Disney Paris - Going next week. My mum has just died so no time to plan. Tips please!!!

[roberta3]

I've posted on other threads about it but after a long illness my mum died on 21 Feb. A few weeks earlier she insisted that our family book a holiday because she felt she was disrupting our lives. We insisted that we loved her and wanted to care for her but agreed rather than a proper holiday we'd go away for a few days because we didn't want to be away from her for too long. We hoped the kids would be able to come back and tell her about their trip to Disney.

Anyway, it was not to be as she died two weeks ago. The kids have had a really disrupted year and we want them to have a fab time and us to have lots of 'quality time' together after the loss of their Grandma.

We've booked 3 nights at the Newport Bay. The children are aged 8, 6 and 2. I've done absolutely no research as I haven't had time and now the holiday is nearly here.

Any tips appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks. Thought you weren't allowed to take food in. Do the kids have to sneak a packet of raisins in while Mickey not looking?!

Bump

If you want a little breater from the park, but don't want to go back as far as your hotel, you can use the Bar in the Disneyland hotel (the pink one by the entrance to the park) Go in through the main entrance, and up the huge sweeping staircase, turn right at the top of the stairs and then go left.

There is a rather nice bar, just past the shop. Not cheap, but is quiet in the day, and you can chill out over a civilied glass of wine, the kids can have a milk shake, and once rested you can go back into the park.

A great place for lunch is the Lucky Nugget Saloon. it is 15 E for the kids and 30 E for adults for an all you can eat buffet......good quality food. A band plays to entertain you. And the characters come round and will sign autographs etc.
Again you can chill out, rest your feet and then go back to the park.

Make sure you hit a few rides like the Haunted mansion and Its a small world....queues look big on these but tend to move fast.

Get and use fast pases.

Don't forget the 'walk through' attractions like the Swiss family Robinson and the submarine, these are good fun, and don't have long queues.

Take warm clothes, hats, gloves, tights/longjohns.
Pool at NB is nice, you can hire towels.
Characters visit the hotel lobby every morning, get your photos taken there and save queuing in the parks.
If you upgrade to an Admirals Floor room you can order room service breakfast for a small extra charge (about £4 a day IIRC). Saves queuing in the restaurant, you can make up rolls for lunch and get fresh milk for your 2yo.Free pool towels and tea/coffee kit too.
Book dinner restaurants.
Find out about the baby swap facility where you all queue together, one adult rides whilst the other holds the baby, then swapover.
masses of inside info here

Make sure you have lots of stuff to keep the kids amused on the eurostar. It's 3 hours and we forgot to pack the nintendo ds charger.
Agree with the thermals and taking snacks. We also took a travel kettle, milk, tea and sugar.
Have a fab time

Thanks SO much everyone. I'm starting to get v excited. Not going to tell the kids till the last minute - can't wait to see their faces!!!

We stocked up on extra food from the breakfast bar!!

Anyone know if it's possible to book taxis in advance from CDG to Disney? Have been told the shuttle bus will not be running by the time we arrive.

Yes, I booked one online when we went last year. Excellent service - will just go and look up the name of it!

You can get a direct train from CDG to Disney. It will take about 30 minutes or so if I recall. We got a taxi from the airport and it was 70 euros so on the way back we got the train because we had worked out where everything was by that point!

If it rains, The play area inside Pizza Planet (Toy Story themed reastaurant) is good although the pizzas are like cardboard!! Agree with Buzz Lightyear ride fast pass. We went and got our passes for that first each day. It was a fab ride and my 6 year old loved it.

If you take the train from disney 1 stop you will come to Val d'Europe which has a great shopping centre and supermarket so it's eaasy to stock up on snacks once you're there.

You will have a fab time - we didn't tell my son we were going till we got there. We had been in Paris for a week. His face was magical and he couldn't believe his luck. We have loads of special memories of that trip.

We used rstransports here . Met us at CDG, carried our luggage and we had lovely large 9 seater to ourselves! He even waited at our hotel for 20 minutes on the return journey when we had missed a hopper bus back from the park . So yes, recommended!

Thank you so much Polgara2 but there's nothing on the link! Could it be BS transport? Had just googled for taxi info and that's one of the firms mentioned.

I am getting ridicuously excited.

May brave the train for the return journey to airport but think we'll just want to get the kids to bed as quickly as possible ready to start the adventure as early as possible the next day!

Hmmm very curious roberta3 - it IS BS Transport but it was RS Transport when we used them!!! And I do have emails to prove I'm not going mad honest!!!!

Oh forgot to say I second going to look at the disboards.com - excellent information but you do have to sift through a lot of waffle as well!!

I've started packing and we don't go until Saturday. Usually I throw everything in the case the night before!

Finished sorting out my mum's sheltered accommodation yesterday and handed the keys back. I feel as though I'm starting a new stage of my life. Since my children were born I've also had parent/s to care about too. We never planned anything without thinking how it would impact on them and whether they'd have a day without visitors, etc.

This is the first time I'm going away without being scared I'll get a phone call about my mum and having to rush back. The last two trips we've had away (both just for a few days - didn't dare risk 'big' holidays) I've spent half the journey in tears worrying about leaving my mum.

It's sort of liberating but sad too.

Anyway, I'm hoping this trip will be fab and the start of my new life...

Roberta, what a lovely post. I hope you have a fantastic trip

Hope you ahve a lovely time. We've been to the NBH twice now with our 2. It's lovely and the pool is nice. I agree with the snacks and drinks advise - take your own! There is a garage outside the santa fe where you can buy snacks etc cheaper than the hotels.
We ate dinner one night at cafe Mickey which was fantastic - really interactive with all the characters but not cheap! Work out what parades etc you want to do on what night as we found it hard to fit in a meal at a suitable time for little people while not missing 4pm, 5pm and 6pm parades!! Just dd them all on separate nights and ate around 5-6pm when the restaurants were still quiet. Little ones liked the ranaforest cafe but it wasn't as good as the first time we went. they loevd the animals though!

If you want to see loads fo characters without the queues go to Disney Studios - a lot quieter and the characters mill about a bit more.
Hope you all have a lovely time and hope it helps you get over your loss.

Thank you everyone for all your tips. Had a fab time. Hardly any queues and the kids loved it. Weather was awful on the Sunday and we did have to convince ourselves that we were having a nice time! The weather improved and we fitted loads in. Park opened 9pm - 11pm for Disney guests on Sunday and the kids got straight on the big rides, ran off at the end and back to the beginning. On Pirates of Carribean staff just let us stay on as many goes as we wanted.

Kids met loads of the characters and we just had fun after such a stressful year. Thanks for the tips to make it even better.

Hi Roberta, We were at DLP over the weekend too. I was surprised at the lack of long queues, except the Dumbo one which we lined up for 90mins grr!!

What hotel will you be at? If it one outside the park the busses are great getting to and from the park.
Take snacks and drinks, get a map work out the rides you really want to do.
Buffalo bills in the Disney village is a fantastic place to eat child friendly and very good value.
You will get pushed and shoved at the parades.
Also make sure your kids have a sticker with your mobile phone number on stuck inside their coats if they are old enough to wander as some bits can be crowed.
Take loads of photos and have a great time.

So sorry for your loss, incredibly sad for you all. I'm sure Grandma will be looking down on you all, watching and taking care of you all - sharing the experience.

We went to Disney in December for the first time and it was magical. We are going back again this year in November I think.
Tips ...

• Take lots of warm clothes, layers are best
• My dd (who is nearly 3) wore ski salopettes and a ski jacket, they were a godsend !
• Also bought a toddler rucksack with reins and a handle for dd to wear so that we could hang onto her for safety but she had enough independence to be happy - it gets very crowded so sometimes difficult manouvre through all the legs. Have a look at www.urchin.co.uk and search for toddler daysack £12.99
• Snacks, snacks and snacks .. can't reiterate this enough
• Disney Studios is the best place to get up close to some of the characters

Have a wonderful time, it is truly amazing !

The Val d'Europe shopping centre is a short drive away or 1 stop on the train (approx 2.5 Euro return ticket) - it has a food court at the end, much cheaper meals than Disney. Go there when you're done in the park (does the park still close at 5 or 6 this time of year?) - it's open late, the pizza/pasta place (Angelos? can't remember name) was v good value, as was the Chinese.