Best age and time of year for Disneyland Paris?

[twinklz]

Just wondering what everyone’s thoughts are for best age and time of year to visit Disneyland Paris?

Is best to stay on site, Or is offsite ok?

Are the weekends overwhelmingly busy?

Thanks

How old are your kids now? We went just before Christmas and it was amazing but very cold, but I much prefer wrapping up against the cold to walking around in melting heat. We stayed onsite at the Newport Bay and it was great, walking distance to the parks and there were character meet and greets in the hotel. Haven't been on a weekend so not sure on that one.

Christmas time/New Year was horrendously busy a few years ago. My child was almost trampled trying to get round the parks. Although July/August is also very busy - nowhere near as crowded as Dec/first week of Jan. Also - absolutely freezing. I would not recommend it this time of year.

I think ages 3 to 9 are best. Not enough thrill seeker rides for older kids. Lots of characters and family friendly rides.

Weekends can be very busy but you don't see the difference during school holidays. Aim to go when the French/Spanish kids are still in school.

We stayed off site first time round at a lovely hotel in Val D'Europe. It's only one stop on the train to Disney and takes you right to Disney gates.

Fab if you are on a budget. Can be tiring though even though it's only a short train ride away. You also miss out out early magic hours meaning you can't get into parks before 10am. Also, if you were taking the Disney shuttle from the airport, I had a bit of bother finding the right shuttle to take me to Val D'Europe. I was better just getting off at one of the Disney hotels and taking the train to my own hotel. Probably not great to stay off site if you are taking lots to the parks each day e.g. prams and bags.

We stayed in Sequioa Lodge Golden Forest second time round and LOVED it. Walking distance from the parks so we didn't need to squeeze onto the park shuttle bus each day and we got free snacks and drinks between 4 and 6 each day too. The restaurant at this hotel with the buffet dinners was our absolute favourite of the whole park.

Our happiest visit was when my eldest daughter was 7. We went in the Easter Holidays and spent 5 days staying at Davy Crockett Lodges. Being Easter, it was quite busy but being there for 5 days meant that we weren't stressing to fit all the rides into a short time frame. My daughter was old enough to accept that sometimes we had to queue for a while. The weather was lovely and she said it was the best holiday ever!

I like May as the weather is okay and not too hot. The area is kind of renowned for its unpredictable weather.

I would say def stay onsite and do your research so you can the free food week. It's usually cheaper to stay 4 nights than 2 (weird I know) & your hotel depends on your budget.

We like the Sequoia Lodge as for very little extra (sometimes none - just ask nicely) you can upgrade to a Golden Forrest room. The room is a bit nicer but they add in a pause gourmand in you meal plan (will explain below) & you get a golden ticket each day per person. This means you can jump the queue. It's bette than fast pass even. As far as I know only Sequoia Lodge does this deal.

The meal plans are IMO worth it as food in the park is absolutely dreadful and £££ i mean €50 for 4 of you to have a terrible pizza or hotdog meal. The restaurants are incredible but the food kiosks terrible. We get the meal plan where you get breakfast (load up and take fruit etc with you) then we take a lot of snacks into the park the. You get a token for a pause gourmand each day (coffee and a cake) then also a 3 course meal at night in most restaurants. We book our meals when we book our trip usually so it's all sorted. Nothing worse than seeing a family troop into Cafe Mickey at 6pm to be told there is a table available at 11pm

Anyway that's probs more detail than you wanted but I'd say do your research and pick free food week when the meal plan is literally FREE.

Thanks both my DS is already 6. I was the thinking maybe November for Christmas so it may not be as cold? Or April/May September/October? Hmmm toomany choices lol

Christmas December sounds bitter cold though!

I posted before seeing the other posts sorry!

Thankyou everyone for such detailed replies. I really appreciate it

Ive been reading elsewhere that Christmas is 100% makes the best ‘magical’ time to go?

Im being so picky with it, as I’m not sure if we can go more than once m.

Anyone else?

We have been in May, July, September and October - we love it!! My favourite trip was in October. As you can imagine Disney does Halloween very well!! Lots of great decorations and extra shows on, we got to meet Jack Skellington which my older 2 loved. It wasn't nearly as busy compared with July. The weather was also fab for that time of year with the dc wearing just tshirts. It did get colder at night, but because it was dark earlier you didn't need to wait as long for fireworks start - in July we were waiting till after 10!! It's a wonderful place and we have loved all our visits, and the kids faces when they see the characters is just magical!

We went a couple of years ago. The girls were nearly 5 and 7. We went in October half term and it was brilliant-weather was nice enough to play on the outdoor pocohontas play area but not too hot when queuing, trees were beautiful colours, Halloween theme was fun so things like pumpkins cut into Mickey Mouse shapes. I think both girls were tall enough to go on most of the rides. Highlight was the cowboy show one evening, worth every penny.

We stayed at the Dream Castle hotel but to be honest we were only there to sleep as out in the park the rest of the time so could’ve been in a cardboard box for all the kids cared!

Thanks

Will you need to go during the school holidays? If you're free to go whenever then I'd recommend the beginning of the summer holidays before the French and Spanish break up or start going their school trips.

If you need to go during the holidays, I'm not sure it'll make any difference what time of year you go in terms of busyness.

Can go out of school holidays. Also wondering ‘best’ age

What age(s) are your DC? I said before that 3-9 was good but actually maybe 5-9. Very long days and long queues for little ones. The lines can be really horrendous. We once queued 75 minutes for flying elephants ride that lasted 2 minutes. But then you lose some of the magic if you go when they are older. Mine is 11 and we last went three years ago. She still 'believed' then but was bored easily as she wanted to go on 'scary' rides. There aren't many big rides there so we likely won't be going back.

Join some Facebook groups if you are on Facebook. No perfect age as it really is for all ages. Time of year depends what you want and your budget. Jan = freezing cold but super quiet and cheap. August = busy and expensive but long opening hours and no freezing to death. There are also seasons you might want to look at, for example Star Wars season, pirate and princess season etc

Thanks tekken. Looks like it’s a fine line in terms of age.

With meals plans mentioned above, the pause gourmand vouchers were scrapped over a year ago and disney also scrapped including breakfast with the hotel which has meant the meal plan prices have shot up. It can still be worth it but they aren’t nearky as good value as they used to be. Never be tempted to go full board, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t regret full board unless they got it for a bargain price