Disabled Guests at Disneyland Resort Paris

A dream come true for everyone

That's it what the Disneyland Resort Paris wants to be, no matter of the guests are disabled or not. Therefor the special needs of disabled guests have been taken into account all throughout the resort - in the themeparks, the Disney Village, the hotels, every restaurant and shop. Even so DLP hands out plenty of information before a visit and on the spot this small collection shall help disabled guests get started.

Reservation Service
Disabled guests can rely on especially trained castmembers for information and for the reservation at the telephone hotline of Disneyland Resort Paris Direct, who speak their language. Upon request callers will be connected directly to them.
When placing a reservation the exact number of disabled guests, wheelchair bound guests and accompanying guests must be provided. Special requests and needs are usually no problem if DLP is informed in time, e.g. when the minibar shall be emtied to make room to store personal medicine.
As each guest accompanying a disabled person is granted 50% off the price of room and breakfast only 3 attendants for each disabled guest are accepted. The attendants will be located in a room next to the disabled person, but connected to his by an extra door.
All disabled guests, but especially hearing-impaired guests, should inform the reception desk of their hotel during the check-in about their disability, so that special notifications can be made in emergency cases.

Hotel Rooms
All Disney hotels except the Davy Crockett Ranch offer rooms for guests with reduced mobility (especially wheelchair users) which are equipped to fit the needs of the disabled guests and are therefor larger than the usual rooms of the hotel. Here a short overview:

Santa Fe: 23 m² + bathroom
Cheyenne: 23 m² + bathroom
Sequoia Lodge: 27 m² + bathroom (9 m²) - rooms located in the main building on the groundfloor, the 5th and 7th floor
Newport Bay Club: 27 m² + bathroom; two additional rooms located on the Admirals Floor, which are slightly larger [29 m² + bathroom 9 m²] and have a view of Lake Disney
New York: 29 m² + bathroom (9 m²) - rooms located on the groundfloor, the 2nd, 4th and 5th floor.
Disneyland Hotel: 31m² + bathroom (5 m²) - all rooms located on the groundfloor

Following now some information regarding the rooms:
In all six hotels the room-door leading to the corridor is 1.20 meter wide, while the bathroom-door is 1.45 meter wide.
The extra large bath room features an only 0.60 meter high bathtube easing the access for wheelchair users in all hotels, while it's width varies from hotel to hotel, with those at the Santa Fe, Cheyenne and the Sequoia Lodge being wider. To further ease the transition from the wheelchair into the bathtub a lift is available upon request (should be listed as special wish during the reservation process). For similar reasons extra support rails are placed on the walls next to the raised toilet.
The bed is 0.6 meter high and it's size corresponds to the usual kingsize (double) beds. For emergency cases a one-touch key is featured on the telephones next to the bed.
In addition at least one window has been lowered to wheelchair height.

First Aid
First Aid centers are located inside the Disneyland Park between the Plaza Gardens Restaurant and the Discovery Arcade, inside the Walt Disney Studios next to the Guest Relations office on the Frontlot, in the Disney Village and at the Hotel Cheyenne.

Public Restrooms
With the exception of Walt's - an American Restaurant at Main Street U.S.A. all toilets offer facilities adapted to the special needs of guests in wheelchairs or with reduced mobility.

Wheelchair Rental
While DLP encourages guests to bring their own wheelchair with them a limited number of wheelchairs is available for hire inside the Disneyland Park (on the right side of the Town Square near the Main Street Station), inside the Walt Disney Studios (on the right side of the Frontlot next to Studio 1 behind the automated teller machine) and occaisionaly in the hotels (for a fee).

Car Park
Special areas have been reserved for guests with reduced mobility on all car parks - at the hotels, the Disney Village and the themeparks parking lot. Please ask the castmember at the themepark parkinglot and the hotel parking lots for directions to these areas, which are located as near as possible to the entrance of the themeparks / the Disney Village / the hotels.

Hotel Shuttle Bus
As not all shutlle buses ferrying between the hotels and the themeparks are equipped to to welcome guests in wheelchairs adapted minibuses are available for free upon request for the transportation from the Disney hotels to the themeparks.
These buses must be requested at the reception desk of the hotel, at City Hall inside the Disneyland Park, at Studio Services inside the Walt Disney Studios or at the Guest Relations window right in front of the Disneyland Park / Walt Disney Studios.

Guided Tours for Hearing Impaired Guests
If requested at least one month ahead (tel. +33 (1) 60 30 10 20) guided tours thorugh the themeparks in sign language can be arranged. This serivce is not free and does not grant priority access to any attraction inside the themepark. A valid passport to enter the themepark for which the tour was requested is necessary.

Information for Visually Impaired Guests
Guidebooks in Braille in English and French are available for the Disneyland Park at the City Hall on Town Square and for the Walt Disney Studios at Studio Services on the Frontlot for a deposit or identity card.. Most table service restaurants offer a menu in Braille in French and English too.
Guide Dogs are as the only animals permitted inside the themeparks and hotels, even so some attractions are closed to them for their own safety.

Free Guidebook
Free guidebooks for the themeparks with all basic informations for disabled guests are available in most languages at the City Hall on Town Square and at Studio Services on the Frontlot.

Restaurants, Bars and Shops
All restaurants, bars and shops (and the nightclub Hurricanes at Disney Village) are accessible to guests in wheelchairs, where necessary an elevator is available. Castmembers will assist guests if counters or displays are out of reach of guests in wheelchairs if asked to.
The dressing rooms of the boutiques Les Trésors de Schéhérazade in Adventureland and La Chaumière des Sept Nains in Fantasyland have been adapted for wheel chair users.
While vegetarian meals are available in a wide number of restaurants (a list is included in the free themepark guides) guests with special diets, e.g. a salt-free diet, are recommended to dine in table-service restaurants.

Theme Park Access
Disabled guests who are not staying in one of the Disney hotels and need to buy a passport for one of the theme parks can proceed directly to the Guest Relations Window on the right side of the Disneyland Hotel directly at the entrance of the Disneyland Park or to the Guest Relations Window on the right side of the entrance of the Walt Disney Studios and don't have to line at the usual sales points.

Access to Attractions and Shows
Depending on the kind of disability guests have limited access to some attractions. In every case they must be able to transfer, where neccessary, from the wheelchair, if they use one, into the ride vehicle without assistance of a castmember, relying only on their own attendands (castmembers are not available to accompany disabled guests in the themeparks).
To allow easier access to attractions disabled guests, depending on their disability, are issued a colored passport at the City Hall on Town Square or at the Guest Relations Window (in front of the theme park's entrance) for the Disneyland Park and at Studio Services on the Frontlot or at Guest Relations to the right of the parks entrance for the Walt Disney Studios. This pass grantes access to all attractions and shows listed on the passport through the special entrances (usually the normal exit) for the holder and up to three companions. The location of the special entrance will be indicated to you by the castmember standing at the main entrance of each attraction / show. While disabled guests and their companions are passing by the usual queue entering through the special entrance, they have no right to board the attraction immediately, even so castmember usually don't let disabled guests wait long.
As the number of disabled guests an attraction can accomodate is limited in some cases it is recommended to split a group of disabled guests in sub-groups to avoid being turned back by the castmembers at the attractions with parts of the group.
All queue lines in the Walt Disney Studios have been designed to allow access with wheelchairs therefor wheelchair users are not entitled to a backdoor acess of attractions and shows at the studios.
As the limitations of each attraction and theatre are differing these information can be found on the actual attraction pages (section "Limits").

Watching Parades at the Disneyland Park
As a service for guests in wheelchairs castmember guard special viewing areas along the parade route, which guarantee wheelchair users (and their companions) a good view of the parade. The special viewing areas are located on the centers of Town Square and Central Square and right beneath the queuing area for It's A Small World. While the first two offer the view of the parade with the Main Street U.S.A. and the castle as backdrop the later one has the advantage of being the least crowded of the three and thereby enhances the chance to get in close contact with some of the characters in the parade. While it is not necessary to arrive as early as guests outside the special viewing areas guests in wheelchairs should still consider, that all three viewing areas offer only a limited capacity which is distributed on a first come first serve base. But on normal days (without exceptional large groups of wheelchair bound guests) there should be no capacity problems. Still wheelchair bound guests are recommended to arrive prior to the scheduled parade time, as guests waiting for the parade and claiming their viewing spots arrive early and make it more difficult to move around near the parade route, and as it is necessary to cross the parade route to get to the viewing points on Town Square and Central Plaza.
All other disabled guests have to line up for the parade normally. There for they need to be able to stand for more than half an hour more assisted only by their companions. If this is should be a problem, the seats of the Castle Stage offer the only opportunity to watch the parades while seated in the outside. As these seats are not reserved for disabled guests they are occupied very long in advance. If guests are not interested in interacting with the parade performers and characters there is also the possibility to combine a great dinner or lunch with a good view out of the warmth, which is both provided on the first floor of Walt's on the Main Street U.S.A. (unfortunately the only restaurant in the themepark with no toilets adapted to the special needs of guests with reduced mobility) even so castmembers won't be able to guarantee you a window-seat in advance. If all seats at the Castle Stage are occupied and the dinner / lunch option is not of interested to you, you should try to watch the parade in Fantasyland near It's A Small World or in front of / opposite of the Pizzeria Bella Notte, as these is the least crowded section of the parade route, where a comparatively good viewing spot is often still available shortly before the parade starts.

Special Thanks for inside information to Stefan Trick