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Original poster

Taken DC 2 + 4 to Disneyland Paris and they’re being nightmares

258 replies

Cheepcheepcheep · 04/02/2025 19:11

Probably should have NC but sod it.

For Christmas we booked for DH, me, and DC 2 + 4 to go to Disneyland Paris. We don’t have stacks of spare cash and really prioritised this as they’re both in love with all things Disney. They’ve been talking about it all of Jan.

It’s been a bit of a disaster of a trip…

Arrived on the ferry lunchtime Monday, the kids were so good and loved the ferry. A smooth drive to an Airbnb near the park. Due to a few logistical issues with getting into the Airbnb they were late to bed (by an hour, adjusting for the time changes) but god. They were up for a further 2 hours, awful but put it down to holiday and over excitement.

Today, wake up, super excited for Disney. We get to the park and within 10m 2yo has a meltdown. Not unusual, I’ve had some concerns about ND but he was inconsolable. Then 4yo has one too. Very unusual for her. Screaming, crying, corpsing “I want to go home I don’t want to be here”. No amount of lovely chatting about Disney castle and meeting Mickey and Minnie could help. So we admitted defeat after all of 30m and went back to the Airbnb, have been here all day bar a quick trip to the supermarket for dinner (had planned to eat at the park).

They’re now “in bed” (8pm here) with a view to them sleeping nicely ready for an attempt to go back to the park tomorrow but up and down and shouting. They have their moments (which 4yo and 2yo don’t, potential ND issues aside) but I feel so defeated that we didn’t even manage to do anything, we literally walked two screaming kids up to the castle and back again. No rides, shows or even a meet with characters.

For the record I’m not a Disney adult, far from it. Frankly if they told me they wanted to go do a cultural city break I’d be delighted. I’m just gutted we’ve spent the best part of £1k (when costs are very tight) on something I know they’d love but tantrums and screaming have me on the RER in tears. DH and I being snappy with each other (albeit with appropriate apologies when it’s calmer) because we’re just so deflated and yelled out by the two kids.

4yo was apologetic about tantrum and appears to be trying to be better. 2yo doesn’t have a huge amount of language but accepts he needed to be kinder today.

Am I over optimistic? I’ve never bought into instagram parenting and accept there may be lows but god, I’d like to be one of the parents we saw today with kids of the same age who weren’t screaming so hard they had to leave.

Hiding in the Airbnb bedroom drinking a glass of wine while DH tries to settle them…

OP posts:
TuesdayRubies · 05/02/2025 19:59

@Cheepcheepcheep ahh okay I totally get it. Sorry for jumping on you with that, too.

TheWiresAreInTheAirNow · 05/02/2025 19:59

Glad you had a better day @Cheepcheepcheep
Apologies if I missed when you're going back, but if you're on park tomorrow go on an adventure to find the dragon under the castle!

TuesdayRubies · 05/02/2025 19:58

So glad you've had a great day OP. Honestly I think 90% of the time, challenging toddler and preschooler behaviour can be put down to tiredness, hunger or overwhelm, and you had at least two in that mix going on! It was always gonna be tough with those ages but you made the best of it and it's fantastic that they enjoyed the second day.

Crazybaby123 · 05/02/2025 19:57

I would be upset, but ai would also say they are way to young to actually enjoy a holiday.
We learnt to only book holidays that were easy for us . We only book rooms that have separate living and sleeping as otherwise you are stuck in the dark when they want to sleep. We book hotels with creches and prefer all inclusive or proper self catering as likely hood is the kids will not want to eat at the same time and not like many things on the menu.
I think disney land at age 2 is not worth it as they won't remember much of it.
Having said that you can make your current trip better. Draw a line under your old plans and now plan out the rest of the trip knowing what you now know about how much they can take. Maybe do two hours in the morning, lunch then back to the room to chill. Then out again in the afternoon to early eve.

Original poster
Cheepcheepcheep · 05/02/2025 19:54

TuesdayRubies · 05/02/2025 19:22

Also a two year old isn't being 'unkind' by having a tantrum. Your expectations are way too high.

I’m sorry, I just wanted to clarify this from last night. He was hitting and kicking and we talk a lot about kind hands and kind feet, when we say he knows he needed to be ‘kinder’ I mean he knows he wasn’t using kind hands and kind feet when he hurt us. Completely understand why it read like that and sorry for sounding like I was saying his tantrum was an unkind act, of course it wasn’t. Mea culpa, posting when stressed I didn’t express myself well.

OP posts:
lemming40 · 05/02/2025 19:52

They're too young and they won't even remember it in a few years

Thelaundryfairyhasbeenassassinated · 05/02/2025 19:51

Glad you had a great day today as a family. As difficult as it was you have already grown so much as a parent and today got to have lovely memories which you will remember and retell for them. The story of this holiday has a chapter to it which you will laugh about as you tell it in years to come x

YourWildAmberSloth · 05/02/2025 19:50

Probably just too young for Disneyland, strange as that seems. It's full on and basically just too much. They won't remember it, and are too young to appreciate it.

Mamatolittlemonsters · 05/02/2025 19:49

Cheepcheepcheep · 05/02/2025 19:38

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for the solidarity and even the criticism - knowing where my expectations sit in comparison to other parents has been so useful.

Glad to confirm we had a great day today! 2yo struggled a bit with the queues but we gave him his nap early and got to the park at 1pm. Loads of snacks, much more chilled, took our cues from the kids. 4yo was obsessed with Mickey’s Philharmonic (we went twice) and 2yo was chuckling with delight at the teacups and Its a Small World. We even managed to have fun when the little train ride broke and we were stuck on there for 30m and had to get evacuated 🤣

Kids are now sparko and a real highlight before we left for a McDonalds dinner was watching the parade, they were so good and were basically mesmerised! We also did the carousel, the Minnie Mouse show, Dumbo and the flying carpets.

With hindsight, yes it was too young and I’m keeping it to our usual routine of country walks, Butlins, Centre Parcs etc for the foreseeable. But I’m glad we did it and on balance it was worth it. Especially since the mark up to 2 day tickets from 1 day tickets is marginal so even if we’d only planned the one day it wouldn’t have cost much less.

Thank you everyone for the support last night and I’m sorry if I sounded like a mean mum when I was having a winge, I was just offloading. They’ve been little stars today and I’m very proud of them. I know that it was overwhelm, lack of sleep, the potential ND stuff with the 2yo (to the PP who questioned it there’s a fair amount of intervention at nursery at the moment so I’m not pathologising normal toddler behaviour I promise).

From one very tired but happy mum of tired and happy kids. And her traumatised DH who will need encouraging to do this again in 4 years when they’re a bit readier :)

So glad you had a much better day today!

it’s definitely a lot for them! But my 2 year old still talks about when we went to Disney a lot so made it all worth it!

Original poster
Cheepcheepcheep · 05/02/2025 19:47

TheignT · 05/02/2025 19:44

Sorry just realised I was a day late. So glad it went well and I'm with your 2 year old and love It's a Small World.

Me too, it was probably my highlight too!

OP posts:
Original poster
Cheepcheepcheep · 05/02/2025 19:47

Oh and on the ‘they won’t remember it’ comments - the apartment here only has a shower, the last time we stayed anywhere without a bath was 18 months ago when we went away and the 4yo (then just turned 3) was encouraged into the shower by the concept of them being lion cubs in the rain (she was going through a fairly intense Lion King obsession at the time, I think I sold her that the shower was Pride Rock at the end!)

When I got her in the shower here the first thing she said was ‘are we going to be lions at Pride Rock again?’ which I had completely forgotten about and she had to remind me about us doing it on that holiday. So I think some stuff does stay with them - though of course I can’t guarantee it won’t be getting a McDonalds or the songs we listened to on the drive there 😅

OP posts:
abaracadabarra · 05/02/2025 19:47

I think we as adults know how amazing Disney is for kids we expect them to understand it too. I took mine when they were 2 and 3 the first time (also this exact time of year). When we got in the park we wandered round and went in the sweet shop and my 3yo shouted THIS IS SOOOO BORING!!!! I was mortified. We went straight to rides after and they LOVED it when they knew what was actually there. We're going with them again next week for the 3rd year in a row. Hope you have the best holiday!

TheignT · 05/02/2025 19:44

Sorry just realised I was a day late. So glad it went well and I'm with your 2 year old and love It's a Small World.

Original poster
Cheepcheepcheep · 05/02/2025 19:41

A couple of other points:

  • Leaving yesterday when we did: with hindsight I wish we’d pushed through, but when we got back to the apartment 2yo napped for 3 hours and 4yo (who hasn’t napped in 18 months) napped for an hour. With hindsight I’m fairly sure they got less sleep last night than we’d realised, which of course is totally on us.
  • My overreacting: we’ve never done these ‘experience’ holidays for the kids before - now I know why! - but it’s uncharted territory for all of us. We’ve learned now, slightly expensive lesson but hey ho 😆
OP posts:
TheignT · 05/02/2025 19:41

I did it years ago. What I did the first evening was go to the village, let them buy a souvenir and had something to eat and showed them where we would be the next day. Maybe take it slow tomorrow and spend some time in the village before going into the park.

Original poster
Cheepcheepcheep · 05/02/2025 19:38

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for the solidarity and even the criticism - knowing where my expectations sit in comparison to other parents has been so useful.

Glad to confirm we had a great day today! 2yo struggled a bit with the queues but we gave him his nap early and got to the park at 1pm. Loads of snacks, much more chilled, took our cues from the kids. 4yo was obsessed with Mickey’s Philharmonic (we went twice) and 2yo was chuckling with delight at the teacups and Its a Small World. We even managed to have fun when the little train ride broke and we were stuck on there for 30m and had to get evacuated 🤣

Kids are now sparko and a real highlight before we left for a McDonalds dinner was watching the parade, they were so good and were basically mesmerised! We also did the carousel, the Minnie Mouse show, Dumbo and the flying carpets.

With hindsight, yes it was too young and I’m keeping it to our usual routine of country walks, Butlins, Centre Parcs etc for the foreseeable. But I’m glad we did it and on balance it was worth it. Especially since the mark up to 2 day tickets from 1 day tickets is marginal so even if we’d only planned the one day it wouldn’t have cost much less.

Thank you everyone for the support last night and I’m sorry if I sounded like a mean mum when I was having a winge, I was just offloading. They’ve been little stars today and I’m very proud of them. I know that it was overwhelm, lack of sleep, the potential ND stuff with the 2yo (to the PP who questioned it there’s a fair amount of intervention at nursery at the moment so I’m not pathologising normal toddler behaviour I promise).

From one very tired but happy mum of tired and happy kids. And her traumatised DH who will need encouraging to do this again in 4 years when they’re a bit readier :)

OP posts:
Bearbookagainandagain · 05/02/2025 19:34

I've missed the thread yesterday, but for what's it worth I think Disneyland at those ages very brave! Our kids are just slightly younger but there is no way we would attempt something like this anytime soon.

Our holidays are pretty much limited to my parents house near the beach for a couple of weeks in the summer. And we are attempting center park for a week this year for the first time!
But generally the idea is to stay in one place for at least a week with enough to do on site and easy day trips.

eremition · 05/02/2025 19:27

Disneyland in Paris is absolutely awful, compared to Disney World in Florida which is truly magical.

But I would not have left after 30 min.

Deadbeatex · 05/02/2025 19:27

How's today been @Cheepcheepcheep ? Hopefully a better day 🤞🏻

TuesdayRubies · 05/02/2025 19:22

Also a two year old isn't being 'unkind' by having a tantrum. Your expectations are way too high.

TuesdayRubies · 05/02/2025 19:19

PS best age for Disney probably when they are 7 and 5 I think!

TuesdayRubies · 05/02/2025 19:18

Kids often get overstimulated and overwhelmed in new environments. They are too young to take their holiday preferences on board! Not that you can change that now I know. I think just chalk it up to experience. They're probably just overtired as well. It must be really disappointing for you though I know.

GremlinDolphin4 · 05/02/2025 19:18

Sorry to hear this OP. I think they are much too young but hope you can salvage some joy. Xxxx

Jumpers4goalposts · 05/02/2025 19:10

My DC’s 7 & 13 are travelers and we will spend the whole summer making our way and exploring Europe however there is no way I would have done Disney at 2&4 the whole park is just sensory overload and I know with my kids over excitement always equals bad behaviour. I think you were over optimistic on how they would cope with something that was probably built up a lot before they got there too. Don’t worry though it’s happened to all of us. We did Disney a couple of years ago and even at 5 DD was hard work but it was just pure over excitement at being there. I wouldn’t have done any younger.

I found the best holiday at that age was a cruise.

Pollyanna87 · 05/02/2025 19:08

My sympathies OP, but they’re like that at that age! This advice is no help right now, but I waited til a bit older for Disney. While there, I noticed that families with toddlers didn’t seem to be having much fun, so you’re definitely not alone. I think it’s so easy for us to have romantic ideas of what days out and holidays are going to look like with children, and sadly they don’t often live up.

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