Thinking of a last minute Disney Dash - What Do We Need To Know?

[DisneyBride08]

So we can never normally think of visiting in the summer as our son with autism would find it too busy but we are loving what we are seeing at Disneyland Paris at the moment.

So we were thinking of going next weekend and driving over.

We have never driven before so it will be a first. So what would we need to have in place for this trip to happen at the moment? Do we have to fill in any forms for covid? Any driving tips that we might not have thought of?

Anything you think we might need to know will be very helpful. Thanks in advance.

[DM275011]

Hi, we are driving down this weekend. We have done this many times before and it is a fairly straight forward drive however, sat nav is very useful especially round the Charles De Gaulle airport area (I manage to take the wrong exit every single time!)
We find eurotunnel much easier than the ferry as you can stay in your own car and it is very quick (35 minutes).
Lots of toilet stops/refreshments available on the way down if your son needs a break.
If it is next weekend you are going, rather than this weekend, it is worth signing up for a TAG which lets you go through the tolls without stopping:emovis-tag/
There a number of bits and pieces you have to have in your car if you drive in France including a triangle in case you break down, hi-vis jacket and alcohol breath testers (all can be found on amazon!)
I hope this helps!
Have a good trip!

[Gill H]

Well, my DLP Rule 1 is ‘never go on a weekend’ as all weekends are crazy busy. But that might not be a problem right now.

[Fraggle35]

Also don't forget that you will need a reservation for the parks each day if staying off site.

[Peter H]

You will also need to have certain things in your car boot. Drivers groups like the AA will have packs.
There are tolls along the route. I don’t know if they take UK cards or just cash

[Privateer]

Hi DisneyBride08,

I prefer to drive than take the train or plane as you can take more stuff with you and bring more goodies home ! I also prefer the EuroTunnel than the ferry as I find it quicker and more relaxing and if you have anybody in the car who might suffer from seasickness then the Eurotunnel is a must.

Before you go, ensure that your car is fit for a long journey and get it serviced and MOT'd if necessary. Make sure that you have the France driving kit suitable for the number of people that you are taking. Have a look at the AA or RAC website for information.

We prefer to take the quickest route and not sightsee when we go to DLP so we will take the toll roads. If you go by Eurotunnel get the free toll tag offer, if you use a tag then you can sail through the toll booths and not have to worry about cash or card and the tag can reduce journey time.

If you're not used to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road then buy a DriveRight Lane Safety Device, which is a fancy reversible sticker that you place on your windscreen as a reminder as to which side of the road you should be on and how to drive around roundabouts. I found this product very useful and even temporarily used it when I got back to the UK just to remind me to drive on the 'correct' side of the road.

Have a decent road atlas with you but nowaday I'd take a decent SatNav that has traffic so that you can just follow the instructions and hopefully have a relaxing journey with no holdups. If your SatNav can take custom POIs (Points of Interest) then download the free Disneyland Paris POIs from PocketGPSWorld, just select France as the country and Disney Hotels for the accommodation. If you're already a member of PocketGPSWorld (it's free to join for POIs and forum) you'll see the Disneyland Hotel as an example. The benefit of the custom POIs from PocketGPSWorld is that they should direct you to the main entrance of your hotel when the builtin POIs are not always as accurate.

Regards,

[DisneyBride08]

Thank you all for your amazing help. We booked, decided to stay in the NPB as it will make life easier with our son. We got all the bits for the car and ordered the toll tag thing. Thanks Privateer for the tip for the offer.

Now we just keep everything crossed that no travel restrictions are put in place again like Spain. I don't think I could face telling my kids if it cancelled again!

[Gill H]

You can get a special pass for your son. Unlike the US you do need to take documentation. I'm not an expert but you should be able to find the info on here somewhere.

We visited some years back with friends who had a son with autism. The pass allowed him to come back to rides at a certain time rather than queue, or to wait in the disabled queue which was quieter. There are some rides he won't be allowed on, such as Parachute Drop. This is due to French disability law.

As you are staying onsite, make good use of Extra Magic Time. If you get straight into the parks for the beginning of EMT, you can ride some of the busiest rides with a 5 minute wait - notably Peter Pan's Flight and Buzz Lightyear. Big Thunder Mountain is also open during EMT now (or at least it was before lockdown) so that's another good one to do while it's quiet.

In the Studios, if you want to ride Crush's Coaster the queues are always crazy, so do it first thing during EMT. Likewise that's a good time to ride Ratatouille as the queues will be long later.

Unfortunately there are no shows on at the moment otherwise I would say don't miss Mickey and the Magician! But you can save that for another trip.

Don't be disheartened by the lack of rides in Studios. It really is a half day park at the moment, but big developments are planned in the coming years.

Download the Lineberty app - it's the only way to meet some of the characters. You need to log in as soon as the slots are released, they go literally in seconds.

At the moment they are doing 'character selfies - you can get close enough to interact with a head character but not touch them, but you can take a selfie.

Watch some videos to get an idea of how things are now. Yaz and Ash are currently doing a series on You Tube.

[DisneyBride08]

Thanks for all the helpful updates Gill. We last went in January for the Christmas bits and was meant to go in March for my 40th. It all got shut down that week

I have been stalking people in insta to see what it is like. I didn't think we would want to go back so soon but love what they have done even if we cannot give Mickey a cuddle.