After 2.5 weeks of solid sight seeing in Europe, it’s working out that I can reward my two boys (13 and 7) with a night/day in Disneyland Paris on our last day of our vacation. I’m looking to see if anyone here has been and thus might have some touring tips and strategies. There’s not much online…
We will be coming from two long Paris side trip days (one in Normandy and one in Versailles). We will drive straight from Versailles, and check in to one of the Disney hotels around 4pm on a Friday. I’ll send the kiddos straight to the pool while I return our rental car (I’ll pick up some ‘to go’ dinner in town before I drop off car and bring it back to pool and we will just eat dinner by the pool to save time).
We will definitely take a nap in our room and then head to DLP for a few late night hours of rides + fireworks (ie. 8-11pm).
The next day We will do Early entry (8.30 am-9.30), stay as long as we want, but imagine we will likely leave after their 5pm parade…we’ll take a taxi to an airport hotel at Charles de Gaulle for a super early flight back to the US the next day.
Here’s my question. There’s little to no advice online on touring strategies, except to hit the Studios first in thd AM (as they have fewer rides and thus lines build quickly)
For anyone who has been, any thoughts on the below?
First night: 8pm - 11.15pm
Try to hit as many headliners as possible, in order of which rides start getting shorter lines as evening progresses (ie. Pirates, Hyperspace Mtn, Phantom Manor).
Try to end evening riding Big Thunder during fireworks (is that a thing in Paris DLP?). Not sure I want to spend precious park time standing around jostling for a fireworks viewing slot! Walk back to hotel after park closes.
Next Day: (leave bags with concierge)
8 am, arrive at turnstiles for Studios
Crushes Coaster (rope drop)
2x Rockin Roller Coaster (apparently re-opening in early summer, rebranded for Marvel). This is a must for my kids, so we lucked out that it will be back up and running.
ToT
Ratatouille (apparently does not build lines like in US, true?)
RC Racer
Jump to DLP: timing tbd, but hopefully by 11am.
I have no idea what order to do things at DLP!!! Might be driven by what we were able to ride the night before.
I will likely use their version of Genie, assuming it’s still the same where you pay by the ride. I am not spending a full $300 more for their announced program, so if that is the new norm, we will sadly be stand by. Already this Disney side trip is a European vacation budget buster…
Here are the DLP rides / walk through attractions we’d like to hit across the prior evening / one day.
Pirates (knock out prior evening)
Big Thunder (knock out prior evening)
Hyperspace Mtn (maybe knock out prior evening?)
Phantom Manor
Indiana Jones Temple of Peril
Sleeping Beauty Castle (walk through)
La Teniere Dragon (walk through)
Adventure Isle (play time?)
Parade at 5
If we can squeeze in Star Tours, bonus. We won’t have time, sadly, to see the Lion King I don’t think, but that’s on my list. If their pay by the ride express program works, then we may have more options.
Anything ‘must see’ that is missing from the above?
My 7 year old might insist on Dumbo. We will only do Peter Pan’s flight if not a long line as we aren’t big fans of the ride.
Note: FWIW, I looked into staying both nights at a Disney hotel but it’s just so darn expensive for what you get I just can’t justify the $$.
Sorry for the long post…and my apologies as I know this is a WDW forum… but I’ve noticed that many folks have been to other Disney parks across the world.