TL;DR: You can!
My cousin Andrew and I visited Paris, France, over Christmas in 2023. Though I love theme parks and roller coasters, my family members have started to call me a Disney Adult. However, there’s just something about the stories that Disney tells in their parks and their hyperfocused attention to detail that has made my experiences at Disney parks truly magical. When my cousin and I decided to go to Paris over the holidays, visiting Disneyland Paris for a day was a must. Before I go into my itinerary for the day, I want to preface this post with a few points.
First, I want to give a special shoutout to one of my MBA professors from Tennessee Tech University, Dr. Jaime Williams, who gave amazing recommendations for my trip to Paris and suggestions on how to make the most of our day at Disneyland Paris. I met Dr. Williams through a 2-week study abroad experience in Spain that she co-led with another professor from Tennessee Tech. Because Dr. Williams is passionate about traveling, she is also a travel advisor with MEI-Travel & Mouse Fan Travel. For general information or to request a quote, she can be contacted via her website, www.journeysbyjaimeleigh.com, or email her at jaime.williams@mei-travel.com.
Second, we did go to Disneyland Paris during the week of Christmas and New Year’s. To say it was BUSY is an understatement. Anticipating our visit during this time, I bought the one-day 2-park tickets and Premier Access Ultimate (their equivalent of Genie+ and Lightning Lanes) for both of us, which cost just under $750. The Premier Access Ultimate works more like Express Passes at Universal Orlando, as you can walk up to any ride included with Premier Access once and enter through their fast lane. I also made sure to put a reminder on my calendar to book restaurant reservations 60 days before the date on your tickets.
Third, my cousin and I focused primarily on riding the rides, and we didn’t focus on the many other magical activities Disneyland Paris offers. Because we were a few days into our trip with little sleep, we ended up leaving Disneyland Paris around 4 PM and canceled our dinner reservations for the Manhattan Restaurant (located at the Disney Hotel New York). That being said, there was so much more to do! If you can, I definitely recommend at least 2 or 3 days at Disneyland Paris.
Getting to the Parks from Paris
We stayed at Hôtel Mercure Paris Montmartre Sacré-Coeur in the Montemarte area of Paris, which is on the edge of the 9th arrondissement. The Place de Clichy metro stop was about a 3-minute walk from our hotel. During our time in Paris, we got a 5-day tourist metro pass for zones 1-5, which includes rides to both airports and Disneyland Paris. The metro pass was about $82 per person. However, it was well worth the cost, as this metro pass gave us unlimited rides on the metro, buses, and RER! Paris metro travel tip: the tourist metro pass is a small slip of magnetized paper, so do not get it near your phone. Otherwise, you will find yourself going to the counter at a metro stop and asking for them to reissue your ticket.
Our journey to Disneyland Paris from our hotel took about an hour using public transportation. We started by taking Line 2 on the metro from Place de Clichy to Nation at around 7:45 am, then transferred to the RER A. When you arrive at Disneyland Paris, the train station is right across from the park’s security screening lines. After passing the security screening, we headed to Disneyland Paris first. We stood in line at the entrance to the park, which is located under the Disneyland Hotel, for about 10 minutes before the park opened.
Rides at Disneyland Paris
As we entered Disneyland, we immediately saw a large Christmas tree across from City Hall on Main Street, USA. We came upon the iconic Sleeping Beauty’s Castle as we continued down Main Street. We turned right as we approached the castle and headed to Discoveryland. Here, we first went on Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain. We didn’t know where the Premier Access line was, so we just waited in the regular line and got through in probably 10 minutes. It was so much fun! After that, we used our Premier Access pass to skip the line onto Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, which is very similar to the Buzz Lightyear ride at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.
At this point, I looked at the Disneyland Paris app and saw that Pirates of the Caribbean only had a 10-minute wait time. Pirates was one of the few rides I wanted to do that didn’t have a line for Premier Access. We cut through Fantasyland and rushed over to Adventureland to ride Pirates next. This was probably one of my favorite memories. My cousin had never been to a Disney theme park before, and he saw that Pirates was a water ride. He kept asking me if he was going to get wet. I knew there may be a small splash at some point, but not enough to get wet. I just smiled and said, “I don’t know.” Every 2 minutes, he would ask me again, and I just kept saying, “I don’t know.” I know he didn’t appreciate it, but it was worth messing with him! It was very similar to Pirates of the Caribbean at Magic Kingdom.
After Pirates, we continued on through Adventureland to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril. The wait time was only 5 minutes, so we didn’t even use our Premier Access in case we wanted to ride it again. It was a smaller rollercoaster, but it wasn’t too bad! We didn’t ride it a second time. However, from here on out, we skipped the line with Premier Access for the rest of the day. After Indiana Jones, we went to Big Thunder Mountain, which was fun! Every time I’ve been to Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, Big Thunder Mountain has been closed, so I can’t compare it to how it was in Orlando.
Next, we went to Phantom Manor, which is the equivalent of the Haunted Mansion in Magic Kingdom. Phantom Manor had the same doom buggy as Haunted Mansion, but the ride’s storyline was slightly different. From what I remember, there were more, slightly different references to the Hatbox Ghost than in Haunted Mansion. It was still another classic ride! After Phantom Manor, we rushed over to Peter Pan in Fantasyland. The ride’s storyline was very similar to Peter Pan in Magic Kingdom, but the ride cars were different. Finally, we rushed back over to Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain to ride it one last time before lunch. In total, we rode 8 rides in about 2.5 hours in Disneyland Paris.
Lunch at Walt’s
I had made reservations 60 days in advance at Walt’s – an American restaurant. Located on Main Street, USA, the restaurant is Victorian-themed, with different parts of the restaurant gorgeously decorated after the “lands” of Disneyland. Travel tip: request a table that overlooks Main Street, USA, so you can watch the parade!
Honestly, I am a picky eater, so I went more basic with my food selections. That is probably my biggest regret! The Waldorf salad was fresh and tasty, but multiple strong flavors competed. It was a little overwhelming. The Mac and Cheddar Cheese looked better than it tasted; the flavors and texture were incredibly underwhelming. My favorite part of the meal was honestly the Lemon Meringue Pie. It was delicious and went well with some coffee! The cost of the 3-course meal was about $60 per person and, in my opinion, was not worth the money. I was disappointed because Walt’s is rated as one of the top restaurants in Disneyland Paris.
Before we walked to Walt Disney Studios, I had to make one last pitstop in Disneyland Paris: The Dragon’s Lair beneath Sleeping Beauty’s Castle! As you walk towards Fantasyland, there is an entrance to the side at the base of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. Inside, it is pretty dark, but you will find the dragon! If you go to Disneyland Paris, going to the Dragon’s Lair is a must; it is so cool!
Rides at Walt Disney Studios
Next, we walked over to Walt Disney Studios. If you’ve been to Disneyland and California Adventure in Anaheim, the walk from Disneyland Paris to Walt Disney Studios is very similar. As you walk into Walt Disney Studios, the typical stores and guest relations are at the front of the park. However, it was unique that all the guests seemed to walk through a giant studio building, dubbed Disney Studio 1, to get to the rest of the park, where all the rides were located. Inside Disney Studio 1, each side of the walkway was lined with restaurants and stores.
Once we exited Disney Studio 1, the first ride we saw was the Hollywood Tower of Terror. We walked straight ahead and skipped the line with Premier Access. The queue was similar to the Tower of Terror in Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, but if memory serves, the ride experience itself worked more like the Tower of Terror at Disney California Adventure. Tower of Terror still remains to be one of my favorites! Next, we went to the Avengers campus to ride the Spider-Man WEB Adventure, but it was temporarily down.
Instead, we passed a stunning Quinjet and went to what would become my favorite rollercoaster at Disneyland Paris: Avengers Assemble: Flight Force. I believe that this rollercoaster replaced Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith at Walt Disney Studios, because the high-speed launch of this ride was very similar to the launch of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. It was phenomenal! 10/10, would recommend! After Avengers Assemble: Flight Force, Spider-man WEB Adventure reopened. The technology of WEB Adventure made it my favorite non-rollercoaster ride at Disneyland Paris. Essentially, you are competing with the others in your car to stop these robotic crab-spider creature things… great description, I know. However, they capture your arm movements when you make the motion (like Spider-man) for slinging webs. If you are familiar with the soreness that comes from Toy Story Mania in Hollywood Studios, expect something similar from the web-slinging movements you are making. Again, another 10/10 for Spider-man WEB Adventure!
Crush’s Coaster and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure were our last two rides. Crush’s Coaster was so much fun and had lots of spinning! However, the ride was a tighter fit for me because of how you are secured in the car. Remy’s was similar to the equivalent in EPCOT at Walt Disney World. Unfortunately, 3-D rides sometimes make me nauseous, and I didn’t have any Dramamine to handle the motion sickness. So it was not quite a happy ending to my day at Walt Disney Studios, but we still managed to do 5 rides at Walt Disney Studios! After Remy’s, we left the park at 3:30 pm and headed across from the park exit to the train station. We took the same-hour ride back on the RER A, followed by Line 2 on the metro to Place de Clichy the hotel.
Final Verdict: Mission Possible!
Although we cut our day short due to exhaustion and motion sickness, we could do 13 rides between the two parks and a sit-down restaurant in 6.5 hours (with 19,000 steps)! Doing both Disneyland Paris parks in one day is a lot, especially if you have little ones. There is no possible way that you can see or do everything in the parks in one day. However, in my opinion, it is possible to maximize your time with one park day if your budget allows purchasing a 2-park ticket and the Premier Access Ultimate passes. While I still like Walt Disney World better than Disneyland Paris, I will definitely revisit Disneyland Paris!
