It’s hard to keep track of all the “skip the line” systems across Disney parks, and if you’re heading abroad to Disneyland Paris, you probably don’t need yet another thing to stress about. In this post, we’ll breakdown Disneyland Paris’s “Disney Premier Access” system—their version of FASTPASS / Genie / “skip the line”. We’ll start with the basics before diving into our personal experience and thoughts on whether and when Premier Access is worth it. Read on to learn about about Disney Premier Access at Disneyland Paris!
Basics of Disneyland Paris Premier Access
We’ll start with the basics…
What is Disney Premier Access at Disneyland Paris?
Disney Premier Access is, essentially, Disneyland Paris’s version of paid FASTPASS. There is no free FASTPASS anymore. If you want to “skip the line”, you’ll need to pay for either Premier Access One or Premier Access Ultimate (both explained later).
Does Disneyland Paris have FASTPASS or Genie+?
No. The only “skip the line” system at Disneyland Paris is the paid Disney Premier Access system. There is no FASTPASS or Genie+ system. If you’re looking to learn about “fastpass” at Disneyland Paris, you’re in the right place.
Which Rides have Disney Premier Access?
Many rides at Disneyland Paris do not have Premier Access, but almost all the most popular rides have it (importantly, the longest waits at Disneyland Paris tend to be for character greetings, which do not have Premier Access). These lists are always subject to change, check the official website here or the app to confirm.
In case you didn’t already know, Disneyland Paris resort has two parks—Disneyland Park (the castle park) and Walt Disney Studios Park (the other park).
At Disneyland Park, the rides with Premier Access are:
Autopia
Big Thunder Mountain
Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril
It’s a small world
Peter Pan’s Flight
Phantom Manor
Pirates of the Caribbean
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain
Orbitron (Premier Access One only)
At Walt Disney Studios Park, the rides with Premier Access are:
Avengers Assemble: Flight Force
Cars ROAD TRIP
Crush’s Coaster
Ratatouille: The Adventure
Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Premier Access One and Premier Access Ultimate
Disney Premier Access comes in two flavors at Disneyland Paris—“One” and “Ultimate.” The basic idea is that “One” will get you skip the line privileges at one ride while “Ultimate” covers almost all the Premier Access rides. But there’s a bit more to it than that, so let’s talk about each of these in more detail…
Disney Premier Access One
Premier Access One is a straightforward way to buy “skip the line” privileges at a single ride for a one-hour timeslot. Prices typically range from about €5 to €20 depending on the ride and day. You can see today’s pricing in the Disneyland Paris app.
The app is filled with links that will take you to the purchase page. Just look on the home page for things like “Buy a Disney Premier Access” or “Get in the fast lane!” or—on the “Buy” tab in the app—“Disney Premier Access.”
The purchase page usually starts by offering you either “Ultimate” or “One.” Once you click into the “One” option, you’ll be shown a list of rides at each park, along with their next available time slots and pricing.
With Premier Access One you don’t pick the time slot. You can buy the time that’s available or wait for it to roll forward.
Once you select the ride, you’ll select the guests (to be honest, I’m not sure how Disneyland Paris links different guests) and then have five minutes to complete your purchase.
Once your time arrives, you’ll go to the ride. Find the “Premier Access” entrance and scan your QR code. If you’re at the correct ride at the correct time (and you haven’t already used the pass), the light will turn green and you’ll go on through.
In case the ride breaks down during your time slot, your pass will convert and you’ll be able to use it for the rest of the day, and you can pick your one ride from a variety of options (including the one you originally booked).
Disney Premier Access Ultimate
Premier Access Ultimate differs from Premier Access One in three major respects. First, Premier Access Ultimate includes almost all the rides that have Premier Access queues at both parks. The one exclusion as of this update is Orbitron. I have no idea why, and I won’t ask because I worry the truth is probably some twisted social experiment.
Again, as a reminder, not all the rides have Premier Access queues, and Premier Access Ultimate can’t be used at rides without Premier Access queues.
The second major difference is that with Premier Access Ultimate you can go to each ride at any time you want—you aren’t bound to a specific time slot. You’re still limited to one time on each ride and your Premier Access Ultimate is only good for the calendar day you bought it for. But you won’t be locked in to any specific hour for any of the rides.
With Premier Access Ultimate, you’ll scan the same QR code (found in the app) for each ride. There’s also a handy checklist within the app that tracks which rides you’ve used Premier Access on and which you have remaining.
Finally, Premier Access Ultimate is more expensive than Premier Access One. As far as I can tell, you usually can’t see today’s pricing for Premier Access Ultimate without a ticket linked to your account, but it costs roughly the same as buying all the Premier Access One times.
This means in most cases you’ll save money by just buying Premier Access One for the rides you need it for, though this means you’ll be waiting in line for some of the other Premier Access rides, and you’ll have to work around whatever time slots you get for Premier Access One.
Looking at one sample date where Premier Access Ultimate cost €120, the most expensive seven Premier Access One rides (of 14 available that day) totaled €84. If you were set on using Premier Access to skip the line at those rides, you’d next ask yourself, “Is it worth €36 to not worry about times and to save 10-20 minutes for each of the other 7 rides?”
My Experience With Disney Premier Access
I spent one day at Disneyland Paris with Premier Access Ultimate. Due to refurbishment, Crush’s Coaster was closed that day, so I wound up buying Premier Access One for it a few days later. Here are how my wait times compared to the posted standby times when I rode:
At Disneyland Park…
Peter Pan’s Flight — Standby 50 vs. 9 Premier Access
Big Thunder Mountain — Standby 50 vs. 4 Premier Access
Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain — Standby 45 vs. 10 Premier Access
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril — Standby 40 vs. 6 Premier Access
Pirates of the Caribbean — Standby 35 vs. 9 Premier Access
Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast — Standby 30 vs. 7 Premier Access
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue — Standby 15 vs. 9 Premier Access
It’s a small world — Standby 15 vs. 6 Premier Access
At Walt Disney Studios Park…
Crush’s Coaster — Standby 85 vs. 25 Premier Access
Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure — Standby 65 vs. 18 Premier Access
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror — Standby 65 vs. 16 Premier Access
Ratatouille: The Adventure — Standby 40 vs. 6 Premier Access
Avengers Assemble: Flight Force — Standby 30 vs. 11 Premier Access
Cars ROAD TRIP — Standby 5 vs. 4 Premier Access
Crush’s Coaster wound up being an outlier. The ride had technical problems that let to a Premier Access wait that the Cast Member warned would take longer than usual.
Overall, I found Premier Access incredibly easy to purchase and use. I was able to purchase it in the app with no difficulties. The biggest challenge with purchasing was that when I bought my Premier Access One for Crush’s Coaster, I had to check the app a few times as the available times rolled forward to a time I could actually work with.
My only frustration with using Premier Access was that the Cast Members at the Premier Access queues weren’t always the most attentive to guests scanning in. Several times I had to wait until they stopped whatever else they were doing to watch me scan.
The one time I didn’t wait (assuming they’d just see me scan), the Cast Member missed me scanning, made me scan again, then told me I’d already used it for this ride (because, duh, I had scanned while he wasn’t looking). But this just requires a bit of patience on busy days, I suppose.
Park Strategy With Disney Premier Access Ultimate
If you have Premier Access Ultimate, your touring strategy basically boils down to:
Ride the rides on Premier Access Ultimate whenever you walk past them
Come up with a plan to fit the the rides without Premier Access Ultimate into your day
Maybe you want to space our your Premier Access rides a bit more deliberately, but my only advice is not to save things for too late. Rides can break down, remember, and you hate to get to an hour before close and find Crush’s Coaster has closed and might not reopen today.
As for the rides (and character greetings) that aren’t on Premier Access Ultimate, you’ll want to get to those as early as possible to keep waits short. For the first hour or two of your day, this probably means saving rides with Premier Access Ultimate for later.
At Disneyland Park, the most popular rides and character greetings without Premier Access are:
Princess Pavilion (character greeting)
Meet Mickey Mouse (character greeting)
Welcome to Starport: A Star Wars Encounter (character greeting)
Disneyland Railroad
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Orbitron (Premier Access One available; not included in Ultimate)
It’s worth pointing our here that the character greetings often start later than park opening. You might opt to line up for them a bit early, though.
At Walt Disney Studios Park, the most popular rides without Premier Access are:
Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop
RC Racer
Is Disney Premier Access Ultimate Worth It?
While there’s always a large amount of subjectivity involved in “worth it” questions, my opinion (personal and professional) on whether or not Disney Premier Access Ultimate is worth it is pretty straightforward.
First of all, I think if you only have one day at Disneyland Paris resort, you should get Premier Access Ultimate. I definitely think I could plan a “perfect” day at both parks without Premier Access Ultimate, particularly if I spent some money (but less) on a few Premier Access One attractions. But this would be stressful and still need some amount of luck. If you’re planning one magical day, I think Premier Access Ultimate is a reasonable purchase.
If you have more than one day, I think you probably should skip Premier Access Ultimate on your first day and then evaluate your needs for your second day. There will be circumstances where you are able to get on most of the rides with Premier Access Ultimate on your first day without paying, and then you might decide that worst case, you’ll buy a few Premier Access One times the next day.
If you’re staying at a Disney hotel and have two mornings of Extra Magic Time, you probably won’t need Premier Access. That said, your vacation is probably a little more enjoyable if you get to sleep in an extra hour or so rather than stressing about rushing to the park gates.
As a final note, keep Disneyland Paris’s height requirements in mind when purchasing Premier Access Ultimate. It might make sense for two parents to have Premier Access Ultimate, for example, while you just purchase the necessary Premier Access One times for a little one.