DLP, EuropaPark & Efteling Father Daughter Roadtrip (the pre-trip)

[theCMG]

I’ve been planning a European theme park roadtrip with DD for October this year. I won’t be writing my usual dining report this time but thought I’d blog a bit about the process of DIY booking this and share some photos etc. later on.

The Cast

2 of us. DD who will be 14, she’s a theme park enthusiast with special love for fast rollercoasters and good theming. I’m a 40’ish theme park and dining and travel enthusiast. My DW btw is not joining us this time, she’s not a roadtrip fan and would get bored by the parks-shopping/eating ratio of this trip (not to mention lack of sunshine).

I’ve done a huge amount of both work related and DIY travel over the years, don’t know a lot about packages and probably better at finding unique things than at scouring for the best price but I’ll share what I know here! Also I’ve driven in Europe a fair bit, getting as far as Salzburg and the Italian Adriatic coast in trips from England so this doesn’t really bother me.


The Holiday

We’re going to visit first Disneyland Paris, then over to Europa-Park which is on the French/German border not far from Strasbourg before heading up through Belgium to the Netherlands for the 3rd park at Efteling.

Journey will be by car heading from South-East England via the Eurotunnel. The trip is taking place over 9 nights in the October half term so side from possibly iffy weather. It also brings Halloween into play.

Looking at those parks, DD and I have both been to DLP twice for short visits. We didn’t stay onsite either time, finding the hotel prices too expensive. Last time we went was a soggy long weekend for my birthday 3 years ago when we stayed at the B&B hotel in Magny-le-Hongre not long after it opened. DD has also spent a day at Efteling with her mum’s side of the family and loved it while neither of us has been to Europa-Park before.


Budget

I wanted to keep the costs down on this one as far as I could. Not easy with theme parks especially as we wanted to stay on property as much as we could. I’ve tried to work within the following budget:

Accommodation and Park tickets £500x3 for 3x3 night stays, one at each park
Transport £300 (including main expenses the Eurotunnel ticket, petrol and toll roads)

That comes to £1800 which felt like a lot but having done some initial research lower figures were quickly given up on. We’ll be spending less on food than normal though

I guess from here £2500 would be a realistic figure for the whole trip. More than I wanted so spend as usual