Disneyland Paris in August
 

My wife and I will be taking our kids to Europe this August. While we are in Paris, we want to take them to Disneyland for the day. We will be in Paris August 16th - 22nd. Has anyone seen advice or statistics that indicate the best and worst days of the week (in terms of crowds) to go during this time of year? I realize that any day will be crowded but I have seen many things on the best days to do DisneyWorld in Orlando, even during the most crowded times. Anything similar for Disneyland Paris? Thanks for any help you can offer.

I would expect it to be extremely crowded period. Perhaps the weekend could be slightly more crowded than the week. In general Monday and Tuesday are usually the lightest days. Unfortunately with everyone on vacation I would exepect it to be covered up. I would get there before park opening so you can enjoy the AM where the crowds are a little lighter. Also the last couple of hours before closing tend to be a bit lighter.

Be sure to pull a fast pass for Peter Pan right away or ride it immediately because fast passes for this ride are gone by 11 am and the line is usually close to two hours on peak days. I have heard that you cant have two fast passes at once unless you have a season pass but cant tell you for sure. Some people say yes and some say no. They cannot overlap in time but I have been able to have two or three at once as long as the time doesnt overlap. But I have a season pass. The fast pass rides are : Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Star Wars, Indian Jones, and Peter Pan. With the exception of Peter Pan, the fast passes are usually gone by 1 or 2 on a very busy day.

If you want a break from the stress of the park and are willing to pay for a nice sit down meal you may want to consider Walts on Main Street. It is IMHO the best restaurant in the park and the rooms are small and quite giving a welcome break. Dont expect stellar food (it is in a theme park after all) but it is quite edible. You make reservations at the Town Hall which is on the left right after you enter the park.

Since you're taking your family, why not try Parc Asterix instead of (or in addition to) Disneyland. It is a French theme park based on the comic book and would be a real conversation piece for you when you get home. Here's the web site. http://www.parcasterix.com/intro.htm

If we ever take our grandkids over, that's the first place we're going. It looks like a hoot from the web site. I'm sure it will be crowded in August too. The nature of theme parks is to be crowded during major vacation times! ((@))

Anyone else with thoughts? Thanks.

We were at DLP and WDS on March 16 and 18 and had a great time. If you are taking the RER out, try to figure out when the commuter rush hour is and avoid that time. We didn't and I thought we were literally going to be crushed. (It lightened up before DLP, but there were some very unpleasant moments.)

You might want to post your question on the Paris board of disboards.com. Simon, who has written "The Brits Guide to Disneyland Paris," hangs out there and is great about answering questions. His book (which you can get from the UK amazon site) is pretty good, but doesn't give touring plans.

I was advised to do Peter Pan first, then the rest of Fantasyland, then move on from there.

Unless your French is good, find the website devoted to Phantom Manor before you go (if you can't find it on google, ask for a link on the Paris board of laughingplace.com. It helps to know the story before you go...we didn't and were quite baffled...

Thanks so much. Any more thoughts on this?

There would be a HUGE difference between your visit in August and missypie's in March.

August can be a difficult time at many tourist attractions because of the crowds -- but DL Paris will be pretty much totally maxed out. I wouldn't go there in Aug if my life depended on it. (Nearly everyone in Europe is on holiday during the month)

If you haven't already, do a Google for both the official and unofficial DLP websites. The official one will tell you when the lightest days are.

Even though "nearly everyone is on holiday" that doesn't mean they'll all be at Disney. Iwas there in mid-August two years ago and it was busy but now with FastPass you can avoid some lines and the strategy there is the same for the parks here...get there when the place opens and go to the farthest attraction you want to see ffrom the entrance first and then work your way back toward the front.
There are a lot of "crowd avoidance" strategies on the various unofficial websites.

Thanks. Unfortunately, the official website says nothing and my e-mail to DLP did not bring a useful response.

I've been to DL-Paris in August weekend and it wasn't THAT bad compared to US theme parks. The fast pass program helps. The worst queues were actually for food. It is a different experience then the US parks and watching the European families adds something to the experience.

I dropped in on DL Paris at the end of last Sept beginning of Oct, and it was almost deserted. It's later than you will be there, but...
Will you be driving to it? You'll find no signposts to guide you - the French don't want to acknowledge its existence apparently. So arm yourself with a good map.
I second the notion that Park Asterix might have greater novelty value. Well signposted too!

We will be taking the RER. My kids would kill me if we skipped DLP! If I mentioned Parc Asterix (which I keep reading is good), they would immediately want to add it as a second theme park day. I do not want to do 2 days of theme parks during the 6 full days we will have in Paris, one of which will be spent in Normandy as it is.

Show your kids the Parc Asterix web site and give them a choice. They just might surprise you!
((@))

Thanks to all. I e-mailed with the author of the Unofficial Guide to Paris and he thinks that in August, it is better to avoid the weekends. Aside from that, he does not think one day is better than another.