Often I hear people say they don't want to plan their holidays and what the do on each day and I think that's fine- if you're doing like a beach holiday. But if you're going to Disneyland and you really want to make most of your trip you really need to have some sort of plan. If you already booked your hotel you can skip this part and start reading again at number ''4''.
Choosing..
1 ...your travel date:
Disneyland is open everyday all year around and has a lot of different seasonal events like 'Swing into Spring' or the Halloween Festival which lasts the whole of October. But even if there's no event going on, just the park itself is so amazing. Of course there a times when the park is almost empty compared to the times where you need to queue for like an hour minimum. For example after the Christmas time is over it's very less busy. If this matters to you you can check the french holiday calender. Also you need to know that weekends are busier than weekdays.2 ...your transportation:
Since I live in Germany I've got the choice of either going by plane, car or train.
If you live in a neighbouring country I would recommend taking the train or driving with your own car just because flight times can change all the time and you wouldn't want that if that means maybe missing a day in the park. From where I live taking the train or driving takes about 7-8 hours which I think is fine and it's up to you when you want to start and stop driving or when you want to leave the park.
3 ...your hotel:
There are 7 Disney hotels and 8 partner hotels.
If you're on a budget I recommend either staying offsite or staying at the Cheyenne or Santa Fe which are the kind of cheapest Disney hotels.
Disney hotels have a lot of benefits such as like Extra Magic Hours which means you can enter the park up to 2 hours earlier than other park guests who are not staying at a Disney hotel. Also there are free shuttle busses so distance isn't really a factor when thinking about which hotel to choose.
After booking your trip
4. What to do?
You chose all of the things above and are looking forward to visit the most magical place on earth.
But the planning isn't done here. You need to think about what you want to see and do and this depends on the group of people you are going with. Are you going with small children? Look up the best family attractions. To make most of the time you are spending at Disneyland it is important to know what you want to do. Which characters would you like to meet? You also need to check out the closure dates of attractions so you won't be dissapointed if you're standing infront of the attraction you really wanted to go on and discover it is closed for that whole month or so.
5. Dining
Also you need to think about Dining. If you would like to have a table service meal everyday I recommend calling the reservation hotline and booking a table 3 months in advance. If quick service and buffet is ok for you than you don't really need to plan anything here. There is so much choice that everyone will find something they like. I personally love the Hakuna Matata Restaurant juts because the Fries are so amazing. There is also character dining which you can look into.
6. Fastpass and Single Rider
Fastpass is a great system which allows you to get a ticket with a return time to skip most of the queue. So it's recommended checking out if you want to do any of the fastpass attractions.
Single Rider is a kind of new thing to Disneyland Paris. It means that some attractions offer a queue for single riders, so if you're with a group and you don't care about sitting next to each other than do the Single Rider queue which is so much quicker.
I hope these tips helped you and I'll soon be doing a What to pack and a My Disney Park Bag post.
Bye xx
