We took a three-night trip to Disneyland Paris at the end of March. We took the Eurostar from St Pancras and changed at Gare Du Nord in Paris. The train station at Disneyland drops you right outside the entrances to the parks and next to the Disney village.
As we were taking the train we made the decision to stay at one of the Disneyland hotels – the Newport Bay hotel We booked our package via the Disney website. We didn’t include the meal package but we did include the Disney express hotel check-in and luggage service. This was great. We arrived at around 2pm and were in the park by around 3pm. On the last day we packed up and checked out in time for magic hour (more about this later) and collected out luggage at the station. We felt this was a worthwhile add-on to the booking. It gave us some extra time to enjoy the parks.
The Newport Bay hotel was large, clean and had plenty of amenities. The rooms were a good size. They are not particularly fancy but then we hardly spent any time in the room! We used the pool a couple of times. Due to the time of year we only used the indoor pool. It is heated but still quite cool. Though it is huge and there are plenty of flotation aid and arm bands to use on a complimentary basis. There was a small, shallow pool for toddlers and a large jacuzzi pool which was perfect for lounging in after having fun in the main pool. This, for us, was the benefit of staying so close to the parks. We were able to go back to the hotel for a period in the afternoon to use the pool and relax a little. For the evening where we returned for the fireworks it was particularly well-received! We only ate in the hotel restaurant one evening. We ate in the Cape cod buffet restaurant. It was expensive but the selection was amazing and it was tasty food with plenty of seafood options.
Also to note that in the evenings there were character meet and greet opportunities in the hotel. So we were able to meet Daisy duck and Pluto there.
A note on restaurant bookings – including the hotel restaurants – they get booked up really quickly! When I went on the Disneyland Paris app to book some restaurants I only managed a booking for one restaurant for dinner. The hotel restaurant we managed to get a booking on the day but there was either a very early option or a really late one. Bookings can be made up to 2 months in advance (or some are up to 12 months in advance if you are a hotel guest). So if you are keen to eat in a particular restaurant or experience the character dining options then you need to be organised!
Extra magic time – For those who stay in one of the Disney hotels you are able to make use of the extra magic time. Whilst we were there both parks opened an hour early for those staying at the hotels. Once in the park you will find that a selection of the rides are open and you can see the park with smaller crowds. We did this on each of the mornings we had a Disney. With each day we became more savvy about how to approach this! Morning one we were disorganised and late. As such we stumbled into the park not really knowing where to head or what to do! We did manage to walk straight into Buzz Lightyear laser blast and Orbitron. By then it was coming up to general opening so Mimi and Neil headed into the Hyperspace mountain queue which was still fairly short whilst Fifi and I rode Autopia twice.
For the next morning we sat and did some research and created a plan for the extra hour in the Walt Disney studios park. And the same again for the last morning in the Disneyland Park. Below is how we mastered extra magic time:
Make sure you have a backpack with a drink and some snacks so you can aim for breakfast a little later in the morning or a brunch. That way you can be up and out quickly!
Disneyland Park:
Arrive in time for the gates opening at 8.30 (we were let in right on time)
Head to Fantasyland. We were amazed to find that there were so few people that we got unobstructed view of the whole area! The castle, we got a picture with the sword in the stone and we were able to walk right into Peter Pan’s flight which normally has one of the longest queues. We then rode Dumbo the flying elephant and the carousel. As we had done a number of rides on the previous days we chose to then get in the (really long) queue to meet Mickey. However, you could easily do the Mad Hatters tea cups and then head over to Discoveryland for Buzz Lightyear’s laser blast.
Walt Disney Studios Park:
To make the most of this extra magic hour you really need to be up and near to the parks entrance by around 8.15. The queue builds up much quicker for this park. Most people are going to head for Crush’s coaster and this is by far the best place to aim for but be warned that everyone has a similar plan! That being said we walked straight onto the ride. We then went toy story land where Mimi and myself rode the RC racer whilst Fifi and Neil rode Slinkydog. We then went on the Toy soldiers parachute drop and Slinkydog (a favourite) again. Mimi and Neil then headed over to Spider-man W.E.B. adventure (single riders) and Avengers Assemble. Fifi and I went and rode Cars Quatre Roues Rallye (twice), Aladdin’s flying carpet (twice) and then went into the animation academy. We then joined the queue to meet Olaf. We had done the Ratatouille ride the day before so we didn’t do it as a family that morning but Neil and Mimi rode it as single riders. This was all by 10.30am. We then got back together at the Olaf meet and greet.
We found that using the Extra magic hour in a planned way allowed us to have a busy couple of hours on the rides and then a relaxed breakfast and afternoon. On the two full days we also hopped between the parks. We managed to ride all of the rides that were open during our time there. We didn’t buy any Premier access tickets for rides and the longest queues we encountered were for the meet and greets. However, the meet and greets were great experiences. They didn’t feel rushed and the characters really engaged with us.
Eating at Disneyland Paris:
I know a lot of people book the meal plans but we chose not to. I travelled with a selection of snacks for the children and picked up fruit for them to eat as we went around the parks.
As mentioned – we would not eat breakfast but would buy a pastry to eat as we walked about.
We then tended to had a larger brunch.
We ate at:
Annette’s diner, Disney village – We arrived around 11am and ate from the breakfast menu. Perfect sized portions and drink is included.
Stark factory: pizza and pasta, Walt Disney Studios Park – This was a fast-food style place. It was mid-priced. The pizza was tasty but the pasta pretty bland.
Colonel Hathi’s pizza outpost, Disneyland Park – good sized portions, mid-priced. Ok tasting.
The Lucky nugget, Disneyland park – Quick service. You pay as you enter. The food was tasty. The girls shared an adults meal (the fish and chips) here.
The Steakhouse, Disney village – We booked this for our first evening for dinner. We arrived a little early but they were able to accommodate us. We waited a while for the food to be served but it was tasty when it got to us! We had the set menu. It was one of the more expensive meals.
Cape Cod restaurant, Newport Bay resort – as mentioned above.
I would advise that if you are planning to have three meals per day and aim to make bookings for each of these then the meal plan would work out to be a good deal. However, I am glad we didn’t add the meal plan as we would have struggled to make full use of it without having been able to book many dinner options.
Parades and fireworks:
We used our third evening there to watch the parades and fireworks. We returned to the hotel just after 1pm and then made our way back to the parks later in the afternoon. We arrived in time to watch the parade from a spot just between Main street USA and the castle. The parade was fun and full of characters and magic.
We then went on a couple of rides and walked around the park and then landed on a spot right in front of the castle with around 45 minutes to go. We sat down and ate popcorn and played some games. The light show started 10 minutes prior to the fireworks. The timings vary (and were a little earlier on the weekdays). We had an amazing view and the show was spectacular. The light show particularly.
Having been fortunate enough to visit Disneyland, California and Disneyworld in Florida it is fair to say that this met our expectations. The park is smaller and more on a size par with California. This makes it very easy to do in a shorter space of time. If needed you could manage both parks in 2 days but spreading it longer allowed for more rest periods, which I think is useful with smaller children. At the end of March the weather wasn’t consistent – the evenings were cool enough that the gloves and hats we had brought were helpful and our coats were needed in the day and there were some light rain showers. However, compared to the heat at Disneyworld it did make walking around the parks much less tiring!
For a short trip from Europe, or as part of a longer trip this was an amazing experience full of fun and memories. The girls loved their experience.