Everything You Need to Know about the Disneyland Paris Reopening

*All pictures in this post are from September 2019*

Disneyland Paris has announced today that they will be reopening with key safety amendments on the 15th of July.  This lines up with the US parks which are currently due to reopen between the 11th and 15th of July and it looks like a lot of the safety requirements and changes at Disneyland Paris will be following a similar vein also.  Shanghai Disneyland was the first to reopen in early May with a reservation system for entry and modified events/ queue lines etc with Hong Kong Disneyland following suit with similar procedures the month following.   This leaves only Tokyo‘s two Disney Parks with no current plans to reopen.  So will the Disneyland Paris reopening bring back Disneyland as we know it?  Not quite.  There are some key differences that you need to bear in mind before booking a trip.  Here’s everything you need to know about the Disneyland Paris reopening:

Can I expect to be able to visit on the 15th?

The answer to this is a solid maybe.  They will be strictly limiting the number of people allowed in the park, to aid this there will be a reservation system in place which is similar to the ones currently running in the US parks.  You will log into the Disneyland Paris website and book a slot for the days you wish to attend the parks.  This system will become available sometime in early July.  Obviously, as they will be allowing a lot fewer people to enter the parks then usual this might mean that it is pretty hard to get one of the reservation slots.  In fact, if the current Disney World reservation slots are anything to go by (which opened in the early hours of this morning) it appears to be almost impossible.  Disneyland Paris does have a less local presence in terms of guests so it should be easier than the US parks, but it’s hard to tell home many people will be flooding to the site.  To book a reservation you have to already have an Annual Pass or an undated ticket in your possession, or you can buy a ticket directly from the website but you must register your visit date at the time of purchase.  This is where Disneyland Paris differs from the US Disney Parks which are currently open to Annual Pass holders only with no tickets currently available for purchase.

If you already have an undated ticket they are valid for one year from the date you purchased them so if you can’t get a registration date right away you still have a fair bit of time to be able to use them later in the year or in 2021 when (hopefully) restrictions are lifted somewhat.  It’s worth remembering that you need to use up your whole ticket’s worth of days within seven days of you first using it (so if you buy a 3 day pass you can’t use a day now and the remaining two later in the year, all days have to be used up within seven days of the first entry to the park).

If you’ve already got a dated ticket that is booked for a date after the park opening there is no need to use the reservation system, you are free to enter on that booked date.  It’s also worth mentioning that tickets will not be available to buy at the parks for the foreseeable future and must be booked online in advance.

Disneyland Paris has confirmed that all hotel guests will be able to access the parks, skipping the reservation system.  However, there is a potential pitfall with the Disney hotels so let’s move on to that.

So if I book a Disneyland Hotel, I am guaranteed entry for my stay right?

In short yes, however, there is something that can catch you out here.  When I heard about the policy on the guaranteed entry for hotel guests I immediately went and priced up their cheapest hotel for a two-night stay.  Disney hotels are expensive especially when there are such great alternatives in the area (check out my post on planning a cheap Disneyland Paris trip for more tips on this) but there are defiantly some positives to staying onsite.  To give you a rough idea a two-person, two-night stay including tickets at this resort starting at the opening day will set you back £1305 at the cheapest hotel.  This includes 3 days entry into both parks but does not include breakfast or any other extras apart from free wifi.  Hotel guests can still benefit from extra magic hours (where the park is open to hotel guests only, usually at the start or end of the day) and given that for the time being at least there is only one hotel it’s a fair bet you will be treated to a pretty empty park experience during those hours!

However, here is why you need to be careful.  The website currently lets you book any hotel for any date including the reopening dates and before, but only one hotel is actually going to be open on the 15th of July.  So the hotel I was looking at (and that the site would let me book), wouldn’t actually be open for the dates I would have booked it.  Only Disney’s Newport Bay Club Hotel is currently opening on the Disneyland Paris reopening date, and the other hotels have no dates for reopening as of yet.  Whilst this certainly isn’t one of the most expensive hotels on the resort it defiantly isn’t one of the cheaper ‘value’ hotel reports either, it’s pretty midrange, so expect to pay a bit more then usual if you were planning to stay in a value resort.

The reason you can book a hotel that isn’t even going to be open is that Disneyland Paris currently has a flexible booking policy that means you can book for any time and cancel or move the booking free of charge.  So you can book for later this month if you wish even though it isn’t open, and then move it to later in the year as long as it’s changed 7 days before.  However, this isn’t clear on the website that the hotel you are booking might not be open on the dates you are booking it, so just keep that in mind of booking things like flights that you might not be able to move.  There is also no information on how much further in advance you can move the booking or if there are any restrictions.  Also bear in mind that this is available only for the hotel and tickets package, not tickets only.

So is everything going to be open and operating as normal?

Sadly the answer here is no.  What we do know is that both Disney Parks, Disney Village and Disney’s Newport Bay Club Hotel will be open but there is limited information about what will actually be operating inside both parks other than their statement that ‘some experiences might be amended or temporarily available’.  So what do we know for sure?

Looking at the Disneyland Paris website it is stated that Kids Playgrounds, ‘traditional’ character meet and greets and makeover experiences will not be available.  If you are wondering what they mean by ‘traditional’ character meet and greats it basically means you can only get your selfies from a distance, and there will be ho touching/ hugging or other close encounters.  Universal Studios has recently dealt with this by putting characters on raised floats where you can line up to get a shot from a few meters away from ground level or behind a roped-off area and it’s fair to assume this will be a similar experience.  The websites mention of new ‘selfie spots’ seems to line up with this.

Single rider lines and fast passes will also be unavailable.  If you are a traditional Disney Parks fan this maybe will be good news to you, and there are social distancing measures in the queue lines.  What there doesn’t appear to be, which is being used in some of the other parks around the world, is an online-only queuing experience.

Parades and the Disney Illuminations Nighttime Spectacular firework show will also not be available during the initial  Disneyland Paris reopening and there is currently no dates as to when we can expect these kinds of things to be brought back.  Some shows will also not reopen when the Parks reopening and currently the only show that is confirmed to reopen is The Lion King: Rhythms of the Pride Land which will reopen sometime during Summer 2020 (so it may not be ready for the reopening date) with modified seating to adhere to social distancing rules.  This does mean that it might be harder for you to get in to see the show due to the reduction of seats, however due to the overall reduction in park attendance, I imagine this will likely even out.

Buffet restaurants will change to become all you can eat restaurants where you are served by staff and it is likely that not all restaurants will be open.

So what safety measures will be in place during the Disneyland Paris Reopening?

So apart from the aforementioned lack of ‘traditional’ character meet and greats, kid playgrounds, makeovers, modified show seating and social distance markers in queues what else is there to increase safety?  Starting in the hotels, lifts will only be available for use by one family at a time and sneezeguards added to the check-in desk as well as other modifications to help with social distancing measures.  As for the parks, aside from the aforementioned change to buffet dining all shops on site are being reconfigured to provide more space to help with social distancing.  One way exit and entry doors will be on all restaurants and shops with sneeze guides on all points of sale.  Cast members will actively be ‘encouraging’ social distancing throughout the park.

In more practical terms over 2000 hand sanitation stations have been added across the resort, including at the entrance and exit of each attraction, restaurant, show and store etc.  Facemasks must be worn by everyone eleven and older at all times apart from when eating (this is a slight variation from the US parks where they must be worn by children two and older).  There will be enhanced cleaning across the resort and expanded health and safety training for all cast members.  The use of contactless payments will be actively encouraged across the resort.

So what are the positives of visiting now?

In short, the lack of people!  If we use the predictions for the US Disney Parks as well as the Universal Studios US parks which have already open as a reliable indicator it seems that queue lines will be a lot shorter.  Plus you won’t have people tripping over your feet as they run for Peter Pan’s Flight during rope drop or elbowing you to get a better view of the castle.  Sounds like a dream right?  Oh, and you will get the best chance you will ever have of getting those all-important Disneyland Paris shots with no one else in them!

What other thing do I need to consider? 

The important thing to bear in mind if you are considering a trip to Disneyland Paris is that the parks aren’t likely to be the biggest threat to you catching Covoid-19, it’s travelling to get there.  Whether you drive and get the ferry, fly in or get the Eurostar you need to be able to weigh up how you can do that as safely as possible, especially if you are travelling from a different country.  Furthermore, if you are from the UK like me you need to remember that on your return to the UK you need to self-quarantine for 14 days as of the time of writing, which for me is actually the biggest negative.  I did all that already when I came back from Italy during the start of the Coronavirus outbreak and it was not a fun time.  Wherever you are travelling from its important to check the French travel guidelines and the guidelines of where you are travelling from before you make a decision on visiting Disneyland Paris.

There are also some things that are happening in the US parks that there is no mention of here, for instance in the US parks there is currently no park-hopping allowed and heat checks, neither of which are mentioned on the Disneyland Paris website so it’s unknown if similar things will be in place during the Disneyland Paris reopening.  If you want more information about the US Parks current policy’s I recommend checking out Carley’s excellent and thorough master post.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to visit Disneyland Paris during its reopening period, those empty parks are a serious draw.  However, if this is your first time at the park or you are visiting with young family members I wouldn’t recommend Disneyland Paris in 2020 as a good time to visit as they will miss out on the full experience of the parades, fireworks and those all-important Mickey Mouse hugs.  I can’t imagine trying to explain to a three-year-old why they can’t get close to their favourite character when they can see them, to me I can foresee it all ending in tears!  If your a repeat visiter, live locally or are travelling solo or with adults you live with, however, then it might be worth considering.

So that’s all there is to know right now on the Disneyland Paris reopening.  I know it’s a lot of information to take in and I’ve tried to make it as clear as possible, if you need any further clarification or have any more questions comment down below or send an email to the address in my sidebar and I will get back to you and amend this post as necessary.

If you want more information on Disney Parks around the world check out my Disney Parks section.  Would you consider visiting during this time or would you rather wait until things return to ‘normal’?