Disneyland Paris Tips and Secrets
Visiting Disneyland Paris for the first time can be a bit overwhelming. I personally wanted everything to be magical and so put pressure on myself to make that happen. Nothing always goes completely to plan, but I found my research and forward planning really paid off. These are some of the tips we picked up during our stay.
Disneyland Paris Tips and Secrets : Have a plan of action
It doesn’t need to be a strict itinerary, but it’s definitely worth figuring out what your priorities are and working from there. What’s most important to you – characters or rides?
Obviously there are two parks at Disneyland Paris, so it might be worth having one day at the Studios and spend the rest of the time at the Disneyland Park. I honestly don’t think you need longer than a day in the Studios, as there’s much less to do compared to the main park. Use the Lineberty app while you’re in the Studios to make the most of your time there.
Disneyland Paris Tips and Secrets: Get to the parades and Illuminations early
You want to be grabbing your spot at least 30 minutes before the parades start to be guaranteed a good view. For the Illuminations you may want to get there even earlier to ensure an unobstructed view. Times change frequently so don’t forget to refer to the Disneyland Paris app.
You want to be as close to the front as possible to not only get a great view, but also to encourage character interaction.
Disneyland Paris Tips and Secrets : Utilise Extra Magic Hours (EMH).
If you are staying onsite in a Disneyland Paris hotel or are a Magic Plus or Infinity Annual Pass holder, you will be entitled to Extra Magic Hours before the park opens. Use them! If you’re desperate to see the Princesses, then Princess Pavilion should be your first port of call. The queues are so long during normal opening hours and there is a mad dash even during EMH. You can also meet Mickey Mouse during the Early Magic Hours, which obviously is also very popular.
In terms of rides you want to head for the most popular rides first. When you check in you will be given a list of what rides are currently available during EMH. When we went we made Peter Pan’s Flight and Crusher’s Coaster our main priority as we knew they were popular rides.
EMH is also a great time to take photographs as it’s not nearly as busy as when the park is open to everyone.
Disneyland Paris Tips and Secrets : Enquire About Characters Within Your Hotel.
If you’re staying onsite at a Disneyland Paris Hotel, ask about the character meets when you check in. They are exclusive for hotel guests and are usually within the hotel in the morning. The queues are much shorter than the queues in the park.
Disneyland Paris Tips and Secrets : Explore The Hotels
You don’t need to be staying at the Disney hotels to enter them. You can go in, have a look around, visit their bar areas and shops etc. The Disneyland Hotel has a lovely shop, and is home to Inventions and California Grill restaurants and Cafe Fantasia bar, which are all open to non residents.
Disneyland Paris Tips and Secrets : Fast Passes
To cut down on queuing time I’d definitely recommend using fast passes. Fast Pass is a system than enables you to return to a ride at an allotted time to significantly reduce your waiting time. You simply insert your park ticket/magic pass and receive a ticket with a time on to go back. It’s not instant access upon your return, but we rarely waited more than 10-15 minutes, compared to the normal queues of up to 2 hours.
You can’t hold more than one Fast Pass at a time, but once used, you can collect a pass for another ride. Fast Pass isn’t available on all rides, but they are on the most popular.
Disneyland Paris Tips and Secrets : Tell Them If You’re Celebrating
If you’re visiting Disneyland Paris for a special occasion such as a birthday let your onsite hotel know and you’ll receive a special badge to wear. Alternatively you can ask at Guest Services within the main park.
Disneyland Paris Tips and Secrets : Hang Around After The Illuminations
If you want to take photographs when there’s no as many people hanging around, wait a while after the Illuminations have finished. The shops on Main Street are still open after the actual park closes so you can get your retail fix while the rides are closed and get your pictures taken when you come out.
Hopefully you’ve found this useful, and have picked up some tips to make your trip that little more magical! You may also be interested in our Disneyland Paris booking tips post.
Have a trip already booked? Eva at Captain Bobcat has a fab Unicorn Trunki giveaway so your little one can travel in style! Good luck!
I absolutely love Disney… I had been too all of them until the one in Shanghai opened a couple of years ago! So much fun for kids.
We have been throwing around the idea of going to Disneyland Paris this year but not sure about the weather and also, I am so not good at going thorugh all of what you described to try and get the best price. The kids really want to go though so I might try harder to look into it lol xo
These are all such wonderful tips, myself and my son have visited Disneyland Paris and loved it. This is a great help for those planning on going as it can be quite overwhelming!
This is amazing! Thank you. I’ve been wanting to book for DLP for so long now, but it always seems so complicated. I’m going to sit and have a look if I can get a good deal on a trip tonight now 🙂
Louise x
Disneyland Paris is my happy place in all the world we have been the last two years your tips are spot on #globalblogging
Great advice! I would love to visit one day but like you said there is so much to think about!
Great tips here, we went Jan last year and loved it, but defiantley could have made more use of the time.
I’ve been to Disneyland Paris a fair few times and am planning to go again next Summer, but I had no idea about the apps. I’ve just downloaded them! Thanks for the tips.
You have covered everything! I went to Disneyland Paris loads as a kid but have not manage to take the kids yet. If we ever get round to it I will be printing this off and treating it as my Disney bible!xx
Wow, such a detailed post that would be so helpful to plan a great trip to Disneyland Paris. Loving the pictures so much.
My entire family is going to Disneyland in California and we are so excited. We’ve been before, but this is the first time for my young nieces. We’re staying in the resort and we are going to party hard with Mickey! #GlobalBlogging
Lots of great tips. We were there yesterday and it was really really crammed. It was my 12th time (I used to take my Y10s there when I was a teacher) but yesterday was horrific with queues and the park seemed over its capacity people-wise.