An American Mouseketeer In Disneyland Paris

“In Tokyo, Disney built a replica of the Cinderella Castle found at Walt Disney World in Florida. In Paris, the Imagineers realized that beautiful castles could simply be found down the road, and subsequently the castle in the park needed to be especially different.”

- Ryan Simmons

My frustration level grew as I hit another darkened dead end. Disneyland Paris’ closing time was quickly approaching and I was trying to find the Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril roller coaster for the last ride of the night before finding a spot to watch the Friday night fireworks show. I know the layout of the original Disneyland like the back of my hand but in Paris this familiarity was proving to be a hindrance as paths that should have brought me to my destination turned out to lead me absolutely nowhere.

In desperation, I reached out for help to a father and son who were also staring at the map on their phone. They were from Spain and did not speak English, but it was easy to ascertain that they were as lost as I was. Together we overcame the poor park design and the language barrier and found our intended destination.

It was not until Sunday morning that I realized that the problem was not with the Imagineers who had laid out the confusing pathways but with my approach to experiencing their park. In seeking out a ride in Indiana Jones’ temple I was putting the reward in front of the journey. To fully appreciate the park I had to leave adult expectations at the gate and let the kid inside out.

This epiphany came as I explored a network of caves in the Adventure Isle part of the park. This section is a much larger version of Tom Sawyer’s Island in Disneyland with pathways that are sized more appropriately for adults to explore along with their children. I was searching for the pontoon bridge within sight but the entrance was proving elusive. I questioned if the effort was worth it with each failure but my inner child bubbled up and pushed me to make another pass. I could feel a smile fill my face when I finally found the entrance along with a sense of pride for not having abandoned the task. The fact that the entrance was closed barely registered as I already had my reward.

In the close confines of the original Disneyland, the attractions of Adventureland and Frontierland are right in front of you and easy to find. Blessed with more space in Florida, the Imagineers built bigger pathways to spread the crowds out. In France, they used the space to give these lands the appropriate feel so that they demanded to be explored.

With three Magic Kingdom parks already under its belt, Imagineering had the opportunity to use these experiences to its advantage when designing the European version. The castle reveal is guaranteed by the placement of an ornate hotel at the entrance, not only blocking the view of the castle but creating another “weenie” as you travel through the lushly landscaped entry plaza. By changing the name of Tomorrowland to Discoveryland, they eliminated the problem of a tomorrow that seems outdated. Also, larger spaces give the crowds more room to breathe, relieving bottlenecks that occur at the original Disneyland.

When the park opened as EuroDisney 30 years ago, the company’s CEO, Michael Eisner, said that the Imagineers had to work on a grander scale; they were, after all, competing on a continent that had real castles. This comes across from the moment the castle is revealed. Explore a little further and you will find an animatronic dragon lurking in the dungeon. Disneyland mainstays The Haunted Mansion (renamed Phantom Manor), Big Thunder Mountain, and Pirates of the Caribbean all had improvements in presentation and execution.

Unfortunately, current park management seems to have neglected the gift that they have inherited. In one example of “bad show,” the paint on the sign for Le Pays des Contes de Fées (Storybook Land Canal Boats) was peeling. The Disneyland Hotel at the entrance of the park seems to have been in a state of severe disrepair before being closed for renovation. Most concerning was the lack of crowd control at the fireworks show, which was so bad that people were entering landscaped areas to escape the crush in an area that had almost no visibility of the show.

While Eisner opened the checkbooks widely for the construction of the Magic Kingdom park, the failures of the end of his tenure as Disney’s leader are on full display in its sister park, the Walt Disney Studios Park. Compared to the castle next door, this park’s weenie, the Earffel Tower, is underwhelming. The Hollywood Tower, which houses the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, is more prominent in the park’s skyline but you see it long before you enter the park’s gates eliminating the possibility of a “reveal” moment.

Like California Adventure, attempts to improve this park have resulted in highly successful mini-lands (the area where the Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy ride is located is a particular standout), the park has no evident theme. The Magic Kingdom Parks are where “you leave today and enter worlds of history, discovery and ageless fantasy,” while the Studios Park seems to be where the Disney company throws rides based on random Intellectual Properties (IPs) in an attempt to create synergy.

The most curious part about recent improvements to the park is the failure to include the Tower of Terror ride in its new Avengers Campus. Instead, it stands by itself in an area next to the campus with no apparent theme to connect it to anything. The Guardians of the Galaxy makeover of this ride system at California Adventure makes it one of the most fun ride experiences at any of the parks and would tie the Paris version of the ride into the surrounding area.

I had been dreaming of this visit since I saw a picture of Disney’s first snow-draped castle thirty years ago and in almost every way it lived up to my expectation. As with any Disney Park, it provided a place where my inner child was encouraged to emerge and leave adult responsibilities behind for a few days. I explored new food, experienced attractions not available at any of the other parks, and bathed in the grandeur of what the Imagineers created. I also temporarily bonded with two strangers as we explored together and found our way to a temple lost in the jungle. Isn’t that what traveling is all about?

Planning a visit? You can learn from our mistakes:

Staying At The Resort provides a convenient location to the parks but it is also expensive. We stayed at the Disney Newport Bay Club, which was a short walk from the park. It was also outdated and in need of a major renovation. It was the only hotel that we stayed in during our trip that did not have USB charging ports in the room.

Also, think twice about buying the meal plan. The breakfast at the hotel was underwhelming, with a limited selection and the food was served cold. We wasted credits because the times of our dinner reservations limited our ability to purchase lunch and not spoil our appetites.

We hired a car to take us from our hotel in Paris to the resort. In retrospect, we should have looked into the possibility of taking a train as the station is right in the middle of the resort.

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Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for students with special education needs and public education. He was elected to the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and is the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.