Extra Magic Time at Disneyland Paris: early access before the crowds

Looking to avoid the crowds at Disneyland Paris? Extra Magic Time is one of the best tricks I know.

Here’s how it works: you get into the park before everyone else, about an hour before official opening. During this slot, a selection of rides is already running, with short queues on most of them.

This access is reserved for Disney hotel guests and Disneyland Pass Gold holders. I’ll explain who is eligible, how to make the most of it and whether it’s really worth it.

Extra Magic Time means early access hours in the parks, before they officially open to the general public. You’ll sometimes see it described as an extra hour of magic, early entry or early access. It’s all the same thing.

During this reserved slot, you enjoy some of the rides with very few people around, in a calm atmosphere. Few visitors have access, so you almost have the park to yourself: it’s the best way to avoid queuing at the start of the day.

Three groups are eligible: visitors staying in a Disney hotel, Villages Nature Paris guests (depending on the package chosen when booking) and holders of a valid Disneyland Pass Gold.

If you’re staying in a Disney hotel, you can use it every day of your stay. However, the other partner hotels (outside the resort) don’t give access to the slot.

You don’t need to book the slot. Just turn up at the park entrance with:

• your MagicPass (your digital entry ticket in the Disney app, available after online check-in), if you’re staying in a Disney hotel,
• or your valid Disneyland Pass Gold.

My tip: be there as soon as the slot opens to make the most of all the time available.

The slot usually lasts about an hour and starts before the park officially opens.

The exact time varies with the season, the day of the week and crowd levels. So I don’t give a set time here: check today’s opening hours, which I update every day using the information given by Disneyland Paris. I recommend checking it the day before so you can plan your morning properly.

Disneyland Park and Disney Adventure World (formerly Walt Disney Studios Park) both open some of their rides during this slot. The list isn’t fixed and can change from one day to the next.

Here are the ones you’ll usually find, park by park.

Disneyland Park is the main park, with Sleeping Beauty Castle and the classic rides. During the slot, the following rides are usually open:

Disney Adventure World is the second park, with Pixar, Marvel and Frozen areas among others. During the slot, the following rides are usually open:

Yes. Hands down, it’s one of the perks of a Disney hotel stay that I recommend most.

In an hour with the park still calm, you can do several big rides back to back with much shorter queues than later in the day, often half as long. It can even save you paying for Premier Access during the day, so it’s a real saving.

One thing to bear in mind: Disney hotels are more expensive than partner hotels. It’s a trade-off to weigh up against your budget. To work it all out, see my guide to planning your trip.

Every day I record the queue times shown in both parks. Here’s the usual queue during the slot and in the afternoon, on the rides where the queue really matters. At the top of the table are the ones with the biggest difference.