Runners' Record: Paris 2024, Day 6

Despite the fact that I've said for about 2 years now that I'm Disney'd out (I let my Disney+ subscription lapse and 2013 was my 10th and final Dopey), I have to admit that I was looking forward to visiting Disneyland Paris. And being back felt very familiar, even though I've never been to this particular pair of parks before, let alone experience some of the rides or shows that I got to. But even though I had heard that the parks really should be experienced over the course of multiple days, it was secondary to me -- it was more important to see as much of Paris as possible before I hopped into Disney.

I got up early enough to get on the train that would get me to Disney Village in the 8am hour, figuring that I'd be able to tool around and explore there for a while during the parks' Extra Morning Hours (which I wasn't eligible for), and then get on line early enough to be near the front of the line for main "rope drop."

Once I breezed through security (above), I made the turn towards Disney Village.

Of course, there was the familiar World of Disney

But, WTF, everything except two of the restaurants was closed.

Yep -- 10am for pretty much everything. EMH are 8:30am - 9:30am, so they would rather keep all of those stores closed and all that money unspent that those of us not staying at their hotels might otherwise be inclined to spend during that otherwise dead time. Oh well -- their loss.

It was early enough, I was able to do a little exploring of the front pre-parks area unencumbered by a large number of other guests. (So far, it was jibing with what I had heard about how dead the parks were a few days prior. Fingers crossed that would stay that way the whole day.)

The couple who took this photo just couldn't get their little boy to stand by them, out of the photo. He just likes being in photos -- no worries!

But I did want to get one with the topiary and hotel in the background, to maybe pair up with their version of the Founder's statue (note: there isn't one). I was able to avail myself of someone else's assistance.

A couple of Fantasia-like topiaries and directions to something I didn't wind up going into, unfortunately: Bureau de Donald.

One of a few lines being funneled down towards the turnstiles at the far end of that walkway about 20 minutes before rope drop. Moments later, a CM came over and had the back end of my part of the line (starting from about 2 people in front of me) shift over to another roped off area, where we would ultimately be shunted to yet another set of turnstiles. Nice!

Finally, they had their announcement about the Family of the Day (not that I could hear any of what was being said, but looking over at the CMs leading everything, I recognized what was happening), they turned all of the turnstiles green... and we were off!

Amazing how empty the park was, to have so few people in these photos. Surrounding this central hub were some really neat metallic structures -- most of which were rotating. Throughout the day as I passed through the hub, I took a few more photos of them. Here they are, all together, though. Can you identify them all?

My original touring plan didn't include Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I didn't expect that it would be much different than what I was already used to. However, in the lead-up to my arrival in France, I heard several reviews about how it was by far the best version of the ride that exists.

And, typically, once the day gets going, the line is HUGE. So, I took advantage of the early hour and the fact that there was only a 35 minute line (which was really only 20) and did it up front.

Anyone who's gone to Disney often enough knows that you should generally choose the left line, since reflex for most people - 90% being right-handed - will be to choose the right lane. The other BTMRRs I've been on have this choice at the descent down to the ride-loading platform. This one was very early in the queue.

Worked out well, since the working water fountain that was in the queue was only accessible to those people who had chosen the left line.

Well, the reviews were DEFINITELY right. This was a great coaster. While it has lots of similarities to the US versions, LOTS of the ride is actually done in pitch-dark. Totally different feel for this.

Next up, their version of Haunted Mansion -- Phantom Manor.

Nice view from the porch.

Portraits in the initial room:

A bit of the intro. Very similar, though the portraits are definitely quite different, and it seems so odd (to me) to hear the alternation between English and French. I like it!

I caught a few of the things in the brief queue before boarding the ride, but generally avoided trying to take any photos or videos during the ride. If I had time in the day, I'd come back to do that. (Alas, I didn't.) I was happy to enjoy the ride, see the similarities, and be amused by the differences.