Disneyland Paris vs. Disneyland California: Which is Better?

A Tale of Two Disneylands

After several trips to Disneyland in California, we finally got the chance to visit our first non-US Disney theme park, Disneyland Paris! Opened in 1992, Disneyland Paris (originally called Euro Disney) was the second non-US park after Tokyo Disneyland. It shares a lot of the same features as the original Disneyland in Anaheim, California but has key differences. We’ve been to the Los Angeles (Anaheim) Disneyland several times, even though it’s all the way across the country from us, so it was easy to compare.

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If you want the verdict now, Disneyland California wins. It’s the original, has more rides, better weather, and the food is better. But if you get the chance to go to Paris, don’t miss it. It has a unique beauty, amazing castle, and some rides you won’t find anywhere else. Our first time there made us want to go back real soon!

Check out my article on the differences between Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, California.

Quick note: Both Disneyland Paris and Disneyland Resort in California have sister parks and hotels that are also amazing. However, this article is only going to focus on the flagship parks.

Location and Explanation of Disneyland Paris and Disneyland California

If you’re familiar with the original Disneyland park in Anaheim, California (or Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World), the hub and spoke layout of the Disneyland Paris park will feel very similar. Both parks are in the suburbs a major city. Disneyland Anaheim is about 26 miles from downtown Los Angeles, while Disneyland Paris (in Chessy) is about 20 miles east of downtown Paris.

Now for a more in-depth analysis.

Quick Comparison Chart of Disneyland Paris and Disneyland California

Disneyland Paris is 40 acres larger, but Disneyland California receives substantially more visitors and packs significantly more attractions into its smaller but more numerous lands.

I counted attractions based on whether or not you had to wait in a queue versus walkthrough areas, which would increase the count significantly for both parks.

Sleeping Beauty Castle vs. Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Paris’s Sleeping Beauty Castle)

Both castles are based on Sleeping Beauty, sit as the centerpiece of the park, function as the fireworks location, and are a gateway to Fantasyland behind it, but that’s where the similarities stop.

The Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland, built in 1955, is only 77 feet tall (or 23.5 meters, for you European readers). It’s the only castle that Walt himself helped construct. It’s small size is a result of Walt’s desire to not overwhelm the guests with an imposing structure. Now it seems like a strange idea. The California castle lacks the majesty and visibility that the other castles have, but it still deserves respect for starting it all.

Obligatory family castle photo in Disneyland California.

The Sleeping Beauty Castle in Paris, or Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant, is a very different castle. It stands 167 feet tall (50.9 m), while technically tied for the second shortest Disney castle, it is more than twice the height of the original. Imagineers gave it spiraling turrets and a more fantastical feel because, unlike the other Disney castles, it’s located in a place near plenty of actual castles. To us it felt both familiar and foreign, since the design was less symmetrical than the US castles.

Obligatory family castle photo in Disneyland Paris. We left the boy with Grandma.

The most unique aspect of the Disneyland Paris castle is the dungeon, La Tanière du Dragon, which has an enormous, 79-foot dragon animatronic. We loved walking through there, such a cool environment, and the younger kids around us were enthralled.

This dragon is one of the most intimidating animatronics in Disney. Second only to Abraham Lincoln.

Disneyland Paris and California Park Size and Number of Attractions

At 140 acres, Disneyland Paris has a much larger footprint than Disneyland Anaheim (100 acres since they added Galaxy’s Edge), but most of that extra space is play areas, landscaping, and walking space. Disneyland in California has far more rides and attractions than Paris, with tighter lines and attractions on top of each other (literally, in some cases). I expect that Disney realized with future parks that people needed more space. I can tell you that crowd control and queue width is a problem in California.

With 40% more space, and less crowd density, Disneyland Paris is much easier to navigate and enjoy. The tradeoff, however, is that it requires significantly more walking. People complain about the walking required at Magic Kingdom, but Disneyland Paris is much larger even than that. The good news is that the weather is much more temperate, so the walking might not bother you as much. It was actually snowing when we were in the Paris park!

Disneyland and Disney Paris Rides

Disneyland California has considerably more rides and greater variety, including the Star Wars and Mickey attractions in their unique lands, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, the Matterhorn ride (which one would have expected in a European park, but no), a submarine (which should be in the Jules Verne area, c'mon), and Jungle Cruise. Disneyland Paris relies more heavily on familiar Disney classics, but several of its versions—especially Big Thunder Mountain, Phantom Manor (the French version of Haunted Mansion), and Hyperspace Mountain—are dramatically different from their California counterparts (and more intense). Paris has fewer unique ride concepts; much of the park’s uniqueness instead comes from the design, setting and storytelling surrounding its rides, but it does have an amazing Indiana Jones roller coaster (which quickly became one of our favorite rides), and Casey Junior is a small roller coaster instead of a train.

Hyperspace Mountain, like a steampunk circus tent. Fallout Boy would love it.

Most of the unique, must-do rides in Paris are in the other park (Disney Adventure World, formerly Walt Disney Studios Park), but don’t miss Phantom Manor, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril, and Hyperspace Mountain. We thought they were phenomenal.

Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris. It’s a like a mansion that’s haunted.

In Disneyland California, we need to pay homage to all of the originals in Fantasyland, Jungle Cruise, and the extended Pirates of the Caribbean. Even It’s a Small World was way better than the Magic Kingdom version. There’s lots of other amazing rides in Mickey’s Toontown and Galaxy’s Edge (especially Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Rise of the Resistance), but being a frequent guest of Disney World, we didn’t ride those as much.

The Jungle Cruise skipper in Disneyland California showing us something called the backside of water.

If you like comparing rides, check out my article about my article that answers the question, “Which rides at Disney World and Disneyland California are the same?”

The Lands Paris and California Disneyland Parks Share

All of Disneyland Paris’s areas, or lands, will be familiar to anyone who’s been to Disneyland or Magic Kingdom, but they put their own twist on it. It has Main Street USA, Frontierland, Adventureland, Fantasyland, and what they call Discoveryland (which is Paris’s version of Tomorrowland).

Main Street, USA, has the similar concept of the idealized early to mid-20th century feel of smalltown America. It is designed to represent Walt Disney’s childhood town of Marceline, Missouri. California maintains the area much the way Walt created it, complete with his apartment above the fire station. Paris includes two covered arcades (not video game arcades) that highlight parts of American history and ingenuity, but also serve as walkthrough areas for crowd control and bad weather.

The Disneyland Calfornia firehouse, where Walt kept his apartment.

Main Street leads to the hub and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and straight into Fantasyland. These are much the same, with rides and attractions built around early Disney’s focus on princess and fairy tale stories. Paris has more area to look at, while Disneyland Anaheim packs in the rides.

Frontierland in Paris uses a similar American Western expansion vibe but incorporates the Phantom Manor—their version of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion with a mining story consistent with the idea of Frontierland. California incorporates Tom Sawyer’s Island and the Columbia ship.

Big Thunder Mountain takes up the Tom Sawyer area in Paris.

Adventureland in Paris, on the other hand, is much larger. Both parks have an Indiana Jones ride (very different from each other). California also has the classic Jungle Cruise and Tiki Room not found in Paris. However, Paris offers an Aladdin walkthrough and has the explorable areas of Skull Rock, Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, and a Pirate ship. As a blogger known as Second Dad to the Right, I loved the extra focus on Peter Pan and pirates. It was really cool.

Walking through these in Paris. So cool.

Discoveryland in Paris is the biggest digression from its California analog. Instead of the 1980s sci-fi theme that California has, it’s a futuristic area with a steampunk aesthetic borrowed from Jules Verne (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). This is a great choice since Verne is French, and Walt Disney loved his work. They both have Space Mountain, but the Paris version is a much newer, more exciting (and less painful) ride. Paris’ version is a Star Wars theme, which clashes weirdly with both the ride queue and the rest of the land, but I loved the ride itself.

Disneyland in California, despite its smaller size, packs in 4 (yes 4!) more areas. They have New Orleans Square, where you’ll find a French Quarter aesthetic (ironic to not be incorporated in France), and the Pirates of the Caribbean ride on the border of Adventureland. On the other side is Bayou Country (formerly Critter Country) where they place Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.

It also has Mickey’s Toontown, a whimsical area where Mickey Mouse and his friends live. Finally, Anaheim has Galaxy’s Edge, a beautiful Star Wars-themed land. It’s a great place to visit but feels out of place in the classic park. In my opinion it belongs in one place only, Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

The Toontown facade is so cool that it’s hard to tell where the sky starts.

Transportation to Disneyland Paris and Disneyland California

Both parks have Disney-owned hotels with easy walking access to the parks. Since both parks have sister locations very close to each other, there’s no need for shuttles between parks like in Florida.

Disneyland California has lots of non-Disney hotels within walking distance of the park, some even across the street. Walt didn’t like how you could see suburban California from the top of rollercoasters, so each subsequent park has been more isolated than the original.

Disneyland Paris technically has non-Disney hotels that are in walking distance, but the closest is about 20-minute walk. Most offer free or paid shuttle service that make it easy to get to the park. We stayed in Marriott's Village d'ile-de-France, which had a short (paid) shuttle to the parks.

The biggest difference is that Paris has a train that lets out virtually at the entrance of the park, making getting there from the airport or other parts of France easy.

In Los Angeles, we usually stay at Hyatts on points. The Hyatt House was a 10-minute walk (literally from outside the back of the park to the front). The Hyatt Regency was a 15-minute free shuttle.

Dining and Snacks

If you’re looking for snacks and dining, Disneyland California blows Disneyland Paris out of the water. Part of that is because many of the iconic snacks originated in California. Part of that might be because California has American food while Paris has approximations of American food more palatable to Europeans, and little actual European food. Part of that might be because Americans are overly obsessed with eating. However, France has more alcohol, if that’s important to you.

Ok, there were some good snacks in Paris, like this macaron. Of course, it probably isn’t considered good by Parisians.

We love the churros and Mickey bars in California, as well as the amazing table service restaurants. The food and service in Disneyland Paris was mostly disappointing.

Entertainment and Nighttime Shows

Both Disneyland Paris and Disneyland California have plenty of entertainment and nighttime shows. Both have stage shows, parades, cavalcades, and most importantly, fireworks and projection shows. However, Disneyland California has far more variety, with Fantasmic!, multiple projections during the fireworks (on the castle, It’s a Small World, and Galaxy’s Edge), as well as more and varied other entertainment throughout the day.

The Disneyland Paris fireworks.

We love both firework shows and were sad to miss the drone show when we went to Paris. The Paris firework show was much more relaxed because the park was less full. Also, Disneyland California is terrible with crowd control. One night after fireworks we were slammed into a crowd that was pushing towards a blocked off exit (with no warning from cast members). Another night after Fantasmic, we weren’t allowed to walk to our mobile food order because traffic was one-way and directed to the exit after the show (even though the park didn’t close for 2 hours).

We did like the variety in Anaheim of getting to watch the show at the castle and several other nights at It’s a Small World (there’s a smaller crowd there). In fact, one amazing night, Small World broke down with us on it outside, so we got to watch most of the projections up close in the boats while we waited to get rescued!

Us just after our free fireworks boat ride.

Disneyland Paris used to have the drone show, but that has now moved over to Disney Adventure World with all the new things happening there. Paris does have The Lion King: Rhythms of the Pride Lands show, with incredible musical and acrobatic performances.

Disney Characters and Character Interactions in Paris and California

There are a lot more characters to see and meet at Disneyland California. The unique thing about California is how they wander around. The idea is to help you get into the magic, like they actually live there. While the visual is really cool, I don’t like it. It’s always hit or miss as to whether they are walking in order to interact or walking to get away, and they end up being really dismissive, especially to kids. I much prefer meet-and-greet queues.

I stand by what I said about California characters, but when you get the extra attention, it’s Disney magic.

Disneyland Paris, while it doesn’t have the volume of characters, often has unique characters that you won’t find as frequently in the US parks. Logically, you will find more French characters like the Aristocats, Remy and Emile, Belle, Aurora, Prince Philip, and on rare occasions, characters from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Since it was raining and snowing the whole day in France, the only characters we saw were in shows.

You’ll find rare classic characters like Jiminy Cricket, Clarabelle, and Pinocchio. And, of course, you’ll find the usual Mickey and friends and princesses, as well as ride-specific characters like Alice and Peter Pan. Interestingly, Stitch is a commonly sought after character in France as well. The characters do some roaming around but more queues as well as virtual queues for many of the more popular characters. Both parks have character meals, if you really want some good attention.

Weather in Disneyland Paris vs Disneyland California

The weather at each respective park is one of the biggest differences. Disneyland California in Anaheim near Los Angeles has ideal weather with very little rain (especially in summer), and the temperature stays moderate all year round. Even when it’s hotter in summer, the dry air keeps it from feeling oppressive, but wear sunscreen year-round as well. I’ve been in the summer and the fall, and the weather was almost the same. The nights in the fall got nice and cool.

Disneyland Paris on the other hand, has weather that varies wildly. It has relatively mild summers, but heat waves can push the temperature higher. In the wintertime, it rarely gets below freezing, so ice usually isn’t a problem. Ironically, the one time we went, it was snowing! On the note of precipitation, Chessy does have more rain, more than twice as much distributed evenly throughout the year.

There’s actual snow on my head! Never got that in the USA.

Crowds, Rope Drop, and Premier Access/Lightning Lane

I recommend rope dropping (arriving at the park before opening) at either park if you’re interested in doing as much as you can in one day. Disneyland Paris will be busy the second the park opens, partly because Disney hotel guests get early access. Disneyland California, on the other hand, doesn’t reach peak crowd until mid-morning.

The rope drop crowd on a July morning in Disneyland California. Not bad. Also note the tiny castle.

Disneyland Paris will have smaller crowds when locals aren’t on holiday. Disneyland California always has people on vacation. However, Disneyland Paris will have much longer waits on peak days because it has fewer rides. That being said, Disneyland Paris will feel less crowded because there is more open space. We typically travel to California on off-peak times, the crowds have never been terrible. In France, the freezing cold kept everyone away for us.

Both parks have line-skipping systems for extra charge. They range from buying rides one at a time to getting on every ride for an extreme cost. Disneyland California has a middle ground multi-pass that gets on most of the less popular rides.

When we went to Paris, the lines weren’t bad, so we only used a few of the Access One passes to ride unique rides they don’t have in America that had long wait times.

When we go to Disneyland, we typically use multi-pass and single passes to get the most out of our experience. I highly recommend using single passes despite the cost because many of the best rides (especially Rise of the Resistance) tend to break down. If you have a pass, you can use it later or get another ride. If you’re in line without a pass and the ride goes down, you’re out of luck.

Conclusion: Disneyland California vs Disneyland Paris

Like I said, Disneyland California has the original rides, more rides, more snacks, more restaurants, more shows and better weather. It’s clearly the better option. But most people aren’t choosing between a vacation in California and one in Paris based solely on which park you want to visit.

Main Street in Paris is beautiful.

Hardcore Disney Parks fans will want to visit all the parks, and Europeans will want a Disney experience without flying 10 hours. Furthermore, Disneyland Paris has a beautiful uniqueness that’s worth experiencing if you’re in the area. We need to go back and walk around more, since we rushed back and forth between the parks to try all the rides (and it wasn’t strolling weather). We didn't get to spend much time taking in all the sights.

We love both parks, and we’re making plans to head back to both soon, but it’s also about visiting Paris and California more, as well. And don’t forget, they both have two different parks. Most of the new and innovative attractions and areas are in the sister parks of Disney California Adventure and Disney Adventure World. They also have the shopping districts of Downtown Disney in Anaheim and Disney Village in Chessy.

Thanks for reading and have fun. Leave a comment and check out some of my other posts like the best Disneyland California rides for kids.