Disneyland Paris - Advice please (with a nearly 5 yo and 2 yo)

[Sunshineat5pm]

Hello, I would love thoughts on taking a nearly 5 year old and just turned 2 year old to Disneyland Paris (+ the other park).

Is this too young? Would we be better to postpone for a further year (however I’m keen to undertake before my oldest turns 5 to go outside school holiday dates)?

Also, how many days / nights in total would you recommend for both parks? We plan on staying in a Disney hotel.

Thank you!

If this is a trip of a lifetime and you don’t think you’ll go again, wait. The just-turned-2 year old won’t remember it and won’t be able to go on a lot of the classic, iconic rides. Your 2yo might still be napping then and you’ll have to take a buggy and that’s just extra faff.
If you want to make the most of it, you’ll want to stay at the park late into the evening for the fireworks and to enjoy the quietness after the day-trippers leave. I don’t think you’ll be able to manage that so easily with a 2 year old.

Will there be multiple adults @Sunshineat5pm?

If yes then I would absolutely go for it. We took DS last year when he was 4.5 and it was the best trip ever! Of course the logistics are slightly trickier when you have a younger child going along too but there really isn’t many rides that they can’t go on and it’s a holiday - as long as you’re happy to relax the normal routine it’ll be fine!
Take advantage of being able to go in term time - it’s cheaper and it’s less busy (remember and check French term dates too!). Plus your youngest will eat free in some restaurants etc.

As for trip length, what kind of budget are you working with? ☺️ Personally, I think with young children it’s nice to be able to do things more relaxed than feeling like you’re running from one place to another to try and see everything. We arrived on the Saturday and had a night with “room only” then moved to our proper hotel on the Sunday morning to start our trip so we had hotel, park tickets and meal plan sun-thurs (left lunchtime on the thurs). For us that was perfect as we had time to do everything but didn’t need to rush around.

Happy to answer any Qs you have ☺️

@Sunshineat5pm Oh, I should also add - absolutely stay in an on-site Disney hotel if you can manage it. Doesn’t matter which one (Santa Fe, Cheyenne, Newport, Sequoia, Marvel, Disneyland) - just avoid the “partner hotels” that are a shuttle bus journey away ☺️

I agree with pp. if it’s one and only time wait, if you might go back, 2 and 5 is a wonderful age, we did that 2 years ago. They could both go on a surprising amount of rides, loved the parades and shows.
3 nights is ideal for a relaxed experience
100% staying onsite is worth it for the extra magic hours for little ones/nipping back for a nap so you can do the evening shows
make good use of parent swap to maximise your own ride time
make time for the play areas for the kids to have a bit of down time
take snacks for whilst your queueing
take either a double buggy or pram with buggy board. You will need it. We didn’t take it this year for our nearly 4 and 6 year old. Ended up renting one for 35euro a day and squishing them both in!

A trip of a lifetime to Paris Disney? Hopefully not. Dc are too young bit of you like theme parks, why not? They might like a sea and sand holiday more.

@MeetMeOnTheCorner This is a pretty nasty comment! Disneyland Paris could absolutely be a trip of a lifetime to a lot of families!!

@Jamas42 This poster never misses an opportunity to let us all know how superior their holidays are to the ones we little people go on.

A three night break for a family with two kids staying in one of the Disney hotels will cost thousands, even in term time. Of course there are families that wouldn’t be able to afford to do that more than once, or simply couldn’t justify that expense for such a short trip more than once in the space of a few years.

There’s lots of things that toddlers can enjoy at DLP. They won’t remember it, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t have a great time. And there’s joy to be had in watching toddlers having fun, even if they won’t remember it when they are older.

Thanks all, appreciate the insights!

There would be myself and my husband and we’d be staying in one of the on site hotels. We’re relatively lucky and this wouldn’t have to be a once in a lifetime event, if we enjoyed it.

There would likely be the option to leave my youngest at home with my parents but I’m not sure I’d feel okay with that and the inevitable conversations that would be brought up in ten years time! 😂

Three nights at a slightly slower place sounds like a sensible plan.

I will definitely add double buggy to the packing list!

@Takoneko That’s interesting! The cost of Disney is huge and dc won’t remember it.
@Jamas42 It really should not be! It’s so much easier to allow dc to have fun at the seaside and much cheaper. Go when they are older. I don’t get why Brits like Disney and mine never asked to go. We did, for a day, but the queuing and rides dc were not big enough to go on made it a waste of money and they simply didn’t care after that. We found other things to do that they enjoyed more. And we enjoyed more! I’ve no idea why anyone would take a 2 year old. They won’t get anything out of it at all and the op could wait!

I’d probably wait until the 2 year old is closer to 3. We took our son for the first time at that age and while he can’t remember it, he understood it and absolutely loved it. He loved going around the castle being told the story of sleeping beauty, visiting the dragon under the castle and going on the little rides.

he’s a grown man now and still loves a Disney trip

Don’t do it! Do Efteling in the Netherlands instead, it’s much cheaper and much nicer and the accommodation is wonderful!

When we did Disney Paris mine were 5&9 and both found the rides they could go on to be too babyish so I wouldn’t wait much longer. The 5 year old couldn’t go on anything exciting and got frustrated. The queues were very long (and we were outside of school holidays) and everything felt like a way to squeeze money out of us. However if you do go, I would say it’s worth paying more to stay on site and try to get a dinner in one of the themed restaurants as that was a highlight (although of course very pricey!)

We took our eldest from 18 months so the younger one went first at 6 months old , there are plenty of things for very small children to do / ride .

Thanks all, really interesting to hear all your views!

I took my just three year old and six year old and they loved it! We are going back tomorrow as a 5 and 8 year old and to be fair neither can remember the first time

@Sunshineat5pm What hotel etc are you thinking of? ☺️

Nobody in their right mind would take a 2yr old to Disneyland Paris! It’s rammed like a Christmas market year round and stressful is not the word. It’s not like any UK theme park, trust me. Also, French are not exactly friendly at the best of times so 2yr old meltdowns in Disney Paris is a terrifying thought. 😱

Thank you for this! All your insights are extremely helpful.

I came to say the same.

2 is too young to really appreciate Disney and 5 is borderline imo: keep it till it will have maximum impact and they can appreciate the scale and fantasy.

I think ages 7-12 is peak appreciation age for Disney.

There are other more manageable resorts for littler dc. Efteling is one suggestion, but personally I'd introduce them to the wonderful Moomin stories and take them to Moominland, which is pitched at that age group (as well as some adult fans) and even has a beach. It's just a simpler, gentler concept and the characters are gorgeous.

Disneyland is just too full on for really small dc, and imo it wastes the impact it can have when they are a few years older.

We took our 3 year old in May and her older sister who was 10 at the time, we fast tracked some rides as the 3 year old wasn't great with queuing, i used the magic hour for my older child to get on more rides, and our youngest stayed at the hotel with my Mum sleeping. So may be a good plan to use the magic hour for your eldest :)

Meant to say, Moominland is in Finland and makes a lovely trip for all the family. You only need one day there, whereas Disneyland is more demanding in terms of how long you need to do it justice and, I think, that adds to it being just overwhelming for little ones.

These are the Moomins! The whole ethos of the stories is very gentle.

If you can afford the Disneyland hotel then go with that. It’s on site so it’s much easier for someone to go back with the youngest for naps or if they need a break. You can also see the characters there as well without having to join the ridiculous queues. Easy to pop back for a little rest mid afternoon then go back out for fireworks

Jesus... just no. I couldn't think of anything worse...

Save yourself the drama (and 4k or so) and go to paultons / peppa pig world.

We just did the deal where you get a night in a travellodge and 2nd day free.

The 4 and 2 yo were living their absolute best lives.
It was low pressure we could take a break as needed... no long queues... a good time was had by all.

To be honest op, Peppa Pig World is pretty well targeted at that age group though Id rather go to Finland than Paultons.

Disney is just unnecessary at this age, Save it a couple of years and use the money to go for longer.

we went in May with a 3,6,11,13 and 18 year old. I would say that they all enjoyed it and there are lots of rides that are suitable for little ones like it's a small world etc. There was definitely enough to do for the 3 year old. However I hate to say it but I just thought it was OK in general! The queues were insane. I don't mind a bit of queueing but it felt like we had paid so much money just to queue. We were unlucky in that it was boiling, but the whole place seemed to be filled with stressed parents and overstimulated kids queuing for ages. I'm glad I've gone. The older kids probably got more out of it. I think the kids just loved the idea that they were at Disney, as it's an iconic place in their imaginations, but I thought it was a bit emperoror's new clothes. I did love the fireworks at the end of the night. That felt special. My kids are really into disney films so it helped they knew all the charatcers. But for me probably a bit overhyped. 3/5.