Disneyland Paris - Off there for 4 nights on 30th Dec - Any tips please?

[blametheparents]

title says it all really.

We are off to Disneyland Paris for 4 nights on 30/12 with a 7yo DS and a nearly 4yo DD. We are staying at the Explorer Hotel.

We are intending on taking some fresh fruit and other snacks with us, firstly cos i seem to remember it as a fresh fruit free zone and secondly cos the exchg rate is going to make any food seem outrageously expensive and since we have about a million selection boxes I would begrudge buying yet more treats!

DD is a big fan of Disney princesses, anything we should see? Worth taking her dressing up with us?

Best character dinners / lunches?

Good stuff for a tall 7 yo boy who is pretty good on rides (loved the Vampire at Chessington)

TIA

Watch the outdoor pool - no lifeguards (sad news story atm). We went at half-term - ds loved the parades. In fact, pretty much everything, really! Yes, dressing up kit good idea (might stop them demanding the overpriced stuff in the shops, too).

The interactive Lilo and Stitch show at the Studios park was my favourite. Couldn't work out how it was done at all. Ds loved the Star Wars ride in the sci-fi land (sorry, can't remember what it's called).

Use the fast pass system to get round the queues. Oh, and take a travel kettle + adapter if you want to make your own tea, most of the hotels don't have kettles in the rooms.

Wrap up warm. Think thermals, ski stuff for your dcs and take a flask. You will need it with all the waiting around in queues in the freezing cold.

We have got thermal underwear for DC. Long johns for DS to wear under trousers, and DD can wear tights under her trousers. Got warm boots for each of them too, like wellies with a fluffy lining.
I have got a couple of ski base layers that I am going to wear, along with walking boots.
Hats and gloves all round.
Hope we will be warm enough, it is miserable being cold.

def lots of warm layers

You can always go in and watch one of the shows after getting cold in the queues. That'll warm you up a bit. Alternate.

yes yes yes to taking dressing up we went in september and dd1 had her birthday money (it was her birthday present) and she spent 70euros on the exact same dress thats in the disney shop here

we thought cafe mickey was reasonably priced and guaranteed to see a character or 2 (plus they did lovely pasta and steak dishes that came with salad and jacket potato instead of normal chips)

If you want to meet the princesses be prepard to queue dd1 and i queued for 1.5hours and luckily gt them as they were swapping so she got to see ariel and snow white but otherwise it was pot luck as they changed every half an hour (oh we did get to meet cinderella and jasmine by fluke that we were walking past the door where they come into the park and managed a quick picture and autograph!!

oh and we took snacks and our own drinks with us (in fact we took the thermos flask for the eurostar trip but one day when it was chilly dh made a flask of tea and put it in the basket of the buggy and filled dd2 beaker when she was cold and it warmed her up)

Have been to Explorers. Its a good idea about the fruit as you are right, the food at the park isn't great but the breakfast at the hotel is great and you can fill up on fruit then.
Definitely take own dressing up things- the stuff there costs the earth.
The parades are great but once you have seen it once, use that time on other days to get on the usually busy rides. The difference is remarkable.
My 7 y old loved Star tours & Pirates of the Carribean.
The Studios are great too and much easier to get closer to the characters.

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We went when our kids were the same age and it was FAB! We are going again at Feb half-term...DS will be nearly 7 and DD is 10...we are all really excited. You are absolutely right about the food - it is the one real problem...anything you buy is pretty junky and really expensive. We snacked during the day - raisins, fruit bars, as well as choc and drinks then booked a reasonably early meal e.g. 5:30pm in one of the restaurants. Worked really well. Kids too excited to stop to eat anyway! You'll be able to get your DD's pic taken with the Disney Princesses...her face when she see Sleeping Beauty's castle for the first time will be brill! Our DD was a month off 4 the first time we went and she thought the dragon at the bottom was real! Have a GREAT time!

extra socks too! and if its really cold how about those self heating patches that you can get for bad backs!

Good idea re warming up by going inside to watch shows.

I fear DD will faint if she sees Ariel 'in real life', she loves Little Mermaid! Must try and catch her.

Lol my dd1 was just 4 when we went and was obsessed about meeting ariel so her face was when we finally got to the front of the queue, dd2 was 21 months took one look at her and cried!