Visiting Disneyland Paris from Kent

What child doesn’t dream of a trip to Disneyland Paris?

And living in the gateway to Europe means the magic could be a lot closer than you think.

My Kent Family explores your options for getting to Neverland - without the help of Tinkerbell’s fairy dust - and offers some top tips to help your visit run smoothly.

Getting there

From the roads to the rails, the county offers untold options for getting to Disneyland Paris.

Eurostar can take passengers and their luggage straight into the Disney complex on services from Ashford, Ebbsfleet and St Pancras while coach companies also offer their own means of travel.

But don’t be afraid to pack up the car and drive from Kent to the outskirts of Paris yourself.

Taking an early crossing on Eurotunnel will still get you to Cinderella’s ball shortly after the parks open while a Channel sailing will also deposit you in Calais ready for the second leg of your car journey.

The French motorways are easy to navigate and often a real pleasure to drive on – with the route to Disneyland Paris a very straightforward one.

And there are plenty of places to stop for a comfort break – particularly welcome when travelling with small children.

Plan your meals

Disneyand Paris offers meal plans to help families plan their dining options ahead of their arrival. It is an ideal option for managing both hungry mouths and your finances.

A half-board meal plan gives diners a filling breakfast, a donut or icecream with a hot or cold drink between 3pm and 6pm and an evening meal.

The meal plans can be good value for money – often saving on the cost of buying those items individually – and dinner reservations can be made in advance, and even from the UK, to help you plan your trip. (If plans should change so can reservations).

Your choice of restaurants is determined by the type of plan you take out and you can also have your main meal at lunchtime if you or your family prefer.

Character dining

The queues to meet the characters around both parks can be long, particularly in the summer months or school holidays.

If you think that will prove too much for your little ones, character dining is definitely the way forward.

Both Cafe Mickey and Auberge de Cendrillon offer magical encounters with your favourite character or princess, where they have time to sign autograph books, pose for pictures and spend time with each family.

Vouchers from meal plans can often be exchanged against the value of all or some of your meal in character restaurants, depending on the meal plan you have chosen. As some of the most popular restaurants in Disneyland, they should be booked in advance.

Magic hours

If you are staying at a Disneyland hotel, make the most of the magic hours between 8am and 10am when only Disney guests are allowed to enter the park thus making it one of the quietist periods of the day.

Make sure you also exploit the FastPass system and don’t forget the queues shorten dramatically in the late afternoon and early evening when families head off to eat, mark out their territory for Disney Dreams end-of-the-day firework spectacular or take smaller park-goers off to bed.

Take a pushchair

The parks are vast, the days are long and little legs will need a rest - even if your children are coming to the end of their life in their one at home.

Well aware of the need for a seat, Disneyland does have strollers to hire for those who aren’t able to or choose not to bring one to Paris.

And if they’re not being sat in by someone – they’ll save you having to carry lots of heavy bags and any shopping you may do!

Photopass

Disneyland offers a Photopass+ card which is definitely worth purchasing at the very start of your trip.

For a one-off fee every time an official park photographer takes your picture at a character meet and greet or you look terrified on one of the attractions, the images are downloaded onto a website for you to access and use how you wish when you get home.

Get a good spot

Everyone loves the parades. But you need to get to the Main Street area in time.

Families will begin saving a kerb-side spot often an hour before kick-off. If there are plenty of you in your party it can be time put to good use with some members able to save a space, while others shop, before swapping over during the wait!

Take in your surroundings

Don’t be afraid to take a break from the parks and head off into Paris for the day. The train station at Disneyland Paris has frequent services into the centre of Paris.

The trains, and metro system, are easy to use as well as good value for money and around 45 minutes later you can be exploring one of Europe’s great cities. And during the park’s longer opening times, it is perfectly possible to have a day in Paris and still make it back for Disneyland’s fireworks at the end of the day!