Disneyland Paris

 Hello everyone,

I had a pretty good sleep last night and only woke twice, which I think is pretty good when you’re jetlagged and sleeping through what is the day time in Melbourne!

Ian and Robyn must have needed the sleep in, because they didn’t wake up before I left for Disneyland. I got ready quietly and headed off to the metro and then the RER. I enjoyed two pain au chocolat for breakfast (yum!) and an apple. I also enjoyed talking to Mum and Pa on the train ride.

I arrived at Disneyland Paris approximately 30 minutes early. Much like myself, Disneyland Paris is turning 30 this year! Anyone that knows me well knows I’m a huge Disneyland fan. I’ve now visited four Disney parks - Anaheim three times, Florida once, Hong Kong once and now Paris once. Due to having visited the city of Paris twice previously, I couldn’t resist checking it out this time. My inner Disney nerd loves comparing the parks and the rides.

Disneyland Paris (then known as Euro Disneyland) opened on April 12, 1992. Europe was a huge Disney market, and France was chosen as it had relatively decent weather, a large expanse of land available, and was close to the British isles. For the first few years of its existence, it was met with resistance from the French people. The French are very protective of their culture and were worried something like Euro Disney would take over it. Things like castles etc that are exotic to Americans are pretty standard here in Europe. A recession also hit soon after the park hit, and as a result, only 25,000 people showed up on opening day despite the park having a capacity of 60,000.

In the first 2-3 years, the park nearly went broke. In 1994, it was rebranded as Disneyland Paris, Space Mountain opened, the recession passed and deals to defer the $3 billion of debt the park was in all saved the park. You wouldn’t know today it wasn’t popular at one stage. Even today on a Monday not in school holidays, it was packed!

When I arrived, the front entrance was very different to Anaheim, a more European style. It was also under works, I suspect to be ready for the Olympics in 2024. I then joined a queue and was fairly close to the front.

In anticipation of my visit, I had been checking attraction wait times on the app sometimes at home to suss out what I should go for first. As a result, I headed to Thunder Mountain first. It was a 15 minute wait even before the park opened, and has no single rider queue. In ‘The Imagineering Story’ (a Disney documentary), they say that Thunder Mountain in Paris is the best one created. I could quickly see why. Seated next to a young Spanish girl travelling with her family, I screamed my head off and so did she! This version of Thunder was much faster, and starts off going underneath the lake in the pitch black to travel to the island the ride mostly takes place on. It was fab.

Next up was Phantom Manor, basically a French version of the Haunted Mansion. It was good, but lacked a clear context and probably seemed really random to anyone that hadn’t looked into it or watched the Disney documentary. The story that I can vaguely remember from the Disney documentary is that the founder of the Thunder Mountain Mining Company built a house where an evil spirit was said to live. His daughter then had terrible luck with suitors down the track, all meeting a terrible end, including the one she was supposed to marry. Basically it was the Haunted Mansion but with that theme.

I wandered around to Indiana Jones after this. On the way, I heard an American Mum trying to convince her daughter to go on it. “It’s just a jeep ride with some corners”. She was very wrong. Totally different to the California version, this was a rollercoaster that even went upside down. It even caught me by surprise!! Her daughter would have been terrified.

I wandered through the Skull Rock and Captain Hook’s Pirate Ship area (which were original features in Anaheim but were removed in 1982 when Fantasyland was updated and replaced with Dumbo). Then I went onto my favourite, Pirates of the Caribbean. It was great as always, and I found it hilarious seeing and hearing all the pirates speaking French, particularly Johnny Depp at the end.

I then headed to Peter Pan because the app said it was a 5 minute wait. The app was very wrong! It ended up being about 40 minutes which was a bit annoying. But it’s a favourite so never mind. Soon after I left, it shut down due to technical issues, so at least I got to go on it!

Space Mountain was next, and I bypassed a mammoth queue in the single rider lane. It’s based in Discoveryland here, not Tomorrowland like in California. Everything was very brassy/telescopic/explorer looking instead of California’s white theme. Space Mountain started off outside here which was interesting. You’re catapulted up the outside at the start. It felt more intense than the one in California!

I then stumbled across a parade in the sun in front of the castle which was lovely. In the very first lockdown in 2020, Disney posted videos of fireworks and parades of the past. I said to Rob at the time “it won’t feel like everything is getting back to normal until people can go to those again”. It felt great to be back enjoying one, and it was lovely seeing little kids bopping along to the music and waving to characters. May have done both of those things myself as well!!

Afterwards, I headed over to the second park for a while, Walt Disney Studios, which opened in 2002. I went to queue up for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, but then chickened out. Instead I grabbed a waffle to eat, and then I went on the Ratatouille ride in the single rider queue. It was very clever and I really enjoyed it - it was cool having a specifically French Disney film made into a ride here, and I had recently rewatched it. It used magnetic technology instead of a track, you wore 3D glasses and were in the kitchen of Gusteau’s restaurant being chased around, whizzing under cabinets, avoiding food etc.

Next up was Cars Road Trip, which was a very chilled drive around kids ride. At one point there were some fire and water elements that were cool. I followed this up with Crush’s Coaster (‘Finding Nemo’ themed). En route Ratatouille had closed for the day due to tech issues. I had had to purchase a fast pass for the Crush ride as the queue was consistently 80+ minutes all day, which I refused to wait in. It was a bit of a rip off at €16, but the ride was really fun! It caught me off guard too though, as I had pictured a tame kids’ ride. This was a rollercoaster intended to represent your journey through the EAC. Lots of direction changes and drops! More hectic than Space Mountain even.

Which brings me back to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. In 2005 when Mum and Dad took Adam and I to Disneyland in California, Disney were testing this ride as it was about to open. I was really scared of rides back then and Mum and Dad got me to go on it. I full on freaked out in the queue and cried and carried on, but I went on. When I went back as an adult, it was shut in 2017 as it was being reimagined into a Guardians of the Galaxy ride. In 2020 I went on it with Rob but freaked out and cried on the ride. It goes up and drops really fast, and I hate that feeling. So naturally, it made total sense to force myself to go on it alone today!! Haha. I couldn’t not, because it’s only Paris and Florida that have the original (and better) Hollywood theme, and I’m never returning to Florida so this was my one chance. I must have looked scared in the queue, because a lovely French lady asked if I was ok. I said I was scared and had been on it before and had a bad experience. She turned around right as it was about to start and gave me a big thumbs up, and another when it finished, saying “you did it!” It was just as terrifying as I remembered!! But I did it, I didn’t cry or freak out, and she kindly downloaded the photo on her photo pass and is going to email it to me tomorrow so I have proof I went on it!

After this, I wandered towards the park’s exit and got a photo with Goofy, before heading back into the main park. Now that I had enjoyed all the main rides I wanted to, I wandered around and did some walk through attractions, including Aladdin and Alice’s Curious Labyrinth. I then enjoyed a delicious three scoop ice cream, which weirdly was cheaper than the two scoops I bought in the city yesterday, before visiting the Sleeping Beauty Castle. In this version, you can walk beneath the castle and see an animatronic dragon which was amazing and very lifelike. There are also shops inside the castle and a really cool Sleeping Beauty walkthrough as well.

My final ride was Thunder Mountain again. I was so chuffed with myself for going on The Twilight Zone that I bought a fast pass and skipped the 100 minute queue (why would anyone queue for that long?!). Enjoyed it immensely again!

Finally, I sat in Main Street and enjoyed the 30 minute parade. Disney know how to do a parade, it was fabulous! I did a final walk around Fantasyland, watching the carousel for a while, before conceding that jetlag was taking over once again.

So, what’s my verdict? No Disney park will ever come close to Anaheim in my opinion, it is the original and best that Walt was actively involved in designing and building. However, the Parisian park has its own charm and you can definitely tell they learned and improved some of the ways they built things here (eg Thunder Mountain being bigger and a more comprehensive castle walkthrough). It’s also very prettily designed. I did think though that the park lacked some of “special” I’ve experienced at the other three I’ve visited. I saw people vaping and not being told off, staff didn’t seem to be able to answer questions I asked, and many looked disinterested and were on the phones. In California, everyone is so friendly and helpful you feel like you’re in an amazing and kind alternate universe where everyone is friendly. Overall, I had an amazing day and really enjoyed myself. It was worth a day trip from Paris but I probably wouldn’t spend multiple days like I do in California when I go.

I headed back on the train around 6.30pm, and emerged out of the Sainte Paul metro station to find a cute boulangerie and fromagerie next door to one another. I took it as a sign. Ordered a baguette and two macaroons, and two cheeses (brie and comte) with some help from the lovely shop assistant. Then I bought some raspberries and juice at the supermarket, before enjoying my feast back at the apartment. It was so sunny wandering back despite it being 7pm. People everywhere enjoying the sun. This is the life!

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox

PS: Lots of photos below - apologies!