The countdown is on for the grand reopening of the Disneyland Paris parks on July 15. Although we cannot wait to get back to and explore the magic of the Disneyland Park and the adventure of the Walt Disney Studios park, there is always going to be that trepidation surrounding the new health and safety measures implemented in the parks, and how their addition is going to affect the experience of our visit. Today, however, we got our first look inside the parks, and from this got a good idea of what to expect prior to the grand reopening next week. Let’s take a walk around together, shall we?
Where better to start of at than the Disneyland Park itself? We sure have missed those gates.
Walking through the queue area to enter the park, we can see that temporary green barriers have been set up to formally extend the lines to the park, stretching out beyond the covered ticketing and scanning area within the Disneyland Hotel. Along the floor, social distancing markers have been added, advising guests of where not to stand (in English), and reminding them to keep their distancing (in French). We got a look at these markers last week when Disneyland Paris shared a first look at the new health and safety measures across the resort, so we know we can expect them to be present throughout the park, including on attractions.
Moving down the line and underneath the Disneyland Hotel, we can see that there are more barriers installed in addition to the permanent, older ones, to help direct guests all the way up to the ticket scanners and turnstiles.
Right at the end of the queue is a Purell hand sanitiser station, which guests are able to use before coming into contact with the turnstiles.
And we’re in the park! We sure have missed the beautiful sight of Sleeping Beauty Castle. For now, though, let’s go back on ourselves and cross over to the neighbouring Walt Disney Studios park.
Heading first to one of the most anticipated attraction, “Ratatouille”. Let’s see what social distancing measures have been installed along this queue area.
The queue area for “Ratatouille” is outdoor, but under cover. The typically-long line snakes back and forth in a way that is common for Disney parks, in order to keep a lot of guests queueing in a small space. With the new social distancing precautions, however, this presents a problem, as the line barriers are less than six feet in width. To get around this, clear Plexiglas screens have been installed along the length of the queue area, keeping guests protected but also minimising space.
Even more of the “Please do not stand here” signage has been added all throughout the queue area.
Moving to the back of the park, we had to check out the progress on the “Cars Route 66 Road Trip” attraction, a re-imaging of the former Studio Tram Tour ride. There has been a lot of buzz for this new addition to the Walt Disney Studios park during lockdown, as new construction photos and an attraction image were released.
It is exciting to see this colorful, new, themed construction wall art, featuring favorites Lightning McQueen and Mater. As Mater says, “dadgum, this is going to be fun!”.
Check out our video, with a closer look at these new additions across the park below…
Thank you for joining us on this small tour around the Disneyland Paris parks. Do you have a trip booked to the resort soon? If so, we hope this advance look at the in-park social distancing measures has been reassuring.