A Day at Disneyland Paris

floridagirl57

Active Member
Original Poster
I recently experienced Disneyland Paris for the first time and thought I would post a lose recap/thoughts of my day in the park, if anyone is interested! Some background, I grew up less than an hour from WDW and have been visiting the Florida parks most of my life. Now I'm an AP holder and have the opportunity to visit semi-regularly. This trip was the first time I got to visit a park that wasn't in Florida! Also, I was traveling with my husband who tolerates my Disney obsession but does not share it himself, which is why we only did 1 day in the park. There's a lot to see and do in Paris and I wanted to experience the city as much as possible while in France. :)

We visited the park on a Sunday in February. I purchased two tickets the night before with the promotion that allowed adults to buy a ticket at the price of a child's ticket. Only caveat is you MUST have the tickets printed out! That caused a little bit of a scramble trying to find an internet cafe where we could print the tickets. After some deliberation, I decided to skip the Studios park. I could not justify the increased cost to see a park that I've read is not up to Disney standards. I would literally be paying to enter the park so I could ride Ratatouille and that wasn't enough to justify it for me.

We were in Paris for a full week, and Sunday was not my first pick of a day to go to the park but the way our week in Paris was unfolding, Sunday was the most logical day to attend. I think the crowds were higher then if we had gone in the middle of the week, but "high crowds" at Disneyland Paris is a dream compared to MK.

The park opened at 10 am (really, it was a dream for someone who enjoys sleeping in). We left our AirBnb at 8:40, hopped on the RER Red line and were were off the train walking into the park at 9:40. I had zero complaints about the train ride to Disneyland. (We took transit the entire week we were in Paris and never waited more then 5 minutes for a train. Paris has a great public transportation system.)

Hyperspace Mountain was a ton of fun! I had read it was "intense" and jerky but it honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! We also enjoyed the Nautilus walk through attraction and you can't beat seeing the dragon underneath the castle. Overall, I loved the vibe of the Paris Tomorrowland. It was just missing a People Mover :)

I never used Fast Pass. Coming from WDW, I had a lot of anxiety about not being able to plan out my day but honestly, you don't need to. I had read it's easy to score a FP for the big attractions, but the FP distribution kiosks were closed all day which threw me for a loop. The only FP distribution I did see was for Buzz Lightyear, and distribution didn't start until 4 pm with a return time of 7 pm. The upside to limited FP, the lines actually moved. I was never just standing or sitting in a line, we were moving the entire time. The longest wait was for Big Thunder, which was posted at 44 minutes around 5:30 pm. I was moving my feet the entire time I was in line and it went extremely fast and was actually a 30 minute wait.

Fantasyland was breathtaking. Really. It was so beautiful and intricate, with water features and stunning details.

I absolutely loved the arcades on the opposite side of the Main Street shops and restaurants. So Persian and these offered a way to by pass Main Street during a parade or warm up a little, since it was in the high 40's.

I had read horror stories of food in this park. I did some research and per Tom Brinkers restaurant reviews, decided on Toad Hall in Fantasyland for a lunch of fish and chips. The line was incredibly slow and inefficient, but the food was good. I have no complaints.

We took a mid day break to explore the Disneyland Hotel. It was stunning, reminded me a less grandiose Grand Floridian. We had drinks at Fantasia Lounge which was another highlight of our day. The best part is that leaving the park and walking to the hotel took all of 3 minutes. Phantom Manor was down for refurbishment which was sad BUT I did get to ride Pirates of the Caribbean! THIS WAS INCREDIBLE. My absolute favorite ride of the day and I'm so so happy I got to do this even with a "high" wait, all of 40 minutes (lol). I've read others describe it as "everything Imagineering was excelling at in the 90's" and I couldn't agree more. Really fantastic from start to finish. It also had the updated red head scene. Don't miss it if you make it out to Disneyland Paris.

I wanted to stay for the nighttime entertainment, but we were pretty worn out since we go to the park at opening. It was really easy to accomplish all of the major rides though (without FP) have a lunch, take a mid day break, and I didn't feel like I missed anything. Very relaxing and a total departure of how I approach touring MK.

I hope this was helpful to anyone planning a trip to Disneyland Paris :) Not having any FP's distributed threw me off, but it did not negatively impact our experience. I had an incredible day exploring a new park and now I'm scheming when I can make a return trip.
 

HonorableMention

Well-Known Member
Would you say the park is worth it for a day? I’m taking a similar trip this year and I’ve been having a hard time convincing the people I’m going with, who think the time would be better spent in the city. They don’t see the appeal of a park similar to DL with less things to do.

What tips would you give for going as well?
 

floridagirl57

Active Member
Original Poster
Would you say the park is worth it for a day? I’m taking a similar trip this year and I’ve been having a hard time convincing the people I’m going with, who think the time would be better spent in the city. They don’t see the appeal of a park similar to DL with less things to do.

What tips would you give for going as well?
Yes, I personally think it is worth it for a day. But that depends on your touring situation. We had a full week in Paris so I felt comfortable leaving the city for a day to explore Disneyland. Plus, this was a pretty big dream/goal of mine to tour the international parks. Your situation might be different.
I'm not authority on tips for Disneyland Paris but I think getting there early was a big help, especially since we visited on a weekend. I hope this information helps! If you have any more questions let me know! I would take a look at Tom Brinker's blog (not sure about the rules for linking...) he has a lot of resources on visiting Disneyland Paris that I found very helpful.
 

HonorableMention

Well-Known Member
Yes, I personally think it is worth it for a day. But that depends on your touring situation. We had a full week in Paris so I felt comfortable leaving the city for a day to explore Disneyland. Plus, this was a pretty big dream/goal of mine to tour the international parks. Your situation might be different.
I'm not authority on tips for Disneyland Paris but I think getting there early was a big help, especially since we visited on a weekend. I hope this information helps! If you have any more questions let me know! I would take a look at Tom Brinker's blog (not sure about the rules for linking...) he has a lot of resources on visiting Disneyland Paris that I found very helpful.
Thanks! I’ll definitely look into that blog.
 

peep

Well-Known Member
Really glad you had a great time! I never know how Americans are going to react to Paris as it does feel different.

Sundays tend to have the biggest crowds in the "quiet" season (I'm convinced the various seasonal entertainment has eradicated this). You seem to have timed your trip when the park was having issues with the fastpass system, not sure what the reason was but it's so nice to see the queues moving at a regular pace and it certainly counter-balanced the busier Sunday crowds.
 

floridagirl57

Active Member
Original Poster
Really glad you had a great time! I never know how Americans are going to react to Paris as it does feel different.

Sundays tend to have the biggest crowds in the "quiet" season (I'm convinced the various seasonal entertainment has eradicated this). You seem to have timed your trip when the park was having issues with the fastpass system, not sure what the reason was but it's so nice to see the queues moving at a regular pace and it certainly counter-balanced the busier Sunday crowds.
I truly loved the park! It was different but still "Disney" and just beautiful.
 

JillC LI

Well-Known Member
Would you say the park is worth it for a day? I’m taking a similar trip this year and I’ve been having a hard time convincing the people I’m going with, who think the time would be better spent in the city. They don’t see the appeal of a park similar to DL with less things to do.

What tips would you give for going as well?

Here's a link to my trip report from our first trip to DLP in 2015. It was one day of several in Paris. We got one day-two park passes in advance, and got there extra early to be first into the parks and be able to do as much in both parks as possible. If you don't do any sit-down meals, there will be more time to explore. Definitely hit as many attractions that are unique to Paris as possible - you will see that in my report.
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/dlp-in-a-day-first-timer-trip-report.901563/
 

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