Planning - Dreams and Crush's Coaster

[Chlo83]

Hello lovely DIS-ers!

We are planning a trip to Disneyland Paris from the 4th-6th of January - it will be me, DF and DSD8.

Having visited Disneyland California this summer we are really excited to experience Paris!

It is a bit of a short trip and at the end of the Christmas season but I hope it will still be super magical and not feel weird. It has been a really tough year for DSD and this will be a Christmas present to her - we have got a Mickey holding a little Duffy and are going to write a letter saying he can't wait to meet her again at DLP.

I have a couple of questions I'm hoping people can help with. As we haven't got very long (we arrive on the Eurostar at 2 on the 4th and leave at 6pm on the 6th) I really want to make sure we get the most out of the experience.

Firstly - Dreams. I know for the shows at DL we had to get there early to get a good spot to watch. Is this the case for Dreams? If so where is a good place to get a spot and how early should we go to wait? I'm guessing it will be quieter on the Sunday but think we should try on the Sat so if for some reason we don't manage to see it we have Sunday as a back-up.

Second - Crush's Coaster! She is really keen to on this as she's a big Crush fan and also because it's different from rides at DL. If you were there for our days when would likely be the shortest queue? I was thinking maybe the Monday morning but then if it's down we have problems...

One other question - how much better than Cafe Mickey is Inventions? We did a couple of character meals at DL but would like to do one here so she can see her faves (Chip and Dale so should be fairly easy!). We have HB Plus vouchers so Cafe Mickey would be covered and not Inventions but I've heard bad things about the food and also behaviour so am wondering about paying to upgrade to Inventions.

We will probably plan one meal each day so the other two will be Walts and Blue Lagoon - are these good choices to get a good range of experiences in a short trip?

Thanks so much - 66 sleeps!

 

[Jonjo]

I'm going to be on a trip the DLP at the same time. DW and I arrive on the 5th Jan.

For Dreams! we normal watch it from the front near the castle and get there at least an hour before the show to get a good view, but I have seen the show from all around the park and you get a good view from where ever you are.

Dreams! is on at 9pm when you are there so plan your day accordingly, you might want to go back to your hotel during the day for a rest if 9pm is late for your DSD.

For Crush it's best to get there first thing when WDS opens, WDS is open from 10am that weekend so I suggest you get there for 9.30am.

Make the most of Extra Magic Hours as the Disneyland Park opens at 8am for Disney Hotel residents.

I would go for Inventions you get a better character experience there than at Café Mickey and on a Sunday they normally have a Themed Character Sunday Brunch. You would need to check with the restaurant reservations department to find out what time it is running and what the theme is.

Walt's and the Blue Lagoon are good restaurant choices, I would make sure you make a reservation as they might be busy. Nothing worse than going on a short trip and finding all the restaurants are fully booked.

To help with your planning the following rides will be closed on the 6th Jan.

Captain EO
Autopia
Casey Jr.
Storybook Boats
Armageddon
Studio Tram Tour

 

[Chlo83]

Thanks so much for this info Jonjo!

Perhaps we will see you there! Is it a good time to visit - I understand that all the Christmas decorations and extras will be up until the 6th?

We will definitely make dining reservations - hoping to get it sorted when bookings open next week.

Do you think there will be much of a difference in crowd levels across the 3 days?

Thanks for your help

 

[Jonjo]

If you see a middle aged couple skipping up Main Street wearing Light Ears or Red Mickey Ears Santa hats clutching Duffy and ShellieMay bears - that will be us.

I've never been at that time of year before so I have no experience on what the crowd levels will be like. But I have been told that the parks are quieter near the end of the Christmas season. I'm just looking forward to watching the Dreams! Christmas show and seeing the parks decorated for Christmas.

 

[Lisa_C]

It will be extremely quiet, you'll have a fab time!

 

[DisneyBeth94]

For Crush's Coaster it's best to get there and queue at rope drop. Since there's no Fast-pass and it's a must-do Big Thrill, the queues get super long!

 

[sky13]

To add on to what everyone else has said about Crush's - would definitely get to WDS before opening time to try and get a (slightly) shorter wait for it. They start letting people into the park before the official opening time and I think Crush's also starts running before official opening time.

I've found that I get a better view for Dreams from certain spots than others. Places I particularly like are: right at the very front (I waited for almost an hour for this spot on a weekday though!), behind one of the flower patches in the hub so there's no one blocking your view. I think it may also depend on how tall your DSD is - on a recent trip I was next to a couple of quite young girls who couldn't see anything from where they were (people in front of them were really nice though and they let the two girls + dad go in front of them so the girls could get a view of the castle)...

 

[HappyPanda]

We didn't have much luck getting on crush quickly in the mornings - we were at the gates by 9.10 but there was already a big queue of people waiting there. All of which ran straight for Crush! The first time we waited nearly two hours (but this is because the ride broke down - otherwise it would have been about 60mins), the second time we queued for 50 mins, plus the 20 mins we queued to get into the studios!

We had much better luck going last thing, on Halloween night the park was open until 8pm and we joined the queue at 7.50 and the queue was less than ten minutes long!

For dreams, if you want a spot right in the centre and at the front of the castle you will need to get there a bit early. However, we normally get there about 5/10 minutes before the show starts and always manage to find a spot a bit further back, not perfect, but perfectly adequate!

Inventions is a lovely character experience and we always try to eat here on at least one occasion during our stays. Cafe Mickey tends to be a bit hit and miss with us. We've had a couple of nice meals and a couple of terrible ones. I think as you've got the meal vouchers, I would probably do Cafe Mickey - your DSD will love the character interaction!

 

[Chlo83]

Thanks for the tips - trying for Crush at the end of the day is a good idea! Going to have to start making us a schedule I think - so much to see and we don't have that long!

 

[Lisa_C]

I don't hold think even going towards the end of the day makes much difference now - they just closed the line with still a 70 minute wait last week......meaning the park was closing with you still stuck in the queue when the other park was open late :-/ I think you us need to commit and do it