A little over a week ago, I returned from a couple of days at Disneyland Paris on my second ever visit. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the park, which opened in 1992. I have previously covered aspects of my trip in other posts on this blog, including the 25th Disneyland Paris Illuminations, "Star Wars" at Disneyland Paris, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show with Mickey and Friends, and the 25th Anniversary Parade at Disneyland Paris. This post covers Disneyland Park and Studios in general and the rides, dining, and other attractions.
First up are the rides. The first visit was to Walt Disney Studios park. This is a smaller park with mainly film-oriented attractions. I've previously been on the "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror", which is one of those rides that takes you up and drops you. I'm not a fan of those, so I did not go on it this time. I am not very good with heights. They also had some rides for children here, such as cars that children could drive and the "Ratatouille" ride, which is absolutely amazing. On this ride, which is indoors, visitors are sat into a mouse, and this takes you through different areas of a restaurant where you become a mouse and see everything from a mouse's view. You feel wind, smell smells of the restaurant, and see animations projected onto a larger-than-life screen. It really feels like you are in the film.
The other attraction or "ride" is the Studio Tram Tour, which is a ride that I also previously went on in my last visit. You can see a few props and vehicles from the films and a scene where a truck and oil field is set on fire and put out by rushing water, which really is impressive. The other scene here is a replica of a London underground station.
One of the other attractions at the studios was the motors one. I have previously been to this. It basically takes you through filming an action scene in a car film.
In the main park, there are quite a few rides for children. The "Snow White" and "Peter Pan" rides are for children. The "Snow White" ride may be a little scary for children because of the witch, but I think it depends on the child. There are also cars that children could drive, and many other rides.
I also went on the "Pirates" ride, which is executed very well with the detail of what happens around, but it's more of a ride for children. And of course, "It's a Small World", which I found very disturbing on various levels.
The castle could also be explored with a dragon in the dungeon and the upstairs being the "Sleeping Beauty" castle with stained glass and gargoyles.
I also rode on the carousel.
There are other attractions in the park to explore, such as the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse from the film of the same name. I loved this film when I was a child, and it was my favourite film for about a year.
Another was "Davey Jones' Locker", which featured a hillside shaped like a skull and is a cave that can be explored. It's a maze, and there's a few skeletons and the skeleton of Davey Jones hiding with a treasure, which can be viewed from one point.
The "Molly Brown" riverboat can also be ridden on, and this just goes around the island where the Thunder Mountain ride is.
There are three larger rides here that are suitable for older kids and adults, and my favourite of these is "Thunder Mountain". During my last visit, I only got to ride this once as the lines were too long and the person I went with did not want to ride it. The lines were even longer this time, so I only got to ride it twice.
The other ride, which I enjoyed on my last visit but which I felt is too short now, is the "Indiana Jones" ride.
A ride that I've been on close to ten times now is "Hyperspace Mountain", and this ride has now been turned into "Star Wars", which is really cool. I only got to ride on this ride once this time; the lines were just far too long on this visit. The screens and bright colours were replaced with laser and images of "Star Wars" battles and ships.
I also went to the "Star Tours" next door, which was another space attraction with video and seats that moved. This has also been upgraded to become a "Star Wars" ride.
The X-wing is still there as well.
Visitors can also ride the steam train around the park, but there's no interesting things to look at around the route really. You can see a little bit of the pirate ride and the lake with Thunder Mountain.
Next up is Main Street, the area with all of the shops and some cafes and restaurants. This was decorated like an American town. Visitors could ride in the vintage vehicles. The Main Street runs from the castle to the Disney hotel.
Characters could also be seen around the park, and they always had a line of people waiting to meet them to get photographs with them and autographs. I managed to get a few photographs of some of the characters.
Last, I will cover the dining options. There was one restaurant I did not get to get to, which was the steakhouse. But, I did get to Anette's Diner, Walt's Restaurant, and Chez Remy. You have to book the busy restaurants before you arrive in order to get a seat, so you need to plan your day to some extent.
Chez Remy was probably my favouirte in terms of food because the ratatouille was excellent; it tasted like Campbell's vegetable soup. I loved the chocolate mousse. Chez Remy is a tribute to the "Ratatouille" film, and the seats are giant cards or books with cutlery and plates. It's a mouse-eye-view restaurant.
Annette's Diner was another visit. The food is taken from an American diner, so it's greasy. Unfortunately, the service was very slow here. This restaurant cannot be booked.
Walt's Restaurant was the last restaurant on the visit, and you need to book this one as it gets busy. It is meant to be Walt Disney's favourite meals and good "homestyle" American food. It is the most expensive restaurant at the park. I ordered the turkey, which is described as a Thanksgiving diner. The food was okay but overpriced, but what was really good were the desserts. The ice cream came in a sculpted sugar bowl. I also enjoyed the mocktail cocktail with cotton candy.
The last visit for food was to get snacks at Cable Car Bake Shop, and this was visited twice. The inside looks like an old style restaurant with booths. They sell baked goods (doughnuts, croissants) and coffee/cold drinks. I was lucky to visit on a couple of times when it was not too busy and needed a drink and to sit down as there's a lot of walking to be done in the park.
If I ever go again, I think it is worth buying VIP because most of the time was spent standing in the lines and this hurt my feet. The park certainly is a lot busier than it was when I first visited it around twelve years ago. Have you been to Disneyland Paris?
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