First
of all, you should know that there are certain periods to avoid
: mondays, wednesdays and fridays, either because lots of people
want to extend their week-end or because most children do not
go to school on wednesdays in France, school vacations and bank
holidays. This refers to whole Europe. You must be prepared
to negotiate with your children's school or college (and with
your boss if you have one...) to obtain one day off out of these
crowded periods. This condition is essential if you want to make
the most of your day at Disneyland Paris. During winter, it's
rather peaceful (October and November, holidays excepted). The
other possibility is to come to the park in the summertime after
5 pm (the theme park is then opened until 11 pm). Try to get additional
information from Disneyland Paris as usually visitors are given
the possibility to purchase a passeport at a reasonable price provided you enter the
park after 5 pm (it's called Starnights). They may offer it again
this year. We will keep you posted. Anyhow, during the summer
you can also benefit from the perfume of flowers. Disneyland Paris
is also a magnificent garden. Do not miss the Tinker
Bell's Fireworks.
If
you have decided to spend the whole day at the theme park, we
strongly advise you to take a fastpass
as
often as you can and start with the most popular attractions :
Peter Pan, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain and Indiana Jones, ( be careful if you have young children
some of the attractions have minimum height requirements). For
these attractions, the
Fastpass is now available. It's really great to save some
time but you will not really need it when the park is empty. but
then around 11 am, take some time to have your lunch since restaurants
are crowded around noon and you would then lose a lot of time
in the queues. Continue with other attractions such as pirates of the Caribbean, the Robinson's tree house - they are not very far
away - Casey Junior, le pays des contes de fées, Mad Hatter's tea cups, or it's a small world. To save some of your time, we advise
you to go to the information point
on which waiting times for the different attractions are indicated.
Do not hesitate and double check with a Disneyland Paris cast
member generally standing at the entrance, you will then have
a more precise idea of the waiting time. It's up to you to decide
what you want to do and you have to watch time carefully because
you will see that time is running very fast ! As a matter of fact,
at 3 pm starts the parade .You can either choose to see it but
in this case you have to find a suitable place in advance, the
best place being the entrance of it's
a small world from where the parade starts or upstairs in
the Mainstreet Railroad Station where the parade
ends. If you decide not to see the parade, you can then run to
the attractions where there will be far less visitors. Anyway,
try to go to a maximum of attractions in the same "theme"
as there is a long way to go between two "regions" and
you would lose your precious time. Do not hesitate to take short
cuts like the two "arcades" along Mainstreet USA. When
you are out of breath, do some shopping and have a look at what
is around you. It looks real !
Around 6:30 pm if you feel
like it, you can go back to the restaurant but be careful, if
you have chosen the Walt's, the Blue
Lagoon , the Steakhouse or l'Auberge de Cendrillon, do not forget to make a reservation
first thing in the morning to be sure to find a place in the evening.
After dinner, you can do some shopping or walk through Main
Street, before the start of the Mainstreet Electrical Parade.
Between 8 pm and 11 pm in the summer we usually enjoy as many
as 8 attractions at a time with our two children who are 8 and
12 years old. Around 10 pm in the summer starts the Mainstreet
Electrical Parade. It's really great and the music is very lively.
Here again, chose your place in advance because right after the
parade you will enjoy the Disneyland Paris
Fireworks (giant !) next to the sleeping beauty castle. Try to find a place in the heights
(on a bench for example) and facing the castle. After the fireworks,
the Theme Park closes but you are still given some time to do
your last minute shopping in Main
Street where the shops are still open. For night birds, there
is the Disney Village with its restaurants
(we recommend Annette, typically American) its shops, the Gaumont
Disney-Village ( cinema with a giant screen in salle 1). You
can come back another time if you want to visit the hotels where
there are some very good restaurants too.On the lake, you can
make a trip on board a pedalo boat or rent a "bicycle car"
to go round the hotels.
Last
but not least, if you intend to come back several times to Disneyland
Paris think of purchasing an annual passport, it's really worth while ! It is the
solution we have adopted. If you have young children or disabled
people with you, strollers and wheel chairs can be hired in the park.
We
hope that you will have so much pleasure as we have visiting the
park. And do not forget what is important........ never forget
that even if you look like a grown up, in your heart you are still
a child. Keep your dreams !!!!