A family of three have expressed their frustration at the cost of a single day at Disneyland Paris – and come up with some handy ‘hacks’ to avoid paying for expensive items while on the road.
Mom and travel influencer Jen, known on TikTok as @thetravelmum, regularly shares photos from various trips, trips and vacations as a trio, with her husband João and their four-year-old son Leo.
Jen received a question from one of her 383,000 followers who was curious about the total cost of her trip to Disneyland Paris in September.
Both Jen and João detailed the cost of each activity, meal, upgrade and purchase in a video summarizing their time at the resort.
A family of three used TikTok to share the total cost of a single day at Disneyland Paris – using some handy ‘hacks’ to avoid paying for expensive items along the way
The family revealed that with so much Disney clothing, toys and accessories available, Primark was the perfect store to stock up instead of paying twice as much at the park.
In the one-minute video, titled “How much did we spend in one day at Disneyland?!”, father João was filmed holding his son Leo in front of the resort’s famous pink castle.
Before venturing through the gates, the trio headed to Val D’Europe – a shopping center east of Paris, France – to pick up some essentials for the trip.
Narrator João said in the video, “We first went to a local mall to pick up our Disney merchandise,” as he panned the camera to a sprawling Primark store.
The bargain-hunting dad revealed that Primark, with its abundance of Disney clothes, toys and accessories, was the perfect store to stock up on goods for her son rather than paying twice as much at the park.
João bought a Mickey Mouse soft toy for £12 and said: “We knew Leo wanted one of these, this guy was over 50% cheaper at Disney than his twin.”
He picked out a pair of Minnie Mouse ears for £3.90 and added: “These ears were a quarter of the price of the exact same ears at Disney.” “We also bought some matching t-shirts which were a third of the price we would have paid in the park.”
The family had originally planned to take the metro to the park – which the father said would have been “cheaper” – but decided to take the car instead, with parking fees totaling €30 (around £26) a day) to to mislead.
Regarding the cost of the day tickets, João explained: “We got a day ticket with two parts, and for all of us it cost two hundred and thirty-two pounds and fifty-five pence.”
The family originally planned to take the subway to the park, but ended up taking the car. Parking costs for the day totaled €30 (approx £26).
After going to a restaurant in the park for the first time, the dad revealed son Leo’s children’s meal costs £7, while two burgers and an ice cream costs £26.
João added that the family decided to upgrade to “fast passes” and said: “So we got a bit lucky and spent £110 on fast passes.”
After they went to a restaurant in the park for the first time, the father continued: “Leo was the first to go hungry and the children’s meal cost £7. Later we got two burgers and an ice cream for Leo and it cost £26.
At the end of the video, João concluded: “We spent £417 on the tickets, express tickets, parking, food and merchandise.” Was it worth it? Absolutely not. But for Leo it was invaluable.’
Mom Jen captioned the video, which received more than 1,000 likes and nearly 30 comments from grateful Disney fans and would-be tourists, further detailing the family’s itinerary and initial costs.
She wrote: “The cost is obviously important and not cheap.” “The tickets cost about what they do, you can save a few euros here and there with third-party providers – but we found it wasn’t worth it.”
Disney enthusiasts who have visited the park or will soon have thanked the family for their tricks and bad luck, but some were not convinced by Primark’s “hack”.
“We only had one day to visit, so we bought two tickets for that one day.” Two days, two parks would have been more relaxing. Fastpasses cost £109 each, which means you only have to queue once for each ride (but many people really don’t need to).
“We decided not to buy it and pay as we went” – if the queue was long we would walk our way through (only one of us went with it so we only bought two passes – often around £ 10 for each).
“Waiting in line for $10 or two hours with a four-year-old was second nature to me. “Some lines were only 5-15 minutes long.”
Disney enthusiasts thanked the family for their hiccups and mistakes.
One person wrote: “This is SO helpful!” I hope to go to Disney next year. Thanks,” while another said: “Going to Primark is such a good idea!”
Responding to a comment criticizing the quality of Primark’s products, Jen wrote: “It did the job. “At Disney they have definitely raised their prices significantly.”
A visitor to Disneyland Paris slammed the iconic park on Reddit in October, claiming that the exorbitant ticket prices and long wait times had become so “horrendous” that a visit to the tourist hotspot was “not worth the time or money.”
“Literally everything is a queue,” complains the user on the Unpopular Opinion subreddit, “Go to the toilet, queue.” do you want to eat Rope. Would you like to buy a souvenir? Rope. Would you like to watch something? Rope…’
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James is an author and travel journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a love for exploring new cultures and discovering unique destinations, James brings his readers on a journey with him through his articles.
