France – Part 3 – Disneyland Paris
I wrote a few articles about my pre-Disneyland Paris planning in early April before I left which compared the planning differences that I had noticed. Now that I have gone, let’s talk about the real differences.
The overall feeling and park structure of Disneyland Paris is very much like it is at Disneyland in California. The Disneyland Hotel was very nice, had breakfast included and was truly right at the entrance to the park. The food at both the quick service and casual sit down restaurants at Disneyland Paris were very similar to what you experience in either California or Florida. Which makes sense since the park was designed to mirror the original at least in content.
As far as the rides, many were similar to what you would expect here, but Disneyland Paris was much more widespread in its layout than Disneyland in CA or the Magic Kingdom. It felt like there was so much more green space and transitional space between things. This made for a more casual feeling, with a lot of trees for shade and hidden pathways between attractions. It was very pleasant, if not a little confusing for Disney park regulars like us. Many times, some of our favorite rides like Pirates of the Caribbean and Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion) had very short waits of 5 minutes so it was really easy to ride some of them multiple times. I will tell you that I was disappointed with the Adventure World park – the second park of Disneyland Paris. Think Disney California Adventure – with less stuff. Both of the Cars rides there were not very exciting, and we didn’t even ride them more than once. The only parts of Adventure World that we loved were Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (the same as at EPCOT in Florida) and the World of Frozen (which had only opened about 2 weeks before we went) which is centered around the Frozen ride like in Epcot.
Disney Village was also not as expansive as either Downtown Disney in CA or Disney Springs in FL. However, they are doing a lot of work and additions to that area so I will be interested when we visit again if they add more stores and restaurants. I am also very happy that we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel as all other “on property” hotels were out past the Disney Village so definitely not as easy to access the parks.
One final note is the people aspect. Everyone was polite and it was clearly not as crowded (especially as compared to Disneyland in CA) but the French are not into the Disney “dress code”. You could tell we were American as Peter, and I never go into a Disney park without our Disney shirts and accessories. The French did not partake in the Dress code other than for their kids and some of the women had Disney headbands. It was a very surreal realization when we were standing in a line for a ride. In US parks literally everyone is dressed in some sort of Disney attire – but not in France. We had to go and look it up – it was just so odd to us – but apparently the French and other Europeans don’t see Disney as a lifestyle brand, which made the lack of park gear make sense. Even the shops had very few adult items, and 90% of that was for women. However, I will tell you that Peter was stopped several times by locals to ask about his Disney shirts. He wears button up short sleeve shirts from a brand called RSVLTS that are very nice looking. One guy actually grabbed his arm to stop him and ask about his shirt. So, maybe he can change their thinking! Regardless, I can assure you that we will always dress for Disney!!
Yes, we will go back to Disneyland Paris, it was fun and we enjoyed it.
