Disneyland Paris.
Howdy folks! After a LONG 12 hours in a train yesterday, I’m now back in Vienna after several days in Paris. (Separate blog coming for all my Paris highlights, but the main point of the trip was to visit Miloš, as the ship he works on was docked in Paris.)
While I was over there, I got to visit Disneyland Paris for a day. I was excited to have an experience at a different Disney park, having visited Disney World in Florida SO many times. I was eager to see the similarities and differences. Since I’ve been going to Disney World in Florida my whole life, I know it inside and out. So I could easily notice the differences between the two locations.
This blog entry is mostly about my observations comparing the two locations, while giving information on the attractions at Disneyland Paris. Just see me as a Disney World veteran making her first trip to another Disney park.
Here’s a little bit of info for those who have never been to one or either of these special parks – just to give you a set up for the comparison.
Walt Disney World (WDW) in Florida basically has four full sized theme parks, two large water parks, and an incredibly large entertainment district as well. (There’s much more, but those are the highlights. WDW is approximately the size of Manhattan.)
Disneyland Paris is made up of two small theme parks, and has a small shopping area right outside the parks. It is located outside of Paris, and it took me about an hour to get there via train.
The total train ride cost €7.20 each way. (Or really close to that – seven and change.) That included the portion riding on the Metro AND the RER train.
When you get out at the stop for Disney (last stop on the line), the parks are right there. You walk out and you are immediately near the security bag check line.
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The two parks there are Disneyland and Disney Studios. Disneyland is similar to Magic Kingdom in WDW, and Disney Studios is similar to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in WDW.
First impression? These parks were so small! (Especially Disney Studios.) Everything was done on a much tinier scale. Main Street was really short – maybe by half the length of the Magic Kingdom’s equivalent. (But they played the same music through the air as WDW’s Main Street!) The various lands inside each park were also much smaller.
Other initial impressions? (my summary…)
-Disney is Disney – the park was exceptionally clean everywhere, and the employees were very friendly – even the French ones!
-Many similar rides to WDW. But some were the same in name only. (Can we say Space Mountain??? Holy cow! NOT the same!)
-Less details in comparison to WDW. As a result, it just wasn’t as magical. Don’t get me wrong, there were still some lovely wonderful touches, but not to the degree of what WDW has to offer.
-Not really many places to sit down and relax or people watch. Seriously, no benches?
-You enter Disney Studios through a big warehouse sized building with lots of stores and counter service dining – I thought it was a clever idea.
-Hardly any dining options. Dining is HUGE in WDW, whereas here it seemed to be a bit of an after thought. The counter service selection was woefully lacking – not many restaurants, and no food variety. It was more like amusement park food, sadly. (Whereas in WDW, you never have to eat a single bite of “amusement park food” if you don’t want to.)
-Umm…. do Europeans not hold their arms up EVER on roller coasters? They all sat so seriously in their seats, holding tightly to the bars. Loosen up people! Throw your arms in the air and scream! (Although being a singer, I yell in a healthy, supported singer way. 😉 )
Now for some more in-depth info….
The castle here is Sleeping Beauty Castle. (WDW has Cinderella Castle.) This particular castle was (shocker!) much smaller, BUT I did like the set up inside. You could go upstairs and look around – inside AND on the balcony overlooking Fantasyland. There were two shops inside – one had various hand crafted souvenirs (kind of like the old, long-gone shop in Cinderella Castle at WDW), while the other was a Christmas store. And under the castle? Even cooler. There are tunnels that lead to the dragon’s lair, where you will find the dragon resting in its dark cave. THAT to me is what I call a “Disney detail” – something really special and thoughtfully executed. I loved that!
