Lilliana's Disneyland Paris and Paris Trip Report (Explorers Hotel, Illuminations & Tips)

Liliana’s Disneyland Paris & Paris Trip Report (August 2022) ✨🏰

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💡 Planning your own trip? Picking the right dates can make a huge difference 👉 check crowd levels here

We stayed at the Explorers Hotel, one of the Disneyland Paris partner hotels.

Our room was nice and had a view of the bus stop, which was actually really handy. Explorers had a warm swimming pool too, although “Aqua Parc” sounds a bit grander than it really is!

We also enjoyed evening walks outside the hotel near the lake, which was a lovely extra after busy park days.

We had dinner on our first evening at Captain’s Library, the à la carte restaurant, and on the second evening at the pizzeria.

We visited Disneyland Paris for 2 days and enjoyed both Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios.

💡 Little extras can make a big difference

A power bank, ponchos, snacks and a few park essentials can save both money and stress during your trip 👇

Browse Disneyland Paris park essentials

Our First Day at Disneyland Paris 🎢

After breakfast, we headed first to Walt Disney Studios, then later crossed over into Disneyland Park and stayed until Illuminations and fireworks. By the end of the day our feet were completely broken… but we were very happy!

In the Studios we managed to do:

Avengers Flight Force
Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure
Tower of Terror
RC Racer

💡 Tip: We asked for two park maps at the entrance — one to use and one to keep as a souvenir. We marked all the attractions we wanted to do in advance, and it also helped loads with finding toilets.

The park is huge and we found the directions inside a bit confusing at times. Without a map, we definitely would have got lost.

We had lunch and dinner at Hakuna Matata, which was a great shout because we could sit inside with air-con and cool off a bit.

After 5:30pm we moved over into Disneyland Park.

We managed loads of attractions including:

Indiana Jones
Pirates of the Caribbean
Big Thunder Mountain
Phantom Manor
Alice’s Labyrinth
Videopolis
Star Tours
Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain

We went to the castle around 10pm for Illuminations and people were already gathering!

💡 Tip: Go at least by 10pm if you want a good spot. Make sure you’ve been to the toilet first and have enough snacks and drinks to keep everyone going.

Also take an external battery so you can still grab photos and videos later in the evening.

It was phenomenal!

The only real shock was the chaos getting out afterwards and back onto the shuttle bus. That was… an experience.

💡 Tip: Either start heading towards the exit a little early, or hang back 20 to 30 minutes and leave once the madness calms down. Tired crowds can get very pushy, especially when kids are involved.

Day 2 at Disneyland Paris 🛍️✨

On our second day we started in Disneyland Park with a shopping tour first… and yes, after rides we went shopping again!

We went back to the hotel after 5pm for a few hours, had dinner at the hotel pizzeria, and then returned to Disneyland Park around 8:30pm.

That gave us a really good spot for Illuminations by about 9pm. People were already gathering again, but there was definitely more choice than the night before.

This time we just watched the show properly without using our phones.

It was amazing!

Day 3 Sightseeing in Paris 🗼

💡 Tip: We bought Paris Visite RER tickets online and had them posted out to us in the Netherlands. They also sent a city guide, Paris map and RER/Metro map, which made things much easier.

We visited the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower (2nd floor only, as the top floor was closed).

How to get to the Eiffel Tower: