Disney Adventure World in Paris has its grand opening today. It is truly the grand re-opening as the place was originally named Walt Disney Studios Paris in 2001. Three Disney Parks opened that year, this place, Disney's California Adventure and Tokyo Disneysea. Only one was incredible. The French park was the worst of the lot, making Anaheim's second park look at EPCOT Center in comparison. Let's go back in time to our first visit to Paris' second Disney park...Visiting the Walt Disney Studios Paris was on day two of our agenda to this resort, and we allotted only half a day. It was much more than enough! It goes without saying that this park suffers from sitting next door to the most beautiful Magic Kingdom ever created. I won't lie and say we didn't enjoy a few items during our visit there, but we promptly returned to its older sister only after a few hours of touring. Here is a quick review- befitting a park that was thrown together quickly as well!
Crush's Coaster is one of the few small gems to be found here. It had opened a couple of years prior to this trip, so we were very curious as to how it impacted the park. Simply said: the coaster is just fun! The theming is minimal on the ride itself, but the track is laid out in such a way to evoke a good amount of laughs. The indoor queue sets the mood for what lies ahead. It's fairly basic, on par with an old "C" ticket attraction as in Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Nothing special but it does set the pace. The line is understandably long for this attraction and was our first ride of the day. This is the one place where we found crowds, showing just how badly this park needed something of substance.
From a firsthand look, the newest attractions from Cars are smaller than they seem from viewing them in photos. Minuscule, actually. Very cute, highly detailed, but disappointing in scope, scale, and just about every way. It does provide a very small taste of what California Adventure's Cars Land. However in California, everything is grander and more fully realized. It remains the premier land at the park even though it was completed 14 years ago back in 2012.
The newest additions to the park are the most highly themed of the attractions. It is almost as if Disney discovered that its guests like themed environments after all. This is 180 degree change in direction in terms of detail is most welcome at this bare bones park. However, it also makes the Studios shortcomings more obvious than ever. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. But I guess you do have to start somewhere.
Many attractions are repeats from Florida, but Tower of Terror was not yet open at the time of this trip- and this high thrill attraction was really needed to flesh out the park a bit. The real highlight of the few hours we spent were the original attractions- especially the effects-laden Armageddon. The tram tour, stage shows, and even Rock 'N' Rollercoaster had an overcast of cookie cutter boredom, as if Disney's Imagineers were themselves disinterested designing these attractions. Add to this, big box architecture, lack of greenery, and vast expanses of concrete. Not a winning combination.
Crush's Coaster is one of the few small gems to be found here. It had opened a couple of years prior to this trip, so we were very curious as to how it impacted the park. Simply said: the coaster is just fun! The theming is minimal on the ride itself, but the track is laid out in such a way to evoke a good amount of laughs. The indoor queue sets the mood for what lies ahead. It's fairly basic, on par with an old "C" ticket attraction as in Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Nothing special but it does set the pace. The line is understandably long for this attraction and was our first ride of the day. This is the one place where we found crowds, showing just how badly this park needed something of substance.
From a firsthand look, the newest attractions from Cars are smaller than they seem from viewing them in photos. Minuscule, actually. Very cute, highly detailed, but disappointing in scope, scale, and just about every way. It does provide a very small taste of what California Adventure's Cars Land. However in California, everything is grander and more fully realized. It remains the premier land at the park even though it was completed 14 years ago back in 2012.
The newest additions to the park are the most highly themed of the attractions. It is almost as if Disney discovered that its guests like themed environments after all. This is 180 degree change in direction in terms of detail is most welcome at this bare bones park. However, it also makes the Studios shortcomings more obvious than ever. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. But I guess you do have to start somewhere.
Many attractions are repeats from Florida, but Tower of Terror was not yet open at the time of this trip- and this high thrill attraction was really needed to flesh out the park a bit. The real highlight of the few hours we spent were the original attractions- especially the effects-laden Armageddon. The tram tour, stage shows, and even Rock 'N' Rollercoaster had an overcast of cookie cutter boredom, as if Disney's Imagineers were themselves disinterested designing these attractions. Add to this, big box architecture, lack of greenery, and vast expanses of concrete. Not a winning combination. We will not return to the Studios next trip- at least not until there are more unique attractions to be found- but we will certainly make a stop in the neighboring park and take one day out of our Paris visit. This Magic Kingdom continues to be magical but also badly needs new and original attractions. Hopefully, Disney is hearing this message from its theme park fans... and listening.
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After concluding this trip report, things began to change for this disaster of a park. As I wrote- "Maybe I called it too soon on this one."
The more recent additions like Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy (Remy's Ratatouille Adventure) to Paris' Walt Disney Studios have successfully brought in the crowds. It also made the park a more appealing experience. When added to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Crush's Coaster, the opening of Avengers Campus, the park's line up has begun to look more impressive. Every change has been well planned to introduce charm, appeal, and yes, Disney magic, to a park that had none.
I wholeheartedly welcome the newly renamed but rather generic sounding Disney Adventure World! There's not too many attractions added to the park as the main restructuring was expansive and will only set up what the Imagineers and the Disney suits have planned for the future. Perhaps there will be no more cheaply budgeted parks in Disney's future. Maybe they have learned it costs them years of profit and goodwill to do something poorly at the beginning. Also, maybe they have learned that the decades of minimal park investment is not the way to go either. Walt Disney considered his Anaheim park a gem. It's about time the new team takes on a similar perspective. Does Josh D'Amaro have Walt's perspective and DNA? We shall see.
(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company. Photographs copyright Mark Taft.)
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