Restaurant at Disneyland Paris
Walt's – An American Restaurant is a themed dining establishment located onMain Street, U.S.A. atDisneyland Paris. Paying tribute toWalt Disney, the creator of theWalt Disney Company, the restaurant is considered one of the premier dining locations at the resort, offering table service and a menu inspired byAmerican cuisine.
When designing Euro Disneyland, Imagineers wanted to create a place which would act as a tribute toWalt Disney, since European guests were not as acquainted to his life as American guests were.Imagineer Eddie Sotto wanted this place to be designed as aClub 33 for the average guests.
- Lobby: The restaurant's lobby features many items referring to Walt and his achievements. His bust stands in the center of the room, along with devices from the early pre-animation era, such as aZoetrope. A staircase and an elevator lead guests to the upper floor. As they ascend to it, they can see photos of Walt's reach for his fame, from the creation ofMickey Mouse and the release ofSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs to the opening ofDisneyland in Anaheim.
(Note: The following rooms were removed in 1999)
- Walt Disney's Room: The room paid tribute to Walt Disney's life. Here items referred to his early youth in Marceline, Missouri.
- Lillian Disney's Room: This room paid tribute toLillian Disney, Walt's wife. Some photographs showed the couple in their journeys around Europe. The room featured an elegant fireplace (still visible today) and many china items which Lillian was fond of.
- Main Street Room: This dining room was ornamented withImagineer Herbert Ryman's artworks forMain Street, U.S.A., and a model of the Main Street Transportation Building. The purpose of this room was to underline the link between Main Street andMarceline, Missouri.
Flower Street featured an outside seating area along the restaurant's facade.
The upper floor features six themed rooms:
- Fantasyland Room: This gothic-style room presents an early vision of Fantasyland. Here are displayed artworks and sculptures representing scenes or characters from Disney movies based on European tales, such asSleeping Beauty,Pinocchio,Peter Pan orAlice in Wonderland. Concept-arts for theCastle are also visible.
- Adventureland Room: This oriental-style room features exotic items fromAfrica orAsia. Artworks refer to the land's attractions such asAdventure Isle, but the influence ofImagineer Marc Davis is underlined by his sketches for the ridePirates of the Caribbean and the never-builtJungle Cruise ride.
- Discoveryland Room: To underlineJules Verne's strong influence on Discoveryland, the room displays a huge collection of illustrations from his booksTwenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas,From the Earth to the Moon and others. The fireplace is ornamented with a golden model of theNautilus, and photographs along the walls remind guests of the production of the Disney movie20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Other artworks presentTony Baxter's Discovery Bay which was the basic inspiration for the land, the now-goneVisionarium with one photograph ofMichel Piccoli's portrayal of Verne, and theOrbitron ride.
- Disneyland Hotel Room: This small room features artworks forDisneyland Hotel, especially sketches which inspired the building's architecture. Nowadays, some consider this room to be Main Street Room, since the one on the ground floor was removed.
- Grand Canyon Room: This small room adjacent to the main Frontierland room displays drawings for theGrand Canyon scene visible from theDisneyland Railroad attraction.
- Frontierland Room: This library-like room bears the theme of Thunder Mesa. Here are displayed artworks ofBig Thunder Mountain,Phantom Manor orThunder Mesa Riverboats.
- The restaurant is located on 1401, Flower Street, which is also the location ofWalt Disney Imagineering inGlendale, California.
- The three dining rooms located on the ground floor were removed in 1999 to make way for Lilly's Boutique, a shop themed to Lillian Disney, and designed to sell home items. Most of the props from Lillian Disney's room were reused to decorate the shop, and the fireplace still stands in this place.
- The piano and violin soundtrack of the restaurant features a wide selection of popular Disney tunes, from the beginning of the Company (Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?) to Disneyland Paris opening (Under the Sea). This soundtrack still plays in Lilly's Boutique.
Wheelchair accessible