Play-and-Stay Blog

It might seem like a slightly unfair contest, with Disneyland® Resort Paris competing against around 30 UK theme parks, but the question is - do any of them come close?

Disneyland Resort Paris is one of Europe’s top tourist destinations, with many of people on the internet touting it as ‘the number one’ (although how you arrive at such a conclusion is quite mind boggling to me - I don’t think it can really be compared to Ancient ruins in Athens or Rome for example). It consistently has over 12 million visitors a year, from many European countries, and its close proximity to Britain means British people make up a decent proportion of these. Meanwhile, if you think that Britain’s top theme park, Alton Towers , handles 2.5 million visitors per year, it is clear that Disneyland Resort Paris is quite a behemoth, and one that is very close to home. It’s not difficult to see how Disneyland Resort Paris can attract so many British people if we consider the travel options: the resort is only a 3 hour train journey from London, and it can often take a similar amount of time to reach British theme parks. For me, it would take around 5 hours by train to reach Alton Towers!

Disneyland Magic

Marketing, and worldwide fame, obviously account for much of Disneyland Resort Paris’ popularity. The opportunity for families to take their children to a theme park where they can meet some of the world’s most famous cartoon characters, and visit scenes from their favourite films, puts the magic in the Disneyland experience. The scenery is truly fantastic, and an obvious reason why the park was given an initial budget of $2.6 billion. Creating a whole ‘mountain’ for the course of one ride, in the case of Big thunder Mountain , or building a huge Cinderella’s Castle as a centre piece for the park (which actually doesn’t have all that much in it), is the clear evidence of the immensity of the Disney project, and something to which few British theme parks can compete.

Disneyland and Thrill Rides

It has often been noted that Disneyland Resort Paris has little for thrill seekers. This was true at its opening back in 1992 (when I was fortunate to be amongst the park’s first guests at seven years old), and Big thunder Mountain was subject to massive queues. Now though there are two further roller coasters at the Disneyland Park with Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril and Space Mountain: Mission 2. Both of these feature inversions, although the verdict seems to be out on them on most internet forums. Other than these two there has also been the addition of the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Walt Disney Studios Park, bringing the resort’s repertoire of thrilling roller coasters up to four - not bad, especially as the number of roller coasters with inversions matches ‘Britain’s most thrilling park’, Thorpe Park.

Other than that collection of roller coasters, however, Disneyland Resort Paris has little else in the way of thrills. Star Tours is a fun and family orientated flight simulator, again with brilliant theming. But what else is there to satisfy adrenalin junkies? Not a lot, as I’m sure you’ll discover if you go.

The British Competition

Alton Towers, Thorpe park and Drayton Manor all have a repertoire of intense thrill rides that easily surpass Disneyland Resort Paris. Not only that, but some of them are also placed within excellent scenery. Nemesis has to be one of the most impressive looking roller coasters in the world, with the track running around an alien creature that has come from underground, surrounded by rivers of blood. Even the sparse settings of Oblivion, fitting in with other ‘futuristic’ rides within the X-Sector area, seem to feel right.

Chessington World of Adventures has often won fans through the fine surroundings of the Vampire or the ancient buildings within the Forbidden Kingdom, and such an approach is very favourable with younger visitors, as Disneyland Resort Paris so well knows. However, it is difficult for all British theme parks to follow this route. Restrictions of budget and space make it difficult for anything but flagship rides to be placed in a fitting setting that is very good on the eye. Disney, in this respect is the magnum opus of European, and indeed worldwide, theme parks.

Conclusion

What are the conclusion to this blog then? Simply, Disneyland Resort Paris has a great diversity of rides, with decent roller coasters and family rides, but its theming is an incredibly important factor of the rides. For a young child, the imagination really can run free at this massive theme park, and this explains why it is such a popular family small break destination. Certain British theme parks do have good ride theming, but it can’t really been compared to Disneyland; have a look at Pirates of the Caribbean, for instance, then see which British rides come close (Valhalla at Pleasure Beach is pretty good, but it doesn’t feature animatronics). Disneyland does falter when it comes up against the best thrill rides in the the UK, and it has nothing like a Rameses Revenge or a Samurai. I’m not saying you should choose one theme park over the other, because they all have their benefits, and budget and traveling distance are two of the most important factors in selecting a theme park break. But if you ever want to make the trip onto the continent to Disneyland Resort Paris then don’t go specifically for thrills (you’ll find much better at home) but go for the reason that children will truly be amazed by the scenery and that it’s an almost perfect place for family magic.

There was a worrying trend amongst many UK theme parks during 2006 - in two cases financial losses led to owners and investors sadly deciding upon closure as the most viable option.

The last year saw the sudden closure of Southport’s Pleasureland after 94 years of providing fun rides to the public, there was also outrage at the demolishing of its Cyclone, a roller wooden roller coaster that had been in operation since 1937. Meanwhile, in Derbyshire, The American Adventure also was forced into shutting its doors. The problems faced for smaller theme parks are clear from a press release after the closure of Pleasureland:

‘It must be acknowledged that the UK theme park industry as a whole is facing increased competition from publicly-funded and lottery-funded attractions which have significantly distorted the visitor attractions market. This situation has been compounded by our weekend trading now competing with extended Sunday shopping rules and Sunday sporting events.’

The demise of these two family favourites probably had much to do with competition from larger and more diverse local rivals, with two parks that are often regarded within the world’s best; namely Alton Towers. It is also rather unfortunate that the theme park industry in the UK has to compete with something it can do very little about: the weather, which even in the Summer, can be quite unsavoury for a whole day outside!

Whilst two theme parks did close in 2006, it seems unlikely that others in the country will follow suit, and certainly not in the forseeable future! Sure, for the 2007 season there has been hasn’t been the arrival of world beating rides, like when Stealth launched at Thorpe Park just last season, or when Valhalla opened its doors at Pleasure Beach back in 2000 with the acclaim of being the ‘world’s best water ride’, but there certainly is enough to get excited about.

With the Log Flume at Blackpool closing after 39 years of soaking guests, many visitors were sad to see it leave but (to use the old cliché) ‘every cloud has a silver lining’. The closure of Southport Pleasureland has brought its flagship ride ‘The Traumatiser’ across the Ribble Estuary to Pleasure Beach, Blackpool,, where it will occupy the old site of the Log Flume and take the name Infusion This is perhaps the biggest ride move of the year, as Infusion is set to be a truly incredible experience, ‘infusing’ a traditional steel roller coaster ride with water elements. Additionally, guests to LEGOLAND® Windsor will be very excited by the arrival of a thrilling river rapids ride - Vikings’ River Splash, giving you the chance to cool off on a hot summers day in a slightly unusual way!

Brilliant thrill rides at Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, Alton Towers, Thorpe Park, Lightwater Valley, Drayton Manor and M & D’s will all certainly continue to keep the thrill seekers delighted in 2007 and keep the ‘Wow Factor’ very much alive across the UK this year. There’s also the great family fun to be had far and wide from Camelot, down to Chessington and LEGOLAND® Windsor, and then as far south as Paultons in Hampshire. This is not to mention the Gulliver’s and Diggerland parks. For both of these brands there are three separate parks dotted around the country, with rides suitable for absolutely everyone.

It’s great that websites like Play and Stay can offer so much from the theme park industry and help it to stay very much alive and kicking. From the magic of Disneyland® Resort Paris, to the family fun of Paultons or the thrills of Thorpe Park, sites like this help to inform the customer and offer choice. So much information was often unavailable in the days before the worldwide web, but it’s here to stay, and so are the nation’s theme parks!

New season, new parks and rides. 2007 promises to be another exciting year for families seeking theme parks breaks, and Play-and-Stay have added to their impressive range of theme parks, as well as still offering the best prices on some of your favourites.

Check out our unbeatable prices here!