When we go travelling, one of the things that travellers need to expect is that they’ll be subject to the laws of the country they’re visiting. Some laws are pretty universal like not stealing, and should be common sense and just being a decent human being anyway! But other laws might be something we’re not used to at home, and then we can get caught out. And France is no different! I see a lot of people online who are surprised when certain French laws impact their Disneyland Paris trip – so we’re here to share what you should expect on your visit.

What do you mean I can’t buy paracetamol?!

This is something that I’ve mentioned here on the blog before, but I still see it happening so many times that it bears repeating. A lot of folks are used to being able to pick up common medicines at supermarkets, corner shops and more in their home countries. But that isn’t the case in France!

Under French law, all medicines can only be sold by a pharmacy. Yes, even reasonably innocuous or common ones like paracetamol (Tylenol to our American friends), or Ibuprofen, or antacids. So, as there is no pharmacy on site, you cannot buy any of these in Disneyland Paris!

This seems to catch a lot of people out. I think partly because here in the UK, and in the US and I suspect many other countries it’s so common to be able to pick things like this up when you need them easily, so we assume it’ll be the case in France. I think another part of the issue is that if you go into the hotel gift shops at Walt Disney World or Disneyland in the USA, they’ll have sundries shelves full of common medicines (at a steep premium mind you, but hey they’re there!). As such folks assume Disneyland Paris will be the same. I’ve even seen people online saying the hotel gift shops ‘refuse’ to sell them medicines, like the cast members are doing it out of spite or something. They’re not – they’re obeying French law, and they won’t have the medicine to sell you anyway because they’re simply not allowed to stock it!

So how can you be prepared for this? Simple – take medicines with you. Take a good supply of painkillers (obviously not hundreds of the things as customs might take a dim view!) but enough to cover you and your group should headache, backache and more strike. If you’re differently-abled and used to relying on medicines to get you through pain or similar, it’s even more important to take enough with you to cover the length of your trip, and preferably some spare! Also if you have little ones who are used to Calpol or similar, pack that too. Prone to heartburn? Take antacids. Worried about sore throats? Pack those throat sweets! If you go in prepared, you won’t need to worry if you need the medicine.

If you are in Disneyland Paris and find yourself needing medicine, you do also have options. Heading to First Aid in the parks (it’s at the top of Main Street on the right hand side near the Plaza Restaurant in the main park, and in the entrance courtyard on the right in the Studios / Disney Adventure World) should mean you can get a single dose of medicine. Note that they can’t give you multiple doses in one go, but if you just need to get a headache in check they can help. Otherwise, there is also a pharmacy in Val d’Europe – which is one stop away from Disneyland Paris on the RER, or a few minutes drive away, and you should be able to pick up there what you need. Also, this probably goes without saying but in case of serious illness don’t hesitate to call the Emergency Services – if you’re in a Disney Park or one of the hotels cast members should be able to help you. And remember to have travel insurance – you never know when you might need it!

But I wanted a refill on my Coke Zero…

If you head into many restaurants in the United States, and some in the UK (although it’s less common here), it’s a given that you’ll be able to get free refills of soft drinks like Coca-Cola, Coke Zero, Lemonade etc. It’s certainly something you come across in Walt Disney World in the USA. But that’s not the case in Disneyland Paris!

Why? French law banned unlimited free or fixed price drink refills back in 2017, in an effort to combat obesity and rising rates of diabetes in the country. So in Disneyland Paris, and elsewhere in France, if you’d like a refill of your soft drink I’m afraid you need to pay for it.

This is a bit of a bummer if like me you’re a soda fiend, but are faced with Disneyland Paris’ steep soft drink prices every time you want to top up your caffeine or soft drink levels! So what can you do about it? I think my main piece of advice here is to plan soft drinks into your budget, including refills. If you’re prepared for the cost, then at least it won’t come as a shock to your holiday budget and bank balance! I would also advise if possible to not pay for a second soft drink in the table service restaurants including buffets, but to wait and buy a second drink in a quick service or shop outside instead. The soft drinks at the sit down restaurants are often smaller and more expensive than those bought elsewhere on site!

If you think members of your group might want the drinks for hydration rather than anything else, than you can instead buy water around the parks (which is cheaper than soft drinks), or bring a reusable water bottle instead that can be filled up at the water fountains and taps for free. You can bring flavour powder or squeezy squash if people aren’t plain water fans. (We recommend Bolero for water flavour powders – the individual sachets are easy and light to pack and carry, and they’ve got a lot of selection for a decent price!). On site at Disneyland Paris, you can always try the train station or the petrol garage next to Hotel Santa Fe to see if you can find soft drinks at a cheaper price point. Or of course you can buy and bring your own into the parks – buying multipacks at the Val d’Europe supermarket will work out a lot cheaper than paying Disney’s prices, although of course then you’ll need to carry the drink with you in the parks so that’s something to consider.

Also a side tip, both Stark Factory in the Walt Disney Studios Park (soon to be Disney Adventure World) and Five Guys in Disney Village allow you to have one free refill from their drink machines – so you can get a little more bang for your buck here!

Wait, I need to buy a carrier bag?!

If you’ve ever been on a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida, then like us you’ll probably be at the end of the trip with a large number of the free carrier bags available in the shops there. But don’t expect the same thing in Disneyland Paris.

This law won’t be a shock to those of us in the UK, but might be to folks from elsewhere. In France, there is a ban on free plastic bags at shop checkouts. Instead, you need to pay for shopping bags instead. The aim of this French law is to help reduce plastic pollution, which of course is a great thing. But may come as a shock if you’re suddenly faced with paying extra Euros for a bag to put your Disneyland Paris merchandise in.

The easy way to combat this is to take a pack down shopping bag with you – you can get ones that pack down so small you’ll barely notice them in your park bag, but they’re then there to help tote all that Disney merchandise around. But even if you don’t do this and end up buying one or more of the Disneyland Paris reusable shopping bags, remember to then pack these for other park days on your trip so you don’t end up paying for bags more often than you need to!

One thing we will say though is that the Disneyland Paris reusable shopping bags are actually very good quality, so if you do end up with some they could then be great for shopping trips back home too.

Why is my hotel room so hot / cold?

At hotels particularly in the USA, but also many hotels in the UK, we can be used to having temperature thermostats in the rooms that allow us to set the temperature to either pretty chilly, or pretty warm, as we may prefer. (I mean, within reason – I don’t think any hotel will let you set a hotel room temperature to near freezing or in the 40 degree centigrade mark). But in France that isn’t the case. And this is something that we ran into on our recent stay at Disney’s Newport Bay Club in Disneyland Paris – despite having a thermostat in our room, we had very little control over the temperature there. And yep, that’s down to French law again.

In France there are some pretty strict limits on heating / cooling in public spaces, including all public spaces in hotels such as lobbies, restaurants etc. So it’s a maximum temperature of 19 degrees C in the winter, and a minimum temperature of 26 degrees in the summer. While it can be argued that hotel rooms aren’t public spaces in the same way, hotels do have to meet certain limits to receive environmental certification- so of course this therefore means they have to limit what temperatures guests can set the rooms at. So expect the same temperature limits to be in place for rooms too! And of course, this applies to the Disneyland Paris hotels as much as anywhere else. The law is in place of course to help reduce the environmental impact of hotels.

So what can you do if you find your Disneyland Paris hotel room too hot or cold for your liking? Go and chat to reception and see if they can help – but don’t be surprised if there’s not much they can do. The central control of the heating systems allows them to meet the certification requirements of French law. In winter if rooms are too chilly they may offer extra blankets etc. Of course if it’s the depths of winter and your room is absolutely frigid definitely tell reception as it’s likely your heating is broken! In summer there may not be much they can do honestly.

Our advice is if you’re someone who likes their hotel rooms on the cooler side and you have the space for it pack a fan (preferably a battery / rechargeable one, or if it’s a plug in make sure you have an adaptor). Otherwise cooling towels and cooling creams like Deep Freeze or Biofreeze can help you cool down in a pinch.

If you’re someone that needs rooms adjusted to a specific temperature for medical reasons then I’d reach out to Disney (or your hotel of choice if you’re planning to be offsite) before you book and ask for advice. Bear in mind the hotel will be bound by French law and can’t rewrite that for your sake, but they might be able to help with fans or something if they know your needs in advance.

Also side note – the rooms at Disney’s Hotel Santa Fe don’t have air conditioning at all – just a ceiling fan. Something to bear in mind for summer visits!

They expect me to do what with my food packaging?!

It feels so ubiquitous doesn’t it – you go to a fast food place and receive your food in disposable packaging, and then once you’ve finished eating it all goes in the bin. Well that’s certainly the case in many places here in the UK and in the USA. But in Disneyland Paris your food will be served to you in reusable tableware, and when you’re finished you’ll be greeted with a bewildering number of receptacles / bins and instructions on where to put things. So what’s going on?

Back in 2023, France banned single use tableware in any fast food restaurant that sits more than 20 people – and of course all the quick service restaurants in Disneyland Paris sit way more than this! Like the controls of hotel room temperatures, and the ban on single use carrier bags, these laws have been put in place for environmental reasons to help reduce waste. Which can only be a good thing!

So what you can you for this? Essentially if you’re eating in a quick service restaurant just be prepared to have to sort the tableware and any rubbish at the end of your meal, so it might make sense to put together cups, plates, cutlery, food waste etc on your tray to make it easier to sort at the bins. More often than not (especially around main meal times) there’ll be a Disney cast member on hand to help you with sorting everything, or who might even offer to do it for you! If they’re not though then the bins are typically pretty clearly labelled so it’s not too hard to figure out what goes where.

A couple of requests though – just because packaging is reusable that doesn’t mean it’s for you to take. The nice themed reusable cups in quick services at Disneyland Paris ended up getting replaced with plain ones because people kept nicking them! And just because it’s a bit more complicated, don’t just leave your rubbish on your table and walk away. By doing this you’re making more work for the cast members and stopping another group getting your table. It literally takes a minute or so to pop the rubbish away so please do so!

Also, for the snack kiosks without dedicated seating any food will be served in disposable packaging. Some of it might be recyclable though so please check and pop it in the recycling if you can!

I need my passport all the time?!

I think a lot of folks doing international travel only think of their passport as something they’ll need when travelling into or out of a country. For the rest of the trip it can just be stored securely away and ignored. Right? Well in France, including Disneyland Paris, that’s wrong!

French law is pretty strict on foreign nationals (including EU citizens not from France, so this will apply to our Irish friend and folks from other European countries too) having a form of state recognised ID with them at all times – either a passport or a National ID card. Here in the UK we don’t have a National ID card! (At least, not yet). So according to French law, we should have our passport with us at all times while in France, and yes that includes Disneyland Paris.

Now is it likely that you’re going to be asked for your passport while in Disneyland Paris? No, not really. But if you’ve ever been around the train station, especially in the evenings, you know that French police do have a presence here. So while it’s not likely you’ll be asked for your passport, it’s not entirely impossible.

So what happens if you’re asked for your passport and it’s not with you? Typically you’ll have to attend a local police station with the document within 4 hours of being asked – which while not the ends of the earth would be an annoying chunk out of your Disneyland Paris trip. If you can’t produce it at all you could be fined or even detained. These laws are in place as security measures.

While passports aren’t exactly too heavy or onerous to carry round we fully appreciate that many folks don’t want to for security reasons, what happens if you lose them or your bag gets stolen? The first thing we’d recommend is making sure you have a separate copy of your passport photo page, either digitally or a separate paper copy so if you should lose the originals you have the details on hand, which should make it easier to obtain emergency details to exit France if need be. If your passport is lost you will need to contact your local embassy or consulate for assistance.

When carrying your passport we’d also recommend they’re tucked away securely in an inner pocket in a bag, preferably one you can have eyes or a hand on at all times like a crossbody or sling – don’t leave them in front pockets of rucksacks or backpacks, or in coat or trouser pockets, where they could be easily stolen! You might also want to put them in a pocket with RFID protection or to pop them in an RFID wallet to help prevent people scanning the electronic details stored within them. And if you’re from a country that does have a National ID card then you might prefer to carry that with you and leave your passport securely stored in your accommodation, just in case.

So there we go, that’s 6 French laws that could have unexpected impacts on your Disneyland Paris trip. There’s some aspects of French culture that could have impacts too that we’ll cover in another blog. Anything take you by surprise, or that we’ve forgotten? Let us know in the comments! Please also subscribe to this blog below, you’ll receive future blogs in your inbox and a free copy of our Magically Different Guide to Disneyland Paris attraction accessibility too (typically £3)! We’d also love to see you on our YouTube channel where we also share great Disneyland Paris content, and if you’d like to support our work please do consider leaving us a tip. Thank you!