How bad is it in the school hols?

[kelliemc04]

Hi, We took our DD to DLP for her 4th birthday in May 2009 and have been desperate to go back since and now our DS is about to turn 4 it seems only right that he gets the same special treatment!!! His birthday is 1st March and I'd been planning to go the weekend after his birthday (friday 2nd March) for 3 nights but this means taking our DD out of school on the Monday and she'd be shattered on the Tuesday as our flight would get in quite late. I'm a bit of a worry wart about taking her out of school and so have priced up the Feb schools hols and the price is pretty much the same. MY DH thinks we should go in the hols (Sun to Wed) but reading this board I think it may be an absolute nightmare with the queues. Is it that bad???

Any advice is much appreciated. i got loads of great tips here last time we went so I'll be hanging around again.

Thank you,
Kellie

 

[DLPdaft]

February half term is usually perfectly manageable (I took my DD on our first ever trip to DLP in a Feb half term, and if it had been busy I wouldn't have returned - we don't do queues ).

Check for French school holidays to see if they are off in the same week as you - if not, then generally it won't be silly busy on a midweek trip in the time you're thinking of going.

 

[tinkertaylor05]

We did feb half term this year and it was fine, in truth we tend to be more about parades/shows than rides so can't comment on queues during the day we found using emh and fast pass worked perfectly

 

[thehails]

To be honest i think a lot of it is down to planning. with young children you are up early anyway, so just make sure you use the EMH (if they are available in Feb) or if not get to the park for opening time, make good use of fastpasses. Do the rides in fantasy land first. You are going mid-week so that a lot better than the weekends.

We went in August this year which is during peak holiday season & ended up being there partially over the weekend, and with careful planning that was manageable and we went on everything we wanted to so i think you will be fine in February.

Have a lovely time

 

[kelliemc04]

I feel so much better now about going then, thank you. I had our whole trip planned to perfection last time thanks to the fab advice on this board, my DH was well impressed on how well informed I was, so I'm sure we can plan a great trip amongst the hustle!!!
Thanks again, Kellie x

 

[Ware Bears]

I've only ever been in school holidays (although not the Feb one) and find even August is perfectly manageable. Happy planning!

 

[IsobelJackmummy]

Hi, we were there Feb half term last year, and it didn't put us off, as we are going for the same week next year!

As others have said, make the most of EMH, and plan your day to do shows etc when it will be busy.

We didn't find it overly busy, and as our children are young (5 and 3), we aren't having to wait in long queues for the likes of Crush etc, as they aren't big enough for those rides anyway.

Maybe we will see you there, we are going Sun-Thurs that week!

 

[squiggly2902]

We're going in Feb half term as part of my birthday celebrations - not only am I 40 but as my birthday is 29th Feb I'm a leap year baby. I was also contemplating going over the weekend before my birthday but wanted more than a couple of days and our schools won't allow any time off for family holidays which is why we're going for 6 days over the half term.

I did a bit of research before booking and discovered that only 1 region in France (quite a distance from Disney) are on their school hols at the same time so hopefully the queues won't be too bad. We went a couple of years ago during August and to be honest it wasn't too bad. We took advantage of EMH by getting there for 8am every day and crammed in as many rides during these 2 hours as possible. Fingers crossed there's EMH in Feb!

 

[microsan]

Hi there,

Consider also using Fastpasses & Baby Switch (if needed)

The crowd during the school holidays is also depending a lot on the weather which is rather difficult to forecast especially in Marne la Vallée

 

[IsobelJackmummy]

We're going in Feb half term as part of my birthday celebrations - not only am I 40 but as my birthday is 29th Feb I'm a leap year baby. I was also contemplating going over the weekend before my birthday but wanted more than a couple of days and our schools won't allow any time off for family holidays which is why we're going for 6 days over the half term.

I did a bit of research before booking and discovered that only 1 region in France (quite a distance from Disney) are on their school hols at the same time so hopefully the queues won't be too bad. We went a couple of years ago during August and to be honest it wasn't too bad. We took advantage of EMH by getting there for 8am every day and crammed in as many rides during these 2 hours as possible. Fingers crossed there's EMH in Feb!

there were EMH in the Feb half term when we were there last year, and the park stayed open a bit later too.

 

[kelliemc04]

Thank you so much for all the reassuring comments.
Toria, Good point about not needing to queue for the bigger rides as mine are only 6 and 4. We might just see you there eeek....
Thanks microsan, I'd forgotten about babyswitch, we used that last time and I think our friends may be coming with their baby so will definitely come in handy.
I'm so excited
Kellie x