We want to visit Disneyland Paris the last weekend in November. We would prefer renting an apartment with our own kitchen so we could save money and the hassle by cooking and eating our own meals, and just doing lunch in the park. I found a nice 2 bedroom apartment, 4 nights, for 400 Euro. The problem is the cost of park entrance! Wow, is it expensive! We will be living in Germany for 3 years (about 4 1/2 hour drive from Paris) and plan on returning next spring to visit the Park again during the warmer months. Question: I have read in other forums that even though we will not be staying at a Disney affiliated hotel, if we mention it, they will still honor the children under 7 stay and play free and give us 2 free children%26#39;s annual passports with the purchase of 2 adult ones. Has anyone done this and know for sure?
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There is two different offers there.
Kids stay and play free is for staying in a Disney hotel or one of the offsite affiliated ones. You can only get this offer when booking a hotel room with Disney.
Kids free annual passport with an adult purchase is a different offer. My understanding is that this offer expires on the 7th November so that would not be valid for you anyway unless they extend this. You could always contact the annual passport office and check if this offer is to be extended as it has already been extended once %26#39;dlp.guest.communication@disney.com%26#39;
Your other alternative would be to get an existing annual passholder to sponsor you - that way you get 10% off the purchase price of the passes - if you are interested in this I am an annual passholder so can send you all the relevant details - just drop me a PM.
However even based on current park ticket prices if you make more than one trip in a year you will still save with the annual pass if you take into account the restaurant savings and store discounts. A 4 day 2 park hopper for 2 adults and 2 kids is £409 total. Say you went for the Fantasy which has some restrictions that is approx £430 for 4 of you but lasts a year. But the Fantasy does not give the maximum discounts so if you wanted to take advantage of that you could get 1 Dream and the rest Fantasy.
You can compare the passes here (note that although the Francillien is the cheapest you cannot use it on days 2 and 3 after purchase and it also has a number of restriction days). dlrpmagic.com/guides/…
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Thank you so much for your detailed reply! Yes, I was getting the 2 deals mixed up. Bummer. So we would have to purchase the passports before the 7th, or visit the Park before then? Do you have to be at the park? I will call in the morning and get specifics on a possible extention. I think we might just end up staying at the Saquoia Lodge b/c of the pool. Just in case the children get too cold, we can always go back to the hotel early and let them swim. This vacation is of course to be for them. ;)
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Yes you would need to purchase them before the 7th unless the offer is extended - it is definately worth contacting them to check. I have heard of people buying them by post but its not a definate service I think it just depends who you get in touch with at Customer Services.
Remember if you go for a Disney hotel e.g. Sequoia your tickets are included in your package. These tickets have a NIL face value and cannot be used towards part payment of an annual pass.
Also consider that access to the Sequoia Lodge pool involves going outside to the pool building so make sure your children have warm clothes to get changed back into after being in the pool so they do not catch a chill.
To be honest if I had the same options as you I would consider going for the offsite accommodation in winter and buy your annual passes when you get there this time. Even at full price they prove a significant saving on making 2 visits to the park using full price tickets.
Just my opinion but I would buy as follows 1 x Fantasy pass (one adult) as this gives maximum discount in the shops and restaurants. You could then get just Dream passes for the other adult and child. Then next year when you come you can use this pass to get a room only rate in a Disney hotel when the weather is warmer and you might like to use the pool more. Also if you chose to drive from Germany your Fantasy pass gives free car parking on the sites.
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Thank you SO MUCH again! You have given me great info that I hadn%26#39;t found researching all week. We are trying to make our dollar go as far as it can, and with the value against the Euro, that isn%26#39;t very far! ;) I didn%26#39;t know we couldn%26#39;t use the value of the ticket to go towards the pass, so that is great info to know. Thank you again.
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So we have decided to go ahead and make the trip! Its for the kids, right?! We will be staying in the apartment near Disney. I think we will be more comfortable having our own place to go home to at night and make our owner dinners in peace. :)
So, we will have to buy our own tickets. Does anyone know for sure if the deal for getting a free passport for kids under 7 was extended to those who do not live in France? We live in Germany and would really like to take advantage of this deal! It would save a heck of alot of money compared to just buying the day passes.
If we have to buy day passes, is it cheaper if you buy them in advance for certain dates? How do you do this?
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Yeah! I heard back from a rep with the annual passport office, and she confirmed the extention for anyone buying the passports until April 3rd!! Yeah for us!! That is several hundred dollars saved!
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