GETTING STARTED

Consider this a review for families with young children visiting Disneyland Paris.

When you've gone through security you walk down a really attractive hill past a beautiful water feature to reach the main entrance to the park - it takes about two minutes but there are several different routes around and in between the water feature to ensure everyone doesn't trip over one another. Before you enter the park you can purchase a ticket if you haven't done so in advance, store your luggage (E2.50 for bags, E4 for suitcases) or hire a wheelchair or stroller. There's no problem with taking your own stroller into the park it's just that not everyone travels with one, especially those with children who might not have one at home anymore but may need one for such a long day out. Don't worry about storing your stroller to go on the rides either - they have designated "buggy bays" beside the rides where you can leave your stroller while you go on the ride and collect it afterwards. When you're all sorted, you slip your ticket into one of the entrance stalls and pass through the turnstiles. If you're in a wheelchair or you've got a pushchair, an attendant in one of the booths situated in between the turnstiles will put your ticket through the machine then open the booth door for you to gain access along with everyone else.

As you walk through the underpass opposite the entrance gates, make sure you pick up both a park map and a programme guide and check you pick up one that's marked "English" too. They're free of charge and essential for navigating your way around the attractions and finding out what time shows and parades are scheduled for.

Main Street in Paris is much smaller than the original in Florida though this is handy for those of us with an aversion to over-exerting ourselves even if the shopping isn't terribly varied and exciting. Main Street is very picturesque and kept clean with ample bins for both litter and cigarettes. As this is a French attraction, smoking is allowed anywhere outside unlike its American counterpart which strictly enforces designated smoking areas. I've seen a few Disney fan grumbles about the smoking but I didn't find it a problem. Very few people were walking around smoking and those that did happily used the cigarette holes in the sides of the bins instead of chucking butts everywhere. There are a variety of shops on offer though it's really not worth me naming them all as their names don't actually relate to what they sell! For example, "hats, ribbons and bows" just sells Disney souvenirs like keyrings, toys and snowglobes. There's no one store worth writing home about either as they all carry a large percentage of the same stock and all at identical prices. It seems to me that they've seriously padded this area out by piling up shelves of identical Pooh and Mickey toys in rows of shops due to a lack of resources.

FANTASYLAND

The first ride you'll see as you enter fantasyland is "Lancelot's Carousel" which is a real winner with young children. They can ride one of several different size horses (lap straps are provided for safety) or they can choose to sit in one of the large sleighs (ideal for parents!). The carousel has about 70 seats which meant that the queue was never more than the duration of the ride in front during our visiting. It was a beautiful ride to look at but I did feel the experience was slightly cheapened by the Disney songs played on high pitched electric organs as the carousel went round! Great fun for little ones though.

"Dumbo the Flying Elephants" is another ride that's well suited to small children and my son thought it was brilliant even if I hated it! I was surprised to find that the Dumbos were all very dirty and we had to wait about half an hour to get a ride. You can control how high your elephant goes using a knob in front of you to glide up and down. It's a bit jerky but it does work and means you can fly low if you're a bit scared or high if you fancy the view.

"Le Petit Train du Cirque" is also suitable for young children though it appears to be closed at certain times and was while we were visiting. It's described as Dumbo's circus train and aimed at very small children so it's a shame we didn't get to have a ride. It's situated right on the very outskirts of the park which is something to be aware of though.

DISCOVERYLAND

I did actually take my son on one other ride in Discoveryland but I can guarantee you that doing the same may result in permanent feelings of failure as a parent. I not only queue jumped for a second time by hopping over the rope dividing the 40 minute queue and the fast past queue but I also took my son on a ride clearly marked as not for children under 3yrs old (which he is) and unsuitable for those with heart conditions etc. Yes, I took my 2.5yr old on the "Star Tours" simulator, and yes he screamed. Ahem. It was the last ride we went on before we left the park and having been on the Florida equivalent, my memory betrayed me by informing me that it was actually quite a pleasant simulator ride. It isn't, it made me feel sick and my son terrified. Take heed from my mistake - not for young children!

FRONTIERLAND

The "Pocahontas Indian Village" is great in theory as it's a play area for children to have a run around in and play on the equipment; the problem in practice is that they've only made it for children aged 4yrs or older which I think is a bit mean. If they didn't want to adhere to safety guidelines for younger children, it wouldn't have hurt them to put a soft play area next door for the youngsters. It was a real shame because it was a nice play area that my son would have enjoyed.

"Big Thunder Mountain" is for persons 1m2 and over so probably about 4yrs or 5yrs+. My 2.5yr old is 93cm as a guideline. There's a bar outside for you to measure up to if you want. I've not been on the ride at Disneyland Paris but I have been on it in Disney World Florida and I have to say it's a brilliant thrill

Pictures of Disneyland Paris

DS cuddling Pooh Bear

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"Pirates Beach" is another play area where children can run around outside though again I found my son was too young for this. It was for children aged 3 - 6 in one area and 7 - 9 in the other. I don't believe I'd have been questioned had I taken my 2yr old in there but I didn't because of time issues.

There are far too many restaurants and food stands for me to mention individually and I certainly didn't make use of any large quantity of them. What I can tell you though is that you'll find somewhere to eat every few rides and that you've got choices of table service (best to book in advance at the City Hall or a Disney Hotel), fast food or snack stalls. Everything is hideously overpriced with a small plain pizza and two drinks in the self service Buzz Lightyear Café setting me back E13 (£10). Bottles of drinks are sold throughout the park at E2.60 each (£2) and not one single water fountain worked during my visit - I tried six. Fortunately you're able to take your own drinks in with you but of course you won't be able to carry all the fluids your family needs for an entire day in your handbag. I did at least find bottles of water were sold for E2 in some places which is a slightly more reasonable £1.55 each. Vegetarians should be aware that despite Disneyland's boast that there is a vegetarian option in every restaurant - this is usually a salad and in the case of Café Mickey (situated in the Village actually but part of the Disney complex) the vegetarian salad included shrimp (I was appalled beyond belief that it had a V symbol beside it). I didn't find fruit and vegetables on any of the menus and when I asked about baked beans for my son in one place, the guy laughed at me and said he'd never heard of a baked bean. So my son mostly ate chips for his tea for the week! In one of the cafes we ate in, Toad Hall, we waited fifteen minutes for our overpriced fries (E5 for two very tiny packets) then found there was nowhere to sit.

Just be aware that most people will find eating an issue - even those that aren't especially fussy. Those with specific dietary needs or allergies really need to plan in advance and look to take their own packed lunches in with them. Your two main choices in Disneyland are burger and fries or pizza. If you do want to have a decent meal and can afford to splash out a little, I'd highly recommend booking for dinner at City Hall when you first enter the park in the morning. That way you're almost certain to get a reservation and you'll be able to look forward to a sit down meal offering a little more variety than the cafes and stalls have to offer. Prices can go as high as E30 for an adult meal at several of the venues (about £23) but I think if you're out there for a few days and sick of burgers it's go to be worth it if you can afford it. Café Mickey in the neighbouring Disney Village was a winner with us and the price was reasonable given that my son got to meet Tigger over his veg and chips.

Most of the toilets have a baby changing station (though not all do) and this is literally a ledge to lay your baby on. No changing mat, no nappy bin (which I thought very unhygienic - you had to put them in the open paper towel bins) just a plain (not terribly clean) side to lay your baby on. Although my son is 2.5 he refuses to use a toilet and just yells "clean bum" at me so he is still in nappies (for now…). I found it a bit of a pain that there was only one changing side in each of the toilets I used as of course it meant waiting around with a child in a dirty nappy in an already crowded lady's bathroom.

THE PARADE

You might be looking at the overall length of this review and thinking that actually there's quite a lot for very young children to do at Disneyland Paris but put it into context time-wise and you'll realise that it's a fun day out rather than a whole holiday. I wasted time and money visiting for longer than was necessary and wouldn't want to encourage others to do the same. Yes there is plenty here for you to take your young child or children and spend the day playing and have dinner and do a spot of shopping besides. But my recommendation, and what I would do if I returned in a year or two, would be to go for just one night; visit the studios on your first day, the Village in the evening and the Disneyland Park the next day before returning home late afternoon. That's all the time you need with children too young to take on the thrill rides. The only reason for taking a two day trip to the park would be if you intended on using "Parent Switch" if there was more than one adult in your party and you wanted to go on the thrill rides. "Parent Switch" means you can take it in turns to wait with the children while the other has a ride though it wouldn't be very fair on the children to make them wait around while you had fun the whole day.

My final recommendation for families wanting to visit with young children is a crucial one. I can't stress strongly enough that my son only just tolerated the queues at the length they were and we visited in February. Imagine trying to visit during the school holidays and making a 3yr old stand in a queue for 50 minutes just to go on a 2 minute ride? You really need to look to go off-peak with young children.