Our second day in Paris was our long anticipated trip to Disneyland Paris. We’ve been looking forward to going to Disneyland Paris for years – ever since we first started crafting our bucket list’s together. We got up early that morning, and headed to a patisserie for breakfast around the corner, and then jumped on the train that would take us the 45 minutes to Disneyland Paris, from the city center of Paris. If you’re staying in Paris, it’s easy to get to Disneyland – just take the RER A to Marne La Valee.
We got the the park before it opened, like we recommend doing for all Disney parks – we soon realized that this isn’t exactly necessary for Disneyland Paris. One thing that struck us was how there was NO wait times for anything, all day. The longest line we waited in for anything was ten minutes, and it seemed like the park was empty. Granted, it was a weekday in May, so not officially tourism season yet, but it still struck us as odd after all our experiences with Disney Parks.
We headed to the Disney Studios Park first, because we wanted to be the first in line (we still weren’t grasping the no line concept) for the Ratatouille Ride, and we wanted to get pictures of the Ratatouille Mini-Land. We’re big fans of the work that was done on the Ratatouille Mini-Land – it’s detailed, true to the film, and gives you that magical feeling that you’ve just stepping inside of a movie. The land features the ride, which features the first ever trackless dark ride at Disney Paris, and the restaurant Chez Remy, which is designed after the restaurant in the movie.
After spending some time in Ratatouille Land, we decided we couldn’t wait any longer to see the Castle at Parc Disneyland, so we headed next door (the parks are seriously only a few hundred feet away from each other), for our first view of Main Street in a foreign country. Disneyland Paris’ Castle did not disappoint – as we are of the opinion that it is the most beautiful castle of any park we have seen.
We spent the morning taking pictures (SO MANY PICTURES), and riding rides, including Phantom Manor, our favorite Disneyland Paris attraction. This Wild West themed take on the Haunted Mansion is scarier than the United States counterparts, but we think it’s better.
We had a lunch reservation at Chez Remy, so we headed back to the Studios at noon. We had a really good experience on the whole, and thought the atmosphere of the restaurants was one of the best we’ve seen, but we left with mixed feelings about the restaurant. (We actually left with mixed feelings about the food at Disneyland Paris in general – it might be impossible to find a really good meal in this park.) We will write a full blog later about Chez Remy, and the food at Disneyland Paris in general, but it’s not a great situation.
After lunch, we spent our afternoon in Fantasyland and Adventureland, riding classics like Dumbo, Pirates of the Caribbean, and doing the Castle walk through. We love the Castle walk through, with the dragon underneath the Castle, and the beautiful lookout you can head to on second floor of the castle.
Still jet lagged, and needing an afternoon pick-me-up, we headed to the Disneyland Hotel, which has the feeling of a scaled down Grand Floridian, and ordered magical cappuccinos (they have Tinker Bell on top of them, I REPEAT, Tinker Bell is on top of them.). Cafe Fantasia is a great place to hang out, and spend some time relaxing while spending a long day at the parks, and it is a place we recommend.
We spent our evening finishing the rides we hadn’t ridden, including Space Mountain: Mission 2, which is a completely different experience than Space Mountain in the states. For starters, part of the ride is outside, part of the ride goes upside down, and it’s significantly faster than the one in the states.
We walked around that evening, taking pictures, dancing around the park with a Mickey Mouse balloon that we bought, and waiting for Disney Dreams to begin. Disney Dreams is the nighttime show at Disneyland Paris, and it combines fireworks, fountains, and projections on the Castle. The show tells the story of Peter Pan, trying to be reunited with his shadow, and he chases him through many classic Disney film sequences in his efforts. It’s one of the best Disney nighttime offerings we’ve seen, and should not be missed on your trip.
The park closes immediately after Disney Dreams, and unlike the stateside parks, people don’t stay and hang out -they all leave immediately. We were staying to try and get empty park pictures, like we always do, and the park had completely cleared out in five minutes. We got a few pictures, and left, because security was already hovering.
We took the train back to the city, and headed to bed – we were hitting the road the next day!