In the summer of 2025, I was on a two-week Europe trip having an amazing time. I was barely paying attention to the news, but I knew that there was a possibility of a flight attendant strike during my return trip window. As luck would have it, my flight wound up impacted. I was meant to fly back on the Saturday, but that was cancelled. Luckily, as I was travelling solo, I was able to rebook a direct flight within 24 hours of my original flight. Once I had that confirmation, my mind spun toward the possibilities.

I now had twenty-four extra hours in Paris. What was I going to do? This was my seventh time visiting Paris and I’d already spent three days in the city enjoying it. There was one thing I hadn’t done in all my trips, though.

That was Disneyland Paris.

This felt like a best of both worlds. After all, with my flight coming up, getting an airport hotel felt like the safest place to extend. I could store my luggage there and get to my flight with ease. Plus, Disneyland Paris is right off the airport with a nine-minute train ride.

So, with less than twenty-four hours notice, how did I manage the parks? It was a combination of money, luck, and mistakes, which we’ll get into now so you learn from my lessons.

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Getting There

As I mentioned, Disneyland Paris is about nine minutes by train from the airport. So, that should be easy, right? Except, not exactly. Disneyland is just one stop on the train and it’s a very busy route. Don’t think that you can show up and buy tickets for the next train because you’ll be out of luck. I was flying by the seat of my pants, which meant that I didn’t buy tickets in advance and had to wait two whole trains before I could get on one.

When I did, the seats were fully taken, so I wound up leaning in the cafeteria car for the journey. Thankfully, it’s not a long day. On the way home, I was able to find myself a seat and that’s when you really want to be sitting. However, on the way, you’re on a track that’s going all the way to Brussels and there’s a lot of families and luggage to contend with.

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The Premier Pass

I have to start this section with a preface about price:

Given that I was impacted by the airline strike and knew about the EU’s customer protections, I knew that I had some money coming to me to reimburse me for the last-minute cancellation. As a result, going into my day at Disney, I wasn’t dipping into my own funds. I had arranged a cheap Holiday Inn for my lodgings and that left me with some money to spend. That meant that not only could I get tickets to both parks, but I was able to add on the Premier Pass option that allowed me to simply tap on at participating rides. This was absolutely a game-changer. It was also something I wouldn’t have done if not for the extra cash that I got.

Premier Pass is the option that allows you to simply tap on and get the fast pass lane on any ride that’s participating. This is how I was able to do both parks in a single day and still end up finishing just after 8PM (though I didn’t even start my day until lunch). If I wanted to try a ride, I could simply walk up and tap on.

I’m very aware that this isn’t in everyone’s price range. It was only in mine because of the extenuating circumstances. However, it’s what saved me when I couldn’t get to the parks any earlier than the afternoon and prevented me from staying around until closing.

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Menu Adventures

Typically when I go to Disney, one of my favourite things to do is find all the best snacks. Some of the best parts of my vacation are the planning, especially for food. However, I barely had any time to prepare, so I was flying by the seat of my pants. With some exceptions, I did try and avoid some of the classic Disney fare (like pretzels), though I did end up eating at Casey’s Corner.

However, in general, I really didn’t look at many menus. I did end up getting an ice cream bar, but it was a hand-dipped option instead of the ones from a freezer.

I also really enjoyed discovering the wealth of food and wine carts outside Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and the amazing duck crepe that I ordered with a glass of red wine to go with it. It really reinforces that you’re in Paris. I was able to snack easily around the quick-service and snack carts, but I did avoid the sit-down options because the reservations were going to be more difficult to procure.

Still, I don’t think I missed out. I had lots of great options throughout the day at both parks.

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Getting Lost

I’ve been to Disneyland and Walt Disney World enough times by now that I can make my way around pretty confidently (just don’t ask how lost I got during my first ever Disneyland trip because my Fitbit will tell on me about how bad it was). While I could have easily pulled up the paper maps or the app, I decided that part of the fun of my day would be wandering around.

Disneyland Paris has a lot of thematic entertainment from large set-pieces like pirate ships, Alice in Wonderland mazes, and so many other cool things. By not preparing at all and simply wandering, I got the joy of simply stumbling onto them as I continued to explore the park. Everything I found was a new discovery that I hadn’t anticipated at all, which was a huge treat.

Being there with little notice meant I couldn’t prepare, but honestly, that led to a lot of great moments of discovery in the process.

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Maybe I Should Have Planned a Little More

In fairness, it was a last minute day and I didn’t really do much planning. Only, maybe I should have done a little. I already mentioned the train tickets earlier — I lost a good two hours by not booking them in advance. That’s something that I wished I had done a little preparation for.

The other one is a real heartbreaker. What I also missed was one of the things I had been most eager to see. Underneath the Disneyland Paris castle lies a dragon (Maleficent, from Sleeping Beauty in her scaly form). However, what I didn’t know at the time is that said dragon has hours of operation. Unfortunately, I had put this as my last activity of the day not realizing that it would be fully closed. I’d missed it by a full hour because I hadn’t checked on the opening times. Because I hadn’t downloaded the app either, I let my relaxation get the best of me.

With luck, I may return one day and get to see the dragon, but let that be a lesson that while you absolutely can do Disneyland Paris on a single day’s notice, there may be some casualties as a result.

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Are you headed to Paris and want to do the Disneyland Paris parks? You’ll most likely have more notice than I did. Check out the website to learn the details of what you need to know to have your best trip — and just know that it doesn’t require heavy planning to have a good time. It just might help a bit.

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