Walt Disney Studios Paris

Disneyland Paris is running a special all summer: Buy a one-day admission ticket, get a 2nd day free.  The only catch is that you have to wait at least 1 week after your first visit.  Well it is one week and a day, and the clock is ticking on our remaining days in Paris, so this morning we took the RER train to check out Walt Disney Studios.

At 9:30 they opened the gates even though the park is supposed to open at 10. 

Disney Studios is much smaller than the Magic Kingdom, with just three main areas (Production Courtyard, Backlot, Toon Studio) and a shopping/restaurant gallery (Front Lot).

A familiar statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse greets you as you enter the park through the Front Lot/Studio 1 building.

We made a beeline for Toon Studio, which seemed to have the most rides.

The park's most popular ride is Crush's Coaster.  Fans of the movie "Finding Nemo" will recognize Crush as the surfer-dude turtle character.  The idea behind the ride is that you are in a spinning turtle shell, surfing the East Australia Current.  The shell spins as you swoop around in the dark.  Very fun!

Next door is Les Tapis Volants (Flying Carpets Over Agrabah).  We skipped this one, but took a few photos anyway.  It is very similar to the Dumbo ride.

Most of the decoration around the Toon Studio area seems to be inspired by recent Pixar movies like Cars and Toy Story.

The line for the Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop was more than 50 minutes, so we decided to skip it.  And the Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin was more of a kiddie coaster so we gave it a miss as well.

But the RC Racer ride called to us like a siren.  Who can resist an enormous U-shaped Hot Wheels track?

The Disney Animation Gallery was interesting.  After learning about early animation tools, like the Thaumotrope and the Praxinoscope, we watched a video explaining how the animators go through the process of bringing a character to life.

One of the things I was surprised by was just how many iterations of character design an animator goes through before settling on the final look of the character.  For example, here are some pre-production sketches of Ursula (from "The Little Mermaid").  Very different from the film!

The Backlot area only has three attractions.  Armageddon Special Effects is a show where the audience members become the actors in a scene from the movie "Armageddon".  You stand around on a space station set and react to the "special effects" (water drops, flames) of an asteroid hitting the ship.

The Rock 'n Roller Coaster (avec Aerosmith) was pretty fun.  While you wait in line you get to look at all kinds of autographed memorabilia.  The ride is dark but not pitch black so you can see what's coming, and the roller coaster does several loops.  The only drawback (for me) was that Aerosmith music blares in your ears the whole time.

Autographs from Pearl Jam, The Cure, and U2

The final attraction in the Backlot is the stunt show called "Moteurs..Action!  Stunt Show Spectacular".  It was a great show packed with action.  And there was one familiar face...Lightning McQueen (although here he is called "Flash McQueen").

Cars in general seem to be a theme at this park.  The afternoon parade was called "Stars and Cars".  I never understand why the bad guys always get lumped into the same float (or in this case car).

The Production Courtyard has only two rides: the Studio Tram Tour and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  The tram tour was very short...only a couple of drive-through scenes and nothing good enough to rival the "Jaws" moment of the Universal Studios tram tour.

But the Tower of Terror was anything but boring.  Rod Serling speaks French and welcomes guests to the haunted hotel, where the main elevators are permanently out of service, and the service elevators only lead to...La Quatrième Dimension!!!  (I guess "Twilight Zone" doesn't translate.)

It is a gut-wrenching ride that shoots you up to the top of the tower and then drops you down to the ground before sending you back up for a few more rounds.  Definitely do not eat lunch before this one!

Speaking of lunch, the main spot to grab a bite or buy souvenirs is inside the Studio 1 building.  The decor is straight out of the 1950's.  "The Swankadero" has got to be my favorite name for a nightclub, ever.

Walt Disney Studios is a very small park...since it was a Friday we had more than enough time to see and do everything well before the park closed. 

We then spent a few hours over at the Magic Kingdom before it closed at 7pm (summer hours ended last week).  We decided to check out the Disney Village nearby for a dinner spot.

With the crowds and everything, I felt like I was still in the Magic Kingdom.

Anyone want to ride the bull?

Hmmm....should we eat at McDonald's, Planet Hollywood, or the generically-named "Steakhouse"?

On one exterior wall of Planet Hollywood they had pictures of big-name stars like Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Johnny Depp, and....wait, what is this?  The cast of Twilight and the JoBros?!!!  In this shot it looks like Ahnuld is about to do some target practice.

Anyway, we decided to eat at Annette's, a Fifties diner with rollerskating waiters.  Our waiter let me take a photo of his pretty rainbow skates.

After dinner we walked around a little more.  In the courtyard there was live entertainment on a small stage.  We did a double-take when we saw the stage and the performers.  Yee-haw!

Aha! -- they were having a Route 66 event.  That explained the 20 or so classic American cars parked throughout the village.  I think they planned it to coincide with Flagstaff's Route 66 Days, which is happening this weekend as well.  There was an information booth about the Route 66 Arizona France Association, a club of Route 66 aficionados.  It looks like they plan group trips to visit some portion of the iconic roadway every year.  Next year they'll be in Arizona and California and in 2013 it'll be Illinois and Missouri.  Fun!

Disneyland Paris Part 2: Fantasyland, Parade & Fireworks

To pick up where we left off yesterday...Just as we arrived in Fantasyland, the sky started to cloud over.

We headed over to It's a Small World.

A few drops of rain started falling just as we got on the ride.

It's a Small World is one of the few rides that move slowly enough to take photos.  I apologize in advance for how many I took!

Ride entrance, England, Holland, France, Italy

Japan, China, Thailand, South America, Middle East

Home!

The rest of the US, and the finale

When we stepped outside it was no longer raining, but it was still a little overcast.  While we were looking up at the sky we realized that something was missing -- the Matterhorn!  I guess when you are just a train ride away from the actual Matterhorn a fake one is a poor substitute, even if it does have fun bobsleds and an ice monster. We were also shocked to discover that there is no Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in DLP.  Gasp!  Instead there is "Toad Hall", a restaurant serving fish & chips, chicken, and burgers.  Sad face.

Kevin investigates.  No Mr. Toad here!

Since it had stopped raining, we decided to take a stroll through Alice's Curious Labyrinth.

It's not a ride, but it was probably the best "walk-through" attraction at the park.  It's a fun Disney twist on the labyrinth concept, and obviously quite different from the Alice ride in Anaheim.

No visit to Wonderland would be complete without seeing the Queen of Hearts' castle or the Cheshire Cat.

For the record: the Pinocchio, Snow White, and Peter Pan rides are all very similar to the ones in Anaheim, other than the names being in French.  Just like in California, the Peter Pan ride had the longest lines of any attraction in Fantasyland (it is the only ride in Fantasyland with a Fast Pass).

The bottom right isn't Peter Pan, but is a shop with Jack's Beanstalk growing out of it

We made sure to check out Sleeping Beauty's Castle from all angles.

You can walk through the castle's upper level.  The stained glass windows tell the story of Sleeping Beauty, although in France she goes by another name.

There is a nice view of the Fantasyland shops from the castle ramparts.

Afterwards we descended the steps to the castle dungeon to see what's down there.

In the dark lair below is a sleeping dragon.

But he comes to life every few minutes!  I apologize for the grainy, dark, X-Files quality of the video...we didn't have our good video camera with us.  Also, note the crying baby in the background...the dragon was pretty scary!



We took a short break for dinner at the Lucky Nugget Saloon, described in the parks guide as "International cuisine and Tex-Mex".  Not sure what that means, but mmm...barbecued ribs.

Okay, back to Fantasyland for a couple more adventures before the park closes.  Here is Le Carousel de Lancelot.  Now that I think of it, I haven't been on the carousel in Anaheim in years...there never seems to be enough time.

I even managed to get Kevin to ride the Mad Hatter Tea Cups, so I didn't have to go by myself.  His only rule was "no spinning".

Well, maybe just a little bit.

Time to go stake out a good spot to view the parade.  The fireworks follow immediately afterwards, so we wanted to have a good view of the castle as well.

We were in position a good forty-five minutes early and people were already jockeying for prime curb locations.  But it wasn't too bad because we enjoyed chatting with some Australians who were standing next to us.  We were all marveling at the Europeans who were chain-smoking while waiting for the parade to start.  Music played over the loudspeakers while we waited.  This little girl danced with her shadow in the street the whole time.

Finally they dimmed the lights and the parade began.

The parade theme is "Fantillusion".  Each float is supposed to transform into something else.

The Tinkerbell and Fairy Godmother floats didn't stop long enough for us to see anything change.

But the Ursula float did.  It may be hard to tell with all the smoke but at first you can only see her head.  Then the lights on the float change color and Ursula's body rapidly inflates so that she towers over the spectators.

The Little Mermaid float also stopped right in front of us so that we could see it transform.  Here's the float before:

And here is the "after".  They are now dancing on a raised platform and a wedding cake or chandelier (it's hard to tell) appears as if out of nowhere.

The final float carried Minnie Mouse, in princess attire.

We then waited another 15 minutes or so for the fireworks to start.  It's funny that the park closes at 11pm, but the fireworks started at 11:05.  C'est la France!

The show was short but the fireworks were fantastic, as Disney fireworks always are.

It was midnight by the time we got on the train back to Paris.  A long day and a late night, but totally worth it.