The BBP Blog

Alright.  We are back and ready to complete our journey and personal guide of Disneyland Paris in this, Part 2.  In Part 1, I covered The Disney Village, Main Street USA, Frontierland and Adventureland as well as Sleeping Beauty's Castle. 

Let me also add an observation I made as well.  I do not remember seeing any motorized scooters.  If there were any, they were minimal as European people prefer to walk and get exercise rather than get fat and lazy and drive an electric cart everywhere, even if it means having to walk further to get the electric cart than it would be to just walk.  Yeah, this may not be the "PC" thing to say or write but I don't care.  This is my site and I'll say what I want.  I know there may be some people who legitimately need to use those carts but I find it hard to believe the numbers I see back in the states.  Especially at a place like Walt Disney World. 

OK, I'm off that rant, so let's continue with the report.

Coming to Fantasyland, I have to say, I wasn't really impressed with this land that much.  It had some of the usual rides.  Peter Pan's Flight, which was a little different than the others I've been on and the "flying boat" you ride in actually had 2 rows of seats instead of the normal one row I'm used to.  The line was also normally 30 - 45 minutes wait at all times and the loading area was pretty tight and congested at all times it seemed as they had to stop the road to let people on and off.  Not very efficient like the always moving one at FL.  They also had Pinocchio's Adventure and it was pretty much identical to CA.  The one ride  that was present that they just removed in FL to make way for a "much needed meet and greet" was Snow White's Scary Adventures.  Yes, I'm still bitter about that removal and don't care about another coaster, some dark rides do not need to be removed.  This ride brought back some nostalgic memories and made me miss it.  Oh well, who I am to complain?  There was a Toad Hall restaurant.  When I saw the sign Toad Hall, I got excited and thought it was the ride, but foolish me.  There was also the standard carousal, Mad Tea Cups, neither which I bothered riding.  There was also the Storybook Canal and Casey Jr's Train which I,, again, did not bother with.  There was one part I did try to do.  It was the hedge maze for Alice In Wonderland.  However, people were just following everyone else and it was bottle necked so there really wasn't fun in trying to make it through the maze on your own.  The last ride was It's a Small World.  The exterior looks very similar to CA and I personally do not need to ride this ride ever again.  So, I didn't ride this one either.


After a rather long walk, I finally made it to Discoveryland.  This is their version of Tomorrowland and kind of what they were trying to do with The Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland.  The first day I came here, Space Mountain was not working but there was a sign that said it would be open the next day.  So I knew I'd be back to ride.


One cool attraction is the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea walk through.  You get to see all the working parts of the Nautilus and even relive the attack from the massive squid.  I do miss the actual ride at The Magic Kingdom and wish they could have saved it somehow.


I came back the next morning and promptly went and got a fastpass for Space Mountain but it was still being worked on.  At least they had taken down the walls and the entrance was visible but still not able to get on. 

I walked into the Videopolis and wasn't impressed.  It's a combination restaurant and show theater but when I got there, they had one lane open and it was backed up 30 people.  I walked out and walked towards Star Tours but didn't really feel like being bumped and jerked around at the moment so I continued trying to find something open serving food.  Granted, it was 11:30 and you would think they would be getting ready or already serving lunch but there was nothing open except for popcorn stands or quick snacks.  Needless to say, I was thinking this was going to be a very crappy day.

However, all that changed just after noon when I was sitting next to Astro-Orbitor and saw the times come up for Space Mountain.  So myself and about 150 people jammed our way into line and waited for about 10 minutes and then we came to the loading platform.


The anticipation was over and I was on Space Mountain in Disneyland Paris.  I had even stopped by the wishing well next to Sleeping Beauty's Castle and threw in .50 Euro and wished Space Mountain would open so I could ride it.  Well, sitting in the seat in the car was awesome and the train moved out.  Granted, it's not a 2 car train like we have in FL or in CA but rather a full size Vekoma train with 6 cars.  Once you launch out of the station, you go through a tunnel and then drop quickly and are in the launch part of the cannon, looking up the lift hill.  A voice comes on and counts to 3 and then in a rush, the train is launched up the hill.  Now it's nothing like being launched up like The Incredible Hulk at Islands of Adventures but the launch is pretty cool.  I did it 3 times, the last time in the back and it was very cool.  It immediately drops you into the mountain and you drop about 80 feet or so and pick up some serious speed.  The inside has a lot of black lights in it and you can see planets, asteroids and shooting stars.  There's also a soundtrack in the seats, though I barely heard it with all the screaming.  I do have to ay though, this is an awesome version of Space Mountain that if you ever get the chance to ride, I highly suggest doing so.  It will not leave you feeling shorted out of a good ride.  I had tears streaming down my face from the speed and wind.  Very well done!!!