Disneyland Paris

Sharon Matthews on 13 August 2012
I have been waiting for the right time to do this trip – my children are 4 & 6 and I think I got it just about right. We travelled by Eurostar from London St Pancras and chose a train with a 90 minute break in the journey, at Lille. This allowed us to stop and sample a French patisserie, but there is a direct train to and from St Pancras daily and the journey time is around 2 and a half hours and if I had booked in advance and had the choice, I would have chosen the direct train. Alternatively a flight into Paris Charles de Gualle and a 20 minute train ride is also an easy option.

The train station for Disney is right by the 3 areas of the park – Disneyland Park, Disney Studios and Disney Village (shops, restaurants). Shuttle buses run from the station to the nearby hotels but we found this an easier walk - clearly it depends on where you are staying. We stayed at the New York Hotel, a good standard 4 star with spacious family rooms. The breakfast was a hot and cold buffet and more than acceptable in terms of choice. The hotel has a small gym and large indoor and outdoor pool with bathing areas and we managed to squeeze a quick visit to this - it was a great way to cool down and wind down before dinner. The hotel is a pleasant 10 minute walk through Disney Village to Disneyland park, with plenty to see on the way, but not somewhere you would easily nip back to during the day, so planning is essential.

Access to the park, if you are staying at a Disney Hotel is from 8am, and for other guests from 10am. These two hours are a great way to spend a lot less time queuing for some of the rides. This does mean an early start each day and they can be long and tiring days, so I would recommend at least 2 if not 3 days there to get the correct pace.

We were there midweek, in the summer holidays and queued on average 20 -30 minutes per ride. Between 8am and 10am we only queued for 5-10 minutes. You can speed up these processes with fast pass tickets and that cuts down your waiting time too.

The park is split into 5 areas; Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adverture Land Discovery Land, each with a different theme and rides to match, and Main Street USA with shops and restaurants. Also, these are aimed across the age groups and you are given a map and ride information as you arrive.

Once inside the parks, there are plenty of places to buy tea, coffee, snacks, but it is quite pricey. Planning ahead with drinks and snacks for younger ones really can pay off.

We opted for the Half board plus and I would highly recommend this. The vouchers are valid at some great restaurants, but in my opinion need pre booking. The vouchers allow a set menu choice, or can be redeemed to a certain value against the full menu, which would probably get you 2 courses in most places. More importantly it allowed us to dine at Café Mickey, we saw all the characters the children wanted for photo and autograph opportunities at our table. It was well organised and not rushed, This was one of the many highlights for the children.

The parades are fabulous and the timetable of these is worth checking. Although an afternoon siesta is recommended for those of you with young children, particularly if you have been up since 7am, so you can all enjoy the evening parade at 10.15pm closely followed by the Disney Dreams display at 11pm – I would say you cannot visit without seeing this – it was truly magical.

As an introduction to all things Disney, this is a great place to start. With the right planning and bundles of energy you can see the park in 3 days quite effectively and really get a lot out of your time there. We had a fabulous trip – it’s inundated with visitors of all ages, real evidence that it can really bring the kid out in us all.

There are some top tips though for families, so if you are thinking of planning a trip, please give me a call.