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| Main Street |
The "Magic Kingdom" in Paris is usually known
as Disneyland Parc, though it does have the Kingdom name occasionally. It is
both very unique in layout, but very similar to both Disneyland and Walt Disney
Worlds Magic Kingdom too. Some would say it is the best of both, both in design
and in attractions. For the main E tickets, previous versions of each were
redesigned from the ground up with changes to layout, scenes and technology
afforded by a ridiculous budget. Basically The Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder,
Pirates, Small World and Space Mountain were given a wish-list treatment by
Imagineering. And it shows.
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| Turnstiles Under Hotel |
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| Discovery Arcade |
Starting under the Disneyland Hotel, we find the
turnstiles and ticket booths. The main hotel building is on stilts, acting as
the most elaborate canopy ever! Once through the gates, the ami, air train
station looms in front. Passing underneath, we are in a much larger town square
than in America. The whole park was also given the blessing of size without
feeling barren. So large, the horse drawn cars have their own roadway through
the middle. City hall in the left, check. Emporium, check. On the right is the
transport barn, a building using the same framework as Disneyland's Sleeping
Beauty Castle. Those in the know will see the similarity. As with the rest of
the park, Main Street USA shows the attention to detail and the layers of
detail all over from the building decor, to the interiors, to the brick road
surface, laid by hand. The fan could easily spend half a day on this one street
to take it all in. Running parallel to the street, and behind the buildings,
are two ornate covered walkways, or arcades, that bypass parades, protect from
the weather, and give back door access to all the stores and restaurants of
Main Street. This is an idea now being proposed for the American parks too. The
west arcade is the Liberty, full of displays, paintings, sketches, models and
decor about the Statue of Liberty, its association with France and America, and
is on the Frontierland side of the street. The west side, on the Discoveryland
side, is dedicated to the original origins of Discoveryland of Jules Verne and
HG Wells and has plenty of displays of their inventions and models, and
fantastic steam punk posters of city's of the future.
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| Main Street from Walts |
Reaching the hub, again this is a far larger area than
usual. Left to right is a "secret" covered shortcut to Frontierland,
then the Frontierland entrance proper via fort, Adventureland, Sleeping
Beauties castle and Fantasyland, Fantasyland again, and Discoveryland. High
Foliage is minimal to give plenty of views of the Dreams! show, more of which
later. Main Street has several great dining experiences, including Walts, which
occupies the whole upper level of the most north west building. Great food, and
no dining plan stopping same day or day before bookings. Several dining rooms
are dressed luxuriously, but also are split into each land of the park, and
each has dozens of original WDI attraction model and artwork from each lands
development. A real goldmine!
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| Molly Brown |
Entering Fantasyland through the explorable fort, we
arrive in the mining town of Thunder Mesa. Directly in front is Big
Thunder Mountain, which takes some getting used to for first time visitors used
to the US parks.
Especially since its a island. Turning left, we pass the
riverboat landing (Mark Twain and Molly Brown) to reach Phantom Manor.
The Manor itself looks suitably spooky, to convey the
story in all languages. Speaking of which, most attractions are in English or
English/French. Cast members speak good to excellent English too. Menus are in
both languages. Try to speak French by all means, but it isn't needed in the
parks or the resorts.
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| Phantom Manor |
Climbing the hillside of Phantom Manor is the covered
queue line, spookily themed. The attraction is very similar in layout to Orlando,
with some Anaheim additions too. Entering the foyer, lit by daylight, we are
led into one of two stretch rooms which take us back to ground level. A long
portrait corridor like the original takes us to the elaborate load hall. By
now, the deeper and darker story of Phantom Manor is apparent, based around
Melanie Ravenswood, her wedding, her family who mysteriously disappeared and
the phantom. The attraction layout is virtually identical to Anaheim, with
updated visuals until what should be the graveyard, where the ride falls into
an open grave and into hell itself. The whole ride is accompanied by the most
gorgeous, eerie orchestral version of the familiar music score and Grim
Grinning Ghosts.
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| Big Thunder Mountain Island |
Exiting the manor we can wander the graveyard, next to
Rivers of the Far West (America), which seems at one time to have suffered a
flash flood right through the middle of it. Wandering back to the main pathway,
we walk through a fully blown Wild West town, themed beyond belief. Indeed,
inside the Mercantile is the pulley system, mine cars, and hole in the ground
of the hidden mine shaft where gold was stolen from Thunder Mountain and taken
via underwater tunnels into the store, awakening the mountain gods. One of
literally hundreds of back stories and details all over the park. Along the
walkway, to the left, is the landside station of Big Thunder Mountain. Again,
familiar but different. Boarding via standby or Fastpass bridge (no FP+ thankfully) the large station building is again highly
themed. Cars leave one of two platforms and plunge underground to reach the
main island ride.
The layout is almost the same as Orlando with some
additions and omissions, for example the flooded town is a high speed, elevated
waterside track section with a dip "into" the river complete with
splash effects. The third lift has many earthquake effects still intact
including side tunnels with dynamite explosions, shaking lights, and plenty of
smoke. After the crest and the familiar dive to the left, the track then goes
back underwater but this time keeps getting faster and steeper, passing through
the bat caves until it literally shoots up out of the ground on the mainland
again.
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| Adventure Isle |
Walking further north and west we reach the railroad
station, and a gradual transition into Adventureland. Adventureland in Paris
slowly and cleverly changes into three distinct themes. Lush vegetation is
reminiscent of American parks. The centre section is Arabian themed, and the
north section is nautical and pirate themed. Swiss Family treehouse and Temple
of Peril are in the jungle section. The hub reaches Arabia. Pirates is in the
third area. And all are linked by Adventure Isle, a colossal playground of
caves, pathways, suspension bridges and the like. Some of the paths offer
amazing vistas of the park and are quite remote from a world class theme park.
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| Indy |
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril is an off the shelf
1993 coaster with elaborate theming, added to soak up E ticket junkies after
the first seasons opening saw record setting crowds. As such it was rushed in,
taking 8 months from concept to opening. It's no Thunder Mountain but is worth a
ride, with high speed drops, cars with high centres of gravity, and Disneys
first loop.
Like the rest of the park, a ride after dark is a
different experience with dramatic show lighting and flame effects.
Pirates of the Caribbean is one of the park highlights.
Take Anaheim, add a proper storyline, Orlandos line, and drop an old school E
ride budget on it.
Housed inside a war battered fort with the largest show
building in the park outside the berm, this has to the best version of the
ride. The queue goes on and on, very much like Orlando but with more theming. A
single channel load and unload village under palm trees and a night sky is at
the end.
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| Pirates of the Caribbean |
Boats leave load and float past the Blue Bayou
restaurant. Floating through the middle of a fullsize, shipwrecked pirate ship
we then ascend the lift hill. Winches, pulleys and chains appear to haul us
uphill, and back in time. At the crest of the lift we see over a balcony the
bombardment scene below, before sailing through an animatronic and projected
pirate battle, with sails burning and an overhead swinging pirate. Next is the
jail scene, with a canonball made hole in the wall from a jailbreak. We drift
through the hole, and down the first drop and into the bombardment scene. This
time, the guns turn on the boats too. A100 animatronics and advanced effects
are everywhere. The market, auction and burning city scenes are larger
variations of the original versions (minus Jack Sparrow) but as we sail under
the burning city beams we plunge into the second drop, and the towns arsenal
just as it explodes. This blows us back to present day, where we sail caves and
catacombs like in Disneyland, skeletal pirates reminding us what happened to
the pillaging invaders we saw a few minutes earlier. Truly on of the best
attractions ever to come from Glendale.
Next time.... Fantasyland and Discoveryland.
Great article, Martin! Need to fix reference to Fantasyland where you meant Frontierland and you identified both Main Street side tunnels as the west tunnel.
ReplyDeleteAmazing pictures and very nicely captured I must say. Disneyland is beautiful. Paris is such a wonderful place and probably the most romantic city in the world. If you love glamor and lights, then Paris is the perfect place for you as it offers all the magic, the fun, and the charm. One should definitely consider traveling to Paris in these vacations. Most of the websites provide special deals and discounts on Paris travel so you can get a great deal on transportation and accommodation facilities.
ReplyDeleteThe restaurant in Pirates of the Caribbean is the Blue Lagoon not Blue Bayou and it's a lovely place to stop for lunch.
ReplyDelete