Disneyland Paris on a very small budget

[scarflove]

Just wondering if Disneyland Paris is doable on a very small budget -
What would be the min we will definitely need to put aside?

What are best ways of cutting costs? For example, If we get an Airbnb a few miles away can you park cheaply at Disneyland for the day?
Is paying for the Disneyland hotel package part of the 'magic'?

I haven't been and don't know what to expect. Two adults and one child. We will be driving from London.

Packed lunches (the food is expensive and shit). Do pre-merching on Vinted etc. The closing fireworks aren’t until 11pm each night so if you want to see those you won’t want to be staying too far away, which might be worth considering. The magic hour is good if staying in one of the hotels. It’s just not a cheap trip, sadly

Parking at Disney is really expensive. You could try parking at Val d'Europe shopping centre which is close by and you can take the RER to Disneyland.

I have been cheaply before but camped, don't know if you're up for that. Campsite was called Lac de Jablines and it was busy but fine and not too expensive. We only stayed there a couple of nights for Disney then tagged that on to a longer holiday in another part of France.

Gites de France has reasonably priced self-catering accommodation across France (some of the cheapest places can be a bit "rustic"!). They have rentals within driving distance of Disneyland.

We used to go for a day every summer when we were passing through Paris. I’ll be honest, I don’t know what people do there for 3 days. We’d comfortably cover bother parks in one day.

Thanks for sharing this, I want to go now!

Plenty of cheap hotels a couple of stops away on the RER train line to Paris. No idea what the park tickets cost these days but can def do DLP on a budget.

Cheap ferry prices - you can check online for the best price, usually v early or v late.

Cheap hotels - again depending on how cheap there are some from €50 a night for 3 in Torcy.

Train to park - I've never driven direct but the US parks charge far more than the train to DLP would be from 2 stops away.

TAKE A PICNIC.

Don't forget to factor in peage/toll costs, think it was about £30 each way when we went last

I paid £600 for 1 nights accommodation at the toy story themed place and 2 days in the park over summer break. The food was extortionate but sucked it up as was only staying for 1 night and I took bits in with me. If I were going again, I think I would stay at Val d'europe one stop up on the rer as there is a shopping center there
Also to put into context, the room itself was about £160 a night no food included the rest of the money was the park tickets (2 days both parks...but actually we spent 90% of our time in the avengers one)

Everyone says the food is expensive, and it certainly is, often with added constraints of ridiculously long queues.
Assuming that you have day passes you can leave and enter the park as many times as you wish.
There is a McDonald’s in the Disney Village, just outside the park, with prices quite similar to the U.K. It’s also the only place I’ve found a decent cup of coffee in the area.
If you go into the train station, which is also just outside the park, there are several shops selling sandwiches and salad, fruit and drinks, all at reasonable ( for France) prices.
Disney is never cheap but there are ways to keep costs down. For example there are water fountains throughout the parks. When my children were young I took collapsible water bottles and a tiny container of squash which stopped us needing to buy the huge, but expensive, soft drinks on site.
If your budget would run to it I would suggest booking a character breakfast. There is often a fantastic spread and lots of photo opportunities.

You can if you’ve got an access pass or pay for the fast pass . The queues are huge in holidays now and you definitely couldn’t do it in a day if you are queuing

There's nearby hotels that still offer packages, definitely don't plan on parking at Disney as they charge a lot. Train station is next to the park.

Best savings are had by going Jan-March, buying merch before going eg primark, staying at a hotel with an inclusive breakfast buffet the kids can stuff themselves with, take water bottles to refill, I snuck in haribo and biscuits for snacks. There's a huge McDonald's for cheaper eats in Disney village, or head outside the park to the auchan for instance - we bought rotisserie chicken and salad for dinner one night and ate in their cheap restaurant once.

Driving saves money from the se England but not so much in winter especially from midlands/north/sw as petrol isn't cheap (cheaper in France)

The experience i would recommend was the buffalo bill show which included dinner, however I'm going back a while! They are definitely busier and more commercial, it had changed in the 10 years between my visits but my last one was 8 years ago now.

We went for 2 days in Oct 2022 half term and it was £946. I recall it being less than £70 for the hotel, but then I added breakfast which adds up a bit. The benefit of the night in the hotel is it gives you magic hours access. So the Thursday night we stayed in

I was half way through typing and somehow posted my reply. So what I was trying to say was Thursday night we stayed in Val d'Europe in one of the off site hotels not connected to the park, that evening I went to Sequoia Lodge and picked up our park passes, then Friday we took the train one stop to the park and were able to utilise magic hours and enter at 8:30am even though we hadn't checked in to the Disney hotel. Then we went to Sequoia Lodge when we'd finished in the park about 9pm on the Friday, they texted me our room number at some point during the day, and slept there and then back to the park for magic hours at 8:30 on Saturday. Walking distance this time. Saturday night, after a full day in the park and watching the fireworks, we went back to the cheaper hotel in Val d'Europe. We left our luggage in the hotel at Val d'Europe and just carried our pyjamas, and toothbrushes in a rucksack around the park both days. If money was no issue then I wouldn't do this, but that magic hours access gives you the chance to do a fair few rides with very much shorter queues and it was totally worth the effort.

The Buffalo Bill show closed in 2020 .

I took my youngest last year for his 7th birthday. He's not a huge disney fan, as in he wasn't particularly bothered with characters. He loved it,so much so that we are going again next month.

Staying offside isn't always cheaper, depending on entry ticket prices. One tip, if your flights aren't morning ones, you may lose a lot of the day, so we fly in and stay offside the first night, moving to a disney hotel on the next day, that way we make the most of park tickets.

5-star Berny-Rivière campsite in Aisne in Picardie | La Croix du Vieux Pont (la-croix-du-vieux-pont.com) We stayed here when the kids were small, I think it's about an hour from Disney, but there's so much to do on the site, including a lovely swimming lake and indoor swimming pool. We actually prefered ParcAsterix to Disney, also not far from the site, there's also an amazing Chateau nearby, (forgotton the name)

I suggest to stay at Country Park Paris, very affordable option within 15 mins of Disneyland Paris and they offer a shuttle bus to save on parking
https://www.countrypark.paris/en/

Thank you