Canadians Conquer Disneyland Paris

[Disney Analyst]

Well folks, we did it yesterday. After much dreaming, we arrived to Disneyland from Paris City Centre, and finally got to see what all the fuss was about.

First and foremost, super easy to get to Disneyland from Paris. We woke up at 6:45 am, as I did want to be at the resort by 8:30, we needed to exchange some papers with Guest Services to be let in at park open. We arrived around 8:12 am, and wandered towards Disneyland’s entrance.

Wow - I love the entry area, the multiples of paths, little streams flowing, it was magical.

We went to the right of the hotel, there was a green umbrella with the title Guest Services on it, and that led us below the hotel on the right to some ticket booths they are currently using for these purposes. Guest services was easy, and we got our park hopper tickets for the 9:30 open.

At that point it was about 8:30-40 am. We linked the tickets to the app, and decided to purchase premiere access, to make the day super easy for us to conquer. We only did this because we were lucky to be visiting the parks without paying, and to try and make our 1 day experience as easy as possible.

From there, we wandered into the village for a coffee and a baked good. About 9:10 we wandered back to the Disneyland entrance, this time going to the left of the hotel. The centre entry directly below the hotel was swarmed with people, but the left side was dead. We waited there a bit while they let early entry in, and at 9:20 am, they opened the park, and let us enter.

More to come.

 

[Disney Analyst]

So we entered the park, and entered a world of beauty. Disneyland Paris really is beautiful. As we wandered right down the middle of Main Street USA, taking in the atmosphere, we came across one of the most beautiful castles I have seen inside a Disney park.

After gazing at the beautiful castle in wonder, and some photo snaps, we turned right, making our way towards Discoveryland. We went directly to Hyperspace Mountain, it was a walk on, so didn’t need to use the pass we bought. What a blast, wow! Not like any Space Mountain I have ever been on. I couldn’t tell you what the visuals were like, as I took my glasses off out of fear of losing them, but it seemed fun!

From there we road Star Tours, Buzz, and
Autopia. We explored the shops a tiny bit, and then wandered back towards the castle, to head into Fantasyland.

We wandered though the castle, it’s truly stunning, and did the little walk through. Sadly no dragon for us… she is down for refurb.

After exiting the castle, we headed towards the dark rides. Snow White had a long wait, and Pinocchio was down, so I decided we do something quintessential, and we rode the Teacups.

We then wandered to Small World, which looks absolutely beautiful. I of course snapped a photo of the Canadian representation, which was far more significant then what we get in the US parks… what’s that about?

After Small World, we popped over to Peter Pan, which was fine. It’s Peter Pan. People wait too long for it, and I am glad we had the pass.

Once we disembarked our ship, we decided to continue our adventure into the aptly titled Adventureland…

 

[Disney Analyst]

Okay sorry for the delay, we had the rest of our trip to enjoy, but now that we are back home, I can write up some more thoughts.


So I lied. After Small World we wandered about the Labyrinth, which was super cute, and more extensive then I thought.

After that, we entered Adventureland, the differences of the park from Disneyland and Magic Kingdom really became apparent. It’s a bit of a maze back there! Very different layout.

I was desperate to ride Pirates, but it was down, so we wandered about, did some cave exploring, and ended up in a treehouse. Not sure how we got here?

After the treehouse exploration, we opted to go and ride the Indy Coaster, which was actually quite fun.

Pirates was still down, so we wandered towards Phantom Manor, but Big Thunder enticed us far too much, so we had to jump on board the wildest ride. Holy cow! Big Thunder is a beast in Paris. The under the river sections are a blast.

From Big Thunder, we went to Phantom, another one of my most anticipated rides. Wow. So different yet familiar. I really loved this ride, the differences, the aesthetic. The only bit that through me off was how different Leota was.

After Phantom Manor we grabbed some lunch from the BBQ quick serve, which was actually pretty decent.

Once we finished refuelling, we started to head back to the front of the park, to park hop over to WDS. Pirates would have to wait, as the wait time was quite extensive once it reopened.

 

[Disney Analyst]

We made our way back to the Castle and Main Street, and did a little walk through the arcades on the way out. Loved the arcades!

And with that, we exited Disneyland around 2:00pm, and headed on over to WDS.

Once inside we went straight to Crush's Coaster, which the premiere access really came in handy for! I really did not know what to expect, I had watched videos of course (which you can only see little of the experience from), but holy, this was SO MUCH FUN! Honestly a great coaster, such a neat sensation onboard, probably one of my favourites of the trip.

After Crush we walked on over to Ratatouille, another new attraction for me. I actually really loved this, super cute, and fun. Far better in real life than what you see on video. Such a great reminder that you need to ride these rides in the real world, and relying solely on video footage is never going to be adequate.

After the ride we walked on over to Avenger's Campus, did some browsing of the shops, saw some street entertainment and characters roaming about. Really this was the first street entertainment and roaming characters we had seen the entire trip.

We then decided to get on Avengers Flight Force. I've ridden the original version many times at DHS, so I knew what to expect, but forgot how fun this coaster is. I can't tell you anything about what happened, as I took my glasses off and rode blind, but didn't seem like I missed much. A fun coaster, the Iron Man AA was cool, but it did seem barren.

After the coaster, we headed on over to the much discussed Spider-Man attraction. Okay, so maybe I am the weird one... but I actually had a blast on the ride. My arms were aching after, but super fun, and felt more immersive in person then I expected. I dug it, a fun new ride!

Next up was Tower of Terror, man how I have missed this attraction! Loved the differences from the original DCA version, and of course the very different DHS version. Did NOT expect the upward launch to start off with. A total blast.

After Tower of Terror we wandered around a bit, and then headed to the front of the park to make our way back into Disneyland for the rest of the evening. It was about 4:24 PM when we made our way through the indoor "Main Street", we did some lurking in the shops, and exited the park.

We completed all the major attractions we wanted at WDS, and were ready to get back to the star of the show!

I would say, WDS isn't great, it really isn't, but there are some really fun attractions inside the park, and I am intrigued to see how the expansion improves the park.

 

[wdrive]

Really this was the first street entertainment and roaming characters we had seen the entire trip.

I believe it’s the only street entertainment at DLP since Covid

I’m enjoying your report though!

 

[Disney Analyst]

I believe it’s the only street entertainment at DLP since Covid

I’m enjoying your report though!

I was very surprised by the lack of random entertainment, or roaming characters. I thought we’d see something or someone, somewhere.

 

[marni1971]

I was very surprised by the lack of random entertainment, or roaming characters. I thought we’d see something or someone, somewhere.

Unless they’ve been reduced as it gets busier, recently they’ve made an effort to walk characters to and from the M&G areas through the park as opposed to just popping onstage.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Unless they’ve been reduced as it gets busier, recently they’ve made an effort to walk characters to and from the M&G areas through the park as opposed to just popping onstage.

Admittedly we didn’t wait around long enough to see characters walking to meet and greets, well actually I think we did see Jafar walking to it once.

I had mostly hoped it would be more like Disneyland with some true roaming happening

 

[Jordan dby]

May have been unlucky, my last visit Jack Sparrow caught my eye doing an in character run across the bridge on adventure Island. 5 min later we were talking to him sitting on a rock - no one else appeared for 5 min. Saw him later walking back through fantasyland, interacting with rapunzel and others as they were off elsewhere.

Also had additional meets with gepetto, Mary Poppins, Peter pan that weren't on the app.

The queues for characters in Paris are bonkers though. We like them to break up the rides but would be never do a paris queue.

 

[Disney Analyst]

May have been unlucky, my last visit Jack Sparrow caught my eye doing an in character run across the bridge on adventure Island. 5 min later we were talking to him sitting on a rock - no one else appeared for 5 min. Saw him later walking back through fantasyland, interacting with rapunzel and others as they were off elsewhere.

Also had additional meets with gepetto, Mary Poppins, Peter pan that weren't on the app.

The queues for characters in Paris are bonkers though. We like them to break up the rides but would be never do a paris queue.

The waits were insane indeed. I am not much of a meet and greet person, especially if it involves a wait. But if we could have managed a situation like you encountered, would have taken that opportunity for sure!

 

[Disney Analyst]

So after finishing up at WDS, we made our way back to the star attraction, Disneyland Paris.

As we got through and onto Main Street, "Dream and Shine Brighter" was making its way down the street, after completing its show. We sadly didn't get a chance to catch it, apart from stopping on the Sidewalk to cheer them on as they rolled and danced by.

As we explored the details on Main Street, and made our way towards the castle, we finally spotted the cart of dreams, the champagne cart. How could I not indulge? My one chance to sip some bubbles whilst basking in the glory of a Disney Castle? Also it was super hot, so I was thirsty, okay?!

After we finished up our bubbles, I explored the hub a bit, and took in all the wonderful and fanciful 30th decorations, I loved all the kinetics and whimsy. Disneyland Paris really got a spectacular decoration package (Magic Kingdom's 50th who?!)

At this point, we wandered back into Adventure Isle, we found the little Aladdin walkthrough and did that, and we got a nice view of a Disneyland throwback.

I checked the app to see Pirates of the Caribbean was open, and posting a 25 minute wait, so we decided to get on over and finally ride. The queue was extended outdoors, but it didn't seem to take too long, 25-30 minutes I think.

However, as we boarded our boats, drama seemed to unfold. All the Cast Members were at their controls making calls, pressing buttons, staring in disbelief. There seemed to be panic afoot. The boats were not moving. The boarding gates opened, to the dismay of the CM's who yelled to those already queued up for the next boats to STAY STILL. They got the gates closed again, but still something was not working. So they told us all to exit the boats... and then they kicked us out. I quietly wept to myself, knowing they'd likely fix it in a few moments ... but they didn't want us waiting around the exit. So I accepted my loss, and left. This had been the longest wait of the trip, and my partner (not a Disney park fanatic like me) was feeling defeated and unsure if he'd want to try again ... but I was determined.


So anyway, we decided to make our way back into Fantasyland, to finally ride Snow White now that the wait was shorter. Super cute little throwback. Pinocchio was a bit too long still, so we passed on that, for now.

We then wandered about Fantasyland, deciding to head to the Parade Route to see if we could get a spot for the parade, no luck, full up near Small World, but I got a spot far back, and could see most of it, it was cute.

We left just as the finale came out, and hit up a snack cart for a Mickey Premium bar. Oh how I missed those.

After the little treat, we went into the back and hit up Casey Jr's Circus Train, which I've never actually ridden at Disneyland itself. It was a cute little ride, after the train we opted to skip the canal boats, as they seemed to not be moving, and the line was building.

At this point, I convinced my partner to retry Pirates, the queue was just barely outside this time. And we MADE IT ON AT LAST! What an incredible version of the attraction. I loved the story in reverse method. The epic ascent up the falls to dramatic music, the explosive drop. So much fun! Definitely neck and neck with the original version for me, Magic Kingdoms version continues to choke.

We were getting pretty hungry at this point, so we ended up in Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost for a quick dinner, got a Mickey shaped pizza and some beer, it was fine.

We were already feeling pretty accomplished at this point, but we decided to head back and ride Phantom Manor again, which was just as gorgeous. After Phantom Manor we decided to do another ride on Big Thunder.

From there, I believe we made our way back to Discoveryland and hit up Space Mountain for a second time, and my partner wanted to look at some Star Wars merch (which was all meh).

The world is a blur by this time, but we wandered back into Fantasyland to try and get Pinocchio in before Fantasyland closed, and we made it! It was still sitting at a 20 minute wait, but I needed to ride. Oh how I love the Fantasyland dark rides.

After Pinocchio, we decided to turn left out of Fantasyland, back towards Adventure Isle, thinking it would be an easy way to make it to the hub and find a spot for D-Light and Disney Dreams. Spoiler, bad idea, should have gone right past Small World. Anyway, after walking much further, as I forgot how the park was laid out and we could only get to the hub from Frontierland at this point, we discovered the little fort walkthrough, and walked through that on our way back out to the hub.

At this point, we did some perusing of the shops, got some sparkling water, and then found a nice centred spot between the Hub and Main Street, where we awaiting the shows.

D-Light was truly incredible, never seen anything like it, they should be doing this at every park as a supplemental piece of entertainment.

But the big moment was Disney Dreams, a show I've wanted to see live since it debuted.

The show was truly spectacular, even without the fire effects, I am so incredibly grateful that this came back, and that I finally got to experience it.

However, it was dampened IMMENSELY, storytime:

In all my previous experience attending Disney spectaculars, I have never experienced this. Basically as soon as the show started, people from the front, or from other areas of the park (I am not really sure) started making their way through the crowds, to exit the park. I have no idea who these people were, where they came from, but it was an endless stream, literally up the centre of the crowd (like fish swimming upstream). It was incredibly distracting, and disappointing. We had a family beside us, with a stroller, that had a very small child asleep in it, and we basically had to protect this stroller from being trampled by the hoards trying to exit.

Anyway, we shook it off, enjoyed the show, and ended our Disney Day feeling so happy, so accomplished, and EXHAUSTED - hah! We ended up walking over 26kms all day, and our feet felt it. Of course, we also had to haul ourselves back to the train, to get back to our hotel in Paris city centre. But it was all worth it.

I loved this park. Disneyland Paris is gorgeous, magical, and full of details. It has some incredible versions of the attractions we love, and the magic of the original park, with the space of Magic Kingdom. I would come back again in a heartbeat, and would love to spend a bit more time, experiencing it slowly. I am so happy we decided to do this, even if it was only one day, and it was the highlight of our Edinburgh, Paris, and London trip, by a mile.

This was my first time back at a Disney park since May 2014, and I am so happy I finally got back.


Thank you Disneyland Paris, until we meet again.

And now to plan my return to Disneyland California.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Oh and one more photo, from the start of our day, just because I couldn't fit it in my last post.

 

[Figgy1]

Thank you for taking us along!

 

[Disney Analyst]

Oh, also meant to include this:

in Disneyland we rode/did:

Space Mountain x2
Star Tours
Buzz
Autotopia
Teacups
Small World
Casey Jr. Circus Train
Snow White
Pinocchio
Peter Pan
Indiana Jones Coaster
Pirates of the Caribbean
Phantom Manor x2
Big Thunder x2
Castle sleeping beauty walkthrough (minus dragon due to refurb)
Fort walkthrough
Caves walkthrough
Aladdin walkthrough
Swiss Family Tree House
Alice's Labyrinth

in WDS we rode:

Crush's Coaster
Tower of Terror
Ratatouille
Avenger's Flight Force
Spider-Man Web Slingers


This is what you get for writing up the last bit of your visit while “working”.

 

[MinnieM123]

Oh, also meant to include this:

in Disneyland we rode/did:

Space Mountain x2
Star Tours
Buzz
Autotopia
Teacups
Small World
Casey Jr. Circus Train
Snow White
Pinocchio
Peter Pan
Indiana Jones Coaster
Pirates of the Caribbean
Phantom Manor x2
Big Thunder x2
Castle sleeping beauty walkthrough (minus dragon due to refurb)
Fort walkthrough
Caves walkthrough
Aladdin walkthrough
Swiss Family Tree House
Alice's Labyrinth

in WDS we rode:

Crush's Coaster
Tower of Terror
Ratatouille
Avenger's Flight Force
Spider-Man Web Slingers


This is what you get for writing up the last bit of your visit while “working”.

What a great TR! Loved your photos of Disneyland Paris, especially the interior shots of the castle -- amazing. And, looking at the Avengers Flight Force picture in particular, I'll bet that was fun!

You both managed to get in quite a few attractions during your time there. It must have been especially exciting to visit Disneyland Paris, as you mentioned you had not been to (any) Disney park since 2014. Happy to read that your trip exceeded expectations. Thank you for sharing your vacation with us!

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

So after finishing up at WDS, we made our way back to the star attraction, Disneyland Paris.

As we got through and onto Main Street, "Dream and Shine Brighter" was making its way down the street, after completing its show. We sadly didn't get a chance to catch it, apart from stopping on the Sidewalk to cheer them on as they rolled and danced by.

As we explored the details on Main Street, and made our way towards the castle, we finally spotted the cart of dreams, the champagne cart. How could I not indulge? My one chance to sip some bubbles whilst basking in the glory of a Disney Castle? Also it was super hot, so I was thirsty, okay?!


View attachment 723898


After we finished up our bubbles, I explored the hub a bit, and took in all the wonderful and fanciful 30th decorations, I loved all the kinetics and whimsy. Disneyland Paris really got a spectacular decoration package (Magic Kingdom's 50th who?!)


View attachment 723899


At this point, we wandered back into Adventure Isle, we found the little Aladdin walkthrough and did that, and we got a nice view of a Disneyland throwback.

View attachment 723900


I checked the app to see Pirates of the Caribbean was open, and posting a 25 minute wait, so we decided to get on over and finally ride. The queue was extended outdoors, but it didn't seem to take too long, 25-30 minutes I think.

View attachment 723901


However, as we boarded our boats, drama seemed to unfold. All the Cast Members were at their controls making calls, pressing buttons, staring in disbelief. There seemed to be panic afoot. The boats were not moving. The boarding gates opened, to the dismay of the CM's who yelled to those already queued up for the next boats to STAY STILL. They got the gates closed again, but still something was not working. So they told us all to exit the boats... and then they kicked us out. I quietly wept to myself, knowing they'd likely fix it in a few moments ... but they didn't want us waiting around the exit. So I accepted my loss, and left. This had been the longest wait of the trip, and my partner (not a Disney park fanatic like me) was feeling defeated and unsure if he'd want to try again ... but I was determined.


So anyway, we decided to make our way back into Fantasyland, to finally ride Snow White now that the wait was shorter. Super cute little throwback. Pinocchio was a bit too long still, so we passed on that, for now.

We then wandered about Fantasyland, deciding to head to the Parade Route to see if we could get a spot for the parade, no luck, full up near Small World, but I got a spot far back, and could see most of it, it was cute.

View attachment 723902


We left just as the finale came out, and hit up a snack cart for a Mickey Premium bar. Oh how I missed those.

After the little treat, we went into the back and hit up Casey Jr's Circus Train, which I've never actually ridden at Disneyland itself. It was a cute little ride, after the train we opted to skip the canal boats, as they seemed to not be moving, and the line was building.

At this point, I convinced my partner to retry Pirates, the queue was just barely outside this time. And we MADE IT ON AT LAST! What an incredible version of the attraction. I loved the story in reverse method. The epic ascent up the falls to dramatic music, the explosive drop. So much fun! Definitely neck and neck with the original version for me, Magic Kingdoms version continues to choke.

We were getting pretty hungry at this point, so we ended up in Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost for a quick dinner, got a Mickey shaped pizza and some beer, it was fine.

We were already feeling pretty accomplished at this point, but we decided to head back and ride Phantom Manor again, which was just as gorgeous. After Phantom Manor we decided to do another ride on Big Thunder.

View attachment 723905



View attachment 723903


From there, I believe we made our way back to Discoveryland and hit up Space Mountain for a second time, and my partner wanted to look at some Star Wars merch (which was all meh).

The world is a blur by this time, but we wandered back into Fantasyland to try and get Pinocchio in before Fantasyland closed, and we made it! It was still sitting at a 20 minute wait, but I needed to ride. Oh how I love the Fantasyland dark rides.

After Pinocchio, we decided to turn left out of Fantasyland, back towards Adventure Isle, thinking it would be an easy way to make it to the hub and find a spot for D-Light and Disney Dreams. Spoiler, bad idea, should have gone right past Small World. Anyway, after walking much further, as I forgot how the park was laid out and we could only get to the hub from Frontierland at this point, we discovered the little fort walkthrough, and walked through that on our way back out to the hub.

View attachment 723906


At this point, we did some perusing of the shops, got some sparkling water, and then found a nice centred spot between the Hub and Main Street, where we awaiting the shows.

D-Light was truly incredible, never seen anything like it, they should be doing this at every park as a supplemental piece of entertainment.

View attachment 723897



But the big moment was Disney Dreams, a show I've wanted to see live since it debuted.

The show was truly spectacular, even without the fire effects, I am so incredibly grateful that this came back, and that I finally got to experience it.

However, it was dampened IMMENSELY, storytime:

In all my previous experience attending Disney spectaculars, I have never experienced this. Basically as soon as the show started, people from the front, or from other areas of the park (I am not really sure) started making their way through the crowds, to exit the park. I have no idea who these people were, where they came from, but it was an endless stream, literally up the centre of the crowd (like fish swimming upstream). It was incredibly distracting, and disappointing. We had a family beside us, with a stroller, that had a very small child asleep in it, and we basically had to protect this stroller from being trampled by the hoards trying to exit.

Anyway, we shook it off, enjoyed the show, and ended our Disney Day feeling so happy, so accomplished, and EXHAUSTED - hah! We ended up walking over 26kms all day, and our feet felt it. Of course, we also had to haul ourselves back to the train, to get back to our hotel in Paris city centre. But it was all worth it.

I loved this park. Disneyland Paris is gorgeous, magical, and full of details. It has some incredible versions of the attractions we love, and the magic of the original park, with the space of Magic Kingdom. I would come back again in a heartbeat, and would love to spend a bit more time, experiencing it slowly. I am so happy we decided to do this, even if it was only one day, and it was the highlight of our Edinburgh, Paris, and London trip, by a mile.

This was my first time back at a Disney park since May 2014, and I am so happy I finally got back.


Thank you Disneyland Paris, until we meet again.

View attachment 723913



And now to plan my return to Disneyland California.

Your photos are stunning! Really gorgeous. And in the photo above, are you on the left or right?

 

[Disney Analyst]

Your photos are stunning! Really gorgeous. And in the photo above, are you on the left or right?

Thank you! Just shot on my iPhone 11, and sometimes my parents iPhone 13

I’m on the right!

 

[Disney Analyst]

But the big moment was Disney Dreams, a show I've wanted to see live since it debuted.

The show was truly spectacular, even without the fire effects, I am so incredibly grateful that this came back, and that I finally got to experience it.

However, it was dampened IMMENSELY, storytime:

In all my previous experience attending Disney spectaculars, I have never experienced this. Basically as soon as the show started, people from the front, or from other areas of the park (I am not really sure) started making their way through the crowds, to exit the park. I have no idea who these people were, where they came from, but it was an endless stream, literally up the centre of the crowd (like fish swimming upstream). It was incredibly distracting, and disappointing. We had a family beside us, with a stroller, that had a very small child asleep in it, and we basically had to protect this stroller from being trampled by the hoards trying to exit.

So genuine question, is this normal?! Have any of you DLP regulars experienced this before?

Do CMs not route people around the viewing areas? Are these guests who were watching the shows towards the front that decided to bail and get out?

 

[wdrive]

So genuine question, is this normal?! Have any of you DLP regulars experienced this before?

Do CMs not route people around the viewing areas? Are these guests who were watching the shows towards the front that decided to bail and get out?

I feel Paris has way fewer cast doing crowd control for the nighttime castle show when compared to WDW and Disneyland

 

[Disney Analyst]

I feel Paris has way fewer cast doing crowd control for the nighttime castle show when compared to WDW and Disneyland

Could explain. Sort of seemed like the park closed, and everyone who was in the back of the park decided to leave by going UP the full street of thousands enjoying the show....