DLP before or after Paris?

[MischaOz]

I’m in the early planning stages of a Paris/DLP trip, will likely spend 4 nights in Paris and 2 night at DLP. I’m having a heck of a time trying to decide if we should do DLP first followed by Paris, or vice versa. I would love to hear what others have done and why you liked/didn’t like it or pros/cons of each. Thanks!!

 

[BadPinkTink]

I would look at your park touring style. For me, its like when I go to California. I do a split stay, a few days in LA to see my friends and tourist stuff, then Anaheim for Disneyland.

I always schedule my LA days before my Anaheim Disneyland days. My LA days are the more relaxed part, my chill out, omg Im finally on holiday time. I dont really have much of a schedule and I like to take things easy. Then I go to Disneyland. I'm already in holiday mode, I'm nice and relaxed and well rested and I go go go in Disney. I do open to close, have ADR 's and have planned out each day, the order of rides and so much more.

Then after Disneyland I do my transatlantic flight back to Ireland. I use the long flight to sleep and recover after the hectic park days.

 

[Karin1984]

There are pros and cons to both. You can do it as a great start of your holiday, or the finale.
What you choose really depends on your energy level at the beginning and end of your trip.

Question time!
- Is this your first visit to Paris? Is this your first trip to DLP?
- Is this a once-in-a-lifetime trip or do you think you will be back?
- Where are you travelling from? International or Europe?
- When will you be going?
Going during the week in February is a whole different trip than a weekend in July.
- What's the plan?
I think you will stay at a Disney resort, giving you 3 day passes for both parks. Do you plan to do it all? Are you a person who loves shows, or are you more into rides?
- Who is in your party?
A solo traveller can do a lot more than a family of five with a mom/dad/2 kids/grandma
- What is the plan for Paris?

All this can determine how you will feel when you arrive in France and how you will move through the city and the parks.

My personal preference with these kinds of trips (did it in Asia) is to do the city first, and then do the parks. The parks are my dessert. By then I have grown accustomed to timezone and climate.

Whatever you do, if you are flying in from an international destination, keep your plans for your arrival day as easy as possible. Don't plan too much.

 

[MischaOz]

Thank you both very much for the feedback! This is helpful. I have been to Paris before but not DLP. This will be my 10yo daughter’s first international trip. And yes, we will definitely keep our arrival day easy as we’re flying in from Chicago! Am thinking Paris first followed by DLP is the way to go. We probably won’t do shows, just rides and soaking in the ambiance.

 

[Sheree]

we're doing 2 nights dlp followed by 4 nights in paris

reasoning was, the family we are taking, has 2 boys 10,11 who have never been out of their country. they've been so excited about going to DLP for 3 years now
figured they may not appreciate everything in Paris if they were just waiting for Disney.
I feel like Paris itself will be more relaxing!

 

[djmeredith]

We are doing 2 nights at DLP upon arrival from U.S. and then 3 nights in Paris. I chose DLP first because it puts us there on a Tues/Wed instead of Fri/Sat. So you may want to factor in whether it will be weekend days or not since they are usually busier.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

We are doing DLP in the middle of our Paris trip. It sort of just worked out that way with what day was free and likely to be a low crowd day for locals (Monday). We plan to do a lot of Paris stuff though, and our only doing a day trip to DLP.

I wouldn’t do it first if you’re excited to see Paris. I think later in the trip is better. We aren’t ending with it because we wanted to end with a time we cruise on the seine.

 

[NashvilleMama]

We did DLP at the end of our trip - 5 nights in Paris and then 2 DLP - and we loved it that way. I think it would have driven me nuts to not just dive right into Paris when we got there, and didn't want to "waste" a DLP park day with jet lag if my family crashed on me.

 

[TinkSassy]

As NashvilleMama said the jet lag is real. It is easier to keep it low key in the city than at DLP for that first day or two. I like doing both - this was my first international trip solo so a couple days at DLP gave me a chance to get my bearings and work off the jet lag in a somewhat familiar environment - it gave me a comfort factor to ease in. Now I would do it the opposite - so a lot of it is preference.

 

[LovesTimone]

We did 3 nights, 2 1/2 days between the parks... We visited at the end of our trip...

For us it was about running the numbers, the best hotels rates in Paris were at the beginning of our trip, so for us that's why DLP was at the end of our trip...

I think with kids, we would go to DLP first... as that's was the kiddo's will focus on...

 

[nkosiek]

Haven't gone yet but we ran into this dilemma planning this summer late July/early August. We are going ahead and doing the city first before heading to DLP. The kids don't know about the DLP part of the trip. We want them focused on all the Parisian sites (and they have stuffed picked out, many from the Miraculous series) instead of thinking about Disney. For us, Disney is almost the reward for them. We'll be doing 4 days in the city and 2.5 in DLP.

While I've been to Paris plenty of times, if anyone has any suggestions for a can't miss hidden gem in Paris for little kids, I'd gladly love to hear it.

 

[zavandor]

When traveling I try to put parks at the end of the trip. I seem to always find the extra energy for Disney, even if already tired after a long trip. If I do the parks first, I might have to slow down during the non park part of the trip.

 

[MischaOz]

Thanks everyone! I love hearing all the experiences. I think we might end up just doing a day trip after all. I am super excited to experience DLP, but idk if I want to take more than one day away from Paris to do it.

 

[PalmettoPath]

We do DLP first. We like to finish off in Paris and then make the airport run from there.

 

[ColoradoLime]

When we went we did Paris first and DL last. We had several unanticipated hiccups in Paris that stressed me out. Most of was great, but feeling lost in a foreign city wasn't a great experience. I'm so glad we ended with DLP because it melted all the stress away and as always with Disney I felt like we were treated like royalty. It helped end our trip on a high note.

I also felt like we walked more in DL than in Paris so if we had done it the other way around we might have been too tired to walk around the city.