I’ve been back to a theme park. I visited Disneyland Paris in May 2026. This was a special birthday trip and we went with family so it was extra fun, and there were new things to look at, which doesn’t often happen so I was very excited to take in all the new design and atmosphere.
I love Disneyland Paris, specifically the Disneyland Park. It is full of detail, environmental and background embellishments which have no functional value but add to the total experience in a way which I think today, wouldn’t be allowed to happen without some evidence of impact on guests, which is hard to measure.
The New Disney Adventure World
Having a new park to visit was pretty exciting, and I enjoyed seeing how the new designs made it feel like real care had been taken in a park that had, honestly up until that point felt a little ‘phoned in’.
Right now, the new park is split between the old ‘Studios’ area, which includes ‘Toon Studio’, ‘Worlds of Pixar’ and ‘Marvel Avengers Campus’, and the newer areas, including the huge walkway ‘Adventure Way’ leading down to a lake which acts as a hub for the new lands and a stage for the new nighttime show, ‘Cascade of Lights’.
There were some initial standout things that I noticed, and I’ll touch on them a little here, but I want to do a more in depth post about the new park and its design in the future.
Space
There’s room to move, everywhere. The paths are wide, there are places to sit, and the whole park just feels spacious. This is a huge improvement on the old Studios area, which was cramped and felt like it was trying to fit too much in its smaller footprint.
Watching the evening show was also a great example of this. ‘Cascade of Lights’ has been designed to be able to be seen from anywhere around the lake, meaning you’re not all cramped into a small area in front of a castle for instance. The show is water and drone based, so you’re also looking up, so you don’t even need to be fighting to get the front of the section that you have chosen to watch from.
There’s also great indoor space, there’s a lounge attached to the big character restaurant, ‘Regal View’ which has a great view of the lake, does great cocktails and is an excellent place to chill out while you wait for the evening show. This is a first of its kind in either Disneyland Paris Resort Park, and I hope it’s not the last.
Audio Transition Between Lands
Something which stood out to me straight away was how the music transitions and flows between the main ‘hub’ area of Adventure World and the Frozen themed land.
The music sounded (at least to my ear) like it was layered, and running in parallel with each other.
I don’t really know how to explain this much better than to say that, it didn’t matter when you walked between the main area and frozen, the music was always in sync, always playing into the next area in total synchronicity, which sounded like instruments playing the Frozen songs were just part of what you were listening to already.
I’ve not noticed this at other parks, though I’m sure it does happen elsewhere. This sort of transition, eg: Animal Kingdom into Pandora always to me just sounds like one set of audio fades out as a new one increases in volume, the two tracks at Adventure World worked together to transfer the listener. It’s noticeable, and added a lot of that ‘Magic’ that you look for when you visit Disney.
What it does also make me excited for is when the Lion King Land opens, as I can only imagine they’ll do something along these same lines with the iconic music for that franchise.
Food
Disneyland Paris has always had a pretty poor food offering, especially compared to the other Disney Parks, it’s always been a bit of a sore point for the resort.
The general quality of the food on offer has improved over recent years, and the new park is no exception to this. I had some genuinely great food (The Burrata) from the new booths around the lake in Adventure World, and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food in the new Frozen themed quick service restaurant, ‘Nordic Crowns Tavern’.
The Land That Never Was
Something very special that I was on the look out for, and was able to find was the portfolio created by the late Eddie Sotto, who worked as show producer/designer for Main Street U.S.A. at Disneyland Paris. He was commissioned to create a set of art prints imagining what the originally planned, but unbuilt, ‘Disney’s Roaring Twenties’ themed Main Street U.S.A. might have looked like.
Obviously I had to buy it, (and I got a big discount for reasons I don’t fully understand!) and I wasn’t disappointed - it’s an incredible collection of images about something honestly I’d not heard had even been considered.
You don’t often get to see concept art for something as iconic as a new version of Main Street U.S.A., and to see it from such a talented designer, is a real treat. The booklet that comes with the prints also gives some great background on the designs and what was planned for that area of the park, which is really interesting to read about.
I’ll do a full post on this soon as there’s so much to talk about, but I was very pleased to get my hands on this one.
More To Come
There’s loads more to say, and I’m planning posts on the evening show, the new lands, and more from the trip. Stay tuned.