Disneyland Paris Toddler Tips!

[firsttimetry23]

Hi all!
Myself and my husband have been to Disneyland Paris many times throughout our lives, both as children and adults... however this is our first time travelling to Disney with our own children.

We travel in April this year and will have an almost 3 year old and an almost 7 month old. I know I know, they won't remember... but we wanted to let them have this experience and make the most of being able to go whenever we wanted whilst I was on maternity leave (I work in a school!)

Please hit me with your top tips for taking a toddler. Should I take small fidget toys for the ques? Snacks? Photo opportunities? Must dos? Dont's? Hit me with anything and everything you have!

Thank you!!!

Write your number on the toddler's arm in Sharpie.

I found a missing toddler when we were there and returned the poor kid to the family via the Disney staff. Big crowds and small children aren't a good mix.

Take a pushchair for your 3yo or rent one when you get there. It’s a big park and a long day so even if he doesn’t use a pushchair at home, you’ll be glad of it when you’re there. All rides have a pushchair parking area nearby. If your pushchair is valuable then use a bike lock. If you rent one, they don’t have rain covers but we made one out of a cheap adult sized poncho!
There’s a ‘Baby Care Centre’ in both DLP parks. In Disneyland it’s on Main Street near the Plaza Gardens Restaurant. In Studios it’s behind Studio Services. They’re both warm and quiet, have bottle warming, changing facilities breastfeeding chairs and nappies and baby food for sale. Almost every set of toilets had changing tables.

Yes to wheels for the 3 year old. It's a big park and a lot of walking. Download the app before you go so you know which rides you'll be able to take which child on.

Following as we’re hoping to go this year, two very similar aged kids! Figured it would be a good time while baby is still happy to sit in the pram. Will probably take the baby carrier too. Wondering how much of it a toddler could do? We went a few years ago but obviously wasn’t looking out for all the little ones rides then 🙈

We would take the double buggy as I’m sure my toddler would want pushed in it at some point. It’s a good point above about taking a bike lock for it though, hadn’t thought people might steal them

Watch some of the Disney films with your 3yo before you go so they can recognise some of the characters - it makes it so much more meaningful and exciting for them.

If you can, take your own buggy for the 3 year old rather than rent. The long walk back to the car from the park after the night castle show carrying two children is hard. Ours were 18 months and 4 when we went and they both used the push chair. And you couldn't take their pushchairs between the parks.

Make sure you really look at the map and go to the places you generally ignore as an adult if you're ride focused like us. Mine loved running round the Swiss family Robinson type bit, the Alice in wonderland maze and there was a playground area by pirates of the Caribbean (although that was ten years ago) that was great for letting them run around. Mine also loved the parade. But one of them was petrified of the character meets that weren't real people, like tigger and Winnie the Pooh, which was a shock.

If they're a fussy eater take lots of snacks and stuff you know they'll eat. It's a really long day if you go early and stay to the end, so the snack costs add up.

Teach your 3 year old what to do if they get lost in advance. Who to go to, and what to tell the staff. And you can get hospital type bands to put your name and number on from Amazon. And dress them in a really bright top so they're easy to spot. And definitely take a change of clothes for the 3 year old, ours got sticky and dirty. We changed them from day to night as the temperature dropped.

Use the train for a rest.

I'm not sure what the magic pass situation is there nowadays, but use anything you can and plan your rides. The kids rides still get really long queues. Peter Pan and Toy Story were a big queue. We did pirates at tea time and the queue was much lower than earlier in the day. I would start looking on the app at average queue times for some of the biggest kid rides at different times of the day to get a feel for when is best and worst, and make a rough plan of when and where you want to go.

If they have teddies/costumes etc of their favourite characters then bring them as the characters in the parade look out for them and interact with kids who have them.

We had breakfast in the hotel and then brought a packed lunch and snacks into the park which we ate piecemeal while queuing rather than stopping for lunch, then back to hotel for dinner and fairly early nights!

If you’re staying close enough consider heading back to the hotel one afternoon for naps/chill out time and coming back for the fireworks.

I took a 20 month old on her own then next time took a 3 year old and 7 month old and it was amazing. Ignore anyone who says they’re too young!
definitely take a pushchair, it’s a long queue to rent, very expensive and you can’t take it back out the park to the hotel.
if you’re staying in a Disney hotel then make the most of the magic hour and get on rides you want to do that generally has a long queue.
look on the app before choosing your rides and do shorter queues obviously
the first time we went we didn’t do any of the shows really as he was too young to enjoy but the second time we went when he was 3 and he absolutely loved them- there’s a Michel magic one, a stitch one, frozen etc they’re really good
my 3 year old also absolutely loved the characters and really enjoyed a character breakfast but depends if yours likes characters really

Also the baby can actually come on quite a few things and anything he can’t you can do a parent swap so your older child can have a turn on the ride with you and your partner but only needs to queue once x

Hi, I am travelling to Disneyland at the end of April. Wondering on the buggy services the park provide … do they have double pushchairs or single ones ? I have two young kids - age 3 and 5.