Children will love Disneyland Paris – there are no two ways about it. What their minders will think of it is another matter, though a cartoon moment will still cadge a smile from most grown-ups, and you can terrify yourself on a roller coaster at any age. There is the question of whether it's worth it. Quite why American parents might bring their charges here is hard to fathom: even British parents might well decide that it would be better to buy a family package to Florida, where sunshine is assured, Disney World has better rides, and where the conflict between enchanted kingdom and enchanting city does not arise.

Carping aside, at just 25km distance east of the capital, it's easy to visit in a day-trip from Paris, and since the opening of Space Mountain and the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster, Disneyland Paris has a variety of good fear-and-thrill rides. There are a much wider variety of things to do than at a funfair or ordinary theme park too, and many of the sets are incredibly detailed. The complex is divided into three areas: Disneyland Park, the original Magic Kingdom, with most of the big rides; Walt Disney Studios Park, a more technology-based attempt to recreate the world of cartoon film-making, along with a few rides; and Disney Village and the hotels, where you can eat and sleep if you're determined to see both the other attractions. For all the omnipresent Americana, occasional French elements do creep through: science-fiction writer Jules Verne appears in a couple of Discoveryland rides; Sleeping Beauty's Castle is based on an illustration in the medieval manuscript Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry; and there's a faintly discernible French slant to some of the cinema-themed attractions in Walt Disney Studios. Otherwise, that's about it and the food throughout the resort is
http://www.france-for-visitors.com/paris/disneyland/index.html