Or on how Disneyland Paris is looking to transform the experience for Guests with disabilities.

On December 3, 2021, International Day of Disabled Persons, the Disneyland Paris teams will launch a brand new strategy aiming to guarantee an optimal visit to Guests with disabilities in the Parks and across the Resort.

“We want to focus our efforts on Guests who need it the most”, claims Disneyland Paris as they present to us the complete reimagining of this critical program which applied to 125.000 Guests in 2019.

Disneyland Paris choses to move away from the traditional green and orange cards to launch two new cards with more specific attributes.

On the one hand, the new “Priority Access Card” will guarantee, as does the green card today, immediate access to various Attractions. The main difference: it will only be available to holders of the “Mobilité Inclusion” card delivered by the French Administration and similar European and international official equivalents, as well as all disabled veterans.

Second category of this remodeling: the “Access Facilitation Card” (Carte d’Accès Facilité) will have the benefits of the current orange card (with appointments), but will now only be available to holders of a medical certificate which show a long term disability (ALD or Affectation de Longue Durée). There are 30 such disabilities, which range from insufficiencies to strokes and other grave and chronic disabilities. An official list is available (in French) HERE and on Disneyland Paris’ website in November.

And finally, a Priority Access Wristband themed to Thumper will adorn the wrist of expecting mothers to guarantee them a quick and easy access to various Attractions defiantly ready to welcome more visitors.

And that’s really the heart of this complete change of accessibility strategy: to offer Guests with motor, visual or auditive disabilities a complete and satisfactory experience. As a result, almost all Disneyland Paris Attractions will become accessible to everyone.

The Resort will also publish a Guide which will list all the acoustic and visual triggers in the Attractions in order to help Guests who suffer from Autism spectrum disorder to prepare their visit ahead of time.

In the Parks, Guests with visual impairments will be a able to use free Audio Description via the Audio Spot app (available this fall for restaurants and this winter for Attractions [iOS – GooglePlay]) both in French and English.

Now for the technical revolution: the new Priority Cards won’t necessarily have to be filled up at City Hall but will also available online before arriving to the Resort. A self questionnaire will guide the applicants in evaluating their degree of autonomy based on several criteria:

• Are you in a wheelchair?
• Do you have a companion?
• Are you able to come in / out of an Attraction?
• Do you feel able to be evacuated from an Attraction?

Each Guest will therefore be able to mesure independent their capacity to ride an Attraction, a huge difference compared to the current, more restrictive program!

After this questionnaire, a color coding will allow Cast Member to identify each Guest’s autonomy levels. This code will range from Green (total autonomy) to Grey (Guest is not autonomous and cannot transfer) with several increments in between:
⁃ Purple (autonomous Guest with reduced mobility)
⁃ Orange (Guest without a wheelchair but with difficulties to evacuate an Attraction)
⁃ Sky Blue (non autonomous Guest with mobility difficulties)

The added advantage of this system is an improved confidentiality: Guests will no longer need to share the details of their disability with Cast Members at City Hall, they will simply show the result of the questionnaire with the color code. Cast Members will then deliver a bank card sized card with the first name, name, color code, photo and a QR code. The card will be valid for the entire visit or the validity of an Annual Pass if applicable. Each Priority Card holder will be able to be joined by 4 people.

Some more changes: in rethinking the system, Disneyland Paris modeled its reasoning on the latest French legislation. As a result, a disabled Guest is no longer required to be accompanied to enter the Parks – but it is still recommended.

Logical consequence: a free ticket will no longer be offered to the companion of a disabled Guest. Disneyland Paris will instead extend a 25% discount on tickets for the disabled Guest (currently 10%), and their companion.

With this rethink, Disneyland Paris solidifies its inclusive values and aims to enhance the experience of disabled Guests who hold official certificates. With this approach, the Resort effectively excludes all temporary injuries such as a sprained ankle or broken leg, as well as cases not considered a disability or an “ALD”. It will most likely result in quicker and better care for Guests with disabilities and reduced mobility.