It's a Different World after All

One of the things I love about visiting the various Disney Parks around the world is appreciating how different each of them is, even when it comes to classic attractions they all share. It's a Small World in Disneyland Paris is a great example of this. It's essentially the same experience, but there are so many elements of the French version that make it unique.

Out front, the boat full of children is represented dimensionally, atop a partial globe with water cascading over its surface. The exterior of the building is a palace facade, like all the others except Magic Kingdom. Here, though, European landmarks are more prominent in the design and the color palette is brighter (to help overcome the often-grey skies in Paris) and is accented in copper and gold (helping ease the transition between Fantasyland to the building's left and Discoveryland to the right).

The queue and load/unload station for the boats is positioned outside the main building, just as it is at Disneyland in Anaheim. To protect from the weather, those areas are all covered here, but not so enclosed that you can't enjoy the beauty of the facade or the charming joy of the clock tower when it animates every quarter hour.

Once aboard "The Happiest Cruise That Ever Sailed," that familiar Sherman Brothers tune kicks in, and you're off on a journey around the world. Although heavily influenced by the work done on the original It's a Small World by Mary Blair, Alice Davis and others, the designs here step boldly out of the 1960s and feel completely contemporary.

Many of the sets are still painted flats, but they're painted with areas of light and shadow, giving the impression of added depth and richness.

When It's a Small World opened in Hong Kong Disneyland in 2005, it was the first to include Disney characters among the dolls and toys (they have also since been added to the Disneyland original). The Paris version of the attraction provided the stepping stone to that idea, by introducing the idea of representing characters from stories and mythology. Floating past the scenes, look for a genie, a mermaid, a baby Pegasus and the Loch Ness Monster.

Disneyland Paris was also the first time an entire room was dedicated to North America, with entire scenes of Canada, the American West and the prairie.

There's even a bit of the modern U.S., as New York City, San Francisco and Hollywood come together just ahead of the attraction's big finale.

Although it's a Disney Parks standard (and frankly a bit of a cliche these days), It's a Small World turned out to be one of my favorite attraction experiences in all of Disneyland Paris. It's at once familiar and completely original... and forever charming!

They Call It Bella Notte

On the outskirts of Fantasyland at Disneyland Paris is an unassuming cluster of buildings that brings a bit of Italian flair to the stretch between Sleeping Beauty Castle and It's a Small World. This is Pizzeria Bella Notte, a structure which looks as though it has stood several centuries (instead of just two decades), all thanks to the Imagineering art of character painting.

Pizzeria Bella Notte is dominated by an open courtyard for dining, complete with marble sculpture and a beautiful tile mosaic floor. Legend has it some of the pieces of tile here came from one of Mary Blair's murals done for Tomorrowland at Disneyland in 1967.

The exterior is classic Italian, even to the point that one of the facades seems to be listing a bit on an ancient foundation.

Step inside, though, and the decor transitions a bit from realistic to more exaggerated and "cartoonish."

Here is where you'll also come across references to the Disney film from which the restaurant gets its name, Lady and the Tramp. Famous Italian restaurateurs Tony and Joe are immortalized in stone columns, as well as frescoes recounting that "lovely bella notte" when Butch fell in love with the "cockerel-Spanish girl."

Between Pizzeria Bella Notte and the Castle Stage is another fun little corner. An ancient-looking stone facade creates a transition, bridging the looks of Italy and a medieval fairytale castle. The structure itself isn't much, but it does house restrooms. Regular readers of this blog know that one of my favorite Disney details is custom restroom signs, and this spot doesn't disappoint. The identifiers for men and women are painted on the stone walls, using the likenesses of Aurora's parents, the king and queen from Sleeping Beauty.

Storybook Land

Disneyland Paris is the only other Disney Park in the world (after Disneyland) to include Casey Jr. and Storybook Land Canal Boats, here known as Le Pays des Contes de Fées (literally translated: Fairytale Country). The attractions were added to Paris in 1994 as part of a program to increase the park's capacity with small attractions that could be completed quickly and with limited investment. The investment paid off, though, by creating one of the most charming corners of the park.

Le Pays des Contes de Fées is similar to Storybook Land Canal Boats at Disneyland, in that Guests board colorful watercraft named for Disney characters (Ariel, Aurora, etc.) and float past miniature scenes from famous stories. The attraction in France is quite different, though. For starters, boats are boarded from a rotating platform and then propelled mechanically along the waterway with no pilot on board. With no one operating the boat, that means there's also no narration. Language gets tricky at Disneyland Paris, where Guests visit from all over Europe. Instead, the stories are communicated through storybook graphics (in French and English), as well as iconic musical themes.

The first tune we hear as our boat passes through the portal into Le Pays des Contes de Fées is "Heigh Ho," from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The mine is built into the side of the mountain, and if you look closely, you'll even spot Dopey. Nearby is the cottage of the seven dwarfs, and it looks like an unwelcome visitor is making a hasty exit.

Classic Disney stories abound, as we float past Prince Eric's castle from The Little Mermaid (where Eric's on the balcony, pining for the girl with the amazing voice) and the French provincial village from Beauty and the Beast (complete with Belle reading to the sheep at the fountain). There's even Maurice's cottage and, high on the hilltop, the castle of the Beast.

Le Pays des Contes de Fées has been kept up to date, too, with the recent addition of Rapunzel's tower from Tangled. A tower representing the Rapunzel story had been part of the attraction from the beginning, but that was replaced last year with this model from the film... along with the figure of Flynn Rider climbing the golden hair.

Le Pays des Contes de Fées is not all princess stories. There's actually a great mix here, including this tribute to Aladdin. In the spirit of Monstro's agape mouth on the original attraction, here boats drift into the Cave of Wonders. Inside, we're warned to "touch nothing but the lamp." Too bad Abu so easily gives in to temptation!

Making it out the other side of the cave, we come upon a tiny but effective scene of a sword cast into a stone and anvil. Bits of magic fall down upon Excalibur, as we're reminded of the moment in The Sword in the Stone when young Arthur surprises everyone (except Merlin) and becomes king.

The Sword in the Stone isn't the only unexpected entry in Le Pays des Contes de Fées. There are several scenes from stories not included in the American version, but chosen here to represent a broader spectrum of European culture.

Look for scenes from Disney's 1937 short film "The Old Mill," "Peter and the Wolf" from the 1946 animated feature Make Mine Music, and the "Pastoral" sequence and "Night on Bald Mountain" from Fantasia.

There are even truly obscure scenes not typically associated with Disney at all, such as the old witch's candy cottage from "Hansel and Gretel," a story made into a Walt Disney record album and Mickey and Minnie TV short.

Ultimately, the grand finale of Le Pays des Contes de Fées leads us to... the Emerald City? Walt Disney held the rights to some of the Oz books for a period and even toyed with making an animated film of the stories. In 1985, Disney released the live action Return to Oz, and another film, Oz: the Great and Powerful, is in production now for a 2013 release.

In the end, all the stories - well-known and otherwise - come together in harmony to create a perfectly enjoyable experience where everyone lives "Happily Ever After!"

Dumbo the Great!

Although Walt Disney's Dumbo took place in America (Florida, to be exact), the circus traces its origins to Europe, so its fitting that Dumbo occupy such a prominent place in Fantasyland at Disneyland Paris. Here the gaudy, gilded calliope of Dumbo the Flying Elephant rises above the gardens in the center of the land, amid lush landscaping and water features.

The attraction experience on Dumbo the Flying Elephant is very much the same as it is in the other Disney Parks, but there are some unique elements to the presentation in Paris. Along the queue are graphics reminding us of Dumbo's story and his ascent to greatness. Once on the platform, the operator control booth is dressed as an ornate circus wagon, touting "The 9th Wonder of the World!"

Dumbo received an expanded presence in the Disneyland Paris park in 1993 when, as part of an effort to boost capacity, small attractions were added to every land. In the case of Fantasyland, a tunnel was carved beneath the railroad tracks, opening up a cul de sac for the inclusion of Storybook Land and Casey Jr.

Guests travel below the trestle and through the woods, past banners touting the wonders of the circus, before arriving at the tiny station where they'll board the little train that could.

Casey Jr. - le Petit Train du Cirque is a powered coaster-type attraction (as opposed to a traditional, gravity coaster). Similar to its counterpart at Disneyland, Casey Jr. offers an opportunity to ride in a variety of circus train cars, from gilded chariots to animal cages. The designs have been updated a bit, of course, from the 1955 originals.

"All aboard! Let's go!"

Casey Jr. provides a zippy tour of the countryside around and above Storybook Land, where miniature versions of fairytale landmarks can be found. These have been updated for the Paris version, too, with inclusions such as the Beast's castle from Beauty and the Beast (below). Just as in California, though, you can get a much better look at all that from the comfort of a canal boat. We'll be taking that trip tomorrow!