Title a bit ‘ironic for a post with which I want to take you into the world of cartoons and entertainment. I know, I know … You’re already thinking something like “Disneyland Paris is not a place for adults, it’s a place for families with children at most teenagers!”. Instead, I think it can be an exciting place for us adults too, to spend a carefree day and without overthinking about everyday problems.
I start with some practical advice to get and “survive” a day spent here:
– From Paris you get there with the RER A in 35/40 minutes;
– Disneyland Paris includes two parks: the studios (which closes at 9 pm) and Disneyland (which closes at 10 pm);
– When you exit the RER, you will have to pass “security checks” in which they will ask you to show the contents of your bag. There will be a big crowd, so you need to be patient (yes, also at 9 am).
– There will be lines, long lines, for all the attractions of both the studios and Disneyland. Some will be “only” 20 minutes, others even 90! Put your soul in peace if you were hoping to get there and do not line up; It could happen that, in the end, you will wait for less time than expected.
– Some attractions have the “fast track” so you can get the free ticket at the automatic cash machines near the attraction itself. The advice, therefore, is to do the fast tickets: they will allow you to make a row faster than normal. But do soon because they end early (for the attraction of Ratatouille at 12 had ended for the whole day).
– The queue at the ticket counters: there are indeed many boxes, and it is easy to find shortcuts. Do not despair and look at them all and well, surely you will not lose a lot of time in line to buy your ticket (I recommend, of course, the one for both parks even if you spend there only one day).
– Do not miss the parades for anything in the world: you can not come here and miss them!! There will be two parades, at 11 and 17, and I recommend you look at least one whole). The shows, I noticed in my day at the park, put joy in the public. And then I’m sure you will miss a smile when you hear the children who greet their favourite characters from afar (blissful innocence and ingenuity).
– Comparisons with other parks will come naturally to your mind. But I think we should not overthink or be too disappointed with the differences. Disneyland is very projected towards children and teenagers: most of the attractions are for them, and the story around them is also essential (yes, every attraction has been thought of as a little story to tell! A tale that begins when you enter to end at the end of the tour). If you want only and exclusively “the thrills of speed from roller coasters or similar” you will probably come out
not very satisfied. After the advice (even if I think they can give another 1000 and as soon as I can think of them I will add them), I would like to concentrate for a few lines on the park and my thoughts about it. There are the attractions that you will love the most and those that will like less, those that “will remain in your heart” and those that “hate” because you thought different, perhaps influenced by the stories of your friends. My friend and I believe that if only we had more time, we would have made all the games (or almost, given my terror for the roller coaster that I never try). Anyway, let’s talk about the two parks.
We spent 10 hours, from 11 to 22 (the closing time) and we decided to do as many attractions as possible to enjoy ourselves to the fullest.We started with the studios and, now, I’ll tell you something about the various attractions we’ve tried. I will not put them in chronological order, I do not think it can be really useful, but I will try to tell you something and give you my idea about it. We decided to start at Disney Studio 1, which is the building through which we enter the studios’ area. Inside there are many restaurants
(and some shops), all “furnished” in cinematic style. One of the first attractions we did was Armageddon: Les Effets Spéciaux. It is one of those attractions where the public is involved, the kind of attractions that I prefer! The action takes place in what is told, is the set of an additional scene from the movie “Armageddon” and people from the audience have all appeared in this scene. It lasts a little, about 15 minutes (maybe 20). For lovers of high-speed thrills, there is The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror: I recommend you take the Fast ticket (it could happen, also if you arrive there just at the opening time, to find it only for the afternoon and I dispassionately suggest you take them). I avoided it because I imagined that it would “scare me” for speed (practically like a roller coaster) and from the story of my friend I realised that I did very well to avoid it.
The “history of the hotel”, whose elevator “falls” into the void, is very carefully detailed (as is the appearance of the tower itself). As for the Rollercoaster Studios, my friend tried the Crush’s Coaster and Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith and told me that the first ones were not very fast and the second ones, in the dark, are a little faster. We now pass to the Disneyland park, the one where we find the castle we all know. We took a trip to the Phantom Manor. About 45 minutes in the queue, but in fact, we will have made about 25 (as I said at the beginning). In the manor itself, it is not very scary, or maybe we will have it scary, but the ride is still fun. We continued our journey with the roller coaster of Indiana Jones and the temple of Peril.
We continued our tour with the “Pirates of the Caribbean” attraction, located in the Adventureland area and whose path, developed almost entirely in the open, is animated by scenes “typical of pirate stories”. The path is interspersed with a pair of short waterfalls (no, you will not get wet). It starts to get dark and the park lights up for a party. We enjoy the lights, beautiful, as we continue our tour almost at the end. I stop to watch the lights and the rides crowded while my friend went to the Space Mountain: Mission 2.
My friend told me that this is the fastest and most breathtaking of all the roller coasters in the park. We end our day of fun with a nice ride on Autopia. So we found ourselves driving 50s-style cars along a “guided” route. We did it in the evening (even night, it was now past 21). Surely with the light, you can enjoy the path more. We then decided to have dinner at Planet Hollywood which is just outside the park (I’ll talk about it in the post dedicated to where to eat in Paris) before returning to the hotel and collapse tired. Would I stay there again? I would love it, although I would like my third visit, after seeing him as a child and as an adult, to be “adult with children”. And have you been there? What do you think?