Help with one day two park touring plan for two adults ages 58 and 23

[kathy884]

My husband, son (23), and I (58) will get doing a mini European trip to Paris and Belfast. We'll be staying near Notre Dame (left bank) in Paris. This trip is in in early May and that first Monday in May will be our Disneyland day (specifically planning week day rather than weekend when school is in session for lower crowds hopefully). DH who is not a Disney park fan will do a food tour in Paris and hang out there. DS and I have been to WDW Orlando at least a dozen times and went to Disneyland/California Adventure once too. This will be our first time ever to Disneyland Paris. We will get up early, take the train in, will have eaten breakfast, and will have an advanced purchase one day park hopper ticket.

I usually use simulation software from Touring Plans to plan Disney park days with a tentative itinerary, but don't see anything like this for Disneyland Paris. Anyway, I thought I'd share a tentative touring plan that I am working on and get your input/suggestions. We aren't into Marvel or Star Wars stuff -- prefer the classic Disney. We're big Disney fans, so can't resist using one of our Paris days to see a little of the Disneyland Paris parks. Favorites of ours at the MK and Hollywood Studios are Space Mountain, Tower or Terror, and Mickey's Philharmagic. We love the little fantasy attractions like the storybook canal ride at Disneyland in California too and if the lines aren't too long like things like Dumbo. If we run into characters with short lines we might go for a photo, but we aren't all that into character meet and greets and usually don't do any. I'm so sad not to have Touringplans to tell me based on projected crowds I have extra time, not enough time, give me all those time predictions, tell me when to pick up fastpasses, when to use them etc. and would love your help/input. We're flexible and smell the roses kind of people, though, so will be OK needing to skip things, not getting everything in. We're mostly going for the vibe and to at least get to see the Paris parks.

Start at Studios:
(1) Crush Coaster at Rope drop (new, popular and no FP I hear, so a good one to rope drop) – not worth more than 30-45 min I hear -- I have motion sickness issues (Should I just have DS do this on his own and wait for him?) -- since it's not at WDW yet, but I do hear it's coming to Epcot, figured we should check it out.

(2) Ratatouille (single rider line that DS will do / attraction not at WDW, so a must do if it's open) – I’ll skip due to motion sickness - hear this one is bad for that.
(2) At same time DS rides I’ll go get paper FPs for Tower or Terror and wait for DS at ride exit

(3) Take a look at Toy Story Playland, but no rides

(4) Mickey and the Magician Show -- Thought since Philharmagic is a favorite we should hit this one

(5) Use Fastpass -- Tower of Terror (a favorite out ours)

HOP

(1) Put in for Fastpass for Space Mountain (a favorite of ours)

(2) Eat lunch at Casey’s Corner

(3) Check out Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and the Dragon (must do)

(4) Fantasyland attractions while waiting for Space Mountain FP
(Candidate list: Storybook land canal boat cruise, Pinocchio’s journey, Snow White, It’s a small world) – We’ll skip Dumbo and Peter Pan unless lines are short. We are always surprised at the long line for Peter Pan and usually skip it (not worth it to us and not worth a FP for us). We love these little attractions.

(5) With FP Ride Space Mountain

(6) Go get FP for Big Thunder Mountain

(7) Parade if it fits in (may not)

(8) Pirates if line is reasonable and we have time

(9) Aladdin’s passage if line is reasonable and we have time

(10) Haunted Mansion if line is reasonable and we have time

(11) Fastpass to Ride Big Thunder

(12) Dinner at Colonel Hathi Pizza Outpost

(13) stuff we may have missed above and hit Main Street stores

(14) Castle show and fireworks

Train back to Paris

 

[Karin1984]

Okay, don't worry, Disneyland Paris doesn't need as much planning, you won't need a touring plan. You are on a very good route already. We are talking about Monday May 6th?

- Assuming the park will have long opening hours, you will be fine to do all one your list. But it could use some tweaks
- School vacations are over, you only have a chance of people making a long weekend out of it, but overall crowds should be good.

Get there well before opening time. They usually let people in early.
- I love Crush, I do think it's worth the wait. Do check if the single rider's line is open.
- Yes, if you are prone to motion sickness, don't do Ratatouille, Crush is optional. But it really depends per person what you can handle. Ratatouille is a no for me, but Crush, yes, and as often as possible
- Check the schedule up front if Mickey and the Magician is on, they sometimes remove it for refurbishment or seasonal shows. Currently it shows Mickey's Big Band Christmas show.

- When you are in the park, go get a FP for Big Thunder Mountain first. These run out faster than Space Mountain.
- I wouldn't go to Casey's Corner, I'm not a fan of the quality and the slow service, plus it's the very first restaurant people come across when they enter the park, and it's the last one on their way out, it can get busy.
- I would get lunch near Big Thunder Mountain and then ride Phantom Manor. Fuente Del Oro is right across, or ride Phantom Manor first, and go by Hakuna Matata on your way to Pirates.
- I would do Pirates first.
- Then the Fantasyland rides.
- With Pays des Conte Fees (Storybook land boats), do check the closing times, sometimes these close earlier.
- When you get a FP for Space Mountain, check if the single rider's line is open
- Aladdin's passage never has a line, it's a walkthrough, same with the castle.

 

[kathy884]

Thanks so much Karin 1984. Wonderful tips! I'm tweaking my tentative plan.

Yes first Monday in May. I could do Tuesday instead of Monday? Do you think that would be better (fewer long weekend folks maybe??)? I know in Orlando, Monday is usually a pretty heavy day for the Magic Kingdom.

We're big on being early at rope drop and will do our best. There is some risk, though, given that we are taking the train in Paris of unexpected delays. It's not like we are across the street. But as long as all goes according to plan, we should hopefully be at the front of the rope droppers group. DS and I are Disney Diehards, and DS even though he usually likes to sleep in a little will always get up early for a rope drop day and be at the front of the pack.

Would getting a FP for Big Thunder first after we hop over to the Disneyland park do you think possibly mean no FP available later after we ride that for Space Mountain? My only concern about getting the Big Thunder FP first is that not riding Space Mountain for us if it is open would be a disappointment, while not riding Big Thunder due to long line and not getting a FP would be no big deal (We like it and it's cute/run, but not a big deal if we miss it). I'm guessing, though, that's really not too big a risk. And we could always wait in the stand by line.

 

[Karin1984]

If you have a choice, yes, I would prefer a Tuesday over a Monday.

If Space Mountain is highest on the list of must-dos, feel free to do it first. But there is one important difference: Big Thunder Mountain in Disneyland Paris is the best Big Thunder Mountain of all versions of this ride. ;-) For Space Mountain, you are aware that this is not a copy of WDW? If you easily suffer from motion sickness, you might want to reconsider Space Mountain and send your son into the single rider's line.

Otherwise, I think you can do both on one day, especially if you are there open to close. But the order in which you do these two matter to make sure you optimize your time:
Space Mountain is open during EMH, has FP and a single rider's line. Big Thunder Mountain only has FP. For Space Mountain you have to be taller, and there is the 3 inversions and the speed, making Space Mountain a less family-friendly ride than Big Thunder Mountain. Hence: Big Thunder Mountain's lines are on average longer than Space Mountain.

 

[kathy884]

Thanks so much for the thoughts Karin. I think we'll change to Tuesday, as we can easily do that and might have a less crowded day than Monday (appreciate the input on that). We'll be there open to close for sure. Thanks for the tip that this is a better Thunder Mountain that we've done. I think we'll go for the fastpass for that first (Both my son and I really like that -- It's a good one that still works for me), especially since Space Mountain has the single rider line too. You got me thinking about Space Mountain as last time I did it I didn't like it as much as I did when I was younger (might just have DS do that one). I think we'll have a blast and really appreciate your input for helping us to get the most our of our day.

 

[zavandor]

I am quite prone to motion sickness so I'll comment on that: Crush is a big NO. After my first ride I was really sick and since then I have ridden it only twice (I'm a frequent visitor of DLP), only after having taken a tablet for motion sickness. It's unfortunate because I love spinning coasters, I find them really fun, but they're the worst for motion sickness.
Space Mountains are just below that. Can you ride Rock and Roller Coaster at the Studios? It's on the same level of vomitability.
I have no issues on doing Ratatuille once, second consecutive ride starts giving issues, I prefer not to do it three times in a row. But I would suggest to try it, it's a very cute ride.
Do not miss Mickey and the Magician.
The Tower of Terror is identical to the version that was at California Adventure before the Marvel reskin.
Passage of Alladin is a 5 minutes walkthrough constantly with no line. Cute but no need to budget more than 5 minutes for it.
Do not miss the castle walkthrough and the dungeon with the Dragon too. No queue and worth the 10-15 minutes needed to do them.
Possibly do not miss Phantom Manor. It had many different scenes from both american versions (it fits in the Frontierland location). It is currently undergoing a long rehab so we're not sure how it will come out of it, but it's one of my favorite attractions.
You should revisit the priority for the BTMRR: it's the first attraction to run out of FP and the one with longest average lines, but it's an absolute must do. I think it's the crown jewel of the park. Go and grab that FP as soon as possible.

 

[cazspence]

I would definitely recommend the Tuesday as Monday the 6th is mayday which is a holiday for the whole of Uk and a few other places (according to google) So lots will be off.

 

[olafLover]

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