ULTIMATE Disneyland Paris one day itinerary

Are you looking for the ULTIMATE Disneyland Paris one day itinerary? Well you have come to the right place. This one day Disneyland Paris itinerary maximises your time in the park and ensures that you make the most out your limited time in the park.

Disneyland Paris one day itinerary

But before we get into the details of this Disneyland Paris one day itinerary I thought it would be worth pointing out a couple of key facts. 

Disneyland Paris actually has 2 parks – the Disneyland Park and the Walt Disney Studios Park. This itinerary covers the Disneyland Park rather than the Walt Disney Studios Park. The Disneyland Park is the closest to the original Disneyland Park or the Magic Kingdom if you are comparing Disneyland Paris to Walt Disney World. 

If you only have one day in Disneyland Paris this is the park that I would always opt for.  However if you would like to visit two parks in one day check out this itinerary. But if you would prefer to visit the Walt Disney Studios park check out our Disneyland Paris 2 day itinerary and used the Walt Disney Studios Park day for the basis of your itinerary. 

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Disneyland Paris 1 day itinerary tips

Stay on-site

For me it doesn’t matter whether you are visiting Disneyland Paris for one day or 5 days, our number one top tip is to always stay on site. 

There are several reasons for this, but I think they are even more important when only staying for. day. That is because when staying on site you get Extra Magic hours. 

This basically gives you access to the parks an hour before guests who are staying off site. In reality this means you can tick off several of your top priority rides before most people have even been let inside the gates.

Now there are several strategies for how to use Extra magic hours which we will detail below for the purposes of a single day itinerary but we recommend prioritising rides over character meet and greets for most people. 

For more information on where to stay at Disneyland Paris for families check out this guide or our reviews and comparison guides below: 

• Sequoia Lodge Vs Cheyenne

Buy Tickets in Advance

If you want to do Disneyland Paris in one day the most important thing to do is buy tickets and make reservations for the park of your choice. 

I have been to Disneyland Paris during peak times and have seen the tickets sell out. For this reason it is really important to have your tickets in advance. 

Note: if you are staying on site tickets are usually included but do check terms and conditions.  

Bring snacks 

The parks can be an expensive place to eat and you don’t want to waste a lot of time queuing for snacks and drinks. We therefore recommend you adding reusable water bottles to refill around the parks as well as some snacks to your Disneyland Paris packing list to help save time. 

Download the app

No matter how many days you are in the park you absolutely can not go in without downloading the Disneyland Paris app. This is essential for organising your day. It tells you the current queue times, the parade times and more. 

Wear comfortable shoes 

And above all else be sure to wear comfortable shoes. We have a full what to wear to Disneyland Paris guide here, but always top of the list is shoes that Weill be comfy for doing lots of walking in. 

For more tips on visiting Disneyland Paris check out this post. 

One Day Disneyland Paris Itinerary

One Day Disneyland Paris Itinerary Notes

We have made some assumptions for creating this itinerary which are 

• that you have Early Magic Hours – however even if you don’t we recommend you heading to the areas outlined below. 
• that you are spending the entire day in the park from opening until fireworks. However if you plan to leave earlier feel free to rearrange the order of the lands you visit to ensure you get on the rides that you want. 
• that you are prioritising rides over characters meet and greets and dining. However if one of these things is important to you we recommend substituting out one of the things here that you are least interested in. However we would caution you against character dining in one day. That is because it will take several hours out of your day. 

Also depending on the time of year you are traveling will depend on how much you can achieve in one day. If you are visiting Disneyland Paris in July for instance you will have longer hours but also more crowds than if you are visiting in February. 

Where to start your Disneyland Paris 1 day itinerary 

The best place to start your Disneyland Paris 1 day itinerary will larger depend on who you are traveling with. Therefore we have two strategies for this 1 day itinerary based on whether you are traveling with toddlers or young children or want to prioritise the scariest rides at Disneyland Paris. 

If you are traveling to Disneyland Paris with toddlers or even with a baby, we recommend heading straight to Fantasyland. 

Now if you are there for rope drop I recommend heading straight to Peter Pan’s Flight. This ride gets one of the longest queues in both parks, and is usually the longest queue in the Disneyland Park. 

If the queue is less than 20 minutes it is a great idea to jump on this as soon as you get in the park. Our second ride of choice is then usually Dumbo The Flying Elephant as this usually has a queue of around 45 minutes later in the day. 

If you are traveling with toddlers or younger children then I recommend spending the whole morning in Fantasyland as this area has lots of rides with no height restriction which the whole family can ride on. 

After you have rides Peter Pan’s Flight and Dumbo we recommend prioritising rides in Fantasyland based on your ride preferences and queue times. 

Note: if you want to get a cute photo in front of the Disneyland Paris castle we recommend doing this as early in the day as possible so you get less crowds in your picture. 

However if you are visiting Disneyland Paris as adults or teenagers and want to ride scarier rides then we recommend heading to Discoveryland first to ride Hyperspace Mountain. 

After that I recommend jumping on one of the other nearby rides usually either Buzz Lightyear’s Astroblast or the Oribtron. 

Some people enjoy Star Tours in this area too. However having done this ride at Hollywood Studios in Disney World and at Disneyland California we usually choose to skip this. The speaking is all done in French rather than English on this Disneyland Paris ride and therefore you do really lose some of the magic of the narrative. 

Alternatively you could go to Big Thunder Mountain next and then head over to Discoveryland or vice versa. 

When you are walking between Adventureland and Big Thunder Mountain we recommend heading through the Disneyland Paris Castle, in particular the Dragon’s Lair. Fun fact is that the Disneyland Paris Castle is the only Disney castle in the world that has a dragon living under it.

Note: even if you are not staying on site be sure to get to the parks before opening. If you arrive at opening time you will find yourself at the back of the queue and wasting precious time. The mornings are always quieter than afternoons at Disneyland Paris so you want to be in the park for opening to make the most of shorter queues. 

Lunch on this 1 Day Disneyland Paris itinerary

 Where to eat lunch on this Disneyland Paris one day itinerary

Disneyland Paris has three categories of restaurants:

• Quick Service
• Table Service and
• Character Dining. 

As you only have one day to do both parks we recommend choosing a quick service restaurant. We recommend either Casey’s Corner for Hotdogs or Colonel Hathi’s for pizza or pasta. We have found that these two quick service restaurants are consistently the quickest service. 

To truly optimise your time at Disneyland Paris we recommend using mobile ordering to cut down on queuing time in the park.

And don’t worry if you are a vegan at Disneyland Paris as all restaurants now have a vegan option as standard. 

Top Tip: if you want to watch the parade at lunchtime we recommend grabbing a hot dog at Casey’s corner on Main Street and eating this sitting on Main Street as this is a great place to watch the parade. 

Disneyland Paris one day itinerary afternoon

If thrill rides are your priority at Disneyland Paris then your priorities for the afternoon should be:

• Indiana Jones and
• Big Thunder Mountain 

Before riding some of the less thrill rides in Fantasyland and Adventureland. 

However if you are traveling with toddlers and younger children we recommend spending your afternoon:

• completing the rides in Fantasyland before
• heading to Discoveryland for the other rides with no height restrictions such as Orbitron, Buzz Lightyear’s Astroblast and Autopia. 

Disneyland Paris one day itinerary evening plans

For your evening we recommend again grabbing dinner from one of the quick service restaurants. A

If you didn’t catch the afternoon parade it is worth grabbing a hot dog from Casey’s Corner and having dinner along the parade route. Or alternatively we recommend heading to Bella Notte or Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost. 

After the parade and dinner we recommend riding any rides that you have yet to complete before grabbing a good spot in front of the castle to watch the Fireworks before heading home. 

FAQs about this 1 day Disneyland Paris itinerary

Can I do Disneyland Paris in 1 day?

You absolutely can do Disneyland Paris in 1 day however you will not achieve everything, especially if you are visiting at peak time such as in December, at Halloween or during the school holidays. 

However if you plan your day correctly then you can prioritise your key rides and get a lot done. However it is unlikely that you will get to do lots of character meet and greets and speciality dining in just a day. 

Also as Disneyland Paris has 2 parks you will achieve only 1 park following this itinerary. 

Is a day trip to Disneyland Paris worth it?

Although I usually try to have more days in Disneyland Paris (you can read how many days are my favorite for Disneyland Paris here), I still think a day trip to Disneyland Paris is worth it. 

However the only place I think it is worth doing a day trip from is Paris. Doing a day trip from further afield doesn’t leave enough time to fully enjoy the park. 

Can I meet characters at Disneyland Paris in one day?

In one day in Disneyland Paris it is possible to see characters however if you want to prioritise characters you will need to remove some rides from your itinerary. 

Please note: if you want to visit Mickey or the princesses then you should put aside 1-2 hours for each of these characters due to the average queue time. 

And if you want to meet multiple princesses then princess dining at Auberge de Cendrillon might be a better use of your time. During the princess dining experience you can meet 3-4 princesses in around 2-3 hours instead of 1 by queuing at the princess Pavillon. 

Do I need Premier Access? 

In answer to “Do I need Premier Access at Disneyland Paris for this one day I would say it would never hurt. However I have not written this itinerary with the need for you to have Premier Access. 

There are actually two types of Premier Access passes at Disneyland Paris – the single ride premier access and the unlimited premier access.

Now the unlimited Premier access that includes several rides is very expensive coming it at around 100 Euros per person per day. Now if you are a family of four this will really add up and definitely isn’t the option for those traveling to Disneyland Paris on a budget.  I would say unless money is no object then it isn’t worth buying Premier Access for a day at Disneyland Paris. 

The single ride Premier Access option does not come cheap either at on average 16 Euros a ride (there is surge pricing on Premier Access so this can go up to around 20 Euros at peak times i.e. Disneyland Paris on Christmas Day). 

Some popular rides with Premier Access include Peter Pan’s Flight, Crush’s Coaster and W.E.B Slingers in the new Marvel Avengers Campus.

If the queues for these get very long and you are desperate to ride one of them then it might be worthwhile in adding this cost to your Disneyland Paris spending money especially if there is only two of you going for instance. 

Do you have any questions about how to do Disneyland Paris in a day? Then please drop us a comment below and we will do out best to answer.