Which park if you only have one day?

[DSNY4ever]

My husband, my 2 1/2 year old and myself are going to being Paris for a week in April and I was thinking of trying to talk my husband into going to Disneyland Paris for one day. I am just starting to read everything on here, so I don't know much yet (love The Very Useful Information thread!), but we would be traveling in for the day from Central Paris.

Which park would you recommend if we only have one day to visit? We have been to Disneyland and Disneyworld multiple times. I will also be 6 months pregnant while we are there so I will have to skip a lot of big rides. It looks like the Studios are a little more "different" from the American parks, but it looks like Disneyland might have more stuff that me and my son could ride...and then I will feel like I "saw" Disneyland Paris...?

 

[DLPdaft]

What date were you thinking of?

If you have the whole day, from 9.30am to 10pm (staying for Dreams at park closing time) you might be able to see both parks (but you won't be able to do everything in one day, even if you just choose one park).

If you only have time for one park, make it the main park - it has the Castle and is more obviously Disney themed.

 

[DSNY4ever]

I haven't picked a date yet since I am going to try and talk my husband into this when he gets home from work, but we have a whole week in Paris so I was going to read up on the least crowded days of the week and pick one a couple days into our trip probably either Tues, Wed, or Thurs. I wasn't sure if seeing both parks was reasonable, but it sounds like they are right across the way from each other, and if you think it's doable I'd love to try and at least get a glimpse of both parks. I know we definitely won't see everything, but I hope one day is worth it!

 

[DLPdaft]

it really will depend on your dates in April - some parts of that month will be very busy (lots of French, European and UK school holidays, plus Easter weekend).

 

[DSNY4ever]

it really will depend on your dates in April - some parts of that month will be very busy (lots of French, European and UK school holidays, plus Easter weekend).

Okay good to know. It would be be sometime between April 6-10th. Not very close to Easter, but I'll have to check out the other holidays. Thanks!

 

[DLPdaft]

Okay good to know. It would be be sometime between April 6-10th. Not very close to Easter, but I'll have to check out the other holidays. Thanks!

thats a good week - before most of the school holidays .

 

[meajuly5]

We are planning a visit the week before Easter as that is our only option. Any idea whether a Wednesday or thurs would be better? One day visit only

 

[meajuly5]

Bumping!

 

[Christieand]

We are planning a visit the week before Easter as that is our only option. Any idea whether a Wednesday or thurs would be better? One day visit only

I don't know about the school holidays situation, but I would assume that most places are not at school at this time. Probably a Thursday, though, because I believe that the French typically use Wednesday afternoons for recreation and so the park could be even busier than usual then?

 

[meajuly5]

Good to know, thank you!

 

[adcadc]

Just to let you know doing both parks in one day is definitely doable (although as others have said, you obviously won't be able to see absolutely everything).

A couple of years ago I was holidaying in central Paris for a week with my two friends and we spent one of the days at disneyland, we just got the metro/train (whatever they call it over there) up to disney (which took around 40 mins) and then we had the whole day there! Was lovely, spent from about 11am till closing. Also this was in July, on a very,very hot day and it was extremely busy, yet we still managed to see a great deal of both parks. I had been there a few times before so did have foreknowledge of where to go etc, but I still think you'll find it easy and enjoyable, especially in April.

So yeah I'd definitely recommend you seeing both parks! Just maybe focus 60-70% of your time in the main park and only 30-40% in the studios. The studios are great but offer no way near as much as the main disneyland park. Not to mention many of their rides would be unsuitable for you (in fact other than the tram tour I can't really think of many that I'd recommend to a pregnant woman).

If you do decide to only see one park though, definitely make it the main park, as I've already said it has so much more to offer. Not to mention if you stay till closing you can see the dreams show which is lovely! And many of the rides are slower and gentler, meaning they will be fine for you to ride

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful time, I'm sure you will
It's lovely to be in paris for a week and then journey to disney for a day! And as I said it's definitely easy and doable, especially if you get there early and leave fairly late! Just in case you're curious, we managed to explore quite a bit of the disney village, many of the shops in both parks, and see the parades, ride many rides and eat etc, so doing a lot in one day is very possible, fun and relatively easy, even on a busy day .

 

[meajuly5]

Great info, thanks. Any suggestion as to which to hit first?

 

[dhidra]

Great info, thanks. Any suggestion as to which to hit first?

Studios first, as they usually close earlier.

 

[adcadc]

Great info, thanks. Any suggestion as to which to hit first?

When I did it, I visited the main park first, only because I adore disney and was excited to see the park again with the castle and stuff. We spent a few hours there, headed to the studios for 2/3 hours (there isn't loads to do there unless you want to ride all of the big thrill rides) and then spent the remainder of the day in the main park.

It depends really if you have favourite rides or rides/attractions that you really want to see/do. I just think going to the main disney park first is nicer as it really gets you in the mood and has a lot more to offer so you can get some things out of the way and then head over to the studios for a bit. But I can see why some would recommend studios first.

I think if you only have a day and want to see and do as much as possible it might be best to make a rough plan of the things you really want to do before you go. That way you can plan in your mind where you wanna be at what times and how much time you wanna dedicate to certain parks/attractions.

Although as mentioned on this forum quite a lot, plans don't always work out perfectly (particularly if you're visiting with small children) and then can become quite stressful, so maybe just make it a rough plan

But yeah I think if you have a look at the rides/attractions at both parks online (if you haven't been there before, if not you can do it from memory) and just work out what you wanna see and how long you think it will take, from there you can plan your day out a bit!

It's all down to personal preference really though, and it really makes a difference on what type of rides you like. As if you aren't bothered about going on the thrill rides (crush's coaster, Tower of terror etc) then you could see most of the studios park relatively quickly. Meaning its therefore up to you and your personal preference of whether you'd rather get it out of the way at the start, leaving you with the rest of your day to spend in the main park, or if you'd rather mix the two up like I did and visit the normal park for a little bit, then do the studios halfway through your day, leaving you to spend the remainder in the main park