Our 5 Must Do Things at Disneyland Paris

Next month I’m off for a day to Disneyland Paris with my best friend Bee and her other friend Nat. It’s the first time I’ll have done a Disney park without Little Miss and I’m dreading it. But I know it’ll be a lot of fun. So in preparation I’m sharing Little Miss and my must dos at Disneyland Paris. I’m not expecting these to be everyones because my 4 year old had a lot of say in these!

The Princess Pavilion
Although I have said many times, I dislike the set up of the Princess Pavilion in comparison to Princess Fairytale Hall at Walt Disney World, we cannot go to Disneyland Paris and not visit the pavilion with my child being such a die hard princess fan. We have some real magical memories in there. I do love the queue area too where you can see all the castles as stained glass windows and the iconic items that are associated with each story. Little Miss is also slightly terrified of the talking mirror from Snow White too as it always seems to talk just as we’re walking by! I don’t like that for the length of time you queue (even with a fast pass) you only get to meet one princess. I would prefer two! So far we’ve met Ariel, Aurora and Snow White. I hear Merida is also in there at the moment, I’m sure that makes all the princesses apart from Tiana based there at the moment making it more vital that we do visit on a trip!

Ride the Phantom Manor
Little Miss and I really love the Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris in comparison to the Haunted Mansion in Florida.. I’m not sure why since for me it feels a lot scarier however she always asks to ride the “scary house” in Paris. Personally I like the story, layout and even the look of the house from the outside and the views from the top of Frontierland are pretty awesome. Maybe it’s because it feels like there is much less to do at Disneyland Paris that rides that LM would probably miss in MK in favour of other rides she liked better. In DLP this isn’t the case which is why Phantom Manor is right up there. Although it is a really good ride.

Watch Disney’s Magic on Parade
I’ve heard rumours that for the 25th anniversary there is a new parade in the works so I feel like Little Miss and I need to see this parade as much as possible before it’s retired because we love it! It feels so much smaller than Festival of Fantasy but it’s actually really beautifully done and it means you can really have interactions with the characters on each unit. Disney’s Magic on Parade is possibly my absolute favourite thing to do at the parks. I love all the characters, especially the fact you can see rarer ones like the Blue Fairy and Merlin. I love the costumes, the song and even the units. Whenever we go we watch the parade every single day and when it’s the winter and 5pm means it’s starting to get dark so all the units are lit up it really is beautiful. I also love that it’s never replaced for the season and instead there are little pre-parades that also run. It’s really a great set up.

Alice’s Curious Labyrinth
The very first time we went to Disneyland Paris this was shut so we didn’t get to do it however it’s now something we always do as Little Miss loves the freedom it offers. Plus, it’s Alice in Wonderland themed and we both love it. It’s not very well maintained but it’s a lot of fun and watching Little Miss freak out when the Queen of Hearts popped up was possibly one of the funniest things that happened while on our February trip. If it was much better maintained it would be one of the best things about the Paris parks because it is something that never has a queue and is a lot of fun to do whatever the weather. Anything Alice themed is always a winner in our family though. That whole area of Fantasyland is one of my favourites in the whole park, second only to the Jolly Roger in Adventure Isle and of course Sleeping Beauty castle.

Ratatouille the Ride
This is the best thing that has come to the Paris parks in years, it’s possibly one of my most favourite Disney rides ever! I think it’s so clever and so much fun. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but I’m fairly sure I laughed the whole way around. Little Miss loves it because any movie with mice/rats/rodents in is up there on her list of most watched. It was the first ride she kept the 3D glasses on for and she did enjoy the whole thing apart from when the Champagne cork comes flying at you. I do secretly think she loved it as she talks about the cork bit all the time but in that instant she screamed. We have been on it once since and she didn’t have as near a bad reaction to it.

I also love Disney Dreams, however it didn’t make the list because they made Wendy talk in French and I’m not okay with this. Of course the Peter Pan ride is up there but it’s something that isn’t strictly in this park (although all Peter Pan’s flight rides are different) and I even really like Pinocchio and meeting random characters. With each visit to Disneyland Paris I find something I love more so it’s possible this list will be ever changing as Little Miss grows.