Disneyland Paris- tips and deals

[wearenearlythere1]

My school is closed on the 17th and 18th March. Planning a cheeky trip to Disneyland Paris, leaving on the evening of the 16th so we will be fresh for 3 days in the park (Thursday, Friday, Saturday).

Any tips for me? Kids 6 and 4.

Food is very expensive.
Have a big breakfast and take lots of snacks.

Plan the big rides you want to do for the day, and either get in the queue first thing or get fast passes. Take refillable bottles, there are fountains all over the parks. If DC's like the idea of dressing up, buy stuff at home and take it rather than buy in parks.
If you're getting fast food lunches, try McDonald's or vapianos (amazing fresh pasta dishes cooked while you watch) rather than in the parks.

Stay onsite to make the most of the extra magic hours. With only 3 days you will really need them, you will get most of the main rides done in this time.

Have a plan. With your age children day one I would tackle fantasyland in the extra magic hours (peter pan, Dumbos and then everything else as it opens up), day two fantasyland and frontierland (space mountain if the kids are adventurous, buzz, star tours, big thunder mountain), and if you are lucky enough to get extra magic hours in the studios on day three head there (Ratatouille, crush, tower of terror). Otherwise repeat anything of special interest in the main park and transfer to the studios just before opening. If you decide to stay an extra night, seperate out frontier land and discovery land. If you have decided thrill seekers switch around to big thunder mountain day one followed by fantasyland, and space mountain day two.

We used to use breakfast to do 2 Hope's and a wish. Everyone (including adults) picked one thing that it would be an extraordinary day if they did, one thing it would be an awesome day if you did, and one thing it would still be a pretty good day if you didnt get to do either of the first two things. It was a way of balancing everyones needs, getting an idea of what everyone was really excited about and dealing with unexpected disappointments (like a breakdown). If you're heading to a specific land get a map out and limit
it to that land. It then formed the basis for discussion in the evening.

If you are eating at sit downs or buffets you need to book a time slot. Buffets are actually normally the quickest meals on the park (quicker than counter service).

No the restaurants arent cheap, but many of them are incredible and both the kids and I have fantastic memories from places like Captain Jack's, Ratatouille and agrabah which are properly incredibly themed. I was amazed to find out DD remembered the inside of Colonel Hathis she hasnt been there in over ten years!

Cafe Mickey, inventions and The princess dining will give you an incredible number of character meets for the time they take up. Personally I love the food in Cafe Mickey. I'm not so keen on inventions for the cost, the food is virtually the same as the hotel buffets and plaza gardens and I found characters arriving and getting up and down for the buffet somewhat indigestion inducing. Characters return to cafe mickey and princesses to Cinderellas restaurant in October. We havent heard about inventions.

Dont miss stitch live in the studios park. Awesome little attraction.

Theres some key disney movies worth catching before you go. Peter Pan, classic cartoons with Mickey Mouse and chip and dale, Alice in wonderland, toy story, Lilo and Stitch, Ratatouille, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and any star wars and Pirates of the Caribbean if your kids are up for it. We used to do a disney movie evening once a week

If you want burgers find the Mc Donald's it's value for money.

We’re also considering DP for the first time next year. Is it worth doing the pre-paid food options? What’s the minimum number of days you need to do it properly? And which hotels would posters recommend? Looking at Newport Bay but is it worth paying extra to be closer to the park?

Meal plan. Depends on how you eat....

It used to be If you want to do at least 2 character dinings you were definately best getting the premium half board, sometimes the plus full board worked well too.

The standard meal plan offers fantastic value for money if you want to eat at least one meal a day at buffet level.

The plus meal plan is pretty poor half board. However Full board it's pretty good. It is particularly good if you want access to restaurants like Bistro Cafe Remy and Captain Jack's (so at least one sit down meal per a day) or if you find the fast food places too busy and would rather eat at buffet level or above.

Thing to remember the meal plans are based on the number of nights. So full board for 3 nights will give you 3 breakfast and 6 meals, you can use these how you chose during your stay. However if you are wanting a full meal on all 4 of the days, you are already making a gain. This is particularly relevant for one sit down meal a day per a day and the full board plus meal or one buffet meal a day and the full board standard meal plan.

If you plan to eat mostly at Non Disney's (vapianos, McDonalds, planet Hollywood, earl of sandwich etc) no meal plan is best.

I've always found that staying at a disney hotels is worth it for the extra magic Hours. I don't particularly like the shuttle buses so have always stayed at Sequioa Lodge or above but if you arent wrangling a wheelchair you may find shuttle buses ok.

Three nights will give you a taster of the place. Four nights if you are organised about it and up every extra Magic Hours you will feel like you've got most of it done, certainly everything you wanted to do, and a few repeats favourites too.

The only caveat to the above is that balance of on to off site may have changed with the recent introduction of the new paid for fast passes, but I haven't worked that out myself or seen anyone else done it yet.

The number of nights will also depend on the time of year. Longer openings can mean more time to do things. However it can also mean busier parks (eg half term Halloween
week) which can even things out. If you expire in warm weather like we do, summer was a disaster. DLP radiates heat and you could pretty much write us all off for at least a couple of hours in the afternoon. We can do more in less time in winter. Conversely if you cant deal with cold or rain the quieter periods of the park going in winter wont help if you can to spend vast periods of time huddled inside over a cup of tea.

I absolutely love Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. It’s quite expensive, but worth the money for me. It’s a dinner show, so you get a 3 course meal (2 for kids), plus coffee and beer or coke included in the price. There are two showings, I think one at 18:30 and one at 21:30 and the show lasts about 90 minutes.

Book any restaurant that you want in advance if you can
I went in Feb a few years ago and spent 6 nights on full board and booked all the restaurant in advance
People were turning up at Mickey’s brunch princess castle and other restaurants and being turned away

Lots of things have changed during the pandemic at DLP. Fast passes are now charged per person per ride, no free ones at all, the extra magic hours are just 30 mins & Buffalo Bills has shut down & there are no plans to introduce the buffets back atm.
Food is expensive particularly for table service but the quick (they aren’t actually that quick!!) service counter meals are about €13 for an adult & €9 for a child & come with a drink & a pudding.
In March the park will still be closing early, but you’ll get the end of the sales! Next year is also the parks 30th anniversary so there will be a bit of refurb going on to get ready for the celebrations although you might manage to get sneak previews of the new parades etc. We managed to see all of the parades with very few crowds on the 15th anniversary year!
I’d recommend joining one of the FB groups such as The Magic of Disneyland Paris, Disneyland Paris Advice or Disneyland Paris for Brits. There are always loads of good tips & heads up for good offers etc.

The Wild West Show has closed, unfortunately.

If you go to the McDonalds, it used to sell macarons!

Have a look at a map of the place before you go, I've never seen a show there but they are fabulous. Some of the walk-through attractions are good, there is an Aladdin-themed one just opposite the Agrabah cafe, and a Nautilus one near the hyperspace coaster. Check their webpages to see if any rides/attractions are closed during your visit, at the moment the castle is being renovated so you probably can't go underneath to see the dragon.

Check the opening hours for March as well, if they do the closing show it will be earlier than the summer when the park has longer opening hours.

Do expect to queue, it's a very popular tourist attraction!