Disneyland Paris advice please!

[NellWilsonsWhiteHair]

Two adults, one 4yo, doing 4 nights and 5 days over Easter. We're booked at Sequoia Lodge and so far I've only booked for B&B, no other meals.

Should I upgrade to full/half board before we travel? One adult and the child are veggie, if that makes any difference. How much cash should I take? Is buggy hire worth it? Is there anything else I should know/you'd recommend...

On the one hand, money is certainly not limitless. Otoh, it's not like we'll be popping back again in the next 3/4 years so I don't want to regret saving pennies now, if that makes sense.

TIA.

I'd book meals now. You can always cancel at city hall if you change your mind. The parks will be busy at Easter.

As an example we wanted a second dinner at Inventions in February as we love it. Couldn't get a table booked as it was half term. So if you want to sit and have a family meal rather than say macdonalds or earl of sandwich you need to get some bookings made.

You can decide on a buggy when you are there. Will depend on age of child

Take lots of snacks. Something to do when waiting in line.

We don't go with an unlimited budget but similarly if we want something we get it - within reason. It's hard not to spend on the shops! Our most recent trip we checked in at the airport with 15 kilos. Case was 20 on our return!

If you can get a fairfx currency card. Saves using and having fees on your credit or debit card.

If you have a child that likes to dress up take dress up from home as shops re expensive.

Get a map and parade guide when you get there and do a bit of planning we don't plan too much but always good to get your main rides done and not stress about them.

Thanks - this is really helpful. Do all restaurants need advance booking? Am looking at the hotel buffet service restaurant, for example - do I still need to book a table for that at dinner time?

I think I'm tempted to go for half board and just sandwiches etc for lunch. Will I regret that?

Is getting to the park before 10am (the 'magic hours' thing) really worth it? Being up and out by 8am is never a problem for me and 4yo DS, but DSis may be less enthusiastic so would be good for us to know how much of a difference it really makes in terms of queues, busy-ness etc.

Yes hotel buffets take bookings- we've always booked and seen people have a long wait at opening time if not booked.

Only the smaller 'fast food' places and Annette's Diner don't do bookings (the other non Disney restaurants in the Village can be booked in person- I'd advise for Rainforest Cafe if you want to go there at all)

If it's school holidays I'd probably do extra magic hours to do the busier rides that open for it (only certain ones) for maybe the first day or two and see how you go, DS might have been on those rides enough by then.

On a day of not doing extra magic hours is advise getting to Studios early to get on/get a fast pass for Ratatouille (it may have calmed a bit now but when I went it was super busy to go on).

We stayed in Sequoia Lodge this time last year. We booked breakfast and dinner in the hotel and got a voucher for a snack each day.

The breakfast and dinner are buffet style and there is a lot of choice. We had no vegetarians with us so I am not sure what those choices were but there were salads, lots of bread & cheese, side dishes etc and I am sure there were veggie main courses too.

The drawbacks to this is that you have to choose a sitting and you are tied to that. We decided to be lazy and went for a late-ish breakfast time which meant we missed out on the magic hours in the morning but it wasn't crazily busy so it didn't seem to matter.

It is a short walk from the hotel to the park by the lake so no need to get the bus there. You pass through the Disney village where there is McDonalds, Rainforest Cafe and other restuarants and shops.

There are places to eat in the park too.

The voucher we got provided us a donut and drink in the afternoon so if you had a large breakfast and took some snacks you could get by without lunch if you wanted to save money.

We hired a pushchair one of the days as dd2 who was 5 was tired. It was so handy to load it up with all our stuff and older dd even jumped in for a spin.

Also if DS gets super tired on the first day (last time we went my normal buggy refuser 3yr old decided he wouldn't walk anymore after 1 morning ) it's easy to hop on the bus to the nearby shopping centre in Val D'europe and buy a cheap umbrella stroller in Auchan- we did this and paid less than the cost of one day Disney stroller hire and used it the rest of the holiday.

Id recommend doing magic hours to meet some characters before it gets really busy. They used to do character meet and greets in hotels but these are now during magic hours.

We met goofy, donald, mickey & Minnie together, chip and dale, pluto without too much queuing.

Definitely book meals. We did one night in hunters grill (buffet in sequoia lodge) one night planet Hollywood, one night blue lagoon and then upgraded our vouchers for inventions (best experience as characters come round while you're eating ) we had half board and found we ate a big breakfast then snacked during the day and ate around six. You get a daily voucher for a drink and ice cream /doughnut which is redeemable in selected places in the park (these are printed on them)

Check out TripAdvisor forum as there is loads of helpful people and www.dlpguide.com for menus/ride advice etc

Have fun, we went last easter with our 3.5yo dd and had a ball! Bring your 4yo some fancy dress outfits if they are into disney, it gets them attention from the cast members. Eg Alice spoke to dd during a parade as did elsa (dd nearly exploded with excitement! )

Great - this is so useful, thanks. So definitely going to book half board now - will actually book restaurants tomorrow. Seriously tempted now to see if we can get one meal at Inventions too. And magic hours does sound worth making the effort for.

I am far more excited than is reasonable for any adult.

The inventions meal cost us about an extra €90 on top of our half board vouchers (but €35 of that was the wine!)

It was definitely worth it we met 8 characters over a two hour period and my dd who had been quite shy was up dancing with mickey by the end. She still talks about it.

As your dc is still quite young you'll probably manage to avoid shopping too much! We let dd spend her money on the last day rather than constantly in and out of all the shops (most have the same stuff anyways! )

If you and DH like the big roller coaster rides make use of single rider queues (normally much shorter as you're filling up seats on rides) & make use of baby switch cards. Ask staff at the entrance of a ride for a baby switch card and then one person queues, goes on and the second person can skip the queue when the first person gets off and gives them the card.

Also OP if you still have a stroller or buggy I'd bring it. You can hire them but they don't lay flat and even though our DD didnt sleep in the day she did appreciate being able to rest.

The hire last year was €15 per day plus a refundable deposit of €70 if you wanted to take them out of the park.

We brought our own along with a cheap bicycle lock from poundland as there are reports of people just walking off with them while you're on a ride.

Thanks again all! Am all booked for restaurants now - including one evening at Inventions. I don't still have a buggy but have actually bought a cheap stroller (£30) to take and leave there. Seems positively bargainous compared to most aspects of this trip cheaper than hiring one every day, and far more sensible than setting myself up for arguing and whining about not wanting to walk home every evening. And I have a bike lock I can take. And an Elsa dress...

I don't think you'll need the bike lock. I've taken my maclaren twice and no one stole it! Just make sure you park it sensibly.

As for vegetarian food - the buffets are best - particularly the one in the centre of the park. The pizza place near the Indiana Jones ride was quite good.

If she likes a particular character (eg Pluto) - waving a cuddly toy at them gets you a lot of attention!! Cafe mickey is good too