Thirty-three years after the park opened, a Disney princess remains surprisingly absent from Disneyland Paris attractions, despite her worldwide popularity.
Every year, millions of visitors flock to Disneyland Paris to experience the Disney magic with family, alone or with friends. The attractions dedicated to princesses are among the most popular in the park: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or the majestic Sleeping Beauty Castle attract young and old. These experiences allow you to immerse yourself in fairy tales and create unforgettable memories for children and adults alike, which explains their constant popularity since the park opened in 1992.
This is also what pushes Disneyland Paris to soon open the land of the Snow Queen, in spring 2026. This new space, inspired by the kingdom of Arendelle, promises total immersion in the magical universe of the hit film The Snow Queen. Visitors will be able to explore a majestic lake, meet iconic characters like Elsa and Anna, and discover an attraction that will immerse them in the heart of the frozen adventures of this modern tale. This ambitious project is part of the major expansion of Walt Disney Studios and aims to strengthen the park’s appeal to families and Disney fans around the world.
However, this desire for expansion and immersion in the Disney universes is not new. Few people know it, but the initial Disneyland Paris project was much more ambitious than what we know today. The major financial difficulties encountered by the park in the 1990s forced Disney to abandon several major projects, considerably modifying the original vision of the European complex. Among these forgotten projects is an attraction that should have seen the light of day upon opening, as evidenced by the 1992 EuroDisney map where it appears with the mention “future attraction”, located right next toIt’s a Small World (Fantasyland). This is the attraction dedicated to Ariel, the heroine of The Little Mermaid.
Alain Littaye, author of the book “Disneyland Paris: From sketch to creation“, reveals that “the attraction had been planned as an ambitious dark ride, similar in structure to Peter Pan’s Flight, with underwater and terrestrial scenes”. As Littaye explains, these budgetary constraints have “forced Disney to scale back or cancel its projects, as was the case with The Little Mermaid”. Visitors could have followed Ariel’s journey from her underwater kingdom to her transformation into a human, with immersive settings reproducing the seabed and Prince Eric’s castle. Concept art documented by Disney Studios art specialist Didier Ghez shows spectacular scenes where families would have navigated through Ariel’s cave of treasures, witnessed the battle against Ursula and experienced the mermaid’s magical transformation.
Ironically, while Disneyland Paris remains without this attraction, other Disney parks around the world offer experiences dedicated to Ariel. California is home to “The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure” at Disney California Adventure, while Florida offers “Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid” at the Magic Kingdom. These attractions have met with some success with visitors. More than thirty years after the opening of Disneyland Paris, European fans are still waiting to be able to immerse themselves in the world of Ariel, making this princess one of the major absences from the French park.
