Ultimate Guide to Visiting Disneyland Paris with a Toddler: Tips, Tricks, and Experiences
Early June 2024 we traveled to Euro Disney! Here is the Ultimate Guide to Visiting Disneyland Paris with a Toddler! Here is a recap of our experience along with some tips and tricks! I have divided it up into sections so you can easily find the information you need. We visit Walt Disney World in Florida every year (check out Top 9 Must-Haves for a Magical Disney Trip with Your Toddler ), and while I knew Disneyland Paris would be different, I couldn’t help but compare sometimes. That said, this didn’t diminish my enjoyment of Euro Disney; I just had to remind myself to manage my expectations.
Disneyland Paris Packages
It is true that Disneyland Paris is generally cheaper than Walt Disney World. When you book a hotel stay, you automatically get park hopper tickets for each day booked. I initially called to request only 3 days of tickets. The cast member informed me that it would be more cost-effective to do stick with the 5 days. We definitely took advantage of that! We also took advantage of our toddler being under three years old and free!
Hotel Santa Fe
The first day we arrived late, for us since we have a toddler, at around 9pm. We checked in and headed straight to our room at the Hotel Santa Fe, a Cars themed hotel. It was one of the more affordable options on Disney property and included transportation to and from the parks. It was also only a 20-minute walk to the parks entrance. The room was clean and cute featuring a queen bed and a bunk bed.
The next Day we had scheduled the Paris Essentials tour, one of many tours you can book through Disney. The tour includes transportation from the hotel. Since our toddler woke up at 7 AM, we headed to the hotel buffet for breakfast. While searching for the kids’ play area mentioned online, we ended up at a coloring station! We eventually convinced our toddler to leave for a Starbucks run (after a month without chai, I was thrilled!).
In the hotel lobby, we spotted Goofy and snapped a quick picture. I inquired about the play area at the information desk, but the cast member seemed confused and directed us back to the coloring station. We were a bit disappointed but took our toddler back to color, where she made some new friends playing tic-tac-toe! Keep this in mind when booking a hotel, the website might not be fully up to date.
Food
The buffet offered a wide variety of breakfast options, and I was excited to indulge in my favorites. I initially grabbed yogurt for my toddler in hopes of a healthy option. I then discovered the toppings were either Oreo or caramel crumbles—definitely not the healthy breakfast I hoped for! We enjoyed croissants, cereals, sausages, potatoes, fruit, and, of course, Mickey waffles. Pro tip: syrup isn’t always the go-to topping for waffles in Europe! I almost poured honey on mine.
While at the parks we mostly opted for quick service meals and snacks. I was disappointed that the only churros I found at Casa de Coco seemed a bit stale. The Mickey beignets, although advertised with powdered sugar, arrived plain and were just average. On the plus side, the mini crepe poffertjes at The Old Mill were a delicious treat! Keep in mind, if you have a nut allergy, Nutella is a common filling, even when it’s labeled as “chocolate.”
Paris Essentials Tour
After breakfast, it was finally time to head to the pickup point for the tour. We had to walk past the gift shop where my toddler wanted to look around. We were pretty firm that we weren’t buying anything because chances are we’ll find something better in the park tomorrow. BUT my toddler fell in love with a little baby Simba stuffy. After explaining that this will be her one and only souvenir, we will not buy more later in the week (also knowing she probably doesn’t fully understand that), we caved and bought him. We hoped that it could be good for her to have this little guy on our full day tour.
Having previously done two full-day tours in Florence, we weren’t sure what to expect from this one. We were informed that we’d return to the hotel at 8 PM, which made us groan. The itinerary included a one-hour riverboat cruise and free time in Paris with the option to purchase a hop-on-hop-off bus ticket. The tour ended with a meetup to take the bus back to the hotel at 6:45 PM. Given the upcoming summer Olympics, many locations were closed, making our planning a bit challenging.
This led to some tough decisions for me and my husband. We had one day in Paris, so do we do the “hop on hop off bus”? Do we walk? We have a toddler with no stroller, but we have a hip seat. We want to see Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, and the opera house? Should we just take the public bus? We didn’t come with a plan because we thought the Paris Essentials Tour would show us the Paris Essentials.
We asked a tour guide how easy it was to take the regular public bus. They said it would be hard because the stops are all different due to setting up for the olympics. At first we thought, because we only had one day, we should do the “hop on hop off bus”. But, at 45 euros each, that was almost another $100 we didn’t really want to spend. Luckily, I decided to wait to purchase ticket until after the river cruise, just in case we changed our minds about walking. Which we did. We decided against the extra cost of the “hop on hop off bus” because the route wouldn’t make all the usual stops due to the summer Olympics setup.
After the cruise, we walked to the Opera house and the Arc de Triomphe. Paris quickly became one of our favorite cities because of the beautiful architecture. Our toddler loved carrying her new little lion friend throughout the city. Later in the day, we had a wonderful dinner before heading back to our meeting point. Round trip, the walk was about 2 hours, not including stopping.
Back at the hotel, despite the long day, we decided to head to Disneyland for some rides! We enjoyed Buzz Lightyear, The Carousel, and Dumbo! We even stayed and watched the drone show! There was another firework show after the drone show but by then my toddler wanted to go back to our hotel room.
Stroller Rental
The rest of our time in visiting Disneyland Paris with our toddler was amazing! We took advantage of the extra magic hours each day and got to the parks at 8:30am. We did rent a stroller for two days for the parks. There is an option to put a deposit down to be able to bring the stroller between the two parks, and your hotel room. I highly recommend this option. The strollers are basic, made of metal but with a fabric seat. It reminded me more of a wheelchair than a stroller. There is very little shade when you pull the shade over and overall didn’t seem very comfortable. The Disney World are made of plastic and have more shade. Neither stroller seems all that comfy.
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Parks: Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios
We planned on being at the parks for two full days and one half day. Our first full day at the parks we went to Disneyland all day. The second day, we spent most of the time at Walt Disney Studios, then hopped to Disneyland for the rest of the day. The last day, our half day, we rope-dropped Crush’s Coaster again, because we loved it! Then went on all of our toddler’s favorite rides one or two more times before reluctantly leaving the parks. We had plenty of time to ride every ride without buying the premier access pass or individual access pass.
My toddlers’ favorite rides were Buzz Lightyear and It’s a Small World. She also really liked to see the Maleficent Dragon under the castle! Le Carrousel de Lancelot, Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups, and Dumbo are all right next to each other. All rides with no height restrictions, making it easy for families with toddlers. They are also near Alice’s Curious Labyrinth. A fun little maze to walk through ending at the Queen of Hearts Castle where you have a beautiful view of Fantasyland.
Character Meet and Greets
There were many spots to meet characters throughout the park. Any place that was inside with the character listed had long lines. The only place to meet a princess was at the Princess Pavilion. The line was never shorter than 80 min, and was on average 120 min. It also never says what princess is there, you just find out when you meet the princess. After waiting in line for an hour one morning, we got out of line because my husband was getting antsy. My toddler didn’t seem to care too much because we didn’t even know what princess we were going to meet.
All in all we had a fantastic time and we can’t wait to go back! When you’re ready to plan your Disneyland Paris trip, email me at theresa.bauman@academytravel.com!
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