Disneyland Paris, at the heart of the magic (but so many people!)

1st Day at Disneyland

So we set off at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 11, from Linate.

We arrive on time at Orly Airport in Paris, where there's a VEA shuttle service to Disneyland.

The shuttles run hourly and the journey takes about 45 minutes. Tickets can be bought directly on board the bus.

We arrive at the Newport Bay Club hotel, where our room is handed to us quickly.

It's a huge New England-style hotel: very well-kept surroundings, but since it's a mass-market hotel, the services leave something to be desired. The room, although well furnished with nautical-style furniture, lacks essential amenities such as a hairdryer (only on request) and the air conditioning works poorly. Moreover, to reach the room you have to walk kilometres of corridors (or maybe we were just unlucky with the room assignment). However, there's a nice scenic pool, both indoor and outdoor, with whirlpools, saunas, etc. etc.

The hotel is visited daily by costumed Disney characters, who, at set times, as per the posted notice, are available in the lobby for photos with children and autographs.

(a really lovely initiative).

The hotel also has a nice Disney shop, with every possible gadget.

We find it much more convenient to buy here rather than in the parks, where we'd have to drag our purchases around for hours and hours.

As soon as we arrive at the hotel we decide to freshen up in the pool and right after we go out to enter the Disney park for the first time.

To reach the theme park we walk along the pretty little lake the hotel overlooks and then cross the famous "Village", made up of the area with restaurants, bars and shops right at the gates of the park.

As soon as we enter the theme park, even though it's already 7 p.m., we notice it's absolute chaos. Maybe because it's Sunday and the park stays open until 9 p.m.!

To go on any ride, you have to queue for hours.

So we manage to do only one ride before closing time: the mine train (very scenic, but what speed and what a scare! at least for yours truly).

We leave and go looking for a restaurant.

On the introductory Disneyland TV channel we'd watched in the room, we'd really liked the Ludwig Castle restaurant, located in the Village.

It's a themed restaurant, very well furnished, where you can eat traditional Bavarian food.

A bit pricey, but it was worth it.

Then we return to the hotel, exhausted.

2nd day at Disneyland Paris

We wake up early, following the reception's advice to go to breakfast rather early, thus avoiding the peak hours when the situation is truly chaotic.

And that's what we do: a hearty buffet breakfast at 8:00 in one of the 2 restaurants, without any problem.

The Disneyland parks open at 10, or rather: the park gates open earlier but the rides don't open their doors before 10.

So we're at the gates on time, trying to make the most of the morning, which we hope won't be too crowded.

Unfortunately the weather isn't helping us: it's really excessively hot, the sun beats down on our heads constantly and we're always thirsty.

Today the queues are more acceptable but still there; maximum time for each ride about 30 minutes.

The park is divided into 4 themed areas:

- FRONTIERLAND (Far West style)

- ADVENTURELAND (Jungle or similar style)

- FANTASYLAND (all dedicated to fairy tales, perfect for little ones)

- DISCOVERYLAND (dedicated to space and the future).

We stay in the park until 4 p.m., when on Main Street you can watch the beautiful, long parade: lots of costumed performers, all the Disney characters and many floats, skilfully decorated and dedicated to each individual Disney fairy tale.

Tired and overheated, we head to our hotel to freshen up in the pool.

We then go out for dinner, where we have the sad surprise of not finding a table in any restaurant because we hadn't made a reservation.

By a miracle we find a table at the restaurant from the previous evening, Ludwig Castle, where, despite the somewhat high prices, we decide to dine again.

Careful! In French restaurants they tend to rip off tourists on water: insist on ordering "eau plate" (tap water in a jug). They'll try in every way to bring you bottled mineral water at absurd prices. Refuse it without any problem and insist on ordering "eau en carafe". It won't cost you anything (all French people do this).

3rd day at Disneyland Paris and back home

Here we are already at our last morning at Disneyland.

This morning we decide to visit the second Disney park: the Studios.

It's a park entirely dedicated to cinema and special effects.

Although we were sceptical, we discover to our delight that it contains truly interesting attractions and is also much less crowded than the other park: here there are absolutely no queues (at least on a weekday morning) and you go straight onto the rides.

Careful: some attractions are much scarier than expected (be careful before going in with very young children, also because at the entrance you never understand what might happen to you inside).

At around 12 o'clock, although we'd only visited a small part of the park, we return to the hotel to wait for the shuttle to the airport.

Fortunately all Disney hotels provide an efficient luggage storage service; basically you can vacate the room from the early hours of the morning and leave your luggage at the hotel for the whole day.

The shuttle, however, arrives on time but already crowded. We have to settle for 3 free seats out of 3, thus holding the little girl in our arms for the whole 45-minute journey.

And then how hot it is... the air conditioning seems not to be working!

I'll definitely ask for a refund when I get back to Italy, as the expensive receipt issued by the driver recommends (shuttle for 3 people, EUR 45.00, which added up for the round trip comes to EUR 90, almost as much as a plane ticket to Paris and with this poor service!).

Luckily the return EasyJet flight is very punctual and everything works well.

All in all, the short Disneyland holiday went technically well except for the excessive heat and the too many people, which creates inevitable service issues due to overcrowding (see the hotel problems, the shuttle and the queues at the parks).

I strongly advise anyone intending to go to Disneyland Paris to choose another time of year: definitely a spring or autumn period when schools are still open.

That way both the crowds and the heat will be reduced and the costs will certainly be lower.

As for the hotel, I'd perhaps recommend forgetting the Newport Bay and maybe going for the New York (it costs slightly more but only a little, has the same facilities and is closer to the parks and the Village).

I really hope our advice has been helpful to you.

It would have really come in handy for us to have all this information before we left!

DANI, MAX and CLARISSA. to find out more go to:

texts and photos by Daniela