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03/19/08

Disneyland Paris, May 1999

Ok, so March is not the best time to be going to Disneyland Paris. It's friggin' cold! But this was our first trip to a non-American park and we got a good Internet fare (for the plane, that is) so we decided we would take a, sort of, reconnaissance mission and see how the French handle such an American icon. On the whole I think we would give it a solid 'C'. There were parts that were fantastic, but there where those few, very predictable, moments when we knew we just weren't in Disney's backyard.

We arrived to Disneyland by TGV from Brussels (that's where the Internet fare took us, which wasn't bad because we got to see some of Brussels also). This is probably the best thing about Disneyland Paris, the train station is right between the park and the hotels! We were thinking of asking to switch hotels to the New York so on the way to the Sequoia Lodge we went into the New York to see what we thought. We were not impressed. The New York is styled very much like the Dolphin in Disney World, which doesn't seem to fit with the theme of New York. Also, some of the exterior was ruined (it seems that some of the Florida building techniques to not work in Paris).

Needless to say we decided to stick with the Sequoia Lodge . This is a very standard hotel. It is defiantly not as grand at it's Florida cousin, The Wilderness Lodge. It has low ceilings (more like a ski lodge), no seven floor lobby here. It was check-in rush when we arrived and they did a very good job. They had the usual extra staff out to handle the extra people. The only problem we has was all the paperwork that had to be filled out to check in. The room was also standard. It was very American in layout (although it didn't have the two-sink Disney standard). Of course like most European hotels, breakfast was included. It seemed to be a mix of German/French/English/Swiss type breakfasts (with meat, cheese, cereal, yogurt, and a selection breads)

The next morning we went to the park. The opening procedures were exactly the same as Disney World and Disneyland California. First, Main Street was opened about 30 minutes before the published opening time. Of course most people went strait to the entrances to each land. Teenagers and kids to the two lands that have roller coasters. The only one worth waiting for was Space Mountain in Discovery Land (Paris' version of Tomorrow Land). To make sure us 'Kids' don't run to the first ride a line of Cast Members walks in front of you until you get to the popular ride. This is a very cool idea that they should try in the American parks.

Space Mountain is, by far, the best ride in Disneyland Paris. The other two roller coasters are, The Temple du Péril (sucks) and Big Thunder Mountain (not quite as good as Disney World's). Other neat attractions in the park are Alice in Wonderland maze in Fantasyland,  The Mulan show and both parades (remember this is were you can still see the Electric Light Parade). Also don't miss Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in The Disney Village. The castle is nice, designed in a style that reminds me of something you would see in Beauty and the Beast, although it has weirdly French styled square trees around it. I have to say the weirdest thing that happened while we were in Disneyland was that it snowed. They did think of this though, when they designed the park. On either side of Main Street , behind the stores are covered arcades that take you back to the other lands.

Although the park is very nice, I wouldn't put it up to par with the beauty and cleanliness of either of our parks. The four things that really brought this point home was the trash and graffiti all the way through the line of Space mountain, the rudeness of the French people (but you have to give the cast members credit, they try real hard to put on a friendly face), and the smoking all Europeans tend to do.