Disneyland, Paris (20 November 2010)

Hands up who didn't always want to go to Disneyland when they were a kid... Those with their hands up have something wrong with them. For the rest of us, I dare say most of us never made it; sucks to be us. Well I had to wait over 20 years but today I went to Disneyland, in Paris of all places! Every time I travel between London and Paris on the Eurostar for work I accumulate points that can be exchanged for various goodies (similar to frequent flyer miles). One of the goodies is tickets to Disneyland Paris hehe, and as of my last trip I had accumulated just enough points for two day-tickets. So Kristina and I were big kids for the day today and set out to meet Mickey!

Disneyland Paris is located about 30kms east of central Paris in one of its outer suburbs. While Disneyland and Disney World in the States opened decades ago, Disneyland Paris only opened in 1992 (there is one other in Tokyo, where Mickey Mouse has small eyes and does karate). There were four possible locations for a European Disneyland put forward for debate - two in France and two in Spain. Paris was eventually chosen due to its central location within the continent.

Disneyland Paris comprises of two theme parks - the original Disneyland Park, and Walt Disney Studios Park which opened in 2002.		Our tickets entitled us entry into both parks, and we started with Walt Disney Studios which is themed on a working film studio.

Lots of random crap around: the Armadillo from the movie Armageddon...		US cop cars and whatever that contraption on the end is there...		And these dudes from Fantasia, nice!

As well as rides, the Studios also do a live stunt show which was bloody impressive and made me really miss my own car (not that I ever used to send it over ramps but you know what I mean).

It all culminated with this dude crashing through fire and yeah, good stuff. Videos here and here of some of the action.

After all that we grabbed some chow in a 50s diner. I really want to go to one of these for real in the States - soon enough if all goes to plan!

And what did we eat? Greasy burgers and chips of course! If it was good enough for them in 50s, it's good enough for us now!		No diner is complete without a jukebox.		From there we wandered a little more around the studios: Toy Story had its own area...

Cars...		Monsters Inc...		And even some of the classics like Aladdin.

Before we left we had to check out the merchandise of course hahaha!

Then it was into Disneyland Park.		The park itself covers 140 acres, and the park map lists 49 attractions in five themed lands. Land #1: Main Street USA, bloody chocker with people!

Main Street USA has various restaurants and shops with 1920s decor, and at its end: Sleeping Beauty's Castle - impressive!				Land #2: Frontierland - yeehaw!

Frontierland is themed to the American frontier in the 19th century, complete with riverfront and a working steam-powered riverboat.

		The main attraction in Frontierland is Big Thunder Mountain seen above. We got a Fast Pass for it (which allows us to return later in the evening and skip the queues) and wandered on.

Land #3: Adventureland, themed to resemble the remote jungles in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, desert islands, South America, and the South Pacific (phew).		And the main attraction here: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril, a rollercoaster in a mining train through a lost temple, groovy!

We queued about 45 minutes for this one, were strapped in, and screamed off! Video of it here :)		Elsewhere in Adventureland. They really went to town with the themes - all of them are really well done and really impressive!

Land #4: Fantasyland, themed around a fairytale village. Spooky trees and curvy houses - very cool!

This land was targeted more at the kids with no "big thrill"-classed attractions. We did however go on It's a Small World, seeing as it's the cliché Disney theme park ride :)				The ride features over 300 brightly costumed audio-animatronic dolls in the style of children of the world, singing the ride's title track which has a theme of global peace (fantasy-land indeed then). Here we have Britain with Tower Bridge...

Italy with Venice's Rialto Bridge and the Leaning Tower of Pisa...		Something that reminded me of Egypt...
More from the frontier land...		And the rainforests of South America (still on my to do list). Video here.

So yes it was a pretty cool ride, but inevitably you get returned to the darkness of reality hehe.		Land #5: Discoveryland, themed around the ideas of famed European thinkers and explorers.

The main attraction here is Space Mountain: Mission 2 - a rollercoaster themed on a mission into space. The attraction opened on my birthday in 1995, three years after the opening of the park as a revival of interest to draw more guests to the financially unstable European resort (yup, despite the numbers of people you see today, this place apparently struggles to make a profit). The ride was by far the best of those we did, and was completely dark but I got a video of it here anyway hehe.		From there we wandered some more, saw a few familiar faces, and had a closer look at Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

We then headed back to Frontierland for Big Thunder Mountain, which after Space Mountain was somewhat unimpressive but oh well.		Sleeping Beauty's Castle by night :)

Main Street USA by night and the Disney Fantillusion parade, complete with that sexy mouse chick on the back!

After that, we went home, and on Monday I'll go back to work for another week. It sucks being an adult!

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