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[disney day dreams]

Hi guys, so i thought i would start my first post about what to do when you go to disneyland and half of europe is there too !


Last year i went for my 21st birthday, i knew it was the french bank holiday but that didn't put me off. I thought hey ho I want my birthday badge and I'm not going to let a silly little thing like the bank holiday get in the way !


Boy was i wrong, i would advise any one who is going on a national holiday to avoid it as best they can.


So i though i would do some hints and tips for if you do get there and it's a bank holiday.


1. know your bus stops and times
Because it was so busy when we went most of the time you couldn't get on the bus and the pushing was horrible. I find french and German people don't really stick to queuing [size=78%] as much as we brits love it. [/size]
Plan ahead and know the bus times so you can get ready for the bus and miss pushing on


2. Fastpass like there's no tomorrow !
I find in the summer/bank holidays your favorite rides can see the 1 and 2 hour Que times. As soon as you get in to the park do a round of the parks most popular and fastpass like crazy ! ( hint- if it's your birthday and you have the birthday badge on most cast members are kind enough to let you skip )


3. book your restaurants
I was set on eating in Walts restaurant for my 21st, as soon as i went in to the park i went to book. It was early so no one was on the desk so i thought i'll pop back later and make my booking. I went back and it was fully booked ! we ended up eating at Mc donalds since everywhere was fully booked or closing by the time we went to have tea.
So always book the day before or even a before you get to paris !


4, breath !
Deep breaths, pushing, line skippers, huge Ques, remember it's still magical just relax and try and enjoy every minute !

[Mrsya]

Thanks for your post! I go just before the UK oct half term but have found out its in the French half term and will be manic. I'm hoping maybe not as manic as a bank holiday when half of France will visit on one day. We're planning on doing emh, early lunches, early teas, fastpass, baby switch, rides during parades and had even considered buying VIP fastpasses until we found out they no longer do them.

Anyone else with any other tips?

[Sulley's Arms]

Thanks for your post! I go just before the UK oct half term but have found out its in the French half term and will be manic. I'm hoping maybe not as manic as a bank holiday when half of France will visit on one day. We're planning on doing emh, early lunches, early teas, fastpass, baby switch, rides during parades and had even considered buying VIP fastpasses until we found out they no longer do them.

Anyone else with any other tips?

Last time we did the French October half term, it was the busiest we've seen it - on our arrival day (from 5pm - 11pm) we didn't go on any rides; the queues were all really long and the Fast Passes all claimed (although I believe this was still in the era when people were able to take all their previous park tickets in and use them to claim multiple FPs on every ride).  We instead wandered around, soaked in the atmosphere, had a meal, watched the Parade, a show and Fantillusion.

Then on our first full day, we did our favourite rides during EMH (knowing we wouldn't get a look-in later  ), then at 10:00 I ran round to get FPs for Thunder Mountain, and I think we went on Indiana Jones & Phantom Manor before the BTM FPs kicked-in.  After that, the POTC queue had died down from its initial park-opening surge, so that was ok.  This meant that on a busy day, we had already been on around 8 of our favourite rides by roughly 11am.  With a little planning this approach can pay dividends later.

From here, you could go and see how the Fantasyland queue times are looking, maybe going on 2-3 of those rides also whilst they're still only approx 20 mins (assuming they still are). Then, when the wait times simply get too long late morning, you have the opportunity to either go to some of the walk-arounds (Skull Rock, Tree House, Labyrinth, etc) or, if you have a packed lunch, to join a 30-40 minute queue and use the time to fill your bellies  .

Later in the day, if you are dining in the park you can do worse than go to a counter service restaurant 15 minutes before the Parade starts; it is likely to be relatively empty, then once you've eaten you can go on a ride while the wait times are lesser because of everyone being still at the Parade route  .

For us, the trick of fitting the most into a busy park day is about knowing where you can be whilst thousands of others are queueing on BTM, Buzz & Peter Pan, LOL.

[orangarnold]

Just don't panic, it's just one of those things would be my advice. It's not the end of the world