Disneyland Paris - Christmas Day

[w00dland]

Over the Christmas Holiday I was lucky enough to make it down to Paris, France with my girlfriend. Considering almost everything is closed on Christmas Day and Disneyland wasn't, we decided it'd be a pretty great idea to hop on the train and spend Christmas in the happiest place on earth. General thoughts are that I still like Disneyland in California better, and that Disney Paris certainly has its own quirks, which I'll get into a little more below. Enjoy the photos!



After an hour train delay, WE'RE AT DISNEYLAND!



Walking into Walt Disney Studios you walk through a large building with loads of lights, theming, and retail.





There you are. I found you!



We were starving and walked into the first restaurant we found for lunch. Once I sat down I realized where we were....damnit.



Pretty much a carbon copy of what I remember from DisneyWorld, but I also haven't been there in about 6-7 years so I don't remember very much. It was smoother than I remember though, which is always a plus.



Siiiiinging in the freezing cold!!

Actually temps were in the 40s for this trip, which is pretty normal weather for the area. Where I live in Brighton we've only seen temps dip below freezing once or twice all winter despite us actually being farther north in latitude. Blame the ocean.



The Disneyland Hotel sits directly infront of the entrance to Disneyland. Talk about a quick entrance into the park.





Christmas time. Despite the snow being fake, it was really nice to actually have some snow for Christmas. There was a great Christmas Parade in the middle of the day, but they didn't do much else for Christmas that I could tell. They might have without us knowing considering that half the announcement were in French...



The Mouse. The Myth. The Legend.



Pirates seemed very Disneyland original. Pretty dark, but with no Jack Sparrow yet. We also got to eat at the Blue Lagoon for dinner which was some of the best food I've had in a long long time, not to mention sitting right next to the water with boats for Pirates passing us by was pretty cool too.





In my opinion the castle at Disney Paris is the best. It's gorgeous.



Space Mountain in Paris is NOTHING like the Space Mountains in the states. This thing takes you upside down, launches you up hill, has some airtime, it's pretty intense. That said, I still like California's better. Must be the music.



Toy Story Mania! It's a fully themed Toy Story section of the park which is done really really well. There are 5 or 6 Toy Story rides including an Intamin Half-Pipe. We had the rush through this section due to the park closing, but it was really fantastic.











Creating a bit of clean energy.



Tower of Terror is exactly the same as Disneyland in California, except everything is in French. That doesn't mean one really annoying American tourist can't dub the English words over the French.



Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion) absolutely rocked. The first few rooms were the same as I'd experienced, but the haunted woods were so much more badass looking. I loved it!



Didn't take many photos at night because we were rushing from ride to ride. The park was pretty crowded until around 7PM when it literally emptied out. Park was open until 10PM which meant we actually got on everything we wanted to. (Sorry Small World, maybe next time)





See? Best Castle.


Some things that I didn't mention or get photos of: Indiana Jones is at Disneyland and it's a roller coaster thats outdoors and goes upside down. I really didn't like it much and thought it was pretty boring. Indy Jones in California still trumps all. Star Tours was the old version and it was waaaay in the middle of nowhere past Tomorrowland (or whatever they called it there). Armageddon wasn't much in the way of thrill, although there was a lot of fire in a small room with a lot of people. And how they handled language was really brilliant. Almost everyone at the park spoke both English and French (and sometimes German and Spanish) and they would always greet you, listen to what you said, and changed languages without a pause. Really impressive stuff.

That's about all I remember. We had a freaking fantastic time at the park. I can't wait to move back to California and get my Disney Annual Pass. Questions? Comments? Thanks for reading!

[Galvan317]

RE the languages the cast members speak, they are required to speak French and English to work in the park. That was a pretty big culture shock about Europe how they can all just switch languages on a dime. At WDW there are probably just as many, if not more, guests that speak Spanish than there are guests that speak English at DLRP (hell theres probably more guests at WDW that speak Spanish then English), but you don't have to speak Spanish to work at WDW.
Depending on the season Disneyland Paris actually gets large tour groups from Spain similar to how Disney World gets large tour groups from South America. Which is kind of funny considering when Disney was negotiating for government concessions with the French before they built the park, they used Spain as a bargaining tool (Spain had the better weather but didn't have nearly as developed economy at the time and also Paris is right in the middle of Europe where all the trains meet). Later on Spain ended up getting their own major park though that's owned by Universal (Port Aventura).

Pretty much a carbon copy of what I remember from DisneyWorld, but I also haven't been there in about 6-7 years so I don't remember very much. It was smoother than I remember though, which is always a plus.

The theming is a bit different, in Orlando you are supposed to be going to the concert and in Paris you are supposed to be at the concert. The queue and pre-show are a bit nicer in Florida but the ride is a lot cooler in Paris in my opinion. Maybe it's just because i've been on the Orlando one a million times but the light-show while your on the ride in Paris ride sick.
Also a cool detail they put in with the Paris version is the lights in the station when the train pulls in correspond with the color of the lights with your train when you are on the ride. So not only are there different soundtracks but there are also different light shows.

We were starving and walked into the first restaurant we found for lunch. Once I sat down I realized where we were....damnit.

Is this place still half Pirates themed and half High School Musical themed? Most random restaurant ever.

Space Mountain in Paris is NOTHING like the Space Mountains in the states. This thing takes you upside down, launches you up hill, has some airtime, it's pretty intense. That said, I still like California's better. Must be the music.

Was the music not working? There was some cool theming at Space Mountain that doesn't work anymore. When a train launched, the cannon would recoil and it would billow smoke out of the tunnel. I don't know if that has worked for a long time though, from what i've been told it gets fixed every once in awhile and doesn't take long to break again.

Some things that I didn't mention or get photos of: Indiana Jones is at Disneyland and it's a roller coaster thats outdoors and goes upside down. I really didn't like it much and thought it was pretty boring. Indy Jones in California still trumps all.

Remember when the park opened it really struggled and almost went bankrupt. Indiana Jones was that "we need something quick and cheap" ride that was built shortly after the park opened to generate more attendance.

Star Tours was the old version and it was waaaay in the middle of nowhere past Tomorrowland (or whatever they called it there).

Discoveryland, the theming is a bit different from Tomorrowland. Tomorrowland is supposed to be futuristic, Discoveryland is supposed to be how a group of 18th century European authors wrote about the future. Space Mountain is actually themed after the Jules Verne book "From the Earth to the Moon" which is about an American and a Frenchman that make a giant cannon that shoots rocket ships to the moon (hence the big cannon). Also the Nautilus from Jules Verne's book (and Disney movie) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a walk through attraction in Discoveryland.

Glad you enjoyed the property, I love Euro Disneyla....err...Disneyland Paris. Disneyland Park is extremely well themed, much more so than the California or Florida versions, and the Studios park has some great attractions and getting better. Also I love how all the hotels are American themed and the Buffalo Bill Wild West Dinner show in Disney Village is fantastic also.

[w00dland]

Space Mountain's theming and music were both working just fine, it is a really well themed ride, I just really like Disneyland's for some reason.

Side note: You can smoke anywhere in Paris, including queue lines at Disneyland. It's really annoying, especially when the person decides to light a joint infront of you while you queue for Space Mountain.

The restaurant seemed only HSM themed, no pirates.

[Director_Guy]

I cannot express how jealous I am of your trip. I've been dying to go to Disneyland Paris for ever now, ever since I heard the soundtrack to Phantom Manor.

Blue Lagoon is similar to Blue Bayou I take it? How did the food compare (or did you not get a chance to try Blue Bayou)?

Great pictures, especially the one of you in front of Space Mountain. Also that one of you inside the RC box speaks to me. I'm not sure why.

[FParker185]

Honest question here.... If I add 2 days onto my Euro trip I could probably do Disney Paris, both parks, full day at each. I like Disney Parks also here in the US, but I don't love them. I always have fun, but I'm not obsessed with Disney or anything. With that being known... Is Disney Paris worth doing? Is is that significantly different from the US parks or are the coasters/rides just that awesome that they'd be a must do? Also can both parks be done in one day if the parks are completely dead, as most parks are on Sept weekdays?

I've never been, I kinda want to go, but the time off work and the money associated with going is pretty rough. But if they're worth doing, I can probably squeeze them in..

[Galvan317]

Disneyland is probably the easiest park in Europe to get to travel wise, you can take a train from pretty much anywhere to Paris. In terms of coasters, Rockin Rollercoaster, Crush's Coaster, and Space Mountain all kick major a** and definitely make it worth it in my opinion (though Space Mountain isn't nearly as intense as I thought it would be, the theming makes up for it). Thunder Mountain is a little bit better than the American ones though not that much different, RC Racer and Indiana Jones are credits. Plus theres Tower of Terror, Pirates, Phantom Manor, etc. Even if you only have a day its better than not going at all.

[w00dland]

I completed almost every ride I wanted at both parks on a day of pretty moderate/heavy crowds. If it were dead you could finish both parks (minus shows)

The rides are pretty significantly different than the ones in the states, and are generally focused on an older public than the ones you've been on.

And Chris, I meant Blue Bayou, not sure why I typed Lagoon. Didn't try the restaurant in CA, but that can change in the future I'm sure.

[FParker185]

Adding it onto the end of my trip, cutting Walibi Holland which I've been to before, and doing 2 days for Euro Disney (adding one net day onto my trip), I figure after 2 weeks and 4 days of traveling around Europe, we'll want to take it easy and not rush around to much. Other person going has never been to Walibi Holland, but Goliath really isn't all that great compared with any of the SROS's ExGe, etc, then they got a whole boatload of Vekomas, Euro Disney is probably the best all around option.