Disneyland Paris Holidays - Paris Weekend Breaks
Disneyland Paris holidays aren't the cheapest - or chicest - way of spending time on a holiday to the French capital. People without children may be able to spend their time puffing on Gauloises in pavement cafés, but those of us who are blessed with offspring are bound at some point to make the pilgrimage to the world of Mickey Mouse. Some people say that Disneyland Paris is the best Disney theme park in the world. It's bigger than Florida's Magic Kingdom and Disneyland California, and the rides are newer.
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Disneyland Paris has two main parks: Disneyland Park and the Walt Disney Studios Park. The Walt Disney Studios Park focuses on Disney and its creations, and you can learn about how Disney animation is done as well as trying it for yourself. You can also try the Rock 'n' Rollercoaster Ride with Aerosmith, or be an extra in a film about flying carpets. Disneyland Park has several different sections, including Fantasyland (containing Sleeping Beauty's castle) and Discoveryland (space and submarines). Adventureland allows you to travel all over the world without leaving the site, from the Arabian atmosphere of Aladdin to Indiana Jones's jungle.
Consider these pages for busses + metro, national trains, airport transfers and airport information.
Disneyland Paris holidays start with the journey to the Disneyland site, which is about 32km east of Paris at Marne-la-Vallé. Luckily, you have a choice of transport options. The RER train will get you there quickly; get off at Marne-la-Vallé/Chessy station. You can also drive there up the Metz-Nancy motorway, although hiring a car isn't the best option for the rest of your Paris trip, as driving in Paris is more stressful than using other forms of transport. If you want to go straight to Disneyland from the airport, there are shuttle buses leaving roughly every half an hour from both Orly and Charles de Gaulle airports. The RER is probably the quickest and cheapest option if you're coming from Paris, although it can get very crowded in peak season.
Opening times vary depending on the season and the school holidays. Disneyland Park opens at 9am or 10am and closes between 8pm and 11pm. The Walt Disney Studios Park opens at 9am or 10am and usually closes at around 6pm.
A one-day passport gives you access to either Disneyland Park or Walt Disney Studios Park, but not both. It costs around €40 for an adult and €30 for a child. You can also purchase a three-day "hopper" passport which lets you visit both parks, going in and out as many times a day as you like. The three days don't have to be consecutive. A three-day hopper costs about €110 for an adult and more than €80 for a child.
One of the big disadvantages of Disneyland Paris holidays is the amount of time you spend queuing. However, the free FASTPASS service shortens your wait at certain attractions, including Peter Pan's Flight and Space Mountain. Join the FASTPASS queue instead of the regular queue and then insert your entrance ticket into the machine. You will be given a FASTPASS ticket marked with the time you should return. Go off and do something else, and return to the ride during the time slot indicated on your ticket. Then you should be able to ride the attraction within a few minutes of your return. However, you will need to have good time-management skills to use the FASTPASS system to your advantage, as underestimating the length of a ride may cause you to miss your slot for the next ride.
Disneyland Paris offers accommodation onsite in the form of themed hotels. If there are only one or two adults in your group, don't expect to pay less than £200 per adult per night. Going in a large group of four or more adults will bring down prices per person, but only the Davy Crocket Ranch takes more than four people in a room. However, you don't have to stay onsite. If your Disney trip is only one day of a general sightseeing trip to Paris, just go for the day and return to your Paris hotel room at night. (Our pages on accommodation in Paris should help you find one.) As a general rule, the further away you get from "the magic" - as the official website puts it - the cheaper your hotel will be. Look on the Internet for deals, as some offer a package that includes admission to Disneyland.
Finally, the time of year you visit makes a difference to how much fun you get out of Disneyland Paris holidays. School holidays make it difficult to book off-peak trips, but weekdays in the winter months (except for the second half of December) are quieter. That means less time spent queuing, fewer crowds to battle and better deals on accommodation.
Paris - Weekend Break
