admin We don’t travel much, but when we travel I want to plan every little detail. That is what I did when we visited Disneyland Paris back in September 2017. I planned everything from the time we left the house till the time we came back. My husband made fun of me, because had so much detail but boy was he pleased when we arrived there!
Disclaimer: I have worked as a personal assistant for over 10yrs and had organized several travel arrangements for my boss, so I was used at going into detail and researching.
My daughter was 7yrs old and my son was 1yr 8mths and my major concern was how he would behave on the plan. Luckily everything went smoothly. I do like to split the planning into 2 phases: the logistical side and the planning of the activities whilst at the destination.
1. When to Travel
Two fundamental decisions when planning any holiday, but in our case Disneyland Paris was when and where to stay. This was the year, of my daughter’s Holy Communion and it was our gift to her. The summer holidays was the best period, but we wanted to find a time when the resort was not that busy.
The summer months can be quite busy, hence why we decided for September. I took into consideration that some European countries commence school beginning of September and at the same time tried to combine a Public Holiday. Therefore we opted to travel from the 7th – 11th September 2017.
2. Where to Stay
We all know that Disneyland Paris can be expensive…so I was considering all Hotels. I researched and did virtual tours of almost all the Hotels. We stay at the NewPort Bay Hotel, but here is how I came to this choice:
- This was a gift for my daughter, therefore needed to have a theme that she liked;
- We wanted to be within walking distance from the park without having to wait for the shuttle bus;
- We wanted to be able to go into the park, 2hrs before it actually opened to the general public.
The 3 Hotels that were near our requirements were The Disneyland Hotel, Hotel New York and Newport Bay Hotel. We opted for Newport Bay hotel it ticked all the boxes.
When booking our stay, we also opted for the Half Board Meal Plan Option
3. Booking the Flights
Now that we knew when & where I could go ahead and book the flights. Despite booking the flight through the flights through a travel agent, I book the flights that were mostly convenient for us. I kept in mind that when traveling everyone would be excited when going, but not so much upon returning. These were the flights we opted for:
Departure Malta 0630am / Arrival Paris CDG 0925am
Departure Paris ORY 0725pm / Arrival Malta 1000pm
Upon arrival and departure we would had an entire day. Additionally when we arrived home, we just went to bed and the following morning woke up refreshed to dealing with the luggages and laundry.
4. Getting your luggage ready
An important aspect was the luggage. Each member of the family was assigned a luggage, plus hand luggage. An outfit for each day of our stay was planned out. In one of the hand luggages I put some light jackets…and was glad I did because when we arrived it was drizzling.
We all know that kids are always munching so I decided to pack some snacks for when we were either at the Hotel or else they wanted to snack on something whilst we were walking from one spot to the other.
Remember that this will free up space in your luggage for you to put items your purchase from Disneyland.
5. The Flight
My greatest worry was the flight. My hopes that the kids would sleep through the flight was in vain. However I had packed some activities to do for the duration of the flight. Here are two tips when travelling with kids:
TIP 1: When booking the seats, book the aisle and middle seat (leaving the window seat empty). There is a tendency then when people book the seats they avoid the window seat empty if the aisle and middle seat is already occupied. This obviously depends how full the flight is. In my case it did not work because the flight was full.
TIP 2: Choose seats at the back or at the front. Why? Firstly due to the proximity to the bathrooms and secondly after a long flight with kids, you would want to get off the plan as quickly as possible.
6. Planning for the Actual Stay
- THE FOOD
As mentioned above I booked for the Half Board Meal Plan & Breakfast. We planned on having breakfast at the Hotel and this was not included in the price.
The Half Board Meal plan, gives you an option of various restaurants where your could dine. Basically you pay in advance, and when you arrive you are given a number of vouchers that you present at the restaurant. You would be able to choose from various set menus. If you decide to eat at a restaurant that falls within the meal plan but is of a higher category you would still be able to use the vouchers and pay for the difference.
I researched all the menus of the restaurant under our meal plan and made a list of those that were good for our family. These were:
- Annette’s Diner (Disneyland village);
- Chez Remy;
- Inventions at Disneyland Hotel;
- CapeCod Restaurant at Newport Bay Hotel.
I booked the above restaurants in advance (90 days before our arrival as recommended by Disneyland Resort). The only one that was not booked was Annette’s Diner, reason being that they did not accept bookings.
Here is WHY I chose these restaurants:
- Annette’s Diner – it is an American style restaurants and waiters take orders on roller skates. So it was a fun experience.
- Chez Remy – we booked this for lunch because it closes early. Why I booked there? 1. I do love the Disney film Chez Remy and 2. The whole concept is awesome (everything is large and you feel like you are the mouse);
- Inventions – This restaurant was in a higher category Meal Plan so we paid the difference in cash. Why Inventions? Waiting in queues to meet characters is not the forte of my family so this was the next best option. Another option for character dining was with the Princesses, but when I had checked out the menu, there was nothing that my daughter would have liked. Inventions is buffet style, and although the food was nothing out of this world, it was more for the characters then the food.
- CapeCod at Newport Bay Hotel – For the last night choose the restaurant within our Hotel so we could take it more easy and start packing.
Why do you need to book? Well, when we planned to eat at Annette’s Diner we realized that it was very busy and my husband had seen a steak house and told me that we should have diner over there. When we went to this steak house, they asked if we had a reservation and when we said no they told us it was fully booked. It was then that my husband realized why I had book all the restaurants. We eventually had dinner at Annette’s Diner.
What about lunch? I did leave this open, because in reality if you have a good breakfast, you might only need a light snack. However, I made a list of all the quick service restaurant that we would have liked (after having viewed their menus of course).
- THE RIDES & SHOWS
I had a full list that were suitable for the kids and shows that we would have enjoyed and respective timings. When we visited it was Disneyland Paris’s 25th Anniversay and was the time when the new Star Wars movie was out (and we are fans of Star Wars).
As you know some rides are busier than others, so I planned that we would visit busy rides during lunch time when most people would be having lunch. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. Also since we were staying in a Disneyland Hotel we were able to enter 2hrs earlier. Not all rides were open but we could still enjoy some rides and a quiet park.
Also I had downloaded the Disneyland Paris app, which would tell me which rides were busy and which not.
Same applied for the shows and the Meet & Greets.
7. How the Actual Plan looked like
DAY 1
0925am Arrival at CDG
0925am – 1015am Transfer from Airport to Hotel (I booked a taxi beforehand. Approximate driving time 45min
1015am Hotel Check-in
1130hrs Lunch @ Earl of Sandwich (after having been awake since 400am knew everyone was going to be famished. This was the first quick service restaurant upon arriving into the village from Newport Bay Hotel)
1230hrs Buy Disney ears. Check out rides.
1530/1600hrs Return to the Hotel to rest
1930hrs Dinner at Annette’s Diner
Each day was planned accordingly with time of shows we wanted to watch.
We left shopping for when we were on our way out of the Park, however if you are staying into a Disneyland Hotel the majority of shops offer a delivery service. We used this service when we shopped at the Star Wars shop.
Thought I planned everything out, there was no stress about it. For example when we had lunch at Chez Remy, I had planned to have dinner at McDonalds and watch the evening show. However, it had rained heavily all afternoon and evening. We still had McDonalds, but in our Hotel room (just went myself and bought food as takeout).
The following day, some of the rides were not working early morning however one of the busiest rides – Peter Pan was offering fast passes. When we went at the established time, there was a 1hr wait and my husband was like “WHAT AM NOT WAITING THAT LONG”. I said “WE HAVE THE FAST PASS WE SKIP EVERYONE”. We went into the fast pass lane and skipped everyone and my husband was “I FEEL GUILTY THAT WE ARE SKIPPING EVERYONE”.
TIP: Return to the Hotel to allow your children to rest. There is so much to do and see that kids would get overtired, which means that they would get cranky. So allow time to return to the Hotel to recharge.
Hope this blog post helped you in some way if you are planning a trip to Disneyland Paris in 2021 (hopefully we would be able to travel again).
We are planning to visit again in 3yrs time.
Love
Strugglingmum xxx
Website used to check out Restaurant Menus: www.dlpguide.com
Taxi Company used for airport transfer: www.prestige-transfer.com
