On a recent trip to Paris, I had the opportunity to spend a day at Disneyland Paris.
If I’m being honest, while the park was gorgeous, much of the day felt as though it was lacking a certain charm. It’s really hard to explain exactly why I felt this way, so I won’t really be elaborating. At the time, I figured it was just because I was a little bit older than when I used to visit the theme parks, but I recently visited the theme park in California and felt the same elation as when I was younger.
In my ranking of the Disney theme parks, I would stick it right behind Disney California Adventure and right in front of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. I will say that I enjoyed the park more than Magic Kingdom. But that’s not saying much as I hate Magic Kingdom.
Let me break down the day and share some thoughts of the park.
My first big observation was how integrated the park is with the city of Paris. Unlike Walt Disney World in Orlando, Disneyland Paris seems intended to compliment a visit to the city, similar to Disneyland in California, rather than dominate it.
I started the day by walking a block from our rental to a boulangerie. In what other Disney park can you say the same?! A day at Disney World is spent waking up before dawn, clamoring to get on a crowded bus and clamoring to try and get a Lightning Lane for the park’s most popular attraction.
In other words, the opposite of where I found myself on that September morning.
I’m typically one to get an early start at the theme parks, but no one else in our group was in too much of a rush to get there.
As mentioned, I was fine with taking it slow to appreciate a bonus morning in the city.
We were staying in Victor Hugo by the Arc de Triomphe. From our Airbnb, it was one stop on the 2 Line to Charles de Gualle – Etoile where we got on the A RER line. This train dropped us right in front of the park’s gate!
It was literally so easy to get there. We arrived just after 11:30 a.m., about an hour and a half after park opening.
This was my first time experiencing a new Disney park since 2007. To say I was excited is an incredible understatement. I won’t classify myself as a full blown Disney adult, but I do love a good theme park.
I used to be a lot more into the Disney parks when I was younger and this is something that I had been really wanting to do for many years.
What an incredible feeling it was to approach the gates. Having lived in Orlando, I’ve grown very accustomed to the theme parks there. I loved the adventure of not knowing where I was going, what attractions were or even what to expect on the rides.
Looming over the treeline, I could see the Tower of Terror at the adjacent park and the giant Disneyland Hotel which marked the entry point to the park.
It was so cool to pass underneath the hotel and face a similar entryway to all the castle parks.
Everything felt so similar, yet completely new.
It felt completely unreal to see the castle.
Main Street U.S.A., in France, was adorned with fall decorations.
Now, after everything I had read about the castle at this park, I was slightly surprised by how small it was.
I’M SORRY! It just wasn’t as spectacular as everyone was raving about.
If you’re at all familiar with the American Disney parks, imagine my surprise when I turned left from Main Street and entered FRONTIERLAND!
I LOVED the sightlines of passing under the Frontierland sign and being met with the towering hoodoos of Big Thunder Mountain.
I mean, look at this!
Surprising to me, Big Thunder Mountain usually has the longest line in the park. We had wanted to ride it first, but the standby was at an hour.
We pivoted to Phantom Manor, the park’s take on Haunted Mansion. Next door, it was only at 13 minutes.
The attraction entrance sits on a hill and had a great view of Frontierland.
After walking into the stretching room, the work lights came on and there was an announcement that the ride was temporarily closed. Great.
We were escorted out and given a pass to come back later in the day.
The group decided to go on Pirates of the Caribbean next, so we trekked across the park.
As mentioned earlier, I had no clue where I was going and we got lost in the Adventure Isle subsection of Adventureland. Everyone was a little annoyed, but I was thrilled to be lost in a Disney park. (bear with me, I know it sounds stupid.)
We found the entrance and hopped in the 10 minute wait.
The loading area for the ride was incredible! It felt like we were outside on an island.
I don’t want to spoil too much of the attraction, but the first drop leading into the ship’s battle scene was one of the highlights of my day.
What an incredible reveal.
Here’s our group photo:
It was kind of scary!
This version BLEW the American parks’ versions out of the water.
Next, we went to the small Indiana Jones roller coaster, the only other ride in Adventureland.
I don’t want to call it a waste of space, but would categorize it as something similar. Outside of a temple in the middle, the ride had basically no theming and no references to Indiana Jones.
I feel like it was literally created just to add another roller coaster with a loop to the park. Absolutely pointless!
Still, I was pretty scared to ride a looping coaster and didn’t grab any photos. I’m not the biggest fan of coasters, so this one took some convincing.
After I got off, if I’m not saying it’s scary, you can trust that it isn’t scary.
With the wait time for Big Thunder Mountain still over an hour, we caved and bought single use Premier Access for the attraction. They function similar to the now extinct fastpasses, but cost about $12/person. Our return time was just under an hour away, so we grabbed lunch at this pizza place in Adventureland.
The food wasn’t great, but I loved the animatronic birds in the center! There’s no tiki room in Paris, so I think this may have been the consolation prize.
We killed some time exploring Adventureland after lunch.
Overall, I felt the land was really missing out on one more attraction. It could really use a version of Jungle Cruise or the Indiana Jones dark ride found in California. They did have this Aladdin walkthrough:
I’m not going to lie, I thought we were in line for a ride the whole time we were in this walkthrough. After about five minutes we were dumped back into the sunlight and I was very confused.
The park has a few of these, so be forewarned.
We decided to swing by Phantom Manor before our return time for Big Thunder Mountain. There wasn’t a long line, but we used our re-ride pass. It took us right to the front and we were on the ride in a few minutes.
Personally, I found the story of the ride somewhat confusing. I would have benefited from some more French lessons. I enjoyed the different visuals from the U.S. versions of the ride.
SPOILERS
The ride ends with the doom buggy moving through an old western town. It was so random, but a really cool scene to end the ride with!
Now within our return time for Big Thunder Mountain, we walked toward the coaster.
Out of everything at this park, I have to say this was my most anticipated attraction.
I had also heard so much about this version of the ride and couldn’t wait to see how it compared to the American counterparts. We ended up waiting about ten minutes with our Premier Access pass.
I was really excited as we pulled the safety bar down and we were off with the whistle of the train.
A few minutes later, we raced into the station and I was speechless.
Oh. My. God. It’s on an ISLAND!!!!!
This ride was incredible. I like the American versions of the ride, but this one is just so much better. It’s more thrilling, more immersive and almost all the effects are better.
It starts strong by plunging under the Rivers of America in complete darkness. The finale of the ride sees the train hurling into a dark cavern before lurching back into sunlight in the station. It’s INSANE!
With the left side of the park completed, we ventured into Fantasyland.
The weather was warm, about 90 and sunny, and I really felt it with the lack of shade in Fantasyland.
it’s a small world had a short wait, so we decided to get on that.
I really liked the exterior of the ride and am glad they opted to go down the Disneyland route as opposed to how Magic Kingdom’s is set up.
I feel like Disney World could have very easily given the ride an elaborate facade with the outdoor portions of the ride under cover.
Anyway, the ride itself was very similar to the American versions.
It was cool to see the perception of the world from the French.
Especially the Eiffel Tower!
I also really enjoyed the section for the United States.
Back in Fantasyland, we took a little break to grab some ice cream.
I had to go to the bathroom and discovered a strange lack of restrooms in Fantasyland. I had to go all the way into Discoveryland to find one!
Once regrouped, we went on the Snow White attraction right by the castle. This was ironically the longest line of the day and it moved so slowly.
The ride was cute! I’m pretty sure it’s a clone of the one that used to be in Magic Kingdom. I had been on it a few times when I was younger and it sparked a few memories of the now closed attraction.
At this point the only big attraction we had left was Hyperspace Mountain. Sadly, it was a rough day for the ride. It kept going between operational and broken down.
When we saw it open and trekked across the park, it was already closed again by the time we reached it.
We decided to go re-ride Pirates of the Caribbean and bumped into the parade on the way over!
I’m not a huge fan of parades, but everyone else in our group was enamored by it.
After the parade, we led the crowd headed toward Pirates of the Caribbean and had a minimal wait for the attraction.
It was just as great the second time.
With Space Mountain still closed, we tried to grab a table at the restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean. Similar to Disneyland, the seating area overlooks the boarding area and the first scene of the ride.
They quoted us a long wait, so we put our names down with the intention of coming back in a little bit.
As we walked back into Fantasyland, we looked at the menu and were astounded at the prices. We cancelled the reservation and made our way to the Alice in Wonderland hedge maze.
It’s such a strange attraction to have in the park, but I loved it!
I hate to admit that the maze was actually pretty challenging. My favorite part was the Queen of Hearts’ castle, which had a view of Fantasyland and the rest of the park.
It was here that I saw Space Mountain was once again open.
We BOOKED it out of that maze (as quickly as possible) and made a beeline for Discoveryland.
Similar to the Indiana Jones rollercoaster earlier in the day, I was quite scared for this roller coaster. It seemed to have such a daunting leadup. The line literally goes right by the attraction’s launch and you can hear everyone screaming inside the ‘mountain’.
They had some dumb introductory video playing for the Star Wars overlay, but the original theming of the attraction seems to be a lot cooler.
I almost thought I wasn’t going to ride when I found myself in the seat.
The coaster starts with a short, fast drop into the launch tunnel before halting on an upward slant. Before you know it, you’re hurtling into the darkness.
I wish I could tell you anything that happened, but the ride was very quick and I was so scared.
We were in the front row and it was a great time!
At this point, the sun was setting and we decided it was time to eat dinner.
I’m not exactly sure how we landed on the Lucky Nugget Saloon in Frontierland, but we opted to eat there.
The western themed restaurant reminded me of Hoop De Doo Revue in Orlando and a large stage implied a performance of sorts.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be a bit misleading.
The food was pretty good, but nothing to write home about.
They had this deal where you got an entree, side, drink and ice cream sundae that we took advantage of.
Walking back out to darkness, Big Thunder Mountain looked stunning on its cute little island.
I would have loved to ride again but it was broken down.
With just under 20 minutes until the fireworks, we walked onto Main Street to stake out a spot.
It was PACKED.
Now, I’m a big fan of Happily Ever After at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World. I think it’s the greatest firework show ever created. With that being said, this one was incredible!
About halfway through, they brought out drones!
Between the fireworks, projections, lasers, drones and water fountains, it was quite the spectacular. It even brought a few in our group to tears.
The show ended our day at Disneyland. We joined the masses leaving the park and heading toward the RER station.
Shortly after, the train started taking us back to Paris. For some reason, our train car was really hot. Coupled with the sheer amount of people shoved in around us, it was quite miserable.
Still, it was so much cooler to be taking public transit back to the city! That would be unheard of in Florida.
So that was the day at Disneyland Paris! Truthfully, I see no need to go back until the other park is done with its multi-year renovation.
Disneyland in California has a vibe. It’s cliche to say, but it’s magical. You can feel the energy Walt Disney poured into the park while you’re walking through the lands. You can feel the history crammed into every inch of that park. You can feel the excitement and the nostalgia from the generations who have visited.
Disneyland Paris lacked this. I don’t know if part of that is my lack of nostalgia, but I feel like the park just wasn’t cutting it on a vibe scale. As a theme park, it was great! The rides were high quality and the experience as a whole was great!
It was also cheap! I think we paid around $70/each for our tickets.
I just went to Disneyland in California in May 2026 and paid $184 for one day, which was insane.
Still, comparing the experience at both parks, I think I would opt for the day in California at $184. Disneyland Paris was great, but I think the true magic of that park rests in Paris.