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Original poster

A quick question about Disneyland Paris

24 replies

Lindy2 · 14/01/2017 09:04

We're looking at going to Disneyland Paris at Easter. I was just wondering what people who have been think of the food packages and if they are worth it. The adult prices look ok but the children 's prices seem quite a lot, especially as my kids aren't particularly big eaters. I have an 8 year old and 6 year old. It would be £11 each for them to have breakfast but I know they'll end up just eating a bowl of cereal or something similar. Would we do better to just pay as we go or is that even more expensive?

Also does anyone know about excursions to Paris? Through Disney a hop on hop off bus tour from the park costs about £180 for 4 of us. Are there any other non Disney bus tours running near the park or us that the only option? I know the park is quite a way out from Paris.

Thank you!

OP posts:

Kirriemuir · 14/01/2017 19:35

Getting the train into Paris is really very easy from the park. Station is right st the park gates and it takes About an hour. You can then look at the bus tour in the city?

Don't know about food as we always buy as we go.

OutDamnedWind · 14/01/2017 19:38

Food in the park is generally expensive, and the exchange rate is quite poor at the moment. It's worth seeing if you can find prices for on-the-go food in the park and comparing that.

CotswoldStrife · 14/01/2017 19:45

Train from the station right by the park, you can look up Chessy-Marne-la-Vallee

Food - we always pre-pay and use the buffet restaurants (due to picky eaters!) and we like the Plaza Gardens in the park itself. There are 'fast food' type places inside the park and outside in the village (McDonalds).

The train station also has a shop that sells a bit of food cheaper than inside the park and depending on where you are staying there is either the big shopping centre or a garage with a shop (allegedly!).

You can check the prices of food/menus on some of the blogs about DLP.

Isadora2007 · 14/01/2017 19:46

We used to take food from breakfast for lunch but a friend said they were getting strict about that nowadays.

Don't pay that for Paris. The train station is right there and you can get into the centre of Paris for probably less than. £30 (it was around £20 ten years ago)

rhuhbarb4 · 14/01/2017 19:48

Food in the park is expensive it i would recommend paying for a meal plan from march breakfast is not included inclided in a standard package (only if you stay in club rooms or a suite). If you pay for a meal plan then breakfast will be included. It depends on what type of food you like to eat i would recommend either half board plus or half board premium this includes breakfast and 1 meal per day. Premium meal plan means that all the character meals are included means you dont have to pay over the top for the meals and you get 1-1 interaction with the characters premium covers most of the restaurants in the parks and disney village. Plus just covers a few of the restaurants however you can use your voucher for face value and pay extra in the restaurants it doesnt cover. I have been many times (we go every year) so if you have any questions i will trt my best to answer them.

HeCantBeSerious · 14/01/2017 19:52

Been 3 times and never done a meal plan. A) I got a discount with an annual pass and B) some nights we just want a snack rather than a 3 course meal.

HeCantBeSerious · 14/01/2017 19:53

Premium meal plan means that all the character meals are included means you dont have to pay over the top for the meals and you get 1-1 interaction

You're not getting a discount on the meal prices! You've just given them the money weeks/months before eating!

TooStressyForMyOwnGood · 14/01/2017 19:57

Hi OP. With meal plans it does seem to be personal preference, we had the half board one and found it very good. Re. tour of Paris, we went on a Disney organised coach one and it was terrible plus the journey back took 3 hours - fun with a 3 year old. There was loads of waiting around too. Although we were unlucky in that there were roads closed that day if we did it again we would definitely just get the train in and do it ourselves. There is a Disneyland Paris for Brits Facebook page which is really good - there is a quite a positive spin on everything on there though.

lalaloopyhead · 14/01/2017 20:02

We had the 'free' meal plan when we went last year. Worked out about £50 a day more than without (family of 5) and that was definitely worth it. Self catering breakfast was shed loads of stuff that kept us going until lunchtime, tea time snack was good (3-6pm) but took planning to fit in and we enjoyed all our meals. Saying that i wouldn't in a million years pay the 'on the door' price for any of the eateries, and I'm not sure I'd pay the meal plan price either. The first time we went we picnic-ed or left the park. (plenty of time to do that and go back to park later), if u are planning on eating in the park or Disney village probably better value to get meal plan.

CotswoldStrife · 14/01/2017 20:11

oh, we only get the evening meal food package (we stay at the Crockett ranch which is self-catering and there is so much baguette for breakfast we make sandwiches for lunch with it!) if you get full board I think that would be too much food and you'll spend your time in the restaurants!

TooStressyForMyOwnGood · 14/01/2017 20:16

Also it depends if you are interested in eating with the characters or not, but if you are it is worth booking in advance and deciding if you want to / can spend extra money dining with the prince and princesses. We've only been once, didn't know to book in advance and didn't dine with any characters at all.

rooted · 14/01/2017 20:26

We are just back and I would say that the food really let the holiday down for us. Breakfast was fine, cereals and pastries, no hot options but I believe if you stay in the top rooms - club, or golden forest that you get hot options for breakfast. We prebooked our meals as we were worried about getting into places and i am glad we did that as it was mobbed. We were a party of 8, 4 kids and 4 adults and found it really pricy within the parks for even a nuggets type lunch it was the guts of 80 euros for us all and that wasn't even a meal each as the kids shared. At night we ate in the hunters grill - was fine lots of choice, cafe mickey - nice enough but not amazing and silver spur - steak house - found meat really tough and not that great. We did have meal plan but still had to pay for drinks etc. Our last night (hogmanay) we cancelled our reservation and just got sandwiches from the earl of sandwich to eat as we were fed up with the food! If you have any allergies in your group it is a bit of a mare. my youngest has an egg allergy and all the pasta seemed to be made from eggs!! There was a really limited choice of what she could have.

ijustwannadance · 14/01/2017 20:33

Train station is by park entrance but for a family of 4 in can actually be cheaper using private hire taxis. Get a return. You can even book in advance from the uk. Coaches take too long and are expensive.

HeCantBeSerious · 14/01/2017 20:47

If you have any allergies in your group it is a bit of a mare.

They do allergen free meals but they're pretty awful. (They exclude all allergens and are basically ready meals.)

We enjoy the food a lot more than we did first time round. We eat at buffets mostly as it suits our party (14 and a mixture of adults/kids/gluten free/veggie) but love the food at the princess meal and the Wild West show.

CotswoldStrife · 14/01/2017 21:18

We've never done the character dining at all, or any of the more 'upmarket' restaurants with a menu - just the buffet-style dining.

The character meals are very expensive if you don't get the dining plan that includes them (or you can pay to upgrade I think with the meal plan that doesn't include the character dining).

HeCantBeSerious · 14/01/2017 21:56

I don't think you save anything if you buy a meal plan that includes character dining.

HeCantBeSerious · 14/01/2017 21:58

One suggestion i saw (pre Brexit) was to load what you would spend on a meal plan onto a currency card and use it to buy food. If you don't use it all, because you don't always fancy a big meal or whatever, you have extra spends for the shops. :)

Have seen so many posts on the DLP Facebook page where people are offering meal plan vouchers because they haven't used them all. It's money down the drain.

HandbagCrab · 14/01/2017 22:09

I've not bought meal plans so can't comment on those but it's so much cheaper to buy stuff here and just take it with you - flying or driving. We take French pastries and brioche for breakfast in room, take loads of cartons, bottles, sweets, cereal bars etc into park for snacks. The food isn't great and I don't know I'd pay €80 a head to meet princesses if I don't know the food is going to be amazing. The BBQ chicken place is nice enough in the main park. There's a sandwich shop and a McDonald's in Disney village to eat more reasonably too. The planet Hollywood is very average and Annette's diner is alright. Hope you have a great time, save your money for a lovely meal when you get back :)

HeCantBeSerious · 14/01/2017 22:12

We hated Annette's and we don't go to McDonald's here, so I'm certainly not going at DLP!

We scrapped having the hotel breakfast after the first trip. Utterly pointless. We go to Starbucks.

HeCantBeSerious · 14/01/2017 22:13

And the food at the princess meal is worth every penny. And I'm a fussy veggie!

Original poster

Lindy2 · 14/01/2017 22:19

Thanks everyone, We've booked the holiday today and have decided to just pay as we go.
We're not fussed about character dining and I really don't think the kids will eat enough to make it worthwhile. We might end up eating a lot of McDonalds though and I might smuggle a load of snacks into our luggage as a back up. I'll definitely check out the Facebook page and see if I can buy some unwanted vouchers for some of the meals. That sounds like a good idea.

OP posts:

pimmsy · 14/01/2017 22:21

45 Euros will get you returns tickets into the centre of Paris on the RER A train.

(4 adult singles at 7.60, 4 half priced childrens tickets "demi-tarif" at 3.80)

Fastest and easiest way imo takes about 45 minutes right into the centre of Paris.

Trains run about every 15 minutes ( 30 minutes late in the evening) from 5 in the morning till midnight.

2ducks2ducklings · 14/01/2017 22:21

We found the meal plan great value when we went. It came with a 'pause gourmand' each afternoon which is a hot or cold drink and an ice cream or doughnut. I don't know if that's still included, but it meant we'd fill up on breakfast, eat our little snack at about 3 then have our main meal from the plan in one of the restaurants.
We paid the extra for inventions in the disneyland hotel and buffalo bills show and it still worked out cheaper than if we'd paid for all our meals at the time.
We're going Easter again (for the 25th anniversary) and although, prices have gone up and my daughter has now crossed over to the adult prices we think it'll still work out to be cost effective for us.
You have to go to bistro Remy in the studios. The theming is worth it in its own but the food was also lovely.

CotswoldStrife · 15/01/2017 11:30

The McDonalds is OK, if you order from the screens you can select English as well. The McD's has a slightly separate bit for the McCafe (it's just a different counter than the main one) but I can recommend the Macarons that they sell there! Order the food on the screen and the main desk will just send you to the McCafe counter to pick them up!

Are they still doing the Pause Gourmand vouchers? We had them last time, the magnum ice cream all contained nuts - a plain one would have been nice. I think we got a fruit salad from the fast food place in the Studios which was lovely.

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