CN Tower
Niagara Falls
Golden Gate
Mt. Fuji
Great Wall
Grand Canyon
Hoover Dam
Pyramids
Petra
Colosseum
Leaning Tower
Parthenon
Stonehenge
Big Ben
The Chunnel
Eiffel Tower
Mt. St.Michel
Empire St Bld

Alaska glacier
Tokyo Tower
Forbidden City
Sum'r Palace
LaBufadora
Bilbao Museo
BlarneyStone
Disney Paris

I'm an annual passport holder to Disneyland in California, so why check out Paris?  Well, to see how it's different of course.  And after seeing how Disneyland had difficulties opening its companion California Adventure park in Anaheim, I want to see if Disney learned anything in Paris. Also, there's a definite Disney subtheme to the trip:  I checked out Tokyo Disney Sea which just opened up a month before I went  back in Tokyo, so I'm psyched to see how the new Studios park is doing.  I buy a ticket to Disney Studios (36 euros) which gives me free entry to Disneyland Paris after 5 pm - great promotion!

Disneyland Paris
Celebrating its 10th birthday, Disneyland Paris has ironed out the kinks of opening in a French market.  The park has most of the same rides as the original, including Pirates of the Caribbean, Thunder Mtn Railroad, Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion), Mad Hatter's tea cups, Small World, Star Tours, Space Mountain, etc.   New rides include a Jules Verne 360 degree experience in Discoveryland (Tomorrowland), an expanded cave area (like Tom Sawyer's island), and Captain Hook's boat restaurant.  There's no Toon Town.  It's kinda symoblic riding the "It's a Small World" ride, cause that's actually a theme of this trip.  I do the ride twice actually (don't laugh), noticing that I better recognize a few more of the cultures after this trip.  I also notice that the ride is a good version of Wonder-spotting: without worrying about passports, you can see Big Ben, London Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, Colosseum, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Mt. Fuji, Great Wall of China, Pyramids, Sphinx, Statue of Liberty, and Empire State Building.

Disney Studios
Disney corporate built this companion park to get families to spend more days at Disney parks and hotels, like with California Adventure and Tokyo DisneySea.  The theme here is movies, like the MGM Studios in Disneyworld, except no Tower of Terror. The movie-based rides are definitely different, themed more to young adults and adults.  Too bad there's just one kiddie ride and one non-kiddie ride. The park is OK to spend 3 or 4 hours, not great.  California Adventure and Tokyo DisneySea are much better.  Here's my attraction review, out of 5 exclamation points.

• Armageddon, Experience.  ! !   You board a space shuttle which, helmed by the Russian cosmonaut from the movie, malfunctions.  It's ironic they picked Armageddon. I mean, don't they remember the scene where asteroid chunks flatten Paris???  They call this ride Armageddon: Special Effects, but you don't learn anything about special effects, except when you're waiting in line, two people get called out of the audience to dance in front of a blue screen to stall.    learned much more watching the Armageddon DVD special effects section!
• Aerosmith, Roller Coaster. ! ! !   This it the only real non-kiddie ride in the park.  Aerosmith did the theme songs for Armageddon, so I figure some Disney exec figured it'd be a good theme for a more adult-oriented ride.  The roller coaster is like Space Mountain, with an Aerosmith song and flashing red, blue and green concert lights.  Kinda weird and fewer Gs. than Space Mountain, but hey, it's the only ride in the park.
• Moterus in Action.  Stunt Show.  ! ! ! ! !   This was the coolest ride in the park, and not just cause it lasts 45 minutes.   Features three or four spy-style car chase sequences.   It's definitely impressive to see the stunt cars zip around in formation just inches apart, and jump ramps.  Herbie the Love Bug even makes a surprise guest car appearance. Oops... OK, remember to act surprised.
• Animagique, Stage Show. ! ! !   A neon Donald and Mickey dance with famous Disney characters in this lights out, neon lit dance show.  It's light on dialogue because they don't wanna translate into French, German and English.  For some reason, Donald speaks in English, but Mickey speaks French. Too bad both this show and Cinemagique get canceled due to technical difficulties the first time I try to see them....
• Cinemagiuqe.  Movie.  ! !  Loose story featuring a guy who teleports into classic old Hollywood movies, including Disney movies with Euro-characters like Pinocchio (German), and Mary Poppins (England) for the European audiences.  Kinda cheesy.
• Studio Tram Tour   !  Since they don't really make any movies at Disney Studios, this so-called backlot ride well, sucks. The tram drives by props from such famous Disney unblockbusters as Dinotopia and 102 Dalmations, to a Earthquake-style experience, then drives by a dragon-scorched London, but you never see the dragon.   The only real movie-making you see is a drive by the costume department where you can - hold on to your seats - see people sewing real Disney costumes!  Make sure you have enough film!
• Art of Disney Animation.  Interactive exhibits. ! ! This pavilion does a cursory job of describing animation. Has the exact same attractions as the Ursula karaoke and Walt Disney history movie from California Adventure's Hollywood Animation pavilion, and the Learn How to Draw a Disney Character with a live animator, which I think is borrowed from Disneyworld's MGM Studios.  Good for kids.
• Flying Carpets over Agrobah. Only ride for kids.  Like Dumbo ride.  At least the kids look like they're having fun.

Disney Village
After the Disney parks close, everyone heads to the restaurants and shops in the Disney Village.  It's like Disneyworld's Pleasure Island, or Disneyland's Downtown Disney.  Except, here It's entertainment enough to see French and British tourists wearing cowboy hats and trying to learn line dancing to Western music at Billy Bob's Western theme restaurant. 

And the Frenchified American food is interesting.  The buffalo wing sauce is more like brown gravy, so it's good they give you a packet of BBQ sauce on the side.  And the brownie is more like fudge.  Oh well, I'm sure the French complain when they try crepes in the U.S.

After Disney Paris, I catch the 45-minute RER light rail back to Paris.

Even after seeing dozens of castles over the course of this trip, the Disney Paris castle is still impressive.  It does look even more like the real life castle Neuschwanstein I saw back in Germany... Here it is closer

Goofy still speaks English, but Mickey speaks French.

An Agrobah Aladdin inspired Adventureland is more interesting than the original Disneyland's Adventureland.

Armageddon's Armadillo tank.  Don't remember?  It's the one they did that stupid super jump on the asteriod in.  The Armageddon experience you board a space station that starts to fall apart thanks to that Russian dude.

Disney Studios Parade features only four or five floats