Do You HAVE to Purchase Tickets for the Broadway Style Disneyland Paris Shows?

Last Updated on February 1, 2024 by Themepark Freak

Disneyland Paris shows, some offered in the Broadway style, are some of the family friendly activities offered at DLP. The current 2024 shows are:

• Mickey and the Magician (Walt Disney Studios Park)
• The Lion King: Rhythms of the Pride Lands (Disneyland Park)
• TOGETHER: a Pixar Musical Adventure (Walt Disney Studios Park)

When guests look through the Disneyland Paris App, they’re generally caught by surprise with the ability to purchase tickets to these particular shows.

Aren’t Disneyland Paris Shows Included in the Price of Admission?

Yes! All Disneyland Paris shows are included the the price of admission. This includes the 3 Broadway style shows!

Why Would I Want to Buy a Guaranteed Seat?

As someone who loves going to Disneyland Paris and tries to get there frequently, I understand how much it already costs. So why would anyone want to pay money for something that’s already included with admission?

Well, what’s included is your ability to queue up for one of the Disneyland Paris shows. However, here’s a list of things that potentially could happen:

1. If the parks are particularly busy, you may not make it into your chosen time slot if you didn’t queue on time.
2. Depending on where you are in the free line, you may not get the seats you’d like because others got there first.
3. If there’s a lot of people in line and your party didn’t want to get into the queue on time, your party may not be able to sit together.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The auditoriums that these Broadway style shows are shown in are huge. So this means that there’s several hundred people who can watch a single show. However, the shows are extremely popular and you need to get in line on time.

By buying a guaranteed seat:

1. You only need to get in line 30 minutes before the start of the show.
2. The queue area for the guaranteed seating is a lot less crowded.
3. Those that purchase a guaranteed seat gets to pick their seats first.

The fact that the queue area is less crowded already makes it worth it. And of course you only need to be in line 30 minutes before the show! I’ve seen people start to queue up 40 to 60 minutes before the start of a show!

My Experience Purchasing a Disneyland Paris Show Ticket Last Minute

My last trip to Disneyland Paris, October 2023, I decided at the last minute to splurge on a guaranteed ticket for Mickey and the Magician. This was on a Friday and Walt Disney Studios was pretty busy. I didn’t really feel like standing in line for the show for ages and I figured I could write about the experience.

I’m actually glad that I decided to make this last minute purchase because the experience was HORRIBLE!

If you know you want to purchase guaranteed seating for Disneyland Paris shows before you head off to the parks, do it from the comfort of your own computer. Or if you brought a laptop, do it in your hotel before setting off for the morning.

Here is What I Learned When Buying a Last Minute Ticket in the Park

1. Internet can be super spotty in Walt Disney Studios. The internet was particularly slow for me and I’m on T-Mobile or whatever they’re calling it now in the Netherlands (Odido). Wifi isn’t much better, especially if you’re near Remey’s.
2. You start off in the Disneyland Paris app (which is already garbage) then the app will send you to a different website for payment.
3. The site you’re sent to was NOT made with mobile phones in mind, which is mind boggling since this is going to be a spur of the moment purchase for a lot of guests. I had to get a code for the protection AMEX has for internet purchases and kept losing the page altogether.
4. The ticket is NOT added to your Disneyland Paris account in the app. You have to download the ticket off the email they send you.
5. The email for the ticket is super slow. I thought the purchase didn’t work, but the email showed up about 20 minutes later.
6. If this is your first purchase through the Disney app, it doesn’t count as a “first purchase” in regards to ordering quick service or Premier Access. You’ll have to go through adding credit card information again.

My day job is working on platforms meant for digital purchases. This experience didn’t impress me and I will never recommend to anyone to by this last minute!

Was the Purchased Ticket Worth it?

And now what you guys have all been waiting for. Was the purchased entry worth it?

If I disregard the fact that the ticket isn’t added into the app, or the entire mobile purchase process, then yes. I think purchasing the guaranteed seating was worth it. Here’s my thought process:

• The park was fairly busy when I decided to make the purchase
• While the instructions said to show up 30 minutes before, I was able to join the queue easily 20 minutes before. I just wasn’t going to get the very first pick since there was about 20 people in front of me.
• The queue between the free attendees and the paying are separated. At 20 minutes before showtime the cast members were making people really pack into the queue area and take up any extra space. They left the guaranteed seat crowd alone.
• Nobody trying to push me forward or breathing down my neck for 20 minutes
• Got to enter the auditorium first and pick my seat (5th row, dead center). Nobody tried mowing me down from behind.

Free Ticket vs. Purchased Guaranteed Seating

The previous times that I had seen the Broadway style Disneyland Paris shows, the queues really got uncomfortable. There was a lot of pushing, including a huge family trying to push their way up to where they had 1 person waiting (that’s a whole different article).

However, as for the seating itself, I don’t think any of the auditoriums have a bad seat. For the guaranteed seat I chose the 5th row, dead center. In a previous showing, I was I think the 6th row to the right side of the stage (in fold down seats next to the wheelchair space — don’t worry, nobody needed the spots as we were among the last in).

Both seats had a great view, though I felt being dead center was more immersive. I haven’t had the chance to sit up in the higher rows yet, that will be coming soon though and I’ll update this with my opinion!

At the end of the day, I think the queue experience was better for the guaranteed seating than the free queue. As long as you can get into the auditorium and get a seat, there isn’t a bad one. You’ll be able to sit comfortably and see everything going on. So purchasing a guaranteed ticket really boils down to being able to afford or want the splurge.

Just don’t do it in the parks, trust me on this.

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