Disneyland Paris

If I’m being honest, it still doesn’t seem real that I was at Disneyland Paris a few weeks ago (as of writing this). This was a bucket list item I just wasn’t sure if and when it would happen. So when I tell you my thoughts please understand this is coming from someone who already loves Disney and theme parks in general. Okay, diving in!

Getting There

This one day visit to Disneyland Paris was part of a larger Paris trip for my husband, Mitch and I. We took the train from our hotel in the Montmartre district out to Disneyland Paris. Depending on where you are in the city this would look a little different, but you want to get to the RER A train - think of switching to your local commuter train from the city subway system. This RER train goes in two directions one of which has Disneyland Paris at the end of the line. It’s very easy to tell because there is a little Mickey Ears symbol next to the stop name on all the signs. They know what they’re doing.

From where we were located the whole trip there took a little over one hour. I would give yourself 1.5-2 hours for traveling there if you really want to rope drop the parks, but I also didn’t feel that was super necessary. At least not on a cloudy/rainy Friday morning. I highly recommend the City Planner app as we used this daily on our trip to plot out the best ways to get to everything. Also if you’ve ever used public transportation the Paris Metro is quite easy to navigate.

When you arrive at Parc Disneyland you really do walk out of the train and into the gates of the park. Can’t get any easier than that, except staying on-site!

First Impressions

We arrived just after they opened for the day at 9:30am and crowds did not seem too bad. At least not in comparison to a Walt Disney World visit. Security was quick and easy and then we got to see the Disneyland Paris Hotel! It’s still under construction and opening in 2024, but if I were to stay on-site THIS would be it. The hotel is IN the park. You walk under it to enter and I just can’t imagine how amazing those views would be from your room! Entering the park seemed quite similar to any other park, though you scan your ticket and not your finger print here. We were greeted by cast members waving on the way in and once we got to Main Street there were Mickey and Minnie in their Halloween garb waving away from atop the train station! It felt like home.

Since we attended in October the park was dressed for Halloween. The Halloween decorations were SUBERB! The street was lined with pumpkins and garlands made of colored leaves, but they also had all these ghost statues that were dressed as different characters, like a mayor, a baseball player, and even my favorite a trio that looked an awful lot like those Dapper Dans!

Main Street itself is very familiar, sure the shops have different names and there are some differences in layout, but as it’s meant to, it feels so familiar and comforting walking down toward that castle at the end, and this one in Paris is a BEAUTY! I’m a Cinderella Castle fan and while she will always be number one for me, this one gave it some strong competition. Not only is she pretty on the outside, but there is a walk through experience inside that tells the tale of Sleeping Beauty through stained glass and story pieces and it is such a fun touch. There is also a walkthrough experience at the bottom of the castle (entrance is to the bottom left if you’re facing it), which I hear you shouldn’t miss, but unfortunately it was not open while we were there. These details make this castle even more impressive as it feels more immersive than just a pretty set piece.

Attractions

We really had a laid back approach to this day. I typically have a very firm plan for attractions so this was kind of nice. We did have a list of rides we really wanted to fit in and we basically did all of those. Some were very different from their Orlando counterparts and some were the same. The most questions I’ve received are ride related, so I will try to give details on each.

At Disneyland Park

Le Carrousel de Lancelot

Pretty standard, felt like a much shorter ride though. Ride seating is a horse, or options for some bench seating.

it’s a small world

This was also a shorter ride and the while the song was the same (though more in French) the rooms were different. We got a good laugh out of their depiction of Americans. Rah! (See photo). The ride seat is standard bench seating in a boat.

Peter Pan’s Flight - I like the Orlando version better. This was RICKETY. I did not like it. Also they had us pull our lap bar down and didn’t do the fun little pixie dust move so like, why even bother! Ride vehicle is very similar to Orlando and has a pull down lap bar.

Pirates of the Caribbean - This was SO GOOD. Way better than Orlando’s version. The animatronics were supberb and I really didn’t know what to expect. There are MUCH bigger drops on this version but we didn’t get wet and vehicle was a standard boat with bench seat and no restraint. This also goes through a restaurant called Captain Jack’s and the vibe was so cool to go past it and smell Caribbean food, just 100% on theme and I loved that detail.

Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain - Mitch went on this one without me. This is more thrilling than other Space Mountains. He liked the Star Wars theme, but wished it still had the original theming that is still represented in the queue. We loved the Jules Vern/steampunk vibe of the whole building. It does go upside down and has an over the head shoulder restraint.

Phantom Manor

I have such a fondness for Orlando’s Haunted Mansion but this one is SO COOL. Creepier at parts but still somehow true to the spirit (pun intended) of the ride. The set pieces in the queue were awesome. There is a photo op of the bride on the staircase right as you get onto the ride and that really packed a punch for me. Ride vehicle is your standard Doom Buggy with a lap bar.

Big Thunder Mountain - WOW! I knew this was a little different from the Orlando version but this was intense - in a good way. A longer, wilder ride in my opinion, and several parts in absolute pitch black - where you go underground/underwater to arrive on the island where the bulk of the ride is. Similar ride vehicle to Orlando with individual pull down lap bars. We had a group of teen girls sitting in front of us holding up their phones and I was absolutely terrified they were going to lose them and they would smack me in the face. Luckily that didn’t happen.

Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast - This is always a harder ride/game than I expect it to be. These do have the blasters that come out of the console, unlike Orlando’s which are stationary. I just felt like mine didn’t work well. It’s still fun to do the spinning around and stuff. Ride vehicle is a standard bench with a lap bar that comes down.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril - Another one that Mitch went on without me. He says it was a good ride, really short - though he did like the compact upside down loop. He wished it was more themed to the story of Indiana Jones. Ride restraint is over the head shoulder harness.

Alice’s Curious Labyrinth - This is a walk-through experience and not a ride, but it was a fun experience. They mostly keep you on the right path, but some choices do lead to dead ends. A very cool view from the top of the Queen’s castle, but I’ll be honest it was way too crowded up there with pushy adults for me to stick around long.

At Walt Disney Studios Park

Ratatouille: The Adventure

This is the original, but Orlando’s version is 100% a copy of it. It’s cute. The ride vehicle has bench seats with sort of individual dividers in the seat with a lap bar. 3-D glasses are worn for this ride. The best part is when you exit the ride you can peek into Chez Remy restaurant which is so cute and continues the storyline of being shrunk down to rat size.

Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure - So I have yet to do the version of this in California, but I imagine it’s similar if not exactly the same. I loved it, mostly because I beat everyone else in the vehicle by about double the points. LOL. I don’t know how, but I’ll take it. It was fun and I giggled the whole time. I thiiiiiink there was a lap bar… but you get into a box with a bench seat for sure.

Crush’s Coaster

I had this down as a must do and I knew it spun a bit similarly to the Guardian’s of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind attraction in EPCOT, but holy moly I was not prepared for this ride. For reference I LOVE Guardians. This one, may have been one and done for me. First of all the ride vehicle is a little odd, Two people get in facing forward and two facing backward into a turtle shell like car, seats are contoured around you and a snug at the belly type lap bar comes up around you. You are told to keep your head against the back of the seat at all times. There is no place to put your bag or anything. I wrapped my minnie ears in my coat and put them on the ground under my feet. I shoved my bag kind of to the side back of me which wasn’t super comfortable. We were seated facing backwards and I felt like we missed A LOT of the set pieces and view because while we did spin sideways we pretty much did the whole ride backwards and I was not a big fan. Maybe I would try again going forward but HOOO the sounds that were coming out of me and I was honestly a little dizzy for a bit after. Guardians for reference does not bother me at all when it comes to motion sickness or anything. If you’re sensitive to that I would maybe skip or at least see if you can get forward facing.

Food

This park is known for having terrible food options. While we didn’t eat much while we were here I would say everything we had was fine. Was it knock your socks off delicious? No, but we ate when we were hungry and it was edible.

Here’s what we ate:

Mid Morning Snack at the Old Mill - Disneyland Park

Mickey Beignet with Nutella - 4.50 euro and two Cokes for 4 euro each. - The beignet was fine. More of a jelly donut without a sugary coating with a ball of nutella in the center but we ate it and didn’t complain.

Lunch at Cowboy Cookout Barbecue - Disneyland Park - Click & Collect - Mobile Ordered

We both got Menu 2 - The Premium Cheeseburger, fries and Cherry Cokes

The burgers were honestly fine. I’d say fairly standard theme park patty. The burger came with an onion ring on it which I wasn’t expecting but is listed in the menu so that was my oversight. Also, cheese, sauce, tomato and arugula as well. We were hungry and it filled us up and didn’t seem too far off price-wise from other theme park fare - In total we paid about 32 Euro for the meal.

Mobile order was a little different and took me a bit to set up with my card and all that, but worked similarly. There is a dedicated line for pick up and we really only waited a few minutes for it. The service was friendly and helpful.

I will say they care a LOT about food waste and recycling in general so there are multi step process to throwing everything out. Basically you separate everything into its own bin, liquids, food, wrappers, bottles and other trash.

The other thing we ate was in Walt Disney Studios Park when we took a coffee and sweet treat break. We chose Ice Cream Creations and embarked on the very least efficient of food ordering experiences ever. First of all something we found both here in the parks and elsewhere in Paris is that signage is quite lacking. So here for example there was one line to order and another line to pick up. There was no sign saying as such, so the one guy just had to keep waving people over to him. An “order here” sign, even in French, would have done wonders. So then we got behind a family that really couldn’t decide what they wanted and that took some time. After we ordered we were given our coffees and a ticket to bring to the second line to pick up the ice creams. This is a MUCH longer line and we had finished our hot coffees before our ice creams were ready (I’m not really complaining on that part). I also got a completely different ice cream than what I ordered but at that point I was going to eat whatever they gave me. These were Magnum Ice cream bars like you would find in the grocery store, but hand dipped in chocolate and topped with a few different things themed to Disney characters. Very cute. Melted and fell apart messily quite fast, but still good.

Final Thoughts

Overall I had an absolutely wonderful day at Disneyland Paris. I think you can easily do all it has to offer in one full day with their Premier Access Ultimate Pass to skip the regular lines. We never waited in a ride line for more than a few minutes all day. It’s certainly pricier than Genie+ but definitely worth it in our opinion. I think staying on-site and having two full days would have been nice since we didn’t experience any of the nighttime entertainment or most of the stage shows. I don’t think it would make sense to do two days if you were staying in the city and commuting back and forth.

We had no trouble navigating the parks - except for finding bathrooms - I swear they were hiding them, again signage is just not as clear here.

We ended our day with the Halloween Parade back at Disneyland Park before taking the train back to Paris at about 5:30pm. A perfect ending. I do hope to come back with the kids someday - maybe when the Frozen land has opened, but if I never get back, I’m so glad I did this at least once! While the rest of the international parks remain on my bucket list I’ll be back to Walt Disney World real soon!

Let me know what questions you have about Disneyland Paris in the comments! Have you ever been to this park? What were your thoughts?

Until our next adventure, xoxo

Au revoir!