THE Disneyland Paris is less than 1 hour by train from Paris and, although it is not as big and magical as the Walt Disney World, in Orlando, we loved it! Of course it's strange that some characters speak French, but Disney is Disney, right? You can't help but love it! <3

See now all the details of our trip there!

TICKETS

We bought our tickets for Disneyland Paris well in advance because we found a winter promotion that lets you visit both parks in one day for the price of 1 (47 euros per person, in our case). If you want to visit Disneyland Paris one day, be sure to check out the their official website to see prices and promotions. Just buy online, print and take it there at the time. We didn't have to wait in line at the ticket office.

HOW TO GET THERE

We took the train directly from Paris and we think it's worth it, because the journey is very short (40 minutes) and the train station is in front of the parks. You need to take the RER A in the sense Marne-la-Vallée and get off at the last station, Marne-la-Vallée/ Chessy Station. Each way cost 7.10 euros per person, so a round trip costs just 15.20 euros. The trains are very frequent and run until late (I think midnight).

IMPORTANT: There are two trains that alternate on the same platform. You have to take the train with the station Marne-la-Vallée/ Chessy marked on the panel, as in the photo below:

If you are not going by train and want more information on how to get there, Click here.

THE PARKS

The 2 parks of Disneyland Paris are the Walt Disney Studios Park and the Disneyland Park. You can see all the details of the parks in website of them and I recommend that you do this before you get there, otherwise you will get lost with so many options of rides and shows. It is good to choose what you want to see and know if the attractions will be working or not, because it is quite possible that some are undergoing maintenance (it happened to us).

Both parks are interesting, but we think the Walt Disney Studios Park There were more attractions that suited us. We ended up going to it first and stayed there from 11 am to 4 pm. We loved the Tower of Terror, the Nemo roller coaster and the Ratatouille attraction, but we really wanted to go on the Aerosmith roller coaster, but it was closed. I'll explain exactly what we did at each park in a moment...

Ah! The day we went, both parks opened at 10am, but the Studios closed at 7pm and the Disneyland Park closed at 8pm. Don't forget to check the opening hours on the day you go!

OUR TIPS

We downloaded the mobile app (Android and iPhone) and we recommend that you do the same, especially if you have Internet. We used the app several times to find out the waiting times for the rides in real time. It helped us optimize our trip, since we only had one day to visit both parks.

In addition to the app, we took the paper maps, which were crucial to not getting lost in the parks. We could also use the app map, but paper seems more practical, so I think it's worth getting one there. It's free!

We took a look at the shows with a scheduled time that they would have on the day and we chose our favorites. We put alarms on our phones so that we wouldn't lose track of time and they helped us a lot. If you want to watch a show, do that too, because it's quite possible that you'll get involved with some attraction and lose track of time...

We prefer not to waste time on meals and buy hot dogs and popcorn at the stands spread throughout the park and at the end of the day, we eat hamburgers and fries. There are several restaurants in the parks, but be prepared to spend money: they are all quite expensive! Just to give you an idea, a bland hot dog without sauce costs 7 euros. I saw several people eating sandwiches they brought from home and I thought it was a good idea, so if you can prepare your own snack, I think it's worth it.

All attractions have panels with the average waiting time for queues and often, the queue for SINGLE RIDER It's faster than the group line (the normal one). This line is for people who don't mind going on the rides with strangers, you know? For example: the roller coaster cart has 4 seats, but the next group has only 3 people. This is when the ride employee chooses a single person to complete the cart. I think it's totally worth it and I did it with Celo, but it's up to each person... some people prefer to wait longer and enjoy the ride together, right?

Another cool thing is that they offer the FAST PASS for some attractions, which consists of a ticket with a scheduled time for you to return to the attraction. We took the ticket to the Tower of Terror from the entrance side, but I can't say if our line was faster than the regular line. Mine feeling it just took longer, but it could just be feeling same… From what I understand, you can’t have several tickets of fast pass at the same time, so it is good to study the best strategy to take advantage of this resource.

Leave shopping for after the park closes, so you can take advantage of the time the park is open to enjoy the attractions that are open. We left the park at 8:30 pm and went straight to the Disney Village, which is a shopping center outside the park that stays open until 11pm. There you will find all the products sold inside the parks and if you spend a good amount of time there, you won't even have to catch the trains back to Paris that are full. It's a great strategy, right?

If you have the conditions, set aside a day for each of the parks so it doesn't get so rushed. If you can stay at a Disney hotel, great! You'll get extra hours in the park in the morning, which means the lines will be much shorter because only guests will be in the parks. It seemed interesting to me for next time, which will certainly be with the kids. 🙂

DON'T MISS IT AT ALL

For me (and I think for Celo too, although he won't admit it), the best part of the park was the final show with lights, music, images and fireworks at the castle. It happens when the park closes (in our case, at 8pm) and I don't understand why, but a lot of people left before it and ended up missing it. For the love of God, wait until the end. It's so beautiful!

Now let's go to our itinerary inside the parks?

WALT DISNEY STUDIO PARK (11am to 4pm)

We started the day at this park, because we saw on the app that there was going to be a show of stunts (stuntmen) with cars and motorcycles in a few minutes. (We watched a show of the type in a park in Australia and as we loved it, we made sure to see the Disney one too) show It's pretty cool with lots of special effects and speed, but I think since it wasn't a surprise to me, I was a little frustrated at the end. If you've never seen it, I recommend it!

We left there and went to the attraction we were most looking forward to, the The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (as known as Tower of Terror). As the line was very long (there is a panel with the average waiting time), we decided to take the Fast Pass at a terminal that is very close to the entrance and our return time was 1:45 pm.

We left there with the tickets and we head to the attraction of Ratatouille. We got in line at single rider, because it was faster than the others and in less than 20 minutes we got on the ride. I love the movie, so it's impossible not to think the attraction is cute, but it's quite silly. 🙂

We left there and bought our hot dogs at a stall in the middle of the park (almost 20 euros with a drink – a steal!). We saw that the queue for Art of Disney Animation It was small and we went in to watch a video with Disney classics (so cute!) and a video explaining how the characters were created. It's cool, but if the line is long, don't worry about not going.

It was time to head back to the Tower of Terror, so we headed to the special queue for the fast pass. I think that even in this line that was supposed to be fast, it took us more than half an hour to get in. The ride is awesome and gives you butterflies in your stomach, so it's definitely a must see! I highly recommend it. Oh, keep your eyes open!!! 🙂

Then we went to Nemo's turtle roller coaster, Crush's Coaster, which unfortunately had huge lines. We waited for more than an hour (there were no fast pass), but it was worth it. The ride is in the dark with some details of the seabed and the cart goes very fast. This toy also has single rider, but when we were choosing the line, the waiting time was the same, so we thought it would be better to get in line together. When we were already at the end of the normal line we saw that the line for single rider was walking much faster than ours. I think it's worth risking the queue single…

DISNEYLAND PARK (4pm to 8:30pm)

We got off the roller coaster dizzy and went straight to the second park, the Disneyland Park. What a beautiful park, guys!!! The other park is also very pretty, but this one really has more charm with its colorful houses, you know? You can feel the Disney atmosphere!

As my dizziness didn't go away, Celo went on the roller coaster alone. Space Mountain. He waited in line for less than half an hour. single rider and said it was worth it! From there, we headed to Phantom Manor, which is a haunted house that had virtually no line. The decor is pretty cool, but there are no scares involved. Frustrating for adults, but the kids seemed to enjoy it.

When we left this attraction, it was already time for the 5:30 pm show, which is Disney Parade. People began to gather in front of the castle and at the appointed time, the parade began with several Disney characters.

I thought the parade was really cute, especially when I saw a child enchanted by the performance. It's a shame it only lasted 15 minutes...

We ran to the roller coaster Indiana Jones and we almost didn't have to wait in line. Celo went alone again, because I was still feeling sick. It was annoying for me, but he said it was worth it.

We went on the ride together Star Wars, which is a pretty cool simulator, but without much excitement. Light queue, nothing absurd.

We stopped for a burger and fries (20 euros too) and Celo insisted on going on the ride. Buzz Lightyear. He went alone too and came back saying that it would be better if we went together…

It was time for the final show and there we went in front of the castle! How excited I was! I couldn't contain myself. The show started on time and I was simply amazed by all the special effects. The music is beautiful, the lights draw incredible things on the castle and the fireworks and water show give the show an extra charm! It's impossible not to get emotional. I really missed my magical childhood and now I can only think about our children who will one day enjoy all this with us. Can't wait. 🙂

We started walking towards the park exit and look how beautiful it was:

We went straight to the Disney Village, where we bought some things for our home. I really wanted to buy toys for our children who don't even exist yet, but Celo managed to convince me to wait. We spent so much time looking at the products that when we went to catch the train there was practically no one on it. It was great to finally be able to rest for 40 minutes.