Getting to Disneyland Paris

The cheapest fare or shortest advertised journey is not always the option that works best once you add everything else in.

We would compare the trip from your front door all the way to Disneyland Paris: getting to the airport or station, check-in time, luggage, transfers, how tired everybody is likely to be and what happens if there is a delay.

That is why we often end up driving. It gives us more flexibility, makes luggage much easier and means we are not tied to another transfer when we arrive. But if you live close to a major station or airport, train or air can make far more sense.

Driving to Disneyland Paris is usually our preferred option. It takes longer than flying on paper, but once we factor in getting to an airport, checking in, collecting luggage and transferring at the other end, the difference is not always as dramatic as it first looks.

The biggest advantage for us is flexibility. We can leave when we want, take what we need without worrying about luggage allowances and stop when it suits us. Having the car also makes it easier if we are staying away from Disney or want to visit somewhere else during the trip.

The trade-off is obvious: it is a long travel day, particularly from further west or north in the UK, and you need to factor in fuel, tolls and the Channel crossing as well as the driving itself.

If you are driving from the UK, the next decision is how you cross the Channel. We nearly always favour LeShuttle because it is quick, simple and keeps the journey moving, but the ferry can still make sense if price matters more or you want a proper break from the car.

The difference is not just crossing time. Think about check-in, boarding, how much time you want out of the car, whether anyone gets seasick and how flexible you want the crossing to be if your journey runs early or late.

Train travel can be one of the least stressful ways to get to Disneyland Paris, particularly if you live close to London or another major rail route.

You avoid airport security, luggage restrictions are usually easier to manage and you can spend most of the journey sitting down rather than driving. The trade-off is that the journey can become much less convenient if you need several connections before you even reach London, or if you are travelling with a lot of luggage and children.

Flying can look like the fastest way to Disneyland Paris, particularly if you live close to an airport with a good route into Paris. But the flight time only tells part of the story.

Once you add travelling to the airport, parking or drop-off, check-in, security, baggage collection and the transfer from Paris to Disneyland, the overall journey can be much longer than the headline flight time suggests.

It can still work brilliantly, especially for shorter trips or if driving to Folkestone would already take you several hours. We would just compare the whole travel day before assuming flying is automatically the quickest option.

Charles de Gaulle is the main airport most people will use for Disneyland Paris, and there are several ways to complete the final part of the journey.

The fastest option is usually the TGV from the airport to Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy, but it is not always the easiest once you factor in terminal changes, luggage, children and waiting for the right departure.

Private transfers and the Magical Shuttle are slower, but they can be more straightforward because you are taken directly towards your hotel rather than having to manage another rail connection.

Once you have booked your flight, we would sort the airport transfer fairly early rather than leaving it as an afterthought.

Magical Shuttle is the obvious shared option for many Disneyland Paris visitors, while a private transfer costs more but removes another layer of waiting and navigating after you land. The right choice depends less on which one is technically fastest and more on your arrival time, party size, luggage and where you are staying.

After a very early start or a late flight, paying a little more for somebody to meet you and take you straight to the hotel can feel very different from making that decision when you are comparing prices at home.

However you choose to get to Disneyland Paris, the journey is much easier when the practical bits are sorted before the day itself.

We would rather spend ten minutes checking the route, timings and documents at home than discover a problem halfway through the journey. That is especially true when travelling with children, because small delays become much more tiring once everybody is hungry, carrying bags or waiting around.