Princess lunch/diner at Disneyland Paris for 3 year old - yes or no

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I am going to DLP on Wednesday with my 3 year old. i have booked cafe mikey for lunch one day and am wondering about the princess lunches. It does seem really expensive so I am wondering whether it is worth it - will she see enough princesses during our 2 day stay to not have to worry about spending the best part of 100 quid for three of us to have lunch?

Thanks

Yes but my big tip is to book breakfast inside the park if you are staying in an officizal hotel. You get in early and there is loads to eat. As well as cereal/toast etc they do ham/cheese/chocolate spread, philadelphia/jam and bread rolls so you can make up your lunchtime sandwiches.

StripeyKnickers do they allow/tolerate that (sleeping in campervan in car park)?

Definitely take snacks and water with you - you'll save a fortune. It's one of the advantages of driving rather than flying. We always travel with large bag of assorted snacks to keep everyone going between overpriced meals. I think I will be packing grapes this time to try and counteract the otherwise vitamin-free diet my DC subsist on at DLP (although it clearly won't kill them for 3 days )

There is a special campervan section of the carpark. It costs 13euros a night per vehicle, there are showers and toilets. At least this is what I've been told. I'm beginning to worry now that its not true.....

I am more than prepared to believe that - we don't have (and are never likely to have since DH hates them ) a campervan - I just can't remember seeing it (but then I am (a) terminally unobservant and (b) was generally knackered and/or juggling overexcited DC whilst walking/driving through car parks.

My DH hates them as well, I bought one without telling him. This will be his first time away in it.

I will look out for your campervan inthe car park stripey!

Have fun.

I think if I was trying to force persuade my DH into appreciating camper vans I might not pick a car park in Paris in October as the obvious first venue .

Have fun, both of you.... I can't wait (about 8 weeks to go, I think)

Was looking for camping info near disney and came across this page which might be useful.

Just got back and thought i would update this thread in case any one else is looking for the same information.

Really glad I didn't book a princess lunch. We did queue to meet Cinderella and I am glad we did that as it was a highlight for her but DD really saw enough princesses around to keep her happy. If I had an older girl I might consider it but DD was wiped out by lunch time and I would have resented spending the money.

We did do dinner at Cafe Mickey though which was really good and not that much more expensive than dinner anywhere else.

I am also really glad I stayed in a Disney Hotel as DD is NOT good with queues and we did all the rides between 8-10.30 before it got busy.

Anyway, thanks for the tips everyone.

Stripey, I really hope you had a lovely time too.

Twofalls, glad you had a nice trip.

We did as well thanks. Apart from we nearly missed the ferry this morning as the carparks are locked overnight. We were told they weren't but gates were locked when we wanted to leave at 5:30am. Didn't get out till 6:30!

We found the queues ok. Infact we didn't bother using the Fastpass system on Friday as we didn't queue for more than 10 mins for anything. Saturday was a different story but Fastpass worked fine, walked onto most stuff with it and kept busy inbetween finding rides with no queue or a small one. Most we queued was 20 mins for the Haunted Mansion.

We were very lucky with Cinderella and as we came round a corner in the castle she came out a little door and posed for lots of pics with DD before anyone else saw her. But we had problems later on - queued for 30mins to see Snow White then before we got to her they swopped her for Cinderella. So we left that queue and joined the back of the Arial queue. 20 mins later they swopped her for Belle who we'd also already seen. So I put my foot down after that and said no more Princesses!

I spent a fortune on tat stuff for DD in the shops. Can't believe how many shops there are, all selling the same stuff. Or how expensive it is!

Glad you made it back OK stripey - not good to get locked in the car park. Glad you found the queues OK after 10 - actually Friday seemed really quiet generally I thought (until parade time).

lol at "no more princesses". I think you must have been in the same princess queue as us as DD had her snow white dress on so was very excited but then they swapped her for Cinderella - DD was fine about it though, luckily. Where did you see Belle? I thought there was only one princess meeting place - a bit on DD's behalf at meeting Belle as she is her absolute favourite and was gutted that Belle's village was closed for refurbishment.

I agree about the shops - they all look so lovely but they ALL sell exactly the same stuff . And don't get me started on the price of food.....

Apart from that it, all worth it I thought.

There were 2 princess meeting places nearly nest to each other. The one where Cinderella/Snow White was, then there were a load of concrete benches to one side. The other side of the concrete benches there was a higher up area and that was the second Princess place. There always seemed to be 2 princesses out.

DD isn't a Princess fan at all and I was suprised she was so keen to meet them. We didn't even know which one Belle was and had to ask! I didn't realise there was a Belle village, did all the Princesses have a village? Must have missed them.

Oh, I know where you mean. We rushed off after meeing cinders to catch the end of the Sleeping Beauty show in the castle foreground. tbh, after queing for Mickey and then Cinderella and then meeting Sleeping Beauty after the show, DD probably wouldn't have had the patience for another wait.

No, not all the princesses had a village. Belle's village was tucked away next to the Alice in Wonderland Maze opposite an ice cream shop. I only noticed it because it had the picture from the film on the front of the doors.

DD is a complete fan, she knows all the films pretty much off by heart and really does believe she met the REAL cinderella. She has not stopped talking about it.

I'm off to DLRP on friday. I'm taking 3 teenagers and 1 crazy 3 year old, and everyone of them are hyper excited about the trip! I was there in the summer hols and we had a fab time and invested in the annual pass which worked out cheaper for us than buying a 2 day pass! There definately were camper vans in the designated 'campervan' area when we were last there. You get quite a bit of space considering its 'free' to camp up. lots of people use this facility as it saves a fortune because you can come in and out for lunch and dinner, which IMHO is where loads of money gets spent , espcially when your a large family. It costs 13 euro for camping in the campervan and 8 euros to use the car park for the day so its good value. Many also travel from the train station into paris central as the station is right next to the park! costs about 13eur return I think?? anyway, I must love it as I'm going back again to spend my hard earned cash, but it won't be on their rip off priced food and drink (i take my own, kids carry theres). Oh and princess's are everywhere, save your pennies and go into the disneystore in the uk and buy her the dressing up stuff here, its nearly half the price of disney paris. I also buy any disney gifts here and give my 3 year old a present at the end of the day for being good and not running off! that way I avoid the shops as much as possible, and the "can I have" all the time.
p.s if you allow sweets, then buy them before you go as there sweets and chocs are extremely expensive. Have fun, we do!!