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Do you know there are a dozen Disney theme parks on this planet?
That’s not together with two water parks too.
Thus far, our children have been to 5 and I’m on a mission to go to all 14.
Heath and I love Disney. Throughout our honeymoon, we made positive to get pleasure from per week hopping round Disney World in Florida.
We love an excellent theme park typically, however Disney simply does it higher. Each element is magical. Throughout that first journey to Disney collectively, Heath and I talked about returning with our children sooner or later. Then, in December with our one-month-old son, we hopped on a flight to get pleasure from a spontaneous Disney journey as our Christmas current to the youngsters.
Nicely, actually to Ellie. Eli simply slept loads.
We spent three days exploring Magic Kindom, Epcot, and Animal Kingdom. Our daughter, two-and-a-half on the time, was mesmerized. For months afterward, each night time at dinner she informed us about going to Disney World and seeing “Mickey Mouse’s home.”
It was her reminiscence of the parks—”Keep in mind the opposite day once I met Snow White?”—that impressed the aim. We’re going to go to each Disney Park collectively.
Listed here are the parks:
- Disney World Resort in Florida (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kindom, Hollywood Studios, Hurricane Lagoon, Blizzard Seashore)
- Disneyland Resort in California (Disneyland, Disney California Journey)
- Disneyland Paris (Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Studios Park)
- Hong Kong Disneyland
- Shanghai Disneyland
- Tokyo DisneySea
As a household, we’ve visited 3/6 of the Florida parks and the 2 parks in Paris. I really feel like most individuals I do know have visited Disney World or Disneyland sooner or later of their lives, so on this weblog, I need to share what to learn about Disneyland Paris earlier than you go to.
What’s Totally different About Disneyland Paris
The very first thing you must learn about Disneyland Paris is that it’s really two parks: Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios Park.
In contrast to Florida, the parks are immediately subsequent to one another and linked to Disney Village, which is like Downtown Disney or Disney Springs with eating places and buying. Along with the parks being linked, many of the Disney accommodations are additionally linked to the parks by strolling paths. You undergo safety while you enter the Disney Village space so that you don’t find yourself in lengthy traces on the gates.
We stayed on the Resort Santa Fe and walked to Disney Village to seize meals and walked to the parks. We rented a stroller for our day within the parks and will take all of it the way in which again to our resort room! All the things was so shut and handy.
This is likely one of the largest variations between Disneyworld and certainly one of my favourite issues!
Trams and buses make park hopping potential within the US, nevertheless it’s possibly a two-minute stroll from gate to gate between the 2 parks in Paris. The accessibility made the whole lot concerning the day simpler. We loved Walt Disney Studios Park from 8-12, caught the 12:15 parade at Disneyland, walked again to our resort room for the youngsters to nap, and spent the afternoon and night at Disneyland. We have been a little bit fearful that we wouldn’t be capable to slot in each parks in sooner or later, however we simply did. Particularly with Magic Hour.
Magic Hour (Is 100% Value It with Little Youngsters)
Between 8-9 AM, Disney Parks are open for Magic Hour. You may solely get magic hour entry in the event you keep at a Disney resort, which might be dear. Throughout our Christmas go to, we waffled forwards and backwards on if the added expense of a Disney resort could be value it. We opted for an area resort which was 10-minutes away…plus insane visitors, parking prices, shuttling from the parking zone and/or getting in your 10,000 steps earlier than you even enter the parks…
We regretted it.
Plus with little youngsters who require a number of naps a day, it might’ve been very nice to take a siesta in a resort room.
With Disneyland Paris, we weren’t going to make that mistake once more. We booked Resort Santa Fe final minute on Expedia after we reserved our tickets for each parks in a single day.
We determined to begin with Walt Disney Studios because it had extra rides that the youngsters might journey. (Notice: determine your youngsters’ heights in centimeters earlier than you go!)
We rode 4 rides earlier than the park even formally opened!
I’m undecided what number of rides we rode throughout the remainder of the day, however we walked straight onto a number of rides and it made the day begin on such a magical be aware. We additionally visited in mid-June and the park was by no means too loopy with crowds.
Staying at a Disney Resort
We undoubtedly ended up within the funds motel and didn’t notice it. As a result of we booked the whole lot final minute, we had two choices: keep on the Disney Resort New York (also called the Artwork of Marvel) for $1,500/night time or keep on the Disney Resort Santa Fe for $250/night time.
Simple alternative!
The resort was simply okay. It was your common resort room, nevertheless it did have two beds, room for a crib, and a bath which we hadn’t seen in lots of different accommodations in European cities. There was a buffet-style restaurant with Tex-Mex meals in addition to a Starbucks, however with a straightforward stroll to Disney Village. (We normally walked to the village for meals.)
We toured a few the opposite accommodations which provided character greetings and a number of eating places. If we return to Disneyland Paris, I’d (for starters, plan issues greater than 24 hours upfront) undoubtedly e book a distinct resort. The Sequoia and New York accommodations have been each beautiful. The reward store in Sequoia even had a desk with coloring pages and markers for teenagers to paint whereas mother and father shopped which was a small, however much-appreciated contact. The New York resort (which was lately renovated) provides a number of eating places and is closest to the Disney Village entrance.
And, in the event you’re a Marvel fan, the New York resort will simply blow your thoughts.
Attending to the Parks & Park Hopping
I booked our one night time in Paris close to the practice station so we might simply stroll to the station and journey out to Chessy, the place Disneyland is. Disney has its personal practice station that stops proper exterior Disney Village. It’s really nearer than the parking heaps!
Once we checked out of our resort within the metropolis, the entrance desk clerk requested the place we have been heading and if we would have liked assist with our travels. We informed him we have been heading to Disneyland and taking the practice. He instantly mentioned, “Oh no. Don’t do this.”
The practice would take about the identical time as a automotive and be a little bit cheaper. However, he defined, there are numerous stairs within the practice station. With two suitcases and two youngsters, he informed us to seize an Uber as an alternative. We didn’t journey with a automotive seat, so I didn’t significantly like this as an possibility for security, however we had already tried to navigate a Parisian practice station with our suitcases and it was a nightmare.
We took an Uber straight to the entrance desk of our resort and it was quick and simple. So whilst you can simply take the practice after which take a Disney shuttle (or stroll) to your resort, a automotive could also be simpler in the event you’ve obtained plenty of baggage.
The shuttle buses to every resort are proper subsequent to the practice station. Busses got here by each 10-ish minutes which meant it was really sooner to stroll straight to our resort ourselves, however generally we simply wanted to save lots of our ft and shuttle again!
Once we first arrived and walked round Disney Village, we needed to take a shuttle again to the resort. We began strolling within the course somebody suggested us to catch the shuttle bus, however missed the signal, obtained misplaced, and ended up strolling allllllllll the way in which to the parking heaps. The parking heaps have been so. far. away. When you can, arriving by practice or staying at Disney will prevent a couple of thousand steps!
Disneylands are all Carbon-Copies
There are six “citadel parks” around the globe and these parks are all comfortingly comparable. Since we simply go to the Magic Kingdom in December, the rides and map of the park have been recent in our minds. I used to be shocked at simply how a lot of the Paris park was precisely like Magic Kingdom! You’ve obtained Major Road full of outlets main you to the citadel, Fantasyland straight by way of the citadel, Frontierland and Adventureland on the left. And off to the fitting is Discoveryland which has Buzz Lightyear and different rides similar to Tomorrowland in Orlando.
I’ve gone forwards and backwards, however I believe I actually like this. There are sufficient totally different rides to make it fascinating (like Alice’s Curious Labyrinth and Snow White’s mine automotive) and sufficient acquainted rides just like the Haunted Mansion and carousel that you just really feel like you recognize your approach round.
One particular distinction that I cherished in Paris was the element inside the citadel. You may go underneath the citadel and see a dragon (which terrified Ellie!) and stroll upstairs contained in the citadel and discover. Plus there’s a retailer inside that sells Christmas ornaments, so we purchased a pair for our Christmas tree this 12 months.
Disneyland Paris is…Smaller?
As we walked across the parks, regardless of the same layouts and rides, I swore Disneyland Paris was smaller than Magic Kingdom. I couldn’t put my finger on it since so many rides are the identical, however as we walked round, it felt a lot smaller!
In keeping with Google, that is true. Disneyland is a little bit smaller than Magic Kingdom, and Walt Disney Studios park is likely one of the smallest theme parks at solely 62 acres in dimension. Though we rode a bunch of rides at Disney Studios, it’s a comparatively tiny park and simple to navigate.
However as a result of each parks are so small, it was very doable to get pleasure from each parks in a single day.
The most effective Disneyland Paris park for toddlers: Walt Disney Studios
The web informed us to skip Walt Disney Studios as a result of there wasn’t a lot for toddlers…
BAD ADVICE INTERNET.
Ellie rode each journey besides for 2—Crush’s Coaster and Tower of Terror. And since we did have magic hour, we rode the entire rides earlier than midday. Ellie even rode the parachute drop:
I used to be terrified and clutching her so she wouldn’t fall out. She was loving it!
Ellie was 90 centimeters once we visited. Many Disney rides haven’t any top requirement, which suggests you possibly can deliver or put on infants on the journey. We wore Eli on most rides in Florida. Nonetheless in Paris, lots of the rides had no top requirement however had an age requirement of 12 months. So Eli missed out on driving a couple of rides…not that he observed.
Renting a Stroller
The strollers at Disney World in Florida are horrible. Clunky, arduous to maneuver, arduous plastic. It was a battle getting our daughter to take a seat in it. I assumed Paris’ wouldn’t be significantly better and didn’t plan on renting one for the day.
However we have been so glad we did!
Our three-year-old rode in all of it day and when she rode rides, our seven-month-old sat in it. With the ability to match each ages alone was a win! The black strollers had a sturdy material seat and a steel step on the entrance (or presumably a foot relaxation for taller youngsters) making it straightforward for our three-year-old to climb out and in herself. The strollers have been straightforward to maneuver and had hooks on the again the place we hung our diaper bag.
The one con was leaving the parks with the stroller. I discussed earlier that you would be able to take your rented stroller from park to park and even all the way in which to your resort—which was superb. Nonetheless, you want your receipt to get out of every park. Somebody promptly threw away the receipt after being informed to carry onto it, so each time we left a park all day this grew to become an enormous headache. We even obtained a receipt re-printed…which somebody then instantly misplaced once more. Lesson realized: put the receipt within the pouch on the stroller that has your identify on it so you possibly can’t lose it!
Strains & Wait Occasions
Get the park app. Your life turns into superb.
Disney parks now have apps that inform you (pretty) up-to-date wait instances in addition to when rides are briefly closed. Our longest wait was “55 minutes” on the app and on the signal on the journey, however in actuality, we made it onto Ratatouille’s Journey in about half-hour. (That’s one factor I’ve observed at each Disney park. Most wait instances are literally sooner than the listed time!)
With Paris, the app is much more useful as a result of rides open and shut at bizarre instances. For instance, Magic Hour could begin at 8:00 AM, however the Slinky Canine journey opens at 8:27 AM. Buzz Lightyear at 8:42 AM. The Automobiles journey at 9:15. And so forth. Most rides are open for many of the day, however some open later, and plenty of shut at nightfall. Pay shut consideration to this while you begin planning your day.
Much more vital to notice is which eating places are open. Once we desperately wanted lunch, it was 2:30 PM and the whole lot was closed! We needed to hunt for some time to seek out an open restaurant. Plan forward, in the event you can, and know which consuming areas might be open all day.
Language Barrier (There isn’t one)
Excellent news for fearful vacationers, actually each worker spoke English. From the wait workers to stroller leases to ticket takers to journey workers. In terms of touring with little youngsters when your mind is already overloaded with discovering a altering desk for diapers and snacks and ensuring your youngsters aren’t working away or consuming rocks, it’s good to have the ability to perceive the staff.
Disneyland Paris: Would go to once more.
We’re suckers for Disney and would completely return to Disneyland Paris. The one factor I’d do in a different way is to remain on the Marvel resort because it’s closest to the park entrance. (Okay tremendous we’re additionally superhero obsessed!)
Have you ever been to Disneyland Paris? What did you suppose?
