Disneyland Paris Land by Land - Adventureland

Having visiting Disneyland Paris a few times now, I thought it would be fun to share top tips and information on a blog, rather than the podcast, about this European Disney park and I am going to start with the attractions found in Adventureland. 

Adventureland is to the west on this map

Firstly, the theme is a mashup mixing the styling of Africa, Asia and the Carribean. You can find two attractions here: Indiana Jones et le Temple du Peril and Pirates of the Carribean. For me, two of these attractions are a must do, multiple times, on each trip. There are other things to do such as Adventure Isle and Le Passage Enchante d'Aladdin but more on them later.

Indiana Jones attraction

Indy is a mine cart style rollercoaster, it opened on 30th July 1993 and was the first Disney attraction with an inversion. Its top speed is 36mph and has fabulous replica props (from the film franchise) in the queue. 

With Skull Rock to the side, it has great theming

Pirates is a unique version; firstly because there is no Jack Sparrow and secondly that the scene order is differs to both American incarnations. It is two minutes longer than the Magic Kingdom version and a massive five minutes shorter than Disneyland Resort version. Uniquely, it has an on-ride photo taken.

The land is currently under refurbishment but this was how it formerly looked

Adventure Isle is home to Skull Rock (with an exciting pirate galleon and beach to explore) and la Cabane des Robinson. As of writing, these are currently under refurbishment and I will endeavour to update this blog, with pictures, once the work has been completed.

Finally, Le Passage Enchante d'Aladdin is a series of scenes retelling the story of Aladdin.

One of the scenes from the winding passages

Top tips
The queue for Pirates is quite dark so before going inside, take your sunglasses off and get used to the light level... I have the bruises to prove you need to do this!  Indy has Fastpass (yes they still have the paper system) and I recommend getting a pass for this ride. 

For further information on Disneyland Paris, I recommend listening to our podcast shows 113 and 102, which can be found in iTunes on on our website. Feel free to email me info@disneydreamgirls.com if you have any questions or comments.

Show 41 - A Disney Gem?

Disney Dreams night-time show

So do you want to make a trip to Disneyland Paris? Or are you just curious? Then our podcast, show 41, is a must listen for you. This show will be released Sunday 19th April 2015, so make sure you subscribe via iTunes to ensure you do not miss it!

On the show, land by land, we discuss some of the most loved items in the parks in Paris, as well as discussing whether it is possible to visit without staying in a Disney hotel! But read on and enjoy some of the stunning scenes but for more pictures and video, please remember to visit our Facebook page by simply searching for Disney Dream Girls.

Meet and greet adjacent to Casey's Corner, Main Street USA

My Method of Visiting

• Flying from the UK to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport 
• Used TGV train to travel from the airport to Disneyland (arrives by bag check for the park!)
• Stayed off site hotel in Bussy St Georges
• Travelled from Disneyland to hotel via RER train system
• Bought Fantasy Annual Pass (mid level) for approx £121 (including 10% discount from buying via an existing pass holder)
• Total cost including hotel, flight and annual pass £370

Disneyland Hotel

Disneyland Park

Entrance to the park is via the stunning Disneyland hotel, which has fountains and the traditional Mickey floral in front. Then it is through the turnstiles for park entry.

View towards the station

Then you enter a large plaza area, with the train station ahead of you, as you can see in the picture, the train is not as visible as it is in the USA parks. Once through this area, you will recognise buildings such as City Hall but the main focal point is the castle. 

 

By the way, a down point was that I never rode any of the Main Street vehicles - so I have to go back!

View from train station

The castle surely must be judged as the most fantasy based castle and it is truly stunning. Another plus about the castle, is that you can go inside the dungeon and visit the dragon or climb up to the first floor, where there's stained glass windows depicting the sleeping beauty story. However, the cherry on the cake is the ability to walk outside on the balcony! We have put a short video on our Facebook page, so make sure you take a look! 

Main Street Selfie

Due to the castles size, you have to be quite a long way down Main Street to grab a selfie with it in the background but I don't think I have done too bad here - what do you think? Even from this point, the night-time show, Dreams, can be viewed. However, I recommend being nearer.

To give you an idea of time required to tour the park, I spent one and a half days in this park but I did not get to do everything, so perhaps two days would be the ideal if you visit opening till closing or maybe creep into a third day.

Walt Disney Studios

Standing proudly, Walt and Mickey greets visitors to the park. I spent around two half days here and ideally I needed another half day to make sure I hit everything. What I really loved about this park, were the two unique attractions that were both based in Toon Studios. Queues for these got very long, so I would suggest visiting first.

The theming was amazing, as the photo shows. I felt very lucky to have ridden Ratatouille attraction five times and even better the attraction had a power failure so I got to take some fabulous behind the scenes pictures, which I will share at a later point!

Like all good things, my trip had to come to an end... to find out the lowlights and highlights, subscribe to our podcast by clicking here for our iTunes page.

All photos property of M Young.