Pre-Trip Disneyland Paris...what am I doing???

I know...it's not WDW (I really wish it were!) but I need a Disney fix and I can't afford flights across the pond plus a 2 week WDW trip. And we have very few vacation days left. So...I'm making do with Disneyland Paris, because we can drive there in a few hours, and hey, it's the 25th anniversary year! But I really don't know what I'm doing....so I'm hoping some of you Disney park veterans can help me in planning our trip!

Who: Myself, my Husband, DD 11, and DS 9.
Where: Disneyland Paris- Sequoia Lodge
When: October 17th through the 20th

I booked this trip in April when I was sitting on my brother's couch, stuck in the US after my dad's funeral, waiting for estate stuff to work out. It was taking a LOT longer than I was expecting (still ongoing) and I was stressed and frazzled and grieving, lonely as my DH and kids had already gone home right after the funeral, and...well, a whole lot of emotions and I needed a BREAK. My almost 4 year old niece is getting to that age where she loves Disney movies...we watched Moana, Big Hero 6, Lady and the Tramp 2....the list goes on. And she was making me sing every Disney song I know (I know a lot) and when we went to lunch one day, the restaurant is called The Library, and they have bookcases full for you to choose a book to read while you wait for your food. (This is Belle's type of place!) She picked a Disney book. We looked at the pictures and I told her I had met Mickey and Donald etc the previous Summer in WDW. She was a captive audience and begged to know who else had I met...had I met Winnie the Pooh? How about Ariel? Pluto? So I got out my phone and showed her all the pictures from our character dinners and meet and greets, etc. And she announced she wanted to go. Yeah...me too, kid...me too!! (My BIL probably wishes I hadn't shared that with her...I don't think he's ever been there and he doesn't think it's worth the cost. BLASPHEMY!) The more I thought about it, the more I REALLY wanted to be in Disney. But, having just flown my family overseas (and flown the rest of them back already) more trans-Atlantic flights were not in our budget. And as I was on my 4th or 5th week in America by that time, vacation time was ticking down. WDW would not be an option this year. BUT! The Dutch Disney site offered some great deals for DLP's 25th anniversary year. Fall break at Disney? Yes please!! My husband was easier to convince than I thought he'd be. (or maybe he just really felt bad for me and knew I needed a pick-me-up in a major way? Or maybe he actually really likes Disney) YAY!!! We're going to Disney! Now what?

 

[Laurenciaa]

Paging @Laurenciaa !! @Laurenciaa has been many times and has a great trip report from last winter.

I'm here! I'm here!! How can I be at your service? Btw YEEEYYYY someone who's going to DLP!wouhou!!

 

[Laurenciaa]

So I went to the Disney paris website, and I logged in to My Disneyland (their version of MDE). What a completely pointless account. You can not book ADRs. You can not book fastpasses. You can not do ANYTHING on my Disneyland except see your reservation....which for some reason has never worked on my account anyway. Every time I log in, if I try to go to "My bookings" it tells me there's been an error and to try later. If the problem persists, call the assistance number...then you call it...and they can't figure out what the problem is because it shows up perfectly for them. And then they ask you what you are wanting to do...and then tell you that you can't do it via My Disneyland, you have to do it by phone. I still don't know how to make fastpass reservations. Do we even GET fasspass there? So....I still have ZERO plans beyond "We're going to Disneyland Paris from October 17th -20th and staying at Sequoia Lodge." The list maker is thwarted again.

Hello@Songbird76.. if you have any questions,just list them up, I will gladly answer them for you. As a Belgian, my only option, in limited budget, is going to DLP. Fire up the questions, any kind, and I'll try to give you an answer!

 

[susan lees]

Huh...is there a limit to how many fastpasses you can get in a day then? And what kind of places were you doing walk ups? Were they buffets? Or regular table service? I think our best shot is going to be buffets with DS...then he can at least eat rolls. And possibly desserts, though he's a bit picky about those.

Once you've used your FP you can get another and that's unlimited. We walked up to Billy Bob's at the village which is a buffet and was really good. We also did a walk up to rainforest cafe. We went there for a late lunch early dinner so got a table no bother. We had breakfast on our last day at Annette diner.
We just had snacks in the parks. We ate in Val d'europe on our first night and we had a day in Paris

 

[Songbird76]

Hello@Songbird76.. if you have any questions,just list them up, I will gladly answer them for you. As a Belgian, my only option, in limited budget, is going to DLP. Fire up the questions, any kind, and I'll try to give you an answer!

Have you ever gotten the dining plan? Our package came with the half board plus, and I'm still not sure exactly how it works.
Fast passes...which rides do you NEED a fastpass for?
How many fast passes can you get in one day? I understand you can only have one at a time, but say you've gotten and used 3, can you get a 4th?
How is rope drop? Is it busy first thing in the morning?
Are there fireworks shows? I saw a lot of people saying the parks close EARLY, but I can finally see the park hours for while we're there, and they are open until something like 7. Not too bad for October.

 

[Songbird76]

Once you've used your FP you can get another and that's unlimited. We walked up to Billy Bob's at the village which is a buffet and was really good. We also did a walk up to rainforest cafe. We went there for a late lunch early dinner so got a table no bother. We had breakfast on our last day at Annette diner.
We just had snacks in the parks. We ate in Val d'europe on our first night and we had a day in Paris

I didn't know there was a rainforest cafe!! Can you tell me what kind of food is on the buffet at Billy Bob's? I'm looking at that one, but I have to be sure there is something DS will eat.

 

[Swissmiss]

The MK is open from 8-10 every morning for hotel guests but very few rides are available (Peter Pan, Carousel, Dumbo and I can't remember if the teacups are as well in Fantasyland and then Space Mountain and Buzz lightyear in tomorrowland). PP, SM and Buzz all have fast passes as well. As for how many you get, it's one at a time until used or until 2 hours have passed. Be aware that the return time window is shorter than in WDW (30 minutes, not one hour).

If you can't get a FP for Ratatouille, do single rider. Each car has two rows of three seats, and they put parties of four as two and two, leaving a seat in each row. My daughter and I have usually been in the same car, just one in front of the other instead of side by side.

 

[susan lees]

I didn't know there was a rainforest cafe!! Can you tell me what kind of food is on the buffet at Billy Bob's? I'm looking at that one, but I have to be sure there is something DS will eat.

The buffet was tex mex style of things like ribs, chilli, chicken etc. There is a dedicated kids buffet of chicken nuggets etc. There is also a good salad bar and a huge array of dessert items. We've been to DLP 3 times now and Billy Bob's is a must and we've never been disappointed

 

[Laurenciaa]

Have you ever gotten the dining plan? Our package came with the half board plus, and I'm still not sure exactly how it works.
Fast passes...which rides do you NEED a fastpass for?
How many fast passes can you get in one day? I understand you can only have one at a time, but say you've gotten and used 3, can you get a 4th?
How is rope drop? Is it busy first thing in the morning?
Are there fireworks shows? I saw a lot of people saying the parks close EARLY, but I can finally see the park hours for while we're there, and they are open until something like 7. Not too bad for October.

1) Have I ever used the dining plan? No as there is not many advantages anymore. The breakfast is not included any more in your stay at the hotel so this gives you the freedom to go to the Park if you want for a breakfast. As other people already mentioned on here, the breakfast at Plaza Gardens is with characters. We normally take our breakfast in the hotel as we like to take our time to have our first meal of the day. The buffet style breakfasts are quite nice in the hotels. The half board plus package that you mention will probably give you a voucher per person per day to have a free meal. A quick search on the internet shows that the "plus" option ( here in red) allows you to have one free meal type Buffet style ( in your hotel or in the parks) or on a table service retaurant but with a prefixed menu ( no option à la carte). The "pause gourmande" is also included. This is kind of a Break at 4 PM style. normally this is a muffin and something to drink.

2) Fastpasses; the following attractions have fastpasses:
-> 1 DISNEYLAND PARK : Peter Pan; Hyperspace Mountain : Toy Story lazer blast ; Big Thunder Mountain ; Indiana Jones; Star Tours.
-> DISNEY STUDIOS : Hollywood Tower of Terror; Rock 'n Roller Coaster ; Ratatouille; Studio Tram tour (but never used by Disney).

How does it work : First of all the amount of fastpass tickets is limited by the number of persons of your company. If you are with 4 people you can only get 4 tickets at that time. Just hold your entrance ticket against the fastpass machine and your fastpass will come out of the machine.
Now how does it work? For instance, you all want to ride BTM today. When the rope drops, at 10AM, you walk up to the fastpass machines of BTM. You scan your four entrance tickets and 4 fastpasses will come out with the indicated hour on the time clock. For instance on your fastpass ticket the time slot of 11H30-12H00 is mentioned. This means that, FOR BTM, you can't get another fastpass until your time slot window has passed. So as from 12H00 you can again present yourself at the fastpass machines for BTM. The fact that you've taken 4 tickets at the BTM fastpass machines does NOT mean you can't get other fastpasses at other attractions. You can easy go and get your fastpass tickets at BTM and then continue your journey to Indiana and take a fastpass there. you can get several fastpasses from different attractions. So you can hold multiple fastpasses at the same time just not for the same attraction. I mostly go to BTM frist, pick up my fastpass there and then go over to HyperSpace mountain ( if I haven't rode it in the morning during the EMH). As an extra, when staying at a Disneyland Hotel you also get ( as a compliment of the hotel) a free fastpass from the hotel per day per person, to use at any time of the day regardless of your fastpasses that you've got from the machines.

3) Rope drop : Rope drop can be very crowed. I strongly suggest that you make use of the Extra Magical Hours ( EHM) in both parks. I guess in October the planning of Disney Changes whereas than you can choose to have an hour extra in the Disneyland Park or the Studios. just present yourselves at the gates and show your hotel ticket. They normally will give you a kind of early entrance ticket. Rope drop at 10AM is a bi crazy as the majority of the crowd will go to a) BTM or Pirates B) Peter Pan C) Ratatouille or D) Crush Coaster. Just hold on to your kids for the first 3 minutes and then the whole crowd dissolves.

4) Fireworks show : there is a firework show at the closing of the park. I've heard that the new show is pretty cool.

 

[Songbird76]

1) Have I ever used the dining plan? No as there is not many advantages anymore. The breakfast is not included any more in your stay at the hotel so this gives you the freedom to go to the Park if you want for a breakfast. As other people already mentioned on here, the breakfast at Plaza Gardens is with characters. We normally take our breakfast in the hotel as we like to take our time to have our first meal of the day. The buffet style breakfasts are quite nice in the hotels. The half board plus package that you mention will probably give you a voucher per person per day to have a free meal. A quick search on the internet shows that the "plus" option ( here in red) allows you to have one free meal type Buffet style ( in your hotel or in the parks) or on a table service retaurant but with a prefixed menu ( no option à la carte). The "pause gourmande" is also included. This is kind of a Break at 4 PM style. normally this is a muffin and something to drink.
View attachment 219885

2) Fastpasses; the following attractions have fastpasses:
-> 1 DISNEYLAND PARK : Peter Pan; Hyperspace Mountain : Toy Story lazer blast ; Big Thunder Mountain ; Indiana Jones; Star Tours.
-> DISNEY STUDIOS : Hollywood Tower of Terror; Rock 'n Roller Coaster ; Ratatouille; Studio Tram tour (but never used by Disney).

How does it work : First of all the amount of fastpass tickets is limited by the number of persons of your company. If you are with 4 people you can only get 4 tickets at that time. Just hold your entrance ticket against the fastpass machine and your fastpass will come out of the machine.
Now how does it work? For instance, you all want to ride BTM today. When the rope drops, at 10AM, you walk up to the fastpass machines of BTM. You scan your four entrance tickets and 4 fastpasses will come out with the indicated hour on the time clock. For instance on your fastpass ticket the time slot of 11H30-12H00 is mentioned. This means that, FOR BTM, you can't get another fastpass until your time slot window has passed. So as from 12H00 you can again present yourself at the fastpass machines for BTM. The fact that you've taken 4 tickets at the BTM fastpass machines does NOT mean you can't get other fastpasses at other attractions. You can easy go and get your fastpass tickets at BTM and then continue your journey to Indiana and take a fastpass there. you can get several fastpasses from different attractions. So you can hold multiple fastpasses at the same time just not for the same attraction. I mostly go to BTM frist, pick up my fastpass there and then go over to HyperSpace mountain ( if I haven't rode it in the morning during the EMH). As an extra, when staying at a Disneyland Hotel you also get ( as a compliment of the hotel) a free fastpass from the hotel per day per person, to use at any time of the day regardless of your fastpasses that you've got from the machines.

3) Rope drop : Rope drop can be very crowed. I strongly suggest that you make use of the Extra Magical Hours ( EHM) in both parks. I guess in October the planning of Disney Changes whereas than you can choose to have an hour extra in the Disneyland Park or the Studios. just present yourselves at the gates and show your hotel ticket. They normally will give you a kind of early entrance ticket. Rope drop at 10AM is a bi crazy as the majority of the crowd will go to a) BTM or Pirates B) Peter Pan C) Ratatouille or D) Crush Coaster. Just hold on to your kids for the first 3 minutes and then the whole crowd dissolves.

4) Fireworks show : there is a firework show at the closing of the park. I've heard that the new show is pretty cool.

Thank you! Yeah, if the meal plan hadn't come with our booking, I don't think I'd have done it. But that's ok. We'll figure it out and I'm sure it will be fine. If nothing else, it looks like there's a McDonalds in the Disney Village, and a friend who went last year said there's Pizza Hut somewhere.
Great to know about the fastpasses!!! And I think it will be a whole lot easier to do EMH in at DLP than it is at WDW because the parks aren't open as late. Studios is only open until 6 and the main park is open until 8. We'll be able to get to bed at a decent hour and not be dragging if we get up early in the morning. We will try to do PP and Ratatouille during the EMH before the Rope Drop crowd descends. That is a golden tip, THANK YOU!

 

[Laurenciaa]

Thank you! Yeah, if the meal plan hadn't come with our booking, I don't think I'd have done it. But that's ok. We'll figure it out and I'm sure it will be fine. If nothing else, it looks like there's a McDonalds in the Disney Village, and a friend who went last year said there's Pizza Hut somewhere.
Great to know about the fastpasses!!! And I think it will be a whole lot easier to do EMH in at DLP than it is at WDW because the parks aren't open as late. Studios is only open until 6 and the main park is open until 8. We'll be able to get to bed at a decent hour and not be dragging if we get up early in the morning. We will try to do PP and Ratatouille during the EMH before the Rope Drop crowd descends. That is a golden tip, THANK YOU!

There is indeed a Mcdonalds and an Earl of Sandwich which is also good.If you like Italian food, Vapiano is also a very decent place to eat in the Village. I haven't tried it but heard some great comments on this. I would also reccomend to install the Disneyland Paris app, gives a nice overview of the maps and the places to eat plus you can check in real-time the waiting line ( If its not to expensive offcourse in using mobile data).