Disneyland Paris Resort <- Click here for coaster & Ride Photos!
Marne la Vallée, France
Official Web Site: Disneyland Paris English Website

Theme Park Review's MASSIVE Europe Trip Photo Update!
Day 19: Disneyland Paris Resort

Bonjour!  Bienvenue à Disneyland Paris!
Disneyland Paris holds kind of a special place for me because it was my "home away from home" Disney park
for many years.  Between 1993 - 1999 I worked on and off in the UK which brought me to Paris many times!  Other than Disneyland in California,
this is probably the Disney park I've visited the most!  So getting to return to this park is always kind of special.  Anyway, on with the update!

The brand new hot air balloon welcomes guests to the resort!

There are two parks at Disneyland Paris, the first being "Disneyland" of course....

And the second being the Studios, which opened up in 2002.

I've always thought that Disneyland Paris is the prettiest of all the "Magic Kingdoms."  It has a very different look to it, and I like it!

But no matter how different it looks, there is one thing all the Magic Kingdom's have in common....
that's right....furries!!!  =)

New for 2005 was "Space Mountain: Mission 2."  Which was a re-theme of Space Mountain that opened 10 years ago in 1995.
The ride circuit is the same, all that's changed is the soundtrack and some of the effects inside the mountain.

Here is the skyline of Discoveryland....but it didn't always look like this.  Space Mountain has been
open 10 years now, but what did it look like before then? Let's take the wayback machine to around the end of 1993 and find out.....

Here is what the skyline of Discoveryland looked like back at the end of 1993.  It certainly looks a lot different!

In fact, at one point, Space Mountain wasn't even Space Mountain!  It was Discovery Mountain!  And as a little hint of trivia,
those little "DM" logos you still see everywhere is a reminder of it's original name that's long since been changed.

Very early on in the ride's construction.  We like to call these the "dirt" photos!

The mountain is starting to take shape and you can even see some track inside!

This area here will eventually be the queue building and the ride's station.

Diggers and dozers helping to put the "magic" into the ride.

Ahh, the Vekoma track can be seen hiding from public view!

Here is the section of track where the riders will enter the building from the launch cannon.

More track inside and it looks to be pretty complete.

Almost ready for the cannon to be constructed!

Ahh, Space Mountain...the original mission!  There was something very 'timeless' and very classic about this ride.

Some more effects inside the ride.  This was called the "Blue Moon something or another..." It just added to that classic Jules Verne theming.
While Mission 2 was still fun, it did, at least in my opinion, take some of that timeless feel away from the ride.  Oh well....
Oh, hey!  Time to get headed back to 2005!

LIGHT SPEED!!!!!!

Everyone make it back ok?  Good!
So here is what the station looks like now.  It's pretty much the same as Mission 1,
except you no longer use the outer queue area because of  FastPass. 

The trains got a new paint job, and kind of sadly the "DM" logos were removed. 

Frederic explains that the windows that you used to be able to watch the trains travel to the launch section were covered up
for the new beginning of the ride where the train launches from the bottom of the cannon instead of half-way up.

Ahh, look!  There are still reminders of the ride's past!  So if you ever wondered "What does DM mean?" Now you know!  =)

One of the elements that seemed to make Mission 1 so timeless was it's music.  It was very classical and sounded like a big budget movie.
Now the music is you basic "techo" type of stuff.  Not that it's bad or anything, it's just not as 'timeless.'  If you want to hear the
music soundtrack from Space Mountain: Mission 1, click HERE!  (The launch would kick in about 55 seconds into it!)

Click HERE for page two of Disneyland Paris Resort Photos

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