Disneyland Paris!

Our sojourn to Disneyland Paris was quite the adventure, mostly because it happened a day sooner than it was supposed to. We were at Microsoft on the doorstep and Microsoft was not prepared for us. So, we quickly changed plans, rescheduled for the next day, and hit the train for Disneyland. I welcomed the change of plans.

We spent the entire afternoon and evening in the park. All in all, the time we would have spent in the park had we gone on Tuesday would have been about 9 to 10 hours, so I feel we got roughly the same experience that we would have had if we had gone to Disney on Tuesday. I was able to go to every attraction I wanted to visit, such as the Tower of Terror, the Aerosmith Rockin’ Roller Coaster, the Crush Coaster, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Buzz Lightyear shooter.

The Tower of Terror, Buzz Lightyear, and the Aerosmith coaster are nearly identical to the attractions in the US, but there were marked differences in Pirates, Indiana Jones and Space Mountain. I was looking forward to Indiana Jones especially because of the story that accompanies the ride in Disneyland California. In Paris, Indiana Jones is just a coaster – a cool coaster, but still a roller coaster. Space Mountain is 10 times cooler in Paris than it is in California. Rather than be a simple coaster on small rocket carts, this is a full on thrill ride with twists, loops, curls, corkscrews, g-forces, and much more.

I loved it. The Crush Coaster was a ride that I was totally unfamiliar with previously, but I loved it. It was a play on the Eastern Australian Current in Finding Nemo. The patron is taken on a ride through “the Eastern Australian Current” on a turtle shell which spins as the ride progresses. It’s an absolutely brilliant ride. I loved to rip it, roll it and punch it!

As for the business aspects of the park, it is very clear to me that Disney Paris is marketed for an older crowd than Disney California. There are few attractions at the park beyond the standard Disney attractions which are tailored specifically for small children. Many of the large attractions are for a larger, more mature audience. Those that obviously are not for teenagers and young adults are inundated with small children. We had to wait for over an hour to see the Haunted Mansion.

Speaking of the Haunted Mansion, it became fairly clear to me while there that Disney Paris is either not as concerned with the quality of the attractions or the staff is simply indifferent to the customer experience. In Disney California, the staff is always very cordial and as nice as possible to park guests. In Disney Paris, it’s fairly clear that the French attitude towards labor has taken over and is tolerated within the park. While this may be acceptable culturally, it does make a markedly different experience for those who are seeking the same experience that is found in California. I also noted that Beer and Wine is served in Disney Paris, which would absolutely not be tolerated in California. But then again, I knew that alcohol would be there. I wasn’t really surprised by its presence given what I know about European culture in general.

Speaking of the food, I noticed that the American food seemed to be selling the best. While there were some French and other European options available for consumption, the patrons seemed to like the American food, or at the very least, they seemed to be interested enough in American and Disney culture to eat and sample the American food. I thought this behavior made sense – when I take a trip to Europe, I expect to eat European food. Disney can be perceived as a small oasis of American culture inside of Europe, and if I were a European visitor to the park, I would want to try the American food to see what it’s like. That being said, I really can’t describe how the food tasted because I was eating it so quickly that I couldn’t taste it very well. I wasn’t in the mood to eat and take my time. I wanted to ride the rides.

This illustrates another major difference between the European park and the American park. As I perceive it, the American park is all about eat-as-you-go so that patrons can take advantage of their time on the rides. Not so in Paris. The European park has many more food options, including a restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean. It is designed to allow the patrons to sit down, enjoy the food, relax for a bit, and return to the attractions. I’m sure that my group and I looked very odd to the other patrons running from one ride to the next with food in hand, being loud as we went.

Another difference that Euro Disney has had to deal with is the language barrier. Disney Paris has two main languages: French and English. The French is obviously present to cater to the French population that visits the park. From what I perceived at the park, everyone else is assumed to be an English-speaker. While this interplay is carried on in various forms throughout the park, I feel like Disney has done the best it knew how, given the circumstances. Language difficulties are present throughout Europe, and I don’t feel like the patrons really expected anything different from Euro Disney.

Disney appears to be very successful in Europe. The park was packed. I saw loads of families and loads of children at the park. Wait lines were just like the ones in America (except that larger portions of them were indoors), and the fast-pass service often brought patrons back to the attractions two hours after fast-pass issue. While I didn’t see many characters (Mickey, Minnie, and the like) visiting with patrons, when I did run into Disney Characters, they were being mobbed by patrons. There was no method to that madness like there is in America. Kids and other patrons simply formed a mob around the characters they wanted to see and hoped they could get a photo. Such a thing would be very different in America.

I hear that Disney is going to build a third theme park in the area to accompany the Disney Studios and Disneyland Paris. I, as a patron, would be happy to see this go up, but I am unsure about the investment from a European standpoint. Euro Disney is still not making enough to pay off the interest from the financing that built the park in the first place. Why Euro Disney is considering entering more debt to pay off more debt to build a third park is beyond me. Unless Disney can show that building a third park will reduce their overall debt in the long run, I wouldn’t be interested in financing a third park for them.

However, I stand by what I said before. I loved Disneyland Paris for what it was and hope to be able to take my family there someday. I loved the park. I thought it was terrific.