Vive la Difference

Where do I start? In Paris they have two parks; Disneyland Park, which is similar in layout to Magic Kingdom, and the Walt Disney Studios. Note the first difference -- no "MGM" here! There is also a small area of shops and restaurants called Disney Village and a range of Disney-owned resorts on site.

The main difference you notice is that this is a dual language resort -- French and English. It means that many of your favorite rides are dubbed into French. It's a bit disconcerting the first time you hear a French Pirate of the Caribbean or a French C3PO!

They actually do the language thing pretty well. You can play 'identify the ride' from the French name...so who can guess "Cherie, j'ai retreci le public"? (In case your French is as bad as mine it's 'Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.)

The next thing many people notice is the castle. It's not Cinderella Castle, but Sleeping Beauty's Castle (Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant). It is smaller than the Magic Kingdom's castle; a pink confection of towers and turrets much loved by little girls and those of us who are a tad older.

There is no restaurant in the castle, but in the dungeons beneath you find a most impressive, enormous and very realistic Audio-Animatronics dragon. From time to time he awakes, roars, and blows steam from his nostrils. Lying in a pool in the cavernous dungeon, he is scary enough to frighten many a young guest.

Have I mentioned the weather yet? Well I'm not sure if the Disney executives knew when they chose Paris for their European park, but it has a higher rainfall than Glasgow in Scotland! Unlike the torrential but brief downpours in Florida, the rain can go on all day and is often accompanied by COLD weather.

However, Disney has been most clever in designing the park. There are covered walkways behind both sides of the shops that line Main Street, and these continue on into Adventureland, Frontierland, and Fantasyland with hardly a gap.

And let me tell you of some of my favorite cold weather days. There is the time it snowed -- Main Street has never looked so pretty -- though riding Thunder Mountain was akin to having high speed dermabrasion! Nor is there anything better than warming your hands on a cup of hot chocolate and eating a delicious French pastry from the Main Street Bakehouse. Then was the time when we came out in the evening and it was really misty. We rode on the Thunder Mesa Riverboat and the park, twinkling out of the haze, looked so romantic and magical I could have cried.

Now did I mention my favorite ride, Thunder Mountain? It's called Thunder Mesa in Disneyland Paris, and ... I have to break it to you ... this ride is much better than the Florida version, in my opinion. The ride is located in the middle of a lake and you go under the water on the outbound and return journeys at a terrific speed. I draw the line at Space Mountain but my husband Mike rides it. They fire you out of a huge canon on the side of the ride and he says the start is very similar to the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster take off -- once again it exceeds its Orlando counterpart in our opinion.