Disneyland Paris in October with a five-year-old: itinerary and tips?

[PowerthruIT]

Hi all,

Myself and DH are taking our 5 year old to Disneyland Paris in October, 4 nights with a 3 day park pass. We have been doing a lot of research to sort an itninerary but it is becoming a bit overwhelming with recommendations, dos and don'ts and lots of conflicting information on the net!

So bit of an ask but has anyone been and got a bit of a cheat sheet we can use such as a basic itinerary or a list of defo things to do and avoid?

Any advice appreciated

There are a few Facebook groups dedicated to Disney land paris tips and tricks I’d look at them

We’ve done this twice with a 3yo and 9yo.
download the Disney app and watch the queue times.

Also did the same length of time but only watched the fireworks ONCE. Once is enough. It’s really late and the next morning everyone is tired. Doing it every night is just going to result in a miserable and overtired child.
where are you staying.
we stayed onsite and it saved us so many times for breaks and rest and using our own bathroom. We also had breakfast at the hotel so we were fuelled up with something healthy.
i would avoid trying to do too much. It can be overwhelming and everything is at different ends so a lot of walking. We also went over Halloween which was so lovely to see the parades.

Disneyland Paris for brits on fb is great for advice. It depends how you want to do it really. We took snack bags for each day which was really helpful and just bought hotdogs/drinks etc but others like to do meal plans. Juice shots can help as there are refillable water fountains.
Read up on how to do the virtual queues if you want to meet characters.
Shows - you don’t need to book, there are plenty of spaces.
We didn’t overplan the days, just went with what felt right on the day.

Hey thanks we are staying off park in an apartment in Val'd Europe just near the station that is one stop to Disneyland 2-3mins. We felt staying off park would give a change of scenery and also we wanted a self catering apartment, but the self catering ones 'on park' seemed to not actually be in the park so would have still need to get a shuttle or drive and were really expensive.

Start with the disneyland paris app.
Put it in list view and you csn see info on all the rides, shows etc in each park.

You can tgen put a heart on any you want to do, and it puts then in a wish list.
Take into account height of your daughter and what type of rides she will like ( some are daring, others arent).
I would probably aim for ones such as tea cups, dumbo, carousel, small world, storybook ride in fantasyland. ( i like Peter pan but it is often a long wait for the length of the ride).
Buzz lightyear in discoveryland
The train ride around the park from the station in main street - go all the way around back to main street.
In adventure world- flying carpets, carz quatre, slinkydog, maybe the other cars ride. Spiderman is fun but is 3d. I haven't been on ratatouille for a while, and it isn't 3d anymore. I haven't been on any of the new rides. The nemo ride is dark and spins quite fast - also has long waits so i would avoid.
Adventure world also has the new frozen land - i haven't bern since it last opened.

All the shows are suitable for all ages.

October will be Haloween season so there will be a seasonal parade and some seasonal meets- info on those will update in time.

I would semi plan - have an ideas of what you want to do, but not be too fixed in how you do things- you need flexibility because of wait times varying etc.

Most character meets you queue for, but some you have to reserve online. You have to be in the park to reserve ( scanned your tickets at the gate) and be quick on release.

The app shows if it is a character that needs to be booked - in think it includes the princess pavillion, superhero meet, meet mickey and not sure what else. You can try in between releases because sometimes odd slots appear if people cancel etc.

If you want to get an idea of rides etc maybe watch some vlogs or videos on you tube. I follow Fairygodmother, sam4god and see you in main street, but they may not have as many vlogs that show rides.

Have a great trip. I would love to go in Halloween season.

The sself catering owned by disney is davy crocket ranch. It is about a 10 minute drive and there isn't a shuttle.
Villages nature, the centre parcs nearby doesn't have a shuttle but there is a normal bus that stops outside .
The other self catering with a shuttle are partner hotels.

We went a couple of years ago and broadly were underwhelmed
BUT
the fireworks were amazing. That second day we went late, I think after lunch, and then stayed until the fireworks
that was much better than the previous day where we tried to do everything and we just ended up exhausted hot and pissed off by 8.
so choose a day to have a lie in and go in late, and stay for the fireworks, would be my top tip.

Worth considering the the princess breakfast or whatever meal it is if your daughter is into the princesses. It saves having to wait in line.
buy the individual lightning lane / skip line (apologies if terminology is not quite right) for any rides with long waits. Buy the single not the big package as with a 5 yo you may not do all.
one fireworks only is enough, I agree. don’t attempt to do the parks open to close with a young child. Always good to pop back for lunch and some chill time in the hotel before returning for the evening.
agree on relying on the app for wait times.

I’d avoid trying to follow a minute-by-minute itinerary with a five-year-old. Personally, I’d use the 3 days as one day mainly for Disneyland Park classics, one day for the Studios/Adventure World side, and the third as a flexible repeat day for favourites, characters and anything you missed. For a 5-year-old I’d prioritise Peter Pan, Dumbo, “it’s a small world”, Pirates of the Caribbean, Buzz Lightyear and the Toy Story/Ratatouille areas, then add the bigger rides depending on height and confidence. It’s also worth checking the official app each morning for live wait times and show times rather than crossing the parks unnecessarily. Some attractions have height limits, so check those before promising a ride.

How tall is your dd?

Watching as was hoping to go but wondering now if I have left to late

I think your itinerary depends on how tall your dd is, (some of the best rides are 102cm or 107cm, for example!), how good she is at staying up late, what dining you’d like (quick service or table service or character meals etc..) and how close you’re staying to the park. Also, are you prepared to pay for Premier Access? Personally, I don’t think it’s worth it for a 3 day trip.

Take snacks. The snacks are rubbish, expensive and the queues are long. I will queue and pay for snacks in Orlando but was utterly underwhelmed by Paris.

Just see how it goes hope you have a good time

Old fashioned seated theatre show Disney’s Philharmagic is great when wee legs are tired and is fab. Ends with Donald Duck’s bottom sticking out theatre wall to huge mirth from tots.

I suspect October may be Halloween themed and you’ll have a blast.

It’s quite French in theming. They make a big deal of the French aspects of the films eg Beauty and the Beast and my daughter loved her cuddle in a meet and greet with kitten Marie from Aristocats. Might be good to watch these movies before you go.

We never ‘planned’ either at Eurodisney or in Florida and had a brilliant time just wandering. However some planning is definitely sensible on the food and snacks front.

We did it when our DC were similar ages, and used the app to monitor queue times. We didn’t plan every minute of the trip, but had the list of rides that were a must do, and similar to pp we did 1 day in the Disney park, one day in the studio and the last day flitting between to do anything we missed/wanted to repeat.
we also called into the sandwich shop at the train station each morning and bought a couple of baguettes and snacks that we could eat while we were queueing. We had breakfast in the hotel, and had a main meal onsite - we ate largely outside standard mealtimes to avoid queueing and snacked the rest of the time.

A.phone lanyard was so helpful so I had easy access for the app/photos/passes.

Your park passes will be in the app but screenshot them - I found that entering the park, my phone would try to switch from data to the WiFi and it would glitch, meaning it was harder to get our passes to load!

There are water fountains to fill bottles in the park.

We didn't use it but I've heard there's parent switch for rides if there are any you and your partner want to ride that aren't suitable for your LO.

Buy ears and costumes online before you go as even basic ears start at €15-20.