Disneyland Paris - Visitors Guide...Part 1

What?

Two huge theme parks, fantastic rides, it's own "village" for shopping, eating and nightlife, stunning hotels, a lake, ice skating rink - even a full size hot air balloon!

Where?

Disneyland Paris is actually not in Paris at all, but in a new town suburb called Marne La Vallee, about 20 miles East of Paris itself. Interesting eh?

Why?

Disneyland Paris has to be my all time favourite place to take the kids in the whole of Europe. It really does have something for everyone...from the excited hyper active four year olds to the stroppy hormonal teenagers, not forgetting grumpy boring old parents - everyone can have a great time here.

Disneyland Paris is such a busy popular attraction is pays to be clever and plan the dates for your trip carefully.

Generally school holidays are very busy: (Mid Feb, mid April, late May, mid July until end Aug, late Oct). I have all the French school holidays listed in my gude too.

If you do go in these periods then you need to be prepared for the crowds. Restaurants will be packed and worst of all you'll probably be queuing in excess of 2 hours for some of the more popular rides. Now add baking sun or freezing cold rain to the equasion and you may have some very fed up bored kids on your hands.

My favourite dates for going are: Late Jan, early March or late Nov. We went Nov 08 and didnt queue for any ride for more than 20 minutes the whole four days we were there. In fact, most rides had no queue at all and we just walked right on.

Lets start with the info you want and need in order to choose / book your package. There are a total of six Disney hotels which are all on-site and within walking distance of the 2 parks. (There is a free coach service for the lazy ones of course) Starting from the cheapest (I mean most economical). Ive stayed at least once in all of them, so my opinion is on a first hand basis. My full guide has a whole page dedicated to each hotel - here is a brief summary:

Santa Fe:

A 2* budget hotel, designed to represent the landscape and atmosphere of New Mexico. Approx. 20 mins walk from the Disney Parks. This is the cheapest on site Disney hotel, perfect for a short stay if you don't mind not having a pool. Rooms are very basic, the restaurant is like a school cafeteria, but perfect if you want to stay at Disney and not spend too much of your hard earned cash.

Cheyenne: (Pictured)

This is another budget 2* onsite hotel opposite the Santa Fe, approx 20 mins walk to the Parks. This hotel has a Wild West theme, with the different hotel blocks having facades that represent buildings such as the town bank and jail and the whole area has been designed to look like a Wild West town. Better than the Santa Fe, rooms still basic but good for young children as they have bunk beds!

Sequoia Lodge:

3* Mid-range hotel. The Sequoia Lodge is themed on the American Outback with log cabin style accommodation and set in 40,000 sq. metre of woodland forest. It has it's own waterfall and beaver dam too! It is approx 15 mins walk from the Disney Parks. Nice hotel, comfortable yet affordable is my verdict. Also worth noting that this one is the cheapest to have an indoor pool.

Newport Bay Club: (Pictured)

3* Mid-range hotel. The Newport Bay Club is my personal favourite out of all the onsite hotels, I have already booked to return in late April and have been 4 times previously. The hotel has a nautical / yacht club theme and is approx 10 mins walk to the Parks and the lake views make the walk quite enjoyable. The restaurant is lovely and the indoor pool and video games room are nice to have too.

New York

4* luxury hotel, very close to the Parks, approx 10 mins walk. This hotel is the only other 4 star onsite apart from the main Disneyland hotel. It was designed by the same man who designed some of the hotels in Disneyland Florida, and the towering skyscrapers and Art Deco image make it feel very modern and stylish. Nice for couples and adult groups, although young children would prefer the Newport Bay Club.

Disneyland Hotel:

This is THE most expensive and most ideally located hotel onsite at Disneyland Paris. It is not only breathtaking to look at but also wonderfully magical inside too. It's right at the gates of the Parks which means no walking for tired little legs after a day in the Parks. Usually about double the cost of the next most expensive New York, nice for a treat or special event, but most choose more affordable options. Complete with a lovely pool and it's own spa centre, a stay here is really magic!

You have 3 main options for getting to Disneyland Paris and all can be used to create a package holiday that best suits you and your family.

Eurostar:

-Can be taken direct from London or Ashford in Kent, it takes about 3 hours and is quite affordable. Trains go direct each way just once a day, trains depart UK about 8am and return around 10pm, giving you full days in the resort.

-Under 4's dont need to pay for a seat, which is great if you have young ones and are on a budget. Often the train wont be full, so they can use a spare seat anyway.

-Best of all, the Eurostar station where you get off in Marne La Vallee is only 5 minutes walk from the Parks - perfect! There are free yellow buses to all on and off site Disney hotels (take approx 2-10 mins) Full Eurostar seating plans, timetable, tips for easy booking etc are on my cd guide.

Ferry / Self Drive

-The ferry can be taken from various Uk ports to Calais and then you can drive yourselves from there to Disneyland Paris in approx 3 hours.

-The resort is signposted all the way from Calais Port and involves mainly mototrway driving - very easy to do.

-The ferry is probably the cheapest option usually costing about £60-£90 return per car.

Flying:

-Flights can be taken from most uk airports to one of 3 airports in France nearby the resort. Low cost (EasyJet, Ryanair, Jet2 etc) and scheduled (Air France) flights fly on a daily basis usually 3-5 times a day for each route.

-The main airport used for Disneyland is Paris Charles De Gaulle and from there is about an hours drive from the resort.

-I have a full list of airlines that fly, their timetables and companies you can book your transfers with from airports to your hotel, in my guide.

Disneyland Paris is totally transformed twice a year:

Halloween 4th october - 2nd November

Spooky fun begins at Disneyland Paris. This year they are making an extra special effort for Halloween with more spooky goings on then ever before. The whole resort is turning into "Halloweenland" there will be friendly pumpkin head men everywhere and of course the classic pink wiches to look out for.

There will be a giant Halloween ceremony on 31st Oct in the evening, hosted by Minnie. All the characters and most importantly the Disney Villains will be there too. There's singing, dancing, games and lots of prizes to win. Then there's going to be a massive party with a DJ, a huge parade of all the Villians and a spectacular firework show!

Christmas 8th November 2008 - 6th January 2009

This is the most amazing time at the resort....firstly, the sleeping Beauty castle becomes the ice palace, it's unbelievable how breathtaking it looks, Main street is totally transformed into a winter wonderland with shiny tinsel, amazing decorations, lots of lights and an enormous Christams Tree... and there's even fake snow too!

Not forgetting Santa of course, the kids can go visit him in his workshop and get a good present and a photo to keep.

New for this year is "Mickeys Magical Christmas Dinner". You can meet the charcters dressed in their amazing Christmas costumes and have a really lovely Christmas buffet dinner. Then afterwards a dance party with music and singing that the kids will love! Most restaurants do a themed meal on 24th and 25th Dec...the Christmas dinners vary enormously in price from £30-£160 per person so there's something to suit all budgets

Once you have booked your hotel and arranged your travel plans it's time to buy your park passes. There are two parks at Disneyland Paris, the main one and the Walt Disney studios one.

The tickets you want is called "2-park hopper pass" this gives you unlimited entry to all attractions in both parks. These can be purchased to be used for various durations between 1 day up to 5 days. The same ticket is used or the whole duration.

If you have booked your package idependently (which most do) then of course there is no record of your tickets being purchased at your hotel. Which means if you lose your ticket you have to purchase another one - full cost. So keep it safe at all times. You need it when you enter either park as they are stamped through the machine each day to show one days use has expired.

If you book a Disneyland package online then you get the passes included in the price (but generally pay a higher overall cost for your package). If you book 2 nights stay you get 3 days passes, book 3 nights stay and get 4 days passes etc. This gives you a days pass the day you arrive and the day you leave.

If you don't use one day because you are travelling to or from home then the days ticket is lost. Tickets purchased online with packages have to be used on consecutive days from the first stamp, they then expire and can not be transferred.

If you are researching and booking Disneyland Paris you will no doubt hear the term "FASTPASS" an awful lot. Basically, it's a queue busting system that allows you to be given a time to return to a ride and be able to walk to the front of the queue. It is currently available on the following rides:

· Indiana Jones & the Temple of Peril, Adventureland
· Space Mountain: Mission 2, Discoveryland
· Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, Discoveryland
· Big Thunder Mountain, Frontierland
· Peter Pan's Flight, Fantasyland
· Star Tours, Discoveryland

Fastpass is given to all guests staying at any on-site Disneyland hotel free of charge but they can only be used once. If you book some upgraded rooms "castle club" at the Disneyland hotel or a Junior / Honeymoon suite then you will receive a VIP fastpass with unlimited uses.

Ive explained how to use them below in 3 easy steps.

1. ·At the entrances to the six attractions mentioned, you will see two queues: one for the traditional queue (the approx waiting time is indicated on a notice board) and one for Fastpass.

2. Insert your Fastpass entrance ticket into the machine and you will automatically receive your Fastpass ticket back, stamped. It will indicate the time slot during which you should return to ride the attraction.

3. Return to the attraction during the indicated time slot on your FASTPASS ticket and you will be able to ride the attraction within a few minutes.

If you are going during school holidays they are a must! They really will make such a big difference to your whole holiday. However, during very quiet times (see section on "when to go" - above) the fastpass machines are switched off, so don't waste your money buying them if you are travelling outside peak dates.

You don't have to pay to upgrade your room to get more fastpass uses though, many people sell unused ones on Ebay and they are generally quite inexpensive.

This is only part 1 of my snippet condensed visitors guide.

Part 2 will include info on off site Disney hotels and a full breakdown of the popular rides and attractions at both Disney Parks. Also a guide to various other nearby attactions and excursions you can do whilst in the resort if you are planning a longer stay.

Part 3 will include info on character meals, half board dining options, a breakdown of all the best (and worst) places to eat and drink onsite, plus top tips for travelling to Disney with babies and tips for disabled guests planning their visit.

So, until Parts 2 and 3 are ready that's really it from me for now - feel free to add me to your favourites so you can see the other two parts once they're published!

I honestly hope my guide here has helped you and has made interesting reading. Im new to this so all comments, voting etc is greatly received. If you have any questions about your trip to Disneyland Paris you can post them too and I'll do my best to provide an answer for you.

Thanks for reading....Walt says goodbye too ---------->

Lisa-Travel.