Need help planning our day at DLP!!

[ShannonBS]

Hi!

We are heading to Paris for a week this summer with my kids ages 13, 11 and 8 (and some extended family also). We want to give the kids a break from museums, monuments, etc. and thought it would be fun to do a day at DLP. We have done Disney World in Orlando a few times and I feel like I know what I need to do to plan for those trips but am feeling a little lost on where to start here. Looking for any tips you have!

Restaurant recs? Do they do fast passes the same? Any tips for must sees? Or things to skip?

And I'd love any opinions you have on travel options too (we are staying in Paris and will just be going to Disney for the day).

TIA!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I can't answer all your questions; I am halfway done planning a trip there in August. One thing I have read is that they use the old style paper fastpasses which I do miss at WDW. ADRs can be booked 60 days out IIRC and you need to call to book. They can't be booked online. We have Verizon Fios (phone/internet/TV) bundle and it's only $10/month + tax for 300 international minutes. I had to call a few days ago with questions but I can cancel it before my next billing cycle. I will add it again for June to make ADRs.
Have fun planning!

 

[zavandor]

You have an hard choice to make. The Disneyland Park (the Magic Kingdom style park) is really beautiful and has all the charm of a real Disney Park. And when you'll go there will be the 25th anniversary celebrations. The Disney Studios one is quite ugly, instead. It was made in a hurry and with a low budget and it certainly shows. But a lot of the attractions unique to DLP are in the studios. So what to buy? One park ticket or a parkhopper? Hard choice with just one day.
The unique attractions in the Studios are:
- Ratatouille: the whole land is very nice themed and the attraction is quite special.
- Cinemagique: nice show (expecially if you love the cinema)
- Mickey and the magician: beautiful show
- Crush and Coaster: a spinning roller coaster. Be ready to rope drop it because it has low hourly capacity and it has long lines all day every day. It's not very intense but avoid it if you suffer from motion sickness. Mad tea party meets Big Thunder Mountains
- Armageddon: not worth your time
- Toy Story Playland: a collection of not so special carnival rides, but it's nice to check it out

At the Disneyland Park not to be missed:
- Big Thunder Mountains: the best version in the world, just reopened after a lenghty refurb and it looks spectacular
- Phantom Manor: similar to Hunted Mansion, but a darker tone and a different finale
- Indiana Jones roller coaster
- Space Mountains: much more intense than the US versions
- Nautilus walkthrough
- The Castle walkthrough and dungeon
- Alice's labirinth
in addition to all the classics, many of which are different enough to be worth experiencing if you have the time(PoTC, Buzz, Pinocchio and Snow White as they are not in WDW anymore)

The two parks are 5 minutes walk away from each other so it's very easy to parkhop.

Yes they still have the paper FP (little trivia: they were first introduced in Paris before the US), the return window is only 30 minutes and it's enforced.

Be ready to stay until the end because the night show is great. At least, Dreams was great, starting in March there will be a new show called illuminations for the 25th.

Restaurants are a hit or miss (a lot of times a miss). It's quite ironic that a park in France, known for its good food, has mediocre restaurants. My favorite is the Cowboy Cookout BBQ as a quick service and Agraba Cafe as a sit down buffet (food is a bit adventurous, the Plaza Garden is a more traditional buffet). Walt's is the best sit down restaurant... probably, I've never dined here. The Blue Lagoon has a charming atmosphere (it's inside the PotC ride).

Look on the official french website for the "Magic" tickets, you can save A LOT compared to the crazy gate prices, expecially if you visit during the week (which is a smart idea anyway).

You can easily reach the resort using the RER A, it's a 45 minutes ride from the city center.

 

[cheryl1976]

You have an hard choice to make. The Disneyland Park (the Magic Kingdom style park) is really beautiful and has all the charm of a real Disney Park. And when you'll go there will be the 25th anniversary celebrations. The Disney Studios one is quite ugly, instead. It was made in a hurry and with a low budget and it certainly shows. But a lot of the attractions unique to DLP are in the studios. So what to buy? One park ticket or a parkhopper? Hard choice with just one day.
The unique attractions in the Studios are:
- Ratatouille: the whole land is very nice themed and the attraction is quite special.
- Cinemagique: nice show (expecially if you love the cinema)
- Mickey and the magician: beautiful show
- Crush and Coaster: a spinning roller coaster. Be ready to rope drop it because it has low hourly capacity and it has long lines all day every day. It's not very intense but avoid it if you suffer from motion sickness. Mad tea party meets Big Thunder Mountains
- Armageddon: not worth your time
- Toy Story Playland: a collection of not so special carnival rides, but it's nice to check it out

At the Disneyland Park not to be missed:
- Big Thunder Mountains: the best version in the world, just reopened after a lenghty refurb and it looks spectacular
- Phantom Manor: similar to Hunted Mansion, but a darker tone and a different finale
- Indiana Jones roller coaster
- Space Mountains: much more intense than the US versions
- Nautilus walkthrough
- The Castle walkthrough and dungeon
- Alice's labirinth
in addition to all the classics, many of which are different enough to be worth experiencing if you have the time(PoTC, Buzz, Pinocchio and Snow White as they are not in WDW anymore)

The two parks are 5 minutes walk away from each other so it's very easy to parkhop.

Yes they still have the paper FP (little trivia: they were first introduced in Paris before the US), the return window is only 30 minutes and it's enforced.

Be ready to stay until the end because the night show is great. At least, Dreams was great, starting in March there will be a new show called illuminations for the 25th.

Restaurants are a hit or miss (a lot of times a miss). It's quite ironic that a park in France, known for its good food, has mediocre restaurants. My favorite is the Cowboy Cookout BBQ as a quick service and Agraba Cafe as a sit down buffet (food is a bit adventurous, the Plaza Garden is a more traditional buffet). Walt's is the best sit down restaurant... probably, I've never dined here. The Blue Lagoon has a charming atmosphere (it's inside the PotC ride).

Look on the official french website for the "Magic" tickets, you can save A LOT compared to the crazy gate prices, expecially if you visit during the week (which is a smart idea anyway).

You can easily reach the resort using the RER A, it's a 45 minutes ride from the city center.

Hello Zavandor, hope you don't mind but I also have a few questions regarding a day trip to /disneyland paris. we will be visiting Paris in mid-march and plan to visit DLP on a Sunday. From what I have read so far it looks like the current high demand attractions are Remy and Crush. Would it make sense to go to the Studios at park opening so we can get on these two rides first then head over to Disneyland. On the day of our visit, Disneyland has extra magic morning hours and Space, PoTC and Star Tours are all down for rehab. So, I'm thinking that park will already be busy once it opens to the general public. Your thoughts?
Second, with limited time is it better to bypass eating at a sit down restaurant and do quick service? I would love to eat at Walt's but don't want to get hung up doing a 2 hour meal. Is it possible to get in and out in 1 hour and not be rude?

thank you

 

[zavandor]

First of all, if you can avoid Saturday and Sunday, it would be a much better experience.
If you want to ride Crush, then the only reasonable thing will be to rope drop it. Be at the gates (WDW style) at least half an hour before opening, or even 45 minutes for a Sunday and head there directly. If someone is not riding, then he should go and take the FP for Ratatouille, otherwise, all ride Crush, there's no time to take the FP first and then go to Crush, it would have a long queue already. Once done Crush, go to Ratatuoille and take the FP if you haven't it already and while you wait for the return time go to Toy Story Playland to ride what/if you are interested in. If you don't mind riding separately, Ratatouille has a single rider line that is VERY effective, it might be even faster than a FP.
During this time, if someone is willing, he can go and take a FP for Big Thunder Mountains Railroads, which is the hot FP in the main park and may run out sometime during the morning. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but once you have activated the tickets in the Studios you don't need to reactivate them at the main park to get FPs. It should take half an hour round trip.
At the studios you would have only the two shows to watch (Cinemagique and Mickey and the Magician, if it will run, not sure since it's going to go dark for a couple of months, the stunt show is the same as the old show in the DHS and very boring anyway) and you're done. Transfer to the main park to do the attractions you want. BTMRR is the most difficult to do if you don't have a FP, the others shouldn't have too long lines or should have FP available.
If you have one day for two parks, I wouldn't do a sit down restaurant, exception for a buffet, you can do them quickly enough if you have a reservation. If you like the food you can eat at the Moroccan Pavillion at Epcot, you will like Agraba Cafè and the interior is quite neat.

 

[cheryl1976]

First of all, if you can avoid Saturday and Sunday, it would be a much better experience.
If you want to ride Crush, then the only reasonable thing will be to rope drop it. Be at the gates (WDW style) at least half an hour before opening, or even 45 minutes for a Sunday and head there directly. If someone is not riding, then he should go and take the FP for Ratatouille, otherwise, all ride Crush, there's no time to take the FP first and then go to Crush, it would have a long queue already. Once done Crush, go to Ratatuoille and take the FP if you haven't it already and while you wait for the return time go to Toy Story Playland to ride what/if you are interested in. If you don't mind riding separately, Ratatouille has a single rider line that is VERY effective, it might be even faster than a FP.
During this time, if someone is willing, he can go and take a FP for Big Thunder Mountains Railroads, which is the hot FP in the main park and may run out sometime during the morning. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but once you have activated the tickets in the Studios you don't need to reactivate them at the main park to get FPs. It should take half an hour round trip.
At the studios you would have only the two shows to watch (Cinemagique and Mickey and the Magician, if it will run, not sure since it's going to go dark for a couple of months, the stunt show is the same as the old show in the DHS and very boring anyway) and you're done. Transfer to the main park to do the attractions you want. BTMRR is the most difficult to do if you don't have a FP, the others shouldn't have too long lines or should have FP available.
If you have one day for two parks, I wouldn't do a sit down restaurant, exception for a buffet, you can do them quickly enough if you have a reservation. If you like the food you can eat at the Moroccan Pavillion at Epcot, you will like Agraba Cafè and the interior is quite neat.

Thanks so very much Zavandor. Unfortunately we are stuck with going on a Sunday. its just two of us so we can definitely do single rider where available. Will probably just do a walk through Toy Story so we can focus our time over at the main park. Ill take a look at Agraba Cafe, we are not burger and fry people so I'd appreciate something that has a more interesting menu. Crossing my fingers that mid-March may be a bit lighter on crowds with the upcoming 25th anniversary but will wear our mid-summer WDW hats and bear for the worst. Thanks again for all the info.

 

[kstraveler]

cheryl1976 - we went last year in mid-March on a Monday and it was way busier than we expected it to be. I think people extended their weekend since the weather was so nice. However, we're doing one day in mid/late March this year, but trying for a Wednesday. Also hoping that more people will wait another couple weeks until the anniversary stuff happens. Let's hope!

zavandor - Ok, so we didn't do it the right way last year and it messed up our plans to squeeze it all in that we wanted to do in a day, having to stand in a long line at Crush (1:20 long). My question for you...(we are a family of 5) is it better to be there bright and early for rope drop and do Crush, then get FP for Ratatouille or the other way around? I don't want to have really late in the day FP that means we have to go back and forth between parks. That seems to eat up a lot of time. We had to do that last year. And then after all of that, Ratatouille broke while we were half-way through FP line. Hoping it works this time! Also, we are really only wanting to do those two plus Aerosmith & Mickey & the Magician at Studios this year. How much time do you think those 4 would take on a Wednesday in March (if you're good as estimating that kind of stuff)?

 

[zavandor]

I'm sorry, I don't go to DLP frequently enough to estimate how long it would take the FP return time to advance. However if you arrive early and go to Crush, you'll be out quite quickly, the ride has no preshow and it's fairly short. Probably in 10-15 minutes it won't be too far in the future. Unfortunately there is no way around Crush, it's at rope drop or 45-90 minutes queue.

 

[petals]

You can get the RER from Paris to Disneyland. The Train station is right outside the parks.

If you look at maps and pick out what your must dos are first you can easily do both parks in the one day. I would advise though that you do not book any sit down meals if you only have one day and just eat at the counter service places because we did Bistro Chez Remy last year and it took two hours to get our meal out to us which is quite a large amount of anyones day if you only have one day there.