Why we really, really hated it – Disneyland Paris review

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• Koshka says:

  16 Sep16 September 08:01

  We went to Paris three years ago when our son was 3 and it was a bit of a mixed bag. We went midweek but I think that some countries were on half-term. We stayed a couple of nights at one of the official hotels and went in on three different days. The first afternoon was pretty much as the article describes with our son so bored by the time we got to the front of the queue that he wanted to leave. Our day at the studio side was like visiting a different place entirely. Good stage shows in multiple languages, a great stunt car show and a much more relaxed atmosphere with little queuing (a few adult rides had longer queues). We went back to the crowded side for our final full day and managed to have better time by arriving early and making better use of the fast pass. We also had two good experiences at the restaurants. Expensive food but good interaction with the characters, especially at the very expensive buffet restaurant in the main hotel.

• Mark says:

  16 Sep16 September 08:10

  Here’s an eye opener for you.

  A friend of mines mum is disabled and wheelchair bound. Hospital blunder left her with no legs. When she got paid out he wanted to take the kids and all the grand kids to disney. The only option was Paris as she can’t fly for longer than three hours.

  They were quoted £16000 for a week in a hotel in the park for all of them!!!

  I made somes suggestions and in the end they went to Florida.

  Gran and grandad went on the queen Elizabeth to New York flying down to Florida. Where they spent FIVE weeks in a five bed specially adapted villa. During which time all three of her kids, their other halves and grandchildren flew out and spent a couple of weeks with them. At the end they flew back to New York and cruised back to Southampton. Total cost. £16000

• Moonman85 says:

  16 Sep16 September 08:11

  I’ve used an app/website before when I went to Disney California, you select the date you are going, the rides you wish to visit, walking pace and a few other factors and it plans an itinerary for you to minimise your queuing as it uses average queue times at different parts of the day and I think it can even update to consider real time queue lengths. Not sure if there is similar for Disneyland Paris but would highly recommend

  • Boi says:

    16 Sep16 September 11:56

    That sounds like a useful app- what is it called? I might try the california dysney then. Kids enjoyed florida- Based on what I have read so far I guess paris is not for us. We can only go on school hols or weekends. With 3 kids getting there early is a mission! We didnt have queing issues in florida though it was half term.

• luckyjim says:

  16 Sep16 September 08:13

  May half term is a good time to go as the French schools don’t have a May half term.

  The food at Auberge de Cendrillon is excellent but not cheap – 65 euros for adults, 40 for kids – but you are treated to a show and get to meet all the princesses without queuing.

  Florida is no different. You need to plan and accept that it is going to be expensive if you want a great experience.

  You won’t remember the cost when you are looking back at happy family holidays. No child has treasured memories of how much money their Dad saved.

  • Rob says:

    16 Sep16 September 08:36

    Fundamentally, my kids don’t give a toss about meeting princesses etc. And if they did, we can walk up to Harrods and mess about in the Disney area there for nothing!

    On Sunday, we walked up the Eiffel Tower. With a 3-year old and a 6-year old. They loved it and it was one of the best things we have ever done as a family. Slightly odd but true.

    • andy L says:

      16 Sep16 September 13:13

      Agree – it doesn’t seem odd to me that your children preferred real experiences to fake. I tended to steer mine towards real sights etc (except LegoLand that, at the time, did very well to capture their imagination)

  • James says:

    16 Sep16 September 11:27

    I went at May half-term once and it rained the whole day- queuing in the rain made the experience worse. Just back from Disneyland California adventure, which was great and even the queues were 20 mins at most. Also, at the Paris Disney it’s pricey when you have to pay out almost eight euros for a balloon. Planning though, as above, is key.

• Pierre says:

  16 Sep16 September 08:17

  Park Asterix is better, not that overpriced and quite fun. Not sure whether there’s a minimum age fr kids though.

• Steve says:

  16 Sep16 September 08:20

  As a veteran of the Disney parks I would agree with many of the above comments. If you go back (to any Disney park), I would strongly suggest avoiding the weekends (although it’s not such an issue at WDW). In WDW and Tokyo there are websites that give you detailed crowd forecasts that allow you to plan your visit during the quietest times of the year, or select the least-crowded park on any particular day.

  Secondly, it really does pay to get there early. In fact the parks usually open at least the front part 30-60 minutes before official opening time. In the first couple of hours you can ride all of the headliners multiple times with minimal waits and get a headstart on getting Fastpasses for the rest of the day. Then as the crowds build up and the waits get longer, move on to the less popular / higher capacity rides or use your Fastpasses.

  Don’t let this put you off Disney parks, Next time you are in Tokyo, go to Tokyo DisneySea, you won’t regret it.

  • Rob says:

    16 Sep16 September 08:42

    As I mentioned in the piece, the Fastpass is great – for the adult rides. (It only covers 4 rides at Paris but, to be fair, if you got to ride them all then you would have got your moneys worth I reckon).

    It doesn’t apply to the kids rides. In fact, there is something fundamentally wrong when you pay the same price to go in as an adult and Fastpass your way around hugely expensive mega-rides as you pay to go in with two toddlers and spend all your time queuing to go on flying elephants.

• Halo says:

  16 Sep16 September 08:22

  Amateur. There are 4 rules for visiting a Disney theme park:-
  1/. Go to America.
  2/. Do your research.
  3/. Arrive early to beat the lines.
  4/. See Rule 1.

• SydneySwan says:

  16 Sep16 September 08:41

  I have never been to Disney Paris but have some friends who visited in 2011 when kids were 9 & 11 who claimed it was the ‘lowlight’ of an otherwise wonderful trip to Europe (we live in Sydney) – anyone mention Disney to the Dad and off he goes retelling the war stories from Disney Paris – the queues, the service, the food, the cost, just about everything really. It put them off going to any other Disney. We took our boys to Hong Kong in 2007 and Anaheim in 2009 and had fantastic times at both (including weekends). I have promised never to spoil the memories by trying Paris.

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