Have recently got back from my familys first visit to Disneyland Paris (our first visit to any Disney resort).
Before going into the highs and lows a big thanks to all of those who contribute on this forum. I had read many of the postings before leaving, no doubt without the info and tips on here my familys first Disney experience would have been less enjoyable and arguably costlier.
The travelling party consisted of:
Me Disneyland Paris sceptic, long time loather of all things theme park and self confessed white knuckle ride wimp. Age 35
My Wife The person who has always wanted to visit a Disney resort, likes things that are magical, fluffy and cuddly. Age 31
My son Ethan Fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, world record holder of most times to watch the film Disney Pixar Cars in a 7 day period, a willing participant on theme parks rides (providing its not an upsy downsy loopy roller coaster). Age 5.
We were at park for 4 full days and a few hours on our day of departure.
Highs
Eurostar journey Ethan is train mad and the Eurostar is his favourite train so in many ways this in itself was a dream come true. Have to admit this is how high speed train travel should be take note First Great Western!!!
Shareholder discount Decided to go for the 20 shares to avoid any future charges which ended up costing £145 however we saved £80 on the Dream passports for us all.
Dream passport benefits:
* Early Magic Hours This was the main reason for getting the Dream passes, it was great to avoid all the crowds for a couple of hours and get a few goes on the favourites without having to wait e.g Dumbo and Buzz Lightyear. Unfortunately snoozey wife and sleepy son could only manage getting up early on two of the days so we didnt make as much use of the EMH as I had hoped
* Free stroller hire This was definitely an unexpected benefit. The last time my son was in a stroller was when he was two and a half, however a few days of London sightseeing prior to leaving for DLRP together with an extremely hot first day at the park took its toll on the little one. We ended up hiring the stroller for the remainder of our time within the parks and have to admit that it was a godsend.
* Free luggage storage This was another of the unexpected benefits of the dream passport as we ended up checking in our luggage for a few hours on our day of departure and squeezing out a few more rides before we left.
* 20% off shop purchases I ended up buying £40 worth of souvenirs on our last day which I got for £32 (actually reading that back to myself, I think I may be a bit of a tightwad)
Disney stars n cars parade - Jessie shaking Ethan's hands and watching his face light up was a moment I wont ever forget, the whole family really started the to feel the Disney magic.
Tarzan show I have seen a few ice shows in the past which has featured acrobatics etc and have to say that the Tarzan show eclipsed them all. Ethan pointed out that Jane was showing her knickers when being spun around, I informed him that I was already aware of this and making full use of the fast shutter speed on my digital camera. I do feel that the person playing Tarzan needs to work out more as he was quite flabby and not convincing as Tarzan
Mickey Mouse clubhouse show Ethan was mesmerised for the entire show however I was slightly disappointed with the layout of the studio as the elevation of the stage was quite low and the fact that everyone was sitting on the floor made it quite difficult to see the characters.
Stunt show thingy Lights, camera, action, vroom, crash, bang. I loved it, the missus loved it, whys that car in half, cars arent mean to go in half, Im worried about that car, its split in 2, Ethan its a stunt car its not real its made to do that, Ethan loved the stunt show although it was a bit too loud. As some other people have mentioned the Lightning McQueen part of it is a bit too short and underwhelming
Pretty Ladies Made my queuing experience much more enjoyable nuff said
;-)
Enjoying the things we hadnt expected to be good e.g. Alices Labyrinth and Stitch live (this was superb).
Cast members Found them all to be helpful and friendly.
Rude Europeans and lack of park cleanliness Contrary to some of the comments on this site I found this not to be the case.
Finding a litre of wine in the Auchan supermarket for 1.5 euros.
Lows
Google maps giving wrong hotel location 2.5 hours trying to find a hotel in the blazing heat all because Google maps gives the wrong location (we ended up in a different town!!!).
Weather The first 2 days were too hot for hiking around a theme park however there were thunderstorms during one of the nights we were there so guess I shouldnt complain too much.
Not getting to see everything Unfortunately it took us about 2 days to get into the swing of things and didnt get the chance to go on all the rides etc we had planned to go on. Oh well I guess we will have to go back soon.
Not going on all thrill rides I admit that I dont usually like rides but really enjoyed Big thunder mountain and would have loved to have gone on some of the more challenging rides e.g. Indiana Jones and Space Mountain 2. Unfortunately this would have meant going on by myself which I didnt really want to do.
Some rides having a poor wait time to ride time ratio I dont mind queuing for a ride for 30-45 mins but when the ride only lasts for about 60 seconds e,g, Slinky ..
Price of food in the park OK so we took our own food into the park so this wasnt too much of a prob but 3 euros for an ice lolly that was 1.8 euros in the shop in the train station was bit of a rip off!!!
Wife being groped on the RER Touching up a woman up on the train = Uncool, touching up a woman up on the train who is holding onto her son = completely sick, unfortunately I wasnt aware of what was going on until my wife told me after we got off the train.
We all loved Disneyland Paris and will fully admit that I have been converted from sceptic to Disneyland aficionado. We intend to go back there in April and to make a trip to Disney World in the next few years.
Before going into the highs and lows a big thanks to all of those who contribute on this forum. I had read many of the postings before leaving, no doubt without the info and tips on here my familys first Disney experience would have been less enjoyable and arguably costlier.
The travelling party consisted of:
Me Disneyland Paris sceptic, long time loather of all things theme park and self confessed white knuckle ride wimp. Age 35
My Wife The person who has always wanted to visit a Disney resort, likes things that are magical, fluffy and cuddly. Age 31
My son Ethan Fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, world record holder of most times to watch the film Disney Pixar Cars in a 7 day period, a willing participant on theme parks rides (providing its not an upsy downsy loopy roller coaster). Age 5.
We were at park for 4 full days and a few hours on our day of departure.
Highs
Eurostar journey Ethan is train mad and the Eurostar is his favourite train so in many ways this in itself was a dream come true. Have to admit this is how high speed train travel should be take note First Great Western!!!
Shareholder discount Decided to go for the 20 shares to avoid any future charges which ended up costing £145 however we saved £80 on the Dream passports for us all.
Dream passport benefits:
* Early Magic Hours This was the main reason for getting the Dream passes, it was great to avoid all the crowds for a couple of hours and get a few goes on the favourites without having to wait e.g Dumbo and Buzz Lightyear. Unfortunately snoozey wife and sleepy son could only manage getting up early on two of the days so we didnt make as much use of the EMH as I had hoped
* Free stroller hire This was definitely an unexpected benefit. The last time my son was in a stroller was when he was two and a half, however a few days of London sightseeing prior to leaving for DLRP together with an extremely hot first day at the park took its toll on the little one. We ended up hiring the stroller for the remainder of our time within the parks and have to admit that it was a godsend.
* Free luggage storage This was another of the unexpected benefits of the dream passport as we ended up checking in our luggage for a few hours on our day of departure and squeezing out a few more rides before we left.
* 20% off shop purchases I ended up buying £40 worth of souvenirs on our last day which I got for £32 (actually reading that back to myself, I think I may be a bit of a tightwad)
Disney stars n cars parade - Jessie shaking Ethan's hands and watching his face light up was a moment I wont ever forget, the whole family really started the to feel the Disney magic.
Tarzan show I have seen a few ice shows in the past which has featured acrobatics etc and have to say that the Tarzan show eclipsed them all. Ethan pointed out that Jane was showing her knickers when being spun around, I informed him that I was already aware of this and making full use of the fast shutter speed on my digital camera. I do feel that the person playing Tarzan needs to work out more as he was quite flabby and not convincing as Tarzan
Mickey Mouse clubhouse show Ethan was mesmerised for the entire show however I was slightly disappointed with the layout of the studio as the elevation of the stage was quite low and the fact that everyone was sitting on the floor made it quite difficult to see the characters.
Stunt show thingy Lights, camera, action, vroom, crash, bang. I loved it, the missus loved it, whys that car in half, cars arent mean to go in half, Im worried about that car, its split in 2, Ethan its a stunt car its not real its made to do that, Ethan loved the stunt show although it was a bit too loud. As some other people have mentioned the Lightning McQueen part of it is a bit too short and underwhelming
Pretty Ladies Made my queuing experience much more enjoyable nuff said
;-)
Enjoying the things we hadnt expected to be good e.g. Alices Labyrinth and Stitch live (this was superb).
Cast members Found them all to be helpful and friendly.
Rude Europeans and lack of park cleanliness Contrary to some of the comments on this site I found this not to be the case.
Finding a litre of wine in the Auchan supermarket for 1.5 euros.
Lows
Google maps giving wrong hotel location 2.5 hours trying to find a hotel in the blazing heat all because Google maps gives the wrong location (we ended up in a different town!!!).
Weather The first 2 days were too hot for hiking around a theme park however there were thunderstorms during one of the nights we were there so guess I shouldnt complain too much.
Not getting to see everything Unfortunately it took us about 2 days to get into the swing of things and didnt get the chance to go on all the rides etc we had planned to go on. Oh well I guess we will have to go back soon.
Not going on all thrill rides I admit that I dont usually like rides but really enjoyed Big thunder mountain and would have loved to have gone on some of the more challenging rides e.g. Indiana Jones and Space Mountain 2. Unfortunately this would have meant going on by myself which I didnt really want to do.
Some rides having a poor wait time to ride time ratio I dont mind queuing for a ride for 30-45 mins but when the ride only lasts for about 60 seconds e,g, Slinky ..
Price of food in the park OK so we took our own food into the park so this wasnt too much of a prob but 3 euros for an ice lolly that was 1.8 euros in the shop in the train station was bit of a rip off!!!
Wife being groped on the RER Touching up a woman up on the train = Uncool, touching up a woman up on the train who is holding onto her son = completely sick, unfortunately I wasnt aware of what was going on until my wife told me after we got off the train.
We all loved Disneyland Paris and will fully admit that I have been converted from sceptic to Disneyland aficionado. We intend to go back there in April and to make a trip to Disney World in the next few years.
This is the best part of all!
to the 
at what happened to your poor DW, but apart from that glad that you had such a great time. Here's to many more happy Disney trips!! 
