Disneyland Paris with Kids - Everything You Need to Know

For our May half-term break, we caught the ferry to France to spend two days at Disneyland Paris, followed by a few days in the city. Josh and I visited Disneyland Paris for a day back in 2016 with a friend, but this was our first visit to Disneyland Paris as a family of four.

If you’ve ever planned a family trip to a Disney park (looking at you, Disney World in Orlando), you know it can be a BEAST. And I’m not talking about the handsome-prince-in-disguise kind. There’s a ton of information to process when planning out your Disney trip to ensure you’re making the most of your day, and if you prefer to do your own trip planning like I do, it can quickly become overwhelming. When we visited Disney World back in 2023, I spent weeks researching and learning how to do Disney. Then spent even more weeks planning out the trip. The outfits. The dining reservations. Genie Plus. So. Much. Time. Confound it all, I love it though…

Here’s the thing: doing all the research up front in the time leading up to your visit means that you’re so much more likely to feel prepared—dare I say, relaxed—once you actually enter the parks. So congratulations, you’re in the right place. I made SO many notes about our experience at Disneyland Paris so you can have an amazing time too!

Throughout this post I’ll make some comparisons between Disney World and Disneyland Paris for reference, but if this is your first time planning a family Disney trip, I’ve included some quick beginner tips too.

Transit

By car:

The most cost effective option for us, traveling from the UK, was to drive. We took the ferry from Dover to Calais, and the drive from Calais to Disneyland Paris is pretty much a straight shot on the highway. It’s a toll road most of the way (€25,10 each direction as of May 2025) but very easy driving. There’s a few parking lots around Disney Village if you’d like to park close to the entrances.

By train:

Coming from central Paris straight to Disney, just take the RER train to Marne-la-Vallée. The station is the right in Disney Village in front of the park entrances. Since we went in to Paris for a few days after Disney, we kept our car at the Parc Relais Val d’Europe parking garage and took the RER train from the Val d’Europe station into the city, which was SO smooth.

By plane:

We haven’t done this route ourselves, but there are Magical Shuttles to Disney from CDG (Paris Charles de Gaulle) and Paris-Orly airports to the Disney properties and partner hotels. These can be booked in advance and bundled into a flight package if you choose to go that route through the Disneyland Paris website.

Accommodations

For this visit we decided to book an Airbnb in Serris that was walking distance to the parks. While we enjoyed being so close to the parks, having a kitchen, and not needing to worry about paying for additional parking or transportation fees, it did add an extra 1.6 km (about 20 minutes walking) onto an already maxed out walking day. The walk itself was great—wide, well-maintained sidewalks the whole way, and the roads were pretty quiet.

If we have the opportunity to visit Disneyland Paris again, I’d prefer to stay at a Disney property or Disney affiliated hotel. We didn’t mind our Airbnb setup, but I would have liked the perks of extra magic time and to have been even closer walking distance. If you’re on a budget, Airbnbs can be a cost-effective way to go, just make sure to factor in any additional transportation costs.

Disney hotel perks: extra magic hours (exclusive park access before regular park hours), free shuttles and free parking at both the hotel and parks, character meet-and-greets at some hotels, and an overall immersive Disney experience. Downside: these can get expensive so book well in advance for the best prices.

Partner hotels: check out the list here. You won’t get extra magic hours or character experiences, but the convenience of free parking and/or shuttle service, and ideal if your family prefers to have a break from an all-immersive Disney stay. Our Airbnb was right next to this partner hotel (so walkable to the parks) and it looked great; we’d totally look into staying here on a future visit.

First Time Park Tips

There are two parks that comprise Disneyland Paris: Disneyland Park, and Walt Disney Studios Park. The entrances are adjacent for easy park hopping.
Disneyland Park is similar to Magic Kingdom at Disney World, with different themed “lands” and the iconic castle. Here, it’s Sleeping Beauty’s castle, and you can actually explore inside of it. Rumor has it there’s a secret dragon in the dungeon… if you’re brave enough to find it.
Walt Disney Studios Park is similar to Hollywood Studios at Disney World, but much smaller (for now — expansion currently in progress and scheduled to open in 2026). The highlights here are the Worlds of Pixar and Avengers Campus.
Download the Disneyland Paris app! It’s SO crucial for success to have this downloaded and familiarize yourself with it. It’s a super helpful free app where you can link your park tickets, make dining reservations, hop in virtual queues, buy a premier access pass (to skip lines), stay up to date with park hours and show times, track wait times for rides, and has a digital park map with filters for searching attractions, restaurants, character encounters, and more. This was my number one resource when planning our days!
Park security happens at the entrance to Disney Village. This was pretty standard and a bit less intense than Disney World security.
Food (in reasonable quantities) is allowed. If you’ve got a picky eater like I do, it’s a lifesaver to bring some foods you KNOW they will eat. And if you’d prefer to skip park food, it’s nice to have the option to bring your own.
BYO Alcohol is not allowed, but there are places to buy alcohol around the parks.
Dining reservations can be made up to two months in advance, and they do fill up quickly, so try to make your dining reservations as soon as possible if there’s a particular restaurant or experience you’re hoping to book.
Water bottle refill stations are available in the parks.
Check times for the parade and fireworks—in the summer, fireworks don’t start until 10:40 pm! Our kids can’t hang that late at these ages, so sadly we couldn’t stay for fireworks this time. But, since we were there during Music Festival season, we watched The Grand Orchestra Finale at 7:30 pm, which was a nice way to wrap up our Disneyland Park day.
Strollers: if you have one, bring it! They’re available for rent at the parks too. We opted to not do a stroller but there were many moments I wished we had. Our kids are 6 and 4 and are pretty used to long walks, but they definitely would have liked the option. Also, there’s great stroller parking around the parks, and seemed like most stroller parking areas were spacious and well-covered. I’d recommend having a stroller for kids under age 7 or so.

Trip Length

How many days do you need for Disneyland Paris? Always a tough question, because it really depends on your time constraints and what sort of trip experience you’re looking for. My short answer, especially if you have young kids, is at least two park days.

We decided to spend one day at Disneyland Park and one day at Walt Disney Studios Park. This worked out pretty well for our family, although to be honest we pushed pretty hard on our Disneyland Park day, so I think we could have spread it out to two days for that one. Since Walt Disney Studios Park is smaller (for now), one full day is plenty.

If you have room for it in your schedule, I’d also suggest structuring in a rest day or two between your park days. There’s more to do around the Serris/Chessy area than just the parks, including a fancy shopping area, aquarium, and wildlife park. Not to mention utilizing any amenities your accommodations may provide! My kids probably would have thrived on a chill day at a hotel pool after all the stimulation of a park day, which I’m definitely factoring in on a future trip.

Here’s an example of my ideal layout for… let’s say a five-day trip (including travel days):

DAY 1: Arrival, check in, settle into accommodations, grocery shop if needed, etc.

DAY 2: Disneyland Park day!

DAY 3: Rest day. Explore the local area or hang out by the pool, if you have one.

DAY 3 Alternative: Split Disneyland Park day into two days. Don’t max out either day—arrive at rope drop one day then leave early, or sleep in and arrive at the park later with the intention to stay later (especially if you want to stay for fireworks).

DAY 4: Walt Disney Studios Park day!

DAY 5: Check out and departure.

Coffee

This one might make you laugh—but figuring out where to get a good cup of coffee is one of the first things we look for when travel planning. The instant coffee that’s usually stocked in most European hotels and Airbnbs just does not cut it for us. We do often bring our own coffee supplies, but we also like to try out different local spots. So I feel like it’s important to note that there aren’t a ton of good coffee options around Serris or the Disney parks.

Most of the restaurants and many of the quick service spots around the parks serve your standard automatic machine coffee, or you might get lucky with finding a Lavazza. There’s only ONE dedicated coffee shop in the parks, The Coffee Grinder in Main Street at Disneyland Park, and it was closed for renovations while we were there so cannot report on its quality (this time).

If you’re a die-hard iced coffee drinker, the only option in the parks is cold brew from Victoria’s Home-Style Restaurant on Main Street. Or the Starbucks in Disney Village, outside of the parks.

Note on Starbucks: there are two around Disney Village. One within security near the Disney stores and one outside security in the Marne-la-Vallée train station. We ended up getting breakfast at the one inside Disney Village next to the Disney Stores and it was actually a great Starbucks location. Fast moving despite a long line, food and drinks prepared quickly, lots of options, and most importantly, the coffee was made well!

Food

To dining plan or not to dining plan… we did not go with a dining plan on this trip, but if you’re staying at a Disney hotel it’s worth looking into, especially if you’ll be planning to eat at your hotel restaurant for breakfasts and such. Dining plans can be bundled into your hotel and tickets if you book through the Disney website.

If you haven’t already heard, the food at Disneyland Paris has a reputation for being notoriously… mid. Which I found so surprising, considering the level of excellence with which the French typically approach food. After visiting, I wouldn’t say the park food is terrible, but I do think there’s a lot of room for improvement. It’s fast, convenient food. Something to consider when planning your days.

I have a confession. At the risk of sounding neurotic, I’ll admit I took the time to research the menu at every single restaurant and quick service food option listed on the Disneyland Paris app before our trip. I also made a list of the most interesting (to me) food spots in every area of the parks, with notes of which menu items perked my interest, so that I would have a quick reference for our park days. My son is an extremely picky eater so I like to check menus before I plan to visit a restaurant, to make sure there’s something he’ll eat on the menu. But the benefit is that I now have a great food recommendation list for anyone interested!

I’m not saying you necessarily need to deep dive research all of the food options like I did. But I’d highly recommend making some notes of a couple places you think your family would enjoy before you go, especially if you have a picky eater like I do, so you’re not spending precious park time wondering “what should we do for dinner?”

Note on groceries: if you’re staying at a place with a kitchen or you just need to pick up a few things, there are a few grocery stores around Serris. Check out Auchan, Carrefour City, or Monop’.

And as I mentioned earlier in the post, but remember dining reservations open 60 days in advance, so make sure to set an alarm if there’s a particular restaurant or dining experience you really want to book—they go fast!

The most important thing of all…

Have fun. Be present with your family. It’s a lot of work planning a Disney trip, but the magical memories make it all worth it.