Euro Disney with a 5 year old

[Clappen]

I am thinking about taking my daughter to Euro Disney sometime next year and was hoping some people would be able to share their experiences so I can figure out if it is worth it or not.

My main concern are the queues. I seem to remember that at the majority of theme parks you spend hours and hours queuing. I do not have much patience so in my opinion it's not really worth it if we are going to spend most of the day queuing and only get on about 3 or 4 rides.

We are not in the UK and child is not of compulsory education age so no worry about fines for taking the child out of school. I'm looking at arranging to go whenever it's going to be quite quiet but not in the winter months as I don't want the risk of it being too cold/wet. I was thinking perhaps the first week of September as I think most schools in Europe and North America should be back by then. Of any knows how busy it is in September that would be great.

Also wondering if there are enough attractions for kids of this age or is it mainly things aimed at older ages?

Wanted to add that I have heard about the queue jump passes but have also heard that so many people get them that you end up queuing anyway and it isn't really worth it. Does anyone know if that is true?

We took DD when she was 5. Are you going with another adult too? You can use rider swap, so 1 adult goes through the single rider queue, while the other adult takes DD on little people rides/explore areas, then when that adult comes off you can ask for a rider swap which gives a ticket to use the fast pass entrance.

There is lots to do that isn't rides (and not too many big rides) assuming you DD is about 1-120cm?

There's a Facebook page that answers any questions you might ever have - Disneyland Paris for Brits

We took a buggy for 5 yr old DD (she hasn't been in a buggy at home for 4 years!) We used it to zoom from the hotel in the morning and it let us stay late for fireworks each night. It was also good for holding all the snacks and layers.

No the queue jump passes are great. Expensive but great. We have never waited more than ten minutes at Paris with them whereas the main queue can be easily an hour long.

I think it’s a great place to visit but imho about seven I would say is a slightly better age. One of ours doesn’t really remember the trip we took when they were about 4 and at the time they were pretty dubious about the characters - looked at them suspiciously as though they were paedophiles! We have some funny photos! There are rides for them at that age but there will be more in a couple of years. There is also an element of being maybe too young to really absorb the magic and scale. Babies and toddlers often take stuff for granted as they can’t really get perspective and everything is still a surprise. I’d wait a year if I were you … even two. About 7-12 and they think they are in heaven!

We went in April. Didn't queue for more than about 25 min for anything, but then we were only doing the rides for small kids and just vetoed any rides / experiences with massive queues. We did 1 more popular ride but didn't queue long for it because we went straight to it as soon as the park opened to the general public. Probably did 6/7 rides a day, plus 3 shows, parades, and general wandering about / exploring over the 2 days we were there. I was worried about queues but it was fine.

Thanks for the feedback. Things seem to be pretty positive so far. Probably should have mentioned that if we go September next year my daughter will be almost 6 and a half which might make a difference to the enjoyment of the experience and hopefully she won't need a buggy.

Do you really need a minimum of 2 days in the park or can you see the highlights in just one day? We are not massive Disney fans and wouldn't be too bothered in meet and greets with the characters. We would be more focused on the rides and shows.

Oh yes 6 and a half is a better age than 5.

Re the two days it depends. If you think at that age she will want to try the rollercoasters ( I think they normally can about then if not short for age) one day might be a real push. They tend to have longer queues and it just means there are more rides to cover. A day is ok if you know the park and can move swiftly; but I think if finding your way and with a smallish person not in a buggy a day might be a push. Also if you stay at the hotels ( in any case this is true of the Disneyland hotel) you pay for two days anyway with a one night stay,

We went in mid June a few years ago and it was pretty quiet. Avoid the end of May (Whitsun holiday which is observed in many European countries), then schools tend to start breaking up from late June onwards.
I don't remember any long queues and for many of the rides, we went round again as soon as we got off (as in we had to go back through the queuing area to re-board but there was no queue).
The only negative for this time of year is how late the evening laser / fireworks show was. It gets dark so late (midsummer and of course France is an hour ahead) - I think the show was 10pm or later so tough for very little ones to be up that late.

I went for the day last week and it was really busy.

It probably depends on your dd but I'm glad I didn't take dd when she was younger as she would have been completely overwhelmed.

Personally I think a day there is long enough, I wouldn't to spend any longer there.