Family shares eye-watering cost of a day at Disneyland Paris – and reveal hacks to save money along the way

A family of three have shared their frustration at the cost of spending a single day at Disneyland in Paris – and have provided some handy ‘hacks’ to avoid paying for expensive items along the way.

Mother and travel influencer Jen, known as @thetravelmum on TikTok, regularly shares footage of various trips, days out and holidays as a trio, alongside her husband João and their four-year-old son, Leo. 

Jen was asked a question by one of her 383,000 followers who was curious about the total cost of their trip to Disneyland Paris in September.  

Both Jen and João broke down the cost of each activity, meal, upgrade and souvenir purchase in a video that encapsulated their time at the resort. 

The family revealed that with Primark’s abundance of Disney-related clothing, toys and accessories, it was the perfect store to stock up on merchandise rather than paying twice as much at the park

In the one-minute video, titled ‘How much did we spend on one day at Disneyland?!,’ father João was captured holding son Leo in front of the resort’s iconic pink castle. 

Before venturing through the gates, the trio headed to Val D’Europe – a shopping mall located to the east of Paris, France – to pick up some essential items for the trip.

Narrator João said in the video, ‘First things first, we headed to a local shopping mall to get our Disney Merch,’ panning the camera to a sprawling Primark store. 

The bargain loving father revealed that with Primark’s abundance of Disney-related clothing, toys and accessories, it was the perfect store to stock up on merchandise for her son rather than paying twice as much at the park. 

Picking up a Mickey Mouse plushie toy for £12, João said: ‘We knew Leo would want one of these, this guy was over 50% cheaper than his twin brother over at Disney.’

Producing a £3.90 pair of Minnie Mouse ears, he added: ‘These ears were a quarter of the price of the exact same ones in Disney. We also picked up some matching t shirts which were a third of the price of what we would have paid at the park.’

The family had originally planned to travel to the park on the Metro train – which would have been ‘cheaper’ according to the father – but had ended up taking a car instead, with parking totalling €30 (around £26) for the day. 

Moving onto the cost of the day passes, João explained: ‘We got the one day, two part ticket, and for all of us it was two hundred and thirty two pounds and fifty five pence.’

The family had originally planned to travel to the park on the Metro train but had ended up taking a car instead, with parking totalling €30 (around £26) for the day

After heading to a restaurant at the park for their first meal, the father revealed that the cost of son Leo’s kid’s meal was £7, while two burger meals and an ice cream cost £26 

Adding that the family chose to upgrade to ‘fast passes,’ João said: ‘So we got a bit tap happy and spent a hundred and ten pound on fast passes.’

After heading to a restaurant at the park for their first meal, the father continued: ‘Leo was the first to get hungry and this kid’s meal was £7. Later on we got two burger meals and an ice cream for Leo and this was £26. 

Totalling the entire trip at the end of the video, João concluded: ‘With the tickets, fast passes, parking, food and merch, we spent £417. Was it worth it? Absolutely not. But for Leo it was priceless.’

Mother Jen wrote a caption below the video, which has received over 1,000 likes and almost 30 comments from thankful Disney fans and to-be tourists, detailing a further breakdown of the family’s itinerary and initial costs. 

She wrote: ‘The cost is obviously important and its not cheap. The tickets pretty much cost what they cost, you can save a couple of pounds here and there with third parties – but we didnt think it was worth the faff.’

Disney enthusiasts who have either frequented or are set to visit the park expressed gratitude to the family for their hacks and breakdowns, but some were not convinced by Primark ‘hack’

‘We only had a day to visit so got the one day, two park tickets. Two days, two parks would have been more relaxed. Fast passes are £109 each to skip the queue once on each ride (but lots really dont need it). 

‘We decided not to get these and to ‘pay as you go’ – if a queue was long we tapped through (just one of us went with him so we only bought two passes – often around £10 to do this). 

‘£10 or two hours in a queue with a 4 year old was a no brainer for me. Some queues were only 5-15 minutes.’

Disney enthusiasts expressed gratitude to the family for their hacks and breakdowns.

One person wrote, ‘This is SO helpful! Hoping to go to disney next yr..thank you,’ while another said, ‘Going to Primark is such a good idea!’

Responding to a comment that critiqued the quality of Primark’s products, Jen wrote: ‘It did the job. They definitely mark up their prices a lot in Disney.’

A Disneyland Paris visitor took to Reddit to slam the iconic park in October, claiming the exorbitant ticket prices and long wait times have become so ‘atrocious’ that visiting the tourist hot spot is no longer ‘worth the effort or the money.’

‘Literally everything is a queue,’ the user complained in the Unpopular Opinion subreddit, ‘Going to the bathroom, Queue. Want to eat? Queue. Want to buy a souvenir? Queue. Want to get a glimpse of something? Queue…’