Comparison Is A Thief of Joy: A Domestic Disney Parkgoer's First Experience at Disneyland Paris
Recently, I took a trip to Disneyland Paris for the first time. It was an incredible experience, but comparison is the thief of joy - and I am joyless individual in that regard and could not help but compare the experience to what I know here in the United States - the Disneyland Resort and the Walt Disney World Resort. With Walt Disney World as my literal backyard, and much of my youth and frequent trips to Anaheim to compare against, I have to wonder how Disneyland Paris stands out. Does it exceed, or fail to meet expectations?
A Nouveau Way To Design A Park
Disneyland Paris is - quite simply - stunning. From the entrance alone, full of winding pathways, lush gardens, and fountains leading up to the Disneyland Hotel (which is situated above the ticket booths and turnstiles) this park promises a level of beauty that I have never experienced stateside.
Once inside the park, it only got better. While the park still had the traditional hub and spokes, but instead of being in straight paths right off the circular center, there are winding paths that spill into the lands - Frontierland, Adventureland (trading spots with each other compared to Disneyland and Magic Kingdom), Fantasyland, and Discoveryland (Tomorrowland stateside). The paths give a more organic and, dare I say, art nouveau feel. Which was likely the intent.
Much has already been written about the stunning castle at this park - Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant - and it’s even more beautiful than I expected. The interior is just as gorgeous, complete with walk-through experiences telling the story of Sleeping Beauty or giving the option to go enjoy the upper exterior levels of the castle. Of course, the show-stealing moment lies beneath the castle, where a dragon is kept and entertaining those who trek into the caverns.
The whole park felt like it was designed with intention and flowed seamlessly, though the only area that I felt was lacking was the park’s Adventureland. My Florida park eyes were constantly reminded of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in areas, and being between Fantasyland and Frontierland makes sense transition-wise (if you think about it, relying heavily on Pirates in my opinion), but fails to live up to the immersive worlds of Thunder Mesa (Frontierland) and the fantastical designs of Fantasyland.
Signage throughout the park, with carved characters and sculpts throughout, remind me of the craft and care that the parks used to take in their design. Overall, the park is a textbook example of themed entertainment design, and being the fourth castle park from Disney, built on and perfected what they’ve learned over the earlier generations.
Live Entertainment
One thing that was pleasantly surprising was the amount of live entertainment and how impressive it was. Having made the journey to the park for their Halloween festivities, I was expecting a level of greatness to the entertainment that warranted the trek, but it surpassed all of my expectations.
The standard daily parade itself was impressive, with floats that were akin to a Cirque du Soleil act on each unit, and that was just before the Halloween parade, which turned the hub into a full party with numerous stages, floats, and street dancers.
While many of the stage shows that were labeled “Can’t Miss" on my Disneyland Paris app were closed for the season (The Lion King-based show in Frontierland and Mickey and the Magician at Walt Disney Studios Park), I was able to enjoy one I desperately wanted to see - Together: A Pixar Musical Adventure. Going in blind with no knowledge of what to expect - I was surprised to see an orchestra set up on stage as the theater loaded. What followed was admittedly not what I expected (a symphonic performance of Pixar scores while clips played), but instead a cute revue show that featured music and numbers themed to Pixar classics, all tying into a heartwarming overall tale about a girl who has lost all her sheet music. It was a great surprise and proved that Disneyland Paris entertainment continued to wow me throughout my trip.
The most show-stopping experience happened in the night sky - with Disney Tales of Magic above Disneyland Park. There wasn’t a moment in this show where my jaw wasn’t on the ground. Whether it was the incredible drones, the 32k (not official, just saying that based on how crisp and clear they were) quality projections on the castle and on Main Street, or even just the use of “He Lives in You" in a nighttime spectacular. Having braved the crowds for this show on different nights, refusing to only watch it a single time, this nighttime show might have been my favorite part of the whole journey. And brave the crowd for this show, I did, but the mass exodus afterward was no problem, thanks to another favorite part of the park’s design.
Discovery Arcade / Liberty Arcade
I cannot put into words how these two areas astounded me. While on the surface, they seem like beautifully designed shelters from the elements that allow guests to still enjoy the Main Street U.S.A. ambience and shopping and dining - but as someone who worked in operations and guest flow at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom (specifically on Main Street USA) - these sections of the land are absolutely genius.
Having opened with the park, these two arcades (in the French sense of the word, not the video game-based fun center definition) not only enhance the atmosphere but are also flanked on either side of Main Street, behind the storefronts in what we American parkgoers might call a “bypass."
As Disneyland and Magic Kingdom crowds have grown substantially, both parks have devised ways to move guests in and out of the park’s main thoroughfare through these backstage areas to ease congestion on the street itself - with mixed results. Both now open service gates and take guests through undesirable locations. While California has ingenious rollers and curtains to make guests feel like they are in a secret hallway with attraction posters, Florida’s western side takes us through a pathway of parking cones past the Main Street Vehicles maintenance bay - if the parade floats for the evening procession aren’t in the way. On the eastern side, formerly denoted by movable planters, guests pass through this chute past dumpsters and a cast member grill/break area. The area has since been “beautifed" with go-away-green walls and trees, but the dumpster and break area remain. The area is also spruced up with additional decor on Halloween and Christmas party nights, as these serve as an entrance to those attending the separately-ticketed festivities to help with mix-in attendance as the park clears its normal day guests.
These pathways pale in comparison to the purposefully designed arcades in Paris that allow guests to move through a beautiful area during parades, fireworks, and park exits, still accessing stores and restaurants which I’m sure keep the accountants happy.
Merchandise
That said, the accountants would be happier if there was a better selection of merchandise. Most of the selection is fun and character based, which plays well in some regards. However, if you’re looking for simple, destination specific merchandise with a Disneyland Paris logo - you might be out of luck based on my visit.
Most anything (in terms of apparel) that said Disneyland Paris at all had a character with it. Few options had Mickey or the fab five, but more often than not one would find Stitch, Pooh, Simba, or other characters (and their color scheme) on the merchandise with the destination as an afterthought.
The basic Disneyland Paris apparel was kept strictly to hoodies and Spirit Jerseys. It should also be noted that on my arrival, much of the Christmas and holiday merchandise had just debuted, marking a new season of merchandise at the stores. When I asked a helpful Cast Member why I couldn’t find a simple t-shirt or baseball cap, they did mention that those items were plentiful only a week prior, with the winter items having displaced “last season’s collection."
So perhaps my desire or expectation to find baseball hats and t-shirts that just say “Disneyland Paris" throughout the stores was rooted in a cultural misunderstanding, as Stateside these items are in abundance year-round.
Though my quest for apparel was less than fruitful, Disneyland Paris has unique gifts all their own. I loved the resin statues of different and obscure characters (with their base also showing the Disneyland Paris logo), as I’m a fan of desk-displayed tchotchkes and knick knacks. They also had items that I was stunned haven’t appeared anywhere stateside yet - a backpack that folds itself down into a pocket sized pouch covered in park logos and iconography. These were an instant purchase and easy gift idea that didn’t break the bank, and would do gangbusters over here. Special books celebrating their unique versions of classic Disney attractions at the park were also a great find.
Classics In New Way
One of the things I was looking most forward to on my visit were the Paris versions of classic Disney Parks attractions - namely the highly touted Haunted Mansion iteration, Phantom Manor. I can say with ease that it lived up to the hype, though some might argue it was better pre-2018 when the attraction received some enhancements that helped tell the unique story more clearly.
While the story itself is fantastic, telling the story of a cursed Bride-to-be and the fates of her various suitors, the whole experience isn’t just in the Manor but ties into all of Frontierland as a whole, including Big Thunder Mountain and the various shops and restaurants. It’s mythmaking at its finest and more attention should be drawn to it.
The closest thing that I can compare it to as an Orlando-local is the mythmaking of Dinoland U.S.A. at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which is told largely through detail and displays in the land tying the Boneyard playground to Restaurantosaurus and the Dino Institute and Chester and Hester, etc. etc. Not that any of that matters anymore.
Pirates of the Caribbean was another standout for the way it was told, almost entirely in reverse from what I’m used to and I loved it.
Fantasyland’s Casey Jr. Circus Train and Le Pays des Contes de Fées (AKA Storybook Land Canal Boats) were another standout for me, with the former being more of a propelled coaster, reminding me more of the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride at Universal’s Islands of Adventure than its California predecessor. The boats were also fantastic, with their cable car like system that substantially decreased their wait time in comparison to the California original. Not to mention that Pixar’s Up was represented in the attraction, as well as the Night on Bald Mountain sequence from Fantasia.
Discover Tomorrow Today
While I couldn’t enjoy Space Mountain as originally designed at this park - thanks in large part due to the many refurbishments since 1992, the most recent of which has left the classic with a Star Wars theme - I did walk through Discoveryland and was somehow transported to Disneyland’s Tomorrowland in 1998. This time, I only thought of “Oh, so this is what they were TRYING to do." Obviously, the land was designed from the jump with the retro-futuristic Jules Verne theme, and I loved the Nautilus walk-through - almost a subterranean Swiss Family Treehouse - so it was executed better than what happened in California those many years ago.
However, Discoveryland still seemed to fall victim to the outdated and confused feel of domestic Tomorrowlands. Even though closed for refurbishment, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast didn’t fit in and the bulk of the building (the former Le Visionarium AKA The Time Keeper) blended with the land while the Buzz Lightyear accoutrement seemed tacked on. Like California, Star Wars has taken over, giving another thematic conundrum. While the Wall-E and EVE statue near Star Tours was a favorite of mine, I can acknowledge that it didn’t belong there save for being futuristic, sci-fi, or otherwise space related. Videopolis was reminiscent of Alien Pizza Planet or Cosmic Ray’s, not only in cuisine but in the general vibe of “simple=popular, therefore we keep it" in an outdated dining sense. But Discoveryland wasn’t the only confused space I saw at the Disneyland Paris resort.
Walt Disney Studios Park
Up front, I know that this park is currently going through massive changes and a new identity that is set to officially debut next year, and my visit was on the tail end of the park’s former life. That said, Walt Disney Studios Park was somehow even more disappointing than I expected.
I have heard since opening, from people who’ve been all the way to The Imagineering Story on Disney+ that this park is probably the worst park Disney has ever made.
In fairness, I heard the same once upon a time about Disney’s California Adventure. I was there in the park’s first year and liked it. I thought it was fun, but definitely not Disneyland. Compared to the Walt Disney Studios Park, at least DCA had cohesion and an idea of what it was doing, though it wasn’t up to a Disney standard, especially when compared to the park next door.
Similarly, Walt Disney Studios Park, compared to the neighboring Disneyland Paris leads you to walk in and wonder “why?" The beauty and skilled design of the original park next door is forgotten for whatever reason. And based on what changes are coming and the mismatched pathways of the park that are slowly revealing themselves, is an aesthetic choice that is not going to be fixed anytime soon.
Having witnessed firsthand the changes of Disney’s Hollywood Studios, EPCOT recently, and even DCA back in 2010 when the parks were mostly defined by construction walls, this experience was nothing new. However, what was left open and experienced was a confusing mismatch of highly themed off-the-shelf experiences that left me no desire to get into their queue. Top of mind was easily the Cars-themed Quatre Roues Rally - which borrowed elements and design from DCA’s Cars Land like neon signs and marquees, all for the queue of what can easily be compared to Francis’ Lady Bug Boogie from A Bug’s Land that was once at DCA. A small kid-sized dare I say carnival attraction. To show that confusion, after you go through Cars Land lite - you go past Toy Story Playland and the Ratatouille-themed area to discover...another Cars ride?
Cars Road Trip
Anybody who has anything to say to me about Superstar Limo, Journey into YOUR Imagination, Rocket Rods, heck, even Sounds Dangerous Starring Drew Carey, Light Magic, Stitch’s Great Escape, and the others in the pantheon of notoriously terrible Disney attractions can all sit down until they’ve experienced Cars Road Trip.
Built from the skeleton of the park’s former Backlot Tour, this tram ride takes guests to Cars-tastrophe Canyon and that’s about it.
Once aboard, guests discover that they are going on a road trip, past landmarks and other locations on the map, including a stop at Cars-tastrophe Canyon - the last remnant of the tram experience that might also be familiar to fans of the former Disney-MGM Studios/Disney’s Hollywood Studios and their backlot tour.
After the tram departs, passengers see McQueen visiting the world’s largest lugnut in statue form, alongside Luigi and Guido. Then, it's onto the canyon and the only highlight of the experience - which honestly, is built mostly on nostalgia for the majority of the guests, whether they experienced it in the park’s former tour or stateside. For anybody new to the canyon, they’ve now just witnessed a happy, sentient truck (like the cars in the world of Cars are) explode from the back end and get quickly extinguished by a rush of cool water. Again….why?
After that, it's the road back to the station, passing by an Eiffel tower built of car parts - another statue based vignette - before pulling back in and disembarking the ride vehicles.
Outside of capacity, I have no explanation for how this attraction exists, and I have no doubt it is on the chopping block for the future of this park. As for now, it is clearly and unquestionably the worst thing I have experienced in a Disney park and was a laughingstock to all the locals I befriended on my travels. There is a reason it never breaks a 10-minute wait, and it’s not just its hourly through-put.
Premier Access
Speaking of minimal waits, another thing that Disneyland Paris did right for me was their Premier Access system. We call it Lightning Lane over here. In lieu of our system that allows for three at a time and having to schedule based on what’s available when you’re looking, and the critical details of experiencing an attraction before picking another or waiting two hours and all those - Disneyland Paris allows you two simple options: 1. Buy an Ultimate Access pass, which allows one visit to each Premier Access lane option whenever you want (starting at 90 euros) or 2. A One Access Pass for individual attractions that you can use on the Premier Access attraction of your choice in an allocated time slot (starting at 5 euros).
So the system doesn’t fill your options with experiences you might not care as much about or typically have minimal waits like it does stateside (cough cough The Seas with Nemo and Friends), and you can either do all or whatever your priority is. Had I not had been able to enjoy a shorter wait for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland Paris during an Extra Magic Time (a hotel benefit), I might have pulled the trigger on a One Access Pass for this attraction, and just having that option for that single experience was a far greater alternative to me than what we have in the States.
That said, it did almost blur the line between the old ticket book system even further than our Lightning Lane Multipass and Individual passes already tend to do.
Outside the Gates
Beyond the parks, the Disney Village is also going through a massive transformation. This led the main thoroughfare to be filled with walls before getting up to the hotels of the area.
All confined to one area (aside from the Davy Crockett Ranch), the convenience is unparalleled when compared to the expanse of Walt Disney World, being able to walk to the parks from each. It was a strange juxtaposition of vibes from walkability and proximity of Anaheim and the resort options of Walt Disney World.
All in all, the whole experience showcased how each destination is incredibly different and unique while also staying strikingly similar to their sisters around the globe. I hope to return again, and all the negatives I discovered on my journey are mostly temporary and currently in progress of being fixed, so I hope to see it only improve in the future. What I do know is that Mouse Fan Travel helped me experience Disneyland Paris for the first time, and if you’d like to experience the same, be sure to reach out to them.