Timing and Jet Lag

[Boardwalk_bride]

So we have been back and forth between DL Anaheim and Paris, and have finally settled on Paris (I think). We are looking to go in May. Alongside that, we plan to go to Paris and Alsace. If we can get a good deal, we'd fly home from Frankfurt or Zurich (we have family nearby).

I had some good suggestions on itineraries in previous posts last year, but one thing I'm wondering, is timing this with jet lag. We will be flying from Toronto and will have a 6 year old who hasn't experienced changing time zones before. Is it a bad idea to start in Disneyland, or a good one? I'm woindering if maybe Disneyland area is easier to navigate when we are all tired. We'd probably arrive in the airport at 8am ish, so I don't expect her to hit the parks that day.

This will be our first time in France. My husband and I have travelled in Europe quite a bit, and my husband speaks French, and my daugher is beginner french (she goes to French immersion school, but only in SK).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[robert_j]

So we have been back and forth between DL Anaheim and Paris, and have finally settled on Paris (I think). We are looking to go in May. Alongside that, we plan to go to Paris and Alsace. If we can get a good deal, we'd fly home from Frankfurt or Zurich (we have family nearby).

I had some good suggestions on itineraries in previous posts last year, but one thing I'm wondering, is timing this with jet lag. We will be flying from Toronto and will have a 6 year old who hasn't experienced changing time zones before. Is it a bad idea to start in Disneyland, or a good one? I'm woindering if maybe Disneyland area is easier to navigate when we are all tired. We'd probably arrive in the airport at 8am ish, so I don't expect her to hit the parks that day.

This will be our first time in France. My husband and I have travelled in Europe quite a bit, and my husband speaks French, and my daugher is beginner french (she goes to French immersion school, but only in SK).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I am doing my first trip to Disneyland Paris in April, so I cannot speak to what the jet lag feels like going that way. But we are flying overnight too, and we are expecting to do basically nothing the first day and then have our first real park day start the next day.

To complicate your thinking further, I live in New York and have been to Disneyland California a few times and it is easily my favorite US park. In May the weather is perfect, and going in that direction the jet lag is your friend so you can do rope drop and feel like you slept in. The parks are compact and easy to get around with small kids, and they pack in so many quality attractions across the two parks. The food is very good too. For a while we stayed at the Howard Johnson on Harbor Boulevard, which is relatively inexpensive and easily walkable, but more recently we have sprung for on property.

Now that the kids are older (teens), we are trying Paris to do something different but also to show them Paris. What I do like already is that your money goes so much further in the Paris parks -- we are staying for a week club level for the cost of maybe half a week for a basic room in the US parks. On the other hand, it feels like there is less to do compared to the number of attractions they have in Anaheim, so we might feel like we were missing out if we had not been to the US parks already.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Thanks for this. We really wanted california but the prices seemed to spike since we originally started planning (in 2020) but we are also looking for a one bedroom. Our daughter needs her own room to sleep (we stayed in a regular hotel for one night in a road trip and she was not happy!). We’ve made a budget and I honestly think Paris would be cheaper plus we can see more of the country.

That said, we are now frantically going back over the hotel options in Anaheim for May now! One more look before we make a decision.

 

[steve_rob]

It's difficult to say, especially as many people on this part of the forums (myself included) are from Europe, so of course we don't have much experience with jet lag when going to Paris. Even when we do go to Orlando or Anaheim, we get the slightly preferential east-to-west, fall asleep as soon as you get to your hotel then get up ridiculously early the first morning sort of jet lag, and only experience the tougher on the body west-to-east version (usually combined with a red eye flight as well) on the way home. So if we fall asleep post-flight, we're not really missing out on anything apart from unpacking our suitcases sooner!

I suppose it can depend on whether you're the sort of person who can get some sleep (or at least shut-eye) on an overnight flight or not. That could make the difference between you being just mildly tired or feeling like the walking dead on your first day! While I take your point on a Disney park possibly being easier to navigate when you're not at 100% than being in an unfamiliar city, my worry would be that if you're staying on-site at DLP and going there first, you're burning through a day of park tickets that you're either not or only barely going to use. It's a tough judgement call either way.

 

[NashvilleMama]

We just did this trip last fall (October 2021) with our two girls who are older (11 and 13), and one thing I read on the board that tipped the scales is how much money we'd be spending for a park day and why risk it being jet lagged...as said above! And so we did it at the very end of our week in Paris and am SO GLAD WE DID. That first day - and frankly even the second to some extent - they were pretty wrecked despite all our best efforts. Ending the trip at DLP was crazy magical and I'm so glad none of it was wasted.

 

[Karin1984]

There are pros and cons to both. But as you have no idea how you will experience jetlag, I would do Paris first.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

We just did this trip last fall (October 2021) with our two girls who are older (11 and 13), and one thing I read on the board that tipped the scales is how much money we'd be spending for a park day and why risk it being jet lagged...as said above! And so we did it at the very end of our week in Paris and am SO GLAD WE DID. That first day - and frankly even the second to some extent - they were pretty wrecked despite all our best efforts. Ending the trip at DLP was crazy magical and I'm so glad none of it was wasted.

Thanks for this. I started googling jet lag tips after posting and was realizing this makes more sense.

How many days to people tend to stay in DLP? Is 2 days (full days) enough? I'll have a 6 year old. For context, we took her to WDW for her 3rd birthday, and she did rope drop to at least 2pm every day, and didn't use the stroller at all.

 

[Karin1984]

When in May are we talking about?
And what would you like to achieve? See it all, focus on shows and characters, ride all the rides?

 

[Minnie1222]

I find it very helpful to have the hotel booked the night before, so we immediately have a room to rest upon arrival.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

When in May are we talking about?
And what would you like to achieve? See it all, focus on shows and characters, ride all the rides?

Mid to end May. We don't have a 'goal' in mind. Basically, when planning for California, the plan was DL focused with a few LA/Beach days as an add on, whereas with DLP the plan is France focused (Paris/Alsace) with DLP add on.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

I find it very helpful to have the hotel booked the night before, so we immediately have a room to rest upon arrival.

I think that would be ideal, but we will probably do an airbnb, and I don't really want to pay $350+ extra just to arrive early. I know some airport hotels do partial days, I guess I can look into that.

 

[Karin1984]

Ok, with the month of May you need to know one thing: Lots of vacation and public holidays.
1, 8, 18, 28 and 29th are public holidays in France. 18, 28 and 29 in most of Europe as well.
First week of May is Spring break for the Paris region.

Avoid Disneyland Paris on these days.

For how many days can depend on whether or not you will be able to go on other days than mentioned above.
With 2 days you can do a lot. If you find a weekday in between above days, you can do more.

I would go to the Alsace first. Beautiful peaceful region. You can take it slow and get used to the new timezone, then Paris, and end with Disneyland Paris as your finale.

 

[Boardwalk_bride]

Ok, with the month of May you need to know one thing: Lots of vacation and public holidays.
1, 8, 18, 28 and 29th are public holidays in France. 18, 28 and 29 in most of Europe as well.
First week of May is Spring break for the Paris region.

Avoid Disneyland Paris on these days.

For how many days can depend on whether or not you will be able to go on other days than mentioned above.
With 2 days you can do a lot. If you find a weekday in between above days, you can do more.

I would go to the Alsace first. Beautiful peaceful region. You can take it slow and get used to the new timezone, then Paris, and end with Disneyland Paris as your finale.

Thanks for this! Yes, I was thinking Alsace first, but that is a train after being on an overnight plane. Although it would solve the problem of not having a hotel ready. I'll look into it.

And thanks for the note about the days - I do have them marked in our planning as holidays. We have a holiday May 22nd in Canada, so we were planning to travel somewhere around that since it is one less day of school and work missed. We could also do April, but looking at the DLPs price calendar, I'm assuming it is a busy month.

 

[kathy884]

We're going in September. I added in some extra days to make things more relaxed due to jet lag and am doing what DS is most excited about at the end vs. beginning of the trip, figuring we'll be more adjusted as we go along. We're starting with four nights in Paris., then three nights at Disneyland Paris, and then three nights in Belfast (We are doing open jaw too). That first day we are going to to some walking around, staying outside -- Luxembourg gardens and historic sites right in the neighborhood where we are staying (staying in the 6th).

DH is staying home. DS and I have never been good at sleeping on flights. I am booking Premium Economy and am going to try an airline pillow for a little more comfort (did better to Hawaii once when I got upgraded to first class but that's east to west vs. west to east), but all I expect is that maybe we'll be able to take a few naps and that I'll feel less cramped than I would in coach. I'd love those flat bed seats, but 2K more per person is not in the budget. That still wouldn't be a sleep guarantee, and it would be hard for me to buy plane tickets that are that expensive (I'd need a lot more disposable income to consider that with my bean counter personality lol). It's not like I never had a bad night's sleep before and adapted to that but like you jet lag is a bit of a concern to me.

DS did well with jet lag and adapting when he did an Italy program in college. He was able to stay up and adapted to the time change quickly. Other's who were young and his same age did not do as well. I seemed to be way better when I was younger (didn't have any issues when I was 16 and came to Paris as an exchange student). Guessing I'll have a harder time adjusting now that I am older (even in my 30s I didn't do very well), but I just don't get to Europe that often so am not sure. Last time I was in Paris was 47 years ago as an exchange student when I was 16. We're just going to take it pretty easy on arrival day and the next day with low expectations. And we'll try to stay up for sure (not sure I'll be able to do that - I'm hoping my excitement to be back in Paris will keep me awake (love that city) -- but good luck to me (I have no confidence in my best laid plans and will just have to deal with it.). When I'm tired and can lay down, I can fall asleep in in two minutes and I'm not good at fighting off going to sleep. No wonder most of my travel is in my own time zone or an hour ahead or behind of that.

 

[NashvilleMama]

Thanks for this. I started googling jet lag tips after posting and was realizing this makes more sense.

How many days to people tend to stay in DLP? Is 2 days (full days) enough? I'll have a 6 year old. For context, we took her to WDW for her 3rd birthday, and she did rope drop to at least 2pm every day, and didn't use the stroller at all.

We did 1.5 days....left Paris in the morning, checked into resort, and headed to DLP for the afternoon/evening. The next day we planned to do both parks, but only did Studios through dinner (4:30pm Captain Jack's which was awesome) and then everyone was done! It was just the right amount of time for us and we felt like we did what we wanted to do in both parks.