Since I was recently in Disney World to celebrate their 50th anniversary, I wanted to make sure I could be there for Disneyland Paris 30th anniversary which began their celebrations March 6, 2022.  When I looked online and saw a great deal to London and Paris for June 2022, I immediately found a friend to take me for this trip.

Getting There

We stayed at Central Hotel Paris which is located in the Montparnasse district.  We asked our front desk person and tried researching about the best accessible way to get to Disneyland Paris and was told that the subway was not wheelchair accessible and that transit would take too long and would be time consuming and a hassle.

We decided the best way to get to Disneyland Paris was to get an accessible taxi.  We were told to book it a day in advance so that was what we did.  We asked for a 10 AM pick up but the accessible taxi van did not show up until almost 10:30 AM. 

It took about an hour to get to Disneyland and when it was time to pay, I was shocked to hear that there was an added 30 Euros for a booking fee and an added 15 Euros for a drop off fee for a total of 147.90 Euros for our ride.  We thought it was too expensive and decided not to book him again for our return ride and just get any taxi on our return trip.

Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris consists of 2 theme parks, resort hotels, a golf complex and a shopping, dining and entertainment complex called Disney Village.  It opened in April 1992 and at the time only opened Disneyland Park.  Walt Disney Studios Park opened in 2002 and is considerably smaller so we chose to visit the original Disneyland Park.

The reason why I did not buy our theme park tickets in advance is because guests in wheelchairs and their companions get a discount when buying tickets at the counter with proof of disability.  I brought my blue disability parking placard with registration and was given 25% off both of our tickets.

I also got my picture taken and was given a priority card to be used during my visit to Disneyland Park.  This card allowed myself and my companion to use the shorter Premier Access line without actually having to pay for that option.  We would just check the Disneyland Paris app to check for wait times on each ride and the accessibility information.

Disneyland Park has 5 themed lands and they are: Main Street USA, Frontierland, Adventureland, Fantasyland, and Discoveryland.  Here is a recap of what we did for the day and which land it could be found at:

Dream… and Shine Brighter! Parade

(Main Street, USA)

As soon as we entered the theme park, we enter Main Street, USA which is very similar to Magic Kingdom and Disneyland in Anaheim.  My friend went to the bathroom as I hear music starting.  I see a few giant floats coming in with Disney characters singing and dancing and knew a parade was about to start. 

Dream… and Shine Brighter! is a brand new 15 minute parade that just debut in March 2022 as part of Disneyland Paris’ 30th anniversary celebrations.  All the characters are dressed in their shiny costumes to celebrate this special occasion and I thought it was amazing.  After the parade, we took a few pics in this central hub area including the iconic Sleeping Beauty castle before moving on.

Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing

(Frontierland)

Our first stop was to explore Frontierland.  We used our priority card to get on the shorter line to ride on this wheelchair accessible steamboat.  This ride is very similar to the Mark Twain boat ride which I last went on in 2015 in Disneyland.  The staff did lay out a ramp to connect the boat to the dock but my friend did not need that and could just wheel me onto the main floor of the boat with no issues.  

I was parked right to the edge of the boat so I could easily see everything as the boat gently floats on by.  We got to great views of the Big thunder Mountain ride, Wilderness Island, Smuggler’s Cove, an old snoring fisherman, Yellowstone National Park geysers, dinosaur bones, and more.  Overall it was a great low thrill but very fun ride.

Big Thunder Mountain

(Frontierland)

While on the Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing ride, we got to see the Big Thunder Mountain in action up close and thought that it might be a fun ride for me to try.  I have not been on a fast roller coaster in a while and thought Big Thunder Mountain would be a good choice since it does not go upside down.

I had to be transferred into the ride vehicle for this one and got my friend to help me stay in place for the duration of the ride.  It was a bit too thrilling for me as it did go sideways slightly and had high climbs and sudden drops. When we were in total darkness, it was hard to tell what was going to happen, so I had to make sure my friend held me in place.  It was a fun ride and would only go again depending who was to come with me next time.

Adventure Isle

(Adventureland)

We then went to Adventure Isle which is an artificial island in the middle of Adventureland.  It is divided into 2 smaller islands: Northern Island which contains the Swiss Family Treehouse and Southern Island which contains Captain Hook’s Pirate Ship and Skull Rock.  The bridges and island areas were mostly wheelchair accessible except there were a few underground tunnels that only had stairs.

Pirates of the Caribbean

(Adventureland)

Pirates of the Caribbean was the next ride that my friend and I went on.  My friend had to lift me and transfer me into the boat for this dark ride.  It was a really calm and relaxing ride as the boat goes through the water as we see scenes from sword fighting pirates and more.

The boat does go uphill and has a few drops but it was not anything too crazy or thrilling.  There are also parts where there is a waterfall, fires, and even an appearance by Jack Sparrow who sings to himself in a room full of treasure.  I really enjoyed this ride and would go again.

Meet Mickey Mouse

(Fantasyland)

The last time I got to meet Mickey Mouse was November 2021 at Magic Kingdom and we had to social distance 6 feet away from him and had to wear a face mask.  It felt really weird to get right next to him this trip and to have a picture this close.  Lines were quite long to see Mickey Mouse but luckily we got to use the priority card to get in the much shorter line.

Alice’s Curious Labyrinth

(Fantasyland)

We then saw that Alice’s Curious Labyrinth was wheelchair accessible, we decided to visit this attraction next.  It is a hedge maze that opened the same day that the theme park opened.  There is actually 2 sections of this maze: Tulgey Wood and Queen of Hearts Maze.  The maze itself is all wheelchair accessible and is in the shape of the body of Cheshire Cat.

Tulgey Wood focuses on Alice’s journey through Wonderland and is the easiest part of the labyrinth.  Queen of Hearts Maze has the Queen or her card soldiers pop up unexpectedly.  The Queen’s castle is located in the middle of this area and allows guests to go to the top of it to get a great view of Fantasyland.  This was the only part that I could not get to.

The Lion King: Rhythms of the Pride Lands

(Frontierland)

The Lion King: Rhythms of the Pride Lands is a very popular show based on the movie and gives guests the option to pay $18 to guarantee a seat to this show.  We did not bother with that and arrived more than 30 minutes before showtime.  It was already crowded and had lots of people waiting in line.  With my priority card, we got to wait right at the front of the theater doors.

This theater had wheelchair seating right at the front for this 30 minute show of singing, music, and dancing.  This Lion King show was totally different from the one we saw at Animal Kingdom last November.  It was just as equally amazing, colorful, and entertaining.  One of the best free with admission shows since I do love the Lion King storyline.

Sleeping Beauty Castle

(Fantasyland)

As we continued to head towards our next wheelchair accessible attraction, we saw a small portion of Disney Stars on Parade in Main Street, USA.  It was a very crowded and we end up only seeing the last few minutes of this 15 minute parade.  We then went to do the accessible walkthrough of the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Once we are inside the castle, there is an elevator to take us to both the upper and lower floors of this dimly lit castle.  On the upper floor, there is an accessible balcony that lets us have great views of the park.  Inside we see beautiful stained glass and artwork from the movie.  On the lower floor is an animatronic dragon that occasionally wakes up to puff smoke and growl.

Cafe Hyperion

(Discoveryland)

By now we wanted to get some food so we headed to the last area that we did not explore yet: Discoveryland.  We went to Cafe Hyperion which is a counter service restaurant in a futuristic airship hangar.  There is also a giant screen inside playing Disney movies to keep kids occupied while eating.

I was happy to see that there was a priority line to buy food too.  I got the kids cheeseburger meal, with fries, juice box and ice cream for 9 euros.  I did not want a huge meal and thought that this was the perfect amount of food for the right price.

Autopia 

(Discoveryland)

We wanted to see which rides I could do in Discoveryland and I remembered going on Autopia in 2015 at Disneyland and wanted to go on it again.  The cars are all 2 seaters, so I got my friend to lift and transfer me to one of the cars.  It was a bit low to get into the car, but he managed to get me in the car without too much trouble.

The driving track and the cars itself were different than the ones in Anaheim, but it still required the driver to steer the car a little bit.  The ride was really relaxing as my friend drove us around the course.

Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast

(Discoveryland)

Our last ride of the night was Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast.  This ride has a similar version in Disneyland which I rode on both visits and in Magic Kingdom.  I know this ride does have an accessible ride vehicle with a fold ramp to get in. 

The only difficult thing about this ride was trying to use the laser blast gun which I don’t even bother with.  It is still a fun ride watching my friend shoot all the bad guys and watching what was happening during the ride.  We had so much fun, we went on this ride twice.

Disney Village

By now it is 8.30 PM and we were pretty much done exploring the whole park.  We didn’t want to wait around until 11 to watch the Illuminations night show since we still had to take a 1 hour taxi ride back to our hotel and finish packing as we leave for our flight home the next day.  We did want to check out Disney Village real quick before leaving as we were still deciding on buying any souvenirs. 

Disney Village was originally called Festival Disney and opened with Disneyland Paris in 1992 is a shopping, dining, and entertainment complex.  It is very similar to Disney Springs in Orlando and Downtown Disney in Anaheim and is always crowded with people.  We didn’t visit the Lego store but did shop at World of Disney.  I bought a 30th anniversary of Disneyland Paris T-shirt and then headed to the taxi area.

There already was a taxi van waiting and we took it right away even though there was no wheelchair ramp to get in.  By now, we were at Disneyland Park for about 9 hours.  My friend transferred me in and went back to our hotel.  The ride back only costed 110.55 euros and was a lot cheaper without the 30 euro booking in advance fee.

 

Final Thoughts

I had another blast visiting another Disney theme park in the world.  I was so glad to visit Disneyland Paris 30th anniversary celebrations and wished I got to visit both theme parks and see the night show.  Taking a taxi back and forth from downtown Paris is quite pricy so next time when I return, I think staying at a Disney hotel and visiting both theme parks will be the way to go.  I only have Hong Kong and Shanghai Disney parks left to visit.  My goal is to see them sometime in the future, so follow along.