Top 5 things we love about Disneyland Paris

Although we have visited every Disneyland park on the planet, Disneyland Paris remains one of our favourites. And it’s not just because it’s the closest to where we live. There really is something special about Disneyland Paris. Until Shanghai opened in 2016, it was the most expensive park and it shows – the detail in the design is simply gorgeous. In fact, Disney spent so much on the park it only turned a profit very recently, nearly three decades after it opened (as the beleaguered Euro Disney).

Now, of course, it’s hugely popular, and this can be a problem - if you let it. You can check out our guide to avoiding the queues here.

Now entering Disneyland Paris. Bienvenue!

But a lot of what Disneyland Paris does best has nothing to do with two hour queues for thrill rides. Here are our Top 5 things we love to do at Disneyland Paris.

Making a reservation at Walt’s

There are three table service restaurants in the Disneyland Park and another within walking distance, right next door in Walt Disney Studios. If you want a family treat, you might be best off at Remy’s in the Studios. The scenery is fun (it scales you down the size of a rat, just like in the film) and the menu is slightly less adventurous. Children are just as welcome in our favourite restaurant however: Walt’s, right at the heart of Main Street. It’s so inconspicuous you could easily miss it, and many do. Having said that, I strongly recommend making a reservation as it’s fairly small (for a Disney dining option). There are rooms themed around each of the ‘lands’ that make up the Park, but not in any gaudy way. The menu is similarly refined. You can eschew American staples entirely and go for the seafood options. Or combine the best of the USA with some French haute cuisine. I still remember the steak burger topped with pate from the time we ate here on Christmas day. With drinks, don’t expect to get much change out of 100 Euros a head, but it’s an experience that’s hard to forget.

Walt’s tastes as good as it looks.

Sipping a cocktail at Cafe Fantasia

When you’ve had enough of thrill rides or crowds, head to Cafe Fantasia inside the Disneyland Hotel. Don’t worry if you’re not a guest: anyone is welcome. The Hotel is right by the main entrance. In fact, it forms part of the entrance. The first thing that hits you as you enter the Hotel is the smell. Seriously: it’s worth coming just for that. They sell the room fragrance in a gift shop not far from the Cafe. We always have a bottle in our house.

Disneyland Hotel at night. Not pictured: the spectacular smell.

After sniffing your fill, take the grand central staircase to Cafe Fantasia. It is, as you might have guessed, themed around the 1941 Disney classical music extravaganza. But this is no ordinary themed bar/restaurant. This is indistinguishable from the best hotel bars in the world - and we have tried quite a few. In a nod to the 1941 film, there’s usually a piano player tinkling the ivories. Service is attentive but unobtrusive. And the bar staff really know what they’re doing. The cocktail menu is extensive and the light snacks delicious (antipasti platters, etc). Prices are on the steep side, but you get what you pay for. Exquisite.

The mint julep is just the beginning. Cafe Fantasia’s cocktail menu is extensive but discerning. And the drinks are not child’s play. They are seriously strong.

Getting our steam punk on in the Main Street arcades

This one doesn’t cost anything extra on top of your normal admission ticket. Although it must have cost Disney a pretty penny (franc, dollar).

Disney openly acknowledge that they overspent when building their Paris park. It’s not difficult to see where the money went. One of the best examples is the arcades that run down both sides of Main Street USA. Tasteful, gas-lit, ornately decorated tunnels run parallel with the main thoroughfare. It’s hard to believe you’re in a Disney park, so don’t bother. For a few minutes, just buy into the illusion that you’ve stepped back in time to the turn of the century. As in, the nineteenth to the twentieth century. The wall decorations show fantastical hot air balloons above cities of the future. If you’ve played the video game Bioshock Infinite, you will recognise the aesthetic. It’s Jules Verne meets a World’s Fair. With mood lighting.

As well as presenting you with a ravishing steampunk vision, the arcades provide some relief from the busy Main Street area, festooned as it is with shops and eateries. There is nothing comparable in any other Disney park. You could argue that, pragmatically, these extra passageways help with the people flow. But we’ve rarely seen them that busy. Some people don’t even know they exist. Good for you.

Riding Big Thunder Mountain at night

I make no secret of the fact that the western is my favourite movie genre and the whole Wild West idiom holds me in thrall. Even if you’re not similarly obsessed, it’s difficult to dispute that Frontierland is the most picturesque land - especially at night.

Even during the day, it’s an impressive vista. But it really comes into its own at night.

Once the sun goes down, the atmosphere increases several fold. It’s even better when seen from the inside of a runaway mine car. The Big Thunder Mountain attraction is one of the most impressively designed rollercoasters in the world. It’s a genuine thrill ride but works for the whole family. The height restriction is low enough (1.02 metres) that it permits great grandchildren to ride with their eighty five year old ancestors (although anyone on heart medication might think carefully before boarding). There’s a lot of excitement and some genuine humour (look out for the impish goat), as well as wonder. Yes, you did just ride a rollercoaster under a lake! And then you emerge to see the John Ford-worthy vista that is Frontierland.

Monument Valley or 20 minutes from the centre of Paris?

Don’t like to travel by mine train? How about by boat?

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show

Okay, so my western obsession knows few bounds. I draw the line at line dancing… although a bar in Disney Village does specialise in this so if you’re less averse, go for it. Far more my cup of campfire coffee is the Wild West Show that runs every night in a large, purpose-built facility just outside the entrance to the parks. This aims to recreate the show of the kind real life frontier figures Buffalo Bill Cody and Annie Oakley toured the world with in the 1880s and 1890s. Expect horse stunts, cowboys (and girls), Native Americans, a large herd of buffalo and Mickey Mouse and friends. Yes, they get everywhere, but they don’t take away from the authentic feel and help to hook in children who might not have any frame of reference for the Wild West. Some people might find it cheesy, but I loved it.

This is a dinner show and the food is appropriately rough and ready (no pate topped steak here). It’s a heck of a lot of fun, from start to finish. You also get a cowboy hat to wear for the duration and take home with you. Yee-ha!