Want to book Disneyland Paris- where do I start??

[happytobemrsg]

Would love to take DS1 (3.5 yr) & DS2 (3m) to Disneyland Paris next Spring but I have no idea where to start.

Can I book Eurostar/hotel/tickets in one place?

Are the Disney hotels crazy expensive? I know the sensible thing would be to book a normal hotel but I’m a big kid (& it’s DS1’s first trip abroad) so would prefer a Disney hotel if possible.

Please help!

Start by looking on Disneyland Paris and magic breaks websites and price up what you need. You can book everything seperately or all together. There are often deals depending on how far in advance you are booking such as free half board. I think you can also book associated hotels so not disney but they run free shuttle buses to the parks every day. And the process includes your park tickets.

You could also look at booking everything seperately through booking.com or an air bnb and pricing it all individually.

We have always booked one of the Disney Hotels through the Disneyland Paris website and then booked driving through the tunnel separately as we usually find it’s cheaper that way.

We always use a Disney hotel as they are within walking distance of the park (there are free shuttles if you want) plus you get extra time in the parks before they open to non Disney Hotel guests.

Our favourite is the Newport Bay Club.

Any recommendations on how long we should go for?

We usually go for three nights. Arrive just after lunch on day one, and leave mid afternoon on day four so roughly three days in the parks. We did go for longer once but were Disneyed out by the end.

How old are the dcs? We went Monday to Friday last year and are doing the same next year

The parks are small enough to get around in one day but if it's your first time it can take a few hours to familiarise yourself.

We stay at davy crockett as we drive so can't speak for the hotels.

We are just back!

We looked at the hotels but frankly they looked awful/overpriced and we didn't fancy sharing one room with 2 toddlers. We booked the centre parcs that is affiliated with Disney. They have certain apartments there which are allocated to Disney guests. That way we had a bedroom for us, one for the kids and a living kitchen dining room. It was beautiful, and has all the benefits of centre parcs - restaurants, shops, cafes, activities, a little farm, playparks and an incredible swimming pool.

If you book through Disney it comes as a package and includes your park tickets and free parking at Disney (usually 30euros) Centre parcs is right next to Davy Crockett ranch, literally next door. You do need a hire car obviously (if you are flying) but we preferred that anyway. It is a long walk from the car park to the park entrance but we had a double buggy anyway.

I honestly couldn't recommend it enough, it worked so well for us. We did the parks in the morning (you get magic hours) and went back to the apartment for naps, snacks, swimming, dinner (aka baguettes and cheese) little ones to bed, wine.

One thing I would say is that Disneyland Paris is smaller, busier and more dated than the Orlando parks so adjust your expectations accordingly and you'll be fine. In typical European fashion it's all a bit laid back in terms of lack of signs, bit disorganised, queuing is non-existent, but honestly we had a blast.

Hope you have a fantastic time.

Queuing is non-existent

...was not our experience!

Ahhh, you’re going to my happy place! We go almost every year, we generally book directly through their own website as it’s much easier, but it’s cheaper to book it separately (ie hotels through booking.com and Eurostar/flights yourself)... how much cheaper can vary massively though, I think sometimes when people assume it’s much cheaper they forget how much the park tickets are! I love the Disney hotels (and you can only book those through Disney) but unless you book a suite it is just one hotel room for the 4 of you, with 2 double beds. It didn’t bother us as we don’t tend to get back to the room until 11pm and then it’s bedtime for everyone! My very favourite is The Disneyland Hotel, but the Sequoia Lodge is a close second

We’ve also been a couple of times through a coach company called Harry Shaw, who have been brilliant both times. The holidays are set lengths and you obviously have to pick from the dates available, but when we priced it up and compared it to the Disney website it was literally half the price. I’m not sure how much cheaper it would work out for you though as the really good prices are based on 4 people sharing and I believe under 2s are free.

Larkdescending really? We found there was a lot of milling around instead of standing in proper lines, and people skipping ahead in the lines because people were holding their place. No matter where we stood we always somehow seemed to be at the back of the queue....

We've only been once, for an unseasonably warm few days in April 2017, and queueing was a prominent feature! We didn't experience queue-skippers. Overall had a great time.

Whenever we’ve been, the queuing has been very good. The only time I saw someone trying to queue jump they were removed by a “crew member”.