Before We Left: The beginning of this blog is mainly for Disney Cast Members who might be planning a trip to Disneyland Paris.  If this is not you let me save you the time and encourage you to skip down to the next section.  If you want to book a room at Disneyland Paris using your discount you must call them which can be a bit costly and inconvenient due to the time difference.  If you plan on making any dining reservations I would encourage you to decide before you book because that will also need to be done over the phone.

Regardless of whether or not you stay on property this information will be helpful for getting yourself into the park for free.  The entrance to the Disneyland Paris park is under the Disneyland Hotel.  Once you get to the entrance of the hotel stay to the left and walk under an enclosed walkway which connects the main part of the hotel to a side section.  Beyond this you will a Guest Services sign which is where you will show your main gate pass in addition to your company id and will be issued your tickets which of course will be good for both parks.  If you are using a complimentary ticket you will show this at Guest Services as well!  Oh and a word of warning when you use your discount the cast members will need to call a lead to authorize it so just make sure you are not in a rush when you purchase your items.

My adorable ticket to the parks!

Getting There: In the fall of 2014 my Grandpa and I were planning a trip to Europe and I decided that I could not go to Paris without stopping by Disneyland Paris.  At the time I was working for The Walt Disney Company and could not only get into the parks for free but also receive a discount to stay at one of their hotels.  To say that I was excited to go there is an understatement and it was what I looked forward to the most about our trip.  Getting to Disneyland Paris would have been a breeze had we flown directly into Paris where we could have been picked up Disney and taken directly to our hotel.

We ended up flying into Switzerland so that my Grandpa could visit some friends of his and then took a train to Paris.  This part of our trip turned out to be quite a nightmare so incase you ever find yourself in a Paris train station trying to get Disneyland Paris let me give you the information that I wish I would have had.  I did as much research on getting to Disneyland Paris as possible prior to our trip.  I knew that we needed to take the RER A to get out to Disney but I did not know that when you purchase tickets from the RER machine you have to type in the name of the exit for Disneyland Paris.  The name of that particular exit is Marne La Vallee-Chessy.  When we got down to the level that had the RER ticket machine I did not see a ticket option for his and was unaware I would need to type it in myself.  There was no one on that level to help us so we went back up one level where we were rudely turned away.  After asking for help from several workers we finally found one to help us.

This worker followed us back down to the RER ticket machine and told us which ticket to buy.  We went down to where the RER would pick us up and told that those tickets would not take us as far as Disneyland Paris.  So we headed back up and someone else promised us help which lead to invalid tickets.  Finally on our third try I discovered that I would need to type in the exit which luckily I had written down.  It was very late and night when we were at this train station and there was no security to be found and very few helpful people.  I was almost in tears by the time we finally got on the RER.  When we finally arrived at our exit it let us out around  Downtown Disney.  It was so late that the buses to the hotels were no longer running so we needed to walk down to our hotel Cheyenne which was quite far but we made it.

Checking In: When we checked in we received our room keys which I was disappointed to see were not very cute and not something I would be able to keep as a souvenir.  I have room keys from Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Aulani framed in a shadow box with different Disney keepsakes so I was hoping to add another room key.  I suppose I will just need to go on a Disney cruise in order to add to my key collection.  With our keys we received a map of the hotel which was very helpful since the rooms at Hotel Cheyenne are divided among several buildings.  We also got our Hotel Easy Pass which would provide us with complimentary breakfast every morning of our stay.  We also asked about a hair dryer and were given one that we paid a deposit for which was refunded when we checked out and returned it.  If you need converters speak with the front desk and if they have any that are not already rented out they can help you out.

The rooms were a bit of a let down but we did opt to stay at a lower priced hotel so I suppose we shouldn’t have had such high expectations.  Our room had bunk beds and a twin sized bed.  The bathroom was small and not too impressive but comparing it to other bathrooms that I saw in Europe it was not terrible.  If you want to use wifi you will need to go to the lobby unless you want to pay an additional fee to get an ethernet cord but that would only work with a laptop.  I regret now that I did not take any pictures of the room but my converters were not working with the outlets in the room and I was afraid of my camera battery dying only two days into the trip.  By the time we got to our hotel room I had been awake for well over thirty hours so I was just happy to have a place to sleep!

Benefits Of Staying At A Disneyland Paris Hotel:

Location:  Unless you stay on property at Disneyland Paris you will need to take the train to get to and from the parks since the only things at the train stop is the parks, hotels and Downtown Disney.  We decided that the best thing for us would be to stay three nights at Disneyland Paris so that we could have two full days at the parks.  That way when we were done at the parks or if we wanted to take a break in the middle of the day we could take a quick bus ride or walk back to our hotel.  It made for a very convenient and relaxing stay and then on the third day we took the RER back to the middle of Paris and checked into a different hotel and spent the day seeing all of the great sights in the beautiful city.  Depending on what you want out of your visit to Paris and or Disneyland Paris staying at Disney might not be the best option.  I would encourage you to consider it though as it really adds to the experience.

Breakfast:  On our first morning at Disneyland Paris I decided to try and have breakfast inside the Disneyland Hotel which meant that we would be able to see into the park while we were eating.  I had read on someone else’s blog that even though they prefer for you to use your easy-pass to dine at the hotel you are staying at you can use it at any of the hotels.  We found the breakfast location at the Disneyland Hotel, showed our easy pass and were shown to a table with a view of Main Street and the castle!  At this point I could hardly contain my excitement over going inside the park.  They had quite a wonderful selection of food at this location, pancakes, waffles, muffins, fruits, and quite a few other options.  We checked out the breakfast at Hotel Cheyenne the next day which did not even compare to the breakfast at Disneyland Hotel so a word to the wise eat breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel.

Extra Magic Hours: By far my favorite part of staying on property was getting to go into Disneyland Park two hours before it opened.  The most incredible part is that I was able to take a picture in front of the castle without anyone else in the picture which is a very rare thing to happen in the parks in the states.  It was empty and made it seem like we had the place to ourselves.  The other best part was that the lines were so short since so few people were there.  I walked onto Peter Pan’s Flight with no wait and did not wait longer than five minutes for any attraction during those two hours.  This will help make sure that you are able to do and see as much as possible in the Disneyland Paris park.  However, it is not always offered every day though it was offered both mornings I was there so be sure to check on it.

You will need to show your hotel easy pass with your ticket in order to gain early entry.  There will be places to eat open on Main Street like: Cable Car Bake Shop (warning the pastries are very disappointing), Coffee Grinder, Market House Deli and the Plaza Gardens Restaurant.  The attractions open in Fantasyland are: Le Carrousel de Lancelot, Peter Pan’s Flight, Dumbo The Flying Elephant, Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups, and Les Voyages de Pinocchio.  In Discoveryland (their version of Tomorrowland) Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast will be open as well as Orbitron (like Astro Orbitor at Disneyland) Space Mountain Mission 2 and Star Tours.

Disney’s Hotel Cheyenne: http://www.disneylandparis.co.uk/hotels/disneys-hotel-cheyenne/