Adventureland and Frontierland at DLP (on top and bottom, instead of vice-versa)

[KentB3]

One thing unique to Disneyland Paris park is the placement of Adventureland on the top left (next to Fantasyland) and Frontierland below Adventureland on the bottom left; unlike the other DL/MK theme parks (with the exception of Hong Kong DL), which have Frontierland on top and Adventureland on the bottom. I have been trying to find an answer as to why the two lands were reversed at DLP, but no luck! I do know that much of the park was tailored to a French/European perspective, such as the design of Sleeping Beauty Castle and the Jules Verne theming of Discoveryland. Was the placement of Adventureland next to Fantasyland and Frontierland below that done from a European perspective, or was it done just to make the park different from the others?

Oddly enough, it has been rumored that Shanghai Disneyland will have Adventureland on the top left and Frontierland on the bottom left as well, go figure! :veryconfu

 

[Monty]

I'd think it has more to do with making the various aspects of each land fit into the space and land contours available on the property while they're building the park.

I can't think of any custom or tradition that would have impact on land placement in Europe. Frontierland is based on the Wild West of North American tradition, Europe wouldn't have a different perspective relating to something they never had. :shrug:

 

[RonAnnArbor]

Its because of the way the natural geography of the land is laid out in DLP and where by law they had to place retention ponds. Everything there is manmade -- it used to be miles and miles of onion farms. It's all flat farmland/forest land. And it is all forced into a small area. It makes more efficient use of the space that they have, while still forcing some feeling of "lands" being separated from one another. It's half the size of the Magic Kingdom yet has a similar number of attractions.

Personally, I think it's remarkable how they have fit that much into such a small space. FOr example, one way they have solved that is by having the loading bays for Big Thunder Mountain on mainland, with the ride itself then goes underground and into the island "mountain" in the middle of the lagoon which is used by the Paddlewheel. Two major attractions in half the space. Restuarants are tucked into the loading/unloading "caverns" adjacent to Pirates of the Carribean (in fact, the first room you see in the Pirates attraction is a float through the Blue Lagoon restaurant)...Honey I shrunk the audience and Star Tours are both tucked UNDER the train station. The ride for Phantom manor is UNDER the "hillside" that serves as queu line (you actually walk up a few stories to enter Phantom Manor and then take the elevator "stretch room" down to ground level for the ride itself)

It's great imagineering.

 

[KentB3]

Its because of the way the natural geography of the land is laid out in DLP and where by law they had to place retention ponds. Everything there is manmade -- it used to be miles and miles of onion farms. It's all flat farmland/forest land. And it is all forced into a small area. It makes more efficient use of the space that they have, while still forcing some feeling of "lands" being separated from one another. It's half the size of the Magic Kingdom yet has a similar number of attractions.

Personally, I think it's remarkable how they have fit that much into such a small space. FOr example, one way they have solved that is by having the loading bays for Big Thunder Mountain on mainland, with the ride itself then goes underground and into the island "mountain" in the middle of the lagoon which is used by the Paddlewheel. Two major attractions in half the space. Restuarants are tucked into the loading/unloading "caverns" adjacent to Pirates of the Carribean (in fact, the first room you see in the Pirates attraction is a float through the Blue Lagoon restaurant)...Honey I shrunk the audience and Star Tours are both tucked UNDER the train station. The ride for Phantom manor is UNDER the "hillside" that serves as queu line (you actually walk up a few stories to enter Phantom Manor and then take the elevator "stretch room" down to ground level for the ride itself)

It's great imagineering.

Actually, Disneyland Paris is larger than the WDW's Magic Kingdom-- 138 acres as opposed to MK's 107.

 

[RonAnnArbor]

There is a big difference between total acreage "available" vs total acreage used. Disneyland Paris is laid out differently and uses far less space than the Magic Kingdom. There is a raised "berm" of land that surrounds the current DLP along which the train runs, and there is significant land beyond this that is NOT accessible to the public. Disney Imagineering often quotes that DLP is the "biggest of the MK type Parks"....until you are personally there and realize it is half the size. I go to DLP at least once per year, sometimes twice; and I go to the Magic Kingdom once or twice each year too. I can absolutely tell you that it takes 5 minutes to walk from one end of the park to the other at DLP. Try that at Magic Kingdom.

 

[SeaCastle]

I can absolutely tell you that it takes 5 minutes to walk from one end of the park to the other at DLP. Try that at Magic Kingdom.

That statement doesn't necessarily have to imply that either park is bigger or smaller. I just measured (using Google Earth) the distance between the Frontierland Rail Depot to the Star Tours complex in Tomorrowland at Disneyland Paris. (This is where it appeared to be widest.) The distance was .45 miles. At WDW's Magic Kingdom, I measured the widest distance inside the railroad tracks - the Frontierland Railroad Station to the railroad tracks in front of Space Mountain. The distance was .44 miles.

In my opinion, the walk from DLP would seem shorter due to the park layout. Though the sizes are essentially the same, you have different buildings in a different organization. At the Magic Kingdom, walking from Space Mountain to Splash Mountain is a distance of approximately 0.45 miles. At Disneyland Paris, the walk from the Frontierland Depot to Space Mountain is approximately 0.43 miles. The attractions in both parks are situated across from one another, and despite being the same distance apart, it is claimed that the walk in DLP is shorter. I've never been to DLP so I can't provide anecdotal information, but a park doesn't have to be smaller than the other in order to have a shorter walk from one end to the other.

 

[Omegadiz]

While supposed theres all of these legit reasons, i thought it was beacause the Imagineers realized that layout made more sence. It makes more sence to have an old western town next to and early modern down. And Adventure Land and Fantasyland.....just look where pirates and pan are placed.......makes sence