Here’s another guest post from regular guest blogger John. This also the first real itinerary on criticintranist.com. More should follow soon enough.
Images via disneylandparis.com
You don’t need to stay multiple days to enjoy Disneyland in Paris. While the park is filled with lots of attractions, if you plan ahead, you can see all there is to see of Disneyland Paris in just one day.
First of all, Leave your kids at home, they will slow you down. I don’t care if you say Disneyland is for kids, if you’re an adult who refuses to grow up like me and wants to enjoy all the good stuff Disneyland has to offer with your significant other, just dump your kids at your neighbors place or something and start having fun. Kids are annoying anyway.
Go in low season such as in February. There might be a higher chance of rain, but plan ahead and you might only get a light drizzle. There are a lot of inside attractions so it won’t be that much of a problem. Low season means less crowds and less waiting in lines which is a big plus.
Before you travel to the magical lands make a plan of which attractions you actually want to go to. Go online to see which attractions are actually open, because there are always some attractions closed for repairs. The Disneyland Paris website has a schedule with all the scheduled repairs on it. This will help you to make a plan and route to follow. Print out a map of the park and circle the attractions worth seeing.
Disneyland Paris uses a fast pass system that allows you to take a pass which tells you when to enter a certain attraction. Not all attractions have the option for a fast pass but most of the popular ones do. When you notice the waiting time is long you can take the fast pass and then go to a different attraction instead of waiting in line. Then when the time arrives, you can go into a much smaller fast pass lane and safe time. You can only get one fast pass ticket at a time, so use it for the popular rides that have tons of people waiting for them.
If your ticket is valid for both the Disneyland Park and the Walt Disney Studios Park, go to the Studios first. The Walt Disney Studios Park kinda sucks, but there is one attraction that is worth it. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is fun and exciting with a nice introduction till the actual drops. This is the most popular attraction of the Studios Park, so go early and do this one first if the line is short. If there is already a long waiting time, then take the fast pass and switch to Disneyland Park to get back to the tower later.
The Disneyland Park is divided is in themed zones such as Frontierland and Discoveryland. In the middle of all the zones is the scenic sleeping beauty castle. This castle is a great place to both start and end the day. Take some photos at the castle and then go into one of the zones and systematically finish each zone before you go to the next one.
If you start the day early and follow a logical route through the park you can get into each fun attraction just in time before the day ends.
Attractions
Here are some of the attractions in the Disneyland Park that I highly recommend to add into your plan.
Space Mountain Mission 2: Arguably the best attraction Disneyland Paris has to offer. A thrilling super fast ride through the galaxy.
Big Thunder Mountain: A fast train ride on the middle of an island. This beautiful ride is the most scenic through tunnels, over the mountains, along the water and through a miners camp.
Pirates of the Caribbean. It has pirates! ARRRR!
Buzz Lightyear laser challenge: This is THE attraction that made me feel like a kid again. You get a cart that you can control by yourself and a laser pistol, what is there not to like. The more aliens you can hit, the higher your score. My girlfriend told me it was too childish but I think she was just pissed that I got a higher score than she did.
Le Pays des Contes de Fées: This is a more romantic one if you’re interested in that. Go on a small slow boat through a land of miniatures. Good if you want to slow down a bit and just relax.
Phantom Manor: A cart ride through a ghost house. It’s a popular ride but there is no fast pass option for this one.
And to safe you some time, I will also tell you the attractions which were the most disappointing:
Star Tours: I’m a Star Wars fan and still hated this ride. It is an outdated short space ride simulation. It looks crap and not immersive. Complete waste of time.
Indiana Jones and the temple of Peril: This super short ride has one loop and is basically a few shaky turns and then done. It is also not scenic at all. Skip this if you are out of time.
To sum things up in order to enjoy Disneyland Paris is one day, you need to: Leave your kids behind, go in the low season, plan a route ahead in time, learn to use the fast pass system, only go to the Studios Park for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, go to Space Mountain Mission 2, Big Thunder Mountain and Buss Lightyear Challenge, skip Star Tours and the Indiana Jones ride.