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Original poster

top tips on disneyland paris please!

33 replies

smittenkitten · 05/03/2009 20:04

going next week with DS (will be 3 in june) and nephew (same age). we are going by eurostar, and I was wondering how long a walk it is from the station to the park?

also, will I need to book in advance for cafe mickey, and is it worth the cost?

any other tips and recommendations?

thanks in advance!

OP posts:
carrielou2007 · 05/03/2009 21:23

The train station is literally one min outside the park entrance's. Super easy peasy.

I would book in advance for cafe Mickey, for breakfast you will then be first in the park when it opens at 10am though will be very busy (there was a scrum over the fruit!!).

If you want to eat for evening meals you have to book as otherwise everyone comes out of the parks and you will stand outside in a queue for an hour before even getting inside to wait!!

Came back two weeks ago now and yet again was fab (though take plenthy of fruit there really is nothing there!!)

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 05/03/2009 21:26

Is Cafe Mickey the only place to eat??? I should probably know this but the website makes me feel nauseous, we're tkaing DS in May, and I'm hoping to just pick up info from osmosis

Carrie, do you mean you can't get fruit or
that there's nowhere else to eat??? Yikes!

stealthsquiggle · 05/03/2009 21:28

Dinner is better value than breakfast at Cafe Mickey, IMHO. We didn't have to queue at all in December.

Take snacks. It will save you a fortune.

Where are you staying? Although train station to park is no distance at all, unless you are staying in the Disneyland Hotel it is a reasonable (15 min) walk to the other hotels.

stealthsquiggle · 05/03/2009 21:31

Noooo - hundreds of places to eat (DS liked King Ludwig's), but Cafe Mickey does 'character dining' - your DC get to meet characters, have photos/autographs, without standing in queues (they come round to the table)

Childrens menus in the restaurants in the Village (so outside the parks) are generally pretty good value. Food inside the parks is variable, and fruit and veg is hard to come by. There is a little convenience store by the station - we didn't venture in as I had hit Sainsburys before we left home, but they might sell fruit?

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 05/03/2009 21:35

Phew! I thought I'd misunderstood, but you can never be quite sure

I'm not really looking forward to it tbh. DS wants to go and I'm not mean enough to say no since we'll be only an hour away.

pointydog · 05/03/2009 21:47

good value menus? Where?!

It is extremely difficult to buy fruit and veg at disneyland. If you are staying in a hotel with breakfast included, you might have a selection of fruit offered at breakfast. This is where we had to stock up on a day's supply.

PLus dinners in teh hotels had a higher veg content too.

Remember to get fastpasses for all teh rides you can as it does save on long queuing times.

pointydog · 05/03/2009 21:47

oh cheeses, we loved it.

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 05/03/2009 21:50

How do you get the fast passes? is it just at the entrance where you get the tickets? Do we need to book tix in advance?

Pointy, tell me what you loved about it (I fear I'll fail the cynicism test on entry and they won't let me in. It's not a place for the cynical is it?)

pointydog · 05/03/2009 21:56

I am a very cynical person, cheeses. It's disneyland, not the Anti-christ.

I had a feeling of... almost wonder... that people can imagine and observe and create so much. The attention to detail is amazing. Every building they have created has some wonderful tiny touches. The dragon under Sleeping Beauuty's CAstle is mesmerising. The stories they recreate are great stories. Some of the rides are beautiful - Peter Pan's Flight, Pirates of the Caribbean, the HUGE tree for the Swiss afmily robinson.

Forget about the food. The food's shite. The shops are very samey which was disappointing. And of course disney makes a ton of cash but why not? They are making something very happy and quite beautiful at times. Why begrudge them?

disneyland is rather magical at times.

carrielou2007 · 05/03/2009 21:56

We love it, third visit for us, if you could have seen my dd face when we went on 'it's a small world' it made me cry.

Defo fast pass space mountain, for rock and roller coasters you don't need to if you go on at the same time as the car show as eveyone else will be in there watching it!!

I hated big thunder mountain but that is the other big ride that is very very popular.

Take plenty of fruit it is very lacking when you get there!

pointydog · 05/03/2009 21:58

oh, fastpasses.

Near the entrance to the most popular rides, you will see fastpass ticket machines. You stick in your park ticket and you will receive a fastpass ticket with a half hour time slot for you to come back and go on teh ride.

Thunder Mountain is VERY popular so get a fastpass ticket early otherwise you will queue for over an hour in teh afternoon.

pointydog · 05/03/2009 21:59

lol - it's a small world is bizarre.

pointydog · 05/03/2009 21:59

You hated thunder ountain?!

Theresa · 05/03/2009 22:01

Go to this site www.disboards.com and scroll down to the dlp dection (about half way down) for loads of fab tips and answers to any questions you might have

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 05/03/2009 22:02

Wow. OK.

pointydog · 05/03/2009 22:04

oh lordy. You'll only be disapppointed now

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 05/03/2009 22:06

Don't worry, there's no danger of me getting excited in advance!

DS on the other hand, will be going loopy in anticipation...

pointydog · 05/03/2009 22:08

I was so excited in advance. Have you got a guide book?

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 05/03/2009 22:12

To Disneyland? No, I didn't realise it needed it's own guidebook! I've got a now-well thumbed one on chateaux in the Loire though...

Simplysally · 05/03/2009 22:12

If you're getting the Eurodisney train (the direct service) then you have to collect the children's activity packs before you get on the train.

Agree with Pointy - walking down Main Street felt like I was stepping into a film set and I am quite a cynical person (I dislike panto for example).

carrielou2007 · 06/03/2009 08:31

When the park closes each night at 8pm they light up the fairytale castle and make it snow - I defy anyone not to find it fab fab fab!!!

We once went at Halloween and once at christmas and walking up main street when the parades are on - you won't believe how excited you will get, honestly!!!

Marthasmama · 06/03/2009 08:37

Word of warning. Are the boys used to people dressed up as characters? My DS was 2.5 when we took him and he was terrified of them! We arrived on the first day just in time to see a parade. Well, Pluti ran over to DS, he screamed and tried to climb up my back. I'm glad we didn't arrange a character breakfast, he would probably have cacked himself.

stealthsquiggle · 06/03/2009 12:53

MMoCheeses - I defy you to be cynical at Disneyland. It is just so well done, that you have to suspend disbelief and be 6 for the duration of the visit. We went with friends and their DC - the father was so cynical going in - at the end of 2.5 days he was a complete and utter convert.

As for the dressed up people - DD(2.5) was enchanted with them (Minnie Mouse wave at me, Minnie Mouse my friend, etc, etc) until they got closer than about 10m and then she freaked and hid behind me

Marthasmama · 06/03/2009 13:33

Yup, that's what DS did. His screams got louder the nearer they got, like some sort of crazed metal detector.

MaryMotherOfCheeses · 06/03/2009 17:08

We've only got a day.

Which are the bits we mustn't miss with a just 8 year old boy?

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