If you follow me on social media, you will know that I have just returned from a trip to Disneyland Paris and thus have all the top tips and unofficial rules of a trip with kids, specifically during the summer months this time, although many of these are relevant year round, to be fair. Disneyland is an expensive destination, but one I wholeheartedly recommend, it truly is the most magical place, especially for those with young families, hopefully these tips and tricks will help make planning your next trip stress free.
Save Money on Your Hotel
We have stayed at several of the Disney hotels in the past but the last few times we have opted to stay at the Explorers hotel, which is just a few minutes further away, not a Disney hotel but still themed and with a free shuttle, just like the park hotels, which runs constantly during the day, making travel to and from the park quick and simple and most importantly, free!
The Explorers hotel has a restaurant as well as a buffet breakfast and a pizza pop-up, a shop (although this appeared not to be open during our most recent stay), a 6D cinema (likewise), a candy shop, an indoor and outdoor play area, a soft play and a big pool complete with waterslides – the children absolutely loved it.
We stayed in a family room with three adults and three children and it cost a fraction of the price of one of the Disney hotels, whilst still being totally exciting for the children. The main thing to remember is that you won’t get the extra magic hour when staying in a non Disney hotel, but we still had a fantastic time without that additional hour.
Popular Rides During the Parade
If there are rides you love but the queues are always huge, consider missing out on the parade and going during this time, as they tend to be a lot quieter at this point. Rides are also generally easier to get onto first thing in the morning and last thing at night, we have managed to get on Pirates of the Caribbean with only a five minute wait time during these times, as opposed to half hour or so at other times.
You can get fast passes to help with rides that have long queue times but these are no longer free, you have to purchase them for each ride (or at an additional cost in advance), and it works out at around 9 Euros per person per ride, which just wouldn’t be feasible for a lot of families, when park tickets are already very costly. We never queued for over 50 minutes, even in the peak of summer, so it can be done without the need to spend extra, you just need to be savvy.
Download the App
On that note, it is worthwhile downloading the Disneyland app before you head to the park. You can see a real-time map showing queue times of all the rides, along with important information such as park opening times, show and parade times for that day. You can also use the app to link your Disney hotel and park tickets, to book fast passes and to pre-book or look at menus for restaurants within the parks and Disney Village as well. It is a handy thing to have to hand, and is completely free to download.
Camping out for Fireworks
We went to the fireworks on our first evening and it was a bit of an ordeal, if I am being honest. We loved the display, which is an impressive half an hour long, and it is definitely worth watching, but it gets so busy and the crowds are just insane! I wanted to go on a ride, but some of our party camped out in a good spot around 45 minutes prior to the show starting and it is something I would recommend you do, if you want to have a good vantage point.
Be prepared for people to walk over you if you are sitting down waiting, and for people to push through the crowd and stand right in front of you, but we still had a really good position for the fireworks doing it the way we did. If you have already seen the fireworks or just don’t fancy them, I would recommend leaving whilst they are on, or just before, as the crowds getting out at the end when the park closes is absolutely insane, and quite stressful if you have anxiety and hate lots of people being around you like I do. The queues for the shuttle buses are also so long, we even walked it after the New Year’s Eve fireworks a few years back, as it can be a really stressful experience getting on a packed bus.
Prioritise Your Must-Dos
Before we got to the park we used the app to create our ‘wishlist’ of must do rides and must see shows, so that we knew what to prioritise. I knew I would be very upset if we didn’t go on Pirates, which is my absolute favourite ride, as well as Phantom Manor, so we did these two rides first and I was then able to go through the list of other rides we all wanted to go on. By the third day we had been on everything we wanted to go on, so it was more chilled, deciding what we would like to do at a slower pace for our last day.
Bear in mind that some rides do close, whether just for a few hours or a day due to repairs, or for a longer period of time (when we went, It’s a Small World was closed, and I think they may actually be replacing it with a Frozen ride). It is worth bearing in mind which rides your children can and can’t go on as well, as there are some with heigh restrictions. Benjamin, who is five and 115cm, was able to go on almost everything he would have wanted to, so it shouldn’t stop you from going on lots of rides, but worth being aware of (this information is also available on the app). If one of you does need to stay with the kids whilst the other goes on a ride, most rides have a single rider queue which will save you some time.
Making up Rolls at the Buffet
Ok, so this one might be a little controversial, but it is my biggest tip when it comes to saving money, if you can’t afford to do the meal plans, or are worried about how much money you will spend on food whilst in the parks. If you have a buffet breakfast at your hotel there will usually be a continental selection including bread rolls, hams and cheeses, which are perfect to make up in advance for a picnic lunch to enjoy during the day, without spending an extra penny.
Yes, it may seem a little cheap, and daunting, but if you take a look around you, lots of people are doing it, and it is surely something the hotels now expect to happen. We are quite good at making a production line by this point, collecting several rolls, packets of butter and fillings and making them up alongside our breakfast each morning. The main issue is transportation, but we found that bringing a bag down to breakfast, and wrapping each roll in tissues helped – we did see a woman wrapping her sandwiches with a roll of clingfilm she had brought along though, now that is dedication!
Pace Yourselves
So we went for three days in the park this time round and, honestly, it was probably a day too many for us. We went hard on the parks on our second day and our feet were wrecked by day three. We were so tired and crabby, we just weren’t enjoying our time in the park as much as the previous two days. It was, however, nice to be able to chill out a little and not have to be constantly queuing for rides. As it was my sister-in-law’s birthday whilst we were there, we were able to go back to her hotel for birthday drinks and some cake, and then to Planet Hollywood in Disney Village for dinner as well as enjoying some time in our hotel pool over our time there, without worrying so much about missing out on time in the park, so think about how many rides, shows etc your want to do and go from there.
I would recommend taking breaks, watching shows, or even going on shorter rides to take the weight off your feet for a bit if you are really struggling (rides like the riverboat are good, as you can literally sit and enjoy the view, without needing to necessarily queue for a long time for a short period of sitting).
Pack Re-usable Bottles
This is the big thing we should have done and didn’t, mainly because I was worried about space in our cases and lugging them around, but it would have saved a lot of hassle and cost in the long run. The temperature was in the mid-thirties when we were in the parks, and it was very hard to queue in the heat, often directly in the sun. We got very thirsty all the time, and it became expensive buying water from the stands and shops around the parks (bottles of water were around 3-4 Euros each).
There are water fountains, and we did attempt to refill some of the single-use plastic bottles, but it just wasn’t very nice and a big faff, I would definitely say to take your own hard plastic bottles to refill. On that note, I would also recommend getting handheld fans, to keep you cool during queuing for rides, you can get ones that disperse water, which would have been a godsend to be honest. There are water mist stations outside some of the toilets, which were really lovely to use, especially for the children. Remember to also pack suncream, and to reapply regularly, as well as wearing hats and trying to stay out of direct sunlight during the midday sun, as much as possible to avoid sunburn and sunstroke.
Opt for Uber over Taxis
As a side note, if you are staying in a hotel further out, or travelling from central Paris to Disneyland, I would recommend using Uber over taxis, as we were royally ripped off when we first arrived in Paris, when the train station told us to use their accredited taxis to save money, and we were charged 85 euros for a 15 minute journey to our hotel. We later got an Uber from the Eiffel Tower back to the hotel (a longer journey) and it cost 28 euros, for a larger vehicle as there were six of us.
Hopefully this post has given you some good tips to help you make the most out of your trip to Disneyland Paris, and to save some of those pennies too! I am by no means an expert on Disney, but I have been several times, and find that sticking to these tips has helped to enjoy a holiday which is really special, without breaking the bank.
