Hello, Pixie Dust Pals readers! My name is Amy, a friend of Allison and Megan’s. (You may have seen me on the blog dressed as Adventureland for Dapper Days!)

While on a recent trip to France, my boyfriend Jim and I decided to spend one, single day at Disneyland Paris. As a big fan of Disney Parks and dragons, I was incredibly excited to visit the park formerly known as EuroDisney.

If you’re like us, you’re fitting a lot of adventures into your Europe trip and only have one day to spend at the parks. If so, here are my top five tips for visiting Disneyland Paris for one day.

ONE

Get the park hopper ticket. Some blogs I read said that if you only have on day, you should focus on Disneyland Park. I disagree. Walt Disney Studios has some great features and is literally steps away from Disneyland Park. The Ratatouille ride is in my top three favorite Disney rides of all time, and our lunch at Chez Remy was fantastic. Those two things alone were worth the extra cost for the two park ticket.

TWO

Do big ticket, non-FastPass rides ASAP. We were super bummed because we planned to ride Crush’s Coaster in the afternoon, but it broke down, and by the time it was back up again, we couldn’t make it back to Walt Disney Studios before it closed. I wish we would have waited in the single rider line earlier in the day.

THREE

Invest in the Ultimate FastPass. If you only have one day, I highly recommend spending a little extra money for the Ultimate FastPass. There are two options - one where you get one FastPass for each FastPass ride, and one where you have unlimited FastPasses for all FastPass rides. We did unlimited and it was worth it to be able to ride a couple of the rides more than once with little to no line. This was a lifesaver when it came to prioritizing our time in the parks (and making sure someone didn’t get grumpy while waiting in lines...).

FOUR

Hang out with the dragon. Guys, the dragon is probably one of the neatest things about Disneyland Paris. Not only is it unique to this park, but it’s also just really cool and fun.

FIVE

Appreciate the intricacies of Disneyland Park. One thing that struck me about Disneyland Paris was the landscape as well as the flow between the different lands. It seemed like the layout of the park was very well thought out and they tried to make it similar to the original Disneyland Park, without being a total carbon copy by adding some really neat features.

BONUS TIP

One bonus tip... Stay on property. This is something else I wish we would’ve done differently. We were staying in Paris and took the RER A from the city to the parks. While this was very cost effective, it was also about an hour and a half of travel each way. We explored the Disneyland Hotel before the parks opened, and I wish we would have just spent the money for a room there. It’s essentially connected to the entrance of Disneyland Park, and we could’ve watched the fireworks from the comfort of our room. Instead, we were exhausted and were on the train home by the time the fireworks started. (Also, if you book a suite at certain hotels, Ultimate FastPass is included!)

FINAL THOUGHTS

One critique of Disneyland Paris is that rides are often closed for refurbishment. We found this to be true as well. However, if you explore the website beforehand, they will let you know far in advance what rides will be closed so you can avoid unnecessary disappointment the day you arrive.

All in all, we had a wonderful time at Disneyland Paris. Its Hyperspace Mountain is now my favorite of all the Space Mountains (even despite the kind of strange Jules Verne and Star Wars combined theming). While Disneyland in California still holds a special place in my heart, I’m so glad we got to experience Disneyland Paris and all it had to offer, delicious kettle corn and Disneyland champagne included!