How to Spend a Day in Disneyland Paris
Did you really think I was done talking about our trip? 😉 Well, of course not! We got so much done while in Europe, and particularly while we were in Paris, I just have to share more in-depth details about what we did, and today we are starting with DISNEYLAND! I haven’t been to a Disney Park in almost 25 years, and even then I was a child the last time I went, so going in as an adult, I had a general idea of what to expect based on what I see Disney vloggers and bloggers post about, but since those creators are almost exclusively based in the United States, Disneyland Paris was a bit of a mystery for me.
In this post, if you’re thinking about taking a trip to Paris and making a stop at Disneyland, and want to know what to expect, I’m your girl! We’re going to discuss food, rides, characters, shopping, costs, getting to the parks and of course, our overall experience. So, let’s get into this blog & discuss all things Disney!
Overall Experience at Disneyland Paris
You may be wondering why I’m starting with my overall experience – well, I figure if you’re looking at going, and you’re kind of on the fence about it, it’s probably best to start here rather than make you go searching for it through this blog. Overall, I had a fantastic time at Disneyland. It was everything I hoped it would be and more, honestly! But, I will say the experience seems to vary quite a lot from those who go to the US parks, so don’t come to Disneyland Paris thinking you’re going to get the California or Florida park experience.
Additionally, if you’re trying to talk a non-Disney lover into going, my husband who pretty much dispises Disney ended up having more fun than he thought he would, especially once we got to do a few rides! Overall, I’d rate the park a 7.5 out of 10; definitely worth going if it’s your first time & you love Disney, but if I went back to Paris again, it wouldn’t be on my must-do-again list.
Food in the Parks
When it comes to food in Disneyland, there are pretty decent options and a good combination of quick service and sit-down restaurants. While we were there, we didn’t do any sit-down restaurants, so I can’t speak personally to the quality of the food or service in those styles of restaurants, however, I have heard you do need to make reservations, so if doing a sit-down meal in the park is on your must-do list, make sure you make reservations about a month in advance.
For quick service, we ended up stopping for a little post-Mad-Hatters-Tea-Cup Mickey Bar which appeared to be an exclusive to the 30-year celebration of Disneyland Paris based on what I saw on the menus, so if you’re heading there after 2023, I’m not totally sure you’ll be able to find Mickey Bars there regularly. We also went to Casey’s Corner to get my husband one of their infamous hot dogs, where he ended up getting the hot dog with cheddar sauce, bacon, onions, ketchup & mustard, which he rated to be worth getting. We also popped over to Pizzeria Bella Notte so I could get a Mickey-shaped cheese pizza, which I have to say was way more delicious than I expected!
If you’re on the hunt for lots of cute Mickey-shaped foods while in Disneyland Paris, you are unfortunately going to be out of luck. Outside of the pizza and Mickey Bar, I hardly saw anything that was Mickey-shaped. Even the French macarons were their standard shape with screen-printed images of the characters on them. The Paris parks definitely are a bit behind on the cutesy Mickey-shaped foods, but I was thoroughly impressed by the quality, and it seems like they are trying to bring more of those kinds of things in.
Lastly, if you’re someone who loves ice cream, Disneyland Paris is by no means short on ice cream in the parks. Magnum ice cream bars seem to be very popular there – they’re available in pretty much every quick service restaurant or booth, and they even have food trucks that do custom Magnum ice cream bars in both Disneyland Park & Walt Disney Studios. We also saw a little ice cream shop along Main Street in Disneyland Park.
Ride Selection
I have to admit, I may not be the best go-to person for discussion on what the best rides are at the parks because I am truly not much of a rides person. My husband begged me to go on the biggest, fastest roller coaster they had that the park, but I flat-out refused. I’m definitely more for the relaxed, chill rides myself, but I did end up going on one relatively “thrilling” ride, but we’ll get more into that shortly. First, I will say I’ve heard great things about the roller coasters there, including Hyperspace Mountain, Avengers Assemble: Flight Force (which I believe is the fastest roller coaster they have in the park), and a Disneyland Paris exclusive, Crush’s Coaster. If you’re interested in doing Crush’s Coaster, start your day at Walt Disney Studios and immediately go there when the park opens or you will be waiting 2-3 hours in line!
There were also some other classic Disney Park rides that I recognized from the US parks such as the Hollywood Tower of Terror, Indiana Jones, and Big Thunder Mountain, so if you’ve frequented those parks and are looking for something familiar, you can find some rides you know and love (though I can’t speak to how similar they are!).
While we were there, we went on the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups because duh, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, and of course, I couldn’t pass up going on Star Tours! If you don’t already know, I’m a huge Star Wars fan, and since I couldn’t bring myself to get on the roller coaster, I made sure we did Star Tours. It was about an hour-long wait, and holy, it was worth it. Not as crazy as doing a coaster, but definitely a lot more fun and exciting than spinning around in the tea cups. The theming while in the queue of the ride was incredible as well!
Character Meet & Greets
Alright, I’ll be very honest, I was extremely disappointed in the lack of character meet & greets in Disneyland Paris, though still unsurprised at the same time. Disneyland Paris is the quietest of all of the Disney Parks, so while I expected quite a bit less when it came to characters, I didn’t expect to only see six while we walked through the parks. We saw Tigger, Eeyore, Jafar, Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dumb, and the Queen of Hearts. There were also Princesses meeting at the Princess Pavillion but the line up started almost immediately once the parks opened and quickly became a 3-hour queue, which I was not interested in waiting that long considering we only had one day in the park. Overall, I wouldn’t say this is the park to go to if you want to meet characters; I thought maybe we’d see characters walking around, but they don’t even have that.
Shopping & Costs
When it comes to shopping in Disneyland Paris, there really are a good amount of options when it comes to the number of stores, though the selection is mostly the same. I did end up purchasing a few things from the parks including Mickey ears, two spirit jerseys, a Star Wars t-shirt, and a handful of magnets and other accessories, and overall I think I spent about $250 CAD. The pricing there is definitely higher, which is to be expected in a Disney park, with spirit jerseys being between 60-70€, magnets and pins were around 5€, and the ears I believe were 20 or 25€.
Ticket pricing to get into the parks felt very fair, all things considered. Like any Disney Park, there are going to be times that it’s cheaper and more expensive to go. We luckily were there when it was deemed to be quieter & cheaper to go, so we purchased a one-day dated ticket, which was priced at $109 USD per person, and it got us access to both Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios. You can do one-park only tickets that brings the price down, but if you’re only going to be there for one day, I say do the 2-park ticket.
If you are staying at Disneyland Hotel, or another hotel associated with Disneyland Paris, I believe the price of your park tickets is reduced, and of course, the more days you purchase, the lower each individual day cost is.
Getting to Disneyland from Paris
If you’re like us, and you’re staying in Paris, and just want to commute to Disneyland Paris for the day, it’s extremely simple to get there via the metro. You can always Uber or book a car service, but honestly, the price of the metro tickets is 5€ each way, per person, and the cost of a vehicle starts around 90€, so unless you have lots of people, it probably is easiest to just take the metro.
Though it is easy to take public transit to get there, and there’s clear signs indicating which line to get on to get the Disneyland Park (complete with a little Mickey symbol!), you have to ensure that when you purchase your metro tickets while in the city, that you select Marne-la-Vallée Chessy (and it should also say Disneyland somewhere on there too!), or you can’t access the RER trains that you need to take to get you to Disneyland while transferring* at the appropriate station. Once you get to Marne-la-Vallée Chessy, just follow the signs and you walk right up the gates of Disneyland Paris!
If you need to purchase tickets when leaving Disneyland to get back to Paris, make sure you select tickets to Paris that say “valid from this station”, otherwise your ticket will not work to get you on the RER to get you back into the city.
* Note: Make sure when you put your metro ticket into the machine at the gates that you remember to TAKE IT WITH YOU. You need it to transfer to other stations, and sometimes even get out of some stations. This advice goes for anywhere in Paris, not just heading to Disneyland!
Well, there you have it! I know it was a long one, but I hope it was filled with tons of information that will help you plan your day to Disneyland, or even just get you excited about the idea of going to Disneyland in Paris one day! Let me know in the comments below if you’re planning on going anytime soon, and if you did, if this blog helped you with your trip at all.
