If you’ve been to a Disney park before, you’ll know that they get busy. If you’re visiting during a popular time of year or over the weekend, they can get extremely busy. During our time as Disneyland Paris annual pass holders we were fortunate enough to travel at various times throughout the year. Sometimes we were only able to go at more crowded times. But this never stopped us from being able to do everything that we wanted. The way we did this was using Extra Magic Time.
What is it?
Extra Magic Time is a benefit offered to guests staying onsite at any one of the Disney hotels and certain annual pass holders (Infinity & Magic Plus). During EMT both Disneyland Parc and Walt Disney Studios are open to eligible guests before official park opening. Simply show your Magic Pass or annual pass to a cast member and you’ll be allowed to enter. This is a great way to get on some of those popular attractions with a minimal wait.
When?
Although park hours do vary season to season, Disneyland Paris generally opens at 10am all year round. Guests can enter from 9:30am however. Extra Magic Time takes place between 8:30am – 9:30am. Those taking advantage of EMT can enter Disneyland Parc at 8am, but attractions will not be open until 8:30am. This gives you the chance to wander down Main Street and take some castle pictures while it’s quiet. So if you can get there slightly early, do it! That way you can take full advantage of the extra hour to do as many attractions as possible before day guests start entering. And you can get some great photos before it gets crowded
Attractions
Unfortunately, not every attraction is open during Extra Magic Time as Disneyland Paris. At your hotel you will be given a programme with a list of what is open during EMT. For Disneyland Parc, it is generally:
⦁ Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups ⦁ Princess Pavilion ⦁ Peter Pan’s Flight ⦁ Les Voyages de Pinocchio ⦁ Le Carrousel de Lancelot ⦁ Dumbo the Flying Elephant ⦁ Phantom Manor ⦁ Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing ⦁ Big Thunder Mountain ⦁ Star Tours: L’Aventure Continue ⦁ Orbitron ⦁ Hyperspace Mountain ⦁ Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
And at Walt Disney Studios: ⦁ Crush’s Coaster ⦁ Flying Carpets Over Agrabah ⦁ Cars Quatre Roues Rallye ⦁ RC Racer ⦁ Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop ⦁ Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin ⦁ Ratatouille ⦁ The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
However it is important to note that all of these attraction are not guaranteed to be open. In fact, they probably won’t be. Pretty much every single time we have done Extra Magic Time there has been at least one or two rides we were expecting to be running, that weren’t until official park opening time. This was not a big deal though, and we still had plenty to keep us busy during that hour.
Strategy
At Disneyland Parc, our strategy is to hit Peter Pan’s Flight, Big Thunder Mountain and Hyperspace Mountain during EMT. These generally have the longer queues throughout the day and FastPasses tend to go early (particularly for the first two). For those of you with little ones wanting to meet the Princess’s, heading to Princess Pavilion during EMT is a good idea. This ALWAYS has a super long line. You can drastically reduce the time you would normally wait by heading straight there for 8:30am. Be warned though, it’s still very busy and you will see people running to get there. So if you’re unable to get to Princess Pavilion for the start of EMT, I’d advise doing the other Fantasyland attractions instead – you can easily get these done in the hour!
For Walt Disney Studios, I would highly recommend heading straight for Crush’s Coaster during EMT. This is the most popular attraction at this park, and always has a long queue. FastPass is not available for this ride, so your only shot at riding this with a minimal wait is getting there first thing at EMT. RC Racer is another fairly popular attraction with no FastPasses, so getting this one out of the way during EMT is a good idea. Speaking of FastPass… it’s important to note that FastPasses aren’t available at all during Extra Magic Time – so come 10am make sure you grab one.
Is Extra Magic Time worth it?
Yes! If you’re not a morning person (like us!) it can be difficult getting up and out to a park at 8am. But if you’re able to, for at least a couple of days out of your trip, you should definitely aim to take advantage of EMT. The crowds are significantly lower than you will experience at any other time throughout the day. Being able to walk straight on to Big Thunder Mountain twice is well worth the early wake up! By planning effectively and doing the popular rides first thing, you can easily get everything done at Disneyland Paris without having to wait in any excessively long lines.
Have you used Extra Magic Time at Disneyland Paris? Let us know your thoughts!
Read our previous post about Disneyland Paris attractions here.
Thanks for reading.
See you real soon.
Josh & Becky
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