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[2bigkids2weekids]

Hi, my husband and I are taking our two children to Disneyland Paris in mid December 2016 for 3 nights. It is our first time going there. My daughter is almost 4 and my son is 18 months. We are staying at the Hotel New York so will get the Early Magic Hours. Our flight times mean we get two full days in the parks and the third day we leave at around 5pm. I would love any advice on the best way to make the most of our time. Our thinking so far is:

Day 1 (we arrive the previous evening at 9pm) - breakfast at HNY, EMH in Disneyland Park, stay there for the day, snack type lunch (maybe Earl of Sandwich?) and book into Cafe Mickeys (maybe 6pm?) for the character meal after the parade but before the fireworks (is 6pm good so we still see parade and fireworks?). After fireworks get the kids to bed and enjoy a glass of wine or a glowtini in the room!

Day 2 - breakfast at HNY, EMH in Walt Disney Studios, stay at WDS for as long as we need then get a big meal (maybe Planet Hollywood?) and head to Disneyland Park for a couple of rides, parade and fireworks.

Day 3 - breakfast at HNY, EMH in Disneyland Park. Queue for the Princess Pavilion. Do the rides we liked best or didn't get to the previous 2 days, get a big lunch and watch whatever christmas parades we can.

What rides are best to target in EMH? Crushs Coaster in WDS but where for the two mornings in Disneyland Park? What is best use of Fastpass - Peter Pans Flight? Buzz Lightyear? Space Mountain? Indiana Jones? Ratatouille? We'll make the most of the parent swap so we can both do Space Mountain. Gutted that Thunder Mountain and Star Tours will be closed when we are there! We'll have two buggies, should we take chains/padlocks for them? Is Photopass worth the money?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions and advice.

G x

[justlikeidreamedit]

You won't get a fast enough turnaround at Cafe Mickeys to see the fireworks (Dreams) as well as the parade. Even with booking you may not be seated till 6.30. It's a fair 10/15 minute walk (possibly longer with little ones and the crowds exiting at the same time) from the park through to CM at the end of Disney Village. I would book a later slot at the restaurant and then you are not rushing after the parade and do Dreams another evening with either an earlier meal in the park or later meal in the Village. From memory, I think characters don't appear till about 6.30 at Cafe Mickeys.

[Slimy yet satisfying]

You might want to check your dates against EMH as usually it is in the Disneyland park not Studios. If you look on this site "calendar" you should be able to find it out. I think you also might  be pushing it with the rides, length of day and distances you are going to walk with two prams. Don't overplan as you don't want to be disappointed when you miss out on something and your careful plans have a wobble. There are weekly guides at the gates of the parks so that you can see the timings of parades etc. make use of them and enjoy yourself.

[2bigkids2weekids]

Just wanted to say thanks to you both for the advice before our trip. When I checked the hours, the parade was 5.30pm and dreams 7pm so it was definitely too tight a turnaround to do Cafe Mickey in between. We booked it for breakfast instead and it was well worth it. That meant we could see the parade and fireworks both evenings. We managed to do most of the rides except Tower of Terror, having both buggies was a blessing and sped things up  a bit, and early magic hours were only for one hour is Disneyland Park. So thank you for pointing me in the right direction. We loved our trip, I've just put a trip report on. I think planning the basics helped us enjoy it more when we were there even though we kind of winged it during the day!