Disneyland Paris newbie - don’t know where to start!

[Saeurcat]

DCs have expressed interest but they are teen/preteen so wouldn’t be fussed about staying in the park hotels if it’s easier to stay outside and travel in, but not sure if that makes things cheaper or if it’s even doable.
any tips or advice greatly appreciated :)

Staying in one of the park hotels gives you benefit of early entry, so being able to enter the park and go on rides (not all are open) an hour before all the guests with day tickets. This is very useful for getting on at least a couple, maybe even 4 rides (if you choose well), with minimal queues. That's about it really, they are sometimes nicely themed but you are never in them, as you are in the park all day. Often though a 2 day/1 night package is barely any more expensive than buying just park tickets for 2 days, so in this situation I would definitely stay at one of the Disney hotels. Sometimes the extra cost for the hotel is less than £100. Also a 2 day/1 night package means you get early entry on both check-in and check-out days. Otherwise download the app to check the rides available, parade times etc.

How long will your trip be? If you can only do a short trip, then stay in a Disney hotel for extra hours so you can fit everything in.
when will your trip be? If it’s at peak time, then stay in a Disney hotel for extra hours so you can beat crowds.

Join the Disney Paris first timer tips group on Facebook, so much helpful info on there.

It depends on what you want really. We took the view that we wanted to maximise our time in the park so did say on site. We also paid for reserved fireworks viewing (which I'd recommend to anyone!), character dining on one ocassion, and for magic express (paid luggage transfer)

We took the view that as the park tickets were expensive we wanted to make the most of them and that we were "saving" money over buying an additional park day. For example people often lose several hours waiting in position for fireworks, we would have lost several hours taking our luggage to the hotel and walking back to the park on check in, and check out, we gained an extra magic hour each day, and never spent any additional time queuing for characters.

For us that probably gained us a whole day of park time, without the extra park tickets, overnight stay etc

The bonus (other than luggage transfer, and magic hour) of the hotel is being able to split your day. Especially in the summer, the park opens at 8.30, the fireworks aren't till close to 11 pm and it wss roasting hot so our younger kids couldnt stay out all day, and benefited from quiet time in the hotel or a swim. We saw lots of people struggling with over hot, over tired kids because they weren't able to take a break. Equally when we went in the winter it was easier as the days are shorter but we wanted to go warm up/ escape the elements

If we had been just adults I'd be more likely to stay off site

Its true about the costs. I just looked at a random date

For a family of 4, two days in the park tickets are 597. With an extra parking charge of about 20 pounds a day.

But a stay at the cheapest disney hotel is 629 pound including those tickets, and extra magic hour etc.

Its slightly cheaper if you buy a single park ticket but I'd normally recommend both parks

The studios is smaller but has more shows, the toystory land and all the marvel bits.

I don't think it's quite as much of a bargain for the longer hotel stays, but certainly the one night package can be a great deal. Our first visit we went in the school holidays October 2022 and it was about £88 more for the hotel package than buying just the park tickets, I did add breakfast which is never cheap, but £88 for hotel and 2 days early entry is a no brainer.

We did self catering in an apartment in the Val d’Europe area. It’s just one stop away from Disney on the RER line (we were just round the corner from the RER station which was great).
There’s a large shopping centre at Val d’Europe, which includes a big supermarket, so handy if self catering. Plenty of cafes, restaurants etc in the area too.

Echo others' in saying dont discount the park hotel packages as the cost of day tickets is significant on their own. We also went during summer holidays and meant we had access from circa 9am - 11pm. You will also be able to walk from these hotels, so you could have down time if needed without the need for a shuttle etc.

We’ve been 3 times and never stayed on site as we don’t want to squashed a room together even for one night. Especially on the last trip when the kids were teens. We’ve also combined DLP with a couple of days in Paris so being off site saved us moving hotels. My kids don’t like a super early start so we’re happy to lose the extra time in the mornings for on site guests.

We have driven and stayed at a caravan park close by, flown and stayed at the Adagio Aparthotel near Val d’Europe, and stayed in a holiday apartment through Vrbo which was ideal as the DC got a room each. Saved a lot of money buying food in the hypermarket at Val d’Europe. Last visit was October half term ‘23 and with breakfast being an extra cost one night at a DLP hotel didn’t work out that cheap.

If you can a good deal on 1 night/2 day on site fair enough but you can still have an excellent time staying off site. It’s easy and there are loads of options with shuttle buses or the RER train. Loads of people do despite what all the FB groups tell you about try ‘Disney bubble’. Everyone I know who had stayed on site have not rated the hotels very highly.

Thank you everyone, lots of great advice and lots to consider :)