Disneyland Paris - Have you been and tips before going?

Question

We are going to Disneyland Paris at the end of the month and staying at the New York hotel - anyone got any advice on what miss out and what is a must do?

Answer 1

This is what I wrote for a previous question. It's really long, so be prepared.

Go painfully early to avoid queues. By "painfully" I mean wake up at 5am to get there at 5:30am if you want to see the entire Park.

There's two areas: Disneyland Park (the big, proper fun one) and Walt Disney Studios Park (the smaller spin-off, more geeky one). You can only visit one or the other, unless you bought a ticket which lets you see both.

If you're only seeing one, I highly recommend Disneyland Park first. Then, on your third visit, you can see Walt Disney Studios Park.

You can also see Disney Village, which is basically loads of cinemas, restaurants and shops. You can enter it at anytime, no matter which park you went to.

WEAR TRAINERS. TRAINERS ARE ESSENTIAL. I cannot stress this anymore. You will be walking. A lot. Make them extra comfortable, because you'll also be stationary a lot.

Also, GET A BACKPACK. One that isn't too big, but will fit everything in and is comfortable on your shoulders. You could take sandwiches and a couple of drinks with you if you want, but not a picnic because you'll be moved to a designated picnic area (which is right near the entrance). If you don't want to carry around food, then carry around your credit card!

Get a camera, and a camcorder. Make sure both have a good quality zoom, just in case you're standing far away.

When you get to the car park, you'll see a long line of what looks like carnival tents, enter one of them and you'll begin what I call The Endless Line of Conveyor Belts. You'll have fun for a bit pretending to be the Bionic Woman, shooting past pedestrians on the conveyor belt things.

But when you go back home, you'll appreciate the moving floor idea.

You'll eventually reach the queue where they check bags and stuff. After that, there's another queue where you have to stick your ticket in a scanner machine and then you're in Disneyland Park. This is one of the biggest queues, and be warned, people do push in a lot. I got so angry the first time this happened to me, but after a couple of visits you learn to keep your place in the queue.

Get about five or six Park Guides. They'll be propped up on a wall in different languages. It seems wasteful, but you'll need that many, because if you only get one it ends up tearing apart in your hand. It's only made of paper.

Plan your journey well. You don't want to end up walking up and down the Park (which stretches for miles).

You'll notice that there is a train that goes around the Park. It's really nice, but do NOT go on the train when it is raining. I made that horrible mistake and I regret it.

Get one of those Fasticket things. They'll cut off at least 5 minutes off the predicted queue time, but every little helps.

Aim for open-plan areas - as soon as more than three people are left in a small plot of land it gets wayyy too crowded.

Arm yourself with LOTS of cash - it's really expensive, and your five year-old will want to buy everything from the gift shops. I did, anyway.

When buying stuff from gift shops, make sure they'll keep your child occupied in the queues. Trust me, they are long. Really, really, painfully long.

You must try to visit the Parade last, which happens on the Main Street quite late in the afternoon. This is when you'll need a camcorder and/or a camera. It's really good, but make sure you turn up early so you don't end up recording footage of people's heads.

Sorry this is really long, I just wanted to make sure that you don't make the same mistakes that I did!

xCherryx

Answer 2

Fabulous choice of hotel, we went last year and enjoyed every minute. The characters arrive at breakfast for a photo shoot and at other times during theday.

  All the rides are personal choice of course but we didn't bother with the balloon over the lake, the paddle steamer, or the childrens rides except for 'small world ' which we go through every time we visit. Space mountain is great, I could name all the rides but won't waste your time. In the other park the stunt riders show is a must its breathtaking. I'm getting jealous now as we try to go every other year and love it. Enjoy your holiday