What an opportunity to be able to add another Disney park to our list. Being from Florida, you tend to lose the Disney excitement as it becomes another place to go. It becomes this “thing you do” when you have guests visiting or have little ones. Not only is it costly, but it takes a ton of mental preparation (personally) to drive the distance, stand in long lines, be exhausted from the heat and impatient toddlers, etc. However, Disneyland Paris was a completely different experience altogether and our Disney excitement was quickly reignited.
We were fortunate to find a special promotion the week we were in Paris with our adult tickets being the same price as the child rate. We paid close to $150 for all three of us. But even without the special you are only looking in the range of $70-90 per person depending on how soon you need to use the ticket.
Disneyland Paris consists of two parks – Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park – and a shopping district, Disney Village. Once you enter the main gate, you veer left or right and head to the park you are visiting. Easy. No madness or chaos to get to the entrance and with the ease of public transportation, no fuss with parking either. The parks’ entrances were within sight when coming out of the subway’s escalator.
The walk to the castle was filled with anticipation. I purposely did not search for images of how the castle in Paris looks since I wanted it to be a surprise. Expecting to see it right after we entered, we walked under a majestic, Victorian-inspired Disneyland Hotel instead. It was quaint and charming which set the bar on what to expect as we get to the other side. And after a few more steps, there it was – Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. The pink facade, bright blue spires and shiny gold trim. It brought back all the feels.
Although Disneyland Paris is the largest “Magic Kingdom-style” park at any of the Disney resorts, it felt smaller because it wasn’t overly crowded. It felt more intimate and we found ourselves enjoying the park at a slower pace. The lack of digital pre-booked fast passes was discouraging at first, but we soon saw how it easily worked. We grabbed our traditional paper fast passes for the rides we knew we wanted to experience and could easily walk back and forth around the park to use them at the right times.
With close to the same amount of attractions as Magic Kingdom (40 or so), it was such an enjoyment to see different takes on the same themes/rides. Our favorite turned out to be Buzz Lightyear Lazer Blast because it was an interactive game where you shoot targets as if you’re Space Ranger helping Buzz defeat Evil Emperor Zurg.
We were also able to meet new princesses and other characters that have not made our checklist. Annalina was definitely excited to add more signatures in her autograph book.
Food is always another hit or miss when going to theme parks. The already-expensive ticket and then getting an over-priced burger that leaves you wanting more can be annoying. I did, however, research the restaurants in the park and we went for the “Best Hot Dogs” at Casey’s Corner. The restaurant was inspired by the animated movie “Casey at Bat” and had baseball-themed decor so it felt a little “American”. The $8 fairly large hot dog with chili wasn’t anything to brag about but it wasn’t an outrageous price to pay so it felt like a slammer.
We unfortunately did not stay for the castle’s lighting. Being in Paris during the summer, it did not get dark until close to 11pm. And with the train ride back to the city, we decided to head home. We’ll just have to come back again!
Now that we’ve checked off another Disney park, we are getting the itch to put all of them on our bucket list. It’s awesome to see the parks in the different countries and see how they reflect the culture of the country while still remaining so tied into the overall Disney theme.
What excitement!! Such a great idea to add all of them to your bucket list!!