Our 2023 Disneyland Paris trip planning information covers data & ideas for visiting the theme parks in France, plus lodge critiques, restaurant suggestions, trip scores, and theme park itineraries. It’s up-to-date data and recommendation, with common revisions from our visits to DLP and Walt Disney Studios Park. (Updated January 2, 2023.)
Disneyland Paris is now celebrating its thirtieth Anniversary! In reality, the festivities are about to enter their dwelling stretch, with the Disneyland Paris thirtieth Anniversary Grand Finale starting on January 9, 2023 and the celebration ending on September 30, 2023. That’s fairly the prolonged Grand Finale, however we’ll take it–this has been fairly the occasion!
This celebration options new points of interest, decorations, costumes, merchandise, leisure, exhibits, and the first-ever aerial drone present inside a Disney theme park. There’s a ton occurring for this–arguably greater than Walt Disney World’s fiftieth Anniversary–examine all of it in our Guide to Disneyland Paris thirtieth Anniversary.
Beyond that, just about all the pieces is again to regular at Disneyland Paris. The park has introduced again leisure, together with common character meet & greets, “Disney Stars on Parade” and “Disney Illuminations,” and might be rolling out much more throughout the dwelling stretch of the thirtieth Anniversary.
The solely modification nonetheless in place (for now) is that a web based reservation system is in use to handle attendance. Guests who buy dated tickets to Disneyland Paris or Walt Disney Studios Park don’t have to register and reserve a date. Likewise, company with lodge + ticket packages that embody park admittance will obtain admission at some stage in their keep and don’t want to make use of the brand new on-line reservation system. In different phrases, this isn’t related to the overwhelming majority of individuals studying this Disneyland Paris planning information.
Whether you’re contemplating a day at Disneyland Paris–the preferred vacationer vacation spot in Europe–as a part of a non-Disney journey to France, or are an enormous Disney fan planning a world journey for Disneyland Paris, this information has you coated. We will element all the pieces from inns to eating, and reply the necessary query of when is an efficient time to go to Disneyland Paris?
First, a little bit of a primer about Disneyland Paris. Located in Marne-la-Vallée, which is definitely a suburb of Paris, Disneyland Paris is about 45 minutes from town heart by prepare–and considerably nearer to Charles de Gaulle Airport. The whole resort consists of seven official Disney-themed inns, a number of accomplice inns, the Disney Village leisure and procuring district, and the 2 parks: Parc Disneyland and the Walt Disney Studios Park.
The resort as an entire of Disneyland Paris is bigger than Disneyland Resort and smaller than Walt Disney World. While we’d by no means advocate visiting France and solely seeing Disneyland Paris, it’s a bona fide trip vacation spot in itself should you wished to make it one. Moreover, Parc Disneyland is a fully wonderful theme park, very similar to the unique Disneyland, albeit with far fewer rides. It does have a treasure trove of gorgeous particulars, seasonal leisure, and way more.
In reality, in our Best & Worst Disney Theme Parks within the World put up, Parc Disneyland ranks #4, forward of in style parks like Disney California Adventure and Epcot. It largely scores so excessive due to its magnificence. Before I get forward of myself gushing over Disneyland Paris’ magnificence, let’s cowl the query of when it is best to go to Disneyland Paris…
When to Visit Disneyland Paris?
If you’ve your selection of dates and seasons for visiting Disneyland Paris, our robust suggestion could be to go to Disneyland Paris throughout spring, fall, or winter, significantly throughout shoulder seasons outdoors of France’s peak vacationer seasons. In explicit, we love Christmas at Disneyland Paris (see this Info & Tips put up), which is a superb time to go to as long as you keep away from Christmas week by means of New Year’s Eve.
We usually advocate avoiding the months of June by means of August, each due to crowds and up to date warmth waves which have swept over Europe the final couple summers. The solely draw back to not visiting throughout the summer season is lacking the Lion King Jungle Festival, which pulls rave critiques. However, nothing is well worth the poor climate and crowds.
Speaking of which, we discover the climate to be finest in Paris in April and May, and late September by means of November. These are essentially the most temperate instances of the 12 months, and although it could snow within the winter, it’s normally not too chilly in mid-November. (Mid-to late December could be pushing your luck, although.)
Christmas is a wonderful time to go to Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios Park for a flurry of extra seasonal leisure, and for the attractive decorations throughout the park. Plus, you can not beat the texture of the City of Paris throughout the vacation months.
If you’re pondering extra long-term, there’s additionally the query of whether or not to go to within the subsequent 12 months or so, or to attend. Disneyland Paris has enormous long-term plans that as a part of a $2.5 billion revitalization to the Walt Disney Studios Park (see idea artwork above).
This redevelopment of Walt Disney Studios Park will roll out in phases main as much as the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics. The first element to open was Avengers Campus, which debuted final summer season. The Kingdom of Arendelle is up subsequent after that, and is prone to open in 2024. (It’s unclear whether or not Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will nonetheless be constructed as a part of the Walt Disney Studios Park enlargement, however our guess is that it’ll not.)
For all the pieces else on the horizon at Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios Park, seek the advice of our Guide to What’s New & Next in 2023 for Disneyland Paris thirtieth Anniversary. That covers the entire tasks slated for the parks and inns, when you’ll be able to count on new points of interest to debut, resort closures, and refurbishments.
The bulk of the enlargement will culminate forward of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, making Spring 2024 will in all probability be the “best” time to go. All of this enlargement might be completed and also you’ll beat the Olympics crowds. However, most of you studying this immediately aren’t planning for a visit a few years sooner or later. You’re extra questioning whether or not it is best to go to France this 12 months or not. In which case, it doesn’t actually make a lot of a distinction.
Of course, there’s quite a bit to France past Disneyland Paris and also you must also plan your journey dates round when it’s finest to go to different spots in your itinerary. The metropolis of Paris is our second-favorite metropolis on the earth, and we extremely advocate spending at the least a number of days there.
As for touring to the remainder of France and inside Europe, we extremely advocate it! We supply intensive journey ideas in our Ultimate Guide to Paris, France over on TravelCaffeine.com, our non-Disney journey weblog. That’s a great place to start out planning the opposite days of your trip.
We’ve visited a number of places in Europe, together with Normandy, the Loire Valley, and Côte d’Azur areas of France. Outside of France, we’ve traveled to Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
While we love Disney–and Disneyland Paris–many of those different real-world places have been the highlights of our journeys. Europe is filled with wonderful locations that depart an indelible mark on an individual. There’s a lot past the parks at Disneyland Paris, and really one thing for everybody. From historical past to fashionable tradition to shady purple mild districts (as a result of we’re so positive Disney followers are into that form of factor! 😉 ), there’s really one thing for everybody.
If this has you tempted to journey to Europe to see Disneyland Paris and different lasting cultural experiences, or should you had been already planning a go to and wish extra data and ideas, let’s begin planning! (All hyperlinks open in new tabs, so be happy to click on away and head down the rabbit gap!)
How Many Days?
Based upon the foregoing, when planning a visit to Disneyland Paris, you shouldn’t simply plan a fast journey to see Disneyland Resort Paris, however must also plan on visiting at the least Paris and one other European metropolis or two. On our first journey, we flew into Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, then spent equal quantities of time in Disneyland Paris and Paris, earlier than taking the Eurostar to London after which flying out of London’s Heathrow airport.
When it involves Europe as an entire, it is best to go to for as many days as you’ll be able to. The actuality of issues is that trip time is finite, and journey is dear, so most individuals in all probability are possibly per week or so on the holiday. My robust recommendation could be to attempt to stretch the journey to at the least 10 days even when that requires saving cash and trip time a bit longer.
How a lot time you’ll need to spend on every leg of your journey is essentially a private query. If you aren’t a Disney fan and are simply going for the sake of your youngsters or as a result of it’s in your checklist of highlights close to Paris, my suggestion would in all probability be to only go for 1 day, spending it completely at Parc Disneyland, experiencing a few of the finest points of interest, and having fun with the ambiance.
Most folks can accomplish the Walt Disney Studios park in half a day or a day. There is an assortment of fulfilling points of interest there, however the park is generally ugly. I wouldn’t downright encourage anybody to skip this park, however it’s not going to be the spotlight of anybody’s journey. It’s getting higher, and must be a park worthy of the “Disney” title by 2024.
The finest a part of Walt Disney Studios Park is the La Place de Rémy mini-land, which is sort of a “Streets of Paris” space primarily based upon Ratatouille. If your curiosity is piqued on this space, take a look at my Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy Review and Bistrot Chez Rémy Review. Avengers Campus can be a pleasant addition, though the economic fashion is extra of the identical at WDSP. Ultimately, should you solely have someday to expertise Disneyland Paris, skip the Studios and simply do the Disneyland park.
In addition to time for exploring Parc Disneyland and the Walt Disney Studios Park, you’ll want to put aside a little bit of time to discover the inns and Disney Village, too. The inns are fairly cool, whereas Disney Village is a largely dated, unhappy tackle Downtown Disney. The highlights of Disney Village are Earl of Sandwich and Five Guys, that are nice late evening meals after the parks shut.
Depending upon your degree of curiosity and stamina, seeing these areas can in all probability be completed after the parks shut, relying upon what time the parks shut. During my visits, even on busier days, the newest the parks closed was 10 pm; many nights the parks closed as early as 7 pm.
Most Parisians eat late dinners, so lodge eating places are often open till 11 pm or 12 am (with the bars and lounges open even later), giving us ample time to benefit from the inns after our days on the park had been full. During the summer season months, the parks could also be open till 11 pm or midnight, so you will have to seek out one other time to go to the inns and Disney Village.
Vacation Packages
Once you’ve decided what number of days to go to Disneyland Paris, you should resolve whether or not a trip package deal is for you. These work quite a bit like trip packages at different Disney Parks in that they will include a lodge, park tickets, and meal plan, or only a lodge keep.
Many of the most effective reductions for Disneyland Paris bundle these elements collectively. In reality, to save cash on a lodge, you nearly all the time need to buy park tickets from Disneyland Paris (except you’ve an Annual Pass). Sometimes, the low cost might be for a proportion off the room, typically it’s going to embody free a Half Board or Full Board Meal Package (extra on this beneath), typically it’ll embody free park tickets, and typically it’s going to embody free nights.
For instance, Disneyland Paris promotions typically embody 30% off a room plus free Half Board eating and purchase 2 nights get 2 nights free at a lodge. (Both promos embody park tickets.) Alternatively, there are lodge reductions out there for Annual Passholders of as much as 40% off. All of those reductions are fairly consultant of what’s usually provided.
What additional complicates issues is that totally different variations of the Disneyland Paris web site (e.g. the United Kingdom model, Belgium, Germany, and so forth.) supply totally different costs for a similar promotion. I not too long ago priced out a December journey, and it was ~$120 costlier on the U.S. website than the U.Ok. website. Since you’ll be able to e book by way of any of those websites, no matter the place you reside, it’s finest to comparability store among the many totally different variations of the location, and e book the place it’s most cost-effective.
This can all be fairly difficult should you’re a beginner, significantly given the language obstacles and default currencies on the varied Disneyland Paris websites. However, it’s value it since you’ll save essentially the most cash this fashion. Aside from the comparability procuring to get the most effective value, planning a Disneyland Paris trip is simple as in comparison with a Walt Disney World trip.
Getting There
I’m going to make the idea that anybody studying that is flying to Europe from abroad, not a European driving to Disneyland Paris for a day journey (should you’re driving and on the lookout for recommendation…attempt Google Maps, I assume?). From Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris there are three most important choices: TGV, RER, or VEA shuttle.
The TGV is the most effective of those choices, and it drops you off proper outdoors Disneyland Paris’ gates. The course of may be very easy; head to Terminal 2 and buy a ticket for the TGV at a kiosk within the airport with a vacation spot of “Marne La Vallee Ches.”
This prepare takes 10 minutes to get from CDG to Disneyland Paris (it’s actually the primary cease). The caveats listed below are that this prepare is considerably costlier (one-way ticket costs differ, however are usually $15-30) and there may be over an hour hole between trains. Moreover, we don’t advocate shopping for a ticket for this upfront attributable to flight delays, customs, and so forth.
The Magical Shuttle is the second-best choice, however it stops at various inns (assume Disney’s Magical Express). However, it’s handy and fairly straightforward. Prices for this differ, however it’s usually the costliest choice. You can e book tickets right here.
The RER is the ultimate choice. This may be time consuming, as it’s important to go from CDG airport to central Paris and swap strains to move again to Marne-la-Vallee. Both CDG and MLV are outdoors Paris, so doing this primarily means it’s important to backtrack. It’d be like taking a flight from Chicago to Detroit with a layover in St. Louis. However, should you’re shopping for a RER cross or your lodge is on the RER line, this can be the best choice. It’s comparatively simple, it simply takes about an hour to perform.
If you’re coming from someplace apart from CDG airport, take into account the Eurostar prepare, which additionally drops you off proper outdoors Disneyland Paris’ gates. We traveled the Eurostar (aka the “Chunnel”) and it was a wonderful expertise. This is an effective way to get to Disneyland Paris should you’re primarily visiting one other main metropolis in Europe. What’s particularly good is {that a} Eurostar station is correct in MLV. My assumption is that this was constructed as a part of Disney’s settlement to deliver a park to Paris…as a result of there’s no different cause why little ‘ole Marne-la-Vallee would have a Eurostar station.
All of this appears sophisticated and intimidating at first (at the least it did to us), however it’s actually easy when you perceive the fundamentals.
Where to Stay
Disneyland Paris has seven official resorts, with a wide range of close by “off-site” inns. We have a Disneyland Paris Hotel Comparison put up that compares and contrasts the inns, providing our suggestions on the place to remain. We’ll cowl a few of the similar floor beneath, however should you’re debating which lodge to e book, that’s actually the put up to learn.
We’ve stayed within the not too long ago renovated Sequoia Lodge (click on right here to learn our Sequoia Lodge Review) and Hotel New York (click on right here to learn our Hotel New York Review). We’ve additionally stayed at Newport Bay Club (click on right here to learn our Newport Bay Club Review) and several other off-site inns.
Other inns embody Disneyland Hotel (the flagship Victorian-themed lodge), Hotel Cheyenne (themed to be the ‘streets’ of a Western city), and Hotel Santa Fe (designed with a chilly, Southwestern pueblo fashion). If you had been schooled by Count von Count, you in all probability observed that I solely point out six of the seven resorts. The final, Davy Crockett Ranch, is a campground situated a bit additional away that I didn’t go to.
Assuming you don’t have a automotive to your go to to France, you’ll have a couple of methods to get to and from Disneyland Paris: your toes, taxi, RER prepare, or shuttle. The 6 on-site inns can every by accessed by strolling (or shuttle). Disneyland Hotel is a few one minute stroll from the turnstiles, Hotel New York is ~10 minute stroll, Sequoia Lodge is ~12 minute stroll, Newport Bay Club is ~15 minute stroll, with Hotels Cheyenne and Santa Fe a tad above the 15 minute mark.
In phrases of pricing, Hotel Cheyenne and Santa Fe are on the low finish of the size, with ascending costs for Sequoia Lodge, Newport Bay Club, Hotel New York, and eventually, Disneyland Hotel. Nightly charges vary from ~$100/evening for Hotel Santa Fe to over $1,000/evening for Disneyland Hotel. Average charges for every inns are far and wide relying upon what sort of low cost you’ll be able to rating.
These value fluctuations could make reserving a Disneyland Paris lodge a bit irritating. Generally talking, we far desire staying on-site reasonably than off-site. However, we’re not paying over $400/evening for Newport Bay Club or Sequoia Lodge. Conversely, ~$150/evening makes these resorts a no brainer (we’d even be keen to pay round $200/evening).
Note that Hotel New York has reopened after a multi-year closure for a high to backside redo throughout which era it was transformed to “Disney’s Hotel New York — The Art of Marvel.” This new-look resort celebrates 80 years of Marvel storytelling in a typical New York setting, with a up to date Art Deco fashion.
Disney’s Hotel New York — The Art of Marvel is impressed by a New York artwork gallery, paying tribute to town that’s dwelling to many iconic Marvel characters and the artists who created them.
Off-Site Lodging
We’ve stayed at a number of off-site inns in Val d’Europe, which is the primary cease from Disneyland Resort Paris on the RER A line. Combining the time it takes to stroll from Disneyland Paris to the RER station (3 minutes), the time it took on the prepare (5-Quarter-hour, relying upon the prepare schedule), and the time it took to stroll from the station in Val d’Europe to our lodge (3 minutes), you’ve a few 25 minute commute, at worst. Several of those inns are additionally inside strolling distance of Disneyland Paris (25-35 minute walks, relying upon the lodge).
The entire city of Val d’Europe is comparatively new, having been masterplanned together with Disney. It has a Celebration/suburbia vibe to it, however with conventional French stylization. While it doesn’t have the identical historic attract of the quaint villages in France, it has its personal fashionable appeal and isn’t too cookie cutter. All of that is to say that the inns of Val d’Europe are in all probability stable choices should you don’t need to pay the insane costs of Disneyland Paris inns.
Generally, these inns in Val d’Europe may be booked for $75-150/evening, which makes them (usually) cheaper than Disneyland Paris on-site inns. You may also stroll from a few of the inns to Disneyland Paris (Hipark Serris is the lodge closest to the parks, for what it’s value), which is way more handy than taking the RER, we predict.
Another choice, significantly should you’re spending time elsewhere in France, is Airbnb…
We have a put up that discusses our Tips for Using Airbnb in case you’re unfamiliar with the service. We’ve used it a number of instances in Europe, together with a few instances in Paris. It’s a cheap various to a lodge, and good as a result of it additionally lets you stay like an area, whether or not meaning performing some laundry midway by means of your journey or simply going to the market to get contemporary produce (and cheese…AND WINE!) to organize you personal meals.
Other than that, the largest upside is value. You can discover typically discover offers on inns in Val d’Europe, however offers on good lodging are much less widespread in Paris (correct) or different cities. The worth proposition of renting your personal residence or flat is considerably better than reserving a lodge. (Plus, you should use my sign-up hyperlink for a free credit score your first time utilizing Airbnb!)
We’ve had some actually nice Airbnb experiences all around the globe, and wouldn’t hesitate to make use of it once more close to Disneyland Paris, or anyplace in Europe, for that matter.
Off-Site v. On-Site?
For us, the Disney on-site lodge expertise isn’t simply concerning the room. All issues thought-about, the Disney inns we’ve stayed in at Disneyland Paris are nicer total than the off-site inns. Aside from value, the one upside to the Val d’Europe inns is getting extra spacious suites and multi-room villas.
Beyond being immersed within the Disney bubble, there are some perks to staying on-site at Disneyland Paris. The massive ones are being inside strolling distance of the parks, Extra Magic Hours, profiting from the Full or Half Board Meal Plans, and unique character meets.
By far, the largest of those is the Extra Magic Hour perk. Guests staying within the Disney-owned inns are in a position to enter the parks 2 hours earlier than most people to expertise choose points of interest each morning. The first hour of Extra Magic Hours is usually fairly useless–it’s straightforward to get completely empty images of Main Street, and you may expertise points of interest like Peter Pan’s Flight with minimal waits.
If you do resolve to remain on-site, my unscientific suggestions for inns could be: Hotel Cheyenne (worth), Sequoia Lodge (average), or Disneyland Hotel (deluxe). Hotel Cheyenne had a enjoyable really feel to it and no pretenses of being artfully designed, doubtless making it a lodge youngsters would take pleasure in. Sequoia Lodge has theming is harking back to a National Park lodge, besides with Frank Lloyd Wright inspiration oddly discovered all through the structure.
If you’re interested by reserving a Disneyland Paris trip package deal, it is best to know concerning the varied Meal Plans the on-site inns supply. These are typically bundled into packages for “free” or out there as an add-on.
This is considerably just like the Disney Dining Plan at Walt Disney World, besides it makes use of pre-paid bodily vouchers. Disneyland Paris provides Full and Half Board Meal Plans: the Half Board plan consists of 1 meal voucher for lunch or dinner, plus a breakfast voucher. The Full Board plan consists of 2 meal vouches for lunch and dinner, plus a breakfast voucher.
There are 4 totally different tiers to every of those Meal Plans out there, escalating in value and what’s included. At the bottom finish of the spectrum is the Hotel plan, which incorporates breakfast and dinner at your lodge solely. Standard provides you a selection of 5+ buffet eating places. Plus gives entry to fifteen+ buffet and desk service eating places. Premium is obtainable at nearly each desk service restaurant in Disneyland Paris, together with character meals.
The backside line with these Meal Plans is that they could be a actually good worth if you perform a little analysis and e book costly eating places. For instance, although the Premium Plan is $100+ per particular person, per evening, doing day by day meals at locations like California Grill and Auberge de Cendrillon may quantity to a day by day worth of over $150. Same goes for the decrease tiers.
On the opposite hand, should you select an costly plan and find yourself doing largely counter service meals, there’s the potential for dropping some huge cash every day on the Disneyland Paris Meal Plans.
Our final take is that the Meal Plans are a great choice if eating is a crucial a part of your journey and you propose to do your analysis forward of time to find out the place to eat (and make reservations ~60 days upfront). If eating isn’t so necessary otherwise you don’t intend upon doing the analysis, skip the Disneyland Paris Meals. There’s one massive cause for this…
The cause is that a number of the meals at Disneyland Paris just isn’t excellent. Given that that is France, you’d count on Disneyland Paris to have some stellar eating choices. Unfortunately, expectations right here don’t comport with actuality. Restaurants at Disneyland Paris should not that good and should not that “French.”
The excellent news is that eating has been bettering in the previous few years, and we’ve had some good meals at Walt’s – An American Restaurant and Captain Jack’s within the final couple of years. Nevertheless, we’re nonetheless cautious about Disneyland Paris eating, as we’ve had hit and miss success within the ast.
We’ve since tried out many different eating places at Disneyland Paris, some good, some actually dangerous. The basic development is in direction of enchancment, which is unquestionably reassuring. For critiques of particular person eating places, learn our Disneyland Paris Restaurant Reviews. We even have a Guide to Drinking at Disneyland Paris for many who need to exit after the parks shut!
If you need to keep away from disappointment, we’d advocate approaching eating at Disneyland Paris from the attitude of experiencing eating places with cool themes. Our Top 10 Themed Restaurants at Disneyland Paris put up ought to assist with this.
This is how we have now approached eating there, and it has labored fairly properly. The two eating places at which we ate the primary time, Walt’s and Captain Jack’s, had been stunning, and well worth the expertise, even contemplating the meals. Walt’s has the same really feel to Club 33 at Disneyland, and Captain Jack’s overlooks the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction, very similar to Blue Bayou at Disneyland.
Counter Service meals are usually okay. It’s about what you’d count on from common counter service eating places at Walt Disney World or Disneyland. In basic, the choices should not adventurous, however reasonably, are stereotypical theme park meals. Lots of pizza, burgers, salads, and fried meals.
This isn’t essentially a foul factor, as portion sizes are giant and costs should not out of line (by regular Disney requirements). In addition, the design of many of those eating places is really spectacular. Toad Hall options extra element than all of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disneyland, and serves some fairly good fish & chips, too.
In phrases of parts, the one portion dimension that might be smaller in Disneyland Paris is soda. There are not any free refills in any restaurant (that is typical of Europe) and soda sizes usually are a lot smaller. So, should you’re a Coke addict, a visit to Disneyland Paris would possibly show pricey!
Although inferior to what you’ll discover within the metropolis of Paris, Disneyland Paris snacks are stable. We extremely advocate the Cable Car Bake Shop on Main Street. Not only for its sweets, but additionally as a result of it’s a fantastically designed, intimate location.
One factor to say so that you just don’t get too excited whereas planning particular locations to eat is that Disneyland Paris typically closes a few of its eating places relying upon crowds. This has been an enormous difficulty in the previous few years, and judging by the calendars revealed up to now, it’s going to stay an enormous downside all through the remainder of this 12 months.
This may be very irritating for planning functions, and enjoying the “what’s open today?” recreation whereas within the park is equally irritating, because the indicators up indicating which eating places are open differ from spot to identify. You typically don’t know what is open till you stroll as much as a selected restaurant.
To make issues worse, even the restricted slate of eating places that’s open typically closes earlier than 5 pm. This implies that strains for dinner on the 2-3 eating places which can be open into the night hours are ridiculously lengthy. We’ve heard frequent stories of company ready 45 minutes for a (horrible) burger at Cafe Hyperion. Don’t make that mistake.
One of the simplest methods to keep away from this difficulty is to pack snacks and eat dinner in Disney Village. There are a number of good choices there which can be all open late, together with Earl of Sandwich, McDonald’s, and Five Guys. All of those eating places are similar to their U.S. counterparts.
Earl of Sandwich is our favourite choose; it serves many of the similar sandwiches because the Earl of Sandwich places within the United States and is fairly priced. It’s positively disappointing to be in one of many world’s biggest meals cities and eat at U.S. chains after the park closes, however sadly, that’s the unhappy actuality of eating at Disneyland Paris.
Our over-arching suggestion for these with finite journey budgets could be to avoid wasting your cash for eating within the metropolis of Paris and eat on a budget in Disneyland Paris. You could need to give at the least one desk service meal a attempt earlier than adopting this technique, although.
What To Do
We’ve discovered that most individuals go to Disneyland Paris for two days, and if that’s your plan, our 1-Day Disneyland Paris Park Itinerary and 1-Day Walt Disney Studios Park Itinerary present step-by-step touring plans for “perfect” days in every of the parks. If you’ve 3 days or extra, merely discover at a leisurely tempo in these extra days.
Additionally, we have now ideas for purchasing Disneyland Paris tickets in our Disneyland Paris Ticket Tips & Info put up, which covers the place to seek out low cost park tickets, and the professionals & cons of getting an Annual Pass versus shopping for single day tickets (it’s a more in-depth name than you would possibly assume!). Remember that should you’re staying on-site at a Disneyland Paris lodge, there’s a great likelihood your package deal will embody park tickets.
Then there’s the points of interest. Chances are you’ve visited a Disney theme park a while in your life, and you’ve got an concept of what points of interest are value experiencing. The greatest variations in Disneyland Paris are park design, format, and degree of element. Many of the points of interest are very related usually nature to their US counterparts.
If you’re excited by creating a technique for points of interest or determining which to do and which to skip, take a look at our Disneyland Paris Attractions Guide and our Walt Disney Studios Park Attractions Guide. These guides have scores for each attraction in Parc Disneyland and WDSP, and our suggestions for doing them.
In basic, Disneyland Paris excels as a result of it provides quite a bit to discover and glorious execution on theme. A die-hard Disney fan will discover variations in lots of points of interest from the US variations, making each attraction a worthwhile expertise. An off-the-cuff visitor will in all probability discover that many points of interest are “exactly the same” as their US counterparts.
Regardless of the place you fall in that spectrum, you’ll benefit from the particulars and design should you decelerate to take pleasure in them. That’s what we strongly advocate doing, and that’s how we consider Disneyland Paris is finest loved. Spend a while within the outlets on Main Street, wander by means of the eating places, and search for clues concerning the backstory.
What About Maintenance?
If you’ve achieved any analysis into Disneyland Paris, you would possibly’ve already learn horror tales concerning the park’s maintenance. Historically, it has been so dangerous that we’re dedicating a whole part on this information to the subject. Thankfully, this isn’t almost as massive of an issue because it as soon as was. By and huge, upkeep at Disneyland Paris is now near on par with the U.S. Disney Parks.
A dramatic refresh to the whole resort referred to as “Project Sparkle” has been ongoing for over 3 years now, and has revitalized a number of in style points of interest and whole lands. This is completed within the parks and is now persevering with with the inns.
Thankfully, Disneyland Paris has already turned a nook when it comes to upkeep and refreshing the park. Now, we’re seeing the entire laborious work and refurbishments repay, and Disneyland Paris is glowing because of this. Let’s simply hope it stays that manner!
What to Pack
The gadgets on our Unique Disney Packing List might be useful in any of the Disney theme parks. Specific to Paris, one factor you will have is a voltage converter. We extremely advocate this BESTEK Portable Travel Converter with a number of retailers. You can discover cheaper ones, however they are going to be bigger, heavier, and take up priceless actual property in your suitcase.
Another factor we advocate, significantly should you plan on touring internationally past France, is buying a pocket MiFi unit. For years, we rented these when touring, till we did a little bit of analysis and found they’re pretty low cost to buy.
I purchased this Huawei 4G LTE Mobile Wifi Hotspot after which bought an affordable (~$40 Orange Holiday) 10 GB SIM card at a Relay retailer in Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport once we landed. If you’ve an unlocked cellphone, you’ll be able to simply put the SIM card straight into that, however we desire the MiFi unit in order that we are able to join a number of gadgets. We discover this to be a extra environment friendly technique when touring internationally.
If you’ll be staying in a number of inns throughout your European trip, we extremely advocate packing cubes or compression baggage (I desire the cubes) for group. You can learn extra of our “carry-on philosophy” and which sorts of baggage we use right here. Seriously, that is actually vital should you’re going to spend time on the rails or strolling by means of Europe. So a lot simpler than dragging round a ton of bags!
When packing, additionally understand that the local weather of Paris just isn’t the identical as that of Orlando or Anaheim. Paris has official winters, full with snow and all. If you’re visiting any time from October by means of March, it is best to pack for cooler climate. Our Packing for Disney in Winter Guide is a begin, however throughout the peak of winter, you will have actually heat garments for a lot of days.
Other Wisdom
It ought to come as no shock that Europe doesn’t use the US greenback as a foreign money. You can order euro out of your financial institution previous to your journey, however withdrawing from an ATM is the higher and simpler route as long as your financial institution doesn’t cost exorbitant charges. It didn’t was the case, however now that is usually the higher choice.
Ideally, you’ll have a chipped bank card and can use that for the overwhelming majority of your purchases. Chipped playing cards make worldwide journey a breeze as a result of they largely get rid of the necessity to deal in money (in addition to from avenue distributors and different “older” retailers that don’t settle for money). We used chipped bank cards all through our journey and simply carried a bit of money that we nearly by no means used.
Moving on to a different necessary “issue” for many individuals: smoking. While Disneyland Paris’ web site will lead you to consider that smoking is barely allowed in designated areas, the fact is that folks smoke in each outside space. This is an element and parcel of European tradition, and one thing to remember if smoke bothers you.
Free wi-fi web is now out there all through Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios Park, the Disney Village, and all resort inns. This is a comparatively new growth that roughly coincided with the rollout of the official Disneyland Paris app. There’s additionally free WiFi on the Disney Village McDonald’s and Earl of Sandwich, and many of the off-site inns.
The bogs at Disneyland Paris are all extremely superior prototype “SMRT-1” gadgets that function facial recognition, and can greet you by saying, “How do you do, sir/m’am?” It is customary and applicable to reply to this by saying, “I’m well, how are you?” It just isn’t thought-about impolite to say no to reply to any of the bathroom’s extra dialog.
Just kidding on that final tip…though it’s a overseas nation, it’s not a overseas universe! If you’ll be able to navigate the US parks, you’ll be high quality in Disneyland Paris!
For essentially the most half, this could cowl all the pieces you want for planning for a visit to Disneyland Paris. I replace this information commonly primarily based on adjustments in Disneyland Paris (and I’ve a Disneyland Paris Annual Pass burning a gap in my pocket, so I plan on making one other return journey quickly), so relaxation assured that the data right here is present. With that mentioned, if in case you have any unresolved questions, please be happy to ask within the feedback.
If you need assistance planning your Disneyland Paris trip past this, we advocate contacting an skilled (no price), Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, which can even provide help to discover the most effective offers. Want to see extra images or examine Disneyland Paris in agonizing element? Check out our “Impressions de Bricker” Disneyland Paris Report, which covers our go to throughout the inaugural Disneyland Paris Half Marathon, or our Disneyland Paris twentieth Anniversary Trip Report, which covers our first go to to Disneyland Paris!
Your Thoughts
Have you been to Disneyland Paris? What did you assume? Planning and journey and have questions? Please depart them within the feedback! If you’re a Disneyland Paris “regular” and you’ve got ideas of your personal, please add them within the feedback. I’d simply borrow them for the information itself.