As part of our 3-week European vacation, we added a trip to Disneyland Paris. We were headed to Paris next and could have stayed in the city center (it’s only a 45 minute train ride out to Disneyland). We decided to stay out at Val d’Europe so we were close to the park as that’s the only thing we planned to do for those two days.
The day we flew into Paris from Corsica, we took a car out to Val d’Europe, checked into our hotel, and ate a late lunch before heading into the Disney park for the afternoon. We took the train from Val d’Europe, and it was so easy to get right to the Disneyland park gates. There’s no need to take a boat/monorail like in Florida!
I was surprised at how quiet the park was! I thought maybe it’s because we were there right before French schools got out for the summer. (Though the Disneyland crowd calendar shows the end of June as being high traffic days.) The next day our entire family went for the full day, and I realized that most people just go first thing in the morning and leave mid day for a break, around 4pm. Both days we left Disneyland around 9:30pm and people were streaming in as we exited. Presumably they were there for the night fireworks!
Note: My observations of our time at Disneyland Paris are mostly in contrast to Disney World Orlando, which is the park we have visited most (just last year we were at Disney World Orlando!). I understand that a lot of people visiting Disneyland Paris might be EU-based, so they may never have been to Disney World in Orlando, but I just had to share from my perspective!
What to know about Disneyland Paris (compared to Disney World Orlando)
- Many cast members spoke English, at least a little (and my basic French got us the rest of the way) so you don’t need to worry about language being a barrier
- I found that Disneyland Paris is not as clean as Florida- in the bathrooms especially
- If you need air conditioning, we found lots of great ac at Cafe de Marionette (Pinocchio themed). They also had some outlets to plug in (you need a European plug) at Marionette, inside and outdoors by the barrel tables, if your phone needs a quick charge.
- They do parades just like at Disney World, and people line up EARLY. I’m talking 45 minutes to an hour early. Because we were there with young kids, we preferred to just find a spot farther back to watch the parades.
- One thing I really appreciated about Disneyland Paris is how many spots there are to find shade! I feel like you don’t get that at the Orlando Disney, but there were many trees to stop under, grassy spots to sit down, and it just overall felt like it was more geared to families taking a break there in the park.
- The food in the parks is all basic Disney food- chicken fingers, hot dogs, basic salads, ice cream, popcorn. If you have dietary restrictions it’s probably easier to just bring your own stuff.
- Disneyland Paris overall feels a lot more compact than it does at Disney World, so we found it a lot easier to meet up with people, go back to rides we missed, or skip something and go back if the line was too long.
- Speaking of lines, there was always a huge discrepancy between the wait times on the app and the actual wait times. For example, we went to get on the Astro Orbiter and my app said 10 minute wait. No problem, right? It ended up being 65 minutes in total. That’s a biiiiig difference with a 2 year old, 4 year old, and 7 year old in the hot sun with no shade.
Overall, I didn’t think that Disneyland Paris feels as magical as Disney world- for example, we saw trash bags being carried out (which you’d never see at Disney World because of their underground system), the trash wasn’t emptied often and was sometimes overflowing, etc.
I probably would not take a trip specifically to go to Disneyland Paris from the US, but it was a nice little detour between London and Paris!
Staying at Disneyland Paris vs in Val d’Europe
In my opinion, staying at the Disneyland hotel would be worth it if you plan to completely immerse yourself in Disney. But we saved a lot of money by staying outside of the parks. Originally we had planned to stay at the Marvel themed hotel, but then we found out their pool would be closed for renovations. Then we booked at the Newport Bay Hotel, and after weighing the options of staying there (about a 10 minute walk or 1 stop on the shuttle) vs. in the little town of Val d’Europe (about a 30 minute walk or 3 stops on the shuttle), we chose Val d’Europe. We got a bigger hotel room, we were across the street from the shopping mall, and we saved a bit of money vs. if we had stayed at Newport Bay. It’s interesting to note that if you’re staying at the Disneyland Hotel (which is literally at the park entrance), you go through security before you get to the hotel doors, so you have to do security with all of your bags. I’ve never seen that at a park so I thought it was worth noting.
Getting to Disneyland Paris on the train
Getting there by train is VERY easy. They have a stop labeled “Parcs Disneyland” so it’s really hard to miss. If you’re coming from Paris city center, it’s about a 45 minute ride. The train is comfortable and a typical commuter train. We went from Val d’Europe one day, as our hotel shuttle was closed in the afternoon for about 5 hours, and it was just one stop on the train.
Disneyland Park vs Disney Studios
- Studios feels VERY small especially compared to Disney World. When we were there, lots of attractions were closed, so there didn’t seem like a lot to do with the kids. We spent most of our time at the Disneyland Park.
- They’re clearly building a lot more at Studios, like a whole Rapunzel themed area and Frozen area. But none of that was open, so it seemed very small.
- Disneyland Park is where all of the “highlight” rides are, and where most of the character greetings seemed to be as well.
Ride highlights for the kids were ALL at Disneyland Park: Carousel, It’s A Small World (they loved seeing America!), Star Tours (great ac, the ride is different every time you go on), Teacups, Autotopia, Casey’s Little Train
