I recognise that man!
Disneyland Park
Watch out for pirates!
Without doubt, the Disneyland Park is the heart and soul of Disneyland Paris. There are so many classic attractions to be found here. The likes of Pirates of the Caribbean and Big Thunder Mountain entertain thousands of guests each day. Many people compare the Disneyland Park to the much bigger Magic Kingdom in Florida, which in my view is a very unfair comparison. Both parks are completely different and as much as I love them both, I would argue that the Disneyland Park in Paris is actually the more beautiful park.
As beautiful as it is though, there are still a number of ways which I think the park could improve. The first one is the way they run Extra Magic Hours. I recently wrote a trip report about some of my disappointments with Disneyland Paris, and Extra Magic Hours was first on the list. The way I think they should improve this is simple, open everything at once! One thing that bugs me about Extra Magic Hours is the fact that only about half of the park is open. During my trip last year, only Main Street USA, Fantasyland, and Discoveryland were open. This of course meant that Frontierland and Adventureland remained closed until the normal opening times of 10am. Despite being open in the Extra Magic Hours, not every attraction in that land is open. With so many good rides not open for the Extra Magic Hours, I really think that park should have everything open for the earlier hours.
If only this was open during Extra Magic Hours...
It is nice to have the luxury of meeting the classic Disney characters before the normal opening hours crowds roll in, however, it can get very tiresome if you are visiting for more than a couple of days. It would be nice to meet some different characters each morning, and Disney could easily do this by mixing up the choice of meet and greet characters, as well as keeping some of the classics.
Chilling with Mr and Mrs Mouse!
It pains me to say this, but one of my favourite lands in Disneyland Paris, Discoveryland, is in some serious need of change. With the 25th anniversary approaching, and news that Star Tours will be getting updated like the American parks version of the ride, there is still a lot of improvements needed at Discoveryland. As I said, I absolutely adore this part of the park, particularly for it's theming, but there are some new additions which could definitely be added.
Fantastic theming at Discoverland!
It is one of the only parts of the park to not have a proper sit down restaurant. There are many fantastic restaurants that they could build to tie in with the science fiction theme of Discoveryland. As I mentioned on a Disney Facebook page, I think that a Star Wars themed restaurant would be perfect. Star Wars is at an almighty height again with the recent release of the new film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. There is already a Star Wars theme at Discoveryland, with the Star Tours attraction and Jedi Training Academy show, so there would definitely be the public demand for a Star Wars themed restaurant. It could quite easily occupy the very disappointing Pizza Planet buffet, probably one of the worst (if not the worst) things to be found at Disneyland Paris. It must be noted that The Disney Company have already announced that they will be building new Star Wars lands at Disneyland California and Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida, so there might be the slightest chance of seeing something similar at Disneyland Paris in the future.
A Star Wars restaurant would be perfect here!
Discoveryland also has a very noticeable lack of characters. There is no reason why Disney could not add characters into this part of the park. Going with the Star Wars theme I already mentioned, they could quite easily have lots of characters from the films walking around parts of Discoveryland. Characters like Darth Vader and Chewbacca have been known to make appearances from time to time, but this is not often enough really. There's also no reason why Disney could not add some classic characters like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck into Discoveryland, wearing some space suits, or something similar.
Would love to see Donald as a spaceman, or should I say 'space duck!'
Walt Disney Studios
Being a massive film fan, I do love this park. I do find though that it is lacking in quite a few areas that could definitely be improved upon. One particular area is overall theming. Don't get me wrong, some of the theming at Walt Disney Studios is out of this world, particularly the Toy Story Playland and Ratatouille areas. The Backlot and Production Courtyard just seem really out of place, even if the park is set around film studios. I'm not sure why but I personally find that some of the attraction facades seem really out of place here. They just seem like they are there without a purpose and not in a themed area like you would find in the Disneyland Park. Animation Courtyard also seems out of place and not colourful enough when you consider it's all about cartoons. It's is a very small theme park so it should be considered that Disney only had so much to work with but they could have maybe themed parts of the park better, which I would like to see them do in the future. Fingers crossed!
The most beautiful building in Production Courtyard by far.
I think the biggest stand out attraction that needs improving or re-theming is the Studio Tram Tour. I think it's fair to say that most people will agree with me on this one. While I do enjoy it, it does feel so very outdated, not something you'd expect to feel at a Disney property. It does feature the brilliant Catastrophe Canyon set piece, but there is also the Reign of Fire film set. I'll bet you now that most of the people reading this will never have seen the film or remember it's existence. That's because it wasn't exactly a success at the box office. While the film set is very impressive, it is also quite lacklustre. The ruined streets of London set is Disney Imagineers at their very best, but the actual set piece is so pointless. We drive through the set, to see a massive wishing well, with a couple of bursts of flames, and that is it! It seems oh so promising then you're left slightly bemused like 'Oh, was that it?' Sadly, that was it! I think you'll agree with me in saying that they need a new film set/set piece for this portion of the tour. There is talks of the ride getting a complete makeover, so we could be in luck. Again, fingers crossed!
Time for a selfie on the Studio Tram Tour!
There is one attraction from another Disney park that I think would fit perfectly into Walt Disney Studios, and that is The Great Movie Ride, from Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida. If you have never heard of or experienced The Great Movie Ride, then let me tell you the story. Guests take a trip through various movie scenes, portrayed by fantastic sets and animatronics, while being guided by a Cast Member. Now I think that this ride would be perfect in Walt Disney Studios as it pays homage to the beauty of cinema. Then again, you could say the same about the wonderful Cinemagique, already at Walt Disney Studios. As Cinemagique is also an attraction relating to the history of film, I would never expect Walt Disney Studios to open a version of The Great Movie Ride. I can still dream though, can't I!
One slight improvement I would make to Walt Disney Studios is the way that Crush's Coaster is run. On my last trip I never got to experience the ride. As I would have been riding alone, I refused to get in the normal queue, which was well over 2 hours each day. Luckily if you're a single rider, Crush's Coaster has a line for this, but does it really? Every single day of my trip last year, Crush's Coaster was open, but it's single rider line wasn't. I could not see the reasoning behind this. I thought staff shortage, but this couldn't be every day, and they surely wouldn't make a single rider line if they knew there would be a constant staff shortage. All they need to do is keep the single rider line open every day. For such a popular attraction, you'd expect all it's lines to open.
Woah dude! It's Crush!
Disney Village
Being such a fan of Disney Village, it is hard to think of ways Disney could improve it, especially considering all the changes it has faced since opening in 1992. That being said, there are of course some quite simple ways it could improve, as well as some possible new additions.
Welcome to Disney Village!
A lot of people have said that although Disney Village is Disney themed, the theme is slightly lacking and some people would like to see the addition of Disney characters. While I can understand this I can also see it never happening. People forget that you can actually access Disney Village without staying at one of the on-site hotels or visiting the parks, so people can quite easily get in for free. I don't think Disney would welcome the idea of non-paying visitors meeting the characters and experiencing some of the magic of the parks for nothing.
One big problem Disney Village faces when it comes to improvements is the complete lack of space. Looking around Disney Village, you will notice that everything is tight together and there is hardly any space to be seen, so if anything was to be added, a current building would need to be remodelled or demolished completely. This has happened in the past with the addition of new restaurants, although most were just re-themings of original buildings.
You can see that there is barely any space for expansion at Disney Village.
In terms of restaurants, I would love to see an Italian-themed dining experience. I can't think of many places in Disney Village where you can taste truly authentic pasta dishes. That being said, there is nowhere in Disney Village where you can try authentic French cuisine, very surprising considering it is built in France after all! There are many American-style restaurants in Disney Village, so I think that some European style dining would definitely be a much welcomed addition in Disney Village.
Plenty of American fare at Planet Hollywood.
Shopping wise, I would love to see a store selling lots of film-related products. There was originally a shop like this in Disney Village, called Hollywood Pictures, but that closed in 2013 to make way for the recent Lego Store. There aren't many shops you can buy Disney films in the parks, so I think Disney Village definitely needs a new shop like this.
The old store, Hollywood Pictures.
Thank you for reading the blog. The improvements I discussed were of course just personal ideas, and things I wouldn't really expect to happen, but you never know! If there are any improvements you would like to see then please leave me a comment on here or on my Facebook group, Disney Village Paris Fans. Again, thank you very much for reading!
I totally agree with re-theming parts of the park, DLP needs to try & add some new attractions. I've never been in Pizza Planet all the time I've been going, its never open so this would be a great area to re do. The village does lack something in shops, restaurants & theming. Christmas time is lovely with little huts etc but other times of the year it is bland. You make some good points in this blog.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for reading! Yes both parks haven't changed that much in terms of theming since they first opened. I think you'll be glad you missed Pizza Planet, although some people do like it, so it can't be that bad.
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