Is Disneyland Paris Right for You?
“I hated Disneyland Paris. The park was awful and people were rude.” Comments like this are not uncommon from visitors who have been disappointed by Disneyland Paris. It’s the most divisive Disney park on the planet. It’s certainly not a place for everyone, and in this post I’ll highlight who is likely to love it–and who is not.
I’ll be up front: I love Disneyland Paris, and it confounds me a bit that other Disney fans do not feel the same way about it that I do. With that said, I realize different fans have different backgrounds, expectations, and touring preferences. Some people focus on attractions, others focus on atmosphere, others still on dining, and so on.
There are any number of ways to enjoy a Disney park, and my intent here is not to make a value judgment about individual interests and vacation priorities. Rather, I hope this post will shed some light on which touring styles are most conducive to enjoying Disneyland Paris…
From my perspective, Disneyland Paris has more in common with EPCOT or Tokyo DisneySea than it does the other castle parks. Like those, it is the ultimate “ambiance park.” A place best enjoyed with a slow stroll, sipped like a fine French wine. If I had to pick a park to visit without doing any attractions, Disneyland Paris would be my #2 choice, after only Tokyo DisneySea.
If you love roaming World Showcase in EPCOT, just exploring the hidden corners, shops, and meticulous details, there’s a strong possibility that Disneyland Paris is for you. The park has a treasure trove of brilliant design work, and even after numerous visits, I still stumble upon new things each trip. Disneyland Paris is such a satisfying park to explore.
If you’re the type who collects coffee table books about Walt Disney Imagineering or the design and architecture of the parks, Disneyland Paris is absolutely for you.
One of the great things about today’s social media era is that many high-profile current and former Imagineers have accounts where they share old photos and anecdotes. The park for which many of these celebrated Imagineers still have an intense passion is Disneyland Paris. Eddie Sotto put it best when he said that Disneyland Paris is “the park designed by WDI Disney fans…for Disney fans.”
While other parks were also no doubt designed by Disney fans within Imagineering, there are a couple of critical differences with Disneyland Paris. First, most of the original design remains. In a sense, other parks are victims of their own success: as the parks became more popular, new ideas were injected that strayed from their “pure” ambition.
Elsewhere, these additions were made with the goal of appealing to a more mainstream audience. Attractions like Avatar Flight of Passage and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (or Mission Breakout) are crowd-pleasers that play well with casual guests, but when viewed through the prism of the park’s objective and core thematic principles, they make less sense.
Ironically enough, the same financial struggles that have hampered the growth of Disneyland Paris over the years have also ensured that it has (largely) remained pure in theme. Outside of Discoveryland, there are few additions to Disneyland Paris that have hampered its design and thematic integrity.
If you are looking for an almost perfectly-preserved vision of Michael Eisner’s era of Disney design, look no further than Disneyland Paris. It survived the Iger IP-injection era largely unscathed, as attention was focused on fixing France’s second gate.
That resulted in the relaunched Disney Adventure World, which is the culmination of a 2-billion-euro investment to expand the park. In our review of that revitalized park, we explain why Disney’s worst park is finally worthy of the “Disney” name and legacy. It’s not perfect, and the reimagining is far from flawless, but we’re happy to report that Imagineers pulled off the impossible in reinventing the second gate into Disney Adventure World.
While Parisian Disney fans and locals have understandably lamented the lack of additions to Disneyland Paris, we’d argue that this is the best possible outcome. Significant investment has been made in Disney Adventure World, which is home to a grabbag of intellectual properties.
Meanwhile, a “don’t fix what isn’t broken” attitude has been applied at Disneyland Paris. If you’re a longtime Disney fan who remembers what the domestic parks were like in the 1990s, DLP is almost like stepping into a time machine and returning to that. Even if you don’t, it’s a exemplar of themed design that you’ll recognize when immersed in it.
The team behind the original buildout of Disneyland Paris was an all-star lineup of Imagineers, who had a good deal of creative latitude. The result is a park that feels like it contains the type of great ‘blue sky’ ambitions that often get cut from other projects.
At least in part because the lavish design and ambition of Disneyland Paris caused it to go over budget, subsequent parks (save the OLC-funded Tokyo DisneySea) were built in a more restrained sense. Animal Kingdom at its opening is a good example. It has the similar thematic purity and ambition, but Disney hedged its bets by building that park on a smaller scale and expanding it over time.
Disneyland Paris feels like the culmination of castle parks before it, with lessons learned from Disneyland, Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland, and applied to something new. Its ambition is undeniably impressive, and it’s a true treat to get lost in DLP, exploring its many details. Assuming, of course, that this is the kind of Disney park experience you’re after.
If the idea of spending an entire day in a theme park without doing any attractions sounds miserable to you, perhaps Disneyland Paris is not for you.
For me, this isn’t some vague hypothetical that is unfathomable in practice. I could be satisfied wandering a park all day taking photos, soaking up the experience, and taking in the details. In fact, I’ve done it and really enjoy it.
For many fans, the primary draw of theme parks is rides. This not my perspective, but it’s a fair one. After all, the parks wouldn’t exist without attractions (no one is waiting in line 90 minutes to stare at some details). For many people, a Disney trip is in large part judged by how many attractions were experienced.
If your primary objective is riding the rides, Disneyland Paris might not be for you. This is not to say it doesn’t have any good attractions, but Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland all have much more robust ride rosters. Paris is about on par with Shanghai Disneyland or Hong Kong Disneyland in terms of attractions.
With that said, Disneyland Paris is no slouch when it comes to iconic attractions. I would argue that it has the very best versions of both Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Pirates of the Caribbean, plus a fantastic Fantasyland, and a really fascinating reinterpretation of Haunted Mansion via Phantom Manor. And although I don’t love Hyperspace Mountain (it’s a rough ride), it’s likewise unique and well worth doing. Then there are the many walk-through attractions, all of which are superlative. If you’re a fan of classic Disney attractions, you’ll appreciate all of the twists offered on them by Disneyland Paris.
Although we’re primarily focused on Disneyland Paris here, I would add that the relaunched Disney Adventure World has a surprisingly robust ride roster. There’s a good mix of headliners and secondary attractions, some of which are unique to France. The only fan-favorite that I think is terribly overrated is Crush’s Coaster.
One of the strongest selling points of Disneyland Paris is entertainment.
Disneyland Paris arguably does stage shows, parades and other productions better than any other Disney resort complexes on the planet. The costuming is second-to-none, choreography is elevated, and there’s a distinctly Parisian sensibility to entertainment, as it aspires to be something more than standard Disney fare.
If you’re the type of person who just watches entertainment in passing or casually, you may not notice a difference. There’s also the possibility that you’ll dislike some of the more avant-garde productions at Disneyland Paris. But the discerning eye looking for something fresh will appreciate the unconventional approach and added emphasis.
The top three stage shows, without question, are Lion King: Rhythms of the Pride Lands in Disneyland Paris, plus TOGETHER: a Pixar Musical Adventure and Mickey and the Magician in Disney Adventure World. All are 10/10 must-do productions. Beyond these stage shows, there are seasonal shows and parades, atmospheric acts, and nighttime spectaculars. The nighttime spectaculars often feature fireworks and drones, two things that anyone, regardless of discernment, can appreciate.
If food is an integral part of your Disney experience, and you find yourself combing the internet looking for new snacks to try or menu changes at restaurants at resort hotels, Disneyland Paris might not be for you. Not only does Disneyland Paris serve the worst food of any Disney resort in the world, but it also lacks counter service menu variety and there’s not much going on in the way of worthwhile snacks.
This is not to say you cannot put together a respectable dining itinerary at Disneyland Paris that has some serviceable to good meals in it, you’re just going to have to work harder at it. You’re also going to have limited choices on the counter service front in that itinerary, along with limited operating hours.
All of these issues have persisted for decades, and it’s shocking just how bad the food scene is at DLP given its proximity to Paris. It really is far and away the worst Disney food park in the world, and not just a matter of unreasonable expectations of a Parisian park. Most of the cuisine is somewhere between terrible and utterly inedible.
The plus side, though, is that Disneyland Paris has the best themed restaurants anywhere. Walt’s – An American Restaurant alone is like a visit to Club 33 (except with better history and open to the general public). Suffice to say, on your first few days at Disneyland Paris, you can having a fun experience with some okay to good cuisine.
Once you’re on trip 2 or 3, you’ve pretty much depleted all of the decent options and will be returning to old “favorites” (air quotes). We’ve eaten at Earl of Sandwich more than anywhere else at DLP, and that’s not because we’re huge sandwich enthusiasts.
Dining is my biggest frustration with Disneyland Paris, and by a rather wide margin. Consider skipping dinner in the parks and eating at the aforementioned Earl of Sandwich, Five Guys, or McDonald’s in Disney Village. That might sound suspiciously like our “simple” American tastes shining through. It isn’t. We’ve done magnificent Michelin restaurants in Paris proper.
If you want an experience that includes a lot of cheery “have a magical day!” interactions, Disneyland Paris might not be for you. French culture is dramatically different than United States’ culture. This is something I’ve written about with regard to Disneyland Paris multiple times, so I apologize if you’ve already read it once or seven times, but it bears emphasizing since it’s such a common complaint from Americans who have culture shock upon visiting Disneyland Paris.
French ideas of service are different than those in the United States. A good example of this is at restaurants, where servers take a much more subdued approach, and are far more hands off. For many Americans, this is perceived as the server “shunning” them, and is construed as poor service.
For the French, this is part of the culture. I’m hardly an expert on France, but the ‘cafe culture’ is evident throughout the country. People go to restaurants to become engrossed in conversation, and any intrusion, including an assertive server, is an impediment to that. You’ll also see far fewer people playing on their phones in France’s restaurants.
In other words, what you might perceive as rude is through the prism of your culture. Part of international travel is necessarily temporarily becoming immersed in another culture.
Beyond service in restaurants, there’s the general demeanor of Cast Members. Part of this is an extension of French culture. Another part is that for most Cast Members, working at Disneyland Paris is just another job.
Disney is not part of the cultural fabric in France like it is in Anaheim, where there’s still a reverence towards Walt Disney or in Orlando, a place to which many people relocate to fulfill dreams of working for Disney. At least, this is the perception among American Disney fans.
Personally, I don’t feel there’s an appreciable gap between Anaheim and Paris. We’ve encountered so many passionate Cast Members over the years at Disneyland Paris, to the point that I view this as a flat-out misconception.
This was especially evident when recently visiting for the relaunch of Disney Adventure World. While there are undoubtedly many Cast Members for whom the role is just a job, there are as many or more who feel pride and a vested interest in upholding the Disney magic.
Like the other parks, some go the extra mile to make an indelible impression on guests. Many others do not, instead going about their jobs in a workmanlike manner, competently getting their work done. Parisians are also not big on feigned enthusiasm, so those throwaway “have a magical day” platitudes are less common at Disneyland Paris.
Between that cultural difference and the higher likelihood of Cast Members addressing guests in a more brusque or blunt manner, I think there’s often the misconception that Parisian Cast Members are rude. Make an effort to interact with more of them, and you’ll find just as many who view themselves as the keepers of Walt’s flame or makers of magic. Suffice to say, service at Disneyland Paris is not better or worse; it’s just different.
Hopefully this helped you determine whether Disneyland Paris is for you. If you’re still on the fence, I say go!
For many domestic Disney fans, foreign travel can be intimidating. Disneyland Paris is the perfect ‘gateway’ to the international parks, and easily the most approachable of the bunch. Thanks to English being such a common second language in France, that ‘barrier’ doesn’t really exist. Transportation is also easier, cuisine is more crowd-pleasing, and it’s just generally simpler to plan.
One of the secret strengths of Disneyland Paris is its ability to ‘unlock’ other international travel. This was the very first place we traveled outside North America, and we’ve now visited countless countries and even lived the digital nomad life abroad for a while. It was all thanks to that first trip to Paris, which not only allayed our fears, but made us eager to explore the world.
We’ve since traveled with a toddler to Disneyland Paris, and frankly, it was easier than Walt Disney World thanks to the layout of the resort. Ditto Paris as a whole thanks to transportation and walkability. (We now know where all of the best playgrounds in Paris are located!)
If you need assistance with overcoming planning hurdles, we highly recommend working with Be Our Guest Vacations, a no-fee Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, to help you navigate the ins and outs of Disneyland Paris.
Their agents have firsthand experience with DLP and can offer personalized and up-to-date advice, book your vacation, take advantage of the lowest DLP pricing, and help take the stress out of planning.
As an added bonus, once you’ve done DLP, it’s much easier to do Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai! Although Tokyo DisneySea and Disneyland are our two favorite parks in the world, we typically recommend fans who are intimidated by international travel start with Disneyland Paris to help with the learning curve.
The other thing not mentioned above is proximity to Paris, which is one of the greatest cities in the world. Any trip to Disneyland Paris should include as much or more time in Paris proper, and there is no shortage of incredible experiences to be had in the city. To be honest, this is why I never feel guilty about recommending a trip to Disneyland Paris. I think reasonable minds may differ on Disneyland Paris, but if you do not like Paris as a city, that’s on you.
For the basics of planning a visit to Disneyland Paris, check out our Disneyland Paris Trip Planning Guide. Find the best place to stay in Disneyland Paris Hotel Reviews. Check out 101 Disneyland Paris Tips for some (101, to be exact) of our best random tips for doing DLP like a pro. See Disney Park Tickets Tips & Tricks for ways to save on tickets. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. Finally, for advice beyond Disney, check out our Ultimate Travel Guide to Paris, France.
YOUR THOUGHTS
If you’ve visited Disneyland Paris, what’s your take on who it’ll appeal to most? Did you enjoy your visit, or would you rather stick to other Disney Parks? Anything with which you disagree in this post? Any questions? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!
We, along with our millennial daughter and son-in-law, were in Paris (one of the greatest cities to visit as you say) and visited Disneyland Paris for the third time ( just before Adventure World fully opened the new sections. You are spot on with your assessment. We had a great time. The level of theming and design is above anything elsewhere, and the cast members were uniformly helpful and friendly. Yes. Meals and service take much longer than in the U.S., but that’s Europe in general. We have found three really good places to eat: Walt’s, of course, one of the best; Bistrot Chez Remy (beautifully themed and very good food): and Annette’s in the Disney Village area, which we love for its theming, design, and excellent burgers. Disneyland Paris is truly worth going to, for all the reasons you mention. Excellent article.
The park is beautiful but the biggest downside is that it’s so far removed from its last upgrade, with no major new attractions added in ~30 years. I get that Adventure World needs a LOT of attention but surely they could’ve spared a little cash for the castle park too. Expand Fantasyland with an original attraction inspired by a French Disney IP, like the Maleficient roller coaster (which would also help attract the missed audience segments).
Tom, we just went in early June, and I have to say – the reddit sub for Disneyland Paris was much harsher than the park experience itself! There seems to be a very strong anti-American sentiment there where any criticism against the park, even if balanced or echoed by other non-Americans, is strongly condemned and turned into ‘it’s an American experience only’. Fortunately, we didn’t have any negative in person encounters with Parisiens and only a couple of uncomfortable experiences with CMs.
As someone who wanted to love the park and went just a couple of years ago, I do think the park has some management differences that causes friction separate from cultural expectations. Guest services tend to turn people away, and CMs at times can be brusque. They tend to stand back rather than lean in and offer help. Even though premier pass isn’t used as often, they had a greater than typical ride breakdown when we went which nearby rides absorbed AND they gave those standby guests premier returns, leading to inaccurate times. The app was buggy, and the premier one pass would offer return times that made us go back and forth between the parks without any ability to change it. It was also final sale.
That said, it’s a nice enjoyable park, reminds me more of Disneyland in CA, and we especially enjoyed Walt’s. You’re right, we didn’t find there to be enough rides for older tweens, but I can see it as an ambient park. There seemed to be more rides for younger kids. Most CMs were fine, and only a couple were unnecessarily rude. I did notice more prevalent smoking even outside the designated areas, but it wasn’t too bad. I also noticed that opening doors for others isn’t really a thing there. When I would do it for others, it was fine not to get a thank you or acknowledgement but they just kept walking through without putting out a hand for the next guest. Once I held open the door for over 10 people before I finally gave up. For the record, I’m a mom traveling with 2 boys… again, it’s just a cultural difference and not necessarily rude. But I just thought it was ironic how the subreddit kept calling/assuming all Americans were rude! We really tried our best to be good tourists and followed your primer to make an effort by starting off in French… still felt a little unwelcome. For that reason, doubt we will be back when Paris is so amazing.
I look at DLP through the prism as a Brit who has lived in the usa for nearly 30 years. It shouldn’t be compared to Disney World, which is 4 parks and ideal for a week long vacation. But Brits usually go for longer, combine with Universal and hotel time in a sunny climate. AFAIK Brits are the only ones who intentionally travel to Orlando in the hottest months of the year.
DLP is perfect for 3d/2n. You can do it in less time, but that leaves room to explore, do shows and repeat rides. Its easy to get to Paris from most of Europe, and so it enables 85% of a Florida disney experience at a fraction of the cost.
The castle park is one of the best versions of a castle park. It’s a v3, learning from Disney Land, Magic Kingdom and years of operations. For example the side passageways parallel to main street. It makes exiting after fireworks much easier and safer. Big Thunder, Space mountain, Pirates and their version of Haunted mansion are all better than the originals. I am not an expert, but their Small world may also be better. Autopia has hybid cars, so less fumes. And the dragon in the basement is something the other parks miss.
The Jules Verne style future world has much more vibe than both state-side parks.
The only “core” ride missing is Jungle Cruise, but it wouldn’t work in a park that needs to be multi-lingual.
As a Paris goer myself I feel you are unfair towards the ride situation. Your article almost reads as the is so little to be done that you need to prepare for a ride-less day.
That is not true ! Quite the opposite ; you’d be hard pressed to finish all rides in a day
We are currently planning our first trip for late April next year. I originally was planning three park days but we’re just only going to have time for two but with hotel stays the night before and last night to maximize our time. I really would like to have more time to just explore, but I think we’ll just have to buy premier access both days and make the most of it. Do you think that’s enough time? We visit Disney World almost every year and spent three days in Tokyo Disneyland, and Disney Sea last May.
2 days is not much but enough to do your priorities – no need AT ALL for express pass ; hardly no one uses it.
Use your morning hour as an hotel guest to do most rides and you’ll be just fine.
Most rides in Paris don’t exceed 30 min waits max apart from really popular ones.
I think 2 full days from park open to close (or close to it) will give you enough time to do the majority of the parks. If I’m not mistakenly late April should be shoulder season so crowds should be manageable. Especially since you’ve got a lot of experience with other Disney parks, you likely “get” how to tour them and many of the tricks from the other resorts for saving time transfer; I found the Paris parks to be more laid back than Florida or Tokyo. Hope you have an amazing time!
Curious about the smoking situation. We are potentially planning a trip to Europe and have been looking into various park: DLP, Europa, Efteling. It seems from what I’ve read all of these places have designated areas but it’s still done throughout the parks with not much enforcement. DLP from my research seems to be the worst offender. Just curious what your experience has been and if it makes the experience of walking around unpleasant at all.
As is typical in Europe, people smoke wherever they feel like, without regard for designated areas.
I don’t think it’s particularly bad, and it’s definitely improved since we started visiting 15 years ago, but it’s much worse than Walt Disney World or Disneyland. It bothers Sarah more than it does me.
We had an amazing experience at Efteling and I highly recommend it. We went in April and it was chilly but we also got to fill the tulip fields in full bloom at Keukenhof. I do not recall people smoking around the park but the crowds were quite low (multiple rides were walk ons or near walk ons).
Visited Disneyland Paris my one and only time in 2020 right before the world shut down. As you say, it is a gorgeous park throughout, and I never had a single negative experience with a cast member.
That said, I still can’t get over the food situation. You’re literally sitting next to one of the best food cities in the world, and it is just so, so bad. The only decent food I had at the resort was at Bistro Chez Remy, and I’m pretty sure Walt’s didn’t open at all during my visit.
Still, I’m excited to go back and see the revitalized Disney Adventure World, though I may still wait until Lion King opens!
Malheureusement, il y a souvent des grèves de transport en France. DLP reste une destination de rêves pour moi petite française. Je n’ai pas la chance de faire d’autres parcs Disney. Après, je tiens à signaler que les parcs sont en France mais se sont des parcs Européens. C’est un mélange de langues et de cultures, oui oui oui. C’est peut être pour cela que nos parcs vous paraissent embêtant. Je les aime je les adore, même si le parcs Studio a besoin de nouveautés car il est très pauvre en attractions et en quartiers.
Not doing any research to find out out how to correctly use the public transit system you intend to use in an unfamiliar city without getting fined €40 for insufficient fare is 100% one’s own fault. It’s absolutely not the fault of RATP or Disneyland.
Disney or whatever company runs Disneyland in Paris is a big enough company that they are partly responsible for the poor situation with the public transportation. It’s not like there wasn’t negociation to have a station built specifically for the park.
I ran into a similar issue. I’m used to a transit system where you can pay when you get off (Japan). I went from the place I was staying, into some downtown large station, and assumed wrongly, that if I needed to do something special there would be a gate before boarding the train to Disneyland. There wasn’t. I followed the signs and ended up on the correct train and given there was no barriers I assumed I could just pay the fee at the end like I can do in Japan. Once I arrived I was told no, there was a fine so nothing to do but pay a €40 fine at the end, or just get back on the train, ride back to downtown, pay the correct fee, and then come back. The fact that that’s a possibility shows the scam. The fact the Disneyland Paris, knows this is an issue and does nothing to help alleviate it even though they clearly have influence over that station shows their complicity.
This is entirely within the Park’s influence to try to correct and to call out as praying on tourists. They could easily tell you when you look up directions to the park “WARNING: You must buy your train tickets before you board the train to avoid a €40 fine”. A tourist is not going to have any idea of the way the system is rigged to fine them for doing nothing wrong. It will be their first time so they have zero knowledge of what they should do. They won’t even have the knowledge that they should be looking up the scam beforehand.
My experience of Paris Disneyland is both as someone that grew up near the original Disneyland and has probably be ~200 times, 2-3 times a year as a kid, 1-3 times a week as an annual passholder for a couple of years, plus other visits. I’ve also been to Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea 3-4 times each (living in Tokyo for many years). Further, I’m a game developer and one of the game designers on a project I worked on brought up this Disney idea of “weiners”. I don’t know where he read this but the basic idea was supposed to be, like dangling a weiner in front of a dog, that Disneyland was consciously designed so that at each point in the park you’re drawn in a certain direction by the vistas you see.
So, pre-California Adventure, from the parking lot you are drawn to the train station as it looms large and is the only thing visible from outside the park. Once you pass under the station and into the city hall square area you see main street with the castle at the other end drawing you toward it. When you get to the center of the park you’re drawn to Tomorrowland, the only direction that’s actually open, where you saw the Peoplemover and the Rocket Jets up in the sky drawing you in. The other 3 directions, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland, are all hidden by gates.
From tomorrowland you eventually make it to the submarine/monorail area and it’s clear there is only one direction to go, toward Fantasyland. That’s about the end of where you can make this claim of wieners, though maybe the path around the Rivers of America from Thunder Mountain area all the way to Bear Country can at least be considered a natural walk.
So, I get to Disneyland Paris, expecting a well designed park but what I found was it’s a mess. Standing in front of Space Mountain in Paris Disneyland there is ZERO sense of where to go next. In fact, I had to look at a map to even figure out there’s a path behind the Journey to the Top of the World cafe. That was also a huge disappointment, having seen the designs for it since Disney Paris was announced and it turns out it’s just a decoration for a restaurant.
Another disappointment was the fact the same ride is repeated 3 times throughout the 2 parks. That’s the Dumbo ride but it’s re-themed multiple times. Disneyland Anaheim now has that problem as well though only repeated twice. The current Rocket Jets and Dumbo are the same ride BUT that didn’t use to be true. When the Rocket Jets were 5 stories in the sky they were vastly more scary/thrilling than the same Dumbo ride at ground level. The same thing is true for “Big Shot” at the Stratosphere Hotel in Las Vegas. It’s a generic launch ride but at 1000ft in the sky the experience is vastly different than the same ride at ground level.
Yet another disappointment was, as you put it, the lack of attractions. There was a walk through maze which I just found like an “oh, we don’t want to spend any money, what’s the cheapest thing we can put here to fill up space”. Similarly the 20 Leagues Submarine turns out just to be a walk through “museum”.
All that said, Space Mountain Paris is arguably the best Space Mountain. As is Thunder Mountain though Thunder Mountain is basically the same concept as it is in Anaheim, Florida, and Tokyo where as Space Mountain is an entirely different ride. In the Hollywood park the Ratatouille ride is one of the best experiences for that type of ride I know of. I liked it more than the new Star Wars ride at Disneyland Anaheim I managed to get on 2 days before the park closed because of COVID in March 2020.
For me, I went to Disneyland Paris by myself on like the 3rd week in September on a weekday in 2015. I got to the parks at 11am, walked both parks in 4 hours including riding everything I wanted to (Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and the Ratatouille ride, and then was out of the parks at 3pm) so if you want
I don’t think that you can ride all the attractions in Disneyland Paris in just one day. Maybe in March, but for sure not in summer. I’ve stayed in the resort in June and in three days we barely completed a good 98% of the attractions (excluding Pirates of the Caribbean, Phantom Manor and Rock n’roller coaster which were closed, and Armageddon and the stunt show because we didn’t have the time).
With all the new attractions in Walt Disney studios I strongly suggest a 4 days stay in the resort
Tom thanks for the review. My wife and I are off to Paris and Venice as well as DLP in a few weeks and looking forward to it. From a point of perspective my first DL was HK and we loved it as it gave us the experience with out knowing what else is out there. Since that first visit we’ve now also been to Anaheim (twice) and most recently Orlando, then just last December back to HKDL. I should point out all these were with our children so this will be first DL experience without them.
What was most evident was how small HK is relative to Orlando particularly but the thing I dont like about Orlando is how spread out it is between the various parks – obviously in part due to the sizes of parks. Also and apologies to DL fans but there simply isnt a whole lot else to do in Orlando after the parks (not just DL but Universal, Legoland, Sea World etc).
So where does this leave me I actually think my favorite is Anaheim Why? Well its big enough to be a solid couple days but not overwhelmingly so. Best part from here in Aus its way closer than Orlando too. So hopefully we get a similar feel from DLP that is a balance between the first visit to DL in HK and not come away from it like we did Orlando and go wow that was huge but left me a little ho hum (though being a Star Wars fan a trip back to East Coast might be in order, and I know lots of you wont agree and thats fine too)
If any one has some hidden gems to find in DL would be interseted in knowing
Disneyland Paris is our dream destination for me and my wife especially for our 5th anniversary.we Love all your travel and posts
Tom–this article is wonderfully written. I am an occasional lurker on this blog and your writing is always insightful, articulate, and hits the right tone every time. Extra kudos for your takes on cultural differences and bridging the gap when it comes to addressing the more polarizing topics regarding certain Disney resorts.
I went to DLP for the first time with my 18 year old as her senior trip two years ago. It was for Thanksgiving and it was so magical. It was lightly snowing and the Christmas decorations were up! We only did a few rides (with NO LINES!!) and walked around taking it all in! This summer are are going back with the rest of the family. As Disney fanactics who frequent the US parks we are very excited! Although it will be after a few weeks of touring Western Europe as a treat to my youngest princess! Do little girls wear princess dresses like at WDW?
Love the blog!
Hi there, DLP local here, yes little girls wear princess dresses in DLP but less than in the US parks. Also a cultural thing, I think. There are several shops selling dresses but I think it is the same as you see in the US. There is a BBB make over in the Disneyland Hotel.
Have fun!
Karen
I was lucky enough to visit both WDW and DLP around 6 times each as a child/teenager – in my memory WDW was always so much better than DLP (probabaly due to Florida being a more ‘exotic’ destination when travelling from the UK). However when I’ve been back to WDW as a late 20-something I realised that a lot of the details I thought I remembered from Magic Kingdom weren’t actually there. So many of the memories of the different lands and attractions that stayed with me were from DLP – the details in Phantom Manor, the castle, Discoveryland and the whole area around big thunder mountain to name just a few. I think this shows just how beautifully designed this park is, it really does capture the magic from a thematic perspective. I’m planning a trip to go back to DLP later this year after a 12 year hiatus and I can’t wait!
Disneyland Paris was a dream destination for me because it was not an easy place to travel to financially. So last year I finally save up and made my long journey there and my woes began even before entering the park. I had pre purchased train tickets in the Paris city zones so I ended up forgetting that I i needed a different train ticket to go to DLP. When I got to the final station I was fined with €40! I was so shocked because logically I would imagine that I could just pay the difference in the ticket fee. It wasn’t not just me, there were at least a dozen other people that were in the same situation. The controllers knew this would happen and they were standing ready by the gate! There were about 6 of them waiting with mobile credit card machines. I felt so bad for this family of 4 that ended up paying €160! I understand that this is my fault for not being more thorough but I was just so freaking excited to go to DLP! I felt like there were tourist scams everywhere in Paris and even the RER was in on it! In the end the Ratatouille ride was meh and the most memorable ride for me was actually the Crush coaster. Sad to say I don’t think I’ll be going back to DLP even if I had the opportunity to go back to Paris.
Did you even actually go to Disneyland Parc? Because the only attraction examples you’ve given are from Disney Studio Paris, which is a sad shell of a pathetic park. Though, I would think Tower of Terror would stand out to you more than Crush’s Coaster.
The other issues you’ve given have nothing to do with Disneyland, so I wouldn’t use them as an example of why Disneyland Paris is a poor destination?