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Les Signes de Toilettes de Disneyland Paris
If you want evidence of Disney's attention to detail, look no further than their theme park restroom signs. Their restroom signs are always clever and witty, and they always match the theme or decor of their surroundings. It has been a while since I've posted photos of Disney restroom signs, because I think I've posted all of the ones around the Disneyland Resort, and I haven't been to any other Disney Park in a while.
We recently visited Disneyland Paris for the first time, so I got to experience the pleasure of finding and photographing new restroom signs all over the park (much to the chagrin of my family, and to the confusion of the other park visitors!). We only had 1 day in each of DLP's 2 theme parks (Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park), and I wanted to spend most of it on rides, not on finding restrooms, so this list is by no means complete. However, I think I've got enough samples to convince me that the tradition of beautiful and clever restroom signs is alive and well at Disneyland Paris. Check out the photos below and see if you agree with me!
Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate: UK vs US
One of the things we enjoy most about visiting England is eating chocolate! While I do love an occasional (okay, frequent) Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey's Kiss or and M&M's, they pale in comparison to a Galaxy, Aero, or Cadbury Dairy Milk bar. British chocolates are just so much creamier and chocolaty-er than US chocolate! It's not just my imagination; the minimum percentage of cocoa content required in the US to be labeled as "chocolate" is 10%, while in the UK and Ireland the minimum percentage is 20%. While our true chocolate loyalties lie with Belgian chocolate (minimum 35% cocoa content), as far as chocolate candy bars are concerned we are diehard Cadbury fans.
However, if you live in the US, don't be fooled by the Cadbury bars you see being sold in drugstores and grocery stores. Those aren't made by the UK-based Cadbury company; they are actually manufactured by The Hershey Company in Hershey, PA! Hershey won the rights to manufacture and sell Cadbury chocolate to the US market in 1988. They import the Cadbury chocolate "base" -- a mixture of powdered cocoa, milk, and sugar known as "crumb" -- from the UK, but the end formulation is slightly different. Can you taste the difference? The answer is a resounding YES.
Trading pins at Disneyland Paris
One of my favorite things to do at a Disney park is trade pins. They're the perfect souvenir because they're small, inexpensive, and long-lasting. They're a lot of fun to trade, even for casual traders like me. My pins would be of no interest to the serious pin trader who owns dozens of binders of rare pins worth thousands of dollars, but many Disney park cast members wear lanyards filled with pins, and they are happy to trade any pin you want with them, up to two pins per day. Most of the pins sold in the parks are sold in all parks, but there are some pins that are exclusive to each park. So when we planned our first-ever visit to Disneyland Paris, I was determined to carve out some time to browse, buy, and trade pins.
12 ways Disneyland Paris differs from Disneyland California
Disney has six theme parks around the world -- Florida, California, Japan, Paris, Hong Kong, and now Shanghai. Disney parks are not a "once-you've-seen-one-you've-seen-them-all" kind of thing. All parks stay true to the Disney brand, and many experiences will be the same. The Disney characters are the same, many of the rides are the same, even whole areas are the same. In all parks, you'll enjoy immaculate surroundings, friendly cast members, an immersive experience, and attention to detail. But each park has quite a few things unique to the park, and to the culture of the host country, so each park will give visitors a unique experience. That's why I want to visit all the Disney Parks around the world before I die!