Disneyland Paris budget

[Theshadowsthecurtainsmake]

We are going to Disneyland in a couple of weeks (2 adults one 10 year old) and I’m wondering what to budget per day? Does anyone have any experience? We have accommodation and park tickets included but not food or any extras.

Do you have any meal plan included? We paid for half board meal plan and that saved us £££, we had breakfast and dinner as part of the plan and ate at McDonalds in the Disney village or Earl of Sandwich for a cheaper lunch. Also took lots of goodies bars/flapjacks/fruit roll ups etc with us in hand luggage to stave of queue boredom & provide an energy boost throughout the day

Thanks. We don’t have a meal plan, maybe that would be a good idea. We tend to be quite impulsive with when we eat etc so didn’t want to be tied into bookings.

McDonald's is a good bed for reasonable food, we also went to a nearby supermarket for food and jumped on the train into Paris. Disney food is £££ and were useless for my vegetarian dd (the options at one place I had Prebooked and phoned ahead to check were chips, rice and bread - even the salad had ham tossed in it, staff couldn't care less either. She has to eat off the kids menu in the park as they had tomato pasta at most restaurants, had to fight for that (she was 16)

Earl of sandwich was the cheapest (and nicest!) place to eat.
There's a convenience store in the railway station that sells a few bits too.

It depends what kind of meals you want - whether you’re happy to eat fast food and buy pastries from the supermarket for breakfast, or if you’re looking for fancy dining or a character experience.
It also kind of depends on where you’re staying and how much food you want to take into the park with you (it’s totally allowed). One stop away on the train or a short drive away is the Val D’Europe shopping Centre which has a huge hypermarket inside called Auchan. We sometimes stock up there with snacks and stuff for packed lunches. If not we do quick service restaurants which usually have a fixed price menu (around 15 Euros for an adult meal and 10 for a children’s meal depending on the restaurant you are at). But if you want to eat three meals a day, especially sit down meals a day you may find it is a cost saving to you to book a dining package.
As you’re going off peak and have more than one day in the park, you probably won’t need to buy Premier Access.

Would definitely recommend the meal plan. At least half board.

You can save a bit of money (if needed) at lunchtime leaving the park and getting a slice of pizza and a drink from one of the vans.

We have always used a half board meal plan and filled up on breakfast, had a snack at lunchtime depending on hunger and earlyish dinner then treat afterwards when waiting for fireworks if doing a full day in the park.

We varied our time in the parks with a swim at the hotel, a day in Paris etc. We did character dining (pre booked) and used last vouchers at Annette’s diner on final day when leaving. Would not recommend Ratatouille restaurant, by far the worst meal of any trip.

Character afternoon tea was fun but just all cakes and drinks, I think dinner is better overall value.

@Theshadowsthecurtainsmake you'll have to make bookings and stick to them for lunch/dinner and you'll have to book around 60 days before you go. There's very limited spaces for certain things.

Also, if your DC want to meet characters/princesses, the character dining is the most cost and time effective way to do this. The queue to see the princesses in their tower can be in excess of 2 hours

£250 a day with no meal plan. I would pack snacks too for the queues.

It really depends on if you want table service meals or if you are happy to quick service (burgers, fries etc). The price varies from about £15 a meal for quick service to £30-£50 for table service.

I second using the Disney village for McDs, Earl of Sandwich, Five Guys or Vapiano etc.

Unless you are there for a good few days, I wouldn't waste time going to the supermarket and just take some snacks with you - we usually take Pom Bears etc.

Maybe I have been conditioned by Walt Disney World but I didn't think prices were that bad especially given what you pay for food these days but be warned the pastries are terrible, ironic given it is Paris but I wouldn't eat them - they were like the multipack pain au chocolats you get in Tesco!