My Disneyland Paris Honest Review – Is it Worth it?

If you’ve been following along with the blog or on instagram for a while, then you probably have a pretty good idea of just how much we love Disneyland in our family. 😉 Living with Disneyland park just 20 minutes up the road for the last 20 years has turned us into slight fanatics. 

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Growing up in San Diego I remember making a special trip to Disneyland on a very rare occasion, so when we moved to Orange County when Andy was 5 months old and we could visit as often as we wanted, we did just that. Annual passes were dirt cheap at that time. For $400 total John and I were able to have the premium annual passes with no blackout dates and free parking. Having both Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks such a quick drive away, all of us could gorge ourselves on Disney as much as we wanted for $400 a year. 

Those were the days! We spent birthdays there, would wander up just to grab dinner, go for a walk, I took Andy to ride the tram from the parking lot to Downtown Disney…his favorite ride when he was little…we basically treated it like a local park. It was awesome! So it was a no-brainer when we visited Paris two Christmases ago that we were definitely taking some time out to spend a day at Euro Disney. 

GETTING THERE & WHERE TO STAY WHEN YOU VISIT DISNEYLAND PARIS

It is very easy to take the train from central Paris out to Disneyland. The train station is literally outside the entrance gates to their version of Downtown Disney, Disney Village, so if you plan to make a day trip in from Paris, know that it is a very simple train ride. It takes about an hour to get from door to door.  On our first visit we planned to attend the Disney New Year’s Eve Bash and then visit the park the next day as well, so we decided to actually stay in the town of Chessy, just a short walk from the park as well. Chessy is very unlike any other Parisian town I’ve ever been to. It is completely new and modern with a mall and new high rise hotels, trendy restaurants and lots of new condo buildings and such. It was kind of a weird feeling, something I’m really not used to in France, but very nice.

We opted to not stay in a Disney property, but instead at Hotel l’Elysee Val d’Europe. We had read some not so great reviews of the Disney Hotels like the Newport Bay Club Hotel and decided that this might be nicer and newer, and it was. After walking around the grounds and visiting all of the Disneyland Paris hotels on the I think that if we had stayed at the Disney Hotel New York – the Marvel Hotel, it probably would have been fine because it’s the newest property, but the others looked tired and like they needed a refresh, and many of the recent reviews all mentioned that as well. There are often benefits to being Disneyland hotel guests though like magic hours and such, so it may be worth staying on property during a very busy time of year. 

The Hotel l’Elysee Val d’Europe was a nice hotel for the three of us (Andy was still on his mission 18 months ago when we visited), but definitely on the tighter side in true Parisian hotel form. 😉

The walk to Disneyland Paris is about 20 minutes/a mile from Hotel l’Elysee Val d’Europe. It’s in a great location. If you prefer to catch a ride, the hotel offers a free shuttle back and forth to the park. The train station is just across the street and you may opt to hop on the train and take it just one station up to Disneyland Paris. However you choose to get there, it’s easy. 

DISNEYLAND PARIS TICKETS

Since we were visiting at a peak time of year, we made sure to secure our park tickets well in advance. I wanted to be sure to have as much fun as possible and make Disneyland Paris a magical experience, so learning as much about other’s experiences visiting the park was important to me since I literally knew nothing.

I watched lots of YouTube videos and read tons of Disneyland Paris reviews online. The things I learned by watching videos about visiting the park at Christmas had me more than a little worried. Super long queues for bathrooms and food and drinks, insane wait time periods for the best rides, I really wasn’t convinced that we were going to have a great time even going in.

The ticket prices to get into the park are significantly less than ticket prices to Disneyland in the US. Like WAY cheaper. We bought tickets to both the New Year’s Eve party for the night we arrived, and park hopper tickets for the following day – New Year’s Day. With the state of the world at the time, we weren’t crazy about the idea of committing to buy tickets that we might have to eat because of weird Covid issues, but at least it wouldn’t break the bank. They ultimately ended up cancelling the NYE party on us at the last minute due to the crazy outbreak in France at the time. I was glad that those special event tickets were refunded. Fortunately, we were still able to go to the park the next day.

VISITING DISNEY VILLAGE PARIS

Disney Village was our first exposure to Disney Paris, and if I’m being completely honest, it was kind of shocking to me. If you are a Disneyland lover, then you know just how perfect everything at the park in Anaheim and Walt Disney World is and how much attention is paid to detail. I immediately felt like that was hugely different at Disney Village. 

Disney Village is home to familiar favorites like Rainforest Cafe, Five Guys, World of Disney, Starbucks and a MASSIVE McDonald’s among other things. The eye opening part for me was in the retail stores. World of Disney being the primary exception.

Walking through the other Disney owned and operated shops like Disney Fashion, I was amazed at the very simple, kind of cheesy looking displays and sparse floors. Hobby  Lobby type wooden letters were hand painted and mounted on what looked like wrapping paper covered foam core backdrops. It was the first time I really realized how much our consumer culture in the US is so different than anywhere else. Here are a few images to illustrate what I’m talking about. 

That same type of feeling continued as we entered Disneyland. The park entrance and main street were cute, but so much of the park was very different. 

Indiana Jones felt like a ride from a county fair. Many of the lines for rides were very simple and not themed like in most cases in the US parks, most things in my opinion just felt kind of poorly done in comparison to the parks at home.

Another interesting thing to note is that some rides like the Haunted Mansion Phantom Manor are much scarier and less lighthearted than the ones in the US. 

There are a few highlights. The Sleeping Beauty Castle is even more beautiful in person than it looks in pictures. That was highlight for me and Ash to see in person.

Big Thunder Mountain is great and Space Mountain is definitely cooler and faster in Paris. We enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean. It had a different look and feel.

They have since implemented a pay per ride system for a few rides in the US now too, but when we were in Paris that was not yet happening in the US and it was a bit of a shock to pay an additional €9-18 per person to ride several rides at both Disneyland Paris and the Walt Disney Studios Park. That gets very expensive very quickly!

Just for the three of us to ride Indiana Jones it was an additional €60. At that point we decided that the extra cost was not worth it to us and we let Ashley go on the big rides that cost an additional fee by herself. With a family wanting to go on all the rides it could add up fast!

Our fears of having a bad, overly crowded experience at Parc Disneyland ended up not coming true thanks to a huge covid outbreak in France at the time. Even with the seriously reduced park capacity, the lines were still painfully long. If we hadn’t paid for those bigger more popular rides we wouldn’t have been able to make it on them, but due to the Omicron variant, they stopped all visitors from the UK from entering France. It’s my understanding that most of the holiday visitors are from the UK, so it cut down on the craziness significantly. I can’t even imagine being at the park on summer days or during regular holidays without the world being largely shut down. We were able to visit both parks in one short day. Park hours and even individual ride hours are MUCH shorter during the winter days when the sun sets at 4pm. 

The feeling of everything being half-baked for a Disney Park became even stronger when we headed over to the Walt Disney Studios Park. Whoa! Talk about rinky-dink! I was amazed! Since our visit, I have read reviews that others have given the park, to make sure I wasn’t being harsh. While there are definitely Disney die-hards that give it glowing reviews, there are plenty of reviews that say things like “Disney’s weakest park,” “Disney’s Worst Theme Park,” etc., so I’m clearly not alone feeling this way.

Our main reason for visiting Walt Disney Studios Park was to go on the Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure ride and to eat at Bistrot Chez Rémy. That was definitely a highlight and the Disney magic is definitely alive and well there. The Remy area of the park was darling and very well done. The dining experience was SO cute (although expensive with mediocre food) and no detail was overlooked in the restaurant. 

One of the highlights of the Disney Parks in the US is definitely the food. Since France is synonymous with amazing food, I expected Disney food in Paris to be spectacular. Being there at Christmas there were some fun food booths and more seasonal items to choose from, but we found the rest of the regular food items to be rather limited and it just wasn’t very good. You won’t find Disney fan favorites like corn dogs and churros. You can get your Disney popcorn fix though!

I don’t want to sound like a total downer, we still enjoyed having a different Disney experience and since we are Disney fanatics, it was cool just to be there and see it in person. If you ask Ashley, it was incredible and she actually went back for a second time on a day trip from Paris this past Christmas with Andy and loved it again. John and I passed on that trip.

Would I recommend a trip? Depending on how much time you have in Paris and if you’ve been there before or not, my answer would be different. If you visit Paris frequently I’d say, sure! Take a day away from the city and go see it. First trip to Paris? I’d pass. There are too many other awesome things to see in the city that are a much better use of your time. If you’re a Disney fanatic and just want to see all the parks, then definitely go! Going because you just want a great day at Disneyland and are expecting an experience like you’re used to in the US…it may not be worth your time and money. As long as you go in with your eyes open and know what to expect, you’ll probably enjoy your time, and it’s always fun to see how things are done elsewhere just for curiosity’s sake. 

I hope the pictures and my thoughts at least answer some of the questions you may have and make it easier to make the right decision for your your family whether or not to visit.

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Happy Travels!

Tammy