is book flights and transport from the airport to Disneyland. I’m not going to explain about booking flights, as I’m sure most people know what they are doing.

There are many ways to get from Charles de Gaulle airport to Disney

  1. Hire a car at the airport
  2. Bus
  3. Private Transport Company
  4. TGV direct train
  5. RER indirect train

Each one has its advantages and disadvantages, and really comes down to personal preference and budget.  I have only used the bus http://magicalshuttle.co.uk/ which I book on-line. This has its own departure area at Charles de Gaulle Airport, in a corridor connecting Terminal 2E and 2F. The journey takes approx. 1 hour and they bring your direct to your onsite Disney Hotel.

For other transport options, you will need to do some research and find which works best for you.

Now the fun part begins, the planning of where to eat and what to see and do.

Check back for Part 2, Planning Your Disneyland Paris Holiday