DisneyLand Paris Question???

[sydneymouse]

In June we will be visiting my sister-in-law in London. We plan on taking the Eurostar to Paris for a 3 or 4 day trip. There's no way that I'm leaving Paris without visiting DL Paris. My question is 1. If we just spent a full day would we see everything? 2. Should we just stay at DL Paris for the whole trip and come and go as we please? Any suggestions are welcome.

Thanks!!!:mickey:

[Mufasa]

It's easy enough to reach Disneyland Paris via the RER A train to Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy from Downtown Paris- it's only 30 km outside of Paris so it usually is about a 35-40 minute train ride.

While in Paris, take advantage of the Metro and pick up a Paris Visite pass- gives you unlimited rides on the Metro, busses or RER for 1, 2, 3 or 5 calendar days in certain zones.

If you're going to stick to mainly downtown Paris, then you can just get the zone 1-3 pass. If you figure you'd be going back and forth to Disneyland Paris, Versailles or making a trip out to the airports then you could consider getting a pass covering zones 1-5 but it usually makes more sense just to buy the single day tickets for the RER to those regions as it's a waste to pay for those added zones if the majority if your time will be spent within the city.

You can certainly visit both Disneyland Paris and the Studios in a day and see a majority of things at both parks- not everything but if you plan your visit you can see the highlights in a day and having the ability to park hop is a nice way to break things up if it gets crowded in Disneyland Paris you just walk over to the Studios.

Sometimes on the Disneyland Paris website they offer a 1 day park hopper at a discount from what you'd pay at the park although it's not always offered. You can also purchase park tickets in Paris at stores on the Champs-Elysee or many of the Metro stations.

If you were to stay at the DLP resort then you can also sometimes take advantage of their version of extra magic hours on select days although it would be up to you if that's enough of a benefit to justify the cost.

If it were a first time visit to Paris, then I'd rather stay in Paris and go to Disneyland Paris for the day. Given that you're only doing 3-4 days in Paris I would want to make sure to see the city and factoring in when the RER trains run to/from Disneyland Paris it is easier to sightsee from staying in the city than to try and get into Paris and back out to the resort late at night.

* On my most recent visit to Disneyland Paris for work, I actually did miss the last train out back to the city one evening and wound up taking a very long, adventurous bus ride at about 1 in the morning but eventually did make my way to the Metro and back to my hotel- if it had been the other direction, there's no way I would be able to make it back out to the resort without having to pay for a cab.

[CleveSJM]

I went to DLP twice last year when in Europe for work. A Saturday in April and a Saturday in Sept. Both days were very crowded and I expect June would be as well. Since you are a Disney fan, I would think you'd want to take two days for DLP. That way you'll enjoy yourself and see everything including the "Downtown" area. I would stay the one night toward the parks. I stayed at a Holiday Inn on property with a free shuttle to the park and it was very economical. If you have the cash, stay at a Disney Hotel. If you can go "suite" level, you can get a All-day Fastpass that will get you in the fastpass lines all the time.

My biggest advice/tips for DLRP:
1. Smoking is everywhere, hopefully that won't bother you.
2. They don't know how to queue over there. If there is an opening on the side of you, most will try to pass you even if you've been in the same line for an hour.
3. They really don't know how to queue. At a counter service restauarant without metal queue bars, they will just bum rush the counter and "force" in their orders. They do not know how to line up.
4. Do Crush's Coaster as WDS, it's unique and fun.
5. Do Space Mountain 2.0, the magnetic boost start is amazing.

Have fun!

[Disney-lovin' Dutchman]

I have been to DLRP many times as you can see by my probably too big Signature :D

Everytime I go, I go no less than 3 days so I can see and do everything and would definately recommend that you go at least 2 days. There are some amazing and unique Disney touches that you can't get anywhere else!

In Disneyland there are many, many things that you have to see!

- Alice in Wonderland maze..This is unique to DLRP and if you like the movie, you will LOVE!! this maze. It has already been reported that DLRP management will not update or repair the maze anymore..this is probably a sign that it will be removed! So make sure you see this :)
- Space Mountain! The building alone is worth the admission. A gigantic canon with a great themed Jules Verne area around it,and you can visit the Nautilus, a reproduction of the Jules Verne novel
- Pirates of the Caribbean has the coolest queue in all of the Disney parks and the ride is just cool (except for Indiana Jones Adventure)
- Adventure Island has Captain Hook's Ship and Skull Rock! A cool place to cool down
- Big Thunder Mountain is the best ride in all of Paris! The best version of the ride too, absolutely amazing!!
- Phantom Manor is sort of like Haunted Mansion but it has some very unique touches and a different more macabre story
- This hub-castle is the most fairytaly castle :D

Just an awesome park and I should take in all the shops, all the rides and shows and maybe take a day and a half

Disney Studios has been improving a lot lately and that's a good thing! Armageddon is the worst ride in the world and the Backlot tour is relavitely boring..but the rest of the park IS cool! Rock'n Rollercoaster, Stunts Motor Action, Cars Rally, Tower of Terror!

But this has 3 AMAZING! things that other Disney Parks do not have.

-Animagique is a cool show featuring Donald and many other Disney pals and I don't know what the technique is called but it has people dressed in black, similar to Voyage of the Little Mermaid
- Crush's Coaster is a new dark ride/rollercoaster featuring Crush from Nemo! It is enormously popular and has very long lines but no FastPass (yet) but this is oen of the best Rollercoasters I have ever been on!:number1:
- Cinemagique. Just wow! It is a hommage to movies and has some neat in-theater effects! This is an absolute Must do!

Well, as you may have noticed I am a big fan of DLRP and I wish you a fun and safe trip! you'll love it

[fielin]

I'm french, and have an annual pass for DLRP.

I think you should plan on spending 2 days at DLRP. This way, you'll be able to see both parks, and do everything.

DLP is one of the most beautiful Disney parks. The studio... not so much, but it has a few unique attractions and show that you should see.

If you can spend the money, I would advise to try the New York Hotel. It is my favorite at DLRP.

I would not spend more than two days there : you shouldhave seen everything by the second day.

[#1donaldfan]

I just wanted to "chime" in and say I'm jealous.....have fun !!!!! and also

:fworks::welcome::fworks: to INTERCOT !!

[TheRustyScupper]

1) I get to Wales and France once every three months, or more often.
2) We usually hit DLP once or twice a year.
3) For ONE DAY EACH VISIT.
4) The Magic Kingdom does have some unique attractions worth seeing.
5) The Studios make me feel like I am in Army Quonset Huts.
6) They really skimped on the Studios, and it shows.

7) With this in mind, I would plan 1-2 days at DLP.
8) This depends more on crowds rather than wanting to cover both parks.

[DisneyDudet]

I just got back from Paris, staying in the Latin Quarter. Our trip was cut short by a day due to travel delays cause by weather. We decided that since this happened, we would just try to hit DLP for a day. We pretty much saw everything I wanted to see, which was mainly anything different from DLR and WDW. I would have liked a second day, but it would have been on a Friday, and Thursday was crowded enough (especially with rude French people! Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of nice ones, and we encountered some as well, but as a whole, they are RUDE).

At the MK, we saw, Space Mountain Mission 2.0, Buzz (just had to!), Phantom Manor (a must see for any HM lover... music is great and it is VERY different!), Indiana Jones (very disappointed), PotC (different), Peter Pan (tradition), HISTA, go up in the castle, see the dragon in the dungeon, the afternoon parade, the castle lighting, and Fantillusion.

At the studios, we did Crush's Coaster (by far the best ride I've ever been on!), RnRC, Armageddon stunt show. ToT wasn't finished, but should be by now. I am jealous of you!

We did this all in one day. I have a trip report in the trip reports if you'd like a better run down.

Anyway, where you want to stay and how many days you do DLP, all depends on what all you want to see in Paris itself. Do you want to do the Eiffel Tower? Notre Dame? Louvre? Arc de Triumph? I wanted to see it all, so one day at Disney doing what they don't have in the US parks was enough for me. I don't know about you, but Paris might be a once in a lifetime trip, and seeing as much as possible was a must. Others have told you some very good suggestions, but they seem to go a lot! You and I may not be so lucky.

If I had to do my Paris trip all over again, I wouldn't change a thing, except we would have left earlier in the day and not had a problem missing our connection! If you stayed at Disney, you would have to ride the train into Paris, which is around a 35min to 1hr depending on where you stop at, then add that for the return trip. Also, if you stayed at Disney for a day, you would need to either get a towncar, taxi, or ride the RER into Paris with all your luggage, no bueno. We were two young girls on a budget, and so we didn't buy any RER or Metro ticket packages. We walked everywhere, which, was very cold, but VERY cool, as we got to see a lot of sights and experienced a lot of Paris. Those Metro tickets are not cheap! It did cost us quite a bit of Euros to just go from the last major RER red line station into Marne la Valle. We are not familiar with mass transportation, so it was a new experience for us. It was a good one, thanks to one nice Frenchman who helped us buy tickets at the machines (you will be lucky to find someone who is at a booth).

So, all this jabber boils down to... I would stay in the city, unless you think you will spend more time at Disney than in the city.

Feel free to PM with any other questions. I've only been there once, and its very fresh in my mind.

Happy Planning! It really is gorgeous!