Sam and I took and a short trip to Disneyland Paris from 30th June until 3rd July 2019. We stayed at Sequoia Lodge for the second time, with the half board meal plan.
3 nights and 4 days is plenty of time to visit Disneyland Paris. Disneyland Park is great and you can easily spend 2 whole days there, however Walt Disney Studios Park is an absolute mess, 50% of attractions are closed for good or down for refurbishment.
During the summer months Disneyland Park is open until 11pm. Make sure to check the park opening times ahead of your visit in order to plan your days out. The warm weather seemed to attract the locals with annual passes whilst we were there.
Everyday of our trip was 25oc or above, it was hot, Disneyland Paris is not as well air-conditioned as Walt Disney World, just keep that in mind if you visit during the summer months. Cooling down is not as easy as just popping in a shop for a punch to the face of air conditioning.
We visited during The Lion King and Jungle Festival, all aspects of the Festival were the best I have seen at Disneyland Paris. You can read more about the festival here.
Disneyland Paris is not a cheap trip, so when bookings to stay look for offers that include free full or half board meal plans. This will alleviate some of the cost as it will include breakfast buffet at your hotel and lunch/ dinner at either plus/ premium restaurants. This trip we dined at the hotel restaurant, Hunters Grill for a buffet dinner, Bistro Chez Remy and Captain Jack’s.
Some of the highlights of our trip were watching Mickey and the Magician in Walt Disney Studios Park, I would consider this the second best show I have seen in any Disney park I have visited, (after Mickey and the Wonderous Book in Hong Kong Disneyland). It was the first time seeing the show as during our trip last year it had been replaced with the Christmas show, Mickey’s Big Band Beat. Mickey and the Magician is spoken in English and French, but easy to follow. For this show we used my MasterCard to get the reserved seating. Another highlight, The Lion King Rhythm of the Pride Lands, as detailed in my The Lion King and Jungle Festival post it was spectacular.
Each morning we were there we used Early Morning Magic, this is a perk available to all guests staying on Disney property. This onsite perk gives you access to the parks from 8am-10am before regular day guests arrive. I love Early Morning Magic, I love to take photos and visit quiet areas of the parks, I also love being able to get on to attractions without having to queue. With the exception of Crush’s Coaster, meeting the Princesses in the Pavilion or Mickey Mouse in the Fantasyland Theatre.
My frustrations from last years visit still remain the same. The lack of castmembers around is aparent as is the lack of training in customer service. Food carts and shops opening limited hours. The lack of urgency anywhere, getting served in a store or at a restaruant. I put it all down to training.
If you can get past that (whilst it is frustrating at the time), you will visit one of the best themed and detailed parks in the world. Disneyland Park is extremely beautiful and deserves to be looked at in detail whilst feeling fully immersed in the lands.
Let me know your thoughts on Disneyland Paris in the comments below.
That Disney Girl 
I visited at Easter this year and had a similar experience to you. I was surprised that at such a popular time so many of the attractions were closed. Surely they’d do their maintenance at more off-peak times? Not once did I see a Disney character walking around the park (only queues for meet and greets) and I’d been led to believe that they’d be wandering around so you could get autographs and stuff. Everything else was great, but it was a bit different to how I imagined. Thanks for your post-I’m glad it’s not just me haha 🙂
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