Disneyland Paris

[Bobby80]

Thinking of going to Disneyland Paris with a 3 year old in April. Any suggestions for accommodation or top tips/things to avoid? If you've been was there anything you wish you had known before you went?

We’re going in a couple of weeks. Will be interesting to see what anyone has to say!

Stay on site would be my recommendation. Character dining with young kids is super fun. We stayed at sequoia lodge, it's nice enough, location is fab as a short walk to the park. If budget allows though, the new marvel hotel is v nice! We were there in May with 7 and 3 year old so happy to answer questions.

If you can afford it I would stay on site with a meal plan. You get magic hours so you can get into the parks an hour before the gates open.to the public.
We stayed off site in June this year, the hotel was really nice with a great shuttle (Campanile). However the parks were horrendously busy and food was extremely expensive, hence why I'd do it differently!
Also budget for some fast track passes for the rides you really want to go on and have a bit of a plan of things you want to do, instead of aimlessly wandering!

This is really helpful, thank you! I've only had a quick look but the variety and options are quite overwhelming!

See this is where you will have different opinions. I've been twice with and without a meal plan and personally I wouldn't bother. Unless you get a deal where it is free, it is much cheaper to eat without a meal plan. Disney village has McDonald's, five guys and a few other restaurants where it is cheap enough to eat and some of the places in the park aren't too bad either. It might be worth it with an under 3 as they go free but I wouldn't have got my moneys worth this time if I'd paid for my 3 year old.

Just got back. Stayed at Newport bay.

Take refillable water bottles.

Newport bay was great.

There is a Fb group called Disneyland pairs for brits which is very active and useful.

One cool thing is you can get the train one stop and the shopping centre has a nice supermarket (Auchan, I think) so you can buy fresh fruit, multipacks of drinks etc for wandering around.

I didn't do the meal plan but we went to 2 buffets - cafe agrabah and the one in ... what's the hotel with the lighthouse? I think it was Cape cod, anyway.

The extra magic hours are a good idea. Go on rides while it's quiet then go for a nap or a swim.

X posts - thanks! Lighthouse Hotel = Newport Bay. What was the pool like?

We stayed at the Cheyenne and it was lovely. About a 10 minute walk from the park and was really quiet so slept well. We didn’t get a meal plan to give us more freedom and took lots of snacks with us and refillable water bottles. The sports cafe did good deals on pizza plus you have McDonald’s. The only booking we did was a character breakfast. Kids loved that.

Definitely stay on site though. The extra magic hours are worth it. We managed to do several rides in the first two hours with almost no queues. Absolutely take the buggy and keep it at the allocated spaces or else the cast members can move them.

this might have changed by now but to meet certain characters you had to use the app to book but you need to be very very quick as they go so fast.

This is all very, very helpful. Thank you.

We stayed at Sequoia Lodge, which was good enough for what we wanted. We went in November though and I would highly recommend it. Yes it was colder and some of the onsite restaurants were shut but on the plus side, no queues for any ride. Pirates of the Caribbean log flume we rode 3 times without getting off and the same with the buzz lightyear ride. Our dc were 4 and 2 and it was so much easier dealing with the cold then it would have been with the queues.

Hope you don't mind me jumping on this thread. We're planning on going in October. I think we'll only have 2 full days in the park and I'm wondering whether it would be better to just do both days in the main park or do one day in the Walt Disney studios park. Is 2 days enough?

If your on fb join Disney Land Paris for Brits group. So much information on there.

Definitely stay onsite if you can afford it. Sequoia Lodge is the mid level hotel and nearer to the parks then Santa Fe & Cheyenne. Not stayed in Santa Fe but Cheyenne was fine if that’s where you left budget is. SL would be my preference if you can stretch to it, it’s just nearer and a bit nicer. New Port Bay & Marvel Hotel look lovely and even nearer but I’ve not actually stayed in them.

Make use of the magic hours for sure. Pick one busy ride and head straight there each morning.

Make sure you manage the evening light show at least once on the trip. Going in April that will be earlier than in the summer as it’s at park closing.

I’ve done with & without a meal plan. Never paid for it though only had it as a free offer. It’s brilliant to have but not sure I’d pay full for it. I’d probably pay for one character meal which is great for meeting characters and just snack / McDonalds etc for the rest of the time.

Oh and if your arranging your own travel (are you thinking of flying or driving?) make sure you check all the other countries websites for prices, you can often get better offers / prices using the French / German / Spanish websites, especially if it’s their term time.

If I only had two days, I would do 1.5 days in the main park and 0.5 in the studios (assuming your tickets allow for this).

I'd suggest watching some YouTube videos. Sam4God is good for detailed reviews of hotels and restaurants. Lucie at 37 Disney Street has some great tips videos. She has a young daughter so her videos will be very relevant for you.

The Disneyland Paris for Brits group has some useful guides and posts from very knowledgeable people.

I visited in April this year and stayed at Sequoia.

Does anyone have any view of staying in Villages Natures?

watching this, we go at the end of October with a 4 year old, have booked with Gold crest holidays so they take you there in a coach!

My DS has stayed there and I would consider it for more of a mixed break. If I was to do that. I’d do a couple of days in the park and the rest in VN or it feels a bit of a waste. You wouldn’t get much out of either trying to do both for all of the days.

@FawnFrenchieMum thank you - that is what we were thinking of doing. A few days in the park then a few days in VN including a trip into Paris. Do you happen to remember if your son booked VN for the whole time?

Just wrote a whole message that didn’t post!

It was my Sister rather then Son (wrong abbreviation sorry!). They booked Monday to Fri in NV, they did Paris on the first day as they couldn’t check in until the afternoon, then Tue & Wed in the Parks and then had Thur / Fri in NV. I can’t remember if they booked a really cheap hotel on the Sunday night or travelled early on the Monday am in the end. They discussed both options before.

Going in 58 🥳 days to the Santa Fe. 3 nights / 4 days plus the half board dining plan and tickets were around £580. Going on the Eurostar , have stayed in Santa Fe and sequoia lodge before. Sequoia lodge has a swimming pool, Santa Fe quite basic but clean etc

@shalalala we did a week at VN in May with my ds age 3 and dd age 12. We did 8 days in VN spending two consecutive days at Disneyland (well, 1.5 at DP and 0.5 at Studios).

We drove down early (from southern England) so we got to VN early afternoon and had a swim before we went into our apartment.

Tips for VN:

• At VN my kids loved the playground in the woods


• Also the little farm is nice (good soft play indoors and a little cafe)


• The pool was fantastic but it wasn’t holidays in France so it was quiet; some pathways slippy so be v careful to hold hands. Oxygen not chlorine so it doesn’t hurt your eyes. We swam every day except the days at DP


• my dd did the high ropes course with me which was the best one I’ve ever seen and very hard!


• the birds on the lake make a racket all night long. If you are poor sleepers do not get an apartment on the lake.


• the pizza place gets full very early and the queues for the little supermarket are insanely long. Drive out to the Auchan supermarket to stock up


• to our surprise we got free parking at Disneyland even though we didn’t book VN through DP. It was helpful to drive and not to have the bus trip home as kids were so tired


• we did stay for the light show at the castle. It starts at sunset so in our case it didn’t start until after 10pm. But unmissable, make sure you are not too tired for it.


• There is a LOT of walking; our 3 y.o. is stoic but he needed a buggy for DP. On day 2 he napped in the buggy which he hasn’t done in well over a year


• we found the best place to chill out was inside Videopolis - go in through the side entrance.

Avoid Easter, school holidays and weekends if you can. Stay on site, my 3 yo could walk from Cheyenne, get up early and make the most of the shorter queues.