One of the first things people who are travelling to France alone Google is whether or not the country is safe for solo travellers.
Especially for solo female travellers.
I’m here to put your nerves at ease and tell you that France is very safe for solo travellers!
I’ve never had an issue travelling alone in France.
You still need to be aware of local scams (pick pocketing can be a major issue in Paris), but you’re no more at risk as a solo traveller than if you were in a group.
If you’re aware of your surroundings and have your wits about you, you should have no issue travelling alone in France!
And if you’re ever in a situation where you start to feel a bit uncomfortable, listen to your gut and turn around.
Or scurry home as quickly as possible if you’re on your way back to your hotel.
You probably won’t feel uncomfortable as a solo traveller in France, and it is a very safe country for tourists.
Just be aware of those pick pocketers and keep your valuables safely stored in your bag and out of reach!
4. But It Can Feel a Bit Sketchy at Night
Okay, okay. I know this kind of goes against my last point, but hear me out.
The only time I’ve felt even the slightest bit uncomfortable alone in France is at night.
I’m not normally one to stay out past dark, but I was coming home from a hockey game and had no choice.
I’m specifically thinking about Paris. The streets are kind of eery to me at night, and I can’t quite place my finger on why.
There isn’t any reason to be afraid or feel sketched out, but I know quite a few people who hate walking outside in the evening in Paris.
Even my dad hates it!
I’m not saying you shouldn’t be out after dark. I just want you to be prepared to maybe have your heart beat a little faster and feel the need to walk a little bit faster.
It isn’t everywhere in France, but I’ve found that some of the larger cities have the same after dark vibe that makes my heart race.
You may have a different experience though!
I just want to give you my experience, so you can be a little bit more prepared if you are out and about at night.
But definitely take the metro to as close to where you’re going as possible!
Not buying your train tickets in advance is one of the biggest mistakes anybody who visits France can make.
I’ve made the mistake too many times in the past, and my wallet hurts because of it.
Many places in Europe (France included) determine the price of a train ticket around when you purchase your ticket.
The earlier you purchase your ticket, the less expensive it is. Leave buying your ticket until the last minute, your wallet is going to hurt like mine does!
I know not everybody likes to pre-plan their trips (me included!), but you should definitely pre-plan and purchase your train tickets in France.
I’m not talking about the ticket prices going up by a few Euros closer to the day of departure.
I’m talking the price difference could be €50 to €100 more!
I’ve had to not go on a day trip from Paris because I didn’t book my train ticket in advance, and it was too expensive.
Like it was going to be over €300 round-trip for a two-hour train ride each way!
So, learn from my mistakes and book your train tickets early!
I know this isn’t exactly a tip for travelling alone in France, but I need you to know this! It’ll make your France trip go so much smoother and save you a ton of money.
Especially if you’re visiting multiple cities on your trip!
France- especially Paris- is a very popular tourist destination.
It is so busy that there isn’t an off-peak season anymore. You will always run into crowds on your France trip no matter what time of year you visit.
Luckily you can pre-buy tickets to the most popular tourist destinations.
This will save you hours waiting in the stand-by line, which is kind of a waste of time!
Standing in the stand-by line is bad in the best of circumstances, but it is even worse when you’re alone in France.
You don’t have anybody to pass the time with. You’re stuck standing in line alone, and the time seems to drag by painfully slow.
You do not want to go through that experience!
In a lot of instances, you don’t need to buy your tickets too far in advance. I’ve been able to snag a ticket to the Louvre two days before I visited.
That isn’t guaranteed to happen though!
The earlier you can book your ticket, the more likely you are to get the date and time slot you want.
At peak times (like summer and spring break), you probably won’t be able to get a ticket to the most popular tourist attractions if you leave buying a ticket to the last minute.
And the stand-by line is even longer during peak season!
Even if you decide to visit a certain attraction the night before, jump onto their website and see if you can get a ticket for the next day.
It doesn’t hurt to try, and you may just get lucky!
8. Accommodation is Fairly Expensive
You can find inexpensive food and get by without spending a ton of money on tourist attractions, but the price of accommodation in France is going to kill your budget!
Even a bed in a hostel dorm will run you upwards of €50 in the most expensive cities like Paris and Nice.
And there isn’t a way to get around the cost of accommodation.
You need to sleep somewhere!
And preferably not on the street!
It is important to realize that accommodation isn’t cheap before you start your solo trip to France.
As a solo traveller, you’re 100% responsible for every penny spent on your trip, and you want to make sure you have the budget for it before you commit to your trip.
And when you’re alone in France (or anywhere for that matter), you don’t want to cheap out and stay in an unsafe, crappy area.
The good news is that you can often find very affordable Airbnbs in France.
I often find it is cheaper to rent out an entire apartment than it is to book a hotel.
Look into hotels, hostels, and Airbnbs in your desired neighbourhood. Find the right option for you and decide if you have the budget for it.
But please don’t show up in France thinking it is as affordable as its neighbour to the left Spain. It isn’t, and you need to be prepared to level up your accommodation budget while in France.
9. Public Wifi Isn’t Widely Available
It pains me to say this, but public wifi isn’t widely available in France.
You would think for such a financially wealthy country they would have a strong wifi network, but they don’t.
In a lot of cases, even restaurants and cafés don’t offer guests complimentary wifi!
Shocking. I know.
It is super important you have a plan on how you’re going to access the internet while you’re alone in France.
In a lot of cases, you can 100% rely on your hotel wifi and go without internet access while you’re out and about exploring during the day.
However, there are many instances where you need more reliable access to the internet, and that is when you need to come up with a plan.
No matter what, you need a plan before you hit the ground in France.
It is super annoying when you need to access the internet for some reason and aren’t able to.
Or when you’re stuck in a super long line because you didn’t pre-buy tickets to the Louvre and now need to kill two hours in line.
No matter what your plan to access the internet is, you’re going to connect to a public wifi network on a regular basis.
Using public wifi puts your online data at risk, and there is nothing worse than having your banking information stolen while you’re on vacation and having to cancel all your bank cards while you’re in France.
No fun at all!
The only way you can protect your online data is by installing a VPN on your devices. It makes using public wifi just as safe as using your home internet where you’re the only person who knows the password!
As you can imagine, I’ve used a ton of different VPNs over my many years of travel.
To be frank, most of them suck.
They slow down your phone to the point where you get frustrated at not being able to use the internet normally, and you turn the VPN off.
Or at least you do if you’re like me and don’t have the patience for slow wifi.
The only VPN I’ve used for years (and will continue to use for years) is NordVPN.
It is the fastest VPN on the market by a mile, which is why I recommend it to you (a fellow solo traveller).
You need to need to need to keep your online data safe when you travel alone.
Having your personal information stolen is 100% worse when you’re a solo traveller. There is nobody else around for you to rely on, and you have to find a solution to a difficult problem all by yourself.
You don’t need that hassle in your life- especially when the solution is so simple!
The cost monthly cost of a two-year NordVPN subscriptionis less than the price of a single Starbucks latte.
There is zero excuse to leave your online data unprotected.
I always say if you can afford to travel, you can afford to protect your online information with a VPN.
Do you feel more prepared for your solo trip to France now?!
I hope this article gave you some tips and tricks to help you while you’re alone in France!
France is an amazing country, and I highly recommend everybody visit it once in their life.
It is also a very easy country for solo travellers. Even if it is your first solo trip, you’ll be able to navigate travelling alone in France without issues.
English is widely spoken, the trains are easy to navigate, and the people are always willing to help if you have any issues.
So, if you’re dying to go to France but nobody in your life will go with you, now you can confidently book a solo trip to France knowing you’ll have an amazing time.
France is the most visited city in Europe and sees nearly 87 million tourists per year. If you’re planning a trip to Europe, you’re most likely visiting France at some point. You need to know about how wifi in France works to have a great trip!
It is fairly difficult to find free wifi in France. You either have to go to cafés, restaurants, or a few select tourist attractions like the Palace of Versailles. A better way to access reliable wifi in France is to rent a pocket wifi. It is affordable and gives you access to the internet 24/7 no matter where you are.
Another alternative is purchasing your own Skyroam pocket wifi. This solution is only for the most serious of travellers, and we’ll talk about it more near the end of this post.
People have different travel styles and wifi needs. This post will walk you though all the different ways you can access wifi in France to help you choose the best choice for you, your travel style, and budget.
No matter how you choose to access wifi in France, you need to protect your online safety, data, and privacy by installing a VPN on your phone. It is the only way to keep prying eyes and hackers from accessing your online activity.
For such a large and technologically advanced country, France doesn’t have a very good public wifi infrastructure.
There are a limited number of places you can find free wifi in France.
The most likely and common place to access complimentary wifi is at a café or restaurant. Some popular tourist attractions like most museums and Disneyland Paris offer guests free wifi.
A few of the major, hub train stations in France also offer free wifi, and, of course, all the airports allows guests to access wifi for free.
But you’re not really going to spend that much time in train stations and airports!
As mentioned, cafés and restaurants are the best place to go if you want to access free wifi in France.
Not every café has wifi, but you’re more likely to find free wifi at a café then at a restaurant. Especially if the café is close to a popular tourist attractions!
Restaurants, on the other hand, are hit or miss. Many mom-and-pop restaurants don’t offer free wifi. They want the guests to socialize, mingle, and drink. Very French of them!
Chain restaurants are the place to go if you need wifi while you eat.
They have a more global audience and expectation to offer free wifi in their restaurants than local businesses do.
Not to say no local restaurants offer wifi. A lot of them certainly do, but you can’t expect them to.
There may be a sticker on the restaurant door proclaiming they offer guests complimentary wifi. Look for that sticker if you want to eat at a local restaurant and have access to free wifi.
Side note: I highly recommend you dine at local restaurants in France. They are incredible!
If push comes to shove, you can always fall back on McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Subway to give you a hit of free wifi in France.
You just need to order a drink or something small, and the wifi passcode should be on the bottom of your receipt.
The macarons at McDonald’s in France are surprisingly good. Be sure to try them out if you stop by to McDonald’s to use their free wifi!
Another sneaky tip is to go to a café or restaurants inside a hotel. There is a pretty good chance they offer free wifi!
Hotels and Airbnbs
The most obvious and easiest place to access free wifi in France is through your hotel or Airbnb. Guests expect hotels and Airbnbs to provide complimentary wifi, and there is hardly a room that doesn’t in this day and age!
This is the most reliable place to access free wifi in France.
You’re at your hotel every day, know they offer free wifi, and can stop in throughout the day if you desperately need wifi.
The downside to it is, obviously, you can only access it when you’re inside the hotel. It doesn’t really help you much when you’re outside the hotel exploring France.
There is one major exception to this!
You can download Google Maps offline and use it help navigate the city even if you don’t have access to wifi when you’re out and about.
This can be a huge lifesaver and helps you feel more confident and adventurous when you’re exploring a city.
There is hardly anything worse then getting lost and having zero idea how to get back to your hotel. Having access to maps offline helps you feel more confident in exploring outside the main tourist hub!
Hotel and Airbnb wifi is still public wifi even though it has a password! Most people have a false sense of internet privacy when using hotel wifi!
You still need a VPN on your phone, laptop, and tablet to protect your online privacy, data, and safety!
Don’t get lured into a false sense of confidence!
And in case you’re wondering, 90% of the time I book my hotels through hotels.com.
I love their reward program and how easy it is to earn free nights!
Renting Pocket Wifi in France
Renting pocket wifi is the best alternative to relying on public wifi in France.
Pocket wifi is a personal is a portable wifi router that gives you 24/7 access to the internet no matter where you are!
It is super small and lightweight. You can stick it in your pocket or purse and not even know it is there!
You can connect multiple people to one pocket wifi device, so your whole group can access wifi in France for one low price!
I personally recommend Hippocket wifi. It has the most affordable rates in Europe. It is based in France, so it is really easy to pick up and drop off your pocket wifi too!
One really important thing to note about renting pocket wifi in France is that you need to use a credit card. You cannot rent pocket wifi with a debit card or an Interac debit card.
This protects the pocket wifi supplier. They can easily charge your credit card if you lose or damage the device. It becomes more difficult if someone pays be debit card. They have no way to get their money except asking politely and hoping for the best.
Outside of having to use a credit card to rent your pocket wifi, there is very little downside.
It is affordable (especially if you split the cost), convenient, and easy to use!
You just connect to the pocket wifi internet network, and you’re good to go.
It doesn’t get any easier than that.
The batter lasts all day, so that is another huge plus!
Picking Up Your Pocket Wifi in France
There are four ways you can get your pocket wifi device:
Picking it up a Charles de Gaulle Airport or Orly Airport
Having it delivered to your hotel or Airbnb
Picking it up at a post office or partner locations
Having it mailed to your home and getting it before you leave for France
The first three options are free, but you have to pay for the cost of mailing if you choose the fourth option.
Option four is by far the least attractive option. Not only does it cost more, but you also have to trust the postal delivery service will get it to you in time.
You don’t want the stress of your pocket wifi being delayed in the mail!
If you’re flying into CDG or ORLY, picking up the pocket wifi there is the easiest method in my opinion.
Returning Your Pocket Wifi Device
The only way to return your pocket wifi device is mailing it.
It is free if you mail it from within France, but there are fees if you mail it from another country.
The envelope costs €9 if you mail it from a different European country and €15 if you mail it from USA.
If you mail it from a different country, you are responsible for purchasing a tracked envelope to France and paying whatever it costs.
Obviously, it is most cost effective to mail it from within France.
You can use your Hippocket pocket wifi device throughout Europe, it is possible to use it for your entire Eurotrip. If you’re not flying home from a French airport, the cheapest option is to pay for the Europe return envelope and mail it before you go home.
Skyroamis the perfect wifi alternative for anyone who travels multiple times per year!
It is your own personal pocket wifi device that you can take on any trip and always be connected to the internet!
Skyroam works in nearly every country with a few (obvious) exclusions like Cuba that don’t have the infrastructure to support personal wifi routers.
I purchased my Skyroam in 2019 and love it. I can’t imagine travelling without it at this point!
You have to pay a single up-front cost for the device and then pay to use access the wifi after that. You can either purchase single day passes or a monthly wifi pass.
The device is fairly priced in my opinion, but I think the daily wifi passes are a bit expensive.
The first is to buy a monthly pass rather than multiple single day passes. If you’re travelling for more than 9 days in a month, buying a monthly pass is more cost effective.
The other option is to wait until Skyroam has a sale on day passes. They normally have sales every quarter, and you can save a fair amount of money on day passes.
The normal deal is buy 10 day passes and get 5 free, but it can vary from sale to sale.
You need to be cautious when buying day passes in a sale though. The bonus day passes have an expiry day, so you need to make sure you’ll use the bonus day passes before they expire.
Full price day passes do not expire!
Skyroam is a great investment for people who travel on a regular basis and want reliable access to the internet.
Most people overlook protecting their online data when they travel.
They don’t realize how easy it is for a hacker to access your online data, steal it, and sell it when using a public wifi network.
Please don’t be that person!
It more important now than ever before to protect your online data. We all store an incredible amount of personal information on your phones, laptops, and tablets that is simple isn’t worth the risk!
I know people who had their banking information stolen while on holiday. They spent hours on the phone with the bank trying to sort it out, and it ruined their vacation.
Not to mention how difficult it is to travel after you cancel all your bank cards.
Luckily, it is incredibly easy to protect your online data!
You simply need to install (and have turned on) a VPN (a.k.a. a Virtual Private Network).
It essentially cloaks your electronic devices and acts as if you’re on your personal wifi network where you’re the only one who knows the password.
Hackers cannot access your personal data and steal it no matter how hard they try!
Having a VPN is non-negotiable. Every traveller needs it.
If you can afford to travel, you can afford to protect your online safety and personal data!
My Favourite VPN
The only VPN I like (and I’ve tried quite a few over the years) is NordVPN.
It is the quickest VPN on the market, and it is a much more enjoyable user experience because of it. VPNs have a bit of a reputation for slowing devices to a painful crawl that makes users abandon using them.
Another amazing feature is that you can choose what country it looks like you’re using the internet from.
You can be in France but set your VPN to show you’re in South Korea. Once you’re showing as in South Korea, you can access their Netflix library and watch shows and movies you wouldn’t be able to access in France.
I don’t know if you’ve been to South Korea, but they have a bombNetflix catalogue!
NordVPN runs sales basically all year ’round, so you never have to pay full price to protect your online data!
You can literally protect up to 6 devices for less than the cost of a Starbucks coffee every month.
There is no excuse to protect your online data with a VPN. It is worth the small expense to have the peace of mind to know no prying eyes can see what you’re doing online!
As you can see, there is a lot you need to know about wifi in France!
The most important thing for you to know is that public wifi in France isn’t all that accessible, and you may want to make alternative plans if you need reliable access to the internet.
Going to cafés, restaurants, and train stations only gets you so far, and you’re likely not going to have access to the internet for the majority of the day.
That is alright for a lot of tourists, but plenty of people have to be connected to the internet.
In that case, renting pocket wifi in France is the perfect alternative. It is affordable, easy to use, and convenient. Skyroam is the best public wifi alternative for frequent travellers though.
No matter how you choose to access the internet in France, you need to protect your online data with a VPN. There are no ifs, ands, or buts on that one!
As long as your online data is protected, you can go explore France care free no matter how you get your wifi!
France is an extraordinary country.
The food, sights, and culture is amazing. France often gets a bad wrap because of Paris, but it doesn’t deserve it.
Paris isn’t my favourite city in France, and I highly encourage you to get outside Paris and see what the rest of the country has to offer.
You’ll be amazed at how incredible and underrated it is!
Meeting Disneyland Paris characters is similar to meeting characters at Disneyland California or Disney World, but there are few unique things you need to know about meeting Disneyland Paris characters in order to have a great experience.
Knowing the 10 things on this list will help you have an amazing experience meeting Disneyland Paris characters and leave the park with magical memories.
I’ll even help you track down some ultra rare characters!
Buckle in and get ready to become an expert on Disneyland Paris characters!
And be sure to share this article with all of Disnerd friends by using the social share buttons on the top and side bars!
This is a huge difference from Disney World and Disneyland!
You cannot get a fastpass to meet any of the Disneyland Paris characters.
You have to stand in line to meet every single character that meets and greets guests at Disneyland Paris. Even the most popular characters that can have a line that is over an hour long!
Meeting Disneyland Paris characters can be a time suck because of this!
Not only can you not get a fastpass to meet characters in Disneyland Paris, but the long lines can make it difficult to plan your day around meeting them and using your fastpasses for other attractions.
The fastpass system in Disneyland Paris is a bit tricky and has some oddities that no other Disney park has.
I have a complete post about Disneyland Paris fastpasses here. Give it a read because you need to know this information in order to plan meeting characters around using your fastpasses!
The fact that Disneyland Paris characters do not offer a fastpass option means you need to have a strategy in place for your visit to Disneyland Paris if you want to meet characters.
Having a strategy will help you see and do everything you want without feeling stressed or out of time.
The other 9 tips in this list will give you the information you need to prepare a strategy for meeting Disneyland Paris characters!
2. Mickey Mouse Always Has Huge Line
This has to be the most frustrating part of Disneyland Paris not offering fastpass for character meet and greets.
Everybody wants to meet Mickey, but the line is always over an hour long!
You have to tough it out and stand in a long, slow-moving line just to meet the mouse himself.
I’ve never had the patience to stand in the queue to meet Mickey at Disneyland Paris, which is a shame. The last time I was at Disneyland Paris, the line was almost 2 hours long to meet him!
It is a shame that they have designed it this way. It forces people to choose whether they want to meet Mickey or go on rides.
And on top of that, you need to make sure you have enough time to wait to meet Mickey between everything else you have planned for the day.
It can be surprisingly difficult to find the time to meet Mickey. Between parades, dining reservations, fastpasses, and shows, there aren’t that many opportunities in a day to wait over an hour to meet Mickey Mouse.
First thing in the morning and last thing in the evening are the best times to meet Mickey Mouse.
The line will still be long, but it will be shorter than any other time of day.
You may only have to wait 30 to 45 minutes!
If it is important to you to meet Mickey, carve out a dedicated chunk of time in your Disneyland Paris itinerary. Don’t plan anything else during that time and patiently wait in line to meet him.
He meets with guests pretty much from park open to park close, so you can plan to meet him whenever works best for you.
3. The Secret Time to Meet Disneyland Paris Characters
I’m going to let you in on a secret, but you have to promise not to tell anymore.
Disneyland Paris is one of those parks that lets guests in before the park officially opens. This helps get guests into the park and prevents people from getting grumpy and restless in line.
A few other parks do this (like Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom), but only Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris let you meet with characters before the park opens!
Disneyland Paris often lets guests into the park half an hour before the park officially opens. This is the best time to meet Disneyland Paris characters.
You can only meet characters that are at the front of the park along Main Street U.S.A., but there are normally 3 or 4 characters ready to meet guests!
Most often they are Donald, Daisy, Pluto, and Goofy, but sometimes there are other characters.
I always get to Disneyland Paris early and meet the characters hanging out in the front before the park officially opens.
It is the best and quickest way to meet Disneyland Paris characters. You can knock two or three characters out before the park even opens!
The, obvious, downside to this is that you don’t get to choose what characters you meet.
You have to be happy with whatever characters are out and about on the day you’re visiting.
The Other Benefit
The other advantage to meeting characters before the park opens is it puts you in a great position to ride a few rides with no wait.
You’re already in the park before it opens, so you can be at the entrance to whatever land you want to visit first right at park open.
This basically ensures you walk right onto at least one popular attraction, and you can often ride two or three attractions with basically no wait!
It is a fantastic strategy!
You meet some awesome characters and then ride a few rides with little to no wait time.
The Disneyland Paris app will be your best friend!
It lets you check real-time wait times for attractions and lets you check the character schedule.
The app is more useful than the park map because it tells you when characters are meeting out and about and not in official locations. The park map tells you about Mickey mouse, the princesses, and sometimes when characters meet on Main Street U.S.A.
On the app, you can find out if characters are meeting in different locations around the park.
You can see if there are characters meeting in Fantasyland, Frontierland, and more specifics about what characters are meeting on Main Street U.S.A. and when.
The app is so much more useful than paper maps, so be sure you have the app downloaded on your phone before you arrive at Disneyland Paris!
The one thing the app is lacking is providing wait times for characters outside of Mickey Mouse and the Star Wars characters.
Since the characters that meet in unofficial locations don’t have a place to track wait times and rely on cast members to cut the line off when it is full, there is no current way for the app to track a wait time for these characters.
Hopefully that technology comes in the future!
Wifi at Disneyland Paris
The wifi at Disneyland Paris has become infinitely better in recent years!
The first time I visited Disneyland Paris, you had to pay to use their wifi, so most guests didn’t have access to wifi while at the parks.
Thankfully, Disneyland Paris has a much better wifi system now! They had to revamp it and make it available to all guests once they launched the Disneyland Paris app.
Everybody who visits Disneyland Paris can access their free wifi system.
It is pretty quick and has decent coverage considering how many people use it throughout the day. Disneyland Paris wifi isn’t perfect, and it can be spotty, but it is much better than the wifi at other Disney parks around the world. (I’m looking at you Disneyland California!)
You don’t need a password and connect to the wifi once you’re in the park.
It is available in both Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios, but you, unfortunately, cannot connect to it in Disney Village.
Hopefully that changes in the future though!
You Have to Keep Your Online Data Safe
One of the major downsides to the wifi at Disneyland Paris is that it is a public network. It has to be, but there are risks associated with connecting to a public network.
Especially a public network that is used by so many people per day and anyone can access since there is no password required!
It is important wherever you travel to have a VPN installed on your phone, tablet, and laptop to protect your online data and privacy.
It becomes even more important to have a VPN on your phone when you’re connecting to a huge public wifi network like the Disneyland Paris wifi system.
You never know who is trying to spy on your online data and potentially steal your information.
You don’t want to deal with the nightmare of trying to call your bank and lock all your credit and debit card because you didn’t protect your online information and someone stole your banking information.
A VPN is the only way to protect your online data and privacy when using a public wifi network!
My Favourite VPN
I’ve used a lot of different VPNs over my years of travel, and NordVPN is the only one I’ve actually liked.
VPNs are notorious for slowing down your wifi connection and making you want to cry out in frustration because it takes five minutes to open a webpage.
It is known for its high-speed connection and not slowing down your devices when you have your VPN turned on.
I can confirm that it is quick. It is by far the quickest VPN I’ve ever used, and it makes using a VPN when travelling so much more enjoyable!
You can protect up to six devices with one NordVPN subscription!
It is so nice to be able to protect all your devices with one account and not have to worry about choosing what devices you want to protect or having to purchase another VPN subscription.
My favourite feature is being able to cloak my location!
If you’re in a country that doesn’t yet offer Disney+, you can change your location in the NordVPN app to make it look like you’re in a country that does offer Disney+.
You can then log into your account and binge all your favourite Disney shows to get in the Disneyland Paris mood!
NordVPN offers sales almost all year ’round, so there is no excuse not to protect your online data!
It is super affordable. Your monthly subscription costs less than one Starbucks latte!
This is one of the most surprising tidbits about Disneyland Paris characters.
Star Wars is popular is one of the most popular movie franchises in the world, but meeting the Star Wars characters isn’t a popular thing to do in Disneyland Paris.
You can walk up to meet Darth Vader or Chewbacca pretty much any time of day and not have to wait more than 10 or 15 minutes!
This is amazing!
It gives you the chance to meet super popular characters without the wait! In the US parks, you can expect to wait about 45 minutes to meet Star Wars characters.
Not in Disneyland Paris!
The Star Wars characters are some of the best Disneyland Paris characters to meet if you only have one day in the park.
It doesn’t take a lot of time out of your day, and you leave with a super fun character interaction!
I’m not sure why the Star Wars characters aren’t that popular at Disneyland Paris, but I’m not complaining about it!
One of the perks of staying at a Disneyland Paris hotel is getting VIP access to characters.
Every morning (and sometimes throughout the day) there are characters in the lobby ready to meet with guests.
You never know what characters will be there to meet you, but they tend to be similar to the characters you meet on Main Street U.S.A. in the morning. Pluto, Donald, Daisy, and Goofy.
But you never know who will show up!
Sometimes the Toy Story characters show up to greet guests! That’s always fun because Woody and Jessie have an incredibly long line in the parks to meet them!
Getting up early and meeting a few characters before you leave for the parks is a great way to check a few things off the to-do list without sacrificing other activities.
You really can have your cake and eat it too if you’re staying at a Disneyland Paris hotel!
Booking a Disneyland Paris Hotel is Frustrating
It doesn’t take much investigating to realize that booking a hotel directly through the Disneyland Paris website is more of a hassle than it should be!
You can only book a hotel package through the Disneyland Paris, which is annoying if all you want is a hotel room.
The package includes the hotel room, tickets, and a dining package.
There is no way to book just a hotel room on the Disneyland Paris website!
You can call and try to book just a hotel room, but they don’t always let you. Plus there isn’t a toll-free phone number, and there are hefty long distance charges if you don’t live in France.
Trust me I know from experience! I spent a lot of money on a phone call to Disneyland Paris to pre-book a dining experience a few years back!
There is, thankfully, an easier way to book just a Disneyland Paris hotel.
An Easier Way to Book a Disneyland Paris Hotel
I always use Hotels.comwhen I book a Disneyland Paris hotel.
You can book a single hotel room through Hotels.com and side step the need to book a package deal. Because, frankly, they aren’t really the best deal.
I like booking my Disneyland Paris hotel through Hotels.combecause they allow you free cancellation up until the day before check-in, and you receive all the special benefits (like an extra fastpass) that hotel guests who booked directly with Disneyland Paris get.
You also earn nights towards your free night certificate, which is a huge bonus.
You get a free night’s stay certificate after you spend 10 nights in any Hotels.com property.
The value of your free night is the median cost of the 10 nights you stayed to earn the certificate, so staying at a Disneyland Paris hotel really boosts up the value of the free night you get!
Hotels.comis the perfect way to get around Disneyland Paris’ weird desire for every hotel guest to buy a package while still getting all the perks of staying on Disney property.
With the added bonus of earning towards a free night in a hotel!
7. You Should Consider Character Dining
A character dining experience is one of the best ways to meet Disneyland Paris characters.
It helps you plan your day, cuts down on the wait time to meet characters, and you get a decent meal out of it too.
There are four different place you can dine with characters:
Plaza Gardens in Disneyland Paris (breakfast) to meet Pooh and friends
Auberge de Cendrillon in Disneyland Paris (lunch and dinner) to meet princesses
Inventions in Disneyland Paris Hotel (lunch and dinner) to meet surprises characters that are always changing
Café Mickey in Disney Village (lunch and dinner) to meet Mickey and friends
Character dining is hugely popular, so you need to make reservations in advance.
You can reserve your table up to two months in advance, and, as of November of 2020, you can only make your reservation over the phone. You can’t make an online dining reservation at this point in time. Unfortunately.
Character dining is great for groups with children who may not want to stand in a long line to meet Disneyland Paris characters.
Character dining lets you get in and out with little to no fuss. The kids love it, and the adults get a little bit of a breather.
It is a win-win in that scenario.
The Downside of Disneyland Paris Character Dining
On the surface, character dining may seem like the perfect way to meet Disneyland Paris characters, but there are a couple of downsides to it.
It is expensive!
Character dining is not cheap.
The price of an adult ranges from €35 to €77 for a meal!
Yikes.
One meal can cut a rather large hole in your Disneyland Paris budget, so you need to consider whether or not it is the right financial decision for you and your group.
There are a lot of other ways you can spend that money.
On the other hand, money may not be an issue, and you’re happy to shell out that type of money for the convenience of meeting characters quickly and easily.
It depends on you and your Disney travel style.
I’ve done a number of character dining experiences. Sometimes I feel like they are worth the money and sometimes I don’t.
It just depends what you want out of your Disney trip.
But you’ve been warned, and now it is up to you to decide if character dining is worth the money or not.
Nobody takes your photo
One of my biggest pet peeves about character dining at every Disney park is that there is no character attendant that can help you get a photo.
Somebody in your group needs to take the photo, so it is difficult to get a group shot at character dining experiences.
You can ask someone at a nearby table to take a photo for you, but that gets old really quickly and becomes rude. That person wants to enjoy their meal as well and doesn’t want to get up and down and take photos for you.
The photo backdrop sucks
It is unavoidable that the background of your photo is going to be terrible.
There will be tables, other people, and a bunch of other unsightly things in the background of your photos.
A character dining experience is not the place to go if you’re looking for the perfect Instagram photo of your time at Disneyland Paris.
How to Decide if a Character Dining Experience is Right for You
It all comes down to how you want your Disneyland Paris trip to look.
If you want to meet a bunch of characters without waiting in long lines and money isn’t an issue, character dining may be perfect for you.
If you want a more professional-looking photograph and backdrop and don’t mind waiting in a long line, then you may want to skip character dining.
There is no right option.
8. Rare Characters at Disneyland Paris
There are a lot of rare characters at Disneyland Paris!
Some of them only come out during special events, and some of them can be found all year ’round.
One of my favourite rare Disneyland Paris characters is the White Rabbit. He hangs out in Fantasyland almost everyday, and it is a really special character to meet.
I’ve been to a lot of Disney parks, and Disneyland Paris is the only park I’ve seen White Rabbit meeting guests.
The Chesire Cat is more difficult to find, but if you’re really, really lucky, you might get to meet him too!
Marie from The Artistocats meets guests quite frequently. She isn’t out and about every day, but you can catch her once a week or so if you’re lucky.
Her brothers Berlioz and Toulouse (my personal favourite) only meet guests during the Christmas season, so they are much more difficult to find.
The best chance you have of meeting the Aristocats brothers is booking a Sunday brunch at Inventions. That is where they are most often seen during the winter months.
No guarantee though!
During the Halloween season, Huey, Dewey, and Louie tend to be out and about in Disneyland Paris. They sometimes meet with guests at the front of the park. If you see them, jump in line!
They’re super rare. The only other place I’ve seen them is in Tokyo DisneySea.
Another amazing rare character that you can sometimes meet in Disneyland Paris is Monseigneur Claude Follothe villain in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
There is a super secret place Frollo hangs out.
It is on the back side of the castle. If you’re at the back of the castle, on the very right-hand side beside the dragon’s cellar, there is a door where characters come in and out of.
This is the best place to spot most characters and the only place you can meet Frollo.
He is super hard to come by, but you may just get lucky enough to see him! I’ve never been so lucky, so please send me photos if you get to meet him!
All things considered, you can meet some pretty rare characters you won’t find in other Disney parks around the world.
9. Characters Don’t Roam Around
In most Disney parks around the world there are characters that roam around certain land throughout the day.
Normally you can see Peter Pan and Captain Hook chasing each other or Alice and the Queen of Hearts interacting, but that isn’t the case in Disneyland Paris.
Characters stay in their location, and there is no interacting with other characters or moving around the land in a semi-performance basis.
This is nice because guests know where and when they can meet Disneyland Paris characters, but it also take a bit of the fun out of it.
It is fun to randomly pass by characters and see them interacting with one another. It adds to the magic of a Disney park.
So you don’t need to have your camera ready to go at any moment in case you see a fun character interaction.
10. Photopass is an Option (and why you don’t need it)
Photopass is one of my favourite add on when I visited Disneyland or Disney World, but you shouldn’t splurge and get it at Disneyland Paris.
Disneyland Paris’ photopass costs €60 if you purchase it in advance and €70 if you purchase it at the park.
The problem is that there aren’t nearly at many photo locations or photographers around the park.
It is really difficult to get your money’s worth with the Disneyland Paris photopass.
It is more cost effective to use your own camera or purchase a single photo that you’re in love with.
I personally don’t see the value in the Disneyland Paris photopass.
Character attendants are more than happy to take a photo of you and the character with your camera.
This is the best way to get a photo with Disneyland Paris characters.
It costs you nothing, but you still have a great memory to take home with you!
Conclusion
Clearly, there is a lot of information you should know about meeting Disneyland Paris characters.
My best piece of advice is be patient, expect to wait in long lines, and have a strategy.
The character system at Disneyland Paris is far from perfect.
They need to introduce a fastpass option for Mickey Mouse and make it so people don’t have to make the hard decision between standing in line for an hour to meet a character or riding an attraction.
There are definite improvements that need to be made, and, hopefully, they make them in the coming years!
But until that time, stay strong and go in search of those ultra rare characters!
Normally, I would end this post by asking you to say hi to Mickey for me, but I’m not going to ask you to stay in line for that long!
But I will ask you to enjoy your time at Disneyland Paris!
It is an amazing park. I think it is underrated and doesn’t get as much love in the Disney community as it should.
Paris is the second most visited city in Europe. It is an amazing city, and if you want to send your friends and family back home photos of your trip, you’ll need to learn about wifi in Paris.
In this article, you’ll learn about public wifi in Paris (spoiler: it isn’t great!), where to find free public wifi, how to keep your online data safe, and a few alternatives to relying on free wifi in Paris.
You’ll be posting Instagram photos from Paris in no time once you’re done reading this article!
It is important to know before you arrive in Paris that free public wifi in Paris isn’t as easy to find as you may think. It is mostly available in train stations, at cafes, and at some tourist attractions.
While finding reliable free public wifi in Paris isn’t always easy, it is significantly easier to find than reliable wifi in London.
But don’t worry!
You’ll be a pro at tracking down free wifi in Paris by the end of this post!
Or you’ll know how to bypass relying on free wifi and have wifi at your fingers tips no matter where you are!
Either way, you’ll be making your friends back home jealous of your trip in no time!
Free Wifi in Paris
If you know where to look, there is a pretty good chance you’ll be able to find free public wifi in Paris fairly easily.
The wifi can be a bit hard to track down, but if you’re an expert (which you are since you’re reading this post!), you know where to look and how to find it even if it seems that there isn’t any wifi in the area.
One thing I want to caution you about before we discuss how to find Paris wifi is internet safety.
There is a big section dedicated to internet safety at the end of this point, but I want to stress that it is essential that you protect your online data.
The best way to do this is through installing a VPN on your phone, tablet, and laptop.
This stops prying eyes from being able to access your online activity and steal your information.
Wifi at Paris Tourist Attractions
Every time I visit Paris more and more tourist attractions offer guests complimentary wifi.
It is hard to believe that the first time I visited Disneyland Paris there was no free internet for guests to use, and you had to pay for it!
The next most obvious place to find free wifi in Paris is at restaurants and cafés.
Plus you’re definitely going to want to spend some time enjoying the best food Paris has to offer. It’s a win-win!
It is pretty common for restaurants to offer free wifi, but some local mom and pop restaurants don’t.
There should be a sticker on the door letting you know whether or not they offer free wifi.
But just because there is a sticker saying they offer free wifi doesn’t always mean it is accurate. There are a number of instances where they say they offer wifi and then you can’t connect.
You may not be able to access the wifi because you need to be a customer of the company providing the wifi or because the wifi is simply spotty.
Either way, just accept that you may not be able to connect to the wifi and enjoy your delicious meal no matter what happens.
But!
There are certain restaurants and cafés that you can be pretty confident have reliable free wifi you can connect to.
They include:
McDonald’s
Starbucks
Restaurants and cafés connected to hotels
Restaurants and cafés really close to the most popular tourist attractions
Most pubs and bars
Free wifi is fairly common in restaurants in Paris.
More often than not, the restaurant you’re eating at will have wifi you can connect to.
This is amazing!
Especially considering so many Western European cities don’t have as much free wifi available as Paris.
It is by no means perfect or extensive, but it is better than a lot of other cities in the region.
Wifi at Paris Hotels and Airbnb
Hotels and Airbnbs are without a doubt the most reliable places to access free wifi in Paris.
Nearly every hotel on the planet offers complimentary wifi to its guests!
The obvious limitation to this is that you can only access it when your’e inthe hotel. This makes it difficult to access wifi for the majority of the day when you’re out exploring Paris.
It has its limitations, but it also has its benefits.
You can use the hotel wifi to download certain apps offline that you may need to access during the day. Google Maps is the most obvious one you’ll want to download and be able to access offline.
You can also download the metro map, so you don’t get lost travelling around Paris.
They aren’t perfect, but hotels are a great way to access free wifi in Paris.
But please do be careful!
Even though they seem safe and secure because there is a password on the wifi, they are still considered public wifi.
This means you’re at risk of being hacked and having your data stolen.
Please be sure to protect yourself by installing a VPN on all of your devices even if the only internet you’re connecting to in Paris is the hotel wifi.
Renting Pocket Wifi in Paris
Renting pocket wifi in Paris is the way to go if you need reliable access to wifi on a regular basis. Pocket wifi gives you access to high-speed internet 24/7 no matter where you are.
The major downfall to renting pocket wifi is that it can be fairly expensive.
My preferred pocket wifi rental company in France in Hippocket Wifi. They have the best prices and are the easiest to pick up and drop off.
It costs anywhere from €4 to €9 per day to rent pocket wifi in Paris.
The longer you rent the device for the lower the per day cost it. The amount of data you need also impacts the price. You can get a plan that is less expensive, but you only get access to 1GB of data per day. The other plan gives you unlimited data, but it is more expensive.
You need to crunch the numbers and figure out which plan fits your needs best.
How to Rent Pocket Wifi in Paris
It is super easy to rent pocket wifi in Paris!
The most important thing you need to know is that you have to reserve your pocket wifi before you arrive in Paris.
You rent the pocket wifi through the Hippocket Wifi website and pay for it before you arrive in Paris.
The rental process is super easy.
All you have to do is enter your personal information, the dates you want to rent the device for, where you’re going to pick it up, and pre-pay for the device rental.
Where to Pick Up Your Pocket Wifi Rental in Paris
You have four options to collect your pocket wifi:
Pick it up at CDG or Orly airports
Have it delivered to your hotel or Airbnb
Get the pocket wifi mailed to you at your home before you leave for Paris
Pick it up at a partner post office or partner store pick-up location
I think picking it up at the airport is the easiest option.
I had a bad experience having a pocket wifi device delivered to the hotel I was staying at one time I was visiting Tokyo Disney Resort and have trust issues now.
I’m also wary about mailing the pocket wifi device overseas (if you live outside of Europe). There are so many variables that could lead to you not getting your device in time. You have no control over any mail or customs delays.
And going to a post office or partner store seems like a bit of an inconvenience.
So I recommend picking your pocket wifi up at the airport if you’re flying into Paris.
You’re going to be there anyways, so you may as well kill two birds with on stone.
Returning Your Pocket Wifi Device
The way you return you pocket wifi in Paris is quite interesting and unconventional.
You only have the option of mailing the device back. You don’t have the option of returning it in-person at the airport.
This is quite odd because basically every other pocket wifi rental company in the world allows you to return the device in person at the airport.
Here are your return options and costs:
Mailing it from France: Free
Mailing it from anywhere else in Europe: €9 fee for the envelope
Mailing it from USA: €15 fee for the envelope
Mailing it from anywhere else in the world: At your own expense (asked to pay for tracking). This gets quite expensive!
The most obvious and easiest return method is returning via mail from within France.
It also saves you some money because you don’t have to pay for the return postage!
Just be sure you’re photographing the process, so you can prove you mailed it in case there are any issues!
One Final Thing to Know About Renting Pocket Wifi in Paris
There is one more really important thing you need to know before renting pocket wifi in Paris.
You need a credit card!
You cannot rent a pocket wifi device if you don’t have a credit card. A credit debit card won’t suffice and a traditional debit card certainly won’t be accepted.
The company uses your credit card as an insurance policy in case you damage, lose, or steal the pocket wifi device.
They simply charge the cost of the device to your credit card and don’t have to worry about tracking you down and trying to get money from you.
If you don’t pay, it is your credit card company’s problem and not theirs.
You won’t be able to rent a pocket wifi device in Paris without a credit card. If you don’t have a credit card, you’ll have to rely on free wifi or consider the next option we’re going to discuss.
Skyroam
Skyroam is the perfect wifi solution for frequent travellers.
You purchase your own personal pocket wifi device for a one-time fee and then purchase either daily or monthly wifi passes.
I’ve had my Skyroam since 2019 and absolutely love it! It has made travel so much more freeing because I don’t have to worry about getting lost and can look up restaurants near me to see what has vegetarian food.
Your Skyroam works pretty much anywhere in the world and gives you reliable access to the internet no matter where you are (excluding planes) or what you’re doing.
There is one downside to it though.
The price.
Purchasing the pocket wifi device is fairly reasonable, but the wifi can get expensive. Specifically, purchasing day passes is a bit of a rip off in my opinion.
A monthly wifi package costs less than 10 day passes, so if you’re travelling for more than a week in a month, it is worthwhile to purchase a month pass instead of day passes.
If you won’t be travelling for 9 or 10 days or more, then be on the lookout for deals and promotions.
Skyroam often runs promotions where you get extra day passes if you purchase a certain day pass bundle using a certain code. Using the proper code is very important!
Most often the promotion is get 5 days free if you purchase 10 day passes.
It is a pretty good deal and an easy way to cut down on costs.
I highly recommend Skyroam to any serious travellers. It is so convenient and cuts down on the hassle of tracking down free wifi or renting pocket wifi in each city you visit.
You can link up to 10 devices on one wifi device, so you can keep your entire group connected for one relatively low price. Especially if you split the wifi cost!
A Lecture About Protecting Your Online Safety and Privacy
Online safety is not talked about enough in the travel sphere. It gets pushed to the side, forgotten or ignored, until it is too late.
I’m here to remind you that you need to protect your online data and privacy.
It is non-negotiable.
You don’t want to ignore your online safety and privacy and then wake up one morning to learn that your banking information has been stolen and someone is using all your money.
It may sound like that is fear mongering, but it isn’t. I’ve had my credit card information stolen, and one of my friends had her entire bank account stolen and was locked out of it.
You don’t want to spend your precious and hard earned vacation time on the phone with your bank trying to get access to your money while you’re in a foreign country.
That’s no fun!
The solution to protecting your online safety is very easy! Simply install a VPN on your phone, tablet, and laptop.
Yup! It is that easy.
It takes 5 minutes to create an account and install it, and you’re 100% protected from prying eyes.
My Favourite VPN
I’ve tried many VPNs throughout my travels and didn’t care for any of them.
Every year I would try a new VPN company and keep switching because I was never happy with what I got and how much it slowed my devices down.
I’ve been using NordVPN since 2018 and have no plans of switching to a new VPN provider!
It is the fastest VPN on the market and doesn’t slow your devices down. This is huge and a game-changer when it comes to VPNs and user experience.
You can connect up to 6 devices on one account. You can easily protect all your devices and possibly a few loved ones’ devices as well!
One of my favourite features is being able to change your location. This allows you to access different countries’ Netflix libraries and watch shows you don’t have access to where you are.
But most importantly, NordVPN keeps your devices super safe.
It is just as safe as using your private home wifi where only you know the password.
You are completely sheltered from any prying eyes. This is important when using public wifi because you never know who else is connected to the same network and what their intentions are.
Most people in the world are nice and have no interest in hacking you, but it just takes one person to ruin your holiday.
NordVPN often runs sales where you can save up to 70% off your VPN. It costs pennies a day, so there is no excuse not to protect your online data!
I’m serious. You need to protect your online information with a VPN!
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many different ways to access wifi in Paris.
You need to figure out what works for you and run with it!
If you’re low maintenance or on a low budget, relying on public wifi in Paris is probably the best option.
People who need reliable access to internet for work or personal reasons should consider renting a pocket wifi device.
Frequent travellers may want to invest in a Skyroam. It may end up saving you some money in the long run if you frequently rent pocket wifi or end up using your phone’s data.
Finally, everybody should be installing a VPN on their devices to keep their online data safe.
Once you know how you want to tackle and find wifi in Paris, you simply need to find a strategy that works with you and the type of internet you’re relying on.
No matter how you choose to get your wifi in Paris, you’ll have an amazing time!
It is a fantastic city with lots to see, do, and eat.
Everybody should visit Paris at least once in their lifetime!
You can’t walk into Disneyland Paris thinking the fastpass system is going to work the same way. You’ll be disappointed and not have an optimized Disneyland Paris fastpass strategy that helps you ride a lot of attractions in one day.
This post gives you the insider Disneyland Paris fastpass knowledge, so you can be an expert!
You learn the ins and outs of the Disneyland Paris fastpass system and how to make the system work for you.
Even more importantly, you learn the most common Disneyland Paris fastpass mistakes and how to avoid them.
Make the Disneyland Paris fastpass system work for you, and you’ll be skipping the lines like a pro in no time!
It allows you to “skip” the lines and get on a ride with little to no wait time.
You get a fastpass for whatever attraction you want to ride, wait until the return time printed on your ticket, go back to the ride, hop in the fastpass line, and get on the ride within a few minutes.
It is a great system that allows people to ride the most popular attractions without having to spend hours waiting in line.
This makes the guest experience more enjoyable, and it gets people out into the park where they’re more likely to spend money.
Both Disney and the guests win!
There are some rules about how to use fastpass, but we’ll get more into that as the post continues.
Overall, the fastpass system helps you see and do as much as possible in a single day. It cuts down on how much time you have to spend standing in line, so you can go and do other things.
1. The Return Window is Only 30 Minutes
This is the biggest difference between fastpass at Disneyland Paris and fastpass at every other Disney park.
You normally have a 1 hour return window where you can show up and use your fastpass anytime as long as it is within the 1 hour return window on your fastpass.
That isn’t the case at Disneyland Paris.
You only have 30 minutes where you can show up at the attraction and redeem your fastpass.
This makes it a bit more difficult to plan your day, but it is still doable.
You just need to make sure you’re not getting in a long line, watching a stage show, or at the other park in the time leading up to your fastpass return window.
You know when your return window is in advance, so it is a pretty easy thing to plan for.
It is certainly much easier at other Disney parks when you have an hour return window. It gives you more freedom to jump on a ride or watch a show because you know you have an hour when you can use your fastpass.
2. You Can’t Book Your Fastpass on the Disneyland Paris App
This is another huge difference between Disneyland Paris and nearly every other Disney park in the world.
You can’t book fastpass online at Hong Kong Disneyland, but the park is so quiet that you don’t need it. I’ve never booked a fastpass on any of my visits to Hong Kong Disneyland.
Being able to book your fastpass online is super useful. You just pop onto the app, find whatever attraction you’re looking for, and book a fastpass from wherever you are.
No need to walk to the attraction!
You don’t have that convenience of booking your fastpass from anywhere at Disneyland Paris.
You have to physically walk to whatever attraction you want to get a fastpass for and hope there are fastpasses left and they are at a time that works with your schedule.
This may not sound like that big of a deal, but it can waste a lot of time. Especially if you are in Disneyland Paris and want to get a fastpass for an attraction in Walt Disney Studios.
You literally have to walk from one park to the other to get your fastpass.
This limits you quite a bit. I don’t think many people are walking from one park to the other to get a fastpass then walking back to the first park.
Most people are going to get a Disneyland Paris fastpass for whatever park they are in.
You’re not able to optimize your fastpass usage as much as your are in other parks, and you tend to be limited to getting a fastpass for an attraction in whatever park you’re currently in.
It Gets Worse
To make matters even more annoying, Disneyland Paris doesn’t even display the fastpass times on the app.
You don’t know what fastpass return window time is being distributed until you get to the attraction.
You may walk all the way there to find out that the fastpass return window is for when you have a dinner reservation booked.
It is super inconvenient, and I wish Disneyland Paris would update their app to track and display that information.
It would make the guest experience so much better!
A Quick Note About Internet Safety
Disneyland Paris has a great complimentary wifi system that guests can use.
It works in both parks, but, unfortunately, doesn’t work at Disney Village.
The wifi is actually quite reliable, and considering how many guests are using it at any given time, it is pretty fast and reliable.
It is far more reliable than the free wifi at Disneyland California. I’m astonished at how bad the wifi is every time I visit!
But complimentary wifi is dangerous to use and puts your online safety at risk!
Any place there are people using complimentary wifi (especially wifi that doesn’t require a password), there are bad people trying to get into your phone and collect your data.
If they are able to hack into your phone, they can steal your personal information and sell it.
That turns a magical day into a nightmare.
The solution is to protect yourself by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN). A VPN puts an invisible forcefield around your phone and hides it from prying eyes.
A VPN essentially makes your connection as safe, secure, and private as your personal home wifi where only you know the password.
Nobody is able to hack into your phone and see what you’re doing or steal your information.
You protect yourself when you travel by buying travel insurance, so you may as well protect your online life when you travel and install a VPN on your phone and other devices.
My Favourite VPN
As you can image, I’ve used a lot of different VPNs over my years of travel.
I cancelled most of them after the first year and was oftentimes so frustrated at how much they slowed my devices down that I wouldn’t use them at all.
I’ve been using NordVPN for a number of years and don’t plan on cancelling my subscription with them anytime soon.
They don’t slow your devices down at all and are the most trusted name on the market.
You can protect up to 6 devices with one NordVPN account, so you can protect all your devices (and maybe all your family’s devices) for one surprisingly low fee.
NordVPN often runs sales where you can save up to 70%, so there is no excuse not to protect your online data.
You probably think it’ll never happen to you, but you’d be shocked to learn how many fellow travellers I’ve met who have had their social media or banking information hacked because they didn’t protect their online data.
Getting a VPN is a tiny price to pay in comparison to the headache of trying to get access to your banking or social media back after it has been hacked.
3. Not Every Disneyland Paris Attraction Offers Fastpass
Not every attraction has the option to get a fastpass for it.
You need to know which ones do and which ones don’t. That will help you plan your day and have a solid Disneyland Paris fastpass strategy in place.
Disneyland Paris
The following attractions at Disneyland Paris offer a fastpass option:
Peter Pan’s Flight
Big Thunder Mountain
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril
Star Wars: Hyperspace Mountain
Star Tours
Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
Most of the main attractions have a fastpass option, so that is very helpful!
The only really popular attractions that don’t have a fastpass option are meeting Mickey Mouse, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Dumbo.
Walt Disney Studios Park
There are far fewer rides that offer fastpass in this park. That is bad news because it means you’ll have to be very strategic and probably spend a lot more time waiting in lines.
Here is the very short list of Walt Disney Studios Park attractions that offer fastpass:
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Ratatouille: The Adventure
Yup. That’ the entire list!
Just two attractions at Walt Disney Studios park offer a fastpass option.
This makes it quite difficult to get a fastpass for either of the attractions. They tend to “sell out” for the day pretty early in the morning.
If you want to get a fastpass for either of these attractions, you should grab it in the early or mid-morning, or you might not be available.
4. Know When You Can Get a New Fastpass
There are two situations where you can get a new Disneyland Paris fastpass:
After you use the fastpass you currently have
Two hours after you get the fastpass you currently have even if you haven’t used it yet
This means you don’t have to fret if you get a fastpass that has a return window 6 or 8 hours in advance. You can get another fastpass for a different attraction two hours after you got your original fastpass.
It is nice to have the extra freedom and not have to choose between getting a fastpss for an attraction you really want to ride with a long time until the return window and not being able to get another fastpass for basically the rest of the day.
Two hours is a decent amount of time to wait until you get another Disneyland Paris fastpass. It helps cut down on people hoarding fastpasses while giving other guests the opportunity to get another fastpass if their original return time is in the distant future.
This normally isn’t an issue at Disneyland Paris, but it is a good provision to have on extremely busy days.
In most instances, your Disneyland Paris fastpass return time will be within 30 to 120 minutes from the time you got the fastpass.
It is a nice fall back to have though!
There is nothing worse than getting a fastpass, waiting 5 or 6 hours to use it, and then not being able to get a fastpass for anything else because they are all “sold out” for the day.
5. They Are Super Strict About Return Time Windows
Most Disney parks are pretty chill if you show up a bit early or a bit late for your fastpass return time. That isn’t the case at Disneyland Paris.
Disneyland Paris is the most strict park when it comes to using your fastpass at the time shown on your ticket.
They don’t let you in the fastpass line early even if you’re only 5 minutes early. They are more lenient if you are late, but they are still pretty strict.
I witnessed a guest who showed up less than 10 minutes after his return window ended, and he wasn’t allowed into the fastpass line.
Yup. They are that strict!
It, of course, depends on the cast member. If you plead your case, and they feel bad for you, you might be able to get into the fastpass line if you’re a little late.
It isn’t a guarantee though!
The best way to avoid this is showing up durning your fastpass return window.
I suggest you plan to arrive at the attraction right at the start of your return window. That way if anything goes wrong, you still have a solid chance of making it to the attraction in time.
It is unfortunate that Disneyland Paris is so strict about fastpass return window. I think other parks’ policy of having a 10-15 minute buffer on either side of the return window is a much better policy.
Moral of the story for Disneyland Paris: DON’T BE LATE!
This is not the time to channel your inner White Rabbit!
6. Take Advantage of Single Rider Lines
There is hardly anything I like more than a single rider line at Disney!
It is the best way to minimize your wait time and maximize the number of rides you go on in a day.
A single rider line is a dedicated line that is used to fill empty seats on an attraction. If a ride has three seats in a row and there is a party of two from the normal line, one person from the single rider line will be used to fill the empty seat.
This helps ensure the line moves as quickly as possible for everybody and the ride is operating at capacity.
You do not get to ride with your group if you join the single rider line. You will be separated and and seatedwith strangers.
Single rider lines tend to have little to no wait, so you can get on a ride within minutes.
The best single rider line at Disneyland Paris in my experience is Star Wars: Hyperspace Mountain. I’ve never had to wait more than 5 minutes. Even when the regular line is over an hour!
There is honestly no better way to save time at Disneyland Paris than using the single rider lines as often as possible.
They should become your best friend!
The problem is that there aren’t very many rides that have a single rider option unfortunately.
Disneyland Paris
The following Disneyland Paris attractions have a single rider line:
Star Wars: Hyperspace Mountain
It is super unfortunate that Disneyland Paris only has one attraction with a single rider line.
But we’ll take what we can get. It is better than nothing!
Walt Disney Studios Park
This is where the single rider lines shine!
There are actually quite a few options at Walt Disney Studios Park. This is fantastic and helps counterbalance the lack of fastpass options.
Here are all the rides at Walt Disney Studios Park that offer a single rider line:
RC Racer
Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop
Crush’s Coaster (aka the best ride at Disneyland Paris!)
Ratatouille: The Adventure
That’s a pretty good selection!
4 of the top 5 most popular attractions have a single rider line.
The only one missing is The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. It would be the perfect ride to offer a single rider option on, but, alas, we can’t have it all.
Crush’s Coaster is the best and most popular attraction across both Disneyland Paris parks.
I don’t think they realized how popular it was going to be because it doesn’t have a fastpass option.
Having a single rider line helps, but it still moves pretty slow. It is 100% worth the wait though! It is an incredible ride.
7. You Can Get Fastpasses in Each Park on the Same Day
You may think you can only get fastpasses in Disneyland Paris or Walt Disney Studios in any given day. But that isn’t the case.
You can get fastpasses in both parks on the same day as long as you have a park hopper ticket.
With a park hopper ticket, you can get as many fastpasses as you can in both parks!
This is really helpful for people who are visiting Disneyland Paris on a day trip from Paris and only have one day in the parks.
You can optimize your time by getting fastpasses in both parks.
This drastically cuts down on your wait time and allows you to see more in your limited amount of time.
You can mix and max a Disneyland Paris fastpass with a Walt Disney Studios fastpass and optimize your day like a boss.
It is nice to have the option to get whatever fastpass works for you no matter what park the attraction is in.
8. Hotel Guests Get an Additional Disneyland Paris Fastpass
You read that right!
Hotel guests staying at a Disney-owned hotel get an additional Disneyland Paris fastpass each day they stay at the hotel.
You can use the fastpass for any ride in either park!
It is a nice extra perk for people staying on Disney property!
You can still get a normal fastpass in the parks just like any other guest, but you have an extra fastpass in your back pocket. You can use it anytime you want during the day.
If you use it correctly, it can be a game changer.
It completely changes your Disneyland Paris fastpass strategy. You can maximize your fastpasses by getting a lot of fastpasses for the moderately popular attractions and use your hotel fastpass for the most popular attractions.
Best Way to Use your Dinseyland Paris Hotel Fastpass
I suggest using it for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
It is the most popular attraction that offers a fastpass that doesn’t also offer a single rider option. Star Wars: Hyperspace Mountain and Ratatouille: The Adventure are the two other most popular fastpass attractions.
They have a single rider line, so using your extra fastpass for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror will help you maximize your time.
Use single rider for Star Wars: Hyperspace Mountain, Ratatouille: The Adventure, and Crush’s Coaster.
Use your hotel fastpass for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
Focus on getting regular fastpasses for Peter Pan’s Flight, Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril, Star Tours, and Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast.
You will be able to ride basically every ride in both parks if you use your extra Disneyland Paris strategically.
How to Book a Disneyland Paris Hotel
It is surprisingly difficult to book a Disneyland Paris hotel.
The problem with booking your hotel directly though the Disneyland Paris website is that they only offer packages.
You can’t just book a hotel room. You have to book a package that includes your hotel, park tickets, and a dining plan.
I personally don’t want an entire package when I visit Disneyland Paris. This is especially true if you have a Disneyland Paris annual pass!
There are two solutions:
Call Disneyland Paris
You can call Disneyland Paris and see if they will sell you just a room.
I’ve heard differing stories on how successful people have been with this.
Disneyland Paris likes it when you purchase a package because they make more money. They don’t always let you book just a room even when you call.
It seems that you’re more likely to be able to book just a room the closer it is to your arrival date.
Disneyland Paris opens up room-only reservations a few weeks in advance to fill up the rooms they didn’t fill with a package.
This works fine if you’re spontaneous, but if you’re like and like to plan in advance (to save some anxiety), then this isn’t a great option for you.
Calling Disneyland Paris is great, but it doesn’t always work.
Your second option pretty much always works and is my preferred way of booking a Disneyland Paris hotel.
Raise your hand if you’re part of the phone call anxiety club like me!
Book Through Hotels.com
This is, in my opinion, the best and most convenient way to book a Disneyland Paris hotel.
You get all the same benefits as someone who books directly through Disneyland Paris, but you don’t have to purchase a package or call to book a room.
You can book just a room at any Disneyland Paris hotel directly through Hotels.com!
The prices are essentially the same as booking just a room directly through Disneyland Paris. There may be a dollar or two different per night, but it isn’t a big enough difference to make any real difference in price.
Booking is easier, quicker, and you earn those sweet, sweet Hotels.com nights towards a free night’s stay.
You’ll get a nice bump in the worth of your free night certificate after staying at a Disneyland Paris hotel.
It is definitely a splurge to stay at a Disneyland Paris hotel, so you may as well get something back in return for spending that money!
That is where the Hotels.com loyalty program comes in. This program is why I love booking through Hotels.com and have booked the majority of my hotels through them since 2015!
You get a free night at a hotel after you’ve stayed 10 nights at a hotel you booked through Hotels.com.
That’s right!
You get a free night’s stay at nearly any hotel listed on Hotels.com for staying at a hotel you would have stayed at in any event.
It doesn’t get any better than that!
9. Use the Disneyland Paris App to Check Wait Times
The Disneyland Paris app doesn’t show what fastpass times are being distributed, but it is still a helpful tool.
It helps you figure out which attractions are most likely to be running out of fastpasses and which ones you can skip the fastpass all together and just use the regular line.
The longer the wait time, the more likely the fastpass return window is much later in the day. The shorter the wait time, the more likely you can get a fastpass for the near future.
People want to avoid waiting in lines as much as possible, so most people get a Disneyland Paris fastpass for the attraction with the longest wait time and don’t consider any other factors.
You can use the Disneyland Paris app strategically to help inform your fastpass decisions.
Don’t waste your time walking to get a fastpass for an attraction that only have a 15-minute wait.
Find attractions that have a medium to long wait and walk to them to get a fastpass.
It may sound like a simple concept, but you’ll be amazed at home much time it can save you over the course of a day!
10. You Need a Disneyland Paris Fastpass Strategy!
This isn’t optional!
You need a fastpass strategy at Disneyland Paris. Especially if you only have one day in the parks or it is your first time visiting.
You should know the following before you arrive at Disneyland Paris:
What attractions you need to ride and whether they offer fastpass
If there are any rides that you want to skip
What attractions are in each park
Whether you’re going to start your day at Disneyland Paris or Walt Disney Studios
What times any parades and shows are, so you can avoid getting a fastpass during them
What you’re willing to miss out on if your plan doesn’t go as smoothly as you’d like
Once you know that information, it is pretty easy to build a Disneyland Paris fastpass strategy.
A Few Tips to Help You Build Your Disneyland Paris Fastpass Strategy
Ride Crush’s Coaster first thing in the morning or last thing at night. It is the most popular attraction and doesn’t have a fastpass option. It normally has over a 60-minute wait, so it is best to try to plan your day around riding it if it is important to you.
If you’re starting your morning at Disneyland Paris, get a fastpass for one popular attraction and then ride another popular attraction in the stand-by line. This is the most effective way to see as many of the big attractions as possible. I suggest skipping Star Wars: Hyperspace Mountain because it has a great single rider line. Focus on rides like Big Thunder Mountain, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, Star Tours, and Peter Pan’s Flight.
Lines are normally shorter during traditional mealtimes and parades. If you can’t get a fastpass for an attraction you really want to ride, try to hit it up during these times when lots of guests are doing other things like eating or watching parades, fireworks, or stage shows.
Get there early! Being at the parks is the best way to ensure you get a lot done at Disneyland Paris. That is when the parks are going to be the least busy, and you’ll be able to go on a number of attractions without waiting very long.
Conclusion
There is a lot you need to know about all your Disneyland Paris fastpass options.
Everything on this list is important, and when you use them in conjunction with one another, you’ll be surprised at how much you can see and do in one Disney day!
You, of course, don’t have to rush around doing and seeing everything.
You can take your time, explore the parks, and only go on a few attractions, but you should still have a fastpass strategy in place no matter what.
A Disneyland Paris fastpass plan and strategy help you have the most magical day that is suited to you and your Disney style.
It gives you the power to know that you’re going to have the best day you can and not spend more time waiting in lines than you have to.
Plus who doesn’t love walking through the fastpass line and passing everybody waiting in the normal line.
Disneyland Paris is the only Disney theme park in Europe, and it can be a bit intimidating for someone who has never been to an international Disney park. You’ve never been to Disneyland Paris, so you don’t have the insider tips, tricks, and knowledge to plan the perfect trip.
Disneyland Paris features two parks: Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios. Disneyland Paris is the main park with the castle and Walt Disney Studios is a smaller park that has a similar vibe to Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World.
It also has a Downtown Disney-eqsue area called Disney Village. It is full of restaurants, shops, and a dinner show. The majority of the Disneyland Paris hotels are also located near Disney Village.
The Disneyland Paris tips provided in this post will help you navigate all Disneyland Paris has to offer. They are extremely practical tips that will help you make the most out of your Disneyland Paris trip!
Disneyland Paris has a number of unique attractions you won’t find anywhere else. It is important you take the time to research what attractions Disneyland Paris has to offer and what you want to ride.
The most popular attractions in Disneyland Paris include:
Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain (a more intense version of Space Mountain)
Peter Pan’s Flight
Big Thunder Mountain
Phantom Manner
Indiana Jones Temple of Peril
The most popular attractions in Walt Disney Studios include:
Crush’s Coaster
Tower of Terror
Ratatouille: The Adventure
Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster
You’ll want to have a plan about what park you want to visit first, what attractions you must ride, what attractions you wantto ride, and have a Fastpass strategy.
You will waste a lot of time in the parks trying to figure out what you want to do if you don’t have a plan before you get there.
It would be a shame to not make the most out of your time at Disneyland Paris so be sure to have a plan.
Your plan will most likely change throughout the day as you discover what attractions you love and want to ride again, but it is important to have a general idea of what you want to do before you get to the parks.
This is one of the most important Disneyland Paris tips on this list. You’ll regret it if you won’t put a little effort in before your trip and research the different attractions.
2. It is Incredibly Easy to get to Disneyland Paris
It is incredibly easy to get to Disneyland Paris no matter where in Paris you’re staying.
There is a metro station at the entrance of Disneyland Paris, and trains run continuously throughout the day.
It takes about 30-45 minutes to get from central Paris to Disneyland Paris. You need to take the RER A train. Once you get on the RER A, you ride it all the way to the last stop: Marne-la-Vallée/Chessy.
You will be steps from Disneyland Paris once you get off the train.
If you’re visiting Disneyland Paris from somewhere else in France, there is a TGV station at Marne-la-Vallée. You can take a train directly to Marne-la-Vallée if it is available, or you can take a train to central Paris and take the metro to Disneyland Paris.
You can even get from some international destinations to Disneyland Paris quite easily.
There is a Eurostar train from Brussels to central Paris, and you would just have to take the metro to Disneyland Paris. There is even a direct Eurostar train from London to Disneyland Paris!
It is impressive how easy they’ve made it to get to Disneyland Paris.
It is definitely one of the selling features of going to Disneyland Paris. You can easily visit Disneyland Paris as a day trip from Paris without spending too much time getting to and from the parks.
3. Understand the Different Ticket Options
There are a number of different ticket options at Disneyland Paris. It is important to understand the different ticket types, so you can choose the ticket that best suits your needs.
If you’re only at Disneyland Paris for one day, it is easy to decide what ticket option is best for you. You just have to choose between a single park ticket and a park hopper ticket.
A park hopper ticket allows you to visit both theme parks in a single day, and I always recommend buying the park hopper ticket if you only have one day at Disneyland Paris. There are attractions you won’t want to miss in each park, and you can easily walk between the parks in a matter of minutes.
It becomes more difficult to pick a ticket when you’re visiting for more than one day. You essentially have to choose between a muti-day ticket and an annual pass.
In some instances it is more affordable to purchase the Discovery annual pass than it is to purchase a two-day park hopper ticket.
The Discovery annual pass is only valid certain days of the year, so the first step is to visit the Disneyland Paris website and figure out if the Discovery annual pass is valid when you plan on visiting the parks.
If the Discovery annual pass is valid when you’re visiting the parks, it is the best bang for your buck. You don’t get any special food or merchandise discounts, but you save on ticket prices.
There is one small catch with the Discovery annual pass though.
There is an automatic blackout date for the two days following the purchase of it. If you purchase the annual pass on a Monday, the Tuesday and Wednesday are blacked out, so you won’t be able to visit the parks those days.
This is a bit troublesome for people wanting to visiting Disneyland Paris multiple days in a row. Luckily there is a workaround for this problem though!
You can purchase your Discovery annual pass in advance of your trip and have it mailed to your house.
You’ll have to do the math on whether the shipping fee negates the ticket price savings, but it is often still a better deal to have your annual pass shipped to your house. This is especially true if you’re ordering annual passes for a group because you only pay the shipping once.
Disneyland Paris is one of those parks where you need to be strategic about what tickets you buy, or you could waste a lot of money.
It is easy to overpay for tickets if you don’t understand the ticketing system.
4. Make Dining Reservations in Advance
This is one of the most important Disneyland Paris tips on the list! There aren’t too many table service restaurants in the parks, and reservations are limited.
You’ll want to make a dining reservation well in advance of your trip if you want to eat at a particular restaurant.
You can making dining reservations up to 6 months in advance of your trip, and for popular dining spots like Bistro Chez Remy, you’ll want to make them as far in advance as possible.
If you book your Disneyland Paris trip less than six months in advance, book your dining as soon as you have a date. If you’re a planner and book your trip more than six months in advance, figure out the earliest day you can make reservations, put it in your calendar, and make the reservation the first day you can.
You have to call Disneyland Paris to make a dining reservation. The phone number to book dining is +33 1 60 30 40 5. International rates do, unfortunately, apply if you’re calling from outside of France.
You’ll be able to speak with an English-speaking person when you call the dining reservation number, and I’ve never been on hold for more than a few minutes.
It is definitely worth taking the effort and booking dining reservations in advance.
5. You Don’t Need to Speak French
Language isn’t a barrier at all at Disneyland Paris! You don’t need to worry about not speaking French.
All of the cast members speak English and there are English menus, so you don’t have to worry about not being able to communicate.
There are English parks maps, and all the signs are in English as well as French.
A lot of the rides with narration even have portions of it in English! It is a great way to allow everybody to get the full experience of the attraction. The safety instructions are also in English, so you don’t have to worry about not knowing the safety procedures of each ride.
It, of course, takes a little time to get used to English not being the main and only language, but it won’t impede or restrict your Disneyland Paris trip in any way!
6. Download the Official Disneyland Paris App
It is essential that you download the Disneyland Paris app onto your phone. The app will make your Disneyland Paris trip run so much smoother.
The app has everything you need to know about Disneyland Paris. It includes:
A map of both parks and Disney Village
Live wait times for attractions
A list of dining locations and their menus
Schedule of events including parade, show, and firework times
There is free WiFi in the parks, so you’re easily able to access and use the app without having to use your cellular data.
PSA: If you’re using the public wifi at Disneyland Paris, be sure to protect yourself from prying eyes with a virtual private network. You don’t want to have your data hacked while enjoying the magic of Disney!
You can connect up to six users with one account, so you can keep the whole family safe with one click!
The highlight of the app is undoubtably the live wait times. It is so easy to plan your next attraction when you can easily see how long the queue is without having to walk all the way to the attraction.
I highly recommend the Disneyland Paris app to anybody visiting the parks.
You may want to download it a few weeks before your trip, so you get used to using it and get a sense of what attractions have the longest wait at various points during the day.
7. Eat at Off-Peak Times
The shortage of table service restaurants inside the parks means that the quick service restaurants can get painfully busy. The best way to avoid heavy crowds at quick service restaurants is to eat at off-peak times.
Peak dining times are between 11:30am and 1:30pm and 5pm and 7pm. You want to avoid dining at these times as much as possible.
Plan to have a late lunch or early dinner.
You will waste a lot of valuable park time waiting in a long, seemingly never ending queue if you dine during peak hours. I once spent 45 minutes in a queue for pizza at a quick service restaurant, and it was not worth it.
The wait times for rides are also slightly shorter during peak dining hours because a lot of guests are at restaurants. This is a great opportunity to get on a few extra rides while the lines are shorter!
8. Take the Time to Visit Disney Village
You’ll be very busy at Disneyland Paris, and it is easy to focus all your time and attention on the parks. You’re paying a lot of money, and you want to get your money’s worth and ride everything you can.
While I understand that mentality, I also think it is a mistake.
Disney Village is well worth a visit. There are a number of shops with unique items you might not easily find inside the parks. This includes a really cool art shop that collectors will love.
Disney Village also has a lot of different dining options, and that is the biggest draw of the area. It has quite a few table service restaurants that you don’t need a reservation to eat at.
The restaurants at Disney Village are a great option for people who weren’t able to get reservations inside the parks.
Even if you’re not interested in the shopping or restaurants, it is still worthwhile to wander through Disney Village. It is a beautiful area with a scenic lake, and you’re able to get away from the hustle and bustle of the parks for a little while.
You don’t have to spend much time in Disney Village. Even just 30 to 45 minutes will be enough time to wander through the area and get a sense of the atmosphere and if you want to spend more time there.
I didn’t take the time to explore Disney Village the first time I went to Disneyland Paris and regretted it! Learn from my mistakes and be sure to visit Disney Village on your trip.
9. Take Advantage of Single Rider Queues
A few select attractions at Disneyland Paris have a single rider queue. Single rider queues are one of the best ways to make the most out of your time at Disneyland Paris.
People from the single rider queue are used to fill empty seats that aren’t filled with people from the regular queues.
For example, if the attraction seats two guests per row and there is a group of three, a person from the single rider queue will be seated next to third person in the party.
Attractions that offer a single rider queue are:
Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain
RC Racer
Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop
Crush’s Coaster
Ratatouille: The Adventure
You can easily save upwards of an hour by using the single rider queues.
I’ve had multiple instances where I only waited 5 minutes in a single rider queue when the regular standby queue was over an hour.
The downside to single rider queues is, of course, that you won’t be able to ride the attraction with your family. You don’t get to choose who you ride with or where you sit, so you have to be prepared to go wherever and whenever you’re told.
Of all the Disneyland Paris tips on this list, using the single rider queue will save you the most time and allow you to ride the most attractions.
You just have to decide whether it is important for you to ride with your group or not.
10. Bring Snacks to Save Money
Disney food is expensive, and you may not want to eat every single meal and snack in the parks. You’re able to bring your own snacks into the parks as a method to save a little bit of money.
There are some restrictions on what you can bring in like no coolers or alcohol, but most food is acceptable.
Packing a few muffins for breakfast or granola bars to stop that midday hunger is a great way to save some money. Snacks are small and easy to pack, so you don’t have to worry about them taking up too much room in your Disney bag.
With they money you’ve saved by bringing your own snacks rather than paying nearly $10 for popcorn, you’ll be able to splurge and have a nice lunch or dinner at a restaurant.
Conclusion
Disneyland Paris is one of the most beautiful and special Disney parks in the world. It has a fantastic mixture of thrill rides, nostalgia, and unique touches you won’t find anywhere in the world.
These Disneyland Paris tips are designed to help you get the most out of your Disneyland Paris trip.
They save you time, money, and some of the stress of planning a Disney trip to a park you’ve never been to before.
Disneyland Paris is on nearly every Disney fan’s bucket list and for good reason! I highly recommend a trip to Disneyland Paris next time you’re in France.
You won’t regret it- especially if you take advantage of these Disneyland Paris tips!
Congratulations! You just booked a trip to Disneyland Paris and now you have to figure out what items to put on your Disneyland Paris packing list.
Your Disneyland Paris packing list will look similar to your Disney World or Disneyland packing lists, but there are a few changes that you have to make. This guide will help you create the ultimate Disneyland Paris packing list, so you have everything you need with you in the parks!
External Battery
Disneyland Paris has free, public WiFi you can use in the parks. You can use your phone to view wait times on the Disneyland Paris app and post all your amazing photos!
You’ll be on your phone a lot, and your battery will die quicker than on a normal day.
I never travel to a Disney park without an external battery! They are small and lightweight, so they aren’t troublesome to pack.
Camera
You’ll want to take lots of photos at Disneyland Paris! You can use an iPhone, but I find cameras take way better photos, and you’ll want the best photos possible to remember your trip!
I used this Canon point and shoot camera for years and still use it to this day when I don’t want to carry around my larger camera. It takes incredible photos, is lightweight, and is so small you can stick it in your pocket!
I currently use this Olympus mirrorless camera when I want to get higher-quality photos. I love it because it is shockingly lightweight for a camera of its size. It is so easy to carry in my purse, and I don’t feel like it is weighing me down!
The Olympus is also super easy to use, and even somebody with little to know knowledge of photography and cameras can use it with no problem. It is the perfect starter camera for anybody looking to upgrade to a level higher than a point and shoot.
If you decide on the Olympus camera, I recommend also purchasing the zoom lens. The lens the camera comes with is good and has a decent zoom, but the zoom lens takes your photography to the next level!
Backpack
You will need a backpack at Disneyland Paris. You’ll have a number of things you want to carry with you in the parks, and a purse probably won’t have enough space.
I prefer a backpack that is a neutral colour and goes with any outfit, but there are tons of cute Disney-themed backpacks you can use too!
I recommend taking a backpack that has a place to put a water bottle on the outside. You do a lot of walking in Disneyland Paris, so you’ll be drinking a lot of water.
You don’t have to worry about where you’re going to put your bag while on the rides. You’re able to take your bag on every single Disneyland Paris attraction and store it at your feet. Even on the more thrilling rollercoasters that go upside down!
Comfortable Shoes
It isn’t a day at a Disney park if you’re feet aren’t sore at the end of it!
Comfortable shoes are a must on any Disneyland Paris packing list. You’ll deeply regret it if you happen to bring the wrong shoes to the parks. You want to avoid flip flop sandals, heels, or any shoe your feet get sore it.
I always wear my Columbia hiking shoes to Disneyland Paris. I’ve gone through four pairs at this point, and I keep buying them because they’re so comfortable. They are, admittedly, not the cutest shoes on the market, but you’re at Disney and nobody is looking at your feet.
You’ll be thankful at the end of a long day of walking that you have comfortable rather than stylish shoes!
If you are in the market for a more stylish shoe, I recommend the Sketchers Cleo flat. I wear them all the time when I’m travelling and often walk 25,000+ steps per day and never have sore feet. They’re by far the best pair of flats I’ve ever owned.
VPN
Okay. Technically, a virtual private network (VPN) isn’t something you physically packing, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t extremely important!
Disneyland Paris has free public wifi that you can connect to in the parks, which is amazing! You can use the Disneyland Paris app to check ride wait times, post on social media, and reviews menus to see where you want to eat.
I always connect to the free wifi at Disneyland Paris, but connecting to it also puts you at risk of having your data compromised.
Hackers love people who connect to public wifi networks because it is so easy to pop into their devices and steal their data and possibly sell it to people and advertisers.
A VPN protects you from those people!
It creates a security bubble around your device that prevents prying eyes from seeing your data and online activities!
You 100% need a VPN when you’re using any type of public wifi (including hotels and cafes)!
I loveNord VPN and trust it to protect all my devices.
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Water Bottle
You’ll be walking all day at Disneyland Paris and will need to hydrate yourself throughout the day. You can purchased bottled water in the parks, but it is much better to have a reusable water bottle on your Disneyland Paris packing list!
This will save you tons of money if you’re travelling as a family and is much better for the environment! There are water fountains all over both Disneyland Paris parks, so it is easy to refill your water bottle throughout the day.
Glass water bottles are not allowed in the parks and will be confiscated duringbag check! Be sure you bring a plastic or stainless steel water bottle!
Lip Chap
If you’re anything like me, your lips are constantly chapped, and you hoard lip chap like it is going out of style.
You don’t want to get stuck in Disneyland Paris without any lip chap. I’ve had to pay Disney prices for lip chap when I ran out, and it was three times more expensive than buying it at the drug store.
Learn from my mistake and make sure to add lip chap to your Disneyland Paris packing list. It seems like the sort of thing you always have lots of, but you’ll probably run out at the worst time and have to overpay for new lip chap at Disneyland Paris.
Sunscreen
You’re outside in the sun all day while at Disney, so you need to make sure your skin is protected! Sunscreen should be on your packing list no matter where you’re going, and it is even more important at Disney.
I love and swear by this COSRX sunscreen. It is a Korean skincare brand, and I love all of their products but especially this sunscreen. I always feel so protected when I wear it, and it doesn’t leave that gross white/greasy layer on the top of your skin.
Your future self will thank you for taking care of your skin now so add sunscreen to your Disneyland Paris packing list. Then bold it and underline it, so you don’t forget!
Snacks
You’re going to get hungry in the parks, and Disney food is expensive! You should put snacks on your Disneyland Paris packing list if you don’t want to spend a lot of money on food in the parks.
Carrying a few snack bars with you is the perfect way to get rid of that mid-day hunger when you’re not quite ready for a full meal.
Hairbrush
This might just be me, but my hair always gets knotted and gross when I’m a Disney. It is a combination of sweat from being outside in the heat all day and going on thrill rides.
A few hours into a day at the parks, and my hair is a disaster in the back. I always pack a hairbrush in my Disney bag and end up using it mostly every day. I’m so thankful every time I pull my hairbrush out and look presentable again after using it!
I think my fellow longhaired people know exactly what I’m talking about!
Kleenex, Wet Wipes, and Hand Sanitizer
These are three essentials that need to be included on everybody’s Disneyland Paris packing list! Disney is full of germs, and you’ll want to keep your hands clean in the parks- especially when eating!
Carrying Kleenex, wet wipes, and hand sanitizer in your Disney bag will come in handy more often than you would think. You never know when you’re going to spill ice cream all over the place (guilty) or accidentally touch a sticky handrail (so gross).
Even if you’re totally fine with germs most of the time, Disney is a different animal, and the germs are everywhere!
Reusable Bag
Disney parks are always moving towards being more sustainable, and you don’t always get a plastic bag with your purchase anymore. I recommend putting a small, reusable bag on your Disneyland Paris packing list.
This way you’re able to forego the plastic bag and carry your souvenir purchases in an environmentally friendly bag. Reusable bags take up no room in your backpack, and you can easily put it back in your backpack with your purchases assuming they are small enough to fit in your backpack.
Reusable Straw
Disney parks are also transitioning away from providing single use plastic straws, so you either get a paper straw or no straw at all. You should considering bring a reusable straw with you to Disneyland Paris.
You’re able to get tiny travel reusable straws that are so small they easily fit in your pocket! The straw itself is full size, but it collapses into itself and is stored in a travel container that is about has long as your pinky finger!
They’re absolutely perfect for travelling with, and I take one everywhere I go!
Hat
It is sunny in Paris in the summer, so you’re going to need a hat to keep the sun off your face! Your hat will not only save you from getting a sunburn, but it will also prevent you from squinting all the time.
There are a lot of outdoor activities, sights, parades, and shows at Disneyland Paris. You’ll be outside looking at things for hours every day, so you’ll need something to help keep the sun out of your eyes and stop you from getting pre-mature crow’s feet.
Minnie Ears
Minnie ears are an adorable addition to any Disney outfit no matter what age you are! You can bring ears from home, but it is even more fun to buy new ears while at Disneyland Paris!
They’re the perfect souvenir to bring home, and you’ll love wearing them at Disney parks around the world and feel special knowing you got them in Paris.
Technically, this is more of a souvenir suggestion, but if you love Disney ears like me and like to wear a different pair each day, you may want to bring a few pairs from home as well!
Disney Shirts
I love wearing Disney-themed shirts in the parks, and Disney t-shirts are always on my Disneyland Paris packing list! Disney shirts are super cute and a great way to show off your Disney style and support your favourite movies and television shows.
I like bringing my own Disney shirts from home rather than buying shirts at Disneyland Paris because I don’t care for having super branded and in-your-face Disney apparel.
I love that your’e able to get more subtle Disney shirts that can be worth both in the parks and casually around my hometown.
Pins to Trade
Pin trading is a popular hobby in most Disney parks, and Disneyland Paris is no exception! You can bring official Disney pins to Disneyland Paris and trade them with cast members and other guests.
It is a super fun way to get new Disney souvenirs and make great memories. Disneyland Paris also has a lot of unique pins that you can’t find anywhere else in the world. Even if you don’t go to Disneyland Paris with a pin collection, it is quite possible you’ll be coming home with one!
Please be cautious about fake pins. Some people purchase fake pins cheaply online and then trade them for authentic Disney pins in the parks. Do your research before you start pin trading and know what to look for in a fake pin!
Travel Insurance
It is important to always travel with travel insurance. You never know what can happen while travelling, and it would be terrible to have an accident and then be stuck with a large medical bill you can’t afford to pay.
Spending a small amount of money up front and buying travel insurance is the smart thing to do. It doesn’t cost you very much, but it can save you a lot of money in the long run.
I always have travel insurance when travelling, and it is one of the few areas of travel that I’m not willing to skimp on to save money.
Conclusion
Disneyland Paris is one of my favourite Disney parks in the world. I love it’s charm and unique attractions. While you may thing travelling to Disneyland Paris is like travelling to any other Disney park, there are a few things on your Disneyland Paris packing list that may not be on your normal Disney packing list.
The best part of this Disneyland Paris packing list is that everything on it is small enough that you can put it in one medium-sized backpack and not have to worry about carrying multiple bags.
You can enjoy your time in Disneyland Paris and not have to worry about anything else because you have everything you need in one bag!
If you’re a Disney fanatic like I am, then visiting Disneyland Paris is probably already on your bucket list, and you don’t need any further convincing to visit Disneyland Paris.
If you’re teetering on the edge of whether you should visit Disneyland Paris or not, this is the post that will convince you that you need to go!
Disneyland Paris is the only Disney park in Europe, which makes it the perfect addition to any Europe trip. The park is centrally located, so it is easy to get from London to Disneyland Paris as well as from other major European cities such as Brussels.
The park is also easily accessible using the Paris metro and only takes 30-45 minutes to get to from central Paris! It really is one of the best day trips from Paris!
If Disneyland Paris being central and easy to access from all over Europe isn’t enough of a selling feature, then read on. I bet you’ll be convinced to visit Disneyland Paris once you’re done reading this post.
1. Disneyland Paris Has One of the Best Attractions in Any Disney Park in the World
You read that right! Disneyland Paris has one of the best attractions in any Disney park in the world, and you can only find this attraction at Disneyland Paris.
The attraction I’m talking about is Crush’s Coaster! I love this attraction so much and wish it was at other Disney parks around the world, but you’ll have to go to Disneyland Paris if you want to ride it!
Crush’s Coaster starts off as a slow-moving, relaxing ride until you enter the East Coast Current and go for a wild ride through the ocean. The slow-moving ride turns into a rollercoaster in this section of the attraction.
To make it even more fun, not only is it a rollercoaster, but your ride vehicle (which is adorably designed to look like a turtle shell) independently spins as well! The combination of the rollercoaster mixed with a spinning ride vehicle is what makes Crush’s Coaster one of the best Disney attractions in the world.
It is a crowd favourite and always has a long wait so get there early if you want to ride it! There is also the option to ride as a single rider. This queue is often shorter, but you won’t get to ride with your friends and family. You will be used to fill an empty seat when a group in the normal queue has an odd number of people.
There are a number of other unique Disneyland Paris attractions, but Crush’s Coaster is by far my favourite!
A Note of Caution for Anybody who Suffers fromMotion Sickness:
There is a lot of spinning, and there is the possibility that the rollercoaster could turn in one direction, and your ride vehicle could spin in the opposite direction at the same time.
But if you don’t suffer from motion sickness, this ride should be at the top of your must-ride list for Disneyland Paris. Trust me. It’s amazing! I wish I could ride it every time I went to a Disney park and not just in Paris.
2. The Castle is Stunningly Beautiful
Disneyland Paris’ castle is unlike any other Disney castle. It is pink with blue and gold accents. I love it so much!
Although I can’t decide though whether I like Disneyland Paris’ castle or Shanghai Disneyland’s castle better. It is a tough choice I keep going back and forth on. They’re both so beautiful in their own way.
Anyways, the castle is another reason you should visit Disneyland Paris. I know you’ll be in awe when you see it. It is absolute perfection.
In addition to being beautiful, the castle also has a sneaky reason why it is so special. You can go underneath the castle and see an animatronic dragon!
You walk into a dimly lit “cave” under the castle and get to watch a dragon sleeping. Every couple of minutes the dragon “wakes up” and starts moving its head around and puffing smoke out of its nose.
It is a really cool experience and completely unique to Disneyland Paris. You can’t go under the castle at any other Disney park.
How to Get Under the Disneyland Paris Castle to See the Dragon
It is quite easy to get under the castle to see the dragon! There are entrances from both Main Street USA and Fantasyland. There are also entrances on both the left and right sides of the castles from both areas of the park.
You can enter and exit the dungeon from any direction, and it is a fun way to get from Main Street USA to Fantasyland. The only thing you can’t do is exit from the right if you entered from the left and vice versa.
3. You Can Visit Both Parks in One Day
There are technically two parks at Disneyland Paris: Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios. Both parks have a lot of attractions and shows, so you could easily spend two or more days at Disneyland Paris.
But you can also strategize and see most of what Disneyland Paris has to offer in a single day. You need to know what attractions you want to ride and shows you want to see in order to get the most out of a single day at the parks, but it is very doable.
You’ll want to make use of the Fastpass system at DisneylandParisto get the most out of your day at both parks. A Fastpass allows you to get a ticket with a return time on it. When it is your return time, you simply go to the attraction, enter through the Fastpass queue, and get on the ride with little to no wait time!
Not every ride has the option to get a Fastpass so be sure to do your research beforehand in order to make the most of your time.
Here is a handy one-day Disneyland Paris itinerary to help you plan your perfect day in Disneyland Paris! I never follow one-day itineraries exactly, but they are a good starting point to get inspiration on how to plan your day.
Even if you don’t have a firm plan and like to play things by ear, you’ll be able to see Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios in a single day.
But Should You Visit for Only One Day?
No matter how much or how little you plan there will still be things you have to miss out on if you only visit the parks for one day. You won’t be able to ride every single ride, watch all the shows and parades, or meet many characters.
I recommend visiting Disneyland Paris for two days in order to get the most out of your trip to the parks.
P.S.- If you’re planning on visiting both parks in one day, don’t forget you need to purchase the park hopper ticket!
4. Disneyland Paris is More Affordable than the US Disney Parks
Disneyland Paris is significantly less expensive to visit than Disney parks in the United States (excluding airfare of course). It is the perfect Disney park to visit if you need a little Disney magic, are in France, and don’t want to have the outrageous expense of visiting Walt Disney World or Disneyland California.
For comparison, a one-day park hopper ticket costs the following in each park (at the time of writing):
Walt Disney World: $172 USD plus taxes
Disneyland: $179 USD plus taxes
Disneyland Paris: $86 USD plus taxes
It is nearly $100USD less per adult to visit Disneyland Paris for one day than it is to visit a US park. That’s a huge difference! Those savings really add up.
You most likely will be spending fewer days at Disneyland Paris than you would at either Disneyland or Disney World, so the cost of food and accommodation should be lower as well.
Food and accommodation are comparable, but since you’ll only be at Disneyland Paris for one or two days, the cost for these won’t be as high as if you spent three or four days at Disneyland or a week at Disney World.
All in all the expense of visiting Disneyland Paris is much less than visiting the US Disney parks. The money you save in ticket prices alone will probably be able to pay for all your meals and a few extra souvenirs.
I mean who doesn’t want to have a great time at a Disney park for significantly less money? It sounds like the perfect combination to me!
5. It Makes a Great Conversation Starter
Co-Worker: “How was your trip to Paris? What cool things did you do?”
You: “It was great! I saw all the major sights and went to Disneyland Paris.”
Co-Worker: “Wow! That sounds so cool. I didn’t even know there was a Disney park in Paris. I’m jealous.”
That could be you if you plan a day trip (or more) to Disneyland Paris! You’ll be surprised how many Disney nerds you uncover when you casual mention you visited a Disney park while on vacation.
People love talking about Disney even if they aren’t the biggest fans. It has a nostalgia factor to it that people love.
A lot of people dream of getting to visit an international Disney park but never get the opportunity to. The fact that you got to visit Disneyland Paris will make a lot of people wish they had the same experience as you.
Even if the people you’re talking to aren’t Disney fans, they will still be interested in hearing about your trip to Disney in Paris!
Disneyland Paris is a unique experience that many people don’t know exist. They’ll been keen to hear about the parks and what there is to do there.
Trust me, people will be interested in hearing about your trip to EuroDisney (as it was formally called).
Final Thoughts
Are you convinced yet? Are you frantically scribbling Disneyland Paris on your bucket list?
I wouldn’t be surprised if you were!
There are so many reasons to visit Disneyland Paris. From experiencing a Disney park with a French twist to comparing similar attractions in both the Parisian park and the US parks to trying all the French snack, and so much more, there are so many reasons to visit Disneyland Paris next time you’re in France.
I could have included a lot more reasons to add Disneyland Paris to your bucket list. But I thought these were the five most convincing reasons to visit the parks next time you’re in Paris.
Château de Fontainebleau is a great day trip from Paris. It is only 55km outside of Paris, and it is extremely easy to get from Paris to Château de Fontainebleau. It is one of the largest royal palaces in all of France and is filled with beautiful decor and lots of history.
History of Château de Fontainebleau
Château de Fontainebleau is an interesting piece of French architecture. It was a royal Château then became a palace and one of the many residences for the French monarchs. It was used as a palace from the reign of Louis VII to Napoleon III.
The monarchs would go from Paris to Château de Fontainebleau in order to relax and get away from the capital city. The location was favourable because the monarch could easily go from Paris to Fontainebleau for a short retreat and not have to worry about extensive travel.
The palace is now a UNESCO World Heritage sight and is visited by hoards of tourists every year.
The most common (and easiest) way to get from Paris to Fontainebleau is by train. The train rides takes approximately 40 minutes, and it is faster than taking a private car!
Step One
The first step to getting from Paris to Château de Fontainebleau is to get to Gare de Lyon station in Paris because that is where the trains to Fontainebleau leave from. Gare de Lyon is the sixth largest train station in Paris, and it is very busy.
You have to take the local Paris metro to Gare to Lyon and then transfer to another train to get to Château de Fontainebleau .
The metro lines that stop at Gare de Lyon are:
M
1
14
The RER lines that stop at Gare to Lyon are:
A
D
To figure out to get from where you are staying to Gare de Lyon, click here. This is an interactive map that will help you plan the best route for you to take!
Step Two
Now that you’re at Gare de Lyon, you will have to exit the Paris metro portion of the station and follow the signs to the actual train station portion of Gare de Lyon. There will be lots of signs, so you shouldn’t get lost.
You are now in the train station portion of Gare de Lyon. You’ll need to take a Transition train (that’s the fancy name for the type of train you will be taking to Château de Fontainebleau). You will want to take a train in the direction of Migennes, Montargis or Montereau. All three of these trains will take you to Château de Fontainebleau.
You need to get off the train at Fontainebleau-Avon. This will be either the second, third, or forth stop depending on what train you take.
How to Buy tickets
You will need to purchase a ticket before you board the train to Fontainebleau. Tickets can either be purchased at a ticket machine or at a ticket booth. You cannot purchase a ticket to Fontainebleau-Avon at the metro stations, so you will have to purchase it once you walk to the train station.
The ticket machines will be purple on the side and have SNCF written on the side. The ticket machines accept both cash and card.
You are also able to purchase your ticket online and collect it at a ticket machine. Simply input your reservation number and the credit card used to purchase the ticket, and you’ll easily be able to collect your ticket!
You can also purchase a ticket at a manned ticket booth if you feel more comfortable with that. Make sure to leave a little bit of extra time if you plan on purchasing your ticket at a ticket booth because there is often a queue.
how to validate your tickets
You have to validate your ticket before you board the train! There will be a square metal box as you enter the platform. You have to stick the end of your ticket in the box in order for it to validated.
Step Three
Once you get off the train, you will have to take a local bus to Château de Fontainebleau. The bus departs across the street from the train station exit, and you will be able to see the bus stop as soon as you walk out of the station.
It is impossible to get lost on your way to the bus. You will be able to see the station, and you can simply follow the other tourists who are heading to Château de Fontainebleau as well.
You need to take the Ligne 1 (line 1) bus in the direction of Les Lilas. Ride the bus until you hear the stop called Château is announced, and you will get off there.
There is a map inside the bus, so you can track where you are on the route and be prepared to get off when your stop is coming up. You can also get off when the rest of the tourists get off.
After you get off the bus, you have to walk about a block and a half before you get to the palace. There will be signs showing you what direction to walk when you get off the bus.
Château de Fontainebleau is right in the heart of the city. The bus stop you get off at is in a residential area, and it can seem a bit odd getting off there, but you are in the right place!
Tips for riding the bus
You need change to ride the bus so make sure you have some with you!
Make sure you check the bus schedule, so you know what time to be back at the bus stop after touring Château de Fontainebleau
It is polite to give up your seat for elders, people living with disabilities, and pregnant women (but that’s common knowledge everywhere).
Getting from Paris to Château de Fontainebleau by Car
You can drive yourself from Paris to Fontainebleau. It will take approximately an hour and fifteen minutes, but that is subject to traffic, of course.
You take the A6 from Paris (Porte d’Orléans or Porte d’Italia) and take the exit for Fontainebleau. After you exit, you will follow signs that say Château until you get to the palace.
Getting from Paris to Château de Fontainebleau by Coach
You can take an organized tour from Paris to Fontainebleau, but I wouldn’t recommend it. The tours are normally overpriced, and they don’t give you the freedom to do what you want when you want.
That being said, there are instances where it is better for people to take a coach tour rather than travelling to Château de Fontainebleau on their own. People who are living with disabilities and cannot easily take public transportation or people with mobility issues who want to walk as little as possible.
Paris City Vision offers a guided tour that comes highly recommend (although I have never personally gone on it).
Conclusion
It is easy to get from Paris to Château de Fontainebleau, and it is an amazing day trip. Château de Fontainebleau is so close to Paris that it makes for the perfect day trip.
The most efficient and stress-free way to get from Paris to Fontainebleau is by train. I promise that having to take the train then a bus isn’t as difficult as it can seem to an inexperienced traveller.
The journey is extremely easy, and it is nearly impossible to get lost along the way. The only thing you need to worry about is getting on the right train and getting off at the right stop. Even if you get off on the wrong bus stop, you will be able to walk to the palace because it is a small town.
Château de Fontainebleau is a great piece of French history. I actually enjoy it more than Versailles. It is less busy, just as beautiful, and has some amazing history attached to it.
You won’t regret your trip to Château de Fontainebleau!
Disneyland Paris is the perfect day trip from Paris. It is easy to get to from central Paris and is tons of fun! There a lot of Disneyland Paris attractions. Many of them are similar to attractions in other Disney parks and some of them are unique to Disneyland Paris.
You will want to have an understanding of Disneyland Paris attractions before you go to the parks. You will be better able to optimize your time if you know what you want to ride before you get to the parks.
This article will go through all of the Disneyland Paris attractions available. It should help you create a game plan for your visit. There are a lot of Disneyland Paris attractions to choose from. If you are only in the parks for one day, you won’t be able to ride everything. You will have to pick and choose what Disneyland Paris attractions are most important to you.
I’m going to cover some general Disneyland Paris information before getting into discussing Disneyland Paris attractions. Feel free to skip right to the Disneyland Paris attractions content if you’re a Disney expert and know all about FastPasses and park hopping!
General Disneyland Paris Information
Before I start breaking down Disneyland Paris attractions, there are some general things you need to know about Disneyland Paris.
There are Two Parks
There are two different parks on Disneyland Paris property. Disneyland Paris park is the main park. It has most of the classic Disney attractions that you know and love. It has a similar vibe to Magic Kingdom and Disneyland California.
The other park is Walt Disney Studios Park. This park has a lot of Pixar-themed areas. It is also home to a number of more thrilling attractions. Disney Studios park is also home to a number of outstanding stage shows that you should try catch if you have the time.
Navigating the Two Disneyland Paris Theme Parks
It can be difficult to locate attractions if you are a first-time Disneyland Paris visitor or not familiar with the way Disney lays out their parks.
There are guide maps available at both parks. You can pick one up as you enter the parks. There is a stand shortly after you scan your ticket and go through the turnstile.
The maps are available in multiple different languages, so you won’t have to try to read a French map if you don’t speak French. You only need to pick up one map because the map contains information for both parks, which makes it easy to plan your day if you have a park hopper ticket.
Your guide map will show you where all the Disneyland Paris attractions and restaurants are located as well as what time the shows and parades are running that day. The guide map will also give you information about what characters are meeting that day and where to find them.
Tickets
It is expensive to buy tickets to theme parks, and Disneyland Paris is no exception, unfortunately. You should consider purchasing a park-hopper ticket. This ticket gives you access to both Disneyland Paris parks on the same day.
The parks are very close to one another. You can easily walk from one park to the next in less than 5 minutes, so you don’t have to worry about building in transportation time like you have to in Walt Disney World.
Purchasing a park hopper ticket gives you a lot of flexibility and freedom. You are able to do what you want throughout the day without being confined to a single park. You are able to hop from one park to the other to avoid crowds and make the most out of your time.
It is important to purchase a park hopper ticket if you’re only going to be at Disneyland Paris for one day. There are unique attractions in each park that you won’t want to miss. There are must-ride Disneyland Paris attractions in each park, so you will definitely want to have a park hopper ticket in order to ride them all!
Information regarding ticket pricing can be found here.
FastPasses
To make the most out of your time at Disneyland Paris, you should use FastPasses. FastPasses give you front-of-the-line access to various Disneyland Paris attractions.
You have to scan your paper ticket at a FastPass kiosk located near the ride. FastPass kiosks are clearly marked, so you shouldn’t have any trouble locating them. Once you scan your park ticket, you will receive a FastPass that has a return time on it. You can return to that attraction during the designated time slot and go through the much quicker FastPass queue.
Your FastPass will tell you when you are eligible to get another FastPass. You normally have to wait 90 minutes or use your current FastPass before you are eligible to get a new one. This helps spread the FastPasses out to all the guests and prevents people from hoarding them.
FastPasses are included in the price of your ticket, so you should make the most out of them! You should try to get FastPasses for the rides that have the longest wait time. You can ride attractions that have a short wait time while you are waiting to use your FastPass at a popular attraction. This is the most time efficient way!
You are able to get a FastPass in Disneyland Paris then go to Walt Disney Studios while you are waiting for your return time and go back to Disneyland Paris to use your FastPass. You have a lot of flexibility with FastPasses. Just be sure not to miss your return time!
Getting to Disneyland Paris from Central Paris
You have to take the RER A regional train to get to Disneyland Paris. The last station is Marne-la-Vallée/Chessy, and you will get off the train there. You will be able to see Disney Village when you exit the station.
It will take approximately 30-45 minutes to get from central Paris to Disneyland Paris using public transportation.
There is a shuttle bus Disney provides from central Paris to the parks, but it is overpriced and not as efficient as the train. I wouldn’t recommend using the shuttle unless you have an impairment that prevents you from riding the train.
Disneyland Paris Attractions
Fantasyland
Fantasyland is home to some of the most iconic and nostalgic Disneyland Paris attractions. It is filled with bright colours and child-friendly rides. This land is often what people think of first when they think of Disney. It is truly classic.
Fantasyland is located behind Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. It is located in the middle of the park. You are able to access it from Discoveryland, Adventureland, and Main Street, U.S.A.
Sleeping Beauty Castle
This is the castle that you see as you are walking down Main Street, U.S.A. when you first enter Disneyland Paris. This castle design is unique to Disneyland Paris, and, frankly, it is one of the most beautiful Disney castles.
You are able to go inside the castle. There are scenes from Sleeping Beauty depicted inside the castle. You are also able to go outside on a balcony where there is a fantastic view of Fantasyland.
Note: You are required to walk up a flight of stairs to visit the inside of the castle. This may be difficult for people with mobility issues.
La Tanière du Dragon
What would Sleeping Beauty’s Castle be without an evil dragon lurking underneath it?
You are able to walk through the bottom of the castle to see a sleeping (or is it?) dragon. Be sure to wait around for a few minutes: the dragon just might wake up.
You are able to access this attraction from both Main Street, U.S.A. and Fantasyland. It is dark in the cave, but the floor is flat, so this is one of the Disneyland Paris attractions that is suitable for people with mobility issues to participate in without having to be accommodated.
As I mentioned, it is dark in the cave, so children (and adults) with a fear of the dark may not enjoy seeing the dragon. It isn’t pitch black, but there is just enough light to see where you are walking.
It’s a Small World
This is a classic Disney attraction that is found in every Disney park in the world except for Shanghai Disneyland. This is a slow-paced boat ride that takes you through various scenes that shows people and animals from all over the world.
It is a brightly coloured attraction with tons of animatronics wearing clothing traditional to the part of the world they are representing. It is filled with classic, Disney nostalgia and is great for people of any age because there isn’t a height limit.
While It’s a Small World is popular amongst hard-core Disney fans, it normally doesn’t have a very long queue. It is a great option if you have a FastPass for a different Fantasyland attraction and have a few extra minutes to spare before their return window begins.
Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups
This is another classic Disney attraction. The Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups are themed based on the tea party scene in Alice in Wonderland. It is a colourful ride that is perfect for taking a picture of!
This attraction consists of various tea cups. You pick a tea cup, get in, and then spin around and around and around and around. The tea cups themselves spin, but there is also a wheel in your individual tea cup that lets you spin even faster if you choose to.
This attraction is beloved by both children and adults alike. It is a fun attraction that oftentimes doesn’t have much of a wait time.
You can get rather dizzy on this attraction, so you may want to give it a miss if you get motion sick or have just eaten.
Alice’s Curious Labyrinth
Continuing with the theme of Alice in Wonderland, the next attraction is Alice’s Curious Labyrinth. This is a walk-through maze where you get to see all the main characters from the movie.
You get to choose your own path, so be sure to choose wisely otherwise you will have to retrace your steps to find the proper route!
This attraction is a lot of fun- especially if you have children in your group. It allows them to run around a little and burn off some energy.
The maze isn’t too long, so it won’t take you more than 10-20 minutes to complete depending on how long you spend looking at all the theming. It can get busy in the maze during peak times (aka mid-afternoon), so you may want to try to visit it mid-morning or early evening.
This is another one of the Disneyland Paris attractions that people with mobility issues are able to participate in without having to be accommodated. If you are able to walk through the maze, you will be able to experience it! You are able to walk as slow as you want, and you can stop and rest mid-maze if you need to.
There is one section of the maze that requires you to walk up a few stairs. You can easily bypass this portion of the attraction if you are unable to climb stairs. There is often a queue to climb the stairs, so many people bypass it in any event.
You aren’t able to bring motorized scooters or wheelchairs into the maze. You will have to walk by yourself if you want to go through the maze.
Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains
This translates to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It is a dark-ride where you board a wooden mine train and go through the scenes from the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
It is a slow-moving ride that is suitable for children of all ages and sizes. Other versions of this attraction can be found in Disneyland California and Tokyo Disneyland.
It can be a popular attraction, and it doesn’t offer a FastPass. If you really want to ride this attraction, I would recommend riding it in the morning before the park gets busy or in the evening after most of the children have gone home for the day.
Warning: This attraction has a number of scenes that may scare young children. The attraction focuses more on the relationship between Snow White and the Old Hag than on Snow White and her relationship with the Seven Dwarfs.
Le Carrousel de Lancelot
This attraction is the classic carrousel ride that you will find in the centre of every Fantasyland in every Disney park around the world.
Similar to any other carrousel, this attraction allows you to climb aboard a horse of your choosing and spin around slowing in circles. It is great fun for people of all ages. It has no height limit, there are seat buckles for smaller children, and parents are allowed to stand by their small child and help to hold them up.
The best part of the carrousel is that if you’re very, very lucky, you may get to ride with a Disney princess! Occasionally throughout the day a princess (normally Belle) will go for a ride on the carrousel. It makes for a very special memory if you are lucky enough to experience the attraction with a Disney character.
Peter Pan’s Flight
This is undoubtably the most popular attraction in Fantasyland. It is a cult classic amongst adult Disney fans and children love it too. This is one of the most popular Disneyland Paris attractions, so you will want to either ride it first thing in the morning or get a FastPass for it.
Peter Pan’s flight is a dark ride where you board a boat and soar above the story of Peter Pan. You start in the Darling children’s bedroom and end by defeating Captain Hook. You get to float through all the iconic scenes the make this movie the Disney classic it is.
Peter Pan’s Flight in Disneyland Paris is quite similar to other versions throughout the world. If you’re a huge Peter Pan’s Flight fan, you should definitely take the time to ride it. However, if you’ve ridden it in other parks throughout the world and are only a so-so fan, you may want to spend your time riding Disneyland Paris attractions that you can’t find anywhere else in the world.
Les Pays de Contes de Fées
This is a slow boat ride that takes you through miniature dioramas that depict your favourite Disney fairytales. You see scenes from Tangled, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and more!
The scenes are quite well designed. This attraction rarely has a queue, so it is a great way to relax during the middle of the day when your feet start to ache.
There is no height limit for this attraction, so it is suitable for children of all ages. The is a lot to see, so your young children will have lots of sensory stimulation (I mean, what at Disney isn’t sensory stimulation?).
Casey Jr.- le Petit Train du Cirque
This attraction is specifically geared towards young children. You board Casey Jr. and go for a fun ride through Storybook Land.
The train allows you to get an overhead view of Les Pays de Contes de Fées and Dumbo the Flying Elephant. You can get some great pictures of Fantasyland while your child is enjoying the train ride!
This attraction does not have a height limit because it was designed with children in mind. It doesn’t normally have much of a queue, so it is another great choice for the middle of the day when you and your child(ren) are getting tired and need a bit of a break.
Les Voyages de Pinocchio
This attraction is very similar to the Snow White dark ride in Fantasyland. The ride layout and vehicles are the same.
The difference is that you are riding through Pinocchio’s story on this attraction rather than Snow White’s.
This attraction is also a lot less scary for young children because it has brighter colours and fewer scary characters. There are still a couple of scenes that a young child might find scary but not nearly as many as in the Snow White attraction.
This attraction does not offer a FastPass and can be quite popular. You should try to ride it first thing in the morning or in the evening when most of the children have left for the day. This will allow you to experience the attraction without queuing for a long time.
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
This is the second most popular attraction in Fantasyland behind Peter Pan’s Flight. It is a staple attraction that is found in every Disney park in the world, and is a favourite among children.
The ride vehicles are in the shape of an elephant. You choose your elephant and are lifted into the air. The elephants go in a circle, and there is a controller in your vehicle that allows you to raise or lower your elephant, so it feels like you are flying.
You get amazing views of Fantasyland while riding the Dumbo attraction. You should make sure to have your camera ready to make sure you get a couple of great pictures.
This attraction does not offer FastPasses, which is surprising considering how popular it is. You should ride it first thing in the morning if you have a child that loves Dumbo and has to ride it everything s/he is at the park.
If you can’t ride it first thing in the morning, later in the evening is another good time to ride it. Many children leave the parks early in the evening, so the queue is shorter near the end of the night. There will still be a queue, but it will be shorter than during the day.
There is no height restriction for this attraction, so your entire family will be able to ride it with no problem. It makes for a great family memory and tradition!
Discoveryland
Discoveryland is equivalent to Tomorrowland in the rest of the Disney parks around the world. It is home to futuristic attractions and metallic colouring.
It is located on the left-hand side of Main Street, U.S.A. You can enter Discoveryland either from Main Street, U.S.A. or Fantasyland.
Mickey’s PhilharMagic
This is the newest Disneyland Paris attraction. It is a 4D show that features Donald getting into trouble and Mickey helping save him.
Mickey’s PhilharMagic takes you on a musical journey where you get to hear your favourite classic Disney songs. Other versions of this attraction can be found in Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Tokyo Disneyland.
This attraction doesn’t normally have much of a wait time and can fit a large number of people into one show, so it is perfect for people who are looking for something to do in the middle of the day when the queues are long. Or people who are looking to catch a midday nap (Disney really is exhausting!).
There is seating for people in wheelchairs, so this attraction is accessible to people with mobility impairments. If you have a wheelchair or motorized scooter, you will be shown into the theatre first, so you don’t have to try to fight the crowds and find your designated seating area.
Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
This is a great attraction for people of all ages. It is a slow-moving game where you try to shoot targets with a laser gun to defeat evil Emperor Zurg.
Each ride vehicle has two laser guns, and you are competing to see who has the best score. This is one of the longer non-show Disneyland Paris attractions. The ride takes approximately 5 minutes. You are shooting the entire time, so five minutes goes by pretty quickly, and you might end up with a hand cramp by the end of it.
There is no height limit for this attraction, so anybody in your party can ride it. If you have a small child and two adults, the three of you will go into one car with the child seated in the middle for safety.
This is a very popular attraction in every Disney park around the world- including Disneyland Paris. FastPasses for this attraction don’t run out too quickly, so you can get FastPasses for another attraction you want to ride and then come back and get a FastPass for Buzz Lightyear later in the afternoon.
Les Mystères de Nautilus
This is a walk through attraction where you board a submarine and explore the world Jules Verne created with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. You get to explore the submarine and see some of the discoveries the crew has made deep in the ocean.
This is a fun attraction for people who are a fan of the novel or people who love sea-themed things. It isn’t the most engaging attraction at Disneyland Paris. You may want to give it a pass if you’re not into 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or submarines.
You don’t have to walk up or down any stairs in this attraction, so it is suitable for people with mobility issues. The hallways are wide enough for a wheelchair, but you will have to check with a cast member to see if wheelchairs are allowed in the attraction or not.
Orbitron
You get a bird’s eye view of Discoveryland on the Orbitron! This attraction is based off of one of Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing of the solar system.
You board a space ship and shoot into the solar system. You are able to control the height of your space ship just like on the Dumbo attraction. The two attractions are very similar. The main differences between them are the theming and that the Orbitron lifts you higher into the air.
This attraction is similar to the Orbitron in other Disney parks around the world. If you aren’t a fan of the attraction at any other park, you should give it a pass in Disneyland Paris as well.
There is no height requirement on this attraction, so anybody is welcome to ride it.
This attraction doesn’t offer a FastPass. It can get pretty busy at times, so you should avoid trying to ride it during peak hours to limit your wait time.
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
Star Tours is a simulator attraction. You board a Starspeeder and go on a thrilling trip through the Star Wars universe.
The best part about this attraction is that the scenes are random. You never know what part of the universe you will be visiting until your Starspeeder takes you there.
This is a very popular attraction. The queue can oftentimes being more than 60 minutes long. FastPass is available, so if you have a Star Wars fanatic in your group, you will want to make sure you get one!
Star Tours in Disneyland Paris is identical to Star Tours in other Disney parks around the world. The characters speak in French, so you won’t be able to understand them if you’re an Anglophile, but you will be able to follow along with the story line through watching the show.
This is a simulator attraction, so you shouldn’t ride it if you get motion sick.
Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain
What could be better than a mashup between Star Wars and on the most popular rollercoasters in the Disney universe? This attraction is amazing. It is one of the few Disneyland Paris attractions that is better than the original, classic version found in the US parks.
This attraction not only has a great theme, but it is also a lot more thrilling than the original version. The Disneyland Paris version has an upside down loop and a corkscrew, so it takes the thrill level up a notch.
Hyperspace Mountain is one of the few Disneyland Paris attractions that offers a single rider line. This line is normally shorter than the normal line. The only downside is that you will not be able to ride with anybody else in your group. You will be used to fill an empty seat when a party in the normal line has an odd number of riders.
Unsurprisingly, Hyperspace Mountain is a very popular attraction. It does offer a FastPass. If your party wants to ride the attraction together, you should get a FastPass or ride the coaster first thing in the morning.
If your family doesn’t mind splitting up, the single rider line is a great option. It allows you to ride a popular attraction with a short wait time while having a FastPass for another popular attraction. This is a great strategy for people trying to optimize their time in the parks.
Autopia
Autopia is a driving attraction geared towards young children. Children are able to drive a motorized car through a closed course.
There is a metal track along the track under each car that prevents children from driving out of their lane, so you don’t have to worry about your child crashing the car or getting crashed into by another child.
Children love this attraction, so a long queue can form during peak hours. There is no FastPass for this attraction. You will have to strategize when you want to ride this attraction around all the other attractions you want to ride that don’t offer a FastPass.
Autopia in Disneyland Paris is the same as the Autopia attractions found in the US parks. There is nothing new or special about it, so you may want to skip this attraction unless it is a favourite of someone in your party.
Adventureland
Adventureland is located to the left of Fantasyland and the right of Frontierland. You can get to it from Fantasyland, Frontierland, or Main Street, U.S.A. It is one of the larger lands, and it has a number of popular and adventurous attractions.
Le Passage Enchanté d’Aladdin
This is a self-paced walk through attraction. You enter the world of Agrabah and get to see scenes from the movie Aladdin.
The theming of this attraction is great, and the dioramas you look at are intricate and colourful.
This is a self-paced attraction, which means that you can wander through it at your leisure. There won’t be a wait. Visiting this attraction while waiting for a nearby attraction you have a FastPass for or in the middle of the day are great options.
The passage you walk through is flat, so it is accessible to people with mobility impairments. You will have to check with a cast member to see if you have to transfer from a wheelchair or if you are able to take it into the attraction with you.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril
This is an outdoors rollercoaster that can only be found in Disneyland Paris and Tokyo DisneySea, so it is one of the more unique Disneyland Paris attractions.
This rollercoaster has an upside down loop and a couple of big drops (for Disney standards). It is a lot of fun, so you should plan to ride it while you’re in Disneyland Paris if you like coasters.
You are able to get a FastPass for this attraction. The FastPasses aren’t the most popular, so you can normally get FastPasses for another popular attraction and still be able to get a FastPss for Indiana Jones later in the day.
La Cabane des Robinson
This attraction involves climbing up into a treehouse. It is based on the Family Robinson book. You get to walk through various areas of the treehouse and see how the family would have lived if this was their actual house.
There are a lot of stairs to climb. It is a great attraction for children that need to get rid of some energy, but it is not accessibly for people with mobility impairments. If you struggle with stairs, you will want to avoid this attraction.
There normally isn’t a queue for La Cabane des Robinson, so it is a great midday activity to do if you don’t want to wait in a long queue for a different attraction.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Ah, the classic Adventureland attraction. You board and boat and sail through different pirate scenes. It is a classic attraction that can be found in every Disney park around the world.
The Disneyland Paris version of Pirates of the Caribbean is slightly different from any other version. The layout and sequence of the scenes is slightly altered.
There is also a second small drop. This second drop does cause some disruption to the attraction though. The boats tend to get backed up waiting to go down the second drop, and you often get an extended viewing of the scene leading up to the drop.
This is a fairly popular attraction. It can often have a 30-45 minute wait consistently throughout the day. The wait time does tend to shorten as the day progresses, so riding it in the evening can save you some time standing in the line.
There is no FastPass for this attraction. You will have to wait in the queue every time you ride it, so you should try to avoid it during peak hours.
Frontierland
Frontierland is the smallest land, but it is home to two of my favourite Disneyland Paris attractions. It may be small, but it worth spending some time in!
It is on the lefthand side of Main Street, U.S.A. and is the first land you come to on the left when you enter the park. You can access Frontierland from Adventureland and Main Street, U.S.A. There is also a fairly quick way to get there is you leave Fantasyland near Peter Pan’s Flight and keep to the lower part of the path.
Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing
This is the classic boat ride that is found in most Frontierlands around the world. You board a life-size boat and sail around Frontierland. You get excellent views of Big Thunder Mountain, and you can snap some good photos on it.
This attraction sometimes has a long(ish) queue mostly because there is only one ride vehicle. You will have to wait the length of the attraction if you miss the boat by a few seconds.
People using wheelchairs or motorized scooters will have to transfer and walk onto the boat, so it isn’t totally accessible to people with mobility impairments, unfortunately.
Big Thunder Mountain
This is one of my absolute favourite Disneyland Paris attractions. It is similar to the other Big Thunder Mountain attractions found in other parks in the world, but it is so much better!
It is longer and has more dips and turns than any other version in the world. This attraction is truly a highlight of Disneyland Paris. You should definitely make riding Big Thunder Mountain a priority.
It is outside and doesn’t have an upside down loop, so it is pretty tame compared to the other rollercoasters in Disneyland Paris, but it still extremely fun. Adults and children will love it, so it is perfect for the entire family!
Big Thunder is a popular attraction, so it has a long wait throughout basically the entire day. It is best to get a FastPass for this attraction. There is no single rider queue, and the queue area tends to get very warm and humid during the summer months. It can make for an uncomfortable wait.
Phantom Manor
Phantom Manor is Disneyland Paris’ version of Haunted Mansion. You board a doom buggy and tour through a old manor that is inhabited by ghosts.
It is a slow, dark ride, and there is no height restriction. It is a popular attraction that most guests visit during their Disneyland trip, but it often has a fairly short wait time. They are able to usher large numbers of people into the attraction at once, and that really helps cut down on the wait time. It does not offer a FastPass.
Just like Haunted Mansion, there is a narrator; however, this narrator speaks French. Not being able to fully understand that narration takes a little bit of the fun out of the attraction, but it is still worth going on.
The scenes you go through are similar to the scenes in the US parks, but there are a number of differences.
Must-Ride Disneyland Paris Attractions
There is a lot information to sift through surrounding Disneyland Paris attractions, and it can be difficult to decide what is worth riding and what isn’t.
These are my list of must-ride Disneyland Paris attractions. Obviously this is subjective to my opinion and what style of attraction I enjoy, but it can be used as a starting point to get a quick sense of what attractions a young woman enjoys.
Disneyland Paris Attraction I Ride Every Trip
Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril
Peter Pan’s Flight
Sleeping Beauty Castle
Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
Phantom Manor
Walt Disney Studios Park Attractions
Toon Studio
This is the largest and most popular land in Walt Disney Studios. It is home to some of the most popular Disneyland Paris attractions, which means it is often very busy in this area.
Toon Studio is located at the back righthand corner of the theme park. You will turn to the right after you enter the park and follow the path. Toon Studio is narrow at the front of the land, but it widens out significantly the deeper into the land you get.
You can easily access the back portion of this land by walking straight when you enter the park to the Backlot area and taking a right. This will give you quick access to the Toy Story attractions.
Crush’s Coaster
This is one of the most unique Disneyland Paris attractions. You board a turtle shell and go on an ocean journey with Crush the turtle from Finding Nemo. The ride starts off slow and calm then picks up when you start riding the East Coast current.
It is a rollercoaster-type attraction with dips and turns. The unique part is that your turtle shell spins as well, so you are turning in circles as you go along the coaster track. It is an amazing attraction. I hope one day it comes to another Disney park.
Crush’s Coaster is a very popular attraction, and it doesn’t offer a FastPass option. The queue is normally 45-60 minutes throughout the entire day.
There is a single rider line, but it is slow moving as well. The single rider queue is often 30-45 minutes long. You shouldn’t let the long line deter you from riding Crush’s Coaster. It is an amazing attraction, and one of the few Disneyland Paris attractions that I am willing to wait in a long queue for.
Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin
This attraction is designed for young children. The ride vehicle is a giant Slinky Dog chasing his tail. You go around and around in circles trying to catch Slinky’s tail.
Children seem to enjoy this attraction, and it regularly has a long wait. It is not unusual for the wait to be 30+ minutes. There is not FastPass offered, so you will have to watch the wait times on your Disneyland Paris app and try to ride it when there is a shorter wait time.
Les Tapis Volants- Flying Carpets over Agrabah
Les Tapis Volants is the same as the Dumbo ride in the Disneyland Paris park. The only difference is that this attraction is themed around the Aladdin movie.
You board a flying carpet and flying over Agrabah (or at least this section of Toon Studio). It is bright and colourful just like Dumbo. The views aren’t as great as the Fantasyland views you get on Dumbo, but they are still pretty good.
This attraction isn’t as popular as the Dumbo attraction, so it is a good option if your child loves this type of attraction, but you want to limit how long you wait in line.
RC Racer
This attraction allows you to board a giant car and room up and down a half-pipe. It is basically the same as the boat half-pipe attractions that are in nearly every local theme park.
If you like the feeling of your stomach dropping time and time again, you will enjoy this attraction. The theming is cute, and you get a thrill, but it isn’t any different than the standard version of this attraction. You should skip this attraction if you don’t like this style of ride.
This attraction is hit-or-miss in terms of wait times. Sometimes it has a short wait times and other times it can be close to an hour. This is another one of the Disneyland Paris attractions that has a single-rider queue, so that is a great option if you don’t mind being split from your party.
Cars Quatre Roues Rallye
This is another one of the Disneyland Paris attractions designed specifically with children in mind. It is themed around the Pixar Cars franchise.
You choose which car you want to ride in and the cars move in a circles. There are three smaller circles that the cars run on, and they weave in and out of each other. The cars also swing a little bit to the left and right as they are moving.
It uses the same ride track as Alien Saucer Swirl at Disney World or Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree in Disneyland California.
There isn’t a FastPass offered for this attraction, but the line is often fairly short, so you shouldn’t have to wait too long if it is something you want to ride.
Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop
This is the last of the Disneyland Paris attractions that are themed around the Toy Story franchise. It is a child-friendly version of the drop of doom-type attraction.
You sit on a green seat that looks like it has a parachute above it, so it looks like you’re one of the green toy soldiers from Toy Story dropping into action.
It is very mild and designed for children.
There is often a fairly long queue. It can get upwards of a 60 minute wait, but that is pretty rare.
There isn’t a FastPass offered, but there is a single-ride line. If your child feels comfortable riding without you beside him/her, this is a great way to save some time. Each bench holds 4 people, so the single-rider line tends to move pretty quickly if there are lots of groups of 3.
Ratatouille: The Adventure
This is one of the most popular (and best) Disneyland Paris attractions. It is so good, that Walt Disney World is bringing it to Epcot. You should 100% make this attraction a priority.
You shrink down the size of a rat and help Remy prepare a special meal. It is a trackless ride, so you never know where you will end up! Each time you ride the attraction, it will be a new experience. It is also a 3D attraction, so that adds another element of fun to the ride!
This attraction is, understandably, a very popular attraction at Disneyland Paris. It offers a FastPass, but they often run out early in the day- especially because not many attractions in Walt Disney Studios have a FastPass option.
There is a single-rider line that moves very quickly. The ride vehicle seats 6 people, so nearly every vehicle has a single rider in it. This is definitely a quickest moving single-ride line, so you should take advantage of it!
Production Courtyard
This is the smallest land in Walt Disney Studios. It consists of only one attraction and serves more of a gateway to the Backlot than an actual land.
You can get to Production Courtyard by taking the path that go to the left when you first enter the park. You will be able to see the single attraction in this land when you enter. It is quite tall, so you can use it as a visual reference point.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
This is a thrill attraction where you board an elevator that stops working and you drop. It is basically a highly-themed drop of doom-type attraction. It is based on the Twilight Zone television show.
A version of this attraction can be found in many Disney parks around the world. It is always a fan favourite and normally has a long(ish) queue. There is now a Fastpass option available for Tower of Terror so be sure to snag one if you’re a huge fan of this attraction!
This version of the ride is similar to the versions found in Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios and Tokyo DisneySea.
If you love this type of attraction, you will want to make time to ride it. However, if you aren’t a huge fan of this attraction at the other Disney parks, you’re probably better off getting a Fastpass for a different, unique attraction.
Backlot
This is the final land in Walt Disney Studios park. It is located behind and slightly to the left of Production Courtyard. You can access it either through the Toy Story portion of Toon Studio or by walking past Production Courtyard.
You can easily miss this land if you don’t know how to get there. Walt Disney Studios isn’t built in a circle like Disneyland Paris, so you won’t just stumble upon a land in this park. It isn’t difficult to find when you know where you’re going though.
Armageddon: les Effects Spéciaux
This is basically a guided walk-through tour where you learn about special effects. You go through various rooms and see how some of your favourite movie effects were created.
The attraction ends in a room where everybody stands in a circle and experiences an explosion effect. It is very loud, and you shouldn’t participate in this attraction if you have sensitive hearing.
This is a walk through attraction, but people using mobility devices such as wheelchairs or motorized scooters have to transfer and walk through the attraction.
There isn’t a FastPass offered for this attraction, but it isn’t a very popular attraction, so you won’t have a long wait.
The attraction itself is quite long, so it is best to avoid it if you are running short on time and need to get to a FastPass or dining reservation.
Overall, this attraction falls flat for me. It isn’t terribly engaging, and it feels tacky. I wouldn’t make this a priority. There are better Disneyland Paris attractions that you should focus your time on.
Must-Ride Walt Disney Studios Attractions
There are far fewer attractions at Walt Disney Studios than at Disneyland Paris, but it can still be difficult to choose what to prioritize. Many of the attractions at Walt Disney Studios often have a long queue and don’t offer a FastPass.
This is my list of attractions that are worth spending time waiting for at Walt Disney Studios. Again, this is coming from the perspective of a young woman. Your priorities will change if you have a family.
Walt Disney Studios Park Attractions I Ride Every Trip
Crush’s Coaster
Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster
Ratatouille
Conclusion
There are a lot of Disneyland Paris attractions to choose from, and it is difficult to know where to begin- especially if you’re not an experienced Disney addict like I am.
Everybody’s Disneyland Paris experience will be different based on what they prioritize and the style of attraction they prefer. Disneyland Paris attractions range from extremely thrilling to tame enough that an infant can ride.
Disney offeres FastPasses and single-rider lines to help limit how long you have to stand in a queue to ride a popular attraction. These are huge time savers and should be taken advantage of whenever possible. A properly-planned day that takes advantage of these two time savers will be a lot more productive than a day that doesn’t.
In terms of attractions, I hope this guide helped you better understand what each attraction is about. Knowing what an attraction is will help you choose what you do and don’t want to ride before you get to Disneyland Paris. This knowledge will also help you have a well-planned day at Disney.
Overall, planning a trip to Disneyland Paris is no more complicated than planning any other Disney trip. There are a number of Disneyland Paris attractions that are unique to the park that you should be sure to visit, and now that you know what they are, you will be able to make sure you visit them!
Disneyland Paris is one of my favourite Disney parks in the world. I hope you enjoy your time there. Have a magical day!
