Disneyland Paris: Walt Disney Studios Park

Our first afternoon at the Disneyland Paris resort was spent at Walt Disney Studios Park.

Here's a view of the park as one exits the train station and heads toward the entrance. (Click any photo to enlarge.)


The entrance:


Near the entrance guests are greeted by the famous "Partners" statue of Walt and Mickey:


The Studios Park is fun but, at least at this point, rather underwhelming. It is quite a bit smaller than the Florida version, and although it has some of the Florida park's fun "look"...


...it simply doesn't have enough of the Art Deco architecture and other fun touches that make the Florida park so very appealing from a visual perspective.

The number of rides and attractions at the Paris park are also quite limited at this point. It doesn't have Florida's Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, or Fantasmic! shows, nor does it yet have the Midway Mania ride.

While the park has a cute little diner (see below), it's also missing the variety of restaurants that add so much to the Florida park, where guests have a choice of Prime Time Cafe, Sci-Fi Dine-In, Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano, Starring Rolls Cafe, and more. In fact the food overall was a disappointment at the two parks in France -- after all, this is Paris, home of great food! -- a topic I'll address at greater length in another post.

Cafe des Cascadeurs is said to be the oldest restaurant in any Disney park, because the building is older than the original Disneyland:


Here's a shot of the diner's interior:


Very nice theming, and good hamburgers too.

Having mentioned a Disney restaurant, a word on...ice. Nearly 30 years after my first visit to Europe, I was intrigued that the concept of ice cold drinks, particularly sodas, still hasn't caught on in Europe. I know that when one is traveling the idea is to be open to different ways of doing things and to be politely accepting of local practices, but I confess I'm completely baffled by the European acceptance (preference?) of warm sodas in so many restaurants. One would think Disney, at least, would be more Americanized in this regard, but the majority of the sodas sold at the parks -- even in restaurants -- were in tepidly chilled plastic bottles, rather than icy drinks from a fountain. Obtaining ice became a daily quest for my husband, in particular (grin).

The Moteurs...Action! Stunt Show Spectacular originated in Paris, later opening in Florida, where we first saw it. The shows are identical -- other than the fact that the Paris show is hosted in two languages! The parks are completely bilingual, with Cast Members flipping between French and English with ease.


Since I saw the show in Florida four or five years ago I knew to watch for the moment I could snap the jumping car:


Armageddon, a special effects attraction, is a strange mix between Disneyland's old Mission to Mars and Florida's Stitch's Great Escape. My reaction afterwards was a baffled "What was that all about?"


Rock 'n' Roller Coaster is perhaps more intense than the Florida version, but the fun back story (racing across town to a concert), the exuberant "freeway" design, and the well-designed loading and exit areas are all missing. It's a stripped-down version of the ride, and it shows.


Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is the less expensive "California" version, minus Florida's impressive section where the elevator shaft car moves forward on a track. (Anyone who's been on both versions knows what I'm talking about...California and Paris definitely got the short end of the stick on this ride.)


Flying Carpets Over Agrabah, known in Florida as The Magic Carpets of Aladdin, is somewhat inexplicably located in the Studio. (It's particularly perplexing as Adventureland in Disneyland Paris itself has a very strong ALADDIN theme...the ride would have been perfect there.) I suspect they wanted a ride for young children and the Carpets were elected. The line features a back story that the ride is part of a movie production, but the effect doesn't work very well.

Disney celebrated the 15th anniversary of Disneyland Paris by opening the brand-new ride Crush's Coaster, in which riders sit in turtle-shell cars to take an exciting trip through the East Australian Current. It's part classic Disney dark ride and part roller coaster; it's absolutely brilliant...and I'll never ride it again! The cars, you see, spin during the roller coaster section, and although I tried to convince myself I was floating delightfully through the current, my stomach wasn't buying it. Ten seconds more and it wouldn't have been pretty. That said, the decor and overall theming were outstanding.

Until the park is expanded, the Paris version of Disney Studios is only a so-so attraction -- enjoyable but not impressive.

Not to worry, though, because "impressive" doesn't begin to describe the Magic Kingdom at Disneyland Paris!! Coming soon...