Lineberty is an app which Disneyland Paris use as a way to create a virtual queue for many of the character meets, and for the limited edition pin or key sales.
In a nutshell, you take a ticket for a character or pin and when your number is “called” (buzzed on the app), you can go and meet the character or purchase your product. Essentially the same as taking a physical ticket, but instead this one is all electronic.
How to Use the Lineberty App
The Lineberty app is simple to use, but to get the most out of the app you need to know a few tricks. These tricks can be the difference between you getting the ticket you want, and unfortunately missing out.
Step 1 – Download the Lineberty app
This may sound like an obvious first step, but this is something you should do before you arrive at Disneyland Paris.
The app is available on both Android and iOS on the relevant app stores. Whilst there’s nothing to stop you doing this in the park, setting the app up before you arrive means you aren’t using any roaming mobile data, and you can be sure you have the app ready to go.
For iOS users, the app is available here.
For Android users, the app is available here.
Step 2 – Set Disneyland Paris as a favourite
The Lineberty app is not used exclusively by Disneyland Paris. In fact, the app isn’t even developed by Disney. As such, there are hundreds of other places that use the app. By adding Disneyland Paris as a favourite, you’ll ensure the parks always appear at the top when you go to take a ticket which ultimately saves valuable time when you’re trying to grab a ticket for a popular character or event.
To add Disneyland Paris as a favourite, open up the app and click on the ‘search’ button (highlighted on the screenshot below in red).
This will open up a list of all the places that use Lineberty. As you will see, there’s quite a few!
Scroll through the list to find the one called Disneyland Paris. There is only one entry, even though there are two parks at Disneyland Paris.
Once you have found the entry, there is a grey love heart next to the name (as shown on the screenshot below in red).
Click on the grey love heart, and you will notice that Disneyland Paris seems to immediately disappear from the list of places that uses Lineberty. However, if you scroll all the way back to the top of the list, Disneyland Paris will now be the very top item and have a red love heart next to the name (as shown on the screenshot below).
This means, when you’re in the park you won’t have to search for Disneyland Paris. The added bonus of this is that the search function isn’t very good and often causes the app to crash (which we’ll discuss more below).
Step 3 – Check ticket release times
From this step onwards, you will have to be at Disneyland Paris to complete the steps. The Lineberty app detects where you are, and if you aren’t in the park you won’t be able to take a ticket for a meet, sale or event.
The exact location that Lineberty starts working is somewhat of a mystery. Newport Bay hotel is often out of range, but Disney Village is within range. Generally, the park is open when Lineberty queues open, so provided you’re in the park you wouldn’t have any problems.
Different tickets become available at different times in the app, so you need to know when a queue is going to open up. Tickets do go quickly at Disneyland Paris, and popular character queues can be full within 5 minutes.
To check when the queue you want to join opens, open up the app and click on ‘Take a Ticket’. A list of places that uses Lineberty will appear, and if you’ve added Disneyland Paris as a favourite, that will be top of the list.
Click on Disneyland Paris, and you’ll then be taken to a page showing the two parks and any hotels that have Lineberty operated events on. The list you see may look different to the screenshot below; it just depends what Lineberty controlled elements are on that particular day.
If you click into one of the parks, you’ll see a list of everything that is available on Lineberty, relevant to that location, and grouped into themes (most commonly Meet and Greet and Pin Trading). Going through the groupings will show you individual events or characters.
Next to each character or event, there is an info button. If you click on this info button, you’ll be taken to a screen that shows you exactly when the ticket queue opens. You can use this information to make sure you are on the app ready to get a ticket as soon as the queue opens.
Step 4 – Book a ticket
Once you know the exact time that a queue opens, you should aim to be in the app and at the relevant ticket page (as shown above) about 1 minute before the queue opens.
As soon as the queue should be open, refresh the app. On both Android and iOS, you do this by pulling down from the top of the page (on the very top white part below the blue banner). This will refresh the queues. You need to continue to do this until the queue you want changes from a red button and ‘closed’ to a green button and a time (as shown below).
Underneath the green open symbol is a button saying ‘Book a Ticket’. As you might expect, you need to click on this button to get a ticket.
Step 5 – Confirm group size
Once you click on ‘Book a Ticket’ you’ll be asked to confirm your group size. This will always default to 3 people and can be amended with the plus and minus buttons. You must ensure you select the correct group size number as if you do not, you will not be allowed to enter the physical queue when your time is called.
Whilst some Cast Members may make allowances for small children in prams not having a ticket, they technically don’t have to. Rather than being disappointed later, count everyone in your party no matter their age.
After you have used the plus and minus buttons to select your party size, click on validate.
Step 6 – Take this ticket
This is the step that seems to cause the most confusion and frustration for people using the Lineberty app.
As soon as you have confirmed your party size, an estimated wait time will appear. All too often people will think this means they have completed their booking, but at this point, you do not have a confirmed booking.
In order to finalise the booking, you need to click on the ‘take this ticket’ button.
A lot of people start to plan their day around the estimated wait time that is shown on the screen at this stage, and spend so long doing so that all the tickets that are available are claimed. Instead, ignore the wait time and just click on ‘take this ticket’ to secure your booking.
The wait time shown is an estimate, and from experience we have found that the estimate shown can vary dramatically. We’ve had queues that said our estimated wait time was 20 minutes and nearly 2 hours later we’re still waiting, and we’ve had ones that say our estimated wait time is 15 minutes and 2 minutes later we’re called. Don’t focus on the time shown, focus on clicking ‘take this ticket’.
After you’ve clicked on ‘take this ticket’ you’ll either be taken to a page saying you were successful or a page showing that the queue is closed (i.e. fully booked).
If you are successful, you’ll be able to see the ticket number and your estimated wait time under the ‘My Tickets’ section of the Lineberty app.
Step 7 – Go to your ticketed event
Once your virtual queue number is called, the app will make your device vibrate and an alert saying “it’s your turn” will be displayed.
You then need to make your way over to the relevant meet and greet point, event or trading location. A Cast Member will ask to see your ticket on the app and then tick you off on their tablet. You’ll then join a physical queue. For meet and greets, these queues are normally no more than 15 minutes at the most.
Lineberty Top Tips
As with any app, there’s somethings you can do that can make life a bit easier, along with some hints that may help you get a ticket you desperately want.
After many trips to Disneyland Paris, these are the top tips we’ve come up with that have helped us see multiple characters in a day.
Tip 1 – Use multiple devices
When you take a ticket on Lineberty, you’re unable to take another ticket until that one has been completed or cancelled. But this is done on a per device basis.
If you are desperate to meet Mickey Mouse, there is absolutely nothing to stop everyone in your party trying to get a booking. Equally, if you want to get as many characters as possible, you could allocate each person a character to try for.
Make sure you maximise your chances of getting the Lineberty ticket you want by using every device you have with you.
Tip 2 – Be on the app before the queue opens
As soon as the queue opens, everyone tries to open the app to get a ticket. This can cause a bottleneck trying to join the relevant page to get a ticket. But, if you’re in the app already and simply refreshing the page, you can often get a ticket before the people around you have even opened the app.
Tip 3 – Check for tickets throughout the day
Whilst Lineberty is a virtual queue, there is still a Cast Member that is managing the physical queue. This means if the physical queue moves quickly, more tickets can become available throughout the day. We keep checking throughout the day just in case, and a couple of times new tickets have become available. When you’re waiting for a ride, you may as well have a quick check!
Tip 4 – Try for popular characters mid-week
Obviously, this tip only works if you are in the parks on a weekday / your Lineberty doesn’t relate to a time specific event. The weekends are the most popular time to visit Disneyland Paris, which means there’s also more people trying to get the spots on Lineberty. Flipside, this also means mid-week there are fewer people, so you increase the likelihood of being able to get a ticket. If you’re at Disneyland Paris for a few days you’ll probably have more luck mid-week – though that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try if you are there over a weekend!
Lineberty Pros and Cons
The Lineberty app is a marmite situation; you either love it or you hate it. There’s plenty of solid arguments on both sides, but either way the Lineberty app looks like it is here to stay at Disneyland Paris.
The Good
The best thing about the Lineberty app is that the virtual queue allows you to carry on with your day. You don’t have to spend hours in a queue for a character, you can just reserve a place with a couple of clicks and then carry on enjoying all that Disneyland Paris has to offer.
Everyone we have spoken to who has only experienced Walt Disney World seems to think Lineberty is a fantastic idea. You don’t have to queue in whatever the weather is, or worry that you’re wasting your day by standing just to meet your favourite character.
If you think of Lineberty as an electronic fast pass that is only available on the day, then it’s hard to see any negatives with the system in place.
The Bad
Lineberty is not operated by Disneyland Paris. This means there is no integration with the Disneyland Paris park app, and if the Lineberty app goes down (as we have seen happen in the parks) there’s no backup.
Add to that, Lineberty is quite temperamental and prone to crashing. Particularly when there’s a lot of people using the app, which let’s face it every time a queue is opening up there’s going to be a high volume using the app.
Another criticism some people have is towards individual Cast Members and how they manage the physical queues.
Some Cast Members will let people whose number hasn’t been called yet join the queue. If you were due to be called in the next batch, then I can understand a Cast Member letting you in, but there are numerous reports of people joining the physical queue when their ticket isn’t due to be called for another 4 hours. This obviously makes the entire virtual queue pointless, and isn’t fair on the people who are waiting longer than necessary.
Covid-19 Updates
As Disneyland Paris has re-opened with social distancing measures in place, direct character interactions are not possible. They have, however, opened up a range of selfie spots and character meets that ordinarily would not be possible. These include being able to take selfies with Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Sven at the Frozen Celebration, and selfies with random characters from the Mickey and the Magician stage show.
In order to limit numbers for some of these selfie spots, Lineberty is being used as a virtual queue. The system works entirely the same as outlined above, but you will see an increase in the number of characters you can select.
Disneyland Paris have also announced they’ll be re-introducing some of their stage shows and parades in a socially distanced way, and will again by using Lineberty for reservations for these.
Lineberty in Action
If you want to see the app in action before you arrive at Disneyland Paris, we have a Lineberty video over on our YouTube channel.
