December 2023
Full Details of Our Day Exploring Disneyland Paris – France
After a year that included visiting the Tokyo Disney Resort, it was a new challenge to visit th e Disney international parks. We had some spare time on this most recent trip to France and figured why not take the opportunity to visit Disneyland Paris. A park known for its design and beauty, it was an easy decision to dedicate a day of the trip, especially as it is decorated for the holidays.
Disneyland Paris is made up of two theme parks – Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios. We purchased a park hopper pass and felt confident that a full day would be enough to explore both. When we did Disneyland in California for a day trip, that was a larger property so a day was going to be plenty.
We took a train directly from Strasbourg to the Paris airport for a two hour journey, then a second train for ten minutes to get to the Disney property. Since we wanted to get there for the park opening, our first train departed at 6AM and then we arrived at the resort shortly before 830AM. It is kind of amazing that you can get to this Disney property in ten minutes from CDG Paris airport! This would be a great way to start or end a trip since it is so close to the airport. If you are coming from downtown Paris, allocate about an hour to get to the Disney property.
After getting out of the train station, I expected a bit of a walk to get to Disney but it is actually right there so just a short walk gets you to the front gates and security / bag checks. These lines moved fairly well despite the growing crowd. Since we had our backpacks, our first task was to get them into storage. I read it was on the right hand side of the Disneyland entrance but it was pretty hidden – you have to loop all the way around the outside of the entry building and it is tucked in the right hand corner. They charge a small fee based on your bag size and for our e-bags backpacks it was 8 euro each for the day. The bag storage is open 45 minutes past park closing – the day we visited, the park closed at 9PM so bag check closed at 945PM.
Next to the bag storage was the ticket entry so a few steps away and we were inside the park and sent instant chills through my bones hearing that entry music – it happened so fast I could not believe we were inside a Disney park!
Disneyland Paris
Since it was early and the crowds were super low, our priority was getting our must-do rides in so our first stop was Big Thunder Mountain. This has been our favorite coaster across all the parks and after watching the second season of Behind the Attractions on Disney+ that showcased all the different Big thunder Mountains, this was certainly a must. The ride itself is on an island so when you board, the first and last park of the attraction are underground to travel under the water and to the island for the rest of the rollercoaster. This is a classic and fun coaster and this ride was fantastic. I am glad we got on this first as the queue got quite long and then later in the day the ride was closed down.
Next door to Big Thunder Mountain is Phantom Manor – the Haunted Mansion equivalent to the domestic Disney parks. The story on this attraction is a bit different – the Phantom that haunts the manors curses the bride’s husband-to-be each time and they end up in a particularly hairy situation that precludes them from attending the wedding. The scene where you travel underground is much more pronounced and literal, and the use of skeletons is way more than the domestic rides. The final scenes for Grim-Grinning-Ghosts are very fun before the ride comes to a close with the bride asking you to marry her. What a fun variation to a classic attraction!
Our final must do was Pirates of the Caribbean. This is typically our first ride whenever we visit a Disney park and it is definitely a favorite. We had a bit of trouble navigating the park to find the entryway for this attraction – considering it was not on Pirates Island seemed a bit of a mismatch – but once we found it, we walked right on. Similar to the one Disneyland California, the attraction opens by sharing a space with a restaurant for an immersive experience. The ride has many added scenes and also calls back to the classic ones so it is a bit longer of an attraction – no complaints here. We enjoyed the additions and thought is was great.
A pause in the rides was met by the need for some food. The food at Disneyland Paris does not have a great reputation – despite the fact you are in one of the most delicious countries in the world, it does not translate well to the theme park. The three Disney parks we have been to – Orlando, California, Tokyo – all have exceptional food – food you would not expect in a theme park in both offerings and quality. Disneyland Paris suffers because in comparison, it “just” offers theme park food and it’s mediocre at best. We tried to keep an open mind but even as we toured the park, our options were not great. Fortunately, we found ourselves in Fantasyland and found the Christmas Market stalls that are a seasonable offering this time of year. Here we grabbed a ham and cheese crepe and Nutella waffle – the perfect way to start our day food wise.
Behind us was It’s a Small World and while this is a hard skip for Kevin, I convinced him otherwise after being so impressed with the holiday makeover the one in Disneyland California showcased. While this one did not have decorations for the holidays, the scenes were different from the domestic parks and the song was somehow more tolerable.
We finally found Kevin a spot serving coffee and unlike the domestic parks where the coffee is bad/not to his taste, the in park coffee was very good. The next attraction we experienced was Alice’s Curious Labyrinth – a hedge maze full of Alice in Wonderland characters and fun surprises. We really enjoyed wandering through this one and the view from the top of the tower was great to see where everything was located.
Next we walked towards their version of Tomorrowland – Discoveryland. Themed in the style of Jules Verne, this steampunk area is so attractive and fun. The Space Mountain here is known as Hyperspace Mountain in the theme of Star Wars housed inside a giant cone with a cannon situated on the outside giving viewers a glance at the attraction as the ride vehicles go by. This attraction is definitely more intense than the other Space Mountains out there – this one has an overhead harness and goes upside down more than once. By the time we got to this attraction, it was after 11AM and wait times were beginning to creep up over 30 minutes at most attractions if not longer. We are not wait-in-line folks but lucky Disneyland Paris is full of rides with Single Rider access. In fact, almost every ride that it makes sense to have a single rider on, Disneyland Paris has it! So make sure to check and use it as a tool for your day. When we arrived, the single ride lane was not open but merely two minutes later, they opened it since the regular standby queue had gotten long. We hopped right in and got right onto the ride. And wow, yes this is intense and the entire ride is basically in the dark! This is definitely a great option for thrill seekers. If you know Rock’n’Rollercoaster or Incredicoaster at the domestic parks, this is just under those in terms of intensity but much more close to these as opposed to Space Mountain at those parks.
With crowds on the rise, it felt like a great time to explore a bit of the castle and Main Street. Like the castle in Disneyland California, there is a walk through storytelling experience. For Disneyland Paris, it was Sleeping Beauty and Princess Aurora. There is also a viewing platform off the back of the castle for a view of Fantasyland. What I was really looking for was what was under the castle and that was a bit trickier to locate. I think we ended up getting there not the proper way – but we did find it. Go down and to the left of the castle if you are looking at it from Main Street USA – there is a small opening to a cave “La Taniere du Dragon”. Inside, you will have the biggest animatronic in the park.
Our next stop was exploring all of Main Street and just as we started walking down, Christmas music began blaring and it started to snow! Well, snoap – Disney magic soap snow. These little touches make this park so charming.
Running through all the shops of Main Street, I have to say the merchandise was pretty disappointing. I thought a Disneyland Paris ornament would be a great souvenir but one was nowhere to be found. Instead, we turned to one of our Disney World staples – Casey’s Corner for a surprisingly decent hot dog.
Before park hopping, we boarded the steam engine train for a relaxing lap around the park then walked over to the second park, Walt Disney Studios.
Walt Disney Studios
The second park at the Disney Resort is newer, smaller, and getting some expansion attention over the next few years which it does need. The bite-sized park has a few standouts but overall, is not a full day park. That being said, there are definitely fun corners to explore.
Our first stop was the French section where the Ratatouille ride is located. We entered the single rider line and walked right into a ride vehicle – we were so impressed with our single rider success so far! This ride is the original version of the one in Disney World’s EPCOT which is identical. It is a super cute and fun attraction so it is worth a ride.
Around the corner is Toy Story Land with a few smaller attractions. It is not as themed as the Disney World one and the attractions are not unlike ones at a traditional theme park so this area is on the weaker side.
What is not on the weaker side is the entertainment. I heard Mickey and the Magician was a must do so we made our way to the theater for the 1500 show and I am glad we arrived early as this show is in demand and they fill this large theater up easily. This show was unbelievably amazing. Each of the song numbers was a full Broadway style performance and was simply stunning. Mickey spoke French while other characters spoke English so it was easy to follow along. This song was very similar to the caliber of the Big Band Beat show we saw in Japan. At the conclusion of the show, Kevin and I looked at each other amazed at the performance and immediately lamented why the domestic parks lack such incredible entertainment.
Our last stop in Walt Disney Studios was the Avengers Campus which is the newest addition to this park. I expected it to be a bit larger and the two attractions here were quite long. I remembered that WebSlingers has a single rider line which had a 15 minute posted wait time so we hoped in that line… only to be standing in practically the same spot 30 minutes later so we left. That was very disappointing as we noted that wait times in general were really off in one direction or another in these parks.
Instead, we said Auvoir to Walt Disney Studios and headed back to Disneyland.
Disneyland Paris
Upon entry back into the park, a parade was in full motion. We grabbed a mickey “beignet” – donut – and Kevin got a coffee as we found a spot to watch the characters float by.
With wait times still on the higher side, we returned to Haunted Mansion to another ride as it was a walk on. I wanted another round on Big Thunder Mountain and unfortunately it was closed and along with it, the entire area in the back of the park, including the spot we wanted to grab dinner. Instead, we ended up getting pretty terrible chicken tenders from Hakuna Matata. During our final lap around Tomorrowland, we got in the queue for the Nautilus attraction only to discover it was a walk through ride of the submarine and not a ride – we bulldozed right through it assuming there was a ride at the end!
The sky was finally getting dark enough for lights to come on and I expected way more holiday decorations. The castle was simply illuminated with changing colors so my wish for old dream lights was unfortunately not granted. Still a beautiful castle though!
Somehow we end up in the walkway directly in front of the castle and had a spectacular viewing space of the nighttime holiday parade and the light show that accompanied it. I am so glad we stayed for this show – the lights on the castle projected different holiday images, the parade floats illuminated brightly, and Main Street sparkled as snoap fell from the rooftops.
Unfortunately, the highly recommended drone light display and fireworks were not scheduled for this evening but if you go, I hear this one is a must see. We walked through the stores hoping to take home a souvenir unique to this Disney park and I have to say, the results were disappointing! There were very few pieces of merchandise that had Disneyland Paris on it – no ornaments, magnets, key chains. Maybe this is seasonal but in comparison to Japan and the domestic parks, merchandise was not strong during our visit.
As we walked down Main Street for the final time, holiday music began to blare and the lights along Main Street and the giant tree at the entrance began to dance as more snoap fell from the rooftops. It was such a magical way to end our day!
With that, we concluded our day exploring the Disneyland Paris resort. We returned to the bag storage and collected our backpacks before catching the metro to Paris. I am so glad we finally got a chance to visit.