Disneyland Paris vs WDW: A Comparison
Weather:
- I went to France over New Years. I DO NOT recommend it. It was probably 20 degrees F the whole time at the warmest. It was weird visiting a Disney park and seeing ice and a light dusting of snow everywhere. It was sunny the day we went though. Which was good because the previous day it had been all foggy and gross when we went to downtown Paris and it basically ruined the experience for me. It was kind of funny to see everyone all bundled up and then unbundling as the queue lines went indoors. It was sunny the day we went though. Which was good because the previous day it had been all foggy and gross when we went to downtown Paris and it basically ruined the experience for me.It was kind of funny to see everyone all bundled up and then unbundling as the queue lines went indoors. And the water wheel at the Swiss Family Treehouse was frozen!:
Entrance:
DLPR’s entrance is GORGEOUS. Mostly because it is also a hotel! I like the Mickey Mouse clock the best.
Acreage:
I’m actually not sure of the exact size of the different Magic Kingdom/Disneyland-style parks, but DLPR seemed much easier to walk than Magic Kingdom (or Disneyland CA, if I remember correctly).
Lands:
MAIN STREET USA
-Basically the same.WDW has more foliage. The princess lightposts were pretty awesome looking:
FRONTIERLAND
-DLPR definitely played up the stereotypes of the American West way more than at WDW. There were teepees everywhere, which was weird to me because teepees are so un-PC over here. The entrance was cool because it looked like you were really entering a fort. We rode Phantom Manor here, but did not get a chance to ride Big Thunder because it broke down (probably due to the unrelenting cold). Phantom Manor is probably the BEST version of Haunted Mansion EVER! Ok, I love Haunted Mansion, it’s one of my favorites, but I don’t know if I can appreciate it as much anymore. PM is slightly newer so the effects are smoother and somewhat more elaborate. They follow the storyline of the bride MUCH better. She plays a much bigger role than in HM. You actually can understand what’s going on without having to look up background information! It was also a little darker than HM, which I thought was pretty cool. It wasn’t just silly and there were parts of it that were actually sort of scary! It was great.
Phantom Manor vs Haunted Mansion:
(Side note: While we were lost just outside the Brussels Airport, we passed by a house that looked EXACTLY like WDW's Haunted Mansion...it was really creepy too.)
ADVENTURE LAND
-Paris’ Adventureland has areas that are distinctly Middle Eastern in flavor (near an Aladdin attraction) and African. They do a better job of creating landscaping that is completely encompassing so that you really feel like you’re moving from one place to a totally different one. We ate at this cute little pizza place that had animatronic birds inside and really great theming. The rides we rode here were Pirates and the Indiana Jones rollercoaster. Pirates was good. It's in a really cool fort-type building. It had a nice, warm indoor queue which was really well themed to make you feel like the sun was setting as you were headed toward the ride. The room where the boats pick you up looks like it's the outside of afort in the Carribean at night. This Pirates is the pre-movie version but with better animatronics (because the ride is newer). The ride was half in French and half in English so that was interesting. The animatronics were so much smoother and realistic than the WDW ones. The Indiana Jones rollercoaster was only ok. It was way too short with a really long wait time. But the queue is super cool because there’s all this Indiana Jones-esque stuff everywhere and the last tent before the temple has his hat and whip in it (because he’s missing). We also went to Adventure Isle (like Tom Sawyer Island) and the Swiss Family Treehouse. Both were pretty similar to their WDW counterparts, except the caves were better on the Isle and they made Skull Rock! (Like from Peter Pan…you know :D)
DLPR's Pirates building:
CASTLE
Not a land, I know, but going through the castle was our only way to get from Adventureland to Fantasyland. The castle is GORGEOUS. It’s very European in style and they had little statues of characters on the turrets. And there is a dragon underneath! It’s apparently Disney’s largest audio-animatronic and it sleeps then wakes up and roars. It’s very cool techno-wise, but would’ve been scarier if it was louder. Inside, they have really beautiful decorations, including tapestries and stained glass windows that tell the story of Sleeping Beauty (because it’s her castle).
The dragon:
One of the stained glass windows inside:
More views of the castle:
FANTASYLAND
(I didn't get any pictures of Fantasyland itself...probably because there wasn't much to take pictures of.)
Cute, but very small. WDW’s themeing is better in this land and more unified. Everything was kind of cramped together. It was structured similarly to WDW’s with buildings lining the walkways where the indoor track rides were. There were a lot of rides here, but since we had limited time and the wait times were really long for rides like Pinocchio, Snow White, and Peter Pan, we ended up only riding the teacups and Small World. Teacups are the same, of course. Small world. Omgosh. SO cool. Disneyland’s revamp probably rivals DLPR’s ride now, but it’s the best small world I’ve been on. I mean, it’s basically same, but they stereotype more so there were a lot of cool little details about countries which the uber-PC WDW version doesn’t have. (That sounds bad, but I hope you know what I mean?) And they had a bomb America section. I’ve always been pretty disappointed in WDW’s America section. It was overall more colorful and detailed than WDW’s.
DISCOVERYLAND/TOMORROWLAND
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE THEMEING OF DLPR’S DISCOVERYLAND. It’s beyond intricate. It’s themed after Jules Verne and HG Wells rather than the future and it is VERY pretty. Here we rode Star Tours and Space Mountain and went to the Nautilus and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Star Tours and HISTA were the same, both in desperate need of upgrades. HISTA was worth going to for the experience of wearing headphones to hear the show in English and reading all the “announcements” in like five different languages. Star Tours was entirely in French. Which was fun because the C3PO and Artoo stuff in the queue was in French. I have a video of Threepio speaking French. It’s one of the greatest things ever. The Nautilus was pretty cool. It’s a walkthrough of the sub, not a ride. There’s this cool window though where the giant squid attacks. Now, Space Mountain. Oh, Space Mountain. This Space Mountain is completely different than either American version. The design of the exterior is way cool to fit with the rest of the land. There is a giant cannon on the outside which you get “shot” out of into the ride. Awesome. Now, I knew that this one went upside down (like I said, completely different in design, technology, and themeing) but I didn’t know how many times or how it went upside down. I don’t like upside down rollercoasters. This rollercoaster has two loops and two corkscrews! It definitely freaked me out the first time, but I had to come back for more! We rode it twice, waiting in long lines both times. Totally worth it. Inside is dark still, but there is a little bit more light along with a few more effects. It feels totally different than WDW’s. I actually am more scared on WDW’s just because it’s darker and jerks you around more.
Space Mt comparison:
DLPR's Space Mt cannon and the Nautilus:
The giant squid:
Overall
- The themeing of lands is generally more extensive in DLPR and they put a lot of effort into themeing the eateries as well. The Cast Members at WDW are FAR superior to those at DLPR. The DLPR CMs are much less helpful and happy and they do not enforce queue rules at all. Apparently, France (maybe Europe in general?) is notorious for epidemics of line jumping. We had teenagers jump in line in front of us more times than we can count. This happened the same day to my parents while they were in line for the Louvre (yes, I chose Disney over the Louvre :D). Also, people were smoking everywhere (which was expected…but made me really appreciate the no-smoking-in-public-places laws we have in WA). AND there were couples everywhere very literally sticking their tongues down each others throats. It was quite distracting. My sister commented that there seemed to be more young couples making out than families there.
By the end of the day we were EXHAUSTED. It wasn’t the walking so much as the walking combined with the freezing temperatures. Our joints were very sore and legs were stiff that night and we were still having a tough time the next day. It was great fun though. I wish we’d had an opportunity to see some of the other unique DLPR stuff but it was a good trip. I wouldn’t specifically go to France to go to DLPR again though. If I was there and had an extra day or something, I might go explore their version of Hollywood Studios. WDW is still the ideal for me though. :)
The DLPR castle at night:
