Frontierland, Disneyland Resort, Paris

Frontier Land is themed on the wild, wild west with Disneyland Paris' version being based on the gold rush town Thunder Mesa. Personally this is my favourite of the Lands, in particular I find the scenery very impressive! The predominate landmarks in the region are the Phantom Manor, Thunder Mountain and the huge lake. There is lots of detail worked into the land, I especially like the horse hoof prints running through the flooring. As you would expect from a town of that era (1850's) all the building are made of wood, the most impressive examples of this are Fort Comstock and the Manor.

Big Thunder Mountain:
An outside mild rollercoaster impressively set around the trademark orange stone wind eroded mountains (I don't know of the real name). It is based on a run away mine cart which twists and turns through the track. There are no inversions of any type.
|| This is the most popular ride in the entire park and as a result I strongly advise to get a fastpass ticket. It is also one of the best rides, and is counted among my top 3. The setting is amazing with lots of little details not only around the ride but also in the queue area. This whole ride tells a story and builds tension through various threats on the track (water on the line, a collapsing tunnel, wild animal etc). It does travel round at quite a pace and so if you suffered from motion sickness, as with any rollercoaster, this may not be suitable for you. It is perfectly suitable for children as long as they meet the height restriction (which is 1.02m) most likely this will become their favourite ride. There is also a photo taken part way round and my family has plenty of these consisting of various poses and ages as we grew up, they are treasured in my parents household and so would recommend purchasing these upon exiting the ride.

Phantom Manor:
Set indoors, although a bit of the queue line isn't under cover although this is rarely used, so perfect if the weather is not the best. "Thunder Mesa legend tells of a beautiful young woman, Melanie Ravenswood, who lived in the manor with her father for many years. Upon Melanie's engagement to a miner from Big Thunder, her father was enraged to hear of the fiancé's plans to take his daughter away from Thunder Mesa.
The wedding day arrived and the fiancé failed to appear. Ever since this fateful day, Melanie has wandered the hallways and rooms of the manor waiting for her fiancé to arrive"
|| The ride uses Doombuggys which hold 2 people, there is plenty of room though so often the cast member (staff) will allow 2 adults and a small child. The ride is full of Audio-Animatronics figures of various forms (skeletal and human alike) and uses optical allusions to best portray the plot in this home of 999 ghosts. My personal favourite bits are when the statue heads start to sing and watching the ghosts dance in the ball room. There are some mildly frightening scenes but Disney say this is suitable for children 3+ and I agree as they wouldn't understand the plot which is what builds the tension.

Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing:
There are two boats, Mark Twain and Molly Brown, that take passengers around the lake.
|| The boats will take you around Thunder Mountain, there are many scenes which can be only be seen from the river. There is also plenty of wildlife to be seen (some of the plastic variety too) and you can be sure the ducks always follow the boat round in hope of a good feed! The ride lasts around 15 minutes and is very smooth, I doubt any one would get sea sick, and is suitable to all age groups. This never really capture my attention as a child but no doubt a very welcome break to any parents.

Legends of the Wild West:
This is based in Fort Comstock and is a museum type attraction which consists of climbing up into the fort and looking at various scene with a written historical description.
|| Again not a very exciting one for a child in comparison to every thing else plus push chairs and buggys I can imagine been very difficult to get up the steps. This is one more for the adults. Though be careful on the steps as when wet can be very slippy!

River Rogue Keelboats:
Firstly these only operate in summer. They are little keel boats designed to hold around 40 guests each, and there are 2 in operation.
|| I have never been on one of these, mainly due to the similarities with the Riverboats, and the fact that they do look as if they rock a bit.

Pocahontas Indian Village:
An outdoor childrens adventure playground, opened in 1997.
|| Another attraction I have never used as it was not open when I was a child and I have no peculiar longing to swing from monkey bars now! Although I believe from gleaming information for the Disney website that there is a lot more than 'just' monkey bars here with Indian tepees ect. Every thing Disney do is well themed and I don't doubt that this is too.

Disneyland Railroad Frontierland Depot:
Get on the train, see some scenery exclusive to this ride, and perhaps alight at FantasyLand, DiscoveryLand or Main Street USA!
|| This is where the mums and dads get a breather as it takes about 45mins to get right round the track. It involves no movement, just looking through the windows and relaxing. Although because of it's length I always hated this and thought of it 'as the most boring train in the world' - and in comparison to the rest of Disney, to a child this seems just oh-so ordinary and unexciting.

The Chaparral Theater:
An outdoor 1350 seat theater which show various shows depending on the season.
|| Although it is outdoors the majority of the seating (wooden tiered benches) is partially covered. The shows are very high quality and having seen Mickey's Christmas Wonderland and the Tarzan experience my self I'd recommend any show here. Also during Halloween I believe there are special events here, although I have never been to it myself. The shows are very entertaining for all ages and usually try get the audience involved. Show times are announced outside the theater but also in the Disney program, which if you're there will find at the entrance of every park and at information points. Most shows are around 30mins.

There are also a handful of different eateries in Frontier Land:

Silver Spur Steakhouse - A steakhouse as the name suggests, this is marketed as one of the more 'high class' restaurants in the park. It is table service.
|| I had a really bad experience here, with food being late, and then not we had ordered, I ended up asking for a refund in some difficulties as I don't speak french. Although the waiter who had previously seated us was very apologetic and went to get the manager who didn't turn up for 30+ mins and then claimed he didn't speak English (I have never a senior memory of staff at Disney who did not speak English and very few other staff as it is a requirement in their recruitment policy) and so knew he was lying so ended up walking out and filling a complained with City Hall. However I think I was just very unlucky and it was the only time over my 8 visits I had experienced any thing like this!

The Lucky Nugget Saloon:
A buffet type meal serving various tex-mex foods and American dishes.
|| A good value meal, and at advertised times the Disney characters come round when your eating to sign autographs. This is one of my most vivid memories as a young child and so would recommend to any parent with young children as it is certainly a childhood memory to cherish.

Cowboy Cookout Barbecue:
Fastfood type place serving lots of chicken and BBQ meals.
|| Never eaten here personally but it looks alright and they have lots of nice seats outside for summer.

Fuente del Oro Restaurante:
Again fastfood but this time Tex-Mex.
|| Hmmmmm I like this place. They do nacho's , corn on the cob, chilli... all very nice. In the restaurant there are little house birds flying around, they are meant to be there, but somepeople may find this a bit weird.

Fuente del Oro Restaurante:
Basically a snack bar offering American fastfood.
|| They have nowhere to sit down so have never eaten from here.

There are 2 shops, Thunder Mesa Mercantile Building and Big Thunder Photographer. The Mercantile Building does sell some items exclusive to Frontier Land as well as the general merchandise and so is worth a look around. Big Thunder Photographer is where you can buy your onride photos from Thunder Mountain.

Overall I think Frontier Land is more themed toward the 7+ age range as it offers them more adventurous rides than Fantasy Land with out going too overboard. The themeing is well done and can teach kids (and adults) about the American wild west society at the time of the gold rush. As mentioned before this is my favourite land mainly due to the spectacular scenery.

Further details can be found on the official Disneyland Paris website (www.disneylandparis.co.uk) or DLRPMagic (www.DLRPMagic.com).

"Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money. "
Walt Disney