The rides at Disneyland Paris vary widely – from gentle attractions suitable for all ages, to the highest thrill roller coasters and simulators. The wilder the ride the more likely it is to have ride warnings to help people decide if the ride is for them. But should you believe them? Our short answer is yes – but there’s a bit more to it than that (otherwise it’d be a really short blog!). In this blog we’re looking at what ride warnings are, the attractions they apply to – and why you should be taking them seriously.

What a ride warnings?

So what are ride warnings? Disneyland Paris may also call them guest policies or put them in with accessibility conditions. But these are pieces of text that are a warning to certain guests – typically those with health differences – that the ride may not be for them.

In the example above you can see from Hyperspace Mountain, there’s a whole range of health differences that they are warning people about. Essentially this is Disneyland Paris’ way of saying that this ride could aggravate a condition – so if you ride, you do so at your own risk.

It’s also worth noting that the ride warnings will also caution expectant people on whether or not they should ride.

Some rides are so wild you would expect them to come with ride warnings, like the Hyperspace Mountain example we chose above. If you’re wondering if a ride has ride warnings attached, a good rule of thumb is that if there’s a height limit, there’ll almost certainly be ride warnings! If it’s not safe for littles, there’s a good chance there’s health differences that could be aggravated.

However – that’s not always the case. Let’s take Phantom Manor for example – the ride itself is mostly pretty gentle, but here’s the ride warnings from the Disneyland Paris website:

As you can see, there’s a lot less warnings – but there’s still an advisory against pregnant folks riding. Honestly I’m not sure why it is, at a guess I’d say it’s because the swinging of the vehicle can be a little jerky and you do end up going down a very steep hill backwards (very slowly and gently mind you, but still). So don’t assume an attraction is going to be okay for you – it’s always worth checking out the ride warnings first!

So what rides have ride warnings?

I’m going to split this list into two parts – those rides that have health warnings, and those rides that are not recommended for people who are expecting. Expect the latter list to be much longer than the first!

Rides with health warnings:

• Autopia (Discoveryland, Disneyland Park)
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril (Adventureland, Disneyland Park)
• Star Tours: The Adventure Continues (Discoveryland, Disneyland Park)
• Hyperspace Mountain (Discoveryland, Disneyland Park)
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Frontierland, Disneyland Park)
• Avengers Assemble: Flight Force (Avengers Campus, Walt Disney Studios Park)
• Crush’s Coaster (Worlds of Pixar, Walt Disney Studios Park)
• RC Racer (Toy Story Playland, Walt Disney Studios Park)
• Tower of Terror (Production Courtyard / World Premiere Plaza, Walt Disney Studios Park)

Rides with warnings against those who are pregnant riding*:

• Autopia (Discoveryland, Disneyland Park)
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Fantasyland, Disneyland Park)
• Casey Jr (Fantasyland, Disneyland Park)
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril (Adventureland, Disneyland Park)
• Pinnochio’s Daring Journey (Fantasyland, Disneyland Park)
• Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (Fantasyland, Disneyland Park).
• Peter Pan’s Flight (Fantasyland, Disneyland Park)
• Phantom Manor (Frontierland, Disneyland Park)
• Pirates of the Caribbean (Adventureland, Disneyland Park)
• Star Tours: The Adventure Continues (Discoveryland, Disneyland Park)
• Hyperspace Mountain (Discoveryland, Disneyland Park)
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Frontierland, Disneyland Park)
• Avengers Assemble: Flight Force (Avengers Campus, Walt Disney Studios Park)
• Cars: Four Roads Rally (Worlds of Pixar, Walt Disney Studios Park)
• Crush’s Coaster (Worlds of Pixar, Walt Disney Studios Park)
• Flying Carpets of Agrabah (Toon Studio / World Premiere Plaza, Walt Disney Studios Park)
• RC Racer (Toy Story Playland, Walt Disney Studios Park)
• Ratatouille (World of Pixar, Walt Disney Studios Park)
• Slinky Dog ZigZag Spin (Toy Story Playland, Walt Disney Studios Park)
• Spiderman WEB Adventure (Avengers Campus, Walt Disney Studios Park)
• Tower of Terror (Production Courtyard / World Premiere Plaza, Walt Disney Studios Park)
• Toy Soldier Parachute Drop (Toy Story Playland, Walt Disney Studios Park)

*It’s worth noting that the ride warnings for those who are pregnant are split into ‘may not ride’ and ‘advised not to ride’ depending on the ride itself. We’ve put them all in here together so you can see the rides you need to think about at a glance.

So should you take ride warnings seriously?

This may sound like a daft question – I mean, Disney has the ride warnings there for a reason, right? But online we see a lot of people asking about how bad rides really are, and they generally get at least one person saying ‘you’ll be fine, Disney just say that to cover themselves legally’.

There’s probably some truth in this – of course Disney want to cover themselves legally. If you ride something when they’ve said you shouldn’t and it aggravates a medical condition, then that’s down to you. But there’s a bit more than that – Disney genuinely doesn’t want people risking the attractions either because the last thing they want is an injured guest, or a medical issue coming up that needs to involve emergency services or closing a ride for a period of time. They want people to have a magical time – and a medical incident is very NOT magical!

Another point of debate is the vagueness of the warnings too. ‘Back problems’ mentioned in the ride warnings could vary from ‘my back is a bit stiff because I slept funny’ to ‘I had major spinal surgery last month’ and everything in between, and the amount they’re likely to be aggravated by a ride is going to vary too. Of course this is probably also deliberate on Disney’s part, to ensure they’ve covered every possible condition and scenerio.

So should you take the ride warnings seriously? In general we’d say yes. If you’ve never ridden something before and have no point of comparison or prior knowledge of a ride, it would probably be daft to risk your health just to get another ride in. If however you’ve got prior experience of a ride, and a good knowledge of what a ride is like, you might be able to make a more nuanced judgement. For example I know I can typically manage a ride of Big Thunder or Star Tours, but the likes of Indiana Jones and Hyperspace Mountain are a massive no! If you’d like to get more idea of what a ride is like try watching ride throughs online (although a lot of cameras can now make rollercoasters look a lot smoother than they are!), or ask people you know and whose opinions you trust (ie maybe not random person on Facebook who has no knowledge of your particular health situation). When asking for advice though do bear in mind that folks can be impacted by the same medical condition very differently, so what someone else found fine may not be right for you – and vice versa!

While it can feel a shame to miss out on an attraction, the good news is that there are many wonderful attractions that are suitable for everyone! Also if there’s a ride you don’t want to miss but would like to see the queue (Star Tours and Tower of Terror both have great queues!) you can line up with your family and see the queue line, and then ask to leave just before you board. No problem! Those with you could also do rider swap if they liked, so someone could stay with a non-rider while other folks in their group experience an attraction, and then that person could ride without waiting in line again. This is sometimes known as the ‘baby swap’ as it’s mostly used for those with little ones that don’t meet height limits, but it’s perfectly fine to use it with folks of all ages. Just ask a cast member at the attraction what’s possible.

A final thought from me, it’s also worth bearing in mind that some attractions that Disney say are fine for everyone still might not be right for you! Personally I really struggle with getting in and out of the rockets at Orbitron, and generally avoid that ride like the plague but there’s no ride warnings. Similarly Cars Quartre Roue Rallye made me feel terrible and there’s no ride warning for that either. So really, what Disneyland Paris attractions will suit you is very much down to the individual! If you feel like you want to give a ride a go and that it’d be safe for you to do so, then it’s worth trying once. But it’s okay not to get on with attractions – ride warnings or otherwise!

We hope that gives a bit of clarity about the ride warnings for Disneyland Paris rides! Do you have any rides that you avoid? Let us know!