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Original poster

First time to Disneyland Paris......HELP...

23 replies

kajclk · 15/08/2014 08:07

Hi, my husband and I have booked a trip to Disneyland for this September with our two daughters aged 3 & 7. We have booked the Disneyland Hotel and have half board vouchers. We've been told that the food is very expensive even with our vouchers. We want to make this a trip of a lifetime for our girls and will be taking €2000 with us. Will this be enough for food and merchandise.....any help or advice on places to eat and things to do will be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your help.x

OP posts:

Ohanarama · 15/08/2014 08:14

Yes it is expensive but we've been a few times and never spent anything near that amount! Enjoy!

PickledMoomin · 15/08/2014 08:15

How long are you going for? If you have half board vouchers then you'll only need to pay for one meal a day. This won't cost you much.

You can make it as cheap/expensive as you like.
Definitely have a meal in the New York Hotel piano bar restaurant with your vouchers rather than wasting them on fast food!

NormHonal · 15/08/2014 08:16

Staying at the Disneyland Hotel gives you a few advantages:

Location. You can fall out the back door of the hotel and into the park. This makes nipping back in the afternoon for downtime/a swim/naps much easier.
Early opening. Assuming they still do this, you should be able to get into the park an hour earlier than everyone else. Make sure you do this every day. Only a small number of rides will be open, like Dumbo, the carousel, Buzz Lightyear, but it means you can get the extremely popular Dumbo ride done before the massive queues build up.
Characters at breakfast for no extra charge. When we stayed a few years ago, there were one or two characters available for meet-and-greets just outside of the breakfast restaurants, with minimal queues.
Evenings and Late nights. A lot of people leave after the evening parade, but because our hotel was so close, we kept going until the DCs were ready to go to bed. Our 4yo managed to stay up for the late fireworks, so we took it in turns to take her whilst our DC2 slept. Being next to the park meant that getting home after the fireworks was a breeze.

IMVHO €2000 sounds plenty, depending on your length of stay?

Snapespotions · 15/08/2014 08:18

we took sandwich bags and made lunch from the breakfast buffet. There were bread rolls, cold meats and cheese, fruits, yoghurts, pastries

We did the same.

We went for four nights/five days and didn't spend anything like that amount OP! However, we took lots of snacks and cartons of drink with us, so didn't need to buy much in the park.

Ohanarama · 15/08/2014 08:18

Oh and the Wild West show at the Disney village is lots of fun and a unique experience if that's your thing, and is nice to take a peek in the other hotels if you get a chance.

Original poster

kajclk · 15/08/2014 08:26

We will be staying for 5 nights..... we were speaking with our travel agent who mentioned that when she went with her family it cost her no less than â?¬100 each time they had either lunch or dinner...I'm just a bit of a worrier.

OP posts:

Pleasenomorepeppa · 15/08/2014 08:40

We normally stay at The Disneyland Hotel. It's fantastic!
At 4 they have a little character show in the lobby.
I would recommend booking The Auberge De Cendrillon for lunch if your daughters like Princesses. The queues to see them are huge & you don't know what Princess is at the end. In the Auberge you're guaranteed at least 3. It's expensive but worth it. My oldest DD has loved it since she was 2.5!
If the DC dress up as a character from Peter Pan you get an immediate fast pass on the Peter Pan ride. It's always heaving. DD1 loves Tinkerbell & takes her costume with her! Dress as a Pirate & the same applies to The Pirates of The Caribbean ride.
Try to take advantage of your extra magic hours.
The breakfasts in The Disneyland hotel are great. We take pastries with us for snacks!
As you can probably tell we go regularly!!
Feel free to ask questions!

Original poster

kajclk · 15/08/2014 10:24

Thank you to everyone for your advice. I would just like to make this such a magical trip for our girls. I've seen on other sites people saying that buffet style eating is the best option. was wondering if anyone could shed some light on this. X

OP posts:

Gilbertblythesmissus · 15/08/2014 10:37

Can I just point out that if you get caught taking extra food to package up at breakfast to make into a picnic you will get into trouble? Have seen it happen to a family before and was excruciating to watch.

If you don't mind junk food the Pinnochio themed eaterie in fantasy land is the cheapest place to eat as is mcdonalds by the Disney store. Although is a shame to travel all that way and eat McD.

If you leave the main park and head up towards the second park & Disney store you will see a small newsagents/ convenience store by the bus station/ railway station. We used that for cheap sandwiches, fresh fruit and bottled water. Much cheaper.

Have a fabulous time.

RiverTam · 15/08/2014 10:43

can I do a quick hijack and ask a question? We are thinking of taking DD (aged 4.5) soon as she loves her princesses - but she doesn't like fairground rides much at all, even things like the teacups, though she's OK if we go on with her. Would that work/be worth it? All she really wants to do is go to France and see Belle .

Heels99 · 15/08/2014 10:48

Disneyland hotel is good and inventions restaurant there is the only decent one in Disneyland Paris in my opinion and characters come round throughout the meal so don't bother booking other characte meals. You are taking plenty of money you won't spend all that unless you go mad in the shops.

Don't cheapen yourselves by stealing food of the breakfast buffet you certainly don't need to with your budget and I have only seen one family doing that Diseyland hotel it is not common there.

Heels99 · 15/08/2014 10:50

Rivertam you can see belle in the parade and she may be in the meet princess pavilion or the princess lunch but can't be guaranteed.

Heels99 · 15/08/2014 10:55

Rivertam you can see belle in the parade and she may be in the meet princess pavilion or the princess lunch but can't be guaranteed.

Heels99 · 15/08/2014 10:56

Op,inventions restaurant at Disneyland hotel is a buffet inc fresh seafood, steak, loads of kids options and plenty of characters and fun for the kids. Best food at dlp

PickledMoomin · 16/08/2014 07:05

Don't cheapen yourself by stealing from the buffet....
And seeing a family get caught and ridiculed....

We've been twice a year since DD was born and I've never seen this happen. Nearly everyone around you will be doing the same thing to ensure their child isn't fed absolute junk for their entire stay.

Lots of people have a walking breakfast to make it to the 8am magic hours. Hope they're not cheapening themselves/getting told off too

Fairylea · 16/08/2014 07:11

I stayed at Newport bay in an upgraded room and saw nearly everyone taking food for lunch at breakfast so you definitely won't be the only one! :)

You definitely have enough spending money.

Make sure you eat at walts restaurant in the main street. If you sit upstairs you can see the parade as you eat if you go at the right time.

Have a great time !

Heels99 · 16/08/2014 09:01

At the Disneyland hotel lots of people go straight to the park for the magic hours and then come back for a nice leisurely breakfast before heading back I to the park. As the hotel is literally at the entrance to the park this is really easy to do. Breakfast at Newport bay is dire it's a scrum for not very nice food. Disneyland hotel is completely different.

Floralnomad · 16/08/2014 09:08

I've been doing Disney Paris since it opened ,I have spent hundreds of days there and I have personally never seen anybody taking food from the breakfast buffet to use for lunch ,perhaps it's only something that happens in the cheaper hotels . Your budget sounds plenty and I agree with putting aside £120 for a ' proper ' meal and about £60/70 for somewhere like Caseys Corner or the Hyperion cafe for 'junk' food. My dd says the chicken nuggets at Caseys are the best in Europe ( but it's the only time she eats them) .

PickledMoomin · 16/08/2014 09:52

Oh, the stereotypes!

People only take things from the buffet breakfast if they're staying in the cheap hotels!

Floralnomad · 16/08/2014 10:06

Not at all its just that I've never stayed in the cheaper ones and having spent hundreds of days there you would imagine that you would have noticed this practice going on . TBH even the cheap hotels are not cheap at Disney and I said cheaper not cheap.

Pleasenomorepeppa · 16/08/2014 10:07

We always grab fruit & croissants from The Disneyland hotel. Especially if we're running late. Plenty of people walk out eating a croissant. I also fill DDs water bottle up & use milk from breakfast for the babies bottle. I don't take a giant Tupperware pot & fill it with bacon .

306235388 · 16/08/2014 10:41

You should be told a list of restaurants which are covered by your half board vouchers.

You've more than enough money. We give the kids £150 to spend over 5 days and that's plenty. Also obviously food etc too.

My kids are the same Age as yours and when we were there in June they had a ball.

CaisleanDraiochta · 17/08/2014 13:28

Don't really want to get into the taking things from breakfast debate, but walking out while still munching on a croissant or piece of fruit is fine- making up sandwiches and filling your lunch box is a bit IMO.

OP are the half board vouchers you have Premium level? these are usually the ones offered to Disneyland hotel guests and will fully cover any meal you have at any of the Disney restaurants (except brunch in Inventions on Sunday only) with only the cost of drinks to pay on top. however as you will have paid extra to have Premuim vouchers it would make sense to only use them at the most expensive restaurants, otherwise you will effectively be paying €60 odd for a meal from a €35 menu.

These restaurants are Inventions at DL hotel- already mentioned here, fab meal, extensive buffet and characters visit your table; Auberge de Cendrillion in Fantasyland-this is the meal with the Princesses, traditional French cuisine; Buffalo Bill's wild west show in Disney Village- dinner is served while you watch this spectacular show. California Grill, also at Disneyland hotel, would be covered by your vouchers too but this is a proper posh restaurant (only place at DLP with a dress code) so possibly wouldn't be suitable for you little ones, tbh I'd just do Inventions again instead!

As well as your meal vouchers you will also get a ticket that can be exchanged for a tea time treat (3-7pm) at many places in the parks. I find with a big breakfast and dinner, all we need are a few snacks in between and never stop for lunch. At the most I would maybe grab a sandwich or take my own when self-catering, but you could choose to get a quick counter service meal which usually cost around €10-15 per person for a burger/cips/drink type meal. Depending on when you are going in September, not everywhere will be open for this though as it is low season.

Finally i would make reservations before you go for any places that you definitely want to eat at, to be guaranteed a table and avoid long waits. Even during low season restaurants get busy (especially the character meals) as a lot of people want to eat at the same time, particularly after the parade and before the Dreams show in the evening. I'm going in September too and have already booked all my meals.

P.s €2000 is plenty to take- that is more than my whole trip is costing me!

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