It seems that in every group that goes to Disneyland Paris, there’s always one main person who is ‘the planner’. They get stuff booked. They figure out what’s happening when. They watch the videos, read the blogs and do the research. And as a result they plan what they hope will be the perfect Disneyland Paris trip. As a planner myself I know that this can be a lot of fun – and a lot of pressure! We invest so much into the holiday that it can feel that every hiccup is a major blow. So here I’m sharing our survival guide for the Disneyland Paris planner, so you can keep your sanity along the way!

Know what you need to organise when

If you’re the planner and booker for a Disneyland Paris trip, it helps to know what you need to plan and book, and when!

Essentially you need to decide several things well before your Disneyland Paris trip. These are – when you’re going, where you’re staying, park tickets needed, and how you’re getting there. And really if you have accommodation, transport and park tickets sorted in advance you’ve got the essentials you need for a Disneyland Paris trip! And in an ideal world it’s best to book these as early as you can to get everything locked in and sorted.

That’s not the only things you should be deciding in advance of your Disneyland Paris trip though. Another question is are you planning to eat at any table service restaurants? Because if so it’s best to book them as soon as possible – that’s up to a year in advance for Disney hotel guests, and 60 days in advance for offsite guests. Restaurants can and do regularly book up. If you’re planning a lot of meals and you’re staying onsite it might also be worth looking into the Meal Plans to see if they’d be worth it for your group. Other things to decide in advance are if you want to book a slot at My Royal Dream (for Princess or Princely makeovers), or special add ons like priority fireworks viewing slots.

Having a plan of attack for booking your Disneyland Paris trip can work wonders for taking some of the pressure off. We have a blog setting out all the key dates and information you need to do for booking your trip – find it here.

Look at what’s likely to be closed when you’re there – and warn your group

Nothing can derail a carefully made Disneyland Paris plan like getting to a much anticipated attraction – and finding it closed for refurbishment!

Unlike many other theme parks (especially in Europe) Disneyland Paris is open 365 days a year. That means that to give the attractions, restaurants and shops the TLC they need, closures sometimes have to happen that takes something out of commission for days, weeks or sometimes even months!

Disneyland Paris usually share refurbishments on their website up to a few months in advance. If you’re booking a more spontaneous trip in the future you’ll be able to see what’s closed before you book. That won’t be possible if you book many months out, but it’s still worth checking once the calendar goes live for your trip – that way you know what’s likely to be closed for your visit.

And if you know something is going to be closed when you’re going that someone else in the group really wants to do – tell them about the closure! Don’t not mention it and fingers crossed it’ll work out on the trip. If you’re lucky you may catch an early reopening or delayed closure, but these are pretty rare. If they’re likely to be disappointed then be sure to emphasise what else will be open, which will be the majority of things! We’ve visited Disneyland Paris when our favourite attractions have been closed in the park. A bummer? Yes. Make or break? No! Because we knew about it in advance, had set our expectations, and knew there was a lot more to enjoy in the parks.

Find details of the planned closures for Disneyland Paris on their theme park calendar.

Know what your group can and can’t do in advance

Similar to knowing what’s going to be available (or not) in the park before you go, it’s also handy to know what your group can and can’t do in advance. That way they don’t have to be disappointed in the park itself when they realise a certain attraction isn’t going to work for them.

One thing that can catch groups out are the height restrictions on certain attractions. Many of the more thrilling attractions have a minimum height required to ride – this is for safety reasons. Many a time we’ve seen a crying child or temper tantrum when a little one heads up to the ride, is measured, and then denied access! To (try!) and prevent tears on the day, make sure you measure your little ones just before you head to Disney, so you know what their height is and therefore likely what they will and won’t be let on. You can then have a plan to steer them away from the attractions they can’t ride in the first place so they don’t have that let down on the attraction door. If you have a group of mixed heights where some children can access rides and some can’t, have a back up plan for the non-riding child for something to entertain them so hopefully the jealous sulks don’t set in as they’ll be too busy doing something else fun. (You can use rider swap to help cut down on the wait time if you have two adults who are both going to want to ride). And please don’t try anything like heel lifts etc to make the child appear taller so they can ride – Disney have pretty much seen it all so will probably suss you out pretty quick, and at the end of the day it’s the child’s safety being put at risk for a ride that just isn’t safe for them.

Also bear in mind if anyone in your group is differently-abled or have medical conditions that mean certain rides are simply a no go for them. I unfortunately fit into this category which kinda sucks, but hey at least I know in advance so I can focus on what I can do instead. If you’re new to the planning, a general rule of thumb is that the rides with height requirements (so the more thrilling ones) generally also have ride warnings against certain medical conditions riding. (We have a blog on the ride warnings if you’d like to check it out). But do also bear in mind that some folks have requirements that aren’t picked up in the ride warnings – like an awkward ride seat that some folks can’t manage (the carousel horses, Orbitron rockets and Autopia cars are all essentially a nope from me). Or they may be in the dark and someone in your group can’t handle pitch black experiences, and so on. Expecting a baby also means certain attractions are not suitable. In our Magically Different Guide to Disneyland Paris Attraction Accessibility we set out all the details about the ride experience, load and unload process and ride vehicle from an accessibility point of view. You can buy the guide for £3 here, or subscribe to this blog to get it free!

And if there’s an attraction that someone in your group can’t experience for whatever reason, make sure everyone in your travel party knows, so there’s no attempts to try and emotionally blackmail or bully someone onto a ride that isn’t suitable for them!

Side note, if you’re worried about the sights in the attraction then you can find ride through videos of Disneyland Paris attractions on YouTube, so you can get an idea if they’re suitable before you arrive.

Don’t pin your ‘perfect’ trip on just one thing

The idea for this point (and actually for this blog) came from this week, when Disneyland Paris put some white walls up in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle because they’re doing refurbishment work on the bridge. Were they ugly? Yup. Could Disney have communicated better about why they’re needed, and the fact that more picturesque wall were coming soon (they’re now in place)? Absolutely. But I saw people in groups online saying their entire trip was ruined and they were going to cancel just because they couldn’t get that perfect castle photo. And this is a problem – if you pin your entire trip on just one thing happening, then sadly you’re probably going to have trouble.

The average Disney trip likes to throw a curve ball. You may know what rides are going down for refurbishment, but your itinerary might get thrown out of whack if a ride has to close unexpectedly for technical issues. And while it’ll more than likely be open again by the rest of your trip (and probably within a couple of hours), it might not be – unexpected multi-day closures can and do happen. Or Disney might move or replace a character in the parks for a variety of reasons. Or they might close off a particular walkway or building facade for work – as is the case with the castle right now. That won’t be on the app if the attraction / restaurant / whatever is still open during the works. Heck, on our last trip we had a whole section of Frontierland closed for several hours one day because of a water leak – which meant we had to go and eat elsewhere than planned. That closure also took out the Jack and Sally meet and greet for Halloween season which disappointed a lot of folks that morning. So, if you feel like your entire trip hinges on just this one thing, and then something happens that stops you doing it – where do you go from there?

Here’s the thing – the parks are huge with loads to do. if a photo spot isn’t as picturesque as usual, there’s plenty of other spots in the parks that are. If a ride is down, that sucks but there’s plenty of others. Characters come and go but there’s always some to meet. Weather can disrupt some plans, but most attractions are indoors and carry on regardless. There’s an abundance of shops and restaurants to go to if others are closed. And so on… So really, if just one thing not happening will ruin the entire trip and make you rethink it entirely, then you’re really not seeing the breadth of offerings the theme parks have. Believe me, you can and could have fun – as long as you’re willing to accept that stuff happens, and pivot accordingly. That’s not to say you shouldn’t be disappointed – that’s only natural. We’ve been a couple of times when favourite attractions have been closed and it’s a bummer. But don’t let that then blind you to all the other offerings that the parks have.

I’d also recommend you don’t 100% promise anything to your group, just in case the unexpected happens. I’ve seen a lot of time parents promising little ones they’ll definitely meet a certain character, only to fail to get a spot in one of the virtual queues (which are a bit of a gamble), or to be confronted with a 3 hour line and getting desperate as a result! Always say you’ll be trying to do something, but don’t guarantee it, because you never know.

Also, side note – don’t expect a refund on the day from Disney if just one photo spot, ride etc is out of commission – the terms and conditions of the park states that offerings are subject to availability. They might be sympathetic but you’re unlikely to get your admission fee back!

Prioritise, not over-plan!

I’ve seen some folks in the past share their planned itineraries for Disneyland Paris that offer minute by minute low downs of what they’re expecting to do each day of their trip, in an effort to ‘do it all’. A plan is great but it’s possible to over-plan, and such minute by minute itineraries rarely work out as hoped!

Remember what I said about the unexpected happening in the parks in the last section? Copy and paste it here – because any one of those happening is going to disrupt the most detailed plans. But there’s also other variables not down to Disney’s own attractions and offerings. You might sleep through an alarm. A dining reservation might take longer than planned, or you may struggle to find a table in a quick service spot of choice. Someone in your group might not feel well, get over-tired, over-stimulated or have a blister and cause the day to come to a temporary halt while that’s sorted. It might even be something as simple as it took you longer to walk from Point A to Point B on your itinerary as planned because of the crowds, a toilet pit stop, or because you underestimated the distances involved (this happens a lot on a Disneyland Paris trip – you will rack up the steps here!). A minute by minute itinerary just isn’t realistic.

Instead, you should decide what your group priorities are, and then split them over the days of your trip and try to do what you can of those each day. And ‘everything’ isn’t an overly realistic priority sadly! Depending on the size of your group I’d ask everyone to pick a few priorities in each park and focus on getting them done. Get everyone you can involved in choosing and planning – that way hopefully no one in your group will get upset if you focus on someone else’s priority first, because they know their’s is going to be coming up. Focus on getting the priorities done first – then anything else is a bonus! And with the priorities I’d also recommend setting a sensible amount of time for each one. Staking down a spot for the nighttime shows is likely going to take up the last hour of park time at least. A front row spot on the parade should also be grabbed at least 30 minutes in advance, with the parade that means a 45-60 minute time investment (depending where you are on the parade route). You can find the duration of most of the rides online, and then add on a sensible amount of time for the wait. (Note that if you have Premier Access, the paid for skip the line service, or the Priority Card, the service for the differently-abled that helps avoid long waits in line, you’re not guaranteed instant access – just quicker by the standby line. For super popular rides it still might take you around 30 minutes in Premier Access line). Also add in time buffers to get around the park – and also allow time buffers for stops in case someone needs a snack, a rest or to use the toilet. It’s almost certainly going to happen!

When it comes to surviving as a Disney planner, prioritisation beats over-planning every time!

Share the planning love / load!

Depending on who else is travelling with you, if you can delegate some of your planning responsibilities!

Have someone else in your group keep an eye on wait and show times on the Disneyland Paris app. Ask someone if they can take photos or have custody of the Photopass card (where you get photos taken by the in park photographers). In advance ask people to write down what they want to pack (and then in all likelihood beat them down to what they need to pack instead). Have someone else handle the travel tickets if you’ve got the park tickets. Whatever you need to take the pressure off you a little!

If you’re the only one in your group who’s able to do a lot of that planning for whatever reason, you still can ask others to get involved. Ask little ones and group members what they most want to do – it means they’re giving input on the trip which can help them feel included, and also prevents you having to guess what it is everyone most wants to do! You could ask them if there’s a particular outfit they want to wear in the park, or to (hopefully) see a certain character. Little things like that can help reduce the pressure on the planner, if only a little bit!

And if you are the only planner – remember to put something you want to do in the itinerary! It’s your trip too, and you deserve to enjoy it! Whether that’s heading to your favourite ride, grabbing a much loved or anticipated treat or meal, or just sipping a glass of champagne on Main Street, a bit of self-care can really help lessen the planning burden.

So there we are, Disneyland Paris planners – hopefully this will help you survive the joys and pitfalls of a Disneyland Paris trip! It can be hard work and stressful, but we find that the vast majority of people will think it’s worth it in the end.

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