Disneyland Paris Tips

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Hi all,

Im looking into taking my soon to be 10 year old to DLP and I’m a little hesitant as it will be the first time going out the country with her on my own. I’m looking for any hints and tips please!!

From safest transport from airport, to money saving hacks, best hotel to stay in.

All advice welcome. Thanks in advance :)

Following as thinking about taking my 10 and 11 year old by myself

Loads of helpful Instagram accounts…try disneylandparistipsforirish

*book with magic breaks as cost will include tickets, flights, hotel and shuttle bus to park and back.

*book shows beforehand

*book restaurants in advance as they book up

*go for 3-4 days as 2s not enough

*stay for illuminations as they're amazing.

*try and bring food if you can as the queue for it can be long and it's expensive.

*if you can afford it get fast passes.

Agree with above but don’t book shows as you have to pay….we just queued and got in to all we wanted to . Also didn’t use fast passes or magic breaks!

Depending on budget, worth doing a Disney ‘on-site’ hotel. Includes tickets and an early exclusive hour before opening. Santa Fe is the furthest and about 20 min walk to park, of there are shuttles, though busy first/last thing.

if you get the train there’s also a service to take bags to and from train station so you can go straight to the park - worth it depending on arrival times.

look at queue times on the app - many busy rides go to no queue (much) later in the day.

have fun!

If the money allows stay in a Disney hotel, you get extra magic hours and can walk (shuttles at the end of day get crazy busy) to and from the parks
you can even go back middle of the day to have a nap / rest when the parks get mental
do not book for shows, just get there early
if you have a must do restaurant book in advance
you can either take a train from the airport or the magic shuttle
do pay for fast passes if the queues are mental
you’re allowed to take snacks into the parks just not a full on picnic

Yes, I wouldn’t pay for queues but turn up early - you can always ask about how much before they close the lines.

If kids like drawing, there’s a nice animation academy class in Studios - next to the frozen show. It’s a bit too small so you will likely have to queue though.

The cheapest way to get from the airport is the RER train but it’s not the fastest. If you have 80 minutes to spare, it will save you money and it’s perfectly safe. The RER goes through the centre of Paris. At Chatelet station, Line B interconnects with Line A which runs out to Disneyland (station name Marne-la-Vallée). The interconnection is easy as both trains leave from the same platform.
At Marne-la-Vallée, the railway station is next to the main entrance to Disneyland and the bus station. Free hotel shuttles run from here to all the major DLP hotels (except Davy Crockett Ranch and Villages Nature)

The DLP Magical Shuttle bus has its CDG terminus at Terminal 2. If you are using Terminals 1 or 3 you can use the free CDGVAL train to Terminal 2. At DL the bus stops at the bus/train station at Disneyland outside the main gates. From the bus station all of the hotel shuttles leave frequently.

By my calculations, if you want to spend as little as possible, then don’t get a meal plan. Buying counter service meals (which are tasty and huge!) is your best bet, and is my preference, not to save money particularly, but because we like them, especially Cowbooy Cookout - excellent ribs! Even cheaper would be McDonalds, Earl of Sandwich etc… Even cheaper still would be taking lots of snacks in with you.

However, if you wanted to eat at more expensive restaurants - say you wanted a buffet every day so you had a huge choice of food (thinking of fussiness!), then a meal plan may well be the most cost effective way forward. Buffet meals are approximately £30 per person.

Walking times to the hotels are very generous - my then 7yo could do it much faster, so the further hotels are nearer than they seem ITSWIM. Book character meals from the UK. We did one and enjoyed it so much we wanted to book another, but that one was sold out for the duration of our stay.

If you go in summer months, leave the park mid-late afternoon for some R&R and go back in for the evening until close. No queues for lots of rides late in the evening as the daytrippers have left.

Disneyland Paris for brits group on Facebook has all the tips

Such good tips

If you’re only there for a couple of days, I’d stay in a Disney hotel for the extra magic hours.
We’ve stayed at this B&B hotel before and they have a free shuttle to the park. www.hotel-bb.com/en/hotel/disneyland-paris Wherever you stay, book asap as prices gradually increase over time (usually).

Wow!! Some excellent tips on here. I’m going to have a proper read through and make notes later on. Thanks ever so much !!!

We just got back from a break with our 8 and 11 year old. We stayed at a hotel at Chessy, Val De Europe. It was one stop non the train from Disney but actually had its own shuttle bus so just used that.

We drove, but you could get the train to Paris, then out again right to the hotel, then dead easy to get to Disney.

food cost in the parks was extortionate (expected) so we took snacks. There’s a McDonald’s in Disney village so are there one day which kept cost down.