No trip to Paris is complete without a trip to Disneyland! Disneyland is just a quick 40 minute train ride from the city center, making it an easy day trip from Paris.
Disneyland Paris is composed of two parks: Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios. We did some research online and decided to do both parks in one day since the cost difference wasn’t that bad. We went in May, which is already considered peak season, so we went on a weekday in order to avoid the crowds as much as possible. We were there from opening to close and felt like it was plenty of time to visit both parks and ride all of our favorite rides.
Check out the calendar on Disney’s ticketing page to see ticket prices for the day you plan on visiting since some days are more expensive than others.
This post will give you a play-by-play of our day with some suggestions for anyone planning their own trip to Disneyland Paris. Be sure to catch the Tips and Tricks section at the end of the post!
First stop: Walt Disney Studios
Getting to the parks right when they open is the key to a successful, ride-filled day. We intended to get there by 9:30 since we heard the gates often open about a half hour early but instead ended up getting there right at 10:00. We started our day at Walt Disney Studios, which is the more “adult” park and has most of the thrill rides and roller coasters, the most popular of which are Crush’s Coaster, Ratatouille, Tower of Terror, and Aerosmith’s Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster.
Crush’s Coaster was closed when we visited so we headed straight for Ratatouille — be sure to check the Disneyland Paris website to see which rides/attractions will be closed during your visit so you can plan accordingly. There was no wait for the single riders line, so we walked straight on to the ride. We ended up missing the area where they hand out the 3D glasses, so the first time we rode the ride we did it without the glasses (definitely would not recommend)… Luckily there was still no wait time when we got out so we just went right back into the line, this time grabbing the glasses on the way!
After Ratatouille, we went to get our first Flash Pass of the day for Tower of Terror. We had about an hour to kill, so we headed to Aerosmith’s Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster, which had a reasonable 20 minute wait time. I had been on the same ride at Walt Disney World, but this one was significantly different and is definitely worth adding to your itinerary even if you’ve been on the ride at another park before. It also has more loops and inversions than any other ride at Disneyland Paris so it’s a must-do for any roller coaster fans.
After the Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster, we still had a little time to kill so we went on the Studio Tram Tour — definitely skippable, in my opinion, but it was a nice “easy” ride to break things up. After that, we headed straight for Tower of Terror. Even with the Flash Pass we still had to queue for at least a half hour. This one was straight forward and much like the Tower of Terror rides at other parks.
Studio Tram Tour
Next stop: Disneyland Park
Entrance to Disneyland Park
Having hit all of the major rides, we left Walt Disney Studios and headed to Disneyland Park to grab our next Flash Pass at Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast. The wait was about 3 hours, so we headed to Frontierland for lunch at a tex-mex restaurant called Fuente del Oro.
Lunch actually wound up being the low point of our day. For some reason, all of the other cafeteria-style restaurants in the area were closed, so it took way longer than it should have to order our food (maybe 1 1/2 hours all together) and our meals were disappointing at best. In hindsight, we would have been better off heading to Main Street where there are many more options of places to eat and would have likely saved ourselves a lot of time.
After lunch, we headed to Indiana Jones, which had about an hour wait. It was a fun ride but short and probably not worth much more than a 45 minute wait. At this point in the day, the wait times on most rides were in the 1-2 hour range, so instead of heading to another ride we decided to walk around the park, sightseeing and shopping, as we made our way back to Discoveryland.
Luckily the popular ride Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain (essentially Space Mountain with a Star Wars theme) had a reasonable wait time of just 30 minutes, so we crossed that one off the list before heading to Buzz Lightyear for our Fast Pass time slot.
Star Tours was right next door so we headed there next. Unfortunately, the ride made both of us very sick! I’m rarely get motion sickness but something about the visuals and movement of this ride made me very nauseous. We did, however, think the gift shop was the best one in the park, which helped to make up for the somewhat sour experience on the ride.
Still working off the motion sickness and wanting something more low key, we got in line for Autopia. We were surprised at how much fun we had watching all of the kids’ faces light up when they got in the driver’s seat. We of course also enjoyed the drive once we made it to the front of the line. Definitely a fun ride for kids!
We strolled through Fantasyland, which is home to all of the classic children’s rides, such as Dumbo, It’s a Small World, and Peter Pan’s Flight. Looking for another light-hearted attraction, we headed to Alice’s Curious Labyrinth, which is a Alice-in-Wonderland-themed hedge maze with a castle (with a surprisingly good view!) in the middle.
Dan at Alice’s Curious Labyrinth
Making our way around the park, we arrived to Adventureland next and got in line for the Pirates of the Caribbean. This is a great ride for the end of the day since the whole thing is set as though it’s nighttime — very atmospheric and a fun time for all.
We were so swept up in the magic of Disney that we nearly forgot to eat dinner! We didn’t realize what time it was until it was nearly 9:00. Luckily we found one of the cafeterias that was still open, a place called Hakuna Matata, which was much better than the place we went to for lunch.
After dinner, we rushed over to Big Thunder Mountain and got in line. The wait time for this ride was consistently long all day and was still over an hour at that point, but we were so glad to save it for the end of the day since the ride was even better at dusk!
Big Thunder Mountain at dusk
All of the rides have different closing times, but Big Thunder Mountain stays open late (they closed just a half hour before the park when we were there). If you’re planning on an all-day trip to Disney, I would highly recommend ending on Big Thunder Mountain — it was our favorite ride and most memorable part of the day!
‘Disney Illuminations’ Light Show
We didn’t initially plan to stay until close but decided we might as well once we realized it was already almost closing time and therefore almost time for the Disney Illuminations light show at Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. While waiting for the show to start, we visited Main Street for a little candy shopping and to admire the lights.
Chocolate-dipped marshmallow Mickey on Main Street
We then secured a spot with a clear view of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle that was also close to the exit and settled in for what would be a very impressive show (known as Disney Illuminations), complete with colorful projections, lasers, fireworks, and pyrotechnics. I remember seeing the show at Cinderella’s Castle in Disneyworld as a kid, but this was on a completely different level. According to Disney’s website, the light show is in celebration of Disneyland Paris’ 25th anniversary and will last until September 2018.
Tips and Tricks
- Download the Disneyland Paris app to your phone before your trip. The app will show youcurrent wait times for all the rides, which really came in handy for making game-time decisions.
- The parks have free WiFi, which worked well in Walt Disney Studios but only seemed to work in certain areas at Disneyland Park. Keep in mind that you can only see current wait times on the app when connected to the internet (or if you have an international data plan).
- Plan your Flash Pass strategy beforehand. Prioritize the most popular rides as well as the ones that are at the top of your “must do” list and keep in mind that the Flash Passes will start running out in the afternoon. The wait times will grow exponentially throughout the day as well — they started at about an hour in the morning and by the end of the day we saw some wait times in the 3-4 hour range.
- If you’re OK riding separate from your group, the Single Rider lane is a great way to pack in more rides and optimize your time. All but one of the rides that offer a Single Rider lane are at Walt Disney Studios.
- I already mentioned this earlier but think it’s worth reiterating: plan to arrive right when the park opens at 10:00 if not earlier. We expected the crowds to die down later in the day, but this was not the case. The crowds ramped up by noon and wait times were consistent all the way until the park closed.
- We noticed that wait times at Walt Disney Studios seemed to decrease later in the day, so it may be worth starting at Disneyland Park in the morning, doing Walt Disney Studios midday and then returning to Disneyland Park in the afternoon.
- You can make restaurant reservations in advance by calling (+33)160301001, which I would recommend if you’d like to have a meal that isn’t served cafeteria-style, keeping in mind that typical entrée price at the restaurants is in the neighborhood of $40-50. We came across Captain Jack’s restaurant later in the day and wanted to eat there but they were unfortunately all booked up. We actually had a difficult time finding a place to eat dinner since we had lost track of time and most places closed an hour or two before close. Don’t be like us and be sure to plan accordingly!
Happy Disneying!
