Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Holidays

Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Disneyland Paris

27 replies

FeckOffCup · 12/11/2012 14:41

We've just booked to go to disneyland just after DD's 2nd birthday, anyone been recently and got tips about the best things to see/do with a toddler? We will be staying in the newport bay hotel and it's next month for 2 nights/3 days.

OP posts:

givemeaclue · 14/11/2012 13:39

Newport bay has a lovely pool.

Dd may enjoy the parade and some of the
Smaller rides in fantasyland. Horse drawn tram also. Just soaking up the scene and seeing some of the characters. Will be too young for many rides and probably the shows too. But parade and smaller rides should be great. have a lovely time

YDdraigGoch · 14/11/2012 13:46

The "It's a Small World" ride will delight him. We had to go on that 300 times with our Brownies!

Original poster

FeckOffCup · 15/11/2012 16:43

Thanks for the tips, I think she will manage some of the tamer rides like small world and the teacups but it's mainly the characters we are going for, she loves the princesses and winnie the pooh. We're only there for a couple of days so not taking swimming stuff this time as we want to make the most of the time in the parks.

OP posts:

givemeaclue · 15/11/2012 19:56

Take advantage of the 'baby switch' so yet and dh can take it in turns to go on rides without queuing twice.

Think will be too young for tea cups they are quite fast, mete, seen any toddlers on it. There will be a couple characters in the hotel in morning and then you can see the characters in the parade. At that age wouldn't bother queuing to meet the caracters in the park, dd will be happy just to see them and wave to them and won't want to queue for an hour to meet a princess!

Floralnomad · 15/11/2012 20:02

Do a character breakfast , you'll get loads of photos with different characters without the queues.

Original poster

FeckOffCup · 15/11/2012 22:07

Our meal plan includes one of the restaurants where you can go and have an evening meal with the characters so will see about booking in for that.

OP posts:

almondfinger · 15/11/2012 22:20

She's v young, so I would stay up in is it 'fantasy land' with it's a small world etc? Our 3 yr old loved pacey the train and the fairytale boat ride. Queues for princesses, hell. It's just depressing going to the various other spots when you cant go on any of the rides. Newport have characters come everymorning. if you want a pic with both, q with dd, get dh on back of q so she can skip for next characer, they usually have 2. We went at end of Aug so was bedlam, couldnt get near characters in park.
Go to the parades, the stars n' cars one in the Lot and the Disney parade are brilliant.
I'd take the swimming togs. We went for 2 days and 2 half days and were wrecked. I took the dd's to the pool one afternoon for some quiet time and they absolutely loved it and wanted to go back for more.
If you can, bring snacks with you, like dried fruit, real fruit, oatcakes, crackers etc. The food is woeful and seriously over priced.
The best we ate was at the cowboy cookout to meet Woody and Jessie. The food was decent and the amount of characters, donald, daisy, tigger, pluto, goofy, mr smee. The dd's were in their element.
Wouldnt do it again in a hurry, but it's all they talk about. When can we go back to Disney? I took them to the Disney shop at half term and they nearly wet them selves with excitement. DD 3, DD5.

Original poster

FeckOffCup · 15/11/2012 22:29

I'm not that fussed about rides, I'm the worlds biggest wuss so won't go on anything DD couldn't come on anyway . I don't mind waiting a while for the characters in the park, if we're not waiting in queues for many rides it will hopefully all even out, it's really the characters and general disney christmas atmosphere/parades and stuff we're going for.

OP posts:

Floralnomad · 15/11/2012 23:50

Take plenty of warm clothes , we've been in December loads of times and its truly freezing ! Even had snow a couple of times, which just adds to the atmosphere.

givemeaclue · 16/11/2012 16:06

Oh yes its not the adults who NGO queuing its the kids. But with yours being just two, you can time it with naps etc.

Lavenderhoney · 16/11/2012 16:15

There is a train round the edge you can get on and off of. Agree take lots of snacks, it's all chips and vvvvv overpriced. Stick to the smaller rides and the mery go round, plus the pirate bit for little ones- there are lots of shops too, so it can get pretty pricy.

Oh, and don't leave anything out in your room - the cleaners nicked some items from us and we got nowhere with our complaints. The safe wasn't big enough and clothes went missing when we were out.

cornycatona · 16/11/2012 16:18

lavender which hotel was that?

brighterfuture · 16/11/2012 16:21

Don't bother with the peter Pan ride, you'll que for 2 hours and it will be over in 5 mins. Stick to the ones with less of a waiting time.

givemeaclue · 16/11/2012 16:37

And use fast pass where possible

Lavenderhoney · 16/11/2012 16:54

Same as the op- Newport bay... We were(shock) at the price of dinner there too, we had one night we went out of the hotel as even lo have to pay a big price to eat, and it's a buffet and you know kids eat a handful of pasta and fall asleep:)

Breakfast- you will see hordes of people making up picnics for the day. Piles of bread rolls on their trays! You might be judgey til you get inside the park...

Don't do the snow white thing unless your dc are unshockable -my dd at 2 was insistent to get in there til she saw the scary witch and freaked. She still talks about it and not in a good way.

Floralnomad · 16/11/2012 18:00

I'm shocked at your experience with the hotel staff , we've stayed at hotel New York and Newport bay every year since the park opened and I have never had a problem with the hotels . Granted when we have stayed at the Newport Bay we've stayed on the admirals floor but I doubt that makes any difference. I've always left stuff lying about , perhaps you were just unlucky .

Fairylea · 16/11/2012 18:06

Newport bay hotel is lovely :) you'll have a great time... the little train at the back of the hotel to the park is great!

Definitely small world... and of course the castle is amazing for little ones. Fireworks and parades are fab :)

If you can, eat at Walt's and sit by the window on the upper floor, the food is lovely and you can get a really good view of the parades as they go past!

Lavenderhoney · 16/11/2012 18:45

Yes, the hotel is nice and the dcs loved the whole trip( apart from scary witch) don't want to put you off!

I suppose we were unlucky to have clothes stolen by the hotel cleaners. It's certainly not happened anywhere else we have stayed!

hermioneweasley · 16/11/2012 18:53

There are lots of shows in the studios park which she'll probably enjoy. Also buzz light year ride in discovery land and pirate play ground in adventure land and pochahontas play ground in frontier land. We went recently and cafe Mickey was awful-avoid.

twolittlemonkeys · 16/11/2012 18:57

You book a slot in which to see all the princesses now (we went in Oct half term) - much better than a 30-45 minute queue to see each of them that there used to be!

The queues for Dumbo ride were horrendous (min 45 mins) but the queues for flying carpet (which in essence is the same thing with different shaped cars) were always less than 5 minutes. Go to the Hollywood Studios and see the Playhouse Disney Live and Stitch Live shows - our two loved them.

I agree about food in the park - we took a picnic in with us

givemeaclue · 17/11/2012 07:36

That is good news about booking to see the princesses.

Floralnomad · 17/11/2012 12:09

I think you can have dinner with the princes and princesses in the restaurant in fantasyland . It's the Cinderella themed one just outside the castle , I don't know if its seasonal though as its never appealed to my DCs . I agree about cafe mickey ,its really gone downhill in the last few years but I think it's still ok for character breakfasts .

monkeysmama · 19/11/2012 10:21

We are going in two weeks. We were there at the same time a few years ago and yes, it was freezing. If you are looking at weather forecasts don't look for Paris but specifically for Disney as it is quite a lot colder.

newbiefrugalgal · 18/06/2013 18:19

Any suggestions on where to stay?
Booking a trip for sept 2013

twinkle1010 · 20/06/2013 20:15

We stayed in the Cheyenne- perfectly reasonable and the cheapest one. (Great shuttle bus to the park)
Fast pass rides as often as possible
definitely take snack and we took drinks in as well. (and on the really warm days we filled up water bottles with the water fountains.) Saved loads of money.
We also made sandwiches out of breakfast for lunch which was really quick and handy as the food places are really busy.
We booked tea at café mickey and got to meet all of the characters. We also queued to see a princess and got a ticket to return at a set time, well worth it.
Bought lovely personalised autograph books from ebay.
We booked wild west show (early show at 6.30pm) and the kids all loved it.
Definitely watch all the parades and the light show was lovely. (although very late at 11pm)
It was a fab holiday (and exhausting) we're planning on going back again next year.

Flip

1 2