Half board dining plans at Disneyland® Paris

Walts Restaurant is one of the many options available for you with the Half Board Plus and Premium Meal Plans

Disneyland® Paris offers four different option for dining out while staying in the hotel:

• Premium
• Plus
• Standard
• Hotel

Hop to the hotel

The basic meal plan allows you access to the buffet meal served in your hotel. The downside is that you have to leave the Park to eat and then go back again, should that be what you want to do.

Simply standard

Meals can be eaten at a selection of buffet-service restaurants on site, listed on the vouchers – the selection is limited and, crucially, excludes Café Mickey where Disney characters come out throughout the meal.

Plus is a Plus!

The next step up is the Plus menu choices. A large selection of restaurants, including table service are on offer. Entry to Café Mickey is included. You can choose from the set menu or have items to the value of your voucher.

Premium comes at a price

The top choice is the Premium option, which allows you to eat at the top tier restaurants – if you’re planning to go to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, want to eat in Cinderella’s gaff or poke your head round the Disneyland® Hotel, this is the package.

With character dining on offer at Auberge de Cendrillon (Cinderella) and Inventions, there is plenty of opportunity for your children to meet their Disney favourites.

What’s the best?

Obviously it depends on your budget. But the idea of heading back to your hotel each mealtime is, in our opinion, a poor one. It’s better to make as much time as you can in the parks each day – and as the food is superb in the service restaurants, we felt that this is the best option.

If you want to make the most of meet and greets with the characters, then the extra money – about £20 per adult per day – will be worth it.

We booked the Plus package and it included one memorable meal at the Café Mickey: a lot of BIG smiles from our children as they met their heroes.

Look out for the offers

Disneyland® Paris runs a range of ever-changing special offers. They may include – depending on when you book – free half board meal plans. Keep your eyes on Disneyland Paris’ website for more details!

The prices

These are correct as of August 2014 and are in Euros. Prices are per person, per night.

• Half board = one meal per person per night booked
• Full board = two meals per person per night booked

In our opinion, full board isn’t really needed as most people’s appetites will be sated by breakfast, Pause Gourmande, snacking and a main meal.

The best time for half-board main meal?

Book before you go

You can book meals up to two months ahead of your arrival at Disneyland Paris by calling the Dining Reservation Service on +33 1 60 30 40 50. This should guarantee you your choice.

Book when you arrive

Alternatively, you can do this from the hotel’s reception desk when you arrive, at the restaurant you wish to eat in or When you book meals at the hotel’s reception desk, you will be able to book times as well as the restaurants you want to eat in.

Book in the park

You can still book meals when you are in the parks. Just Head to City Hall (Disneyland) or Studio Services (Disney Studios) where helpful staff will ensure you can choose your restaurants.

Alternatively, just head to the restaurant you wish to dine in and see if they can help you.

Booking is recommended because…

Many of them tend to be quite busy and you have to make a judgement calls as to when’s the best time to eat. If you just turn up, especially to popular ones, chances are you may have to queue as you would for a ride.

As a routine family, our meals at home are around 5pm – because didn’t book before arrival, we ended up having different times each day.

Our meals at the end of the week were timed for lunch rather than evenings, but this actually worked to our advantage: we ate well and, thanks to the Pause Gourmande, had a teatime treat before leaving the park before 7pm. A packet of crisps from the railway station (1euro compared to 4euros in the park) and the children were happy and well fed.

You’ll have to work out the best schedule for you and your family – but some experiences, such as Café Mickey, will work better for small children at lunchtime, rather than dinner when the smallest children be over-tired and over-excited!

Pause Gourmande

For a full explanation for the Pause Gourmande, click here.

In a nutshell, between 3pm and 7pm go to a counter service restaurant and you can enjoy a drink and a sweet treat, be it ice cream or a cake.

It’s a great way of keeping energy levels up during the day and also giving the children a treat. The selection is limited and changes from restaurant to restaurant.

If you are half-board you have vouchers which can’t be used in outdoor kiosks or sit down restaurants, they can only be used in indoor counter service restaurants.