We got up very early and hauled our backpacks to the metro station to take the RER A train all the way to Disneyland. The Disneyland parks are about 40 km east of Paris, but the train takes you right from the city. Because we were so early, we didn’t have too much contention for train space with our big backpacks.
Sean had set up a service ahead of time whereby we could drop off our bags for storage at the train station, and they would magically be delivered to our hotel while we went ahead to line up for magic hours at our first park, Walt Disney Studios Park.
We did the standard (or what I am now thinking of as standard) Disney thing where once “rope drop” happens, we immediately hustle to get in line for the popular ride whose line would become ridiculous as the day progressed. In this case, that meant we made a mad rush over to Crush’s Coaster (though less mad than others – we did a fast walk, but we saw one dude trucking at a full sprint). Evidently, if you don’t hit It early, the ride develops a 90-120 minute wait time for the rest of the day.
The coaster itself was fun. Like Time Traveler in Silver Dollar City, the four-person car spins as you ride, so for any given hill, loop, or turn, you may experience it forward, backward, or anywhere in between.
After this, since the wait was short, we made our way into the always eye-popping Worlds of Pixar part of the park, which Maya particularly loves, to ride RC Racer. In this area, the giant, brightly-hued toys tower over you. The “you-are-amongst-the-toys” feel was carried through the RC Racer ride line. In several locations, there were what looked like the pop-apart pieces of model cars hanging on the walls. I remember trying to build those things as a kid, and couldn’t help but chuckle.
The RC Racer ride is a tall (25-meter) half-pipe coaster that you ride in a giant RC car. Atypical of Disney, you have to stow your bags for this ride. As the keeper of important documents on this trip, this made me a little apprehensive, but all was well. And the ride was more fun than it should have been for something that just goes back and forth.
Because our time seemed short and because Paris is further away than Orlando, when we were planning this trip, Sean had considered paying for “Premier Access” which would have allowed us to get into shorter lines at many of the rides. For our family of four, it would have run several hundred dollars per day, so we ultimately decided to skip it. Thankfully, we found that we didn’t really need it. Again, this is during the week, and in June before the French kids get out of school for the summer, so mid-July on a Saturday may be a different story.
We found that the wait was relatively short for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, so we headed over that way. Inexplicably, daredevil Maya didn’t want to ride it right away, and neither she nor Sean and I were comfortable letting her wait alone, so I sat with her while Sean and Ian rode. Maya and I sat and watched a couple of mallard ducks, a male and a female, putter in and around a flower bed, gently asking random park-goers for food. Mrs. Mallard even waddled her way over to us at one point, but changed her mind when she found out we were empty-handed.
By all accounts, Ian and Sean enjoyed their ride. The storyline is a little different in this ride than the ones in the US, featuring a little girl haunting the wonky elevator and seeming to warn you of a more ominous threat. Ian, budding horror enthusiast that he is, seemed to love it.
We had just a little time to kill before our lunch reservation, so we bopped over to ride Slinky Dog Zig Zag Spring. There’s no arguing this ride appeals to a younger crowd, and was maybe a little short on thrills, but it was a pleasant enough way to pass the time.
Sean had booked us the first seating for lunch at Bistrot Chez Remy, of Ratatouille fame. The aesthetic at this place was off the charts. It was so … cute! Just like the ride, you’re approaching from the perspective of a rat, and the decor is comprised of “found objects” that have ostensibly been repurposed into restaurant furnishings. The place is lit by Christmas twinkle lights strung across the ceiling. Our chairs were the cages that hold on champagne corks. Booths were backed with dinner plates and there was a giant wine bottle (from Anton Ego’s brand, naturally).
The food was fine. I enjoyed my pate en croute and my fish with buttery sauce and ratatouille. Maya discovered she liked pea soup, and helped Ian out with his when he discovered he did not like pea soup. Sean’s dessert was so adorable though. It came out looking like a wedge of holey cheese with raspberry sauce decorating the plate to look like a rat with whiskers. The cheese wedge itself was actually a white cheese mousse.
After lunch, we got into line to ride Remy’s Ratatouille. This is a cute ride where you’re shrunk to the size of a rat, and you scurry through a busy kitchen trying to avoid detection. It’s not unique to this park, but it’s a fun ride nonetheless. [Sean: But it did originate at this park. However, in Paris it is only a 2D ride while in EPCOT it is a 3D ride so Orlando gets the win here.]
By this point, the kids were jonesing for thrills, so we made our way over to Avengers Assemble: Flight Force (which I have in my notes as “Avengers launch coaster”). Sean tells me this is just a rebranded version of the Aerosmith Rockin’ Roller Coaster in Hollywood Studios in Florida. [Sean: Which will date this post as Disney has announced that Rockin’ Roller Coaster will be rethemed to the Muppets early 2026. Small solace for closing Muppet*Vision 3D to make the Monsters Inc land.] The ride line was a lot of fun with a really excellent Iron Man animatronic. The ride itself was good. The launch was fun and breathtaking in the way that launches are. I won’t lie though, the ride beat me up a little. Maya and Ian loved it.
It’s good they were satisfied because next we went to a couple shows that Sean especially wanted to see. The kids grumbled a bit about them, but came around once the shows started and the kids realized they would be fun.
First we went to see Mickey and the Magician. The idea is that Mickey, the apprentice magician, must clean up his teacher’s study. Hijinks ensue, and while they’re ensuing, a whole pile of beloved characters make an appearance to help Mickey out. There’s singing and dancing. We were a little curious what language would be the primary one spoken during these shows. During parts of this performance, the dialogue between two characters was often half in English and half in French, with each native speaker in the audience left to infer or interpret to the best of their abilities. I honestly thought it worked really well to keep the pacing and the storyline flowing.
After this, we bought ourselves treats (for Sean and I, this probably meant sodas), and enjoyed those before heading over to load up in bleacher seats for Alice and the Queen of Hearts, Back to Wonderland (Alice et la Reine de Cœur: Retour au Pays des Merveilles). This show can only be described, I think, as EXTRA. The stage was amazing. The costumes were brilliant. As the storyline was progressing (who do you love, Alice or the Queen?), acrobats thrilled on trampolines and BMX-style bikes. It was a lot to take in, but highly, highly entertaining. Audience participation in the form of call-and-response was encouraged, and I think the kids had a really good time. I know that I did.
Maya and Ian had done enough sitting. They wanted to ride the launch coaster again. I sat out and drank water, while Sean took the kids to again ride Avengers Assemble: Flight Force. Since we were in the area, we rode the Web Slingers attraction. Maya taught me ages ago not to bother aiming on these rides, that I should just spam it instead. This ride “sees” you fling your arm like you’re casting a spider web and registers that as a projectile. I’m sure I looked like a lunatic, randomly shooting webs more or less in the direction of would-be targets. I didn’t pay any real attention to score. I had no goal. And I think I got the high score in our family (fear not; I’d get the low score later on). This method isn’t reliable, but when it works, it works well.
We closed out our Disney day by riding Tower of Terror again, this time with all four of us. I am kinda meh on drop rides, but the Tower of Terror ride, with its interesting storyline and its randomized ups and downs is much more fun.
We exited the park and walked through Disney Village, the retail and dining area adjacent to the Disney Parks. You don’t need admission to visit Disney Village – anyone can spend their hard-earned euros there. We were walking through the area on our way to our hotel, and while we had not yet checked in and our luggage was in storage (airtags confirmed), it was getting late, so we decided it would be prudent to eat first. Sean had a place all picked out, Brasserie Rosalie.
Ian is our extrovert, so he bonjour-ed the host when we walked in, who proceeded to respond in French. Ian then did his best, “je ne parle pas francais” (I don’t speak French), to which the host chuckled and responded in English with an “I don’t either!” and walked us to our table. He explained that, “Mon collegue speaks English.”
We proceeded to have a very pleasant, if longer-than-desired, meal. Lingering over a meal, enjoying the courses and the company, is part of French culture, and I can certainly appreciate that. But we were flat out exhausted by this point and probably could have done with a more concise dining experience. The food was delicious though.
We did eventually make it to our hotel, the Sequoia Lodge, a “retreat inspired by the great American National Parks.” Everything was still open for us to check in and to retrieve our luggage. Our room was comfortable enough, and we crashed pretty hard, knowing we’d have to wake up early for our next Disney day.
