Disneyland Paris - tips for a newbie

[cheshcat]

Travelling to Disneyland Paris in June for DS's 3rd birthday. Any tips for a newbie would be greatly appreciated! Apologies if this has been done to death

Book restaurants in advance
Read all the threads about disneyland Paris
Use fast pass and magic hours

Thanks heels

If you are going for more than 3 days, for GODS SAKE get annual passes, especially if staying off site or in a non Disney hotel.

We paid about £40 more (between 4 of us) and saved well over €200 once there, and had so many benefits (and we can go again for FREE any time in next 12 months)

As heels has said, FP and magic hours a must (you get that with annual pass whether staying "onsite" or not.

Get to Ratatouille as SOON AS YOU WALK IN and get a fast pass (they are gone by about 11).

Leave your "money head" at the door, and worry about it when you get back. We saw SO many people grumbling & muttering about prices, that you could see they were ruining their own time there (If you ARE on a budget, take baguettes etc in rucksacks, they dont mind as long as you dont take the proverbial)

Rent/take a pushchair. Little one will be shattered !

Go do the busier rides (without FP or that you missed) at Parade time (if you have seen it already!), as everyone else will be watching that.

But most importantly : ENJOY IT !!!!

We are going in half term - I have a few questions too for any kind person who has been recently

• if we need to book restaurants in advance, are there any you would recommend?
• how do we know we won't clash with the evening parade? I am guessing the parade will end at park closing time of 7pm?
• is one evening parade going to be enough. is it a case of seen one seen them all?

sorry for hijack...

Majestic - if you are going in May half term then the park will definitely not close at 7pm. We were there in May half term 2013 and the Disneyland Park was open until 11pm. The Studios close earlier. The park closing times depend on the season, we were there at Easter for example this year and the park closed then at 21.30. You will be able to find out closing times online for the week you are there.

The parade is the same every evening. I would advise trying to get a spot at the front for at least one evening as the character interaction is great but you need to be at the front for this. If you phone to book your restaurants then they will be able to tell you the parade time then.

Regarding restaurant choices it will depend on your children's ages and whether you want to meet characters at your table. Cafe Mickey and Inventions have character meals and Auberge for princess meal.

General tips I would say to have at least a rough plan of what you want to do each day. There is a lot to see and do and I should imagine it to be a frustrating experience if you miss stuff because you haven't planned well. The weekly programme for the week you will be there will be online just before you go which will have show and parade times.

Don't bother getting to see Dreams really early as people will come and stand right in front of you before it starts with their children on their shoulders.

Thank you guitargirl that is all very useful. I'm going to make a list of all our must do things and book the restaurants and then we should be in good shape.

Ooh, watching with interest. We are going in September, although just for 1 day on our way to the South of France.