Are you looking for the BEST Disneyland Paris tips to plan your next visit? These are the tried and true tips to get the most out of your visit while having an efficient and relaxing day.
Planning a visit to any Theme Park can be stressful if you are visiting for the first time, especially if you are visiting from another country.
Every theme park (including Disney parks) is unique and needs special planning. We used our 40+ years of theme park experience and several visits to Disneyland Paris to come up with these tips. You will learn why it is important to Download and study the app, arrive early before the park opens, use the Single Rider queue, and so much more.
After reading about these Disneyland Paris tips you will know how to avoid getting stuck in long lines (nobody’s got time for that!).
This post is all about the BEST Disneyland Paris Tips for your next visit.
BEST DISNEYLAND PARIS TIPS
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Download the Disneyland Paris App
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Make Dining Reservations in Advance
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Arrive Before the Park Opens
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Some Attractions/Food Close Early in the Park
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Ride Autopia and Buzz Lightyear First
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Disney Premier Access and Single Rider Queues
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Ride Busy attractions during the parades
*Real quick…it’s important to know the VIBE of Disneyland Paris, especially if you are visiting from another country! The vibe is more sophisticated and relaxed than most Disneyland Parks. People are generally dressed nicer (you don’t see a lot of Athleisure wear). The scenery and flowers are beautiful and nobody is in a rush.
Most people visiting with children are willing to wait in long lines for the character Meet n’ Greets. Smoking is allowed compared to U.S. locations that forbid it. Cast Members are not overly chipper “Disney fanatics”. Instead, they are calm and kind and willing to look up any question they cannot answer. The food and snacks are fine but NOT as top-notch as Disneyland California. This is surprising cause after all dear, this is France!.
In short, we LOVE the sophisticated and relaxing vibe of Disneyland Paris.
1. Download the Disneyland Paris App
This tip is important for any theme park you visit to ensure an efficient and relaxing experience. We suggest downloading the Disneyland Paris App right away and getting familiar with it.
Scroll through the home screen and learn how the App is organized. Review the Map and its categories to get a good lay of the land (ie: Ride Wait times, Restaurants, Shows). On the map we found out the Disneyland Hotel is located right above the main gate entrance to the park, how convenient is that! Check to see what attractions or shows will be closed for refurbishment during your visit. Upload your tickets and take a screenshot just in case your phone connections are slow when you are entering the park. Check out all of the dining options and decide where you would like to eat. Learn how the Disney Premier Access (similar to FastPass) program works by watching the instructional videos on the app.
The Map is one of the most used tools on the App. At the bottom you can toggle between the Attractions, Restaurants, Shows, Shopping and Character Meet n’ Greet locations. You can also view these in a list format. Make sure you don’t overlook the FILTER option! Take a quick look and you’ll see features such as Toilets, Rides with 30 min or less queueing, Next Shows, Events, and Guest Services.
2. Make Dining Reservations in Advance
There are many wonderful restaurants and dining locations in Disneyland Paris, but you definitely do not want to get stuck in a long line when you or your children are HANGRY! At the bottom of the app select the FOOD option and take a look around right away. Dining reservations are hard to get and you can make them up to 2 months in advance from the App!
Check out the food options at the Disneyland Paris website here before your trip to get an idea of what’s available. The options include Table service restaurants, All-you-can-eat-buffets, Quick service restaurants, and Snack Bars.
Our personal favorite is to make a lunch or dinner reservation at Captain Jack’s to enjoy the Seafood Creole-style food with inside views of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. It’s basically a family-friendly version of the Blue Bayou Restaurant in Disneyland California. We also like to watch a few Youtube videos of the current snacks and food being offered. Or we check every food service menu on the app ahead of time and take notes of what we want to eat during our visit.
3. Arrive Before the Park Opens
This tip is also very important for every theme park you visit. We have tested this at many theme parks in the USA and Europe, even on the busiest summer weekends. If you are in line to enter the park before it opens then you will have about 1 hour (or more) of short lines. Make sure you eat breakfast early so that you are not hangry at the start of your day.
Once you enter the park we would not recommend stopping and taking pictures or eating, everyone else is doing that. Hit up the rides that are known to be busiest first (ie: Thunder Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Autopia). You can enjoy taking pictures and eating later while everyone else is in a giant line for the ride that you waited 5 minutes for! This tip allows you to ride several attractions in a short amount of time then gives you the rest of the day to leisurely walk around and enjoy the scenery.
4. Some Attractions/Food Close Early in the Park
This is a very important Disneyland Paris tip for first-timers as this Park is known for closing some things early. For instance, Fantasyland closes about an hour early for the fireworks show. Many eateries close early and even some smaller attractions. Educate yourself and study the app so that you can plan your day and not miss anything. I recommend making a rough plan for the day in a “Notes App” on your phone to ensure you don’t miss anything. I’ve noticed that Disney Parks sometimes like to close snack bars, shops, and rides that are at the back of the park first and work their way up. This naturally pushes guests towards the entrance.
5. Ride Autopia and Buzz Lightyear First
Why these rides? Why are these lines long all day? What if I don’t care about these rides, to begin with?
These rides are fun for both kids and adults so everyone in your party can ride together, Which makes them popular. These rides are also slow to load and semi-popular so that is what we think makes their lines long all day. We were pretty underwhelmed with the Autopia ride and will most likely skip it next time. And if you don’t care about either one of these rides, then by all means skip them! If your goal is to try every ride in the park then I would start with them first.
Maybe hit up Thunder mountain instead as that line seems to be consistently busy all day (that’s because it’s by far our FAVORITE ride and WORTH IT!)
6. Disney Premier Access and Single Rider Queues
As we just mentioned above, Thunder Mountain is usually the busiest and longest line in the park. There are a few ways to ride it (and other busy rides) without waiting in a huge line. If you are among the first people to enter the park then riding Thunder mountain right away can assure the shortest wait time of the day. But once you ride it you’ll be hooked and want to ride again and again! That’s where the single rider line becomes useful.
Single Riders: There is usually a separate entrance sometimes near the exit, just ask the ride attendant where the “Single Rider” queue is. Each rider must be at least 7 years old and must understand they may ride alone or with a stranger. The object of the single rider line is to fill in any open seats on a ride to optimize the number of people that can ride at a time. For example, if a party of 3 gets seated leaving the 4th seat empty, then they will pull 1 person from the single rider queue to fill that fourth seat…easy peasy.
Disney Premier Access: It is similar to a FastPass. Because you have already downloaded the Disneyland Paris App and watched the instructional videos of how the Disney Premier Access works, then I won’t go into detail and bore you. Just know that during the off-season on a weekday, you can ride just about every ride in the park without purchasing a Disney Premier Access pass. The pass allows you to individually pay (market price) for each attraction, so if your party wants to ride Thunder mountain 3 times in a row while waiting in a short line… then using the Premier Access pass is your answer!
7. Ride busy attractions during the parades/firework shows
Just like other theme parks, the queue for most busy attractions is short during parades or firework shows. This is an especially great time to ride HyperSpace Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and the Train. Plan ahead and make note of the parade times before you enter the park and be near the busy attraction right as the shows start. If you wait too long and the parade ends, the queue will fill up quickly and you will miss your opportunity.
Bonus!
Learn the Disneyland Paris Secrets
There are tons of videos on YouTube that can teach you all the Disneyland Paris Secrets, so I will just name a few.
- The Dragon- Yes, there is a Dragon under Sleeping Beauty’s castle so make sure you don’t miss that!
- The Disneyland Hotel is located at (above) the Main Gate Entrance! How convenient is that!
- 2 Walkway Arcades Parallel to Main Street, U.S.A. – You can walk down Main Street to get from the front gate to the Castle or you can walk down the hidden Arcades (covered indoor long walkway). The entrances are located to the left and right of Main Street and run parallel to the street. There are also small entrances halfway down Main Street to the left and right. The arcade to the left has a “Liberty” theme displaying lots of old pictures of the Statue of Liberty in New York. The arcade on the right has a “Discovery” theme highlighting the greatest inventions of the 19th century.
- Alice’s Curious Labyrinth- This unique attraction is not a ride, it is a walk through an English garden labyrinth. There are a few surprises that pop up that make it even more fun!
- Phone Charging Room- Inside the Arcade Alpha entrance of the Videopolis Theatre in Discoveryland, there is a room full of free charging stations for your phone. There are a few wireless chargers so you don’t even need a cable! The room is themed like outer space with stars on the wall. The only problem is that you have to stay with your phone and wait for it to charge.
- They do have inexpensive phone chargers that you can rent for a few hours located in a vending machine by the entrance of the lockers (to the right when you walk through the front entrance).