Disneyland Paris On a Low Budget - My Top Five Tips

-
Organising your first Disneyland Paris trip can be quite daunting, even more so when you’re having to do the trip on a low budget. Growing up, I never thought that visiting Disneyland would be possible. To me, the idea always seemed so far-fetched because of the price tag that comes with it. However, in 2016, having a disposable income and having discovered that a Disneyland Paris trip is possible even when on a budget; I took the plunge and booked my very first trip. Now, every trip I go on, is a budget trip. For me, this means I’m able to go more often. As I know it can all be quite overwhelming, I have put together a list of what I think my top five tips would be for doing DLP on a lower budget. As a disclaimer, I’m in no way an “expert” – just a Disney lover wanting to help others out if I can.

5. Take water bottles
This one is handy for not only saving money but also ensuring that you stay hydrated. Temperatures can soar up to 40 degrees Celsius in the warmer months, but no matter what season you visit during; you’re constantly on your feet and walking around, so staying hydrated is key. Furthermore, Disneyland Paris have numerous water fountains dotted around where you can fill up your water bottles for free. Currently, the Disney Store have a whole range of water bottles for sale – including their stainless steel range, selling for £10 each. I recently bought the 101 Dalmatians one for myself and I’m looking forward to taking it with me on my upcoming Disney trip. Most importantly, this saves you from having to spend money you don’t necessarily have on buying drinks throughout the day.

4. Buy Disney Accessories Before You Go
One thing I always like to do before any Disney trip is look into what merchandise I can get before I go; particularly Disney ears. A favourite place of mine to look on is Etsy; where you can support small businesses without necessarily breaking the bank. Primark also have a vast range of Disney related items to offer, from bags to t-shirts to travel kits. This way, you’re able to invest into great Disney bits to take with you on your trip and you have money to spend on Disneyland exclusive merchandise when you’re on your trip; particularly pins.

3. One ‘Big’ Restaurant Per Trip
It is obviously a well-known fact that Disney restaurants can come with a hefty price tag especially if you’re being mindful of how much you’re spending. It’s for this reason, that we tend to only go for one “big” restaurant per trip. A favourite contender for our ‘treat restaurant’ tends to be Agrabah Café; a Middle Eastern buffet restaurant costing around 32 Euros per adult. For the rest of the trip, we like to go Counter Service restaurants such as Café Hyperion, which costs around 30 euros for two adults. Aside from this, the Disney village hosts a whole variety of restaurants at reasonable prices; from McDonalds to Planet Hollywood.

2. Stay Offsite
Obviously when you’re looking into booking a Disney getaway, the idea of staying in a Disney hotel sounds the most appealing. However, if you are on a tight budget and you’re wanting to save on the hotel cost, then I would highly recommend staying offsite. With the popular Val D’Europe a few minutes away – by train – from Disneyland Paris, it is definitely the place I would recommend to stay during your trip, especially with a whole host of hotels to offer you; all within reasonable price ranges. The IBIS Budget is my firm favourite and I always stay there on our trips. The rooms are clean and have everything you can need, particularly if you’re not spending much time in the hotel.

1. Invest in an Annual Pass
On our second ever trip to Disneyland Paris, we made the decision to invest in Annual Passes. At the time, these priced up at 170 euros each. Whilst this may seem like a lot of money, the annual pass (depending on which tier you get) can save you money on restaurants and shops, and even money off on Disney hotels. Aside from this, you are also able to make use of the Extra Magic Hour before park opening. The money you save on all of these things plus the other advantages of an Annual Pass definitely make it a worthy investment – even if you only ever intend on visiting once. Our annual passes have since expired and the prices and format have changed but we are once again making an investment in these on our next trip. Click here for all you need to know about the annual passes.



So there we have it! Those are my top five tips to doing Disneyland Paris on a lower budget. What would your tips be? Let me know in the comments below if this was helpful to you! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Never Grow Up

-
From the ‘Isn’t Disney for kids??’ remarks to the raised eyebrow looks you receive from some people when Disneybounding in Disneyland; one of my biggest pet peeves is being told Disney isn’t for you because you’re no longer a child. Most people I’ve come across have thankfully been quite the opposite to the above statement. However, I know this isn’t always the case as the concept of ‘Never grow up’ seems to have gone over a lot of people’s heads. Let’s start with the films. Animation, singing and princesses? I can already hear the scoffing coming from those who would argue that these are marketed towards children. The sheer hard work and imagination that goes into making such films were not just created with the intention of only being viewed by children and those that take them to see these films. The beauty of Disney movies are that they are universal. The detail that goes into the animation, the thought that goes into the messages the films portray and the time that goes i
Read more

Why I Love Disneyland Paris

-
As I’ve mentioned numerous times, I like to visit Disneyland Paris as much as I can throughout the year. I am planning on visiting the other Disney Parks (that’s something for a whole different post) but Disneyland Paris will always be home to me. I love DLP for a whole array of reasons and one of them is most definitely how easy it is to get to my favourite place. Living in London means that it just takes me one tube journey to get to St Pancras to catch the Eurostar. We’ve even been lucky enough to get a direct train to Disney on occasion. Coupling this with staying offsite in the close by Ibis Budget (In Val D’Europe) and having Annual Passes, our visits to Disneyland Paris are more affordable – and leaves us with more money to spend in the shops! From the moment I step off the train in Marne La Vallée and walk the short distance towards the magic; I’m instantly transported into the bubble of Disney. This is only heightened when I finally make it into the park for the first
Read more

Disney at Home

-
Image
With Disney being such an important part of my life, and with frequent visits to Disneyland Paris, it’s only natural that Disney is incorporated into various aspects of my home life. In October of last year, I moved into my own flat with my girlfriend and our best friend. Having a whole place to ourselves meant we were free to furnish it how we please, and obviously that had to include some Disney magic sprinkled around the flat. Our living room is home to our beautiful dark wood bookcase, in which the middle shelf is home to our growing collection of shiny o-ring DVDs. Thus far, we have 32 in our collection that sit underneath a bed of Tsum Tsums. On top of the bookcase sits two of my favourite purchases we’ve made whilst in Disneyland Paris: our working Cogsworth and Lumiere figurines. These two items are quite pricey so we saved up for them and purchased both on two separate DLP trips with the aid of our Annual Pass discounts. Alongside them sits our Mrs Potts moneybox and
Read more