I have a few questions please......?

[emma c]

Hello

I have a friend who after saving her to pay for her boys to go for 4 days has a few questions if anybody can help?

1. She is staying at Santa Fe hotel standard room but what do you get in the hotel room, ie kettle/tea/coffee?
2. She has not booked a meal plan so roughly how much is mimmum for food just like hotdogs and things?
3. My daughter done pin trading at wdw and she would love her boys to do it but can you do it at euro?
4. How do the meet and greet works? I believe it is not quite the same as wdw?
5. Finally does anybody know if you can take snacks and things with you on the Eurostar?


Any other tips or suggestions will beyond appreciated!

Thank you as always!

 

[AndyS2992]

1. Disney's Santa Fe hotel is the cheapest value resort at Disneyland Paris. Rooms have two beds, a TV, a safe and a bathroom. That is all. No kettle or coffee maker.

2. Food at Disneyland Paris is EXTREMELY expensive. Head out to Disney Village and eat at the large McDonald's or other chain restaurants, they are much much cheaper with better food.

3. Yes you can buy pins and trade with CMs at Disneyland Paris, however bare in mind language barriers and that Paris CMs are usually not as a cheery as their American counterparts.

4. Main characters like Mickey have set places to meet him and are controlled by lines but the rest of the time characters appear at random and are mobbed with no line. Really bad system. Mickey can be met all day in his theatre in Fantasyland and so can the princesses in their Princess Hall.

5. Yes you can bring your own food and drink on the Eurostar

 

[emma c]

Thank you soo much! Is the McDonald's and co a small walk away? Just dying to help her save money where ever she can!

 

[FlaggNL]

Thank you soo much! Is the McDonald's and co a small walk away? Just dying to help her save money where ever she can!

McDonalds and other restaurants and placed in Disney Village with much more shops, only a 10 minute walk from either Studios or DP park!

 

[emma c]

Soooo if friend gets breakfast free her question is whether to do a meal plan as well? Or walk and eat off site ?

 

[Irish girl]

Hi

Soooo if friend gets breakfast free her question is whether to do a meal plan as well? Or walk and eat off site ?

,

 

[Irish girl]

Soooo if friend gets breakfast free her question is whether to do a meal plan as well? Or walk and eat off site ?

Hi, yes breakfast is included, rolls, croissants, ham, cheese, cereal etc, to save she should do as others & make up some rolls to have for lunch in the park. There are 2 shops in the train station which you pass on the way into the park and water & candy are cheaper there & water fountains in the park are drinkable. If they just want to eat burger & fries then MacDonalds would be cheaper than the equivilant in the park but fir a treat Cafe Mickey is good, you can share mains, or plaza gardens in the park a Buffett is nice both need to be booked. The meet & greets have improved this summer and a Q system is in operation now, check out hints & tips on review sites and review the park programmes before they go to get a plan in place

 

[HolleBolleGijs]

Pin trading definitely exists! Like Andys said, the language barrier might be an issue. I've been stuying French for about 7 years, and have been living in Paris for a month, but I still didn't quite know what to say to the CMs when I wanted a closer look at their pins.

I was surprised to find a lot of the same pins as at WDW. The CMs had a TON of Figment pins, which I thought was odd. But no one wanted them because no one knows who Figment is there lol

 

[HolleBolleGijs]

Also as far as characters go -

I don't have too much experience with this at WDW, except for the time last year when I happened to find Dug and Russell by chance. But here, I saw Hook and Smee, so I just joined the line to meet them. Later, I saw Mary and Bert, so again, I just got in line. No fastpasses for that, no crazy crowds. However, they do have something similar to Princess Fairytale Hall, and you *might* need a reservation for it. I've never been big on meeting the princesses, so I'm not really sure.

 

[emma c]

So for pin trading she could just buy a job lot from eBay and I spose hope for the best? I know her French ain't the best though I am surprised the cms are not a bit more bilingual?i mean most of Europe must go and surely being able to speak English should help? I think with only 4 days there as well with regards to the characters meeting it will be when their a short line jump in!

 

[HolleBolleGijs]

So for pin trading she could just buy a job lot from eBay and I spose hope for the best? I know her French ain't the best though I am surprised the cms are not a bit more bilingual?i mean most of Europe must go and surely being able to speak English should help? I think with only 4 days there as well with regards to the characters meeting it will be when their a short line jump in!

They are very bilingual, actually. From my experience with casting, I might even go so far as to say they value English more than French. I just like to mostly use French because I want to learn, so it's probably not that big a deal. Plus, if a little girl walks up to them holding out her pin lanyard, they'll probably understand that she wants to trade.

Yeah, characters aren't too bad. Although some lines seemed to be pretty long. Peter Pan, Wendy, Hook, and Smee weren't too bad. About ten minutes probably (although it helped that I chased them down as soon as I saw them come onstage). Same with Mary and Bert, although I saw them on Main Street and just jumped in line. Other characters were a little bit longer, like Woody.

Although its worth mentioning that the Studios Park has this mini show called "Stars in Cars" or something. It's not too far from the entrance to the park. They rope off a circle around a stage, and they bring a bunch of characters in who dance and stuff and go around the circle to take pics and sign autographs. It's a random assortment of characters, though. They had Lilo&Stitch, Mushu, Ariel, Goofy, Chip and Dale, Donald, Eeyore, and Tigger, I think. I didn't actually get to meet anyone because I caught the tail end of it, but that's a pretty quick way to meet a bunch.

 

[AndyS2992]

So for pin trading she could just buy a job lot from eBay and I spose hope for the best? I know her French ain't the best though I am surprised the cms are not a bit more bilingual?i mean most of Europe must go and surely being able to speak English should help? I think with only 4 days there as well with regards to the characters meeting it will be when their a short line jump in!

You can buy pins from eBay however you should be aware that eBay is flooded with fake pins which cannot be traded so just be careful of that.

A lot of CMs are bilingual and can speak English so it's not a problem but the quality of English can vary and others can not speak much at all as they will specialise in French and another language such as Spanish or German.

Also be aware that unlike WDW, most of the rides are spoken in French.

 

[HolleBolleGijs]

Also be aware that unlike WDW, most of the rides are spoken in French.

True, but that doesn't mean you'll be lost. ToT for example is pretty much exactly the same pre-show as WDW, but in French. Plus there are English subtitles. Some rides are more in French than others, though. Ratatouille, for example, has a good balance. And the CMs will say anything incredibly important in both French and English. (although I was in line for Pirates, which is FANTASTIC, I had no idea that they announced it had broken down, because they said it really quickly in French. I only knew after they made the announcement that it was back up and running)

 

[emma c]

Are they fussing with checking pins at euro? I brought job lot of eBay for my daughter when we went to wdw and was fine traded most of them with no problems at all otha than the backs falling off now and again!

I have heard pirates is better at euro than wdw we was very disappointed whe we went on pirates at wdw. Her little boy will be 5 when they go so hope he can understand the rides?

 

[HolleBolleGijs]

I don't think there will be any issues with the pins. I traded a few scrappers and they didn't say anything.

I don't think understanding the rides should be a huge issue. For instance, there's no narration in Phantom Manor like there is in Haunted Mansion. Madame Leota's lines are spoken in both English and French. And for Ratatouille, both languages are used and it's VERY easy to understand.

 

[emma c]

O good thanks I just want to help her have the best time ever for her and the kids! Be their first holiday as well and they really do deserve it bless um!

 

[AndyS2992]

I don't think there will be any issues with the pins. I traded a few scrappers and they didn't say anything.

Ugh, please don't do that. Nothing more annoying than people trading cheap fakes for authentic ones. Really ruins the hobby.

 

[HolleBolleGijs]

Ugh, please don't do that. Nothing more annoying than people trading cheap fakes for authentic ones. Really ruins the hobby.

To be fair, the scrappers that I traded were ones I originally got from CMs in the first place. It pretty much evens out in the end, anyway, considering I got quite a few scrappers. In fact, more often often than not I ended up trading real ones for fakes.

 

[AndyS2992]

To be fair, the scrappers that I traded were ones I originally got from CMs in the first place. It pretty much evens out in the end, anyway, considering I got quite a few scrappers. In fact, more often often than not I ended up trading real ones for fakes.

Exactly. People are ruining the hobby by trading fakes which is how CMs get them in the first place which then gets traded back to other traders who later then realise they have traded an authentic one for a fake and it isn't very fun.

1. Don't buy or trade fakes to begin with since what's the point? and 2. If you see a CM with fakes on their lanyard make them aware so they can go backstage and discard them and replace them with authentic ones.

 

[emma c]

But not to be a pain, for kids it's bit of fun that adds to the memories!