Splurging at Disney: Worth it?

Some people might call me cheap.

I’d call me frugal. And also very good with money.

What this means is that while we vacation a lot (since it is something Saign and I greatly value), we vacation a bit different. I’m always looking ways to maximize fun while minimizing cost. I already wrote about how my attempt to save money led us to accidentally get Disneyland Paris annual passes. I’ve done Disney in 4 different countries, and I’ve NEVER done Disney the way I see so many do. I stay at AirBnBs or (in the case of California) my own apartment. I buy quick service meals. I don’t buy merch.

L and I went to Disneyland Paris in January, and I decided to splurge a bit. I did three things I never imagined I’d do at a Disney Park. It was almost like I was a normal American visiting the park. (Not really, I STILL did not buy any merch). Below you’ll find our splurge activities and my opinions on if they were worth it.

Stayed at a Disney hotel. I never in a million years thought I’d stay on property at Disney. It has always seemed like a huge waste of money to me. But Disneyland Paris had a really really good deal for their hotels for annual passholders in January. I had already booked 2 nights at a nearby AirBnB, and planned to take the subway into the park each day (one stop). When I got the email from Disney stating that they had hotel deals for passholders, I thought, “I guess I should check out the prices…” When I did, I found that it was just an extra $50 (USD) from what we were paying for our AirBnB to stay on property…as long as we stayed at the cheapest 2-star hotel. We stayed at the Hotel Santa Fe, and it was…um…a 2-star hotel. I’m SURE the AirBnB would have been nicer. The hotel came with 4 things that interested me: 1) theming, 2) character meets, 3) walkability, and 4) extra magic hour. I thought these benefits would probably be worth the extra $50. In the end, the theming (the Cars movie) was cute, but since the room was generally Motel 6 quality, I don’t think it was worth paying more for that theming. The character meets were kind of cool, but unfortunately happen after the park is open, so we had to walk 40 minutes roundtrip to meet the characters, plus wait in line, so it took up quite a bit of valuable park time and was, IMO, not worth it. The walkability was not such a perk. The train from the AirBnB is so much easier than walking from a hotel with a kiddo who is then going to have to walk around a park all day. Again, not worth it. (Though there are several hotels closer to the parks in which the walkability would be much better). BUUUUUT the big perk was the extra magic hour. People who stay in Disney hotels get to enter the parks an hour before regular guests. This was amazing. We got on rides in 10 minutes that often have 45-75 minute waits. Extra magic hour was GREAT, and definitely worth the extra $50 we paid…that was $50 TOTAL for 3 days of extra magic hour for two of us. So would I stay at a Disney hotel again? Only if I got extra magic hour for $50 or less. Otherwise, NOPE. Extra Magic Hour would not have been worth it to me if I had paid more.

Went to a character breakfast. I went back and forth on this, and then finally decided to splurge by paying for an expensive character breakfast. In total, I believe that I paid 90 Euro for the experience (50 for myself, 40 for my kid). I knew the food would 100% not be worth 90 Euros for breakfast (When in France, it’s super easy to get a delicious pastry for under 2 Euros, there was just no way the food at an all-you-can-eat buffet would be 86 euros more delicious that a delicious pain au chocolat from a local boulangerie). But I HOPED we’d get enough attention from the characters to be worth the money. I was a bit worried about it; L isn’t one to push for attention, so I worried other kids would take all the characters’ attention. I needn’t have worried. Each character carefully made it from table to to table, making sure to take pictures, sign autographs, and play with each kid. It was wonderfully magical. We met Daisy, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Tigger, and Eeyore. L had already met all of the characters except for Tigger and Eeyore, and I STILL felt the magical experience was worth the cost. While I did very much appreciate the Mickey breakfast cake, which I ate approximately 6 slices of, the food was 100% not worth the price. But for the character time? WORTH IT!

Went to an all-you-can-eat buffet for lunch. I carefully decided which restaurant to try, and because all I REALLY care about is dessert, I decided to go for Pym Kitchen. At DLP, Pyms is an all-you-can-eat buffet where most of the food is either tiny or large. But I was interested in it because it seemed to have the best selection of desserts. This one was 45 Euros for me, and 25 Euros for the kid. The food was…buffet food, so…meh. I mean, okay, but certainly not 45 Euros worth of okay. I did eat lots of desserts, and I appreciated that so many of them were tiny, so that I could fit more in my tummy, but do I feel I had 45 Euros worth of enjoyment of my food? No way. So the food was not worth it to me. But the experience wasn’t just mediocre from the food perspective. We were there in January. January in France. It was freaking cold outside. And despite having reservations, and showing up on time for our reservations, we were forced to stand outside in the cold for a good 15 minutes waiting for our table (and then another 5-10 minutes inside waiting). That was frustrating, but I hoped the food was worth it (but as I said, it wasn’t). Okay, but then…then…when we were done eating, we had the European how-the-heck-do-we-pay-and-get-out-of-here restaurant situation…I’m talking a good 15+ minutes of sitting there waiting and hoping our server might look our way so that I could ask to pay and get out. Now, generally France is WAAAAAAY better than most European countries when it comes to navigating the restaurant system. I don’t recall ever having to desperately wave down a server to order, pay, or anything while in France. Except at Pym Kitchen. It was like we were in Germany. (Germany is hands down the most difficult European country to get one’s check and leave IMO). I actually finally got up and went and talked to the person at the host stand to beg them to get my server so that I could pay and leave. So…we had mediocre overpriced food, a wait in the cold, AND then got trapped in the restaurant because our server would not even look towards me so that I could ask for my check. Was it worth it? Absolutely not.

In conclusion: The character breakfast is worth it for 1x. (I would not pay that amount of money AGAIN since we’ve already experienced it). The hotels are NOT worth it unless they’re at a crazy steep discount. (I’m legit so relieved to be able to take the easy train in from our AirBnB on our next trip vs walking from that dang hotel). And my goodness, I’d prefer a quick service meal any day over our dining experience at Pym Kitchen. I guess that was a fun experiment, but I’m right back to my frugal (and superior) ways for the next trip.