Hi there! Congratulations to you and your daughter! What a tremendous honor.
In mid-June my family took a wonderful trip that included 5 days in Paris, 3 days in DLRP and 3 days in Nice. It was wonderful.
I am by no means an expert since it was my first time in all these places but I am happy to share my experiences to help. This post wound up being EXTREMELY LONG!! Sorry!! Feel free to e-mail me separately if you want any more details.
Accomodations: Wishspirit/Kate gave great information. I'm a little lacking here. We are DVC members so we used our points to stay at the Disneyland Hotel. If you have any access to DVC points, I would highly recommend it. There was something wonderful about about being 20 to 30 steps from the gate. You also got a hot buffet breakfast every morning of your stay and a fast pass per person each day. As Kate said, it looks like the a pink version of the Grand Floridian.
As for whether to stay in Paris or DLRP -- do both! Obviously this depends on how many days you have to spend in each location as to whether it's worth it. One of the best things about Paris is it's metro system. Our hotel was right next to one of the stops for the RER A line which you can take out to Disneyland Paris. If I remember correctly it only took about 40 minutes to get there from our hotel near the Arc de Triomphe. I'm not sure how often it runs but it seemed pretty frequent. We even dragged all our luggage onto the train (we packed way too much and even my 9 year old managed to pull her bag) and had no problem -- just try and avoid standard rush hour times.
Food: If you stay at the Disneyland Hotel you are not eligible to participate in the board plans so I have no info for you there. I didn't understand that system either so I was glad that I didn't have to deal with it. However, the biggest part of our trip spending was on food.
Restaurants were very expensive in all parts of our trip. At DLRP we did eat primarily at sit down restaurants since there were a couple of places that we wanted to try and we were only there for a limited time. Also, during the week in June, the parks were only open from 10am to 7pm
. I never wanted to waste touring time to eat dinner in the parks so that forced us over to the Disney Village to their sit-down options. Despite the expense, most of our meals were great. Here's a quick run down:
Cafe Mickey -- We had dinner in this Disney Village restaurant but I think it's open for B,L,&D. This is like Chef Mickey's in WDW but with menu rather than a buffet. It's very chaotic and loud and the night we were there -- not real organized. The food was pretty good though. I had a burger, my husband had steak and my daughter had pasta. Characters come to the table to sign autographs. There seemed to be lots of characters but there wasn't a path I could discern. In addition some of them just blew right by us. I love Chef Mickey's at WDW but I was dying to get out of there.
Auberge de Cendrillion -- This is in the Disneyland Park near the castle. We have a tradition of breakfast with the princesses at WDW so we wanted to continue that here. L or D are your only choices I think though. The menu is delicious -- starters included duck pate, bruschetta and smoked salmon. My husband and I both had rack of lamb -- a favorite of ours. Dessert is amazing -- a sampling of creme brulee and some other pastries. It included coffee and a glass of wine. This was a price-fixed meal for 57 euros per adult but worth it.
The Buffet at Billy Bobs -- This Disney Village restaurant is a country western type bar that has dancing lessons and live music in the evening. Upstairs they have a buffet area. If your are craving familiar food I highly recommend it. There were carving stations of beef and something else and a whole fajita fixings area. There was also chicken and other traditional tex-mex fare. My 9yo is a very good and reasonably adventurous eater but she was delighted to have nacho chips and sour cream here!
Restaurant des Stars -- This is a buffet at the Hollywood Studios Park with a Ratatouille theme. And yes, they serve ratatouille here. Once again they have lots of choices so that you can find familiar foods and try new things. I finally got to have a crepe here. A little Remy even comes to visit your table along with his chef friend.
The Steakhouse -- This was a fabulous but very expensive meal. The restaurant is in the Disney Village and is bustling but has a very nice atmosphere. It's themed on a Chicago steakhouse. There are lots of choices and the presentation of the food is very nice. The desserts are amazing.
I would have been happy to have had the heavier lunch options in the park and then a lighter, counter service dinner but since we had to be out of the park at 7pm that wasn't an option. There didn't seem to be any counter service restaurants in the Disney Village. I think they could use some.
Another disadvantage of sit-down meals is the length. We were in Auberge de Cendrillion for 2 1/2 hours. Dining is definitely more relaxed in Europe -- even in Paris we rarely left a dinner in less than 2 hours.
Attractions: Hope I didn't make you too hungry. Besides food there's plenty of rides and attractions. Walking into Disneyland Park is an amazing experience.
It was so amazing to me to see Main Street looking almost identical to WDW but with a different castle at the end. I agree with Kate's recommendations. Even if your daughter is too old, make sure to walk through Fantasyland. It's absolutely beautiful. It has more trees than Orlando which gives it a lovely French country village feel. It's magical. Small World is stunning on the outside and bright and sweet inside. Despite the recent paint job at WDW I think this one is prettier. Make a point to ride the rides we don't have. If you like roller coasters try Indiana Jones. Check out the Pirates of the Caribbean area -- the theming is stunning. In Hollywood Studios you must go on Crush's Coaster despite the fact that it is the world's slowest loading ride. Also, make sure you see the Cinemagique show. It's extremely well done! We never got to the stage shows and parades unfortunately but we caught the last minute of the same show in Disneyland over and over and it was neat to hear Mickey speak French.
We did both parks in 2 1/2 days. I would have liked a little more time. Definitely take advantage of extra magic hours. We did pretty much everything that was open in Fantasyland and Discoveryland (our Tomorrowland) in that time. That was a big help to our day. Also, go during the week rather than on the weekends, if you can, for lower crowds.
My last recommendation is to learn some French before you go. We did not have a problem at DLRP but it helped that I had a limited knowledge of French, especially in Paris. We found everyone to be polite and happy to speak English if you needed it. However, if you can speak at least some pleasantries and make an attempt at communicating what you want it does help. The BBC website has a great, free beginner French Steps course that is geared toward travelers -- buying tickets, using the train, etc. I thought it was extremely helpful. Also, study the names of foods. The fact that I could read the restaurant menus, which were almost always posted outside in Paris, gave us an idea if we could find something for everyone to eat there. At DLRP they have menus in multiple languages available.
As you can see, I enjoyed my trip and love to talk about it. Hope you didn't nod off half way through. Have fun planning!!!
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). Also most cars you rent will be stick shift (manual) so you will have to ask for an automatic if that's what you are used to driving. It is not for the faint hearted (as I see driving in America for us Brits, it is quite an alarming experience), and as the public transport system in Paris is good as well as cheap, really consider what you need to do whilst your there.
