Disneyland Paris with kids

[ChippenhamRed]

We’re at Disney for 3 days / 2 nights at the end of August. Staying on site, half board included. Our kids are 7 and 4.

Seems you need to plan it well to get the most out of it, particularly in peak season. So I thought I’d put it out here.

Anyone got any tips? Must-dos? Things to avoid? Best times to avoid queues? Etc etc etc.

Thanks

[bh_red]

I was there in June with my 2 for 4 nights and it wasn't quite enough time to do everything.

what hotel are you???

Most important thing, download the Disneyland iOS/Andriod Map App, obviously handy to have a map, plus it also gives you live queue times, which is VERY handy (especially for the urgent..where the **** is the nearest toilet)

Make use of fast track where possible...

how are you getting there? (if driving take SNACKS, SNACKS and more Snacks as it's BLOODY EXPENSIVE when your there) Whatever your budget is, it's not enough....

Boys or Girls? (that makes as MASSIVE difference as to what you actually do....Marvel or Princesses)

Mickey and the Magician live show at Disney Studios was without a doubt the highlight of our trip!

I know they are 4 and 7 and too old, but take a pushchair if you still have one just incase, (we've got 3 and 5 year old girls and glad we took two pushchairs) (otherwise you'll be charged £20 per day to rent) we stayed at Hotel Cheynene and averaged 12 miles walking per day, the kids will be KNACKERED and need regular breaks plus if nothing else handy to just dump stuff on, 

Take a decent water bottle for each of you, they have water fountains and were constantly refilling

7.50 for a pint so needless to say we didn't drink at all.

If it's sunny and you want to see the parade, then to get a spot in the shade, then you need to grab a spot at around 3pm for the 5pm parade...

the 11:30pm light show is simply amazing, just get their early for a decent spot....

ratatouille was possible my favourite ride

I'll add more as I remember......

 

[ChippenhamRed]

10 hours ago, bh_red said:

I was there in June with my 2 for 4 nights and it wasn't quite enough time to do everything.

what hotel are you???

Most important thing, download the Disneyland iOS/Andriod Map App, obviously handy to have a map, plus it also gives you live queue times, which is VERY handy (especially for the urgent..where the **** is the nearest toilet)

Make use of fast track where possible...

how are you getting there? (if driving take SNACKS, SNACKS and more Snacks as it's BLOODY EXPENSIVE when your there) Whatever your budget is, it's not enough....

Boys or Girls? (that makes as MASSIVE difference as to what you actually do....Marvel or Princesses)

Mickey and the Magician live show at Disney Studios was without a doubt the highlight of our trip!

I know they are 4 and 7 and too old, but take a pushchair if you still have one just incase, (we've got 3 and 5 year old girls and glad we took two pushchairs) (otherwise you'll be charged £20 per day to rent) we stayed at Hotel Cheynene and averaged 12 miles walking per day, the kids will be KNACKERED and need regular breaks plus if nothing else handy to just dump stuff on, 

Take a decent water bottle for each of you, they have water fountains and were constantly refilling

7.50 for a pint so needless to say we didn't drink at all.

If it's sunny and you want to see the parade, then to get a spot in the shade, then you need to grab a spot at around 3pm for the 5pm parade...

the 11:30pm light show is simply amazing, just get their early for a decent spot....

ratatouille was possible my favourite ride

I'll add more as I remember......

 

Superb reply! Many thanks for this.

Already got the app and I’ve been looking at it at various times during the day to get a feel for queue lengths!

We’re staying on the west coast for a week first before driving across to Paris. Will certainly be taking snacks! We’re at Sequoia Lodge (on-site).

Boy is 7 and girl is 4 so will be looking to strike a Marvel/Princess balance!

Mickey Magician show is now on the priority list based on your recommendation!

Thank you again, so much handy advice here, much appreciated.

[steveybadger]

On 05/08/2018 at 21:16, ChippenhamRed said:

We’re at Disney for 3 days / 2 nights at the end of August. Staying on site, half board included. Our kids are 7 and 4.

Seems you need to plan it well to get the most out of it, particularly in peak season. So I thought I’d put it out here.

Anyone got any tips? Must-dos? Things to avoid? Best times to avoid queues? Etc etc etc.

Thanks

Yep would reiterate using fast track - get it first thing then can get another when used up. 7 yo would love Rocky Mountain ride.

[screech]

It's a small world boat ride music will not leave your head for weeks afterwards. You have been warned!!

[bh_red]

for you lad, sadly not much advice having two girls, however for your daughter....

Disney Princess Parade, we had 2hours queuing for that, queue rarely goes below 90mins, if she’s into all that, wave goodbye to your wife for the morning, equally in the evening Princess Waltz, all the princesses and thier men come out and do some BS dance routine, my girls literally lost their ******* minds!!!  

Oh and with a daughter, if she is anything like mine and is into the Princess Dresses, £70 a pop at Disney, £15 a pop at Asda and frankly better quality (we brought a dress for each and then surprised them with them when we got there)  , if the kids are wearing any type of fancy dress they get LOTS of special attention from staff, princesses basically anyone employed by Disney.

Rocky Mountain - eldest went on and she loved it, I did worry I’d broken her though, your call.

mickey show is fantastic it really was a hidden gem, there is a fair bit of French talking at the beginning but when it gets going it becomes irrelevant, I’ll say no more on thst one.

Disney Junior and Studio tour, avoid both dreadful

8 minutes ago, screech said:

It's a small world boat ride music will not leave your head for weeks afterwards. You have been warned!!

Oh Jesus, it’s back....ARGH!!!!!  The ride broke down and we were stuck and had to be evacuated from the North Pole, in the end we literally had to break out.

[bh_red]

Oh and food....

toad in the hole cafe does a decent fish n chips

oh the Main Street avoid the hot dog place dreadful.

if your considering any of the buffet service restaurants in Disney literally ring up and book tomorrow, you won’t be able to book on the day, Plaza Gardens in the Park is great but again, book tomorrow

oh and the character lunch was fantastic, cost best part of £130 for a buffet but they get to spend quality time with the main Disney characters,  it’s in the main Disneyland Hotel, make sure you go for a stroll it’s lovely in there. 

[bh_red]

Oh and Ratatouille ride, GREAT...fast track it, same with both Star Wars

Picnicoho, sleeping beauty and the Alice in Wonderland Maze, short queues for a reason, the sort of rides you saw on Weston Pier before it burned down,  Alice in Wonderland offers a good photo op at the top 

The main thing I’d say is pick and choose you honestly won’t get to do everything 

[kit]

If you want to see a princess and avoid a queue then best advice is to get to the gates when the park opens then sprint to the princess castle. We did this and had a 15 minute queue and as we left the queue was at 2 hours already.

[ChippenhamRed]

10 hours ago, bh_red said:

Oh and food....

toad in the hole cafe does a decent fish n chips

oh the Main Street avoid the hot dog place dreadful.

if your considering any of the buffet service restaurants in Disney literally ring up and book tomorrow, you won’t be able to book on the day, Plaza Gardens in the Park is great but again, book tomorrow

oh and the character lunch was fantastic, cost best part of £130 for a buffet but they get to spend quality time with the main Disney characters,  it’s in the main Disneyland Hotel, make sure you go for a stroll it’s lovely in there. 

Thanks for all the advice!

Already booked the restaurants well in advance.

2 hours ago, kit said:

If you want to see a princess and avoid a queue then best advice is to get to the gates when the park opens then sprint to the princess castle. We did this and had a 15 minute queue and as we left the queue was at 2 hours already.

Thanks! I’m not sure even my four year old daughter wants to see a Princess that badly!

[Selred]

Pick what ride you want to go on the most (personally I love Peter Pan ride, but that's because I loved it as a kid so it hold many happy memories), and then get fast track for that straight away.

You can only have one fast track at any time, so make it count. 

[ChippenhamRed]

1 hour ago, Selred said:

Pick what ride you want to go on the most (personally I love Peter Pan ride, but that's because I loved it as a kid so it hold many happy memories), and then get fast track for that straight away.

You can only have one fast track at any time, so make it count. 

Cheers.  We're planning to get to the park early for opening (we get the extra early start as we're staying on site).  The plan is I will run off to get a fastpass for one ride as soon as the gates open, while my wife and kids make their way to another, and I'll meet them there.  As you can probably tell I'm taking the planning very seriously!

[ChippenhamRed]

12 hours ago, bh_red said:

Oh and Ratatouille ride, GREAT...fast track it, same with both Star Wars

Picnicoho, sleeping beauty and the Alice in Wonderland Maze, short queues for a reason, the sort of rides you saw on Weston Pier before it burned down,  Alice in Wonderland offers a good photo op at the top 

The main thing I’d say is pick and choose you honestly won’t get to do everything 

Question - say I run to Ratatoulle first thing as soon as it opens.  Will the fast pass be for the first 30 minutes of the day - i.e. the same time that you get there - or will it be for a later time slot?  Ideally I want to grab a fastpass and return later.

[Selred]

27 minutes ago, ChippenhamRed said:

Cheers.  We're planning to get to the park early for opening (we get the extra early start as we're staying on site).  The plan is I will run off to get a fastpass for one ride as soon as the gates open, while my wife and kids make their way to another, and I'll meet them there.  As you can probably tell I'm taking the planning very seriously!

Make sure you take their tickets to get fastpass's.

You pick a time when you want to go on the ride (subject to availability).

Let me know what Ratatouille is like, didn't manage to go on that one.

Oh one final tip, for the parade in the evening, be the castle side not the entrance side. Then after head straight to see Mickey Mouse at the back of the park, don't dither just go go go. Queues were 20 mins, rather than 2 hours (also there are old Mickey films on to keep the kids and adults entertained when waiting).

[The Batman]

I would love to have been of assistance to you, but I know jack all about Paris.

Had it been Disney World in Florida, you can pm me to your heart's content and I'd have been delighted to help.

The parks are similar but are completely different.

Disneyland / Magic kingdom are split into 4 worlds. Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland and Tomorrowland (i think in Paris it's called something else) - (technically Main Street USA is a world but it's just shops, so i dont count it)

You can breakdown the rides you want to go on by looking at which rides are situated around the park. So for the kids, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger spin in Tomorrowland is awesome for kids and adults, family friendly, great fun shooting all the aliens and Emperor Zurg. You can plan an hour or so in Tomorrowland before moving across to one of the other worlds. You want to head for the newest attraction first as that is where everyone goes. In Magic Kingdom, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train has an hour wait 10 mins after the park opens because everyone heads there, so find out what the newest attraction is and go there first.

Depending on height restrictions & personal taste, Thunder mountain and space mountain are musts.

Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan's flight and Haunted Mansion are great fun too for the kids, which are slow rides with no height restrictions (i dont think) - do these at mid day when the temperature is at it's hottest as they're air conned (presume Paris is air conned too) and you're inside for a while on each ride as well as in door waiting. Peter Pan always has a huge wait time in Orlando, so one would presume this was the case in Paris too although it is a short ride (in orlando anyway, guessing they copy each other)

Make the most of your time there by getting there at rope drop when the park opens. 

Just be warned, now Disney own Marvel and Star Wars, be prepared for lots of these things, it is not all Mickey Mouse, Pluto, Donald Duck now, you have Thor, Captain America, Darth Vader etc.

These are just interpretations of what I think Paris would be like based on many visits to Orlando. I imagine they're not too dissimilar but feel free to correct me if I am wrong. I dont have encyclopedic knowledge of what rides Paris has that Orlando has too, but those mentioned above, I know for certain.

Dont know how the fast passes work. In Orlando, it's linked to your magic band, someone who has been can confirm what the procedures are for Paris.

[Selred]

On 07/08/2018 at 12:21, The Batman said:

Haunted Mansion are great fun too for the kids, 

Bloody awful in Paris cause it’s all in French so it’s not scary at all!