Disney, but make it French

We took a long weekend at the start of September to visit Disney Paris.

Getting there is too easy. There are direct trains from London St. Pancras to the Disneyland Resort. The trip is roughly 2.5 hours and the train drops you off about a 30 second walk from the entry to downtown Disney.

Staying at the Disney Resort was the most convenient option as we didn’t have to take additional transportation or rent a car. We stayed at the Cars themed Hotel Sante Fe, and the exterior design felt authentically New Mexican.

The other hotels at the resort were all rooted in Americana (New York, Newport Bay, Cheyenne, Sequoia, and finally the king of the wild frontier - Davy Crockett Ranch) which provides a sense of travel for locals without having to travel to the US.

As an American visiting Disneyland Paris, I would have loved to have stayed in a “Beauty and the Beast” themed resort to get the “real” feeling on France. That seems ridiculous as I type it now, because real French villages exist outside of Disney which would provide the actual experience I was looking for.

There are 2 Parks: Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios and you have the freedom to move between the two parks as you wish, there is no surcharge for park hopping in Paris, unlike the US destinations.

The parks are smaller and more antiquated than Disney World and Disneyland LA, but they still provide a clean, well curated, themed adventure. Many of the ride narration was delivered in French or a combination of French and English.

Many of the characters were out and about and I took plenty of pictures of other people’s kids standing with them as I couldn’t be bothered to wait in a 45 minute line for my own.

Visual Highlights of the Trip

An absolutely “Maleficent” inspired sky behind Sleeping Beauty Castle the night we arrived!

The colour of the castle juxtaposed against the grass and sky at Alice’s Curious Labyrinth experience

The stained glass images within Sleeping Beauty’s Castle

Animation Academy where we received instruction on drawing our very own Winnie the Pooh

Sir Mickey’s Boutique was a favourite for a few reasons:

1. Spenny and I grew up watching Mickey and the Bean Stalk - have been singing these song for probably 25 years (My What a Happy Day and Eat Until I Die)

2. The scene of the castle shown in Happy Valley at the start of the movie is my favourite scenes from any movie! It’s completely iconic for me. In 2021, the day before we moved to London, I finished painting a version of this on the wall in Spencer’s condo. Inside of Mickey’s Boutique, behind one of the checkout counters the same scene was painted. I was so happy!

My rendition of Happy Valley mural in Austin, Texas

The Happy Valley on the wall behind the register at Disneyland Paris

It was a wonderful trip!

We had some excellent potatoes and gazpacho at some of the small stall eateries within the park which I did not capture, but they would have also made the highlights list if I had!

Have you been to a themed adventure park recently? What was your take?