Disneyland with one?

[gdtt]

Looking to go to Disneyland in America or Paris with dd who is nearly 12. Not sure when best time to go is age wise and whether she will be ok on rides with us. We don't have any family to go with or friends that would be prepared to commit to a big holiday so will just be the 3 of us. Any experiences of doing it with a small family?

Paris and US disneylands are…. very different and huge disparity in cost!

We took DD to Disneyland California when she was 14, she’d also been to the Paris one a few months before with school and wasn’t a massive fan of either. At that age the magic of it isn’t really there anymore and it just becomes a day of endless queuing with very few rides

My only advice if you’re thinking of possibly doing Florida is to skip Disney altogether (or just do a day or 2 to tick it off the bucket list) and go to Universal Studios instead. Miles better for teens/tweens. Fantastic fast pass system so you can really make the most of your time and much more varied and technologically advanced rides. Even as parents we had an amazing time at Universal, Disney not so much and it was a waste of £££ in all honesty

We’re taking our one child DD this year to Paris but she’s 2 so probably going to have a different experience!

If you can afford it I think Florida would be better than Paris with 11 y/o, then can do universal as well. I went aged 12 and loved it! I do have a brother but there’s quite a big age gap, I think it would still have been good as a singleton.

I would go sooner rather than later though, I think at 12 she has a better chance to enjoy it than 14. At WDW she’d need an “adult ticket” (3-9 are children) and at DLP she probably will (3-11 are children).

At nearly 12 she will presumably be tall enough to ride everything. What does she like? There are rollercoasters, dark “experience” rides, fairground style rides, parades, shows, themed areas to walk about in, shops, themed restaurants and character meet and greets at Disney, would any of that interest her?

I'm just back from DLP with my 7 year old DD. Just the two of us, we had a brilliant time!