Paris Disneyland Newbie

[Angwong101]

Hi all! We are planning on going to Paris Disneyland over Thanksgiving break. Can someone explain to me the different ticket options? It’s a little confusing... Also, anything that we definitely need to do there? It’s our first time to Paris Disney and we are frequent visitors of Disneyland in Ca.
Thanks!

 

[afan]

I'm sure your post will get moved there, nut there's a board specificaly for dlp with a bunch of helpful people im the global neighbours section of the Dis.

 

[BadPinkTink]

There are 6 onsite hotels, all of which have access to early opening for all guests.

Disneyland Hotel
This is the premium priced deluxe hotel. It is located at the entrance to the main park. It is Victoriana themed

Hotel New York
This would be the premium price moderate hotel. It is located after Disney Village and is the nearest to Disney Village. It is themed as a Manhattan / New York building. It would be a 10 minute walk to the main park entrance OR you can take the free shuttle bus. This hotel is closing soon for refurb so check the dates.

Hotel Sequoia Lodge
This would be the moderate hotel. It is located after Disney Village, past Hotel New York and half way along Lake Disney. It is themed like a Californian Red Wood Forest, similar to the Grand Californian in Disneyland California. It would be a 15 minute walk to the park entrance OR you can take the free shuttle bus. The standard rooms are located in separate buildings called Lodges. The main building has the more expensive standard rooms and the Club Level. The swimming pool is located in a separate building.

Hotel NewPort Bay
This would be the moderate hotel. It is located after Disney Village, past Hotel New York and Sequoia Lodge, at the end of Lake Disney. It is themed like a Newport Bay Yacht Club. It would be a 20 minute walk to the park main entrance OR you can take the free shuttle bus. This is the largest hotel building. Some rooms can be a 15 minute walk from the main reception area where the restaurants and shop are located. It has a swimming pool.

Hotel Cheyenne
This would be the budget hotel. It is located after Disney Village and past Hotel New York. It is themed like Toy Story / Sheriff Woody, The Wild West. It would be a 20 minute walk to the main park entrance OR you can take the free shuttle bus, There is no swimming pool and the rooms are located in separate buildings

Hotel Santa Fe
This would be the budget hotel. It is located after Disney Village and past Hotel New York and then past Hotel Sequoia Lodge. It would be a 20 minute walk to the main park entrance OR you can take the free shuttle bus. There is no swimming pool and the rooms are located in separate buildings.

Partner Hotels
There are also 5 Partner Hotels. These are located on the far edge of Disney property. They are not walkable to to the parks, they have a free shuttle bus to the parks. As they are independent hotels, they dont have the Disney onsite perks of access to early opening or the shopping service.

1. Hotel Kyraid
2. Magic Circus
3. Dream Castle
4. Explorers
5. B & B Hotel

some things you need to know about Disneyland Paris which are different to the American Parks

1. You dont have to book using the website for your country. Disneyland Paris has different deals and offers on the different country websites. Most of us regulars would advise AGAINST booking with the American site as it is by far the most expensive
2. The other country websites to check are
3. http://www.disneylandparis.ie/
   http://www.disneylandparis.co.uk
   http://www.disneylandparis.fr
   http://www.disneylandparis.de
   http://www.disneylandparis.it
   http://www.disneylandparis.be
   http://www.disneylandparis.nl
4. Disneyland Paris does not mail anything in the post. You get a confirmation email which you bring with you to checkin
5. When you book direct with Disneyland Paris you are booking a hotel and park hopper tickets package
6. Your park tickets are valid for both arrival day and departure day
7. You can book direct with Disney through any of the websites. When you book through the website you will pay the full amount at the time of booking
8. You can also book direct with Disney by phone. To call Disneyland Paris and not have to pay the international phone charges, just call the regular phone number for Walt Disney World in Florida and ask to be transferred to Disneyland Paris.
9. When you book direct with Disney by phone you pay a 15% deposit and the balance is payable 30 or 60 days before arrivial, I cant remember which
10. When you have booked you will get a confirmation email with your itinerary, you will need this email to check in
11. Once you have your confirmation number you need to go to the website / country you booked with, not the country you live in. You will need to create a new MY DISNEY ACCOUNT on that website
12. When you log in to your new My Disney Account you will see your itinerary. If you have a balance to pay you will see an online payment form.
13. To pay your balance you can either phone again or pay online
14. Restaurant ADR can only be booked over the phone. Just repeat step 8 and ask for Disneyland Paris Dining Reservations.
15. Disneyland Paris Restaurant ADR open 60 days from arrival date
16. Disneyland Paris does not have Magic Bands or Fatspass ++. The Fastpass are the paper ones which you get on the day at the machines beside the rides.

The Parks

1. There are 2 parks - the main park and Disney Studios
2. Just like Disneyland California, the parks are side by side and park hopping is very easy
3. Disney Studios is a movie themed park and is mainly a half day park
4. All the ride and attraction audios are in French
5. Disneyland Paris is Frenchified Disney, an American style theme park with the cultural and social behaviours of France / central Europe
6. American visitors need to adjust their expectations, there is not the same level of Disney happy smiliey customer service from the CM's
7. American visitors need to adjust their expectations, Disneyland Paris does not have the same level of upkeep and maintenance as the American parks
8. American visitors need to adjust their expectations, Disneyland Paris, guest behaviour is very different, for example guests smoke all over the park, not in the designated smoking areas
9. American visitors need to adjust their expectations, clothes sizes are smaller, there is less variety of merchandise, guests are not into the wearing of Disney clothes or Mouse Ears or pin lanyards in the pins.

 

[olafLover]

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[Karin1984]

Hi all! We are planning on going to Paris Disneyland over Thanksgiving break. Can someone explain to me the different ticket options? It’s a little confusing... Also, anything that we definitely need to do there? It’s our first time to Paris Disney and we are frequent visitors of Disneyland in Ca.
Thanks!

If you book a package you buy the tickets equal to the days you are there. If you have 3 nights/4 days, you buy tickets to the parks for 4 days. You cannot say, I only want 2 days. The only way to avoid this is to book the room separately (also possible via booking.com/hotels.com/trivago.com).

Look at the list of rides and shows, cross off everything you have seen in your own park, and 1. start with the unique rides. 2. Then the rides that are similar but different, and 3. then everything else. For example.
1. Crush Coaster, Ratatouille
2. Big Thunder Mountain
3. Peter Pan

 

[CERS]

Disneyland Paris just released a new paid FastPass Service, you can check it out online. This gives you extra advantage as you wont need an assigned time. It is not mandatory though, you can still use the normal free fastpass.

The most different attractions are: Crush Coaster, Ratatouille, HyperSpace Mountain. They still had the old version of Pirates of the Caribbean. They also have a very cool version of Thunder Mountain. Everything else, except for the castle, is very similar.

 

[Angwong101]

During the winter, is it better to go on a week day and try to squeeze both parks or opt for a weekend day when the park is open longer but with more crowds?

 

[LdyStormy76]

During the winter, is it better to go on a week day and try to squeeze both parks or opt for a weekend day when the park is open longer but with more crowds?

Two things to consider. First, it depends on what your focus is. Do you want to enjoy the rides, appreciate the differences and take in the theming? Or are you really into character pictures? Here is why I ask. Some of the attractions at Studios happen only a few times a day so you could attend the Lights, Motors Action show or spend 2 hours in line to have your picture taken with Minnie Mouse. There are areas that are beautifully themed and deserve the time to be appreciated and not glossed over. Second, do you typically rope drop for EMH and stay until they push you out of the park, or do you like to take your time? How you answer those might help with your planning.

Having recently returned from Disneyland Paris I was really happy to have multiple days there, and would recommend 2 days for the parks. Even in mid-September there was a big uptick in crowd size between Wednesday and Saturday, but some of that may have been tied to the runDisney event. I did not use the fast pass system for anything.

Two things I really liked about Disneyland Paris. First, being able to walk everyplace and not having to wait for Disney transit. All of the hotels on site are within easy walking distance (I was at Sequoia Lodge). Second, once you pass security for the day that is it. The staff manning the security lines (bag X-ray scanner like at airport and metal detector) I found to be very efficient with the biggest holdup being people who ‘forgot’ to take stuff out of their pockets.

Something to keep in mind as you plan: allow plenty of time to get to the airport on your trip home. This might mean not using Magical Express if you have an early flight (I would define early as prior to 10:30 am.) It was 90+ minutes to get to the airport from the time I was picked up, a 20 minute walk from drop off to the American Airlines terminal and then after checking in you go through both passport control and security.

 

[CERS]

In Disneyland Paris you must watch that the night you're staying, Disneyland is hosting fireworks. There was one time I went during a weekday last year, assuming it was like in WDW that there were fireworks every day...well, that wasn't the case that night as there were no fireworks scheduled. So just check that out to be sure, it might be a defining thing to the question "when to go".

As for squeezing the 2 parks, I have always squeezed the 2 parks in 1 day, even when I went for January 1st a couple of years ago. Disney's Studios in Paris is quite small right now, you have roughly 5 differential attractions from the American parks (Crush Coaster, Ratatouille, RC Racer, CineMagique and Armageddon). I would qualify it as a half-day park for sure (that is until they materialize the overhaul with Marvel Land, Star Wars Land and Frozen Land... THEN it will be a full-day park for sure).

Disneyland Paris itself, on the other hand, is very similar to the CA Disneyland, but with a couple of differences. The castle is beautiful, the Dragon's Lair bellow is awesome too, do not miss it. As for attractions, as I said, Space Mountain Mission 2 (or HyperSpace Mountain now) is a must; Indiana Jones roller-coaster also, as they are unique to Disneyland Paris. The Alice in Wonderland maze is great for kids. The Fireworks are great, using stuff similar to Happily Ever After in Orlando but less detailed and perfected to HEA as that one is brand new. They do use a combination of waterfountains that actually turn it out to be a great show. You could easily spend a full day in this pak.

In conclusion, if you want to be rushed but save 1 full day, squeeze them out. If you prefer relaxed, then you can take 1.5 days, or 2 days. Reserve enough time to stroll around Paris, too! Hope this helped!

 

[olafLover]

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[CERS]

When where you there that there was no fireworks scheduled? It's scheduled every night, but due to weather, it can be cancelled, but you can't plan for that

If I recall correctly, it was September 2017. Maybe it was due to something else or it was a particular exception due to something happening. I still got to see it the next day though, so no problem there.