Disneyland Paris - questions & advice

[HumblePie]

So excited for our first trip to Disneyland Paris. Would appreciate thoughts and advice!

We will be spending several days in Paris before heading to Disneyland on the RER train from Chatalet Les Halles. This seems to be a commuter train - is bringing a large suitcase on the train a problem? We are trying to decide if we should check a bag or try to manage with just carry-on luggage.

We will be staying at Marvel New York hotel. Are there laundry facilities we can use? We are continuing our vacation for several more days after we leave France and laundry will be necessary - especially if we only have small bags.

On departure we will be heading to CDG airport from Disneyland and plan to take the TGV. Should we buy those tickets in advance or is it safe to buy them at the time we depart?

Our flight (international) departs at 19:30. Would getting the TGV at around 16:00 be cutting it too close? I realize CDG is a very busy airport and we want to have sufficient time, but we of course want to spend as much time in the parks as we can that day.

Any other advice or things I may not be considering? thank you!

 

[Karin1984]

Biggest question regarding the train: Will you be travelling in rush hour? It can be quite a challenge with big suitcases. But not impossible, I once was on that train and a couple had a set of dining room chairs with them.

I would buy train tickets in advance. It is possible seats run out and I am not sure they will always sell you standing tickets. With more than one person and big suitcases, might consider a car service. Might be not much more expensive. It will take longer.

I would try to be at the airport around 16.00 hours. Also keep in mind that trains can get delayed to come in. If there are 3 trains:
- 15.15
- 15.30
- 15.45
Always book the first train, just in case that one gets delayed, ask the train staff nicely to let you on the other train. Because if the 3rd train is delayed and the next one is at 18.00... then you have a problem.

 

[HumblePie]

Biggest question regarding the train: Will you be travelling in rust hour? It can be quite a challenge with big suitcases. But not impossible, I once was on that train and a couple had a set of dining room chairs with them.

Thank you for the advice.

We plan to leave our hotel in the morning and get on the RER around 7:45 am. I expect rush hour will be getting underway at that time. I would love to make it work with just carry-on luggage. The challenge is that we will be heading to Sweden when we leave France and I expect the weather there will be cooler than Paris, so we will need warmer clothes & jackets.

I'd love to get away without a big suitcase but we might just have to deal with it.

 

[steve_rob]

I can’t say for sure based on Paris, but if it’s similar to London (where I do a daily commute) while the station at Chatalet Les Halles will be very busy, the RER train itself won’t be too bad after the first few stations as you are leaving the city, as the vast majority of people will be travelling in the opposite direction.

For the TGV to the airport, I agree with Karin in that earlier is better. You have to realise that many of these trains are actually long distance ones that just happen to stop at DLP and CDG. We once caught a train that had come from Marseille - while we were on it for only 10 minutes, many of the other passengers had been travelling for 4-5 hours, which is why they can be subject to odd delays.

 

[HumblePie]

I can’t say for sure based on Paris, but if it’s similar to London (where I do a daily commute) while the station at Chatalet Les Halles will be very busy, the RER train itself won’t be too bad after the first few stations as you are leaving the city, as the vast majority of people will be travelling in the opposite direction.

For the TGV to the airport, I agree with Karin in that earlier is better. You have to realise that many of these trains are actually long distance ones that just happen to stop at DLP and CDG. We once caught a train that had come from Marseille - while we were on it for only 10 minutes, many of the other passengers had been travelling for 4-5 hours, which is why they can be subject to odd delays.

Yes good point that we'll be going the opposite of the rush hour flow.

Next question - we are going in mid-May. How busy should we be expecting the parks to be? I'm used to WDW - I am assuming it will be less busy than Orlando parks would be at that time of year?

 

[RunnerMom71]

Keep in mind that you'll have the addtional step of taking the bus from the hotel in the morning to the transit center to then catch your train. For our family it was so much easier to have a car service pick us up (we had a lot of luggage as we were in Europe for a month). It was only $65eur so definitely worth it to get picked up from the hotel and taken straight to our terminal at CDG.

CDG isn't just busy - it is a huge spread out airport. Get into the wrong terminal and you can be screwed.

The RER upon arrival can take your luggage for a fee and transport it to your hotel so that's a great option (we didn't do this - we had the same car service pick us up in Paris and take us directly to our hotel for ease of logisitics).

 

[Karin1984]

Next question - we are going in mid-May. How busy should we be expecting the parks to be? I'm used to WDW - I am assuming it will be less busy than Orlando parks would be at that time of year?

Mid May should be good crowd-wise. The Spring school holiday in France (and Europe) is till the 1st week of May, so 2nd and 3rd week are usually pretty decent. The weather should be nice, not too hot yet. It won't be deserted, but my guess: you'll be fine.

 

[FrannyFrogs]

We stayed at the Art of Marvel in August. As I recall, the only laundry option was a super expensive full service.

We also stayed in Paris a few nights. We had great success with a company in Paris that came and picked up our laundry bag from the front desk and returned it all cleaned and folded. This was called Laverie Privee. We paid about 60 euros for a huge bag of laundry (4 people, 1 week) and took 24 hours.

 

[Karin1984]

Oh, missed that question, the more expensive hotels have a laundry service. Hotel Cheyenne has a self service. Anyone can use it, as far as I know. It is about a 5 minute walk from Marvel to Cheyenne.

 

[steve_rob]

Mid May should be good crowd-wise. The Spring school holiday in France (and Europe) is till the 1st week of May, so 2nd and 3rd week are usually pretty decent. The weather should be nice, not too hot yet. It won't be deserted, but my guess: you'll be fine.

Also to note that the UK spring school holidays will be the last week in May 2024 (kids return to school Monday 3rd June). However even if you went that week, it wouldn't affect crowds THAT much (say compared to French schoolchildren being off) but it's worth knowing.

 

[Karin1984]

One more thing about mid May this year: National holidays in Europe.

May 9 is Ascension, meaning this weekend of 9 and 10 will be busy.
Same with Monday 20 is Pentacoste.

 

[cindernat]

Hi all. First time to Disneyland Paris but have done both US parks before. Excited!

We will have a couple of nights in Paris before heading to the parks. Do you recommend staying near Disneyland the night before our first park day, or is it acceptable to head straight into the parks in the morning (via wherever we stay to dump our luggage) from Paris? Probably keen to Uber or the like rather than catch PT but haven't really looked into costs or anything like that. I see it's about a 1 hour drive. Our park days are likely to be Saturday and Sunday, not sure if that's worse or better (better for traffic, worse for parks?).

Thanks!

PS. Just saw the price of Disneyland Hotel, yikes! lol

 

[starry_solo]

Does anyone have pictures of the layout of Hotel Cheyenne and Santa Fe? Those are the two with self service laundry facilities , correct?

 

[tennisfan]

Does anyone have pictures of the layout of Hotel Cheyenne and Santa Fe? Those are the two with self service laundry facilities , correct?

I think on Cheyenne has self service laundry

 

[Karin1984]

It's just Cheyenne. Probably as most people spend only a couple of days at DLP, no need for more.

Here is a video uploaded 4 months ago.

And on this map I have circled the laundry facilities in red. Reasonably close to the entrance when you come from the parks by foot.

 

[Karin1984]

Does anyone have pictures of the layout of Hotel Cheyenne and Santa Fe? Those are the two with self service laundry facilities , correct?

See above

 

[HumblePie]

Hi all. First time to Disneyland Paris but have done both US parks before. Excited!

We will have a couple of nights in Paris before heading to the parks. Do you recommend staying near Disneyland the night before our first park day, or is it acceptable to head straight into the parks in the morning (via wherever we stay to dump our luggage) from Paris? Probably keen to Uber or the like rather than catch PT but haven't really looked into costs or anything like that. I see it's about a 1 hour drive. Our park days are likely to be Saturday and Sunday, not sure if that's worse or better (better for traffic, worse for parks?).

Thanks!

PS. Just saw the price of Disneyland Hotel, yikes! lol

Keep in mind that I have never been, but for our upcoming trip we will be staying in the city the night before, and getting on an early morning RER train from Paris to Disneyland. We are staying at a Disney hotel, so we added the Disney Express service, which means we can check into the hotel and drop our bags right at the train station, and head directly into the parks from there. Unless there are unexpected delays we will arrive in time for early entry.

When we leave, we will drop our bags at the concierge desk at the hotel, go into the park for the day, and then pick up our bags at the train station as we get on our train to depart.

 

[Karin1984]

Hi all. First time to Disneyland Paris but have done both US parks before. Excited!

We will have a couple of nights in Paris before heading to the parks. Do you recommend staying near Disneyland the night before our first park day, or is it acceptable to head straight into the parks in the morning (via wherever we stay to dump our luggage) from Paris? Probably keen to Uber or the like rather than catch PT but haven't really looked into costs or anything like that. I see it's about a 1 hour drive. Our park days are likely to be Saturday and Sunday, not sure if that's worse or better (better for traffic, worse for parks?).

Thanks!

PS. Just saw the price of Disneyland Hotel, yikes! lol

Staying the night before: It really depends on when you are going and how many days you have. Low season vs. high season is a big difference in Paris, same with number of days.
Keep in mind that if you book a package through Disneyland Paris (which is often cheaper) you get park days for every day you are on site, 3 nights = 4 park days.
If you have time I like to recommend to arrive early evening and use the park hours left to explore the park, get familiar with it and already see one of the evening shows. Depends of course on opening hours for that day.

The RER train will be about 5-10 euro per person per one way (I say by heart), an Uber or car service will probably start as of 60 euro per one way, is my guess.

Yes, a weekend is probably okay for traffic, bad for parks.

And don't get me started on the prices of the Disneyland Hotel. Really wonder if they will be able to fill it up.

 

[cindernat]

Thanks to you both for those answers.
I think we'll stay in Paris, train (or Uber?) in in the morning and make sure we have the express service. Is that something you can book along with your hotel/parks booking?
It'll be September and we'll have 2 park days (1 night at a hotel). Still undecided re: Disneyland Hotel or the Newport Bay Club. Big price difference! Anyone have positive experiences at Newport Bay? Are we going to be annoyed at ourselves for staying somewhere further from the parks when we only have 2 days?
In Australian currently it's over $2000 to stay 1 night at the Disneyland Hotel (cheapest room). Ridiculous!

 

[Karin1984]

It'll be September and we'll have 2 park days (1 night at a hotel). Still undecided re: Disneyland Hotel or the Newport Bay Club. Big price difference! Anyone have positive experiences at Newport Bay? Are we going to be annoyed at ourselves for staying somewhere further from the parks when we only have 2 days?
In Australian currently it's over $2000 to stay 1 night at the Disneyland Hotel (cheapest room). Ridiculous!

In my opinion, with only 2 days you will spend mostly in the park, you will not get your money's worth at either of those hotels. If you want to make use of everything the Disneyland Hotel says it's going to offer, like a dinner that can only be booked for hotel guests,, some stuff they have for the kids, you have to take time out of the parks and go hang out in the hotel.

New Port Bay has a bad rep, because of the price/quality value. It's a fine hotel and I have stayed here many times, but it's relatively expensive for what you get. Especially if you book via the US DLP website that ups the price even more. Always book via a European DLP website. But even then, it is expensive if all you need is a room to sleep. It's not as overpriced as the Disneyland Hotel or Marvel, but yeah, it is overpriced.

Unless you are really into hotels and their design, how much are you willing to pay for decor?

"Annoyed at ourselves for staying somewhere further from the parks"... New Port Bay is a 5-10 minute walk (depending on walking speed) from the Disneyland hotel. We are not talking about hours of difference. Unless you have mobility issues proximity shouldn't be an important criteria chosing one over the other.
I usually enjoy my walk from the cheaper hotels (Santa Fe or Cheyenne) to the parks. It's my transition time. Helps me relax