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Disneyland Paris in January

My family will be in Paris the first week of January; we have an 11-year old son. I'm wondering whether Disneyland Paris would be a good day trip to make with him at this time of year. Any comments on the weather factor and on DP itself would be most welcome. Thanks.

Posted by
9099 posts

Last time I visited DL Paris was mid-week on a freezing cold February day. Believe it or not the place was packed, with all attractions open. In terms of the weather, It was actually it was OK, personally I found it more pleasurable versus the muggy humid weather of Orlando, FL. Be advised that there are two different theme parks with separate admission: Disneyland Park (very similar to Magic Kingdom, and the Disney Studios Park (similar to the MGM park). The original DL park with Cinderella's Castle is gorgeous with incredible theming, but the Studios park is very bland, but the rides and attractions are identical to what you will find in Orlando. I don't recommend that you stay in one of the Disney resort hotels, they are overpriced and poorly run; its very easy to take the train to the parks from central Paris.

Posted by
87 posts

We were there last December and it was quite cold then, and as Michael said it was packed. We were there on a Sunday. Wasted a lot of time buying tickets so if you can get them in advance that would be good. We only managed to get on a couple of rides. There was an express thing you could do, which I wasn't familiar with where you got a ticket for a ride to go back at a specific time, which may have been what we should've done.

Posted by
219 posts

Carol, Another possibility if DP sounds a bit too crowded, is Aquaboulevard. It is an indoor waterpark located in the 15th district. The info I have says it gets crowded in the summertime for obvious reasons. Who in their right mind would go to a waterpark in the wintertime? LOL. My water babies and me! I think I'll be there sometime during Christmas week.

Posted by
16 posts

There are forums like this dedicated to Disney parks, and most have a DL Paris section. One good choice is www.micechat.com although there are others. With all due respect, the rides are not identical in most cases, but it is certainly true that it is widely considered to be the most beautiful Magic Kingdom type park. Studio has good attractions, but a bland setting. If you are present at park opening with tickets in hand, and understand fastpass, you can mostly avoid long waits even on a crowded day. In July we found the posted wait times less than California or Florida. The new Crush Coaster in the Studio is seeing 60-90 minute waits however, and the Tower of Terror is set to open there in January. It was designed with weather in mind, so it's easy to find shelter; for instance, there are covered walkways behind the Main St. buildings. I have seen pictures of snow there, though.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks everyone for your comments. Not being a Disney expert, I had no idea of things like micechat. I'll have to check it out. Thanks again.

Posted by
12 posts

We were there 2 years ago for New Year's Eve and had a lot of fun. It was cold, but not very crowded. I'm not even sure we had to use Fastpass. I know that in Jan and Feb, they have their biggest sales since it's the low season. We only went to Disney Park and not their other studio. DP was similar to Disneyland in California, but smaller. I think the only rides closed were the water rides. Everything's also a lot more affordable. You can actually buy a combo meal (burger, fries and drinks) for about 7 euros or so. Those fun hats (green with Goofy ears or the other fancier kinds that) are only about 20 euros.