Pars/DLP Planning

[Martin]

Going for a romantic long weekend in Paris next week (11th-14th), but because I'm mentally still 4 we'll be going to DLP for a day (12th) as well. I'm completely new to Paris and DLP so I'm looking for advice on both, especially as we're on a bit of a tight budget. This is probably either common knowledge or has been asked here 100s of times, so apologies for that.

Is it possible to do everything worth doing at both parks in one day? We'll be there from opening until closing so I'd imagine it would be, but with it being the week before Easter it's probably going to be really busy, right? What's the best way to get through the two parks, best places to eat and stuff?

We'll have three days in Paris itself, so plenty of time to explore, so just wondering what of the famous attractions are worth seeing, which aren't and any less well known hidden gems. If anyone knows of any decent places to eat and drink, especially of an evening, that'd be great, we'd love to find a decent little smoky jazz bar or wine bar. Also, just general advice, like what's the best way to get around and stuff.

Sorry for not being very specific and at the same time asking you to all plan half the holiday for me, but any help would be ridiculously appreciated.

 

[Rowe]

Aah, the romantic allure of Pars

Disneyland is a little tricky if you're planning to do it in one day and neither of you have visited before, because this means you're really going to have to prioritise what rides/attractions you want to do most in co-ordination with queue times. You can always use Fastpass with certain attractions (Space Mountain M2, Big Thunder, Tower of Terror, Star Wars) if necessary, thankfully those are free and you can get them at any time at the machines by the entrances.

In honesty, I'd suggest going to the Studios first for the morning and getting Crush's Coaster, Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Rollercoaster out of the way, seeing as Crush's Coaster gets painfully long queues. Then head across to the main park and check the queue times on the board at the end of Main Street. If queues are more than 30+ minutes for the bigger rides, then get Fastpasses particularly for Space Mountain and Big Thunder.

As for eateries, the food isn't entirely that great with choices and not always high quality. I've never eaten in the Studios to know what their offering is like but overall it's pasta/burgers/hot dogs/fries. There are some little gems such as:

Fuente del Oro (Mexican food, opposite Big Thunder Mountain in Frontierland)
Earl of Sandwich (Hot sandwiches at €5.50 each, upper end of Disney Village)
Toad Hall (fish and chips, by Peter Pan's Flight in Fantasyland)

If you want to splash out and make your visit a bit more romantic, then I'd suggest visiting Inventions in the Disneyland Hotel. It's an international cuisine buffet (for €34.30) with a lovely view across Main Street, it's very quiet and settled unlike anywhere else you'll find which'll probably be full of annoying children and there is a very wide choice of food. It may be good to book too just to ensure you'll be able to get in.

DLRP Magic is a great resource for any further information you may want about the resort, including any closed attractions (i.e. Temple du Peril will be shut), restaurant menus, of course queue times and any other practicalities.

 

[Danza91]

I went with my GF back in 2012 for about 3 days and we squeezed in a day at DLP. It can be done, make sure you plan out which rides you want to do, you just won't be re-riding much. I'd start at the Studios first as Rowe said, for the same rides. In the main park, you should be able to do Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Pirates of the Caribbean and a few others also.

With Paris, I recommend going up the Eiffel Tower (pre-book!), the Louvre, Notre Dame and Arc de Triomphe. The area around Opera is nice also! Don't really know any hidden gems as we didn't have time to properly explore.

Hope this helps at least a bit.