Overview

Me and my family have been to Disneyland Paris multiple times - the biggest difference this time is that they have changed the disability access passes. If you've never been to Disneyland before it is very disability friendly - there's lots of information on their website so you can read prior to going. Wherever you go there are very friendly and helpful staff members, all of the footpaths are completely level and smooth so no reason for tripping due to uneven surfaces and the disability access passes are very helpful - once you get the right one. There's more information about this below. I have ASD as well as mild physical impairments. From an autism POV Disneyland can be a bit overwhelming. We managed it by staying in a Disney hotel and going into the park early, an hour before the gates open to non-Disney hotel guests, which meant there weren't too many crowds. We went back to the hotel in the middle of the day when it was the most packed and then went back to the parks when all the daytrippers were leaving. Wherever you go in Disneyland there is always music but I did not find it overwhelming, except at the shows and parades which I needed ear protection for to help with sensory overload. Queueing for shows was a problem - we had to get there really early, like nearly an hour before the show started, and there was virtually no seating. After waiting for ages I had a meltdown, after which the staff noticed and told us that they would reserve us places at the show so we could come back five minutes before the show and not queue up for a long time. After that we did that for every show but I wish I didn't have to go into meltdown before we found out. It was the best holiday we've had in a long time. The rides, the attractions and the shows were all brilliant and we were able to do everything I wanted to do without barriers because of my multiple disabilities.

Transport & Parking

We went by train on Eurostar from London. In the past it was one direct train from St Pancras but that has annoyingly stopped so we had to change at Lille. Unfortunately the connections are awful and we had to wait hours at Lille. Once you arrive at Marne-la-Vallée station you are literally less than five minutes walk away from the entrance to the parks.

Access

In the end, access was fantastic, but It took us a couple of days to receive the right pass and the right help. In the past when we've been it's been one pass for all disabilities which gave me and my family almost instant access to pretty much every ride and attraction without long queues - we just went to the exit and they let us on almost immediately. However this time was different. At first we had problems because it turned out we had the wrong pass. Disney now annoyingly has a system with about five different levels of passes. You have to answer 5 very vague questions and they make a decision depending on the answer about which pass you get. The trouble is the questions aren't detailed enough for people who have hidden or complex disabilities. For example, one of the questions is can you get out of a ride unaided. Well, I can - but only if I have enough time, things aren't moving and I'm not under pressure. Because I said I can, I got a green pass which meant I had to use the premier access, which had shorter queues, but still a lot of walking and no extra time to get on and off rides. However, when my carer explained the situation eventually one of the staff told us we had the wrong pass. My carer went to City Hall and we got upgraded to an orange pass, which was what I needed in the first place. Similarly, once we found out we could reserve spaces for shows we had a fantastic time - it's just a pity they didn't make that option clear in the beginning. There are two places we found reserved for people with priority passes for the parades - the best by far was by City Hall at the bottom of Main Street. We had brilliant views and the music was less intense and the reserved area was less crowded compared to the reserved places by the castle.

Toilets

There are "accessible" toilets everywhere - the trouble is in all of them there is only one grab rail. This is a massive problem for me as I have hemiplegia and need a grab rail on the right hand side - I only found one loo with a RH grab rail, and that was in a hotel not the park. Even in my accessible hotel room there was no grab rail on the right - I had to hold the toilet seat which is unsanitary. I am told that this is common practice in France, unlike the UK where accessible loos have to have two grab rails or put a sign up saying they only have one.

Staff

Almost all the staff were extremely helpful and went out of their way to understand and give us the support I needed. For example, when we went to a crowded restaurant, the welcomer spotted my pass and let me sit down whilst my carer used the priority queue to order food quickly. Even before we had the right pass the staff would bend the rules and let us on quickly after some explanation from my carer. Special shout-out to the staff in the Princess Pavilion who completely understood my ASD and helped me calm down and then made the experience absolutely brilliant.

Photos