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A trip to Disneyland Paris sits at the top of many Disney fans’ lists. Thankfully, costs like lodging, airfare, and even park tickets can be covered using points and miles. Today’s post presents multiple ways to use points and miles for Disneyland Paris. We’ll cover how to get to Disneyland Paris using points and miles, purchasing tickets to Disneyland Paris, and booking Disneyland Paris hotels with points.
And it's possible to book your trip in different ways. That's good news for you, as you'll see that there are multiple options for using your rewards to reduce your cash costs on this trip.
Page Contents
How To Get to Disneyland Paris
First, let’s talk about an easy way to fly to France with miles. Flying Blue, the joint program of Air France and KLM, is a fan favorite for multiple reasons. First, you can transfer points from multiple programs to Flying Blue. Second, reasonable award fares exist. Third, kids fly with Air France for 25% off.
Award flights to Paris from the U.S. on Air France or KLM enjoy recently standardized pricing. Business-class flights start at 55,000 miles, while economy flights to and from Charles de Gaulle Airport start at only 20,000 miles plus between $100 and $170 in fees each way. If you can time this with a Flying Blue transfer bonus or a monthly Promo Reward, you'll come out even further ahead.
With numerous transfer options, you can effectively earn Flying Blue miles with cards like The Platinum Card® from American Express, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. You'll also enjoy lounge access with each of these cards, which can make your family's time waiting for a flight much more enjoyable.
Enrollment is required for select Amex benefits.
Another Way To Enter Paris on Points
For many travelers, Disneyland Paris is part of a larger European trip. If you'll be arriving in Paris from connecting cities like London, Brussels, or Amsterdam, consider taking the Eurostar train. You can take the train to either Gare de Norde station in central Paris or to Disneyland Paris.
Eurostar tickets start at ~$75. To cover the cost with rewards, pay with your Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card. That's because cards like these offer the ability to cover recent travel purchases with your rewards balance at a rate of 1¢ per mile.
Getting to Disneyland Paris from Paris
If you're heading to Disneyland from Paris, a train ride takes about 45–60 minutes, depending on your point of origin. We recommend purchasing a ~$30 Navigo Pass, valid both for using the Paris metro and to the Disneyland Parks in Chessy. Navigo passes even work at Montmartre to ride the funicular up to Sacre Coeur. Purchase Navigo Passes at train stations or airports.
Getting to Disneyland Paris from Charles de Gaulle Airport
If Disneyland Paris is the very first stop on your European tour, you won’t want to use a Navigo Pass to get there. That would route you through central Paris and take far too long. Instead, the best option from CDG airport to Disneyland Paris is taking the TGV (train à grande vitesse or literally “high-speed train”) directly to the parks. It costs about $20 per person, takes 12 minutes, and you can purchase tickets when you land at CDG.
Now that you know your options for getting there, let’s look at some of the parks' unique features as we determine the ideal length for a trip to Paris Disneyland.
The Focal Point: Disneyland Paris Castle
The main reason to visit Disneyland Paris is to explore its unique, breathtaking Sleeping Beauty castle. It’s our favorite Disneyland castle in the world (we’ve used points and miles to visit all twelve Disney parks). Designers really captured a romantic mood, with uniquely rounded tower spires and a lawn full of square boxwoods flanking the side. Not only that, an animatronic dragon roars underneath. Guests can venture inside the soaring castle interiors, climb the stairs, and walk through Sleeping Beauty artwork. As an added bonus, the castle tour exits through the back onto a turret platform with sweeping views of Fantasyland the other highlight of Disneyland Paris.
Fantasyland at Disneyland Paris is also gorgeous and unique compared to other parks. While it features many of the same rides found in the U.S. parks, it also boasts numerous unique attractions, which we’ll cover in the next section.
Disneyland Paris Rides
You’ll find some very familiar rides at Disneyland Paris: Dumbo’s Flying Elephants, Pirates of the Caribbean, and — at Walt Disney Studios — Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. But some of the repeat rides are actually better in France, including Star Wars HyperSpace Mountain (it goes upside-down) and an amazing rendition of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (bigger and faster than the U.S. versions).
Additionally, we recommend riding a couple unique attractions you can’t ride anywhere else in the world. Number one: Crush’s Coaster at Walt Disney Studios. You’ll recognize this ride’s track: Disney duplicated it for Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind at EPCOT. Number two: the Alice's Curious Labyrinth hedge maze in Fantasyland, complete with a Queen of Hearts’ Castle in the center. Number three: Avengers Assemble (same track as Walt Disney World's Rock N Roller Coaster, but smoother).
All in all, if you're mostly interested in the castle and all the rides unique to these parks, you really only need to purchase a one-day park hopper ticket.
Next, we’ll look at the different ticket options available and how to use points or special discounts to purchase them.
Tickets to Disneyland Paris
Maybe you’re a seasoned Disney fan who wants to buy park hoppers and speed-run a day trip to the Paris Disneyland parks. On the other hand, if you’ve never been to Disneyland before, it might seem more appealing to purchase multi-day tickets and stay overnight in Chessy. Whatever the case may be, there’s a ticket for you and multiple ways to cover tickets with points. Keep in mind that you might qualify for one of Disneyland Paris’ special discounts.
Types of Disneyland Paris tickets
Disneyland Paris sells two basic types of tickets: dated tickets good for specific dates and undated tickets good for redemption until the end of the year in which you purchase them. If you purchase undated tickets, don't forget to make reservations for the days you intend to use them.
Keep in mind that if you purchase tickets directly through Disneyland Paris, and not as a package including a resort stay, they will code as “entertainment” on your credit card. If you’d like to save a few dollars and also ensure that your tickets code as “travel” on your credit card, we recommend purchasing tickets through a third party like Attractiontickets.com. As you can see, in this scenario you'll save almost $6 per ticket.
Why you might want your tickets to code as travel
If you’re trying to earn as many points as possible booking vacations, multiple credit cards earn more points per dollar on “travel” purchases than “entertainment” purchases. In addition, if you’re trying to use points and miles to cover the cost of Disneyland Paris admission, purchasing the tickets third party (thus, having them code as travel on your credit card) lets you offset the purchase with miles from the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card or points from the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Elite Credit Card.
Related: Best Rewards Cards for Travel Purchases
Booking Disneyland Paris admission in the Bilt and Citi Travel℠ portals
The Bilt Mastercard® is the only no-annual-fee credit card that allows you to charge your monthly rent on a credit card without any fees tacked on (note that you need to make five or more transactions per month on the card to earn rewards at the optimal rates). Citi offers multiple credit cards with access to the Citi Travel portal, several of which have no annual fee.
You can find Disneyland Paris tickets for sale in both of these portals — typically for the same discounted rate as the third party vendor we checked.
If you have the Bilt Mastercard, your points are worth 25% more in Bilt's portal (thus 1.25¢ apiece). Therefore, a $112.71 ticket would cost only 9,017 Bilt points. In Citi's portal, however, your points are worth just 1¢ each.
Related: Complete Guide to Bilt Rewards
Special rates on Disneyland Paris admission
Disneyland Paris offers several unique, generous discounts at the gate. Make sure to bring your passports to the gate if you’ll be attempting to purchase tickets for special rates, such as for those with disabilities.
Disneyland Paris Priority Cards and disability discounts
Disneyland Paris offers a 25% disability discount for one person plus an accompanying guest on a 1-day/1-or-2-Park Ticket or an annual Disneyland Pass. In advance, apply for a Priority Card up to one month before your visit and present an official document accepted by Disneyland Paris stating the disability on the day of the visit. Keep in mind that these tickets can only be purchased at the gate.
Disneyland Paris military discounts
A government-issued military card from the U.K., the U.S., or France qualifies you for 50% off your Disneyland Paris admission. Luckily, Disneyland Paris sells these tickets online, so you can plan ahead.
Disneyland Paris Hotels
All things considered, we think one or two days in the Disneyland Paris parks will satisfy most people. Accordingly, the next section contains two parts: lodging for Disneyland Paris day trips and lodging for those wanting to stay in Chessy. We'll provide award redemption options for both.
Staying on points in Paris: When Disneyland Paris is a day trip
Hyatt has multiple quality properties to choose from in Paris, and our favorite is the Hyatt Regency Paris Étoile. One benefit lies in the fact that many of the rooms have been updated. Additionally, the club lounge offers a full breakfast, plus a light lunch and dinner, all while enjoying spectacular views of the Eiffel Tower.
Hyatt Globalist status or using club upgrades will gain you access to the Regency Club. Alternatively, you can book certain rooms that specify club access in the title or description. For instance, this standard room with two twin beds on a high floor includes club access.
Or, for only 3,000 more points per night, you could book a Regency Suite that sleeps four and specifies club access in the room description.
The easiest way to earn Hyatt points is from daily spending and credit card sign-up bonuses on Hyatt's co-branded cards, like The World of Hyatt Credit Card, or transferring Ultimate Rewards points from cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to Hyatt.
Staying on points near Chessy: When Disneyland Paris is a multi-day trip
First, let's talk about Disneyland Paris Resorts.
The benefits of staying on property in a Disneyland Paris resort are twofold. Not only are the resorts within walking distance from the parks, but Disney resort guests receive 30 minutes of early entry into the parks.
We've stayed in a Disneyland Paris resort and felt the perks weren't worth the price. Sure, it was nice to stay steps away from the parks, but taking the train from hotels booked on points will drop you off right at Disney's main gates. Furthermore, while it's nice to get a head start in the parks before all the off-property guests arrive, we still found ourselves standing in long lines for the most popular rides. All in all, we don't think it's necessary to stay on property at Disneyland Paris.
Booking Disneyland Paris resorts in a travel portal
If you do decide to book a Disneyland Paris Resort, however, you have options. You can redeem points in the travel portals from Bilt, Citi, and Chase Travel. The last option could provide the best value, as points can be worth up to 1.5¢ apiece in the portal if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. However, Chase's portal tends to have the least availability from what we found.
Bilt's travel portal offers competitive pricing. Booking a Disneyland Paris Resort plus breakfast and two-day Park Hopper tickets for two in the Bilt portal costs less than booking the same package directly through Disneyland Paris.
What costs $454.71 in the Bilt Rewards portal costs $475.30 when purchased from Disneyland Paris.
Booking lodging near Disneyland with IHG points
A fairly new Holiday Inn Express can be found just a 10-minute drive or a short ride on the #34 bus from Disneyland Paris. Besides proximity, the other pro of this property is that, like all Holiday Inn Express locations, guests enjoy free breakfast. Dynamic pricing has rooms swinging between 16,000–80,000 IHG One Rewards points per night, and average around 30,000 points per night much of the year.
The con to this property? Award rooms here only sleep two people per night, so booking larger parties will require at least two rooms.
Related: Six Ways To Get Free Breakfast at IHG Hotels
Booking lodging near Disney with Marriott Bonvoy® points
To book lodging near Disneyland Paris with Marriott points, try the Moxy Paris Val d'Europe.
Located one stop away on the RER from the parks, award rooms at the Moxy start at 30,000 Marriott points per night and assume double occupancy.
A Marriott booking might not be ideal here for a few reasons. Lately, Marriott welcome bonuses have come in the form of free night certificates worth up to 50,000 Marriott points per night. You could get more value out of those certificates at lots of other properties. Also, the best value from Marriott Bonvoy points comes when getting your fifth night free. You probably won't be staying here that long, though.
The best route might be to book a room here is probably using an annual Free Night Award from holding a Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card or Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card. Each card provides a free night (worth up to 35,000 points) on your cardholder anniversary every year.
Another option that sleeps large parties in townhouses is Marriott's Village d'ile-de-France. While this property more easily accommodates families, finding availability can be nearly impossible. As of the time of writing, there is no availability showing for the next year. Nevertheless, if you're able to find availability, it's a little further away from the parks but presents a great option for families.
Final Thoughts
Points, miles, and other discounts can save you a bundle on your trip to Disneyland Paris. Whether you're stopping by on a day trip or spending multiple days adventuring in the parks, you're sure to enjoy the enchantment of the most romantic Disney park on Earth. Luckily, your visit doesn't have to involve spending a lot of money.
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