Disneyland Paris in one day with a 5 year old

My parents took Ryan and I to Disneyland Paris last month, it was Ryan’s first time at Disneyland, but I have been to some other Disneyland parks pre kids, so I was excited to go this time to see Disneyland through Ryan’s eyes.

We managed to keep it a secret from Ryan, but as he saw the Disneyland Paris app on my phone before we left, he had a feeling we were going, so when we reached the gates his excitement levels weren’t as high as my parents expected.

But as we know, such is life with kids, we can’t control how excited they’ll get about anything, Disneyland included.

We visited Disneyland Paris in one day, and it was a long day. We arrived at 10am, and left at 11.30pm.

During the day Ryan got sore legs, was often hungry, needed to pee when we were in the thick of a 2 hour line for a ride, and had meltdowns when he wasn’t allowed to have everything he wanted in the shops.

Apart from these things, it was a great day, and I can now say that visiting Disneyland Paris in one day with a 5 year old is doable, fun, and magical, but like any days out with kids, you do need to ride multiple waves of hunger, tiredness, and other emotions.

Here’s what we did at Disneyland Paris in one day, which I hope gives you some ideas on what you may like to do, or not do, if you have a Disneyland trip planned.

I’ve also written some tips for visiting Disneyland Paris if you’d like to check that out as well.

Walt Disney Studios Park

There are two parks at Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Studios Park, and Disneyland Park.

We went to Walt Disney Studios Park first, and there were two zones that I wanted to visit, which were Avengers Campus, and Worlds of Pixar, purely because they were suited towards Ryan’s interests.

As we walked through a covered building with shops and restaurants in it to get to Avengers Campus, we saw Mickey Mouse on the balcony, which was great because I didn’t plan any Disney character meet and greets so we could maximise our ride time.

Avengers Campus opened on July 20, so as it was a new attraction it was a popular one on the day we went, which meant that ride times were really, really long.

The first ride we saw, and went on, was Spider-Man W.E.B Adventure, which appeared to have hardly any line. However, something I forgot about Disneyland is that there are rows and rows of lines to get through before you reach the ride, and once you’re in the thick of a line, it’s hard to leave.

This is what happened with this ride, we ended up waiting 2 hours for it, and Ryan had to go to the toilet for the majority of the time, making it a stressful wait.

Once we were finally through the line, we got into a capsule, where we were led around a building and had to shoot webs at Spider-Bots, it was colourful, fast, and a great first ride for Ryan to experience.

After this we had a quick walk around Avengers Campus, as we didn’t want to waste anymore time waiting in long lines, and then headed to the Mickey and the Magician show at Animagique Theatre.

Ryan didn’t want to see the show, he was hungry and frustrated, but at the end of the show he wanted to see it again. It was amazing.

It was about Mickey learning how to do magic from different Disney characters including characters from Frozen, Lion King, Nemo, Aladdin, and many more.

I would recommend this show to anyone visiting Disneyland, it was perfect for adults and kids.

At the end of this show we headed to Disneyland Park, where the real magic of the day started.

Disneyland Park

If we ever visit Disneyland Paris again I’d skip Walt Disney Studios Park and just spend the day at Disneyland Park, because it’s the park where the Disney experience is really felt.

As we only had one day at Disneyland Paris, I decided to focus our time and energy on Fantasyland and Discoveryland, because Ryan was tall enough for the majority of rides in these zones.

Fantasyland

Our first stop was Fantasyland, a land of fairytales, and of course the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle.

We headed straight underneath the Castle to La Tanière du Dragon (the Dragon’s Lair), which I heard was a must see for kids who love dragons.

I’m glad that I heard about the Dragon’s Lair before our visit, because if I didn’t I don’t think that I would have found it, as the entrance is hidden towards the side of the Castle.

Ryan loved the Dragon’s Lair so much, mostly because it was dark and scary, and the Dragon was so life like that he actually thought it was real.

After this my dad and Ryan went on Sir Lancelot’s Carrousel, which had a wait time of 20 minutes.

Whilst Ryan and my dad were lining up, Ryan hit his head really hard on the ground while playing with my dad, so the first tears of the day started.

Of course this is something he still remembers about the day, and gave Disneyland a 0/10 because of it.

Although, luckily throughout the day he started to rank his day higher, as he had more fun, I think he may have even gotten up to 8/10.

Next up was Alice’s Curious Labyrinth, which had no lines, and is suitable for all ages and heights. It’s a really, really great maze.

It has The Queen of Heart’s Tower in the centre, which you need to walk around the maze to get to.

As you walk around the maze you see different Alice in Wonderland characters, colourful sets, and more characters that pop up behind hedges yelling things at you in French.

Once you reach the Tower you can climb to the top and get fantastic views of Fantasyland and the Castle.

Ryan really enjoyed this attraction because he loves mazes, and this one was fun and easy to finish. He also found it funny when characters popped up from the hedges.

Next up was the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups, which Ryan went on with my mum, as I’m not a fan of anything that spins really fast.

They only waited 20 minutes for this ride, which was terrific because it’s one of the more popular Disneyland rides.

After the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups it was 5.30pm and Disney Stars on Parade was starting, which is where colourful floats and Disney characters walk down the street near the Castle.

The only spot we could find to watch the Parade from was the Castle balcony, which ended up being a fantastic viewing point, because it was up high and our view wasn’t obstructed by anyone tall.

Some of the floats and the characters included Mickey and Minnie, Toy Story, Frozen, Peter Pan, Lion King, and one of the most impressive – a dragon with a mechanical body that breathed fire.

After the Parade we went on Snow White’s Scary Adventures, where we sat in a carriage and were taken around some scenes of Snow White in the dark, where the evil witch made regular appearances.

Ryan loved this ride, in fact it may have been his favourite!

The last ride we went on in Fantasyland was Dumbo the Flying Elephant, where Ryan made our Elephant go right to the top of the ride, and we saw some amazing views.

We spent 5 hours in Fantasyland, which included a stop for dinner, and even though we were there for a long time, we still didn’t’ get to go on all the rides.

Fantasyland is a fantastic start to any Disneyland adventure, and I recommend making sure you do it first, especially if you have young kids.

The rides in Fantasyland don’t have tall height restrictions (Ryan’s 1.17cm tall and was able to go on all the rides we wanted to go on), and there are many characters kids are familiar with.

Discoveryland

After Fantasyland we went to Discoveryland, where we spent 2 hours in total.

Discoveryland is on the other side of the Castle, and is a land where you’re taken on an intergalactic voyage through space and time.

As we entered Discoveryland we saw that the Castle was illuminated in purple!

Due to being later at night, the ride wait times for the more popular rides in this zone were about 25 minutes, normally they’d be 50 minutes – 2 hours, so maybe if this is a zone you want to spend a lot of time in, you should do it later at night to avoid spending too much time in lines.

We only did a couple of rides here, the first one was Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, where we sat in a space cruiser and used our lasers to stop the bad guys stealing batteries.

It was a lot of fun, and Ryan loved spinning the space cruiser around as he tried to shoot the bad guys.

We also went on Autopia, a ride that’s suitable for guests taller than 81cm, so is great for younger kids.

On this ride Ryan drove a car around a road, which led us up and down hills, and around corners. It was the only ride we went on that lasted a good amount of time.

We would have loved to spend more time exploring the other lands within Disneyland Park, but we didn’t have enough time.

Lunch and dinner stops

We had lunch at Walt Disney Studios Park, and dinner at Disneyland Park, and for both meals I didn’t pre book any restaurants, which I’m glad about because we only felt like something quick and easy.

For both meals we went with quick service options, which meant choosing a meal that was already packaged together, and then finding our own table to sit and eat it at.

For lunch we went to Restaurant en Coulisse and had burgers, chips, and a drink. Ryan had a Spiderman ice cream with his meal.

Meals here started from about €9.

For dinner we went to Au Chalet de la Marionnette, situated behind Dumbo the Flying Elephant. I had roast chicken, chips, a drink, and mini magnum for €12.

We also had snacks throughout the day that I bought with me, which were:

• Dried fruit
• Breakfast bars
• Lollies
• Lollypops
• Biscuits

Disney D-Light and Disney Illuminations

At 10.55pm we watched the Disney D-Light show at the Castle, followed by Disney Illuminations at 11pm.

By 8.30pm we could see people already getting their spots for these shows, and as we were watching the shows from our spot behind a tree, we could see why people were doing this, because much of the Illumination show happens towards the bottom of the Castle, which these people would have had fantastic views of.

Disney D-Light was a light show done by drones, and had some fantastic displays of the Mickey ears in the number 30 to celebrate the Park’s 30^th birthday.

After this show was the Disney Illuminations show, where music, lights, and fireworks lit up the Castle.

The most impressive part of this show for me were the projections onto the Castle of characters from movies, like Dory swimming along the bottom of the Castle, Frozen characters popping out of it, and so, so much more.

We left about 15 minutes before the Illuminations show finished so we could beat the crowds back to the shuttle buses.

Overall our Disneyland Paris in one day adventure was fantastic. We covered what I wanted to cover, we managed to get Ryan to stay until the Illuminations, and I got to see Ryan experience his first Disneyland visit.

However, of course it wasn’t without the stresses and frustrations that come with travelling with a 5 year old, who I actually had to bribe to stay until the Illuminations.

Despite this, I’d still do Disneyland again, but not until my youngest is about 6, which means Ryan will be much older, and they’ll probably be a whole new set of challenges, that will hopefully be worth overcoming.

Related posts:
Tips for visiting Disneyland Paris
What to look for in a hotel when travelling with kids
5 tips for surviving road trips with toddlers
How to survive a long haul flight with a toddler

Are you planning a Disneyland adventure?
I’d love to hear about your plans in the comments section below.