🚗 UK to Europe Road trip on a budget part 2: Our family adventure continues to Disneyland Paris
After the success of our first budget road trip from the UK to Efteling theme park last year, we knew we wanted to do another one this year. This time we were heading to Disneyland Paris.
We had always promised our daughter that one day we’d take her to Disneyland as soon as we could afford it.
And so this year, for her 16th birthday we decided to surprise her and our 2 boys with a Disneyland adventure.
We told her (and our 2 boys!) that we were just going to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower for her birthday… and that Disney would have to wait until another year because it was “too expensive.” 😅
Of course, that was all part of the surprise! And seeing their faces when they realised where we were actually going was absolutely priceless. Lots of happy tears and excitement!
In this post, I’ll share how we planned everything ourselves, and how much we spent by booking each part of the trip, rather than going for a package deal. Doing it this way saved us a lot of money.
I'll also highlight where we managed to use our military/blue light discount to help save some money.
Le Shuttle
If you've read our last road trip post about how we drove to Efteling, you'll know we made a rookie mistake and decided to drive through the middle of the night to catch an early morning ferry. Lessons were learned! I do not recommend this option; we won’t be doing that again.
This time, we chose a much more relaxed option…Le Shuttle. We started our travels the day before and stayed overnight at the Premier Inn Ashford North, which is just a 30-minute drive from the terminal. This was the closest and cheapest option for us to comfortably stay overnight as a family of 5. Bonus…there is a lovely restaurant right next door, a fuel station opposite and a nature reserve just down the road; perfect place for kids to explore in the fresh air.
Our train departed at 09.50am and arrived in Calais at 11.25am (French time). The train only takes 35 minutes. Much quicker, more efficient and offers more flexibility with more departure times to choose from compared to the ferry. Also, if you do arrive early you may get offered an earlier shuttle.
Doing it this way made the start of the holiday a lot more relaxed and stress free, definitely worth it.
Eurocamp Touquin Country Park
We stuck with the same theme as last year, trying to save money where we could without taking anything away from the trip. And we opted to stay at a Eurocamp again close to the Disney parks.
We stayed at the Touquin Country park with Eurocamp. This site was in an ideal location for our Disneyland adventure. Only about a 30 minute drive from camp to park. Considering the price we had for our 4 nights and during the Easter holidays…it was perfect.
We booked one of their Comfort XL homes. It was a pretty basic and simple lodge, but was perfect for what we needed - it was clean, tidy, and it had a covered decking area complete with patio table and BBQ.
Top tip - it is common for French Eurocamp sites to not include bed linen or towels, these can be hired at an additional cost. We saved some pennies by taking our own.
The site itself was quiet and family-friendly. It has an outdoor pool (closed for the season), a small park, and an indoor play area for the kids. There’s also a bar and restaurant, but we chose to stock up at the local Lidl. This meant that we could cook our own meals in the lodge, making the most of the BBQ and making packed lunches for our Disney days out.
This site is an ideal choice and in a perfect location for families looking to do a Disneyland holiday on a budget.
We used our military discount when booking through Eurocamp which got us 10% off the total amount. Happy days.
Disneyland Paris 2 Parks/2 Days
After doing a bit of research and reading a lot of blogs about Disneyland, we knew we wanted to visit both Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios.
I read a few blogs about how some people managed to squeeze both parks into 1 day, but that sounded far too rushed and stressful for us. We wanted to take our time and enjoy the whole experience, rather than race around from one ride to the next.
So…we went with the 2 parks/2 days dated ticket option.
💸Military discount💸
We were able to get a military discount when booking directly through the official Disneyland Paris website — and that saved us a massive 50% off the park tickets! Definitely worth checking if you’re eligible before booking, as it made a huge difference to the overall cost.
*They do check your ID cards at the gate*
The park itself is pretty much everything you expect from Disneyland. It does get very busy and there were long queues, especially Crush's Coaster, Peter Pan and Ratatouille.
Tip - Download the official Disneyland Paris app to keep an eye on the queue times, they are pretty accurate, and as soon as you see a short wait time on these 3 rides get on them straight away. We kept checking the app throughout both days, keeping an eye on all the wait times. This came in very handy.
Unfortunately, Big Thunder Mountain was closed for maintenance while we were there — the kids were a bit disappointed, but it just gives us an excuse to go back.
Pirates of the Caribbean along with It’s a small world were 2 firm favourites for my kids (especially the 5 year old).
We managed to get on these rides a few times throughout the 2 days.
Avengers Assemble: Flight Force was mine and the 7 year olds favourite, this was a really fun ride, a fast, dark indoor roller coaster with lots of lights and graphics.
We did have to split ourselves between the kids a few times due to ride heights. But we anticipated this and it didn't take away from our time at the parks.
Our teenage daughter loved Main Street USA and exploring all the magic and wonder that the themed shops had to offer.
As I explained earlier, we brought our own packed lunches with us to help keep costs down (and avoid the long food queues). There are plenty of picnic benches scattered around the parks, so it was really easy to stop for a bite when we needed a break.
Top tips
- Prepare a small essentials pack as needed e.g. Calpol, sanitary items, baby wipes, etc.
- Lightweight change of clothes for the kids e.g. pants, socks, shorts, t shirt.
- And it's always a good idea to take a fully charged power bank…you will take a lot of photos.
- Consider something to entertain your kids in the long queues.
- Arrive early to beat traffic and gate queues. It's a long walk from the carpark to gate entrances.
What you'll need to drive in Europe
If you're planning your own UK to Europe road trip, make sure you have the right documents and equipment.
Here is a list of documents we took with us:
- Passport
- Drivers license
- European car insurance cover
- V5
- Travel insurance
- European breakdown cover
Here is a list of the equipment we took with us:
- Reflective jackets (for each passenger)
- Warning triangle
- UK magnet
- First aid kit (We always carry one when we go camping, so already had one and is compulsory for France)
- Headlamp beam deflector stickers (Halfords)
💰 Cost Breakdown (Easter 2025 Prices)
Le Shuttle (Folkestone–Calais return) - £243
Eurocamp (Mon–Fri) - £174
Disney 2 parks/2days military dated ticket - £521
Disney parking for 2 days - £52
Premier Inn 2 rooms - £84
Diesel (approx. 1,000 miles) - £200
Lidl food & snacks - £150
Toll Roads - £35
Beam deflectors - £7
European Breakdown cover - £25
Travel Insurance - £10
(We already had fully comprehensive vehicle insurance for European travel).
Total approx ≈ £1500
For a family of five during school holidays — and two full days at Disneyland — we were really happy with this price!
I haven't factored in the spending money we used for the park, as this is individual to your personal budget. But…it’s Disneyland, you could literally spend £20 or £2000.
