Wheelchair friendly holiday booking

[OneLittleSpark]

Hi all! My fella and I are looking at hitting Paris for a few days towards the beginning of December (with a day in DLP of course ) and are looking for a hotel. Does anyone know of a good online travel agent for wheelchair users? I've tried looking through Expedia and Lastminute.com, but the accessibility information is vague, sporadic and hard to find (you have to go through every hotel, looking at the information to get it). I've found some good looking deals through those two, but was wondering if anyone had any other places I can look?

Cheers!

 

[bopper]

http://www.slowtrav.com/europe/disabled_travel.htm seemed to have a bunch of good links that might be useful.

Also:
http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/europe/easyaccess.htm

 

[mazz1]

can i just suggest one thing, we've been many times to disneyland paris and if you can i would recommend you spend one or two nights at the davy crockett ranch, they have accessible lodges (a little like fort wilderness cabins) and it's a 10 minute drive to the park, a stay includes theme park tickets and parking, when you drive into the disney parking you need to show your disabled parking badge or explain you are a wheelchair user and they will give you a 4 digit code and direct you to parking at the disneyland hotel next to the entrance of the disney park

http://hotels.disneylandparis.co.uk/hotels/davy-crockett-ranch/index.xhtml

it's moderately priced and we have stayed here many times, the pool makes the holiday for us and the children, it's nice to get back to the cabin after a day in the park and light the BBQ too, yes even in the winter

if you enjoy shopping i would also recommend a visit to val de europe (huge shopping complex/mall) it's ten minutes drive from disney towards marne le vallee

paris is approx 20-30 minutes drive from disney

 

[OneLittleSpark]

Thank you for the advice guys!

Bopper, thank you for the links. I've not had much of a chance to look at them yet (overloaded by the dreaded coursework), but from the glance I've had they look terribly useful!

Unfortunately, Mazz, we're only having 4 nights in Paris in total. The fella's never been before, so I can't really commandeer the entire holiday for Disney . We're planning two full days in Paris and one at DLP. I know that's not really long enough to do everything there is to do, but we can always go back again another time.

I do like the look of Davey Crockett, and were we staying for longer, I would consider it. However, with me unsafe to drive at the moment (fatigue issues) and him not having passed his test yet, it's one to put on the back burner.

One of the places we're looking into for accommodation is actually in Val de Europe. How easy is it to get from there to Paris itself by public transport, does anyone know?

Thanks again!

 

[WheeledTraveler]

Hey, it's Penelope (Taneli) from BYDLS. I noticed you hadn't posted this there, so thought I'd give my input here.

1) My experience of Paris as a wheelchair user was that the public transportation was not accessible at all. That said, I didn't try buses, although, I've heard some iffy stories about the Paris buses and how they deal with disability.

2) Depending on exactly what access you need (shower, etc.) , I may know of a place or two that could work, but they may be pricey.

It was a couple years ago that I was there, but I'd be happy to share with you more about my experience, if you'd like

 

[OneLittleSpark]

Hi Taneli! I have posted a similar thread in Tips of the Trade, but it's slipped down the list a little. Anyhoo, thank you for the warning on transport. I've found an 'interactive map' of Parisian transport that allows you to view only the accessible routes, but I don't know how accessible that really is. I guess I'll find out when I go!

I don't really need too much in the way of accommodations, but the more help I can get the better, as it'll reduce pain and fatigue. I can walk around the hotel room, but I can't walk up stairs or steps to get there. A shower with a seat would make life easier, but I can deal with a bath if needed (it's what I have here, so it's nothing really new).

Budget is a bit of a tight thing at the moment, unfortunately (they joys of being a student), so we're looking to spend as little as possible (but don't really want to stay in a cardboard box).

Thanks all!