I love it. Went twice as a child (Cheyenne, Santa Fe) and twice with my DC1 at 3 and 5 (Sequoia Lodge, Disneyland Hotel), periodically price up a new trip although realistically it’ll be 2022 for us I think (money wise not covid!).
As an adult I’ve done Easter and May half term - May half term was amazing as it’s not generally a school holiday in France/Spain, so is quiet, warm weather, long park hours. We did have a great time at Easter though in spite of it being busier. The one downside in May is that it’s between ‘seasons’ (ie there are no additional parades or shows as part of the ‘Spring’ or ‘Summer’ offer), but this is reflected in price (in relative terms!). DC1 is keen to try out Halloween and/or Christmas and I get that - but the pull of May is strong; I haven’t decided yet.
Agree with the PP who said take costumes with, don’t buy there! I forgot to pack the second time and ended up buying a Tinkerbell dress there - it was beautiful and much better quality than the stuff from Asda, but €€€.
I think with youngish children you need min 3 full days to do it ‘properly’ and not rush/stress/have to choose to not do or re-do things you’d like. At least 2 days for the main park and at least 1 day for the studios.
Book meals, far in advance. In general I think you get what you pay for with the meals, and it’s worth splurging on the more expensive places if you can. We love Inventions as a character meal (is it still? I vaguely think I’ve read this has changed), Remy’s, Auberge de Cendrillon (for the princesses - menu was a bit grownup for DS!), and Captain Jack’s. Plan to spend 2 hours at least over a sit down meal.
Plan to watch the parade on your first day at least. We love it and didn’t expect to want to watch it every single day, but we did! The very start of the route (by Its A Small World) tends to be least crowded, so you don’t have to wait for ages to get a decent spot. Again, easier in warmer weather when you can sit on the ground and eat while waiting.
Likewise plan to watch the fireworks on your first evening - I didn’t expect to want to watch these every night but we mostly did. Bear this in mind when booking evening meals, especially if you’re going at a time when the park closes earlier!
I think the size of DLP means it helps to have a bit of a plan, but you don’t need to have every minute accounted for as I understand can be the case for Florida (idk - never been - it doesnt appeal enough to be worth the journey for me! I hate flying).
Both times it was cheaper for me to book via the official Disneyland website but other countries’ ones (I think in the end it was once Ireland and once Germany - check them all!). I’m not sure if Brexit means we can’t do this any more? But worth investigating as they run different offers at different times and the savings can be really significant (second time around I got DLH, plus a meal plan, via the Irish site for cheaper than Sequoia Lodge, no meal plan, would’ve been via the UK site).
I love Eurostar - the direct trains start cheap but quickly become very expensive. The price only goes up as you get nearer to departure date! I haven’t ever found it so expensive I’d rather get the indirect train via Lille, but I understand this is v easy and can work out a great deal cheaper. In general I have found it cheaper to book travel separate from the rest of the package.
I feel all nostalgic! I don’t care whether DS will remember it forever or not - he had a magical time at the time for sure.