Disney Village is the free-to-enter entertainment, dining, and shopping district that sits between the two Disneyland Paris parks and the resort hotels. You do not need a park ticket to access it. You do not need to be staying at a Disney hotel. You just walk in.
For most visitors it is the place you end up on your first evening after checking in, or the place you find yourself after the parks close and you are not quite ready to call it a night. It is also, as of 2026, a significantly better version of itself than it was a few years ago. I visited in April 2026, seven years after my first visit in 2019, and the difference was noticeable in all the right ways.
WHAT DISNEY VILLAGE ACTUALLY IS
Disney Village is essentially an outdoor pedestrian street with restaurants, bars, shops, and entertainment venues running along both sides. It connects the two park entrances at one end and the resort hotels at the other, which means almost everyone at the resort passes through it at some point during their stay.
It has historically had a reputation as an afterthought. The dining was overpriced and underwhelming, the shops were generic, and the overall atmosphere felt like a placeholder rather than a destination in itself. That reputation is in the process of being revised, which is the most interesting thing about visiting right now.
WHAT HAS CHANGED SINCE 2019
The most visible change is what is gone. Planet Hollywood, which occupied a prominent spot in Disney Village for years, has closed. Annette’s Diner, the 1950s American diner that was a resort institution, is currently under full renovation. Both closures are visible as you walk through and a portion of the Village is actively under construction at the time of writing.
This sounds like a negative. It is actually a sign that Disney is investing in the area and the direction of the changes is encouraging. The new additions are noticeably better than what they replaced.
Disney Glamour and Disney Style are newer retail additions that carry significantly more interesting merchandise than the generic souvenir shops that used to dominate. If you are a Disney fan who cares about unique and well-designed merchandise, these are worth time.
The Sports Bar and Lounge remains and is a solid option for a drink in a relaxed setting. The atmosphere is casual and the screens showing sports make it a comfortable place to decompress after a long park day.
WHAT'S OPENING NEXT
Pelé Soccer opens next to the Sports Bar & Lounge in late May 2026. It is a tribute shop to the Brazilian football legend and the brand’s first store in Europe, having previously only existed in New York City and at the Disney Springs and Downtown Disney resorts in the US. Expect shirts, accessories, and vintage-inspired pieces rather than generic sports merchandise.
A bigger, purpose-built McDonald’s opened next door to the original in early 2026. The old location stayed open through construction, so nothing closed while the new one was built, and the new restaurant was designed specifically for Disneyland Paris rather than dropped in as a standard template. It is a small example of the same pattern showing up across the Village: replace, do not just patch.
Disney Wonders opens in summer 2026, replacing the Disney Store, which was the last one in France and closed at the start of the year. It is a bright, modern space organized into themed areas covering Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel, with two chandeliers displaying forty pieces of character art each and animated Disney Animation Studio artwork brought to life by Tinker Bell effects at the checkout counters.
Casa Giulia arrives in late 2026, run by Bertrand Hospitality. It is a two-story Italian restaurant with 120 outdoor terrace seats, serving generous, seasonal Italian classics for a family crowd. Next door, the fast-casual Giulia Express covers pizza, focaccia, pastries, and ice cream, with 40 more seats of its own for a quicker stop.
WHAT TO EXPECT GOING FORWARD
All of this belongs to a single plan that has been running since 2023: reimagined facades, better landscaping, and a pattern of full replacements rather than quick patches. Parts of the Village will still look like a construction site for the rest of 2026, and that is the cost of the upgrade rather than a sign it has stalled. Every phase that has opened so far has been a real improvement on what it replaced, which is reason enough to expect the same from what is still to come.
If a Disneyland Paris trip is already on your calendar for later this year, it is worth timing your visit around what is actually open rather than finding out on arrival. That is exactly the kind of detail we sort out at THK Travel, so get in touch and we will build your trip around what will be ready when you go.
