Europe Part 11 - Disneyland Paris


Below are just some of the photos from this part. See all of them with high-res versions at Flickr.

111 Disneyland Paris photos - CLICK HERE.




Back where it all began. The overnight from Barcelona arrived in Paris at around 9 AM, and I found my way out to the eastern outskirts of the city on the RER. Funny thing I found here. Turns out that to actually exit the RER stations in Paris, you must scan your ticket. The ticket I bought was apparently not valid this far out on the line, so here I am in the station unable to leave with no one else around. Eventually somebody came through a stroller gate and I was able to squeeze out.



Another nice day for an amusement park. When I arrived I was surprised to find that for only $15 more, I could do both parks in the same day. The place looked fairly dead, so I went for it.



First stop: Discoveryland.



Star Tours seems a little out of place here when Hollywood Studios is right next door.



Maybe not quite as exciting as when I was a kid, but still a great ride. French C3PO was amusing.



Here is one of the most unique parts of the French Disneyland. Space Mountain: Mission 2.



This is the extreme version of the classic California and Florida ride.



The family friendly turns and dips are replaced with a launch through this tunnel and a few inversions.



Unfortunately, it is Vekoma, and has shoulder restraints. The layout is great and the effects are fantastic. Replace those restraints with lap bars and you've got a fantastic ride. As it is, it's still pretty cool, but not worth more than a ride or two.



Next, I headed into Les Mysteres du Nautilus. I thought I was queueing for a ride, perhaps a la 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but when I emerged back out onto the midway I realized that I had just been in the actual attraction, which was just a walk-through. How disappointing.



The last time I was at a Disney park was the Magic Kingdom around 10 years ago, so many things in France were new to me. Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast was one such thing.



Aside from the fact that we e-stopped a number of times (a common occurence here), this was a great ride (based on a great movie). You can control your car's spin with a joystick while you shoot at targets.



This year is the 15th anniversary of Disneyland Paris. The park still seems small, and the Studios are even smaller. Sleeping Beauty's Castle is very different from Cinderella's Castle; designers rightly felt that it would be silly to build a fake castle in Europe inspired by a real European castle.



The wild west themed restaurant here was significantly better than the one at Port Aventura.



Surprisingly good ribs.



I assumed there would be a Splash Mountain here, but was shocked to find that there was not. The centerpiece of the park is Big Thunder Mountain.



I missed the entrance for that, but did stumble upon Phantom Manor, which is what the Haunted Mansion is called here.



Yet another ride that was e-stopped halfway through. Also, I actually think the Europa Park ripoff may be a better ride.



Big Thunder Mountain was one of the few attractions in the park with a line. For some reason everyone was going right when the line split, so by going left I waited half as long.



Big Thunder is fittingly the centerpiece of the park, because it is one of the best mine trains ever.



As I said, it's been a while, so I can't really remember Big Thunder in Florida that well, but this one seemed a good bit better.



This coaster had such great pacing, and was really well integrated with the mountain and theming.



I even made sure I came back around again before I left to get another ride.



This would have been an unpleasant surprise had I not happened to check the Disney website a few days before my trip. Indiana Jones was down for rehab, but I knew that going in. The entire midway was blocked off, so I couldn't even go look at the coaster.



They have Pirates of the Caribbean, sans the movie makeover (unless I just wasn't very observant).



Great ride. I don't think the Europa Park version quite lived up to the real thing.



I really like Alice in Wonderland, so I thought this attraction (Alice's Curious Labyrinth) was really cool.



It's a hedge maze, and it is actually fairly difficult.



The objective is to make it to the center, where you can climb to the top of this tower to get a good view of the park.



Now, for a little annoyance.



This ride... is just so terrible. Sorry. Don't send me any mail bombs, please.



Well, that didn't take long. I hit all of my must-dos at Parc Disneyland, then headed literally next door.



As far as I'm concerned these parks might as well be merged into one. To me, there are really only three things of note in this park.



The entrance is kind of neat. The indoor plaza is great for those frequent rainy French days like today.



This is pretty much the whole park right here.



Seems like Buzz Lightyear and Star Tours would be more fitting here (and yes, I realize Star Tours was built before the Studios).



Flying Carpets Over Agrabah looked fun, but I would hardly consider it a major attraction.



The park's new ride is Cars Quatre Roues Rallye, a pretty standard spinning ride, albeit a well-themed one.



I had heard that the Paris Tower of Terror is the worst of them all, but I had not been on any of them, so I was excited.



I rode it twice, and found it interesting that one side of the ride is in French, and the other is in English. I was glad I got to do both.



If this is the worst of the Towers, then I need to ride the best as soon as possible. I completely loved it. Definitely my favorite ride at Disneyland Paris.



I did not do the tram tour, but now that I think about it, what the hell would it tour? They just built this park 5 years ago in the middle of nowhere outside of Paris.



Here's another ride that was totally new to me: Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.



I don't care for Aerosmith, but I liked the way they did this ride.



Fun ride, and much smoother than I expected. I think I'll still take the Flight of Fears, however.



One bone to pick: What's up with the facade? They totally cheaped out on this thing. No giant guitar. No roller coaster like strings winding overhead. Just this billboard.



An Armageddon ride? And I thought the French had taste. Curiosity got the best of me.



Here was an amusement park first for me: a spontaneous karaoke session broke out in line.



So they take you inside for the pre-show, and the premise is that the guests are actors participating in a shot for Armageddon. Michael Clarke Duncan comes on the screen and gives this cheesy little spiel, and then everyone goes inside.



Everyone stands in this room and then steam comes out, water comes down, fire shoots up, things explode, etc. The operator (who started the queue line singing) was REALLY into it, which almost made this fairly lame ride interesting. However, this was not one of the afformentioned three things of note. Those were the Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, and...



Crush's Coaster. This was the primary reason I came to the Studios, because it is the one ride that is unique to Paris.



The non-existant lines all day were made up for here, as a long line was made longer by two very lengthy breakdowns.



After the first breakdown, I finally made it into the building, and almost onto the ride.



Then down again it went.



The good news is, I finally was able to ride, and I loved it. The coaster is actually logically themed to the movie (you are riding Crush from "Finding Nemo" on the East Australian Current), and what would be a fun spinning mouse by itself is taken to a whole new level with the Disney treatment.



Aside from a quick run back into the other park for another Big Thunder ride, that was the end of my Disney day. I was a bit mixed on these parks. The parks are a bit small, especially the studios, but that's a poor complaint in some ways because I realize one of these parks was built 15 years ago and one just 5. I also think the Disney experience is often overblown. Just looking at this trip alone, Europa Park was more beautiful, and even Port Aventura could compete at times in terms of theming. That said, Disney does strike gold sometimes. Buzz Lightyear, Big Thunder Mountain, Tower of Terror, Crush's Coaster... great attractions on all levels.

Next Up: Paris




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