1 little day in disneyland paris with 4 year old - must do/avoid

[slim22]

Hi,
We'll be in Paris on a 1 day stopover from Asia and want to treat DS.
Landing at 6am and onward flight at 6:30pm.

Our plan is to take a taxi to one of the hotels and have a nice buffet breakfast and be there for the 10am opening.
We need to head back to airport around 4pm.

So 10am to 4pm. We'll probably be a litttle tired from the 12 hour flight. DS is 4 and I'll be 20 weeks pregnant.

Basically I want and easy stroll to soak up the christmas magic. DH and me don't care about any adult attracction.
Whhat are the must dos for a 4 year old boy (he quite likes fairytales too). don't want to waste time in queues if attraction is not worth it.

Advice and itineraries greatly appreciated.

PS: going next week on 24th DEC (OMG!!!, I know it will be crowded.....that's why I need survival tips)

Take lots of very warm clothes , woollen gloves, hats, scarves etc. It is freezing in Paris right now, and it will be even colder in Marne-la-Vallée.

Head straight for FantasyLand, that's where all the rides for smallies are. Make sure you grab fast passes for the rides that have them (peter Pan I think) - this can save a LOT of time queueing.. Go on the Dumbo ride first as it gets massive queues. Don't miss its a small small world although you will be humming the wretched tune for ever more. Have fun!

Fantasyland is the place to go.

Almost all children this age absolutely adore Small World - and the queues go really quick so a good one.

I'd give Dumbo a miss - long slow queues and ride isn't great.

Get a fast pass for Peter Pan as soon as you can and also Buzz ride (in a different land but right next door) if you can. Buzz is great and all the children seem to love it, zapping the aliens. PP is a pretty simple ride but again a favourite with children.

Does he like dragons? Walk underneath the castle on the way to Fantasyland - there is one underneath there. Warning that it is a bit dark though.

The carousel has short fast queues and there is always something quite magical and Christmassy about a carousel.

Characters are often walking around Fantasyland on and off throughout the day. I wouldn't bother queing to see them but you can spot them and wave

Teacups are also a fast(ish) queue compared to others.

thanks.

just bumping for the lunch crowd. Bon apetit!

have a look here for parade times etc

and check out disboards

Think you can have breakfast at Disney itself rather than a hotel - you can prebook breakfast with characters somewhere there. But not sure. Just that our hotel breakfast wasnt one I would make a special trip for! Maybe others are better.
Also if you have a prebooked breakfast etc you can get in earlier and beat all the queueing at the gates in the cold.
You will probably only get one fast pass in - get it early on - best one probably Buzz or Peter Pan - others are more for thrillseekers and not little ones/pregnant.
Parades are worth seeing if you have time. But can be crowded along the route so you need to line up about half hour before which is a pain.
The shows are good - nice and warm and kids love them as a break as they will be v tired by the sound of it plus you dont have to queue too long beforehand as there should be lots of space in the theatre so get there about 15 mins beforehand.

Food very expensive. And you need to book for any of the "meet a character" places.

Enjoy.

I wouldn't go to a hotel for breakfast, I would have breakfast in the Disney Village. You could have a character breakfast in Cafe Mickey which is great fun. You can get to the entrance to the Park about 9.30am as the doors open early to let you through to Main Street. For my DS 4 the main parade was the highlight, but I think it was at 4pm. The parades are brilliant so I hope you get to see one. We sat near the end of the parade at the beginning of Main Street and had a good view. In Fantasyland the best ride to go on is Its a Small World and the queue is always quick. Get a fast pass for Peter Pan. Also the Dumbo Train is fun and has short queues. Snow White and Pinnochio are quite dark rides and have long queues (although I was there in August!).

Hope you have a great time.