Looking for Disneyland Paris booking tips? You’ve come to the right place!

After deciding we were going to book Disneyland Paris for December 2018 and being the completely unspontaneous person I am, I set about doing my research. I’m a naturally disorganised and scatty person but when it comes to holidays I plan to the extreme. Mostly because holidays for the five of us generally cost us a fortune. There’s no way we’re not getting our money’s worth!

After having a read online I stumbled on so much conflicting information and out of date advice. It can pretty overwhelming when booking for the first time. I therefore thought I would share the tips we found useful and things we stumbled across ourselves to make our trip as magical as it was. This post is focusing primarily on booking and planning your trip

Disneyland Paris Booking Tips #1 : Shop around.

We booked through Magic Breaks but it’s worth shopping around. Often the best deals are through the Disneyland Paris website but the complimentary extras meant, for us, Magic Breaks was a slightly better deal. We spoke to someone at Magic Breaks prior to booking for some advice and were told if we went ahead with booking that day, she could offer us £50 off the price.

If you’re booking directly through the Disneyland Paris website, be aware that there are different versions, including French, German and Irish.

Disneyland rather controversially offer different promotions on their different websites so it’s definitely worth double checking. If you aren’t fluent in French or German, view the page on Google Chrome and the page can be translated into English.

There are also different offers on at different times. For example, there may be 25% off with free meal plan or 4 nights for the price of 2. It’s worth working out which deal is best for what you want out of your stay. We booked under the four nights for the price of two. We then paid extra for our meal plan which worked out a better price for us.

Disneyland Paris Booking Tips #2 : Consider when to visit

As well as shopping around to get the best deals, it’s also worth being flexible with your dates where possible. If you’re not tied to school holidays it’s definitely worth booking during term time to get the best price. It’s also likely to be quieter during term time so with any luck you’ll spend less time queuing. It’s also worth checking on French holidays too as obviously that will also have an impact both on price, and how busy the parks will be.

Weekends are obviously the busiest days of the week at Disneyland Paris, as you’ll find both tourists and locals coming to visit the parks. It might be worth trying to avoid weekends if you’d rather go when it’s quieter.

Disneyland Paris have different themes throughout the year to keep tempting us to come back! During 2019 there’ll be the return of the Pirates and Princesses Festival, along with Marvel Super Heroes and Festival of the Lion King and Jungle all at various points throughout the year.

We went in December so obviously the theme was Christmas!

Disneyland paris booking tips - children in front of christmas tree at disneyland

Disneyland Paris Booking Tips #3 : Download the apps

The two essential apps you will need are the Official Disneyland Paris app and the Lineberty app, both available on the App Store or Google Play.

The Official Disneyland Paris app is your go to guide to find out what’s on and where. It has park opening times, character meet times, ride closures, show times – basically everything you need to know. Times can change daily so it’s important to refer back to it throughout your trip.

The Lineberty app is what you will need to book character meets in the studios park. Currently the characters you need to book to see are Minnie Mouse, Spiderman, Buzz, Woody and Pluto and Friends. It’s worth noting that whilst you might catch Woody and Pluto in other areas in the parks, this probably is the only opportunity to see Minnie, Spiderman and Buzz, so make those your priority.

Disneyland Paris Booking Tips #4 : Plan your meals

If you have a meal plan, you’ll want to make sure you can eat where you want to. It is strongly advised that you book your dining choices 60 days prior to your visit. You can do this by ringing the Disneyland Paris Reservations line – 0800 085 0671. Don’t worry, there is an English option!

Popular restaurants book up quickly, especially the character dining, so don’t leave it to chance. We managed to book Inventions, Cafe Mickey, Auberge de Cendrillon, and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.

When you book, be conscious of the times of shows, parades and illuminations. If you are desperate to see the parade or Illuminations (you should be, they’re amazing!) then you want to avoid that time when booking your meals. Alternatively, if you’ve already seen them and aren’t desperate to see them again, it’s likely that meal times will be a quieter experience. Use the Official Disneyland App to find out times of the shows and parades.

Hopefully you will have found this useful when it comes to booking your trip to Disneyland Paris. Are you visiting soon? Let us know in the comments!