Disneyland Paris tips

[Familyguyfan]

Hi all

Hubbie has decided to go to a music festival in mid-August with his friends (which I don't mind) for four days/three nights. Instead of simply stating at home with our 15 month old daughter, mum and I have decided to go to Eurodisney. As daughter is so little, I know there will be quite a bit she can't do, but I'm hoping she'll enjoy the environment and mum and I will like it!

I've had a look at some of the other posts about Eurodisney, which was a bit depressing, so thought I'd ask for practical suggestions and feedback. We are planning on staying at the Radisson Blu and flying out. I think we've got a pretty good price (£800) for the three of us without park tickets, but all suggestions welcome.

Thanks everyone

Try www.disboards.com there is a Disneyland Paris planning forum with lots of helpful people who will know answers to any questions you may have!

FWIW, I would wait until she's old enough to enjoy the rides. It's a huge amount of money to spend when she won't be able to go on much and won't even remember it.

Why not go to one of those very child-friendly hotels instead?

I have posted several times in this last couple of weeks about DP. We went at the end of June. My 4 yo, who loves Flamingoland, hated it.

It was crowded, noisy and smokey. People pushed in everywhere. There was no "atmosphere" and it didn't feel like Disney. It was horrendously expensive to eat anywhere. The staff were slow and surly.

At 15 mo there is very little your DD could go on. TBH I don't think she'll enjoy it at all.

We took DD when she was much younger to d'Efteling in Holland, which is lovely, and just right for tinies. We stayed at a nearby Center Parc (much cheaper than UK Centre Parks). We've also been to the Movie park in Germany (can't remember exactly where) which was also very nice- very clean and plenty to do.

Otherwise Flamingoland in Yorkshire is nice for little children- lots of smaller rides and animals as well.

There are plenty of rides that your dc will be able to go on, especially in fantasyland. Also things like the train that takes you around the park.
There is a really good interactive puppet show - Playhouse Disney, that would be ideal for a 15 month old, and she should really enjoy all the sights and sounds.
Enjoy!

Agree with bigT if you've not already paid have another look at alternatives for that amount of money. Eurodisney is fine but your DC needs to be older...& not in school hols !

If you still want to go seriously look at a guidebook before you buy tickets for Hollywood Studios bit. There are few rides for little ones there.

Oh no! I've book it already. Anyway, I'm sure we'll make the best of it. I loved Disney World in Orlando, for the experience rather than for the rides I think, so I hope we have a good time. If not, it will be a nice girly weekend away.

Hi,
You will find that there are a lot of rides you can do with your daughter, and she will enjoy watching some shows, and the parades.
Summer holidays are usually extremely busy, but some days are quieter than others, especially if there are any Francilian Annual Passport Blockout days, which keep locals away as they would have to buy tickets.
The Radisson Blu hotel is just outside the resort perimeter road, near Disney golf course. There are free shuttle buses to the parks and Village.

If you read some Trip Reports by people who have taken young babies and toddlers to DLP ( it is not called EuroDisney any more ) you will get lots of tips, and see that they had a good time there.

Be aware that some young kids ( and older ones ) can find some of the Characters rather scary, as well as some rides. If in doubt, one adult should ride first using childswop facility, so they can decide if their child will like it or not, as all kids are different.

There is also a Top Question on the TA DLP/ MLV forums about rides for toddlers and babies in Disneyland.
These two TRs may help as they both took babies under 1 year, with other children.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g226865-i2224-k4352569-Trip_report_21_25_March_2_adults_1_child_1_baby_Santa_Fe-Marne_la_Vallee_Seine_et_Marne_Ile_de_France.html

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g226865-i2224-k4530893-Trip_Report_30th_May_2nd_June_Hotel_Cheyenne-Marne_la_Vallee_Seine_et_Marne_Ile_de_France.html

This person lists the rides that their son aged 10 months went on.
www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g226865-i2224-k4431694-Trip_Report_12_16th_April-Marne_la_Vallee_Seine_et_Marne_Ile_de_France.html

It is a shame that you do not have Extra Magic Hours as they are very useful for the 7 rides that are open early for Disney hotel and Hotel Elysee guests, but as you are just 2 adults taking a young child, you will not be rushing around trying to do everything, and can do things at your own pace.
There are some lovely table service restaurants in resort, so you can enjoy some good meals together - I recommend making advance reservations for lunch or dinner before you go. The Disneyland Park will close at 11pm after Fantillusion electrical parade at 10.30pm, and fireworks over the Castle.

Get a good position at the kerb along the route early for parades, so your daughter can sit in her pushchair and have a good view.

We can help with any specific questions on the Trip Advisor Disneyland Paris / Marne La Vallee forums, which are linked and both have a Top Questions list where you can find info.

You will have a good time because you clearly intend to. Agree the shows are great & not too long for little ones. Enjoy!

Just noticed that you have said you do not have park tickets included in your package. Kids under 3 yrs are free, and also eat free in table service and buffet restaurants ( not fast food ones though ).
Disney recently had a 50 % off hotel/ park tickets package flash sale, but would have depended on which hotel and arival dates.
The cheapest tickets are Francilien ones, bought from French websites. See FNAC as they will post them to you, or they can be collected from the FNAC store in Val D'Europe shopping mall. ? 30 weekdays, ? 40 weekends, although Mon, Weds and Fri in summer school holidays are charged at weekend price.
Friday is usually the least busy day at this time of year.

In case anyone else is looking for a good didn't deal, I've just booked at 50% off for adults room and park passes plus kids go free so have paid £359 for 2 nights and 3 day park pass.

Was through travel zoo special offers, follow the link through to the disney offer.

zipzap - Help! - Just wondering which hotel offer it was - since there only seems to be two - the magic circus and the park prestige suites. Only one child is free and there are no free park passes. I've clicked through to the viva holidays website btw.

Watching

myron this is the link I used:
www.disneylandresort-paris.co.uk/Disney-Special-Offers/TZoo-Special-Offers/

Don't think I went through Viva travel, sorry, didn't see that on there.

The lady I spoke to on the phone (lydia)was going to be there until about 10 this evening I think - telephone number was 0843 459 0922

We are booked at the Santa Fe so it's only a 2* bit we're not really planning on spending much time at the hotel. We chose that one rather than the Cheyenne which was approx the same price but had bunk beds for the kids which I didn't want as ours both still fall out of bed! Just checked and the same thing on the disney site is £724

good luck! Hope you get a good deal too...

Forgot to say I couldn't get the prices on their search to match the offers listed in the text which is why I called... one lady wasn't used to doing the travel zoo offers but I'd already got the better price from lydia so she put me back through to her... hey presto got the low price...

The site that zipzap has given ( World Travellers ) is fine to use and one that is recommended on the DLP forums. Some overseas visitors book with them, to get UK offer prices.
They give good info about the hotels as well, including hotel maps, so you can see the layouts.
The summer sale ends on August 8th, so in 4 days time.

This is the ordinary link, not going through Travelzoo.

www.disneylandresort-paris.co.uk/

figgy quick question what time does the park close in Nov? We are thinking of going 6th-9th to take in fireworks and Christmas stuff, have an £££ option which gets us into Paris at 9am, thus meaning Sun/Mon/Tues and most of Wed in the park, or a much cheaper option which gets us into CDG about 4pm on the Sunday?

Thanks muchly

zipzap - thanks for the link. I have booked totally on impluse thanks to MN for 3 nts in a fortnights' time. So for those that are interested - 2 ads & 2 kids (1 free cos under 7yrs) B&B at the Cheyenne with park passes included for 4 days came to £609. Due to dithering over dates and conferring with DH for 2 hrs, we missed out on the sale rooms at the New York which had been about £110 more but had disappeared by the time I got round to actually making a booking.

Magical Fireworks and bonfire nights are 2nd , 4th, and 7th November. The fireworks are over Lake Disney, not in the park.

Enchanted Christmas begins 7th November 2011 until 8th January 2012.

Parks hours only go up to 18th september at present, but you can see previous years as a guide on this link.

www.dlrpmagic.com/calendar/monthly-park-hours/2010-11/

Bonfire and firework nights were on 3rd, 5th, 8th November.
French schools were on holiday 23rd Oct - 4th Nov 2010.

1st and 11th November are National Holidays, so very busy.

French schools this year are on holiday 22nd october - 3rd November.

Thanks so much Figgy - you are a gem!

Geoordieminx I went in April this year and although it wasn't in the Easter holidays the French children all have Wednesdays off so it was a lot busier on that day than any other just so you are aware.

The park closed at 8pm in April but had only just started doing so as before then it was 6pm so it may be the same in Nov as gets darker earlier then.

HTH

We only have ds who is 4.5, and we will have all day Mon and Tues, so I guess anything on top of that will be a bonus?

As long as he gets to see all the Toy Story/Nemo and Cars stuff he'll be happy.

Geordieminx You will have such a fab time. It was my first time ever and DD (age 6) absolutely loved it. There is always some ride that is closed for maintenance but they usually post online which it will be - it was the Alice maze and the Pinnocchio one when we went and one of the rollercoasters (weren't fussed by that as DD too young and DH has bad neck)

Let us know how it went when you come back

Still trying to persuade Dh

myron glad to hear you've got a bargain although sorry you missed out on your first choice. If it's any consolation I am exactly the same and dithering meant I missed out on first choice of holiday as the price had shot back up between me seeing it and deciding overnight to book it. Which is when I saw completely separately the Disney offer - so my dithering has meant we both got a holiday at dlp!

figgy thanks for all the tips, they've been really useful. Can I pick your brains again please... Are there any guide books you would recommend to take with us to help out with planning our days there?
That give a good idea of when to hit popular rides for minimal queue times, hints and tips etc. There were loads of fab tips on the links you posted but I haven't got time to sit down and assimilate it all before we go (next week yippee) and I don't want to rack up huge data roaming charges as I go looking it all up in France so thought a good old fashioned book would be just the thing! I've seen a few on amazon and they all have mixed reviews.

Also we are going to drive down the night before our stay and stop off at Reims overnight to break up the journey, thinking it would get us to within an hours drive of dlp, hotels are cheaper and we would then be there relatively early on our first day. Will we be able to go straight to the hotel to park and get passes - how early do you reckon would be a good time to aim to get there? And how likely is it that we would want to leave the park at lunch time and pop to the shopping centre to eat there or should we just suck up the prices and queues and eat in the park (or picnic on rolls and stuff from breakfast?)

Thanks !