To read about our time in Paris preceding these few days at the theme parks, click on part 1 or 2 to catch up.

The excitement of visiting a brand new (to me) theme park doesn’t happen often. We are lucky enough to spend quite a few of our days exploring Disneyland, WDW and the Tokyo parks. I stop by Knott’s Berry Farm for lunch about once per week and we’ll pop into Universal every few months. Again, we’re very lucky. The anticipation of visiting a new spot reminds me of how much I love all of this. It may have taken us a while to get there but Disneyland Paris provided that rush.

Melissa and I left our stay in Paris in the mid-afternoon to head toward Val d’Europe for the night. The train ride from center of the city to the parks takes about 45 minutes and is really pleasant. It’s also cheap, costing just a few dollars. Val d’Europe is just one stop away from Disneyland Paris and where we chose to stay the night. I’ve already reviewed Hotel Moxy so I won’t dive deep into that. We’d recommend the hotel to anyone trying to do Disneyland Paris on a budget. We were only there for a night, moving to an on-site hotel the following morning.

Once arriving in Val d’Europe and dropping our bags off at the hotel, we headed to the large mall down the street with the same name as the train stop. We walked around there for a while, stopping in a few bookstores and checking out the restaurant options. Eventually, we landed at a Japanese restaurant closer to our hotel. We ate an enjoyable dinner and then turned in pretty early, knowing that the next few days would be long!

We were up early the next morning and took the 3 minute train ride over to the Disneyland Paris train stop. Once there, we had to get our bags to the hotel and ran into the biggest snafu of the trip. There was seemingly no way to get into Disney Village (their version of Downtown Disney), which was the main route to our hotel. I’m still confused about the process and feel like we missed something along the way but we gave up and took a long walk around the properties to get to Sequoia Lodge, where we would stay for the next few nights. That messed up our timing for the morning a little bit but it was more of a speed bump than a derailment. We still made it into Disneyland Paris for most of Extra Magic Time, which is an extra hour in the parks each morning for guests staying on-site.

Despite a few more steps than we planned on, any frustration from the morning melted away once we saw the Disneyland Paris castle. Magical, beautiful, cheesy, the feeling was all of those things. I’d seen the castle (Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant) in photos so many times, seeing it in front of me was emotional. Those cubed trees on the left and the distinct style are gorgeous. We were trying to get to attractions as quickly as possible but the castle stopped us dead in our tracks for a few minutes. It was a special moment.

Once we snapped back to reality (shoutout Eminem) we raced toward Hyperspace Mountain. I’ve talked before about how I try to stay away from ride spoilers as much as possible and that worked well throughout this trip. Disneyland Paris doesn’t have many original attractions but it does have unique takes on classic attractions. Hyperspace Mountain is far more thrilling than the other Space Mountain iterations. The outside launch wasn’t a surprise to me, although a blast nonetheless. The inversions were a surprise! I could take or leave the Star Wars retheme but we both really enjoyed the ride overall.

The on ride experience only tells half the story of Hyperspace Mountain though, as the facade is fantastic in all of the steam punk glory. Right below the iconic dome is some water with a submarine. Exiting Hyperspace Mountain puts guests right beside Les Mysteres du Nautilus, so we went to explore the walkthrough attraction. There were some very cool visuals including a big organ and map of Vulcania, which looks incredibly similar to Tokyo DisneySea’s Mysterious Island.

The walkthrough is worth doing, especially if you save it during the busy part of the day. It’s a nice addition to Discoveryland (this park’s version of Tomorrowland) and adds to the wonderful aesthetic.

We needed a snack, as our breakfast plans were thrown off by the extra morning walking, so we went over to Main Street and grabbed a few pastries and coffee. It was chilly! The pastries were fine but the warm drinks were appreciated.

After our breakfast, we crossed the park to get our first peek at Adventure Isle. I wouldn’t say we had a feel for the resort as a whole yet but there was clearly an emphasis on the aesthetic. We didn’t explore the caves in this area (yet) but really enjoyed the view as we headed toward Pirates of the Caribbean.

Like Hyperspace Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean felt like a fresh take on a classic. The waterfalls are laid out differently, meaning the plot has a slightly different feel. I won’t spoil it for anyone in this trip report but loved the attraction. Of the four Pirates rides I’ve been on, this is second place behind Disneyland’s. DLP’s queue is similar to the Disney World version and I was kind of amazed at how dark it was in there.

As you can see, I rate this as the second best attraction in Parc Disneyland. I could easily be talked into the top spot though. Everything looks pristine on the ride, which isn’t always the case in DLP. We were very impressed!

Unfortunately, our next stop was less impressive. We continued on through Adventureland to experience Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril. This is a roller coaster that just isn’t all that exciting. I think it’s a small step above DisneySea’s Raging Spirits but is in the same vein. The vehicle just never moves that fast despite a loop in the track. It wasn’t necessarily a bad ride, some of the theme looks pretty good, but it’s one of those cases where the actual ride experience doesn’t measure up to the expectations set by the visuals.

Those lines took a little longer and we were approaching noon at that point. We had an early dinner reservation and decided to have an early lunch to match it. What better place to eat than the restaurant themed to Mr. Toad! Well… We got in the quick-service spot and were ready to order fish and chips but then were told there was no seating in the restaurant. I believe they were understaffed and could only open one side of the seating area. That was illustrative of the resort’s biggest problem. We were at a counter-service restaurant that already had limited hours (I believe it closed at 5 or 6 PM) and half of it wasn’t open during lunch. This limits the whole park’s capacity and is frustrating for guests. I don’t mean this to be sour grapes, it wasn’t that big of a deal that we couldn’t eat at Mr. Toad’s Dining Hall for that meal. It’s just, rather strangely, par for the course at the Disneyland Paris Resort.

We ended up at Pizzeria Bella Notte instead. That’s a beautiful counter-service spot with middling food. Here’s our full review!

Once lunch was over, we set out to explore Fantasyland and the castle. I love these water features that go throughout this area. They’re prominently displayed without feeling like they get in the way of walking paths. It’s a nice change from the overly concrete Fantasylands we see in other parks. This is all under the shadow of a beautiful castle.

Wanting to ride every attraction in the resort, we decided to burn through some Fantasyland options even if the wait times were pretty high. Snow White (Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains) was the first ride of the afternoon. This is close to a copy of Snow White’s Scary Adventure but with more skeletons? Disneyland Paris seems to enjoy spookier scenes in rides and I was here for it. We both enjoyed this version of a classic dark ride.

Small World came next, with a colorful facade and a loading area similar to Disneyland. The ride was very familiar but with a few different placements. I love Small World no matter where it is, especially the older I get. This is no exception.

I was confused about the addition of the slinky dog here. Are these toys Scandinavian? I could easily Google this but I’m not sure I care quite that much.

The park does really well with their walkthrough attractions and Alice’s Curious Labyrinth is the headliner of those. This hedge maze has different character props throughout as well as the Queen of Hearts Castle. We had a great time walking through here and liked the color it brought to Fantasyland. I can confidently say that Wandering in Disney is very pro mazes in theme parks.

Disneyland Paris doesn’t have a Toontown behind Fantasyland, instead the land extends back in that area with their version of the canal boats (Le Pays des Contes de Fées) and Casey Jr. Those attractions really feel crammed into Disneyland’s small footprint but here they have room to breathe and it works pretty well. Sure, there could be some more interesting attractions in place of them but they were well executed. I especially liked Le Pays des Contes de Fées and enjoyed seeing all of the little villages.

Big Thunder Mountain was sadly closed during our trip (and will be until early summer) but it was easy to see why people rave about the attraction. The whole area looks fantastic, with the iconic coaster on an island. I’ll look forward to experiencing it next time and am sure that it adds to the Disneyland Paris experience.

Our best view of Big Thunder without all of the construction was from Phantom Manor, which is where we went after all of the Fantasyland rides. Phantom Manor is DLP’s version of Haunted Mansion. Some of the ride is very similar but there’s a fantastic saloon scene that connects the ride to the Frontierland setting. I loved everything about Phantom Manor, from that special scene to the facade. Another fantastic fresh take on a classic. Here’s a few photos from the ride.

From one high to another, we wandered over to Frontierland Theater to watch Rhythms of the Pride Land. It was actually our second time over there that day, as the first time we narrowly missed out on the show reaching capacity. This time around we were 40 minutes early and rewarded for standing in line. This Lion King based stage show won us over almost immediately and is our current favorite stage show in any Disney park. The performances, staging and choreography was dazzling. To read more about one of the best parts of Disneyland Paris, click here.

That particular showing appeared to be one of the actor’s last performance. It’s always special to stumble upon moments like that, as certain members of the audience and the whole cast paid him special praise.

Because all of the restaurants seem to close early, we made a reservation at 5 PM for Agrabah Cafe. The restaurant is absolutely gorgeous and the buffet was solid, offering Middle Eastern fare. We both enjoyed the experience and had the realization that splurging for table-service food was the way to go at this resort.

Blue hour and some angrier clouds had taken over the sky when we exited. The very pink castle was a striking contrast, looking fantastical. We spent an hour or so exploring the castle, visiting the dragon underneath and the walkthrough area inside.

For those into giant animatronics, the large creature in la Taniere du Dragon will be a highlight of Disneyland Paris. It’s an exceptional setting and an amazing animatronic. There’s not much to the experience outside of going to see the dragon but it’s well worth your time. The figure moves pretty often and looks great. Don’t miss this one!

One exit out of that cave is to the glass blowing shop where we caught this Cast Member doing her thing. This was a really cool shop with brick walls and some mysterious potions to set the scene.

The castle walkthrough is well worth doing too. Along with a nice view of Fantasyland, some of the art inside is beautiful. There’s stained glass, mosaic and statues. Disneyland Paris, as a whole, looks amazing. There are other flaws and the ride roster may look incredibly similar to the American parks, but the beauty of this castle park is what makes it worth visiting. This was apparent in almost every area we went.

We had another hour or two before the nighttime spectacular and park closing so we took a ride on Dumbo and the Tea Cups. Both are pretty similar to all of the other Dumbo and Tea Cups rides. The water underneath them is a nice touch.

We had just enough time to make it over to Swiss Family Treehouse (La Cabane des Robinson) before the show. I liked how this walkthrough attached to Adventure Isle, making the whole area feel very playful. This tree had some beautiful bridges and we had most of the attraction to ourselves at that point.

We quickly found a place on Main Street and settled in for Disney Tales of Magic. As I mentioned in our review of the nighttime spectacular, this was our first time seeing a Disney drone show. We were both wowed by particular moments in the show, specifically the Lion King vignette. The highs in Tales of Magic are extraordinarily high and make up for some pacing issues. Drone shows are the future of theme park nighttime spectaculars and this was a fun one to start with. Here’s a few photos from that night!

Disneyland Paris was closed once the nighttime show ended. We had a very fun first day in the park, although it wasn’t quite as efficient as we were hoping as the lines were longer and we were still getting a feel for crowd flow. Some of the operating decisions really puzzled us but mostly we were taken by how beautiful everything was. I spent about 45 minutes taking photos around Main Street before security started to make their way through. Here’s a few more photos.

We exited the park and walked back to Sequoia Lodge to settle in for the night. That’s where we’ll pick up in our next installment!

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