As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
We are considering visiting next year in either May or end of June/beginning of July. For those that have been to both on the same trip please provide as many details as you can about your experiences and as much info as you can such as how many days you spent in each city. Thanks!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
I think the first thing I'd say is think about holiday dates over here - for the UK, do not come at the end of May. The last week is school holidays, so it will be busy in London. Earlier in May will be fine or June/early July. They'll be a lot quieter.
Secondly, are you just looking to do both cities or add in Disneyland Paris too? If it's just the two cities and you've never been to either, I'd say a minimum of three days each, more if you can. Don't forget that jetlag will more or less wipe out your first day. Trust me, it's a killer.
If you need any detail, let me know. We live 30 miles from London and visit a few times a year and have been to Paris a number of times.
We were in Paris last summer arrived late June and took the train to London on July 4th. We stayed 2 days at DLP. The first was quite rough with the jet lag. Get a redeye if you can. We spent 5 nights in Paris, and then 3 in London. This allowed for us to see the highlights of each city.
One thing we didn't anticipate were 2 full days of nonstop rain in Paris (so much for my romantic idea of a park picnic). And in nearly all London attractions there were groups of students who were apparently on some sort of field trip - but were unsupervised - that were frustrating.
I could write a book actually - and may pop in later to add thoughts - but do you have other specific questions?
__________________
Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow, for all you know, tomorrow, the dream that you wish will come true.
Thanks! We are planning on 2 days at DL and then 3-4 for Paris and 3-4 for London. Our biggest issue is our schedule. Would it be better to do a few days in London and then take the Eurostar to Paris/DL to avoid the weekend crowds and then take the Eurostar back to London to do the last few days there? From our airport we can only get nonstop to London not for Paris so need to fly to and from London and are wondering if that is the best plan or if we should do it some other way.
Thanks! We are planning on 2 days at DL and then 3-4 for Paris and 3-4 for London. Our biggest issue is our schedule. Would it be better to do a few days in London and then take the Eurostar to Paris/DL to avoid the weekend crowds and then take the Eurostar back to London to do the last few days there? From our airport we can only get nonstop to London not for Paris so need to fly to and from London and are wondering if that is the best plan or if we should do it some other way.
I'd definitely stick with flying into London. We picked up a friend from Charles de Gaulle in Paris and she took almost two hours to clear immigration/customs. I don't claim Heathrow will be better, but I've heard other horror stories from friends about flying into Paris.
Whatever you do, I'd avoid Disneyland Paris at the weekend, as the crowds really get a lot bigger there. Remember as well that a lot of things close on Sundays in France. Paris is better for that, but you will find a lot of shops closed and restaurants outside of the main tourist areas shut, so you might be better doing a weekend in London. Honestly, provided you avoid the school holiday week, I don't think it will be too bad. We were in London in June (I have a trip report going in the Globetrotting trip report forum right now) and it was fine... well, apart from the Brexit protest, but these things happen occasionally.
I like the idea of a couple of days in London, then do Disneyland Paris and Paris and head back for a couple more days in London. To me, that would be a good way to do it.
If you can, I'd go for four days each for London and Paris, as I think you'll find plenty to fill the time in both cities.
I went on the website for Disneyland Paris and for the few days we think we might stay there it is giving us these hotel plus ticket packages that cost almost as much as our entire WDW trip. Is there somewhere we should look for cheaper rates at any of the Disneyland Paris hotels and for tickets? Should we just stay in Paris and take the train there and back for a few days?
I went on the website for Disneyland Paris and for the few days we think we might stay there it is giving us these hotel plus ticket packages that cost almost as much as our entire WDW trip. Is there somewhere we should look for cheaper rates at any of the Disneyland Paris hotels and for tickets? Should we just stay in Paris and take the train there and back for a few days?
Yes, that sounds about right sadly for Disneyland Paris. We met a British guy there once and when we found out how much he'd paid to stay there (we were using our DVC points), we were like "you could've flown to Florida for less" and he was saying "I know". I'd stay in a hotel in Paris and just buy the tickets if you don't want sticker shock...
It was such a convenience for us to stay at DLP property and walk to the parks. So, if you can at all manage it in your budget, it's a nice benefit. That said, I've read plenty of reports of people who took the train in and that's quite do-able also. There are a few Partner Hotels close by DLP that have shuttle service to the parks. Those are on the DLP website.
We did buy discounted tickets from Attraction Tickets Direct. This resulted in some savings, and I had no trouble exchanging my vouchers for park tickets at the ticket window at DLP. https://www.attraction-tickets-direc...action-tickets
It was such a convenience for us to stay at DLP property and walk to the parks. So, if you can at all manage it in your budget, it's a nice benefit. That said, I've read plenty of reports of people who took the train in and that's quite do-able also. There are a few Partner Hotels close by DLP that have shuttle service to the parks. Those are on the DLP website.
We did buy discounted tickets from Attraction Tickets Direct. This resulted in some savings, and I had no trouble exchanging my vouchers for park tickets at the ticket window at DLP. https://www.attraction-tickets-direc...action-tickets
We've used Attraction Tickets Direct as well and have been very impressed with them.
I'm not sure who's in your touring party, but we stayed at the Relais Spa Val d'Europe, which had an amazing spa. It was wonderful for adults and near the Val d'Europe train station, which is only one stop from Disneyland Paris.
In London we are thinking of staying at either the Hilton London Tower Bridge, The H10 Waterloo, London Marriott County Hall, or London Marriott Grosvenor Square. In Paris we are thinking about staying at either the Grand Hotel du Palais Royal, Park Hyatt Paris Vendome, or Paris Marriott Champs Elysees. If anyone who has stayed in any of those can talk about your experience and also lt me know if there is a restaurant for breakfast where they can make an egg or omelet with a fresh egg as I have a few family members with a dairy allergy. Thanks!
I'm going to London next week and I'm also thinking of staying at the Hilton London Tower Bridge. That's one of my fav hotels there. I read about bext time to book flights in Europe here and bought a few tickets for sale. I like London and it will be my thrird trip there.
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
Our travel agent is still working on the London hotel(s) depending if we are staying at the same place both legs or 2 different ones but our flights, Paris hotel, and the DLP package are booked.
Our travel agent is still working on the London hotel(s) depending if we are staying at the same place both legs or 2 different ones but our flights, Paris hotel, and the DLP package are booked.
About This Page: 
London and Paris
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
It was wonderful for adults 
Linear Mode
