Adventureland: the tropical pirate land

Adventureland is one of the five lands of Disneyland Park, opened on 12 April 1992 along with the Disneyland Paris resort (then Euro Disneyland).

The land is split into four distinct themed areas:

The main entrance, Adventureland Bazaar, recreates an Eastern town inspired by the tales of the One Thousand and One Nights and the film Aladdin, released in 1992. The Imagineers designed this area while the film was being made.

A second area with a mainly African feel is mostly home to shops and restaurants.

The third evokes the jungles of Asia and is home to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril.

The last and largest area recreates the Caribbean, with Pirates of the Caribbean and Adventure Isle, an artificial island in the centre.

The Paris climate forced the Imagineers to drop Jungle Cruise, found in every other Adventureland in the world, as the animatronics couldn’t cope with harsh winters.

The main attractions are Pirates of the Caribbean (1992), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril (30 July 1993, the first Disney ride with a 360° loop, sponsored by Esso until 2017), Le Passage Enchanté d’Aladdin (9 December 1993), Adventure Isle with Skull Rock inspired by Peter Pan, La Cabane des Robinson based on Swiss Family Robinson and the network of caves.

Pirates’ Beach is a play area for kids.

The standout restaurants are Captain Jack’s - Restaurant des Pirates (formerly Blue Lagoon, built into the Pirates of the Caribbean ride), Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost (formerly Explorers Club Restaurant), Agrabah Café (opened in 1999 in place of the covered Eastern market) and Hakuna Matata, inspired by The Lion King.

The main shops are Les Trésors de Schéhérazade, La Girafe Curieuse, Le Coffre du Capitaine and Indiana Jones Adventure Outpost.

Several design details are worth spotting: a gold chandelier given by King Hassan II of Morocco hangs in the entrance passage, a golden egg referring to the Roc bird from Sinbad’s adventures tops the east tower, the initials WDI (Walt Disney Imagineering) are carved into the mosaic archway and the Indiana Jones temple draws on the Pallava architecture of southern India.

The land is a journey of exploration through the wild and exotic corners of the world. You pass through several smaller worlds: the pirate Caribbean and its taverns, the African jungle where the Robinson family was shipwrecked, the Eastern desert of Agrabah and the archaeological temple where Indiana Jones hunts for his relics.

The common thread is a nineteenth-century explorer’s great travel journal: each corner of the land tells the story of a different expedition, and anyone who ventures in discovers a consistent world of waterfalls, rope bridges and ruins.

The land in numbers, pulled together from across the site for a super quick visual summary.

The land opened with the park on 12 April 1992, with Pirates of the Caribbean, La Cabane des Robinson, Adventure Isle, Pirate Galleon and Le Passage Enchanté d’Aladdin (the last one opened in 1993).

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril was added on 30 July 1993 to ease the queues at Big Thunder Mountain. Pirates’ Beach was created in 1999. The land has stayed fairly stable since, with no major makeover.

Want to know more? Read all the secrets and fun facts about Adventureland

The land is inspired by Adventureland at Disneyland in Anaheim (1955) and the one at Magic Kingdom in Orlando (1971). The Paris version stands out for its Adventure Isle, which you can explore on foot, and its Pirates of the Caribbean (the longest version in the world), both only found at Disneyland Paris.