octoberinparis

How much of the main park can you see in one day? We have a toddler, a four year old, and a ten year old. The older two want to see it all - ride every ride, see every attraction, etc. I'm sure that's not feasible, so what percentage would you say you could see in one day, from around 10 am to 7 pm?

xyz123

Not possible to answer...crowds can very tremendously by day of the week, season of the year, and even weather.

You will be able to see and do a great deal; the park is somewhat smaller than the magic kingdoms in both Orlando and Anaheim and of course you might find the 10 year old and the 4 year old have different senses of what they want to see (don't forget to catch the Lion King show conducted in English at different times during the day. It's a 45 minute summary of the Lion King show playing in London's West End and on Broadway and is well done...read the guide carefullhy to see when the show is offered in English and where to pick up free tickets.

TommieG

There are two parks at Disneyland Resort Paris:
- The Disneyland Park (the Magic Kingdom style park)
- The Walt Disney Studios Park (a park based on movies etc)

Most of the attractions are in the Disneyland park. On a not so busy day (say a weekday, outside the holidays), you can see most of the park in one day. But you will probably have to make some choices; besides the attractions there are a lot of shows (e.g. Lion King Show) and parades. You probably won't be able to do all the attractions and shows in one day.

Btw: this park is bigger than the one in California, and almost the same sie as the one in Florida, but there are fewer attractions. But it is still a great park, with lots of little details, that makes this park for me the most beatiful.

The Studios Park is much smaller and (IMO) less beautiful then the Disneyland Park. But here still are some great attractions. For example a great roller coaster (Rock 'n Roller coaster). And two new attractions: Crush's Coaster (a covered roller-coaster without loppings etc) based on the movie Finding Nemo, and a small attraction based on the movie Cars.

kerouac

If you stay from opening time to closing time, you can see most of the Magic Kingdom in one day, but it depends on the motivation of the children (and their parents!) -- if the kids are really obsessed by the rides and not by eating, looking at souvenirs and peeing, nearly all of the park is doable. As for the Disney Studios park, it is easily done in one day.

kerouac

(This means arriving by 8:30 am, not 10 am! Main Street is opened as a holding tank around 8:30 and the stampede begins at 9 am.)

xyz123

There is one thing you should be aware of...

Unlike Anaheim and Orlando which prohibit smoking in the park except for some very specific areas, there is no such prohibition at Disneyland Paris. To me, ruined a good part of the fun being there with all these smokers walking around with their cancer sticks.

Have written the management about this and have not received an answer.

janisj

The park is larger in <u>area</u> - but it will feel smaller than Anaheim because there are fewer attractions. Being a bit more spread out means it won't feel as crowded but the queues for the popular rides will be just as long as Anaheim.

A lot depends on the season you are visiting. In the off season the hours are shorter but the lines are shorter. If you are &quot;Disney veterans&quot;, seeing the whole main park in one day is definitely possible.

The WD Studio park is really pretty small and won't take that much time.

LMGSONIC

We will be going to Disneyland Paris (Magic Kingdom park) for one day the week before Halloween, on a weekday. The official park opening is at 10am. Should we arrive early to get onto Main Street? What time does that open? We're going to try our best to see everything. We're starting with rides and attractions that we know are significantly different from Orlando and Anaheim parks, and work our way from there. Does anyone know how busy it usually is at that time of year?

kerouac

October should be okay. When the park opens at 10 am, it is fine to be there by 9:30. I'm not sure if &quot;everyone&quot; is allowed on to Main Street at that time, but customers of the Disney hotels most definitely are. The 'Fast Pass' system keeps waiting time for the principal attractions quite reasonable in any case. I have never used the system myself, but I seem to recall something like 'if you miss your Fast Pass appointment time, you cannot make any Fast Pass reservations for the next two hours.' I'm sure the Disneyland Paris website explains it all.

octoberinparis

Thanks for the info! I'll try to get DH there earlier

nona1

The week before Halloween week is the UK half-term school holiday, so you might be with a lot of Brits. Not sure if it is also a French school holiday.

doonhamer

Just a general heads-up - try to avoid going on a Wednesday. Paris schools are closed on Wednesday afternoons, and guess where a lot of the kids go?

LMGSONIC

Oh dear! Sounds like it will be crowded. I guess we'll just have to make the most of it. We're going to try to go on Monday, October 22nd, so there should be less locals to jam up the lines with us and the UK families on vacation. Thanks for the help, everyone!

kerouac

Oh, don't worry about the crowds. Would anybody feel happy to go to Disneyland and find it empty?

LMGSONIC

An empty Disney park would be a dream come true! Any of them! We had one day at the Magic Kingdom park in Anaheim last year where it was nearly empty and we had no more than a 10 minute wait for anything, and it was one of the most spectacular days ever. A lot of people think we're crazy, but Disney keeps us in tune with the child within. Looking forward to DLP!

DancingBearMD

You undoubtedly won't see everything, but you will still have a great time. Plan ahead. Look on the website and see park hours and decide which rides the various members of your family want to make a priority. Learn what FastPass is, which rides it is used for, and how to use it, and then use it. Check ahead of time which rides have height restrictions that might come into play. Check out the information (including links) at this discussion board:

http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=77

And feel free to post questions there.

If you can work in a night at an on-property hotel, you can take advantage of &quot;Extra Magic Hours.&quot;

My advice would be to skip the Studios. A lot of construction going on there right now; not worth the time it will take for the few attractions to see there.

travelatte

Although we visited Disneyland Paris 4 years ago, we thought it was smaller than Orlando, but fine. We were amazed though that the lines cleared out around 5 pm. I mentioned the small lines after 5 pm to a UK friend who had visited there as well and she noted the same short lines around 5 pm.

Any one else experience this?

Have a great trip.

Travelatte

kerouac

Disneyland Paris does indeed slow down after 5 pm. They even have a special deal in the summer called &quot;Star Nights&quot; with a low rate for people arriving after 5 pm. I presume they invented that due to the park clearing out in the evening.

xyz123

Here is a problem that Disneyland Paris faces...

When I visit Anaheim or Orlando, there is some sort of night time event. For years it was the Main Street Electrical Parade in both Magic Kingdoms, then Spectromagic took over for MSEP, MSEP ended at Anaheim but was brought back for their alternate park about California and they have a new parade at Anaheim whose name escapes me at present.

When I visited Disneyland Paris in the past during the summer, the MSEP from Orlando had been brought over from Orlando (minus the last float to honor America which you could understand why it was dropped, the last float was Elliot the Dragon) but because during the summer months it doesn't get dark in Paris until after 10 PM, the parade had to run really late. I believe most nights, they don't stay open all that late anymore during the summer, no nighttime magic possible and I don't think they have a nightime spectacle. As I remember, they were going to have a new nightime spectacular but I don't know how well it does or even if it is already running.

Anyway, the last thing we usually do at Disneyland Paris is the Lion King show which runs around 5 PM (the last show in English, there is a later one in French) and quite frankly by then we've done everything and with no nightime magic available until 10:30, to us we're better off hopping on the RER and eating dinner in central Paris.