As I have explored in a previous post, Disneyland Paris offers generous accommodations for disabled visitors in the form of the Priority Pass. You can read more about this here, but just to reiterate, the priority pass is incredibly useful if you or one of your party lives with a disability. In this post, I’ll talk a little more about our experience regarding accessibility and how we navigated Disneyland Paris with a disabled visitor.
Mobility Scooters
The first thing to note is mobility scooter hire is not available at the park. You are permitted to bring your own. You could hire one in Paris upon arrival, or bring one with you from the UK. It would be great to see Disney offer this facility as soon as many people rely on mobility scooters to fully enjoy family outings. I hope this is something they will consider in the future. However, wheelchairs and prams can be hired on-site.
If, like us, you do decide to bring your own mobility scooter, you’ll find moving around the park incredibly easy. The streets and pathways are reasonably wide enabling you to navigate a mobility scooter around the park. Disney is (seemingly) always rather busy, so this is something to be mindful of when riding a mobility scooter.
There were plenty of places to park a mobility scooter, wheelchair, or pram throughout the park. For instance, when boarding a ride, there are places to park a mobility scooter. Restaurants also have places for mobility scooters outside too. In other words, you won’t feel as though disembarking from a mobility scooter and parking it would be problematic. We did see a large number of people on mobility scooters on our visit, so this is obviously something Disney are familiar with catering for.
Entering the Park
Accessibility was clearly considered when designing the entrance to Disneyland Paris. When arriving at the entrance to the park, you must first go through security. You will notice there are disabled entrances. These queues were a lot smaller, in fact, we didn’t even have to wait. Our bags went through the scanner immediately and we were in the park in a matter of minutes.
You will then find yourself in a courtyard area. On the far left is Disney Village which is filled with shops and restaurants. You don’t need a ticket for Disneyland to visit the Disney village. Next to the Village is the Studios. And to the right is Disneyland Park. You will need a ticket to visit either of these attractions.
As you approach the entrance to these attractions, you will notice a separate queue for disabled guests. Despite the fact that Disneyland was incredibly busy, we spent no time at all in these separate queues. Our tickets were scanned and we went straight into the attraction.
There are staff on hand to help and if you ask “where is the disabled queue”, they’ll be happy to point you in the right direction.
Not only were these queues shorter in length, they were also shorter in distance. A disabled guest and their family do not have to go through the snake-like queues. The line is straight and straight into the park.
Queuing in the Park
As I mentioned in my previous post on the priority pass, this little card will give you priority access to all rides and attractions. You won’t always necessarily get on the ride immediately, but rather you can join a separate, smaller queue which means less time standing for those with limited mobility. Often the rides will have a seating area in this queue which is really helpful.
For instance, some of the regular queues had a 90-minute wait. With the priority pass, you might expect to wait 5 or 10 minutes to get onto the ride and you can sit down while you wait.
The priority queues for the meet and greet were a little more tricky. It seems a few slots are allocated for those with a priority pass at each meet and greet. I did think this was sensible as the meet and greets might only last for half an hour or so. If every slot was taken up by those with a priority pass, this wouldn’t be fair to the other guests.
Most cafes and restaurants had a separate queue for disbaled visitors too. This again was a much shorter queue and without the barriers which meant a shorter distance to walk.
The priority pass was also most helpful during the parades and fireworks display. A separate area is designated for those with a priority pass during these events. There is also a seating area in these spaces which was incredibly useful.
The Hotel and the Shuttle Bus
Our hotel, Staycity Marne la Vallée offered a shuttle bus to and from the hotel. The bus ran at regular intervals throughout the day. There was space on the bus for prams, wheelchairs and mobility scooters and disbaled seating. This made getting to and from the park much easier.
The hotel also had excellent disbaled facilities including a ramp to the hotel entrance and disbaled public toilets. There were ample lifts too. The public area of the hotel was spacious enough to navigate a mobility scooter. The rooms (even the smaller family rooms) were also of a very spacious giving ample room to store the mobility scooter at night.
Our Overall Experience
Disneyland Paris was one of the most accessible places for disbaled people that we have ever visited. Every possible consideration is given to disbaled people. The only thing I think would be useful is mobility scooter hire at the park. There must be some reason they are not offered and I’m sure it is a consideration which has been mulled over many times. But if you bring your own mobility scooter, you’ll find the park incredibly easy to navigate.
The staff were incredibly helpful and courteous and have clearly received some excellent training regarding disbaled visitors. However, we did find the city of Paris incredibly accessible too and staff at those attractions were courteous and helpful too. Perhaps Paris has taken a different attitude towards disability than other places we have visited. Many other destinations could learn a thing or two from Paris!
I hope you enjoyed this post on accessibility at Disneyland Paris. If you’d like to learn more about accessibility at Disneyland Paris, check out my previous post Disneyland Paris – The Priority Pass.
