During a summer trip to Paris last year, my husband (Richard) and I combined two of our passions: international travel and Disney! We’ve made 10 visits to Disney World in Orlando together, but had never visited any of the parks outside the United States until this trip.
While planning a trip to Paris to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, we decided it was a priority to plan a day trip out to
Disneyland Paris to experience the beauty of one of Disney’s international parks and compare it to our beloved Disney World. One unique twist to add: I am a wheelchair user, so we were very interested in exploring the accessibility of the Paris park.
One of the reasons we keep going back to Disney World every year is that it is one of the most accessible places on earth. I never have to worry about feeling left out because I can participate in so many attractions, activities, shows, parades,
dining experiences, and so much more. While every individual’s disability may provide various challenges, I find Disney World’s attention to accessible design and their staff’s attitude towards inclusion to be top-notch and a warm welcome.
While there are a couple of attractions that I cannot experience at Disney World because I cannot make the transfer from my wheelchair with my mobility disability (lack of strength and flexibility are my greatest challenges), they are notably some of the older ones that were not designed with access in mind. Yet, these attractions are a handful compared to the vast entirety of the parks, so I never find myself lacking options.
In preparation for
Disneyland Paris, Richard did extensive research to learn as much about accessibility in advance as possible. First, we had to find out how best to travel from our hotel in central Paris to the park. It was a lucky happenstance that the hotel we booked was a couple blocks from a train station with a line going directly to the park! (More on that later.)
We also discovered that it would be helpful to visit Guest Services on our arrival and get a Disability Access Pass. For this, I needed a doctor’s letter describing my disability and that I use a wheelchair. The pass would be presented to park staff so that they could tell us about the access of the attractions and guide us to the accessible entrance (if available). Richard also researched accessibility of the Disneyland Paris attractions, but the information was rather limited online and we were not certain what all to expect until we visited the park ourselves.
As experienced
Disney park visitors, we naturally also researched restaurant options, attraction priorities, and what to expect overall from a visit to Disneyland Paris. Since we only had one day, we made a list of certain things we wanted to see and planned to only visit the main park (similar to
Magic Kingdom at Disney World).
One of the debates I had before our visit was whether to take my motorized wheelchair that I usually use, or temporarily switch to a manual wheelchair that Richard would push. I prefer my motorized chair because it makes me independently mobile. However, if we have to get up a step or navigate a tight space, the manual chair is more flexible in that regard. Another concern for me was the effort Richard would expend on pushing me, in addition to the extensive amount of walking required for a Disney park. Since we learned in our research that the train to Disneyland Paris was accessible and that the paths of the park were also accessible, we decided to go with my motorized wheelchair because I would be more comfortable for the day.
We traveled to Paris and enjoyed nine days of seeing the sights before spending our last day at Disneyland Paris. Because I was a little anxious about the train travel, we visited the station a couple days in advance to find out what we needed to do for travel. I was so glad we did because the operation was very different from my previous (and extensive) accessible train rides. We learned the easiest plan was to go early and visit the desk for help to purchase tickets, get an escort to the train, and have boarding assistance. The train staff helped me get on the train using a portable metal ramp from the platform at both ends of the trip. Otherwise, it was very easy and the ride was less than an hour from central Paris.