Disneyland Paris tips

[Hugo a Gogo]

take in food and drinks, it's perfectly allowed
bag check at the entrance is for security, not to take food off you

if you're driving, park at Disney Outlet superstore shopping village thingy, whatever it's called
parking is cheaper, closer to the entrance and has less queues at that entrance

when you get in, head straight for the far end and work your way back towards the front

get a good space in plenty of time for the parade and the fireworks show at the end

if your kids are the sort who want to dress up, buy cheap costumes at home - they cost a fortune in there (as does everything, in fact)

[monamimate]

While eating in the parks will undoubtedly cost more, some of the eateries are worth considering simply because they add to your Disney experience.

Blue Lagoon in the Park is our favourite. Good food while watching the ride boats leave for a Pirate's adventure. Need to book. Best to visit slightly outside French eating times (i.e. not between 12 and 13.30). Pricey.

Silver Spur Steakhouse (Park) - need to book, but you'll feel like you're in the Far West

Colonel Hathi's Outpost (Park) - pizza's etc, but with a fun lively band playing.

Cowboy Cook-out Barbecue (Park) - burgers etc - great decor, nice to eat outside if weather permits

Restaurant des Stars (Studios) - great "diner" decor, full menu, pricey.

Blockbuster (Studios) - salads and burgers - like eating on a film set, full of fun props and notices.

Bon appetit!

[mini me]

Thanks everyone. Some good tips there. Off tomorrow and I'm kinda looking forward to it. With some amount of trepidation. Little un is getting excited now. We are going via Eurostar from ebbsfleet. How long before the train should we arrive? Considering time to get from the car through passport control etc? Not sure how busy to expect it to be as I've only used it once from when it was at Waterloo and I can't really remember how long it all took other than thinking it was a doddle compared to airports.

[jmorgan]

We tended to go out of Ashford. Park at the international car park and go to security, get checked in and hang around in the departure lounge, have a coffee etc. Think we were sat down around 45 minutes before departure to be safe? But we tend to go out of season so no idea what the queues are like.


Not sure how early we got there but just be sensible. The train service we use went all the way into the park and we a would pay for the luggage collection to the hotel and just go straight to the park.

[richardxjr]

F-Stop Junkie said:

If you're staying on site, don't forget you can make reservations for any of the hotel restaurants at guest services by the entrance of each park. Hunters Grill is a good buffet.

Yes, we've stayed at Sequoia Lodge [good parking there] and balked at the cost of this buffet so left it until the last night. Very pleasantly surprised. Still not going back though

[LordHaveMurci]

richardxjr said:

Yes, we've stayed at Sequoia Lodge [good parking there] and balked at the cost of this buffet so left it until the last night. Very pleasantly surprised. Still not going back though

We stayed at Sequoia Lodge, very dissapointed overall

Easy walk to the parks though

[mini me]

Well we survived. Had a bloomin good time too. Seems we were a little lucky on the way in as they are starting a new photopass thingy which stores all your pics from the professional photographers and the rides on a website so you can download/ print etc. we got given a VIP pass at the gate on the way in as they are trialling the system. Woohoo!

Did the Wild West show and princess lunch thingy. Blimey it's expensive there isn't it! Somehow you know you are being ripped off but it's still kinda worth it.

36 degrees hear was tricky to deal with. Head for indoor rides as they are all air conditioned. Save the outdoor rides for early or late in the day when its cooler.

Littleun loved every minute. Cheers for the tips all.

[Trophybloo]

Now you just need the counselling for the inability to get the 'small world' tune out of your head !

[RosscoPCole]

Trophybloo said:

Now you just need the counselling for the inability to get the 'small world' tune out of your head !

When I took my family it was the 50th anniversary of 'It's A Small World'.

There was a singing celebration by the castle and when we went on the ride we were asked if we were willing to sing when we went round. Of course we said yes. We were all given a song sheet and rushed to the front of the queue and given a boat to ourselves.

Once we had sung our way round the ride like extras from Glee we were told that Disney were going to donate toys to UNICEF. We were singing the song for about a week afterwards.

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears.
It's a world of hopes and a world of fears.
There's so much that we share,
That it's time we're aware
It's a small world after all.
It's a small world after all.
It's a small world after all.
It's a small world after all.
It's a small, small world.

There is just one moon and one golden sun.
And a smile means friendship to everyone.
Though the mountains divide,
And the oceans are wide
It's a small world after all.

It's a small world after all.
It's a small world after all.
It's a small world after all.
It's a small, small world.

[Timbo_S2]

I got stuck on thunder mountain for an hour. On Christmas day.

Other than that, had a great time! Aprt from the food, by the third day I was feeling pretty dreadful...

[Rude-boy]

^^^

I went at Halloween one year and still know the song and tune that they played word for word, note for note!

Been a while since I was there (like about 9 years!) but as said food and drink is laughable.

If you are half fit then it isn't too far to get back to the car mid way through the day to grab replacement drinks etc to save you having to carry a day's worth for all of you all day. One can wait in line with the kids for a ride you're not fussed over and the other can get the stuff from the car and get 30/45 minutes to themselves (sanity time!)

Yes it is a kids thing, yes you will get fed up at some point but then all of a sudden you will find yourself reverting to childhood. Hell it made me end up skipping with the ex and her kids all in a line and generally acting like a 10 year old without the tantrums!

[Trophybloo]

Timbo_S2 said:

I got stuck on thunder mountain for an hour. On Christmas day.

Other than that, had a great time! Aprt from the food, by the third day I was feeling pretty dreadful...

We were camping at Verdelot (about 30miles east) and did the two parts on different days (with a day's recovery in between). Also got stuck on a ride - the Aerosmith roller coaster, and had to be evacuated down the maintenance gantries. Tip that didn't crop up earlier in the thread was that the queues disappear about 2 hrs before closing time, we got 3 rides on space mountain in the last hour of the day!

[thetapeworm]

I realise this is four years old but as usual the search feature has been a challenge and I haven't found anything similar discussed since this one.

We're heading to Disneyland Paris later in the year for a 5 night stay, we visited for the day a couple of years ago but my daughter is now older and capable of enjoying things a bit more, staying up for the fireworks etc, plus it's her birthday when we're there so hopefully we can make it memorable for her.

We've opted for the Newport Bay and a half board plus food plan but need to get organised and book some restaurants in advance. On the last visit we had lunch at Auberge de Cendrillon and it was both ridiculously expensive and terrible at the same time so have no plans to repeat that, the other meal was at McDonalds which was a much-needed predictable bargain in comparison, but obviously still not amazing.

Any up to date suggestions on restaurants etc much appreciated - I'm reading through http://www.dlpguide.com and other sources and have accepted that you pay a decent amount for incredibly average (or poor) food, I just want to minimise this as much as possible. Personally I love a buffet but at the same time I have the appetite and willpower of Mr Creosote so dont' want to do this too often for fear of coming back to the UK in an ambulance.

My wife is suggesting Inventions for one of the nights and reviews on Tripadvisor seem acceptable enough.

[gazza5]

we are off to Disneyland Paris on 20th December - got 3 nights booked - coming back Sunday 23rd Dec (late).

We have the dining thing - don't expect much tbh, but will take snacks - our daughter is 5.

Many of the tips above are still valid - its going to be a shock to us after having magic bands at disneyworld florida last year.

Main things are:

Be prepared for long days - we usually try our best to get to the magic hours in the morning - we are staying at Davy Crockett this time - leave the evening extra hours to the older ones although it is bloody quiet then.

We are going by car - for us its by far the easiest way - getting to kings cross to get the train etc (not sure if they still do direct or not to disney - think they were going to stop it). Use our tesco vouchers for Euro Tunnel

Get a halifax clarity card - no extra charges for being in a foreign country rather than taking cash. My wife and I both have one in case one gets lost / stolen.

We try and eat out of hours - so due to getting there early, have lunch a bit earlier (before 12 if possible).

Comfortable shoes needed - don't wear brand new ones like my wife did one year - wear them a couple of times at least.

be prepared for lots of q'ing - pushing when shows are one - no one gives a st that you have kids who are trying to see - as long as there little darling can see that's all that matters

Personally for me I have a list of rides I avoid - haunted manor being one - just think its crap tbh and a waste of time

Download the app - expecially as we have free data now - if you have a crap phone like me where the battery only just lasts a day, take a little charger pack thing with you - charge it up while in the q for a ride.

The french when we went loved ratatouile - it was new last time we went - so I would advise if no magic hours, run to ratatouille when it opens and get a fastpass, then go straight to toy story land bit and go on rides there. Crush's coaster is also a favourite (when working).

[rsbmw]

We went for 4 nights in August with our 5 year old daughter and 7 month old son. Also had half board plus, tbh breakfast was crap, it's not from your hotel (though you can pay £10 a head extra for that!), it's just a croissant and a coffee at one of the counter service places. The only "free" restaurant I would bother going back to was the diner in the village which does a pretty good burger, though some of the food in the Aggrabah cafe wasn't too bad.

Earl of sandwich (not free) in the village is pretty good.

There's a beer stand in studios that sells hoegaarden for about the same price as a bottle of water, that was all the excuse I needed!

If she's into princesses I would recommend you do the meet the princess first thing as magic hours start, queues can get long and they are very slow.

Evening light show very impressive, but was absolutely packed (it was August I suppose). Would recommend getting a spot at the end of the high street facing the castle, for a quicker exit afterwards.

Oh, take water bottles that you can fill up at fountains around the place rather than paying £3 odd for water/coke constantly. We also took some of those squeezy super concentrated vimto things to add some flavour.

Edited by rsbmw on Friday 5th October 14:33

[soupdragon1]

We went last December and booked into the Disneyland Hotel with half board. At the time, we were going for 3 nights but was an offer for buy 2 nights get 2 free, so booked the 4 nights and only stayed the 3. At least that way, we got an extra days worth of meal vouchers and fast pass tickets.

While it seems more expensive to book into the Disneyland hotel, you automatically get Character Dining on every meal, breakfast and Dinner. If you book a cheaper hotel and then add meals, you're not far off the price of the Disneyland hotel anyway. Its nice to step out of the hotel and straight into the park - and vice versa. Easy to nip back to the room to rest for an hour and go back to the park again due to the great location.

Our Daughter loved the make-up/dress up princess experience in the Disneyland hotel - was very magical for her and the photographer took some great photo's of her, as well as us all together as a family.

To top it all off, on the 3rd day, our last day, we were leaving the hotel around 8pm to catch our evening flight and I went to reception to check out (we were due to check out the next morning anyway) and I just said thanks for a great stay, would love to have stayed the 4th night but family commitments meant we had to leave early. I politely asked for a partial refund and they did - even though it was technically a free night

For families with kids, I recommend the Disneyland hotel. There are characters there all the time, wandering about, ready to take photos etc

[FiF]

We've been three times, me, never again, Mrs and Miss would go again, but they know would do it without me.

Not going to repeat many of the tips, as still valid.

Places to eat we would visit again, and hang the expense.
Walt's, every visit has been good
Silver Spur steakhouse, bit borderline on quality 2nd visit
Annette's Diner, expensive for what it is, ie think fancy schmancy Disneyfied OK Diner, but I got my fill at the end of a day when famished.
Steakhouse, looked OK, but for some reason Mrs decided no.

Everywhere else was essentially a disappointment, eg we are one night at Hotel New York, Parkside Diner, buffet. Choice was interesting, the limited stuff that was OK was picked over and looked as if a bus load of Russian tourists who had eaten nothing but thin cabbage soup for twenty years had descended, and then having eaten their fill gone back and packed up enough for the next few days meals, what was left being volubly complained about by some Essex council house tenants. Yep I am being snobby.

Breakfast was OK though, both Newport Bay, continental only, but plenty and well organised.
New York, again OK but with addition of bacon, tiny hot dog type sausages, and some sort of scrambled egg concoction, left that alone.

Of the three trips, two by train, third by car, that being best option imo.

But as above, for me never again.

Final piece of advice, whatever you do, it's going to cost you a fking fortune. Put that issue out of your mind otherwise it will ruin the whole thing, as several times a day it will result in "How much!!!!?!???"

[rsbmw]

FiF said:

Final piece of advice, whatever you do, it's going to cost you a fking fortune. Put that issue out of your mind otherwise it will ruin the whole thing, as several times a day it will result in "How much!!!!?!???"

Absolutely true. I had expected more of an alton towers type experience, rides and stuff with gift shops as an option. Instead it was the most commercial place I have ever been, everything set up to gouge you to the maximum at all times.

We stayed in the sequoia lodge on recommendation. Disneyland hotel was best part of twice the price but I can imagine makes things easier. That said, we had plenty of walking a baby around so they could sleep so to/from the hotel wasn't a huge deal.

[FiF]

rsbmw said:

FiF said:

Final piece of advice, whatever you do, it's going to cost you a fking fortune. Put that issue out of your mind otherwise it will ruin the whole thing, as several times a day it will result in "How much!!!!?!???"

Absolutely true. I had expected more of an alton towers type experience, rides and stuff with gift shops as an option. Instead it was the most commercial place I have ever been, everything set up to gouge you to the maximum at all times.

We stayed in the sequoia lodge on recommendation. Disneyland hotel was best part of twice the price but I can imagine makes things easier. That said, we had plenty of walking a baby around so they could sleep so to/from the hotel wasn't a huge deal.

Just one thing to add assuming, per earlier post, that cost has been put aside, you can find some memorable things.

On our second visit, staying at the Newport Bay, we wandered late one afternoon into the New York Hotel thinking of finding a coffee, instead we found ourselves in the bar where we could have had a coffee, but decided, what the hell, two of those signature champagne cocktail raspberry thingies at the wonderful price of each. Nectar.

Guess where we visited the next day and on the next trip.

[gazza5]

if it all gets too much - king ludwigs castle - nice bar there with some lovely big jugs of german beer (pilsners).

Funilly enough its usually all men in there - we have all had enough and left the wife shopping for tat!