It’s an exciting time if you’re a Disneyland Paris fan, as packages for trips from April 2027 to March 2028 have come on sale! (That links an affiliate link so you know, but there’s no extra cost to you.) The earlier you book, the cheaper your stay. But with all the pressure and rush of trying to get the best price, it can be easy to overlook key parts of planning, and so end up with a trip you didn’t actually plan, or extras you don’t actually really need. So in this blog I’m sharing the key things you should know before you book your Disneyland Paris package.

1) Budget

There’s no two ways about it – Disneyland Paris can be very expensive. And if you don’t go into booking your trip with a budget in mind, it can be easy to get carried away with all the the extras, or to on an impulse book a hotel that’s not actually in your price range. So before you even try to book, know your budget!

And when deciding your budget, make sure it takes into account all the basics of the trip – hotel cost, park tickets (if you book an on site Disneyland Paris hotel they’re both included in one price), and also transport – whether you’re planning to book that with Disney or otherwise. An idea of a food budget can also be helpful, although I appreciate if you’re booking over a year out you may not really know that!

When you have your figure, write it down and have it in front of you as you book. And stick to it. If you’ve got a Santa Fe budget but end up getting caught up in the excitement and booking the Disneyland Hotel – then you’re in serious trouble unless you’re willing to make some big compromises (probably here it’ll be the length of the stay more than anything else). Your budget can dictate everything – the dates you travel, what hotels you can stay in, length of stay, ability to book extras and more. So it’s important you go in knowing this.

With Disneyland Paris packages, you of course do not have to front the entire cost at the time of booking – you just pay a deposit of 15% and then have the option to pay off the rest of your trip in instalments (unless you book last minute). This can be a great way to spread the cost, but have a plan of how you’re going to pay those instalments – otherwise you may end up not being able to afford the trip, and then you’ve got the disappointment of no holiday and the sting of losing your deposit if you don’t cancel in adequate time. We actually prefer if possible to pay the entire cost up front so we don’t hit this scenario, but I do realise that’s not feasible for everyone!

Above all, don’t let FOMO lure you into booking something that you can’t afford – Disneyland Paris is amazing, but you shouldn’t land yourself in serious financial trouble to get there!

2) Vacation Dates

As well as knowing what you have to spend, it’s also very important to know when you want to go! Your travel dates can have a big impact on your holiday cost, and if you’re planning to go a peak time (Christmas and New Year, Halloween week, Easter holidays) it’s important to book as soon as you can before everything sells out! (They can and do!)

It might be that you know the exact dates you want for your stay, because you’re restricted due to work leave, school holidays etc. That’s great because you’ll be able to hone in directly on your dates and go from there with booking.

However, if you have a rough idea of when you want to go but have a little bit of leeway with your dates this can also be handy. Because Disney does dynamic pricing for their packages, room and ticket packages vary by date depending on demand. In a nutshell, the busier they think it’ll be, the more it’ll cost for you to go there! Sometimes literally arriving a day earlier or day later than planned can save you hundreds of pounds on a package! If you have this flexibility then check out Disneyland Paris’ price comparison calendar. You can choose those travelling and your required length of stay, and then select the hotel you are interested in to be able to click through calendar months, showing the cost of your package for each arrival date. This is a handy tool if you’ve got some flexibility.

I would be wary going into booking a Disneyland Paris package utterly clueless of when you want to go – while you dither and try to choose, the best packages and the cheapest prices are being snapped up! I’d recommend narrowing it down to at least a month, or even a season. If you’re not sure when you want to go, check out our blog on when to visit Disneyland Paris.

If you just want the cheapest prices and don’t care about your date, keep an eye on our blog here as we’ll soon be sharing a blog on the cheapest dates to go to Disneyland Paris in 2027. (As a general hint, late January to the first week of February is typically cheapest, but the blog will go into more detail!)

3) How you want to travel

Unless you’re lucky enough to live on Disneyland Paris’ doorstep (In which case I doubt you’d be booking a hotel package anyway!) you’re going to need to get there some how. And it’s helpful to have an idea of this before you book your package, in case you want to add transport on with Disney.

The main ways people travel to Disneyland Paris are by air (typically to Charles de Gaulle airport, from which people can book the airport shuttle bus, a TGV train, or a ride share to get them to the DLP site), train (there’s a train station on site), or by car (self-driving). Which you choose will depend on multiple factors – where you’re travelling from, your party’s travel needs, and budget are all big factors. If you’re travelling from the USA, you’re unlikely to travel to DLP by train or car, except as part of a larger trip to Europe. And it’s a long swim over the Atlantic so air travel might be the way to go! If you’ve got people in your group who struggle with long car journeys, you might need to look at air or train travel. Conversely, if folks in your group struggle with any travel bar that in your own vehicle, or you have a lot of equipment and luggage to bring, travelling by car might work out to be the easiest option. It’s often the cheapest – but when judging cost make sure you include extra costs on top like fuel or EV charging costs, tolls, and any over night stays needed to break up the long drive.

Actually, including all costs is something you should be doing regardless of what form of travel. If you’re flying you might need to factor airport parking fees or fares to get you to the airport in the first place, any overnight stays needed, and also the cost of getting from the airport in Paris to Disneyland Paris. Our preferred method of travel is Eurostar, but we need to travel to London from our home in the South West to get it, and need to factor in an overnight stay in London to ensure we get to our train in time. So we include that in our costs.

If you want to book travel as part of your Disneyland Paris package there’s a few things to note. One thing is that air fares can’t typically be added as you book if you’re booking over a year out. Likewise with Eurostar included there is a time frame this can be added in, and you will be booked on a train from London to Lille, and from Lille a TGV train to Disneyland Paris. This might work out for you and your group, but you get more flexibility over times (and often cheaper prices) booking yourself via the Eurostar website to go to Paris Gard du Nord instead. It’s then €2.50 per person on the RER to get to Disneyland Paris, but this does include some swapping of trains which might not be ideal for large groups and a lot of luggage, or those with disabilities! For travelling by car, if travelling from the UK you can book packages including Le Shuttle – sometimes they even offer this free as part of a special offer! But you’ll need to cover the cost of any tolls yourself.

Ultimately what means of travel you choose is up to you, likewise if you want to book it as part of your Disneyland Paris package or not. We generally book travel separately as we’ve found we get more flexibility (and often cheaper costs) than booking it all with Disney, but I recognise that the convenience of having everything under one booking is attractive! But it’s worth knowing what you plan to do before booking your package, so you can decide if adding travel is something you want to do then or not.

4) How you plan to eat

When booking a holiday potentially months in advance of your arrival date, then it can be hard to know how your family is going to want to eat! But when booking a Disneyland Paris package, having an idea at least of whether you want an included breakfast, or are likely to want any sit down table service meals, can be very useful.

The main reason this is handy is so you know whether the meal plans are going to be worth adding to your trip as you book it. With the meal plans, you pay as part of your package for a number of meals in advance. As it previously stood you could book a breakfast only package, a half board package (breakfast and one table service meal per day) or full board (breakfast and two other meals, either quick service or table service per day). The cost you pay and the meals included vary depending on your hotel – essentially the more pricey the hotel the wider the options, and the higher the cost! Although those at cheaper hotels should be able to upgrade to the higher cost packages. However, meal plans have gotten a shake up with the new packages. There are now be packages not including breakfast, and options for meals will include packages that cover just the hotel buffet restaurants, a package that includes these and certain in park restaurants, and upgrades from here that then extend to include more expensive experiences like character dining. I’m planning a full blog to explain it all so watch this space!

If you get a meal plan and use it to its full extent, it can save you some money compared to buying the same meals out of pocket – but it has to be that you were planning to eat at the restaurants included, otherwise it won’t be financially worth it. You might still like it though for the convenience of knowing your meals are paid for in advance – that’s something that you’ll need to figure out for your group.

So knowing how your family might eat is helpful when booking your package. If you know your kids aren’t going to stick a table service meal a day, hardly eat anything at breakfast and live on chips and pizza, then a meal plan isn’t going to be worth it for your group. If your family are foodies though who consider eating as an important part of the trip, or you’d like to break up your park days with a sit down at a restaurant, then it might well be. I will say that meal plans can be added on to your package later if need be by ringing Disney, I just find that it’s helpful to do at the time of booking so you know your full cost up front!

A final note on eating – for those who have booked a package with Disney themselves, you are also able to book table service meals up to a year out from your arrival date – and for very popular spots (Like Downtown at Hotel New York) you need this to stand a hope of getting a booking! This another reason why its handy to know if your group would want to do table service meals, it means you’ll be able to get booking earlier and have a better chance of scoring the reservations you want.

5) Any must-do extras

Aside from the Meal Plans, when booking your Disneyland Paris trip you’ll be offered a plethora of package options you can possibly add – so many its easy to get overwhelmed and either miss something you really wanted, or add things that will be no help to you!

I actually have a blog on all the package add ons with my thoughts on if they’re worth it or not, so please do have a look at that. And it’s worth noting that many package add ons can be added on later by ringing Disney if you decide it’s worth it after all.

However there are a few add-ons that I think are worth adding when you make your booking if you want them:

• Character meals – Character meals like Auberge de Cendrillon and Royal Banquet are incredibly popular and book up well in advance. Securing your spot at these as early on as possible means that you won’t miss out! (You’ll also have paid in advance which can be handy for budgeting)
• My Royal Dream – If someone in your group would love to do My Royal Dream, the Princess or Prince makeover experience in the Disneyland Hotel, then again it’s worth adding as you book if possible. Like character meals slots here are very popular and book up well in advance!
• Viewing for Disney Tales of Magic – Disneyland Paris offer special viewing spots for its nighttime spectaculars to secure a great view with less crowds. For Disney Cascade of Lights over in Disney Adventure World this may be handy, but the in the round nature of being able to view this show means a marked spot is less helpful. But for Disney Tales of Magic, booking the viewing area could help ensure you get a great spot without fighting the crowds – and there are a lot of them! The premium viewing area for Disney Tales of Magic often sells out, so it might be worth booking if you know you want it.
• Disney Express Luggage Service – If you’re arriving by train, or are arriving early on your arrival day and want to head straight to the park as opposed to stopping at your hotel to drop off luggage, then the Disney Express service is great. It allows you to leave your luggage at a special desk in the Marne la Vallee train station on arrival and pick up your Magic Passes, and then pick your luggage up at your hotel later – so you can head straight to the parks! It works on check out day too – you drop your luggage to your hotel luggage room and then pick it up at the train station later, allowing you more time in the parks. In theory the service can sell out (although I don’t know how common that is), but if you already know that this might be worth it to you it’s handy to get it secured and covered in the cost of your overall package.
• Disneyland Paris’ travel insurance MAYBE – Disneyland Paris do offer their own travel insurance. If this will be helpful to you it may be worth adding at the time of booking your package to ensure you’ve covered from the get go if something goes wrong with your holiday. However do double check you don’t already have travel insurance elsewhere, and make sure the terms and conditions would actually mean your group is covered. For example it doesn’t cover issues related to pre-existing health conditions, which means we don’t use it – we get cover elsewhere more suited to our needs.

So there you go – the five things I think you should know before booking your Disneyland Paris trip. Hopefully this helps. Anything you think should be added? Share in the comments below, and while down there please consider subscribing to our blog so you receive blogs directly into your email inbox. You’ll also receive a free copy of our Magically Different Guide to Disneyland Paris attraction accessibility (otherwise £3). We’d love to see you over on our YouTube channel too. And if you’d like to support our work do please consider leaving us a tip and shopping our Amazon store front. And if you’re ready to book your trip click the image in the sidebar or header to get going! This takes you to the Disneyland Paris website to book. (These are affiliate links so if you book we’ll get a small commission at no extra cost to you). Thank you!