The 3 P’s of Disney: Planning, Power Walking, and Plenty of fun

Jacob Here!

 
For those who don’t know I am a major Disney fan, I have been going to the Disney Parks since I was less than a year old. I even worked at Disney World as an intern in the Disney College Program at Tommorowland Speedway. The experience of Disneyland Paris was very unique to the domestic parks in the U.S. For this blog I will tell you about my experiences since that’s what most people want to hear. Then I’ll give a more in depth analysis for those who want to know the deeper comparisons between the U.S Parks and Disneyland Paris. 

Disney days are among the few days a year that I spring out of bed without a second of delay. I hurried to get my clothes on and off we went to ride the train down to Disneyland Paris. I felt light as a feather walking down to the train station and we rode for a while waiting for the stop with the mouse ears next to the name. When we arrived I had already spent the previous day strategizing on where to go. I choose Walt Disney Studio Park as the first park followed by Disneyland Paris Park. 

Choosing the Spider-Man ride as our rope drop we made it in line with a 40 minute wait, not bad for a e ticket. The line moved progressively until a voice on the speaker stated that the ride had experienced technical issues. My worst fear had come true, a wasted rope drop and a hour of our time spent in a line for nothing. The line after about 30 minutes began to move again to the cheers of everyone only to discover we were being removed from line back out of the attraction. I leaned over to the Cast Member and asked for his Coordinator which is Disney Lingo for manager and understood I knew what was up. One trip to guest service and boom free fast passes for the spider man ride. Crisis averted.

We made our way around the first park and rode all the rides we wanted Crush Coaster, Rc Racers, and eventually Spider-Man which was good but nothing spectacular. Then we crossed over to Disney Paris Park and spent the rest of our day there. I of course had to check out my old alma mater autopia which had better cars than I had at Disney World, not surprising at all. 

We stayed the whole rest of the day riding rides, eating a Mickey bar or walking around the shops as the park closed. As I left the park I walked right by a refurbishment wall and thought to myself of my time at Disney and how somethings never change like Disney working on refurbishments it’s always happening no matter where you go. I thought of my Disney buddies and my family trips to Disneyland and I walked out of the park and back to our Airbnb with a smile on my face. 

This next section is for the differences and similarities of the parks. If you interested, read on. If not feel free to skip this part and see pictures at the end.

The first major difference was the ride quality, many may expect a downgrade when it comes to the thrills however I found this quite opposite. The rides were much more intense at Disneyland Paris than Disneyland or Disney World. Space Mountain had to be the most drastically different as this version was a launch coaster that had several inversions that I thought really added to the ride experience. It was theme for Star Wars and had a refurbishment done a couple years earlier but I never minded the change since I am a big fan of Star Wars. This wasn’t the only upgraded attraction. It’s a Small World, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean we’re all better than their predecessors in my opinion. All major attractions that made Disneyland Paris a step above in rides.

In terms of food, Disney World still holds the title for me. Epcot showcase really shows its muscle when compared with the food at Disneyland Paris and seeing how they didn’t have Chocolate Covered Bananas sank them to last over Disneyland. This may be shocking considering France is know for food but, they had the classics outside the park like Rainforest Cafe and Earl of Sandwich so they had some good choices both inside and out just not the next level like Disney World or nostalgic for me like Disneyland.
Being a former cast member the biggest differences I saw were in terms of the employees, they weren’t as overall outstanding as is the standard in the United States, some protocols we would have been held to in Disney World were  heavily relaxed. Although one guy deserves a shout out on Big Thunder Mountain for the wink when we cheered the ride was starting. 

Finally the Fireworks show, which was rather small compared to the grand displays of Disney World because most fireworks were launched from the Castle and not from mortars behind it. The really highlight is the drone show that takes place before which was stunning and completely changed my mind about drones replacing fireworks given my love of pyrotechnics and my desire as a child to be one. 
My overall opinion is that Disneyland Paris is a great park it’s not the level of service that you would find in the United States but it did give me a amazing day with rides that make some of Disney Worlds look dated in comparison. It felt just like a theme park which to me is comforting like visiting an old home. It was fun for sure and it’s an experience I hope I never forget.