Travel from Heathrow to DLP and hotel advice please

[Gizmata]

In June I will be flying to London for business and plan to take the eurostar to DLP for a couple days before work.

If my flight lands at 6:30 am, is it reasonable to make a 9:30 eurostar at Waterloo station?

For the hotel I am looking at the Kyriad (3 nights), which works out to $620 through the Disneyland Paris website, though Expedia shows about $400 for the same rooms. I know the $620 includes tickets for all 4 days. Is there any reason to not use Expedia and just buy a 3 day park hopper when I arrive (and possibly a one day for the last day), or is there a 4 day park hopper option?

I did Paris a few years back, so this trip is just to see DLP so I will only need to go to Hong Kong to have seen them all.

Any suggestions or words of wisdom for this travel set would be much appreciated.

[DLRP_bopazot]

actually Heathrow to London might take like an hour so if you're lucky you can try to make it .

Event if you arrive at Paris you can take the Suburb train to Disneyland Paris if you can't take the 9:30 Eurostar .

[Bender Rodriguez]

Originally Posted by Gizmata

If my flight lands at 6:30 am, is it reasonable to make a 9:30 eurostar at Waterloo station?

Assume your flight doesn't land at 6:30 am, but 6:45 due to air traffic. You then spend about 30 - 45 mins collecting bags and clearing immigration. So 7:30 am you're out of the airport. You can then: take a taxi (expensive, slow, rush hour!), take the tube (cheapest, about 1 hr 15 mins with 1 change at Green Park, in rush hour, could be tricky), or take the Heathrow Express to Paddington station and the Bakerloo line (underground) to Waterloo (about 45 mins, ~£17.50 all together). The latter makes the most sense. Doesn't leave a lot of room for delays, delays, delays of which there are always many.

I would probably ditch the Eurostar idea, book a connecting flight to Paris from Heathrow, and jump on the Disney bus service from Charles de Gaulle airport. Not sure how that service works anymore, or if it even exists, but flying seems a better option in this case.

Best of luck!

[TDLFAN]

I would avoid Heathrow at all cost. Badly laidout airport.

[pussnboots]

Originally Posted by TDLFAN

I would avoid Heathrow at all cost. Badly laidout airport.

Not as bad as Charles de Gaulle, though.

Originally Posted by Gizmata

and just buy a 3 day park hopper when I arrive (and possibly a one day for the last day), or is there a 4 day park hopper option?

I think, but am not entirely sure, that for four days you'd be cheaper off purchasing an Annual Pass. I'm horrible with numbers and haven't been able to remember so much as a phone number in my life, but you might want to look into this.

A Fantasy AP if I recall is €129 (do check the blockout dates of course).

[TDLFAN]

Originally Posted by pussnboots

Not as bad as Charles de Gaulle, though.

Or Frankfurt Main. Come to think of it... european airports are just bad. Period.

[J9000]

one problem, eurostar do 'boarding' and make you get there a minimum of 30 miniutes before departure. so its not 930 but 845/9ish - dont ask me why i think 10-15 is ample, but ive seen them close the entry gates half an hour before the train is in the station. it a fine call, maybe change at lille or take a train to paris and go out on the rer to the park

[pussnboots]

Originally Posted by TDLFAN

Or Frankfurt Main. Come to think of it... european airports are just bad. Period.

Amsterdam's not bad. I like the one-terminal concept. CDG seems to have six thousand of everything spread out over about 10 floors, of which every single one is identical and makes you feel like you're entering different dimensions. And none of these dimensions seem to have helpful staff, or useful signs.

But I digress.

[Disney Magic]

Originally Posted by pussnboots

And none of these dimensions seem to have helpful staff, or useful signs.

Glad I am not the only one who thought that!

[TDLFAN]

Originally Posted by pussnboots

Amsterdam's not bad. I like the one-terminal concept. CDG seems to have six thousand of everything spread out over about 10 floors, of which every single one is identical and makes you feel like you're entering different dimensions. And none of these dimensions seem to have helpful staff, or useful signs.

But I digress.

True, Schipol is a nice airport concidering... but it has for principal tennants two of the worst airlines on Earth: KLM and NWA.

[Olympicnut]

I just did a trip to London and flew into and out of LHR with no issues what so ever. Plane actually landed on time, customs took maybe 5 minutes and we took the Tube to Green Park and it took 40 minutes from 1:30pm to 2:10pm. So if everything went OK you could make a 9:30 departure, but it might be cutting it close too. All kinda depends on how much of a gambler you are

[TDLFAN]

Hahaha!! I love it when people talk "brit" on the boards... Take the "tube", use the "lift", flush the "WC", have some "tea"...etc. Hahaha.. those wacky brits are a hoot.

[J9000]

wait till we start talking in cockney or yorkshire!

[aliasdisney]

We flew into Gatwick and it was so fast to get our luggage. Maybe it was becuase we did an emergency landing since there was tire tread embedded in our plane's wing and they bused us from the tarmac to the terminal. The 4 bombs of July 2005 had just gone off the morning before and there wasn't a soul to meet us to check our luggage, we just walked right through. We did the Gatwick Express, worked great. We did the Eurostar to Paris and then took an RER train out to Disneyland a few days later. We bought our Disneyland tickets, RER tickets to DLRP and Metro Cards (Paris Visite) at the Eurostar station in London (Waterloo). Saved time waiting in lines once we reached Paris. If you are flying back out of London I would do a roundtrip air ticket from London to Paris, MUCH cheaper than the roundtrip Eurostar. I think your 3 hours is cutting it a little close, better to be safe than sorry when planning travel time. As a tip, pack as light as possible if you are taking your luggage on the tube or metro.

[TweedlDum9]

When we went a couple years ago, my friends and I booked tickets from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle on British Airways for about 20 pounds per person (each way).

I don't know how much the Eurostar costs, but I'd guess 20 pounds for a flight from London to Paris is cheaper (and WAY faster) than a train.

And I know it's nice that the Eurostar arrives at Disneyland Paris, but you can take the official Disneyland Paris shuttle from Charles de Gaulle to the resort for somewhere around 15 euros per person. And we didn't have to wait very long at the airport since they had shuttles every 30 minutes or so.

And if you haven't booked your hotel yet, I'd suggest looking into the Sequoia Lodge. I don't remember how it compared to the Kyriad in terms of pricing, but it was a nice moderate hotel with lush landscaping and a helpful front desk staff and concierge.