Trip Report Disneyland Paris : A weekend full of upgrades!

Hello everybody!

I just got back from a weekend full of Disneyland Paris magic. Apologies for posting this DLRP Trip here but the Disneyland Paris section on this forum is kinda... slow. As the majority of you famous Trip reporters are frequent WDW visitors, an insight of another Disney Theme park is sometimes also refreshing ( I know how much I like reading all your TR's).

So, who/what/when/why/etc...

My name is Laurence, 27 yo, a senior auditor at EY Brussels who basically refuses to grow up.. Kind of a problem when auditing Banks and Insurance companies. I'm an annual passholder at Disneyland Paris and luckily only need to drive a short 3 hours to Disneyland Paris ( THANK GOD)!

What? I'm going to state the obvious but.. YES WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYLAND PARIS!! I've been counting down ever since I was there on the 30th of December. Dreading the days in between, we finally decided to go during the weekend of 4-5 February ( instead of the 21-22 January).

Who? Let me introduce the party of five that joined me on this trip. First person I should mention is my father who bankrolled this trip and got soo much done during those 2 days that he is semi-responsible for creating this magical weekend. Other people joining me were : Kristel ( girlfriend of my father); Alix ( my sister); Gaëtan ( my little brother) and Jef ( my sister's boyfriend).

Why? Just because we wanted to go and explore some magic with the Family ( and because secretly my birthday is coming up on the 15th of February).

NOW : Enough with the introductions and long long sentences.. We are off to Disneyland Paris !

** Picture taken from a solo trip I did back in September.

 

[mlegerto]

Hello @mlegerto ! Well any tips, are you going to visit DLP during the week or on a weekend? Are you staying on property for your stay?

If you want to have a nice dinner at night, I would say that you need to make some reservations but you don't need to make them months on before hand. We always try to make reservations 1 week on before hand but it won't hurt to give a quick call to DLP to check for open spots to make a reservation. The temperatures can vary a lot. Last year we really had an Indian summer with nice temperatures but it can also rain at that point. As we only dined in the Inventions or Cali Grill, I can't tell you about the other restaurants in the hotels. I really enjoyed the Inventions ( as a buffet style) as the Cali Grill.

We indeed still run on fastpasses that you can only get on the day itself. If I was you, I would get to BTM in the morning to fetch your Fast Pass for the BTM. It is by far the most popular attraction during the normal opening park hours. If you stay at a Disney hotel, I would advise you to enjoy the EMH in the Disney Park. Peter Pan than has an OK stand-by line during the EMH. I checked and the surrounding countries ( Belgium, France, the Netherlands, UK) have no school holidays in that period. That could be a good thing for queue lines.

If you are courageous and are ready to walk some distances, I would go to DHS late morning to go and fetch some Fastpasses for Ratatouille, RNRC and HTH. The Crush Coaster is no option as it has no Fast Pass. You will see, even on a normal day, a 60-70 min wait for this attraction.

And another tip, If you want some free Wifi during your stay, The Disneyland Hotel has an open wifi source

If you have other questions, let me know!

Thanks for the info!

Unfortunately our budget did not allow us to stay on site, so we will be staying offsite - booo! We will be visting DLP parks on Sunday September 17 and Monday September 18. Would you suggest I start both of these days off at DLP and move over to HS in the AM, or start each day at each park. We aren't afraid of walking!

Are the fastpasses like the old WDW system where you can only hold 1 at a time - until either you've used it OR the time has passed?

I would like to do 1 nice dinner to celebrate my Birthday, maybe Cali Grill - we love the Florida version and won't be going there in December, so maybe this can be a substitute!

Great info about the free wifi at Disneyland hotel! I'll have to keep that in mind. Don't be surprised if I come back with a million more questions haha!

 

[Laurenciaa]

Thanks for the info!

Unfortunately our budget did not allow us to stay on site, so we will be staying offsite - booo! We will be visting DLP parks on Sunday September 17 and Monday September 18. Would you suggest I start both of these days off at DLP and move over to HS in the AM, or start each day at each park. We aren't afraid of walking!

Are the fastpasses like the old WDW system where you can only hold 1 at a time - until either you've used it OR the time has passed?

I would like to do 1 nice dinner to celebrate my Birthday, maybe Cali Grill - we love the Florida version and won't be going there in December, so maybe this can be a substitute!

Great info about the free wifi at Disneyland hotel! I'll have to keep that in mind. Don't be surprised if I come back with a million more questions haha!

I would start both days in the DLP Park and then move on to the DHS. I always wander over to DHS just after mid-day. I try to eat quite late as the crowds always get a bit much during the peak hours.

You can hold more than one Fastpass at a time in point but from different attractions. If you for example get a BTM fastpass for 11.30 AM you can get back to the Fastpass machines at 1.30 PM to get another one. I think you need to wait two hours from the hour that is printed on you Fastpass before you can get a new Fastpass.

If you ever decide to do BTM in the standby line and you are about to enter the BTM 'house', a sign tells you to choose left or right, always take the left side A lot of people just take the right lane because the left one looks like its to small to be a lane.

I went last week and the Standby time indicated 30 minutes but the left lane was practically empty, I passed the BTM queue on 4 minutes!

 

[amjt660]

Great advice on big thunder

When we went in 2011 we had to go to the studios early to get on crush coaster
Is this still the case?
No fastpass for it still?

Max

 

[Laurenciaa]

Great advice on big thunder

When we went in 2011 we had to go to the studios early to get on crush coaster
Is this still the case?
No fastpass for it still?

Max

Hello @amjt660 !

Crush coaster is still a pain in the *ss ! No fast passes and the standby line is excruciating long for a short ride. If, @mlegerto , you decide that you want to ride Crush coaster, do it preferably on Monday as normally kids are in school and EARLY( because I don't remember anymore which dates are the school holiday dates)...

I should also note that when you are off-site you won't have the chance to use the EMH as normal entrance tickets do not cover those extra hours. So being patient on Sunday might be advised and like previously said, go to BTM ( and Peter Pan) in the morning to fetch your Fastpass.

 

[TiggerDad]

Hello @amjt660 !

Crush coaster is still a pain in the *ss ! No fast passes and the standby line is excruciating long for a short ride. If, @mlegerto , you decide that you want to ride Crush coaster, do it preferably on Monday as normally kids are in school and EARLY( because I don't remember anymore which dates are the school holiday dates)...

I should also note that when you are off-site you won't have the chance to use the EMH as normal entrance tickets do not cover those extra hours. So being patient on Sunday might be advised and like previously said, go to BTM ( and Peter Pan) in the morning to fetch your Fastpass.

Thanks so much for your trip report and your great pictures, and the advice. We also are going in September, but only for one day, so trying to make the most of it. I had heard that the fastpass systems were separate for the two parks, so if you get a fastpass at 11:30 for BTM, you have to wait until 1:30 to get another one at DLP, but you can go over to the Studios and get one immediately. Do you know if that's true? I seem to recall it being easy to go back and forth. Thanks.

 

[Laurenciaa]

Thanks so much for your trip report and your great pictures, and the advice. We also are going in September, but only for one day, so trying to make the most of it. I had heard that the fastpass systems were separate for the two parks, so if you get a fastpass at 11:30 for BTM, you have to wait until 1:30 to get another one at DLP, but you can go over to the Studios and get one immediately. Do you know if that's true? I seem to recall it being easy to go back and forth. Thanks.

Hello @TiggerDad
You can indeed go back and forth to go and grab multiple fastpasses, the restriction of two hours is only valid for 1 attraction.

For instance ,you can't get a fastpass for BTM at 11.30 AM ( time on your fastpass ticket) and try to grab another one at 12.30 AM ( local time)... there you need to wait until 1.30 PM ( local time) to be eligible again to go to the fastpass machine to scan your entrance tickets to try to get another.

what you can do is go to BTM and get your Fastpass, then walk over to Indiana ( not that far from each other) and see what time slot there is offered and decide if you want a fastpass or not.

I would suggest to do the DLP park in the morning ( or just go for the fastpasses) and go to DHS in the afternoon to go back at nighttime to watch the closing show ( haven't seen it yet..)