For all the Disney lovers and travelers with young children, Disneyland Paris is a beloved attraction when visiting Paris. And indeed, my first visit to Disneyland Paris (of the 7 times I’ve visited Paris!) was when I was traveling with my 10-year-old daughter.
If you’re considering a visit to Disneyland Paris, you may be wondering how easy it is to navigate around the park if you aren’t a French speaker.
Do people at Disneyland Paris (or Euro Disney, as it is sometimes referred to) speak English? And beyond that, what is it like visiting Disneyland Paris as an English speaker?
On my recent visit to Disneyland Paris, I paid close attention and took copious notes about what it was like experiencing Disney as an English speaker. I do actually speak French quite well, but interacted with cast members frequently in English to see how accessible Disneyland Paris is to those who don’t speak French.
Plus, my French skills meant I could easily understand both French and English and compare what was being said when both languages were being used.
Side note: Disneyland Paris is set up very similarly to Disneyland in California, where there are two parks right next to each other (Disneyland Paris/Walt Disney Studios vs Disneyland/California Adventure) and only separated by a large plaza. You can easily hop between the two.
The advice and observations in this post are based on visits to both lands.
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Do the Cast Members in Disneyland Paris Speak English?
The short answer is yes, cast members in Disneyland Paris all speak English very well. However, cast members generally default to speaking French initially, but will quickly switch if you don’t speak French back to them.
This includes cast members running the rides, characters, and people working in retail and food service.
Interestingly, though I did hear many languages, there were mostly French-speaking guests at Disney. I was expecting to hear a larger variety of languages, but it was still predominantly French.We visited during March though, and I would imagine there are more international visitors during the summer holidays.
What About the Signs?
All signs in Disneyland Paris are in French and English.
Languages on the Rides
All of the rides had a slightly different approach to languages. Many rides in Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios have announcements about safety and procedures as you are in line waiting to board the ride. These announcements were generally said completely in French and then completely in English.
Alternatively, some rides have really cool presentations as a part of the queue to get on the ride. For example, in the Avengers Assemble ride in Walt Disney Studios, a life-size Iron Man is talking to a video of Captain Marvel, where they are discussing the crisis and the mission.
In these situations, the French-English translation was done very cleverly, where the characters were having a conversation, but Iron Man was speaking in French and Captain Marvel was speaking English. While they were saying slightly different things, you could easily understand the conversation from just one side.
However, if there was narration on the actual ride (not just the introduction to the ride), it was always just in one language (usually French).
For example, Star Tours is a very fun and thrilling ride, but it has *a lot* of narration. Because it would interrupt the experience to do both languages, the ride was exclusively in French, and there were no subtitles.
Languages in the Parades and Night Shows
Some of our favorite experiences in Disneyland are the parades and the fireworks shows. Both of these experiences have songs and narrations, so how does Disneyland Paris handle the two different languages?
The announcements leading up to the show are broadcast in French and then English, similar to ride queues.
For the actual shows, however, the songs and narrations alternate between being in English and being in French.
For each song and the narration that goes with the song, they just do one language or the other. They aren’t saying the same things in both languages; instead, the show just takes turns between songs on which language is used.
So What Should You Expect?
While the default language in Disneyland Paris is French, English is nearly equally prevalent throughout the park, whether you are reading a sign, interacting with a cast member or character, purchasing something, enjoying a ride, or watching a show.
You’ll hear a lot of French as you go throughout the park, which personally I find delightful – spoken French is so pretty – but it mostly just sets the tone.
Overall, you can easily navigate and have a fantastic time at Disneyland Paris as an English speaker.
