Shifting Lenses

Observations on culture, place, and the ways people live.

Third Culture Kids: “children who move between cultures before they have had the opportunity to fully develop their personal and cultural identity”.

Growing up between the USA, China and Singapore has made us curious about the ways people experience the same world differently. Shifting Lenses is a collection of observations about culture, identity, health, sport and everyday life from the places we’ve lived and traveled.

Of the Disney Parks I have visited, Disneyland Paris was one of the least crowded, second only to Hong Kong. The French school year hadn’t quite ended for summer holiday, but I was still surprised by the lack of huge crowds. 

As usual, the rides were mostly similar to other parks, with a few notable exceptions like Ratatouille and Crush’s Coaster at Walt Disney Studios.

Despite the primary language being different, this park felt the most American of any other Disney park I have been to outside of the USA. I can’t quite put my finger on why it felt so culturally similar. Maybe it was the number of Americans at the park—there were far more than I had ever experienced in the Asian Disney parks. Or maybe it was simply the high number of English speakers in general, which made the whole place feel a bit less foreign. The food was also surprisingly similar to the Disney Parks in the USA. In fact, there was even a Five Guys Burgers near the park gates.

If hitting all the Disney Parks is on your bucket list, Disneyland Paris is definitely worth a visit. However, if you’re looking for a unique cultural Disney experience, I feel Disneyland Paris underdelivered.

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