Our review of the delightful new Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure ride and France Pavilion expansion at Epcot
Just in time for the Epcot Food & Wine Festival and Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary Celebration, the gates to the France Pavilion expansion in Epcot have finally opened! While this little corner blends right in with the rest of the pavilion’s Parisian design, we have been excited for the two new Ratatouille-themed attractions to open including Remy’s Rataouille Adventure ride!
This new area officially opens to the general public on October 1, 2021 (the first day of Disney World’s 50th Anniversary Celebration), but Cast Members and Annual Passholders were given access a special “squeak peek” at the new “Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure” ride and “La Crêperie de Paris” restaurant.
I had the chance to experience both attractions last weekend, so here’s what I thought of the ride, the quick-service side of the restaurant, and the “Parisian” fashion inspired by them both!
What to wear – styles for all ages inspired by Ratatouille
Ready to hop on a plane (or Skyliner cab) to Paris, Epcot? Make sure you dress the part – there are so many cute photo opportunities in this new area that you’ll want to make sure you look ready to hit the Parisian streets! We saw plenty of adorable costumes on the under-12s last weekend and plenty of families rocking Ratatouille shirts posing on Linguini’s Vespa scooter or in front of the grand fountain!
Here’s a few ideas for outfits you can put together cheaply before you go (and also see our merch roundup at the end of this article)!
Chef Linguini Costume for Littles
Yes, you can buy versions all of these items in the new Ratatouille area, but if your little humans like Ratatouille why not save money (and tears) by costuming them ahead of time? Plus this look can double as a Halloween or Boo Bash costume and has removable layers if it’s a hot day!
Ratatouille Light Up Chef’s Hat
Garlic Garland Necklace
Ratatouille Chef Remy Magnetic Shoulder Stuffed Plush
French Casual Chic (Remy Style)
I’ve been trying to dress like a “cool French girl” for decades now, and if there’s anywhere that aesthetic is appropriate it’s the French pavilion! Grab a glass of “Frosé (Frozen Rosé slushy)” from the booth near the pavilion’s entrance to perfectly complement your cool-girl style!
Ratatouille Chef Remy Watercolor T-Shirt
Soojun Linen Blend Maxi Skirt
Anton Ego Disney Bound
Once October 1st hits, it’s officially sweater weather (even for me, a Floridian)! For a deep cut homage to the film Ratatouille, why not DisneyBound as “antagonist” Anton Ego? You can probably put together most of his look using items you already have in your closet. Carry around a glass of red wine and look disdainfully at any rats you see to really sell this look!
Ratatouille Chef Remy Watercolor T-Shirt
Skeleteen Old Man Costume Glasses
Simplicity Men/Women Cable Knit Scarf
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure: the Ride (no spoilers!)
The crown jewel of the expanded France Pavilion is definitely the new trackless 3D ride, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure! As soon as my group scanned into the Annual Passholder Preview, we made a beeline for this ride’s queue.
An important thing to know: this ride is currently very, very temperamental (i.e. it breaks down quite often. It is still in previews, though). When the ride is up and running, the line goes very quickly; we only waited for 5 minutes the first time through! But when it breaks down and they have to let riders re-board (more about that later) the wait time jumps up over 45 minutes despite having the same number of people in line.
The queue for Remy’s is, frankly, adorable. Approximately the first half of the wait is outdoors in the heat, but it has lovely views of the “Eiffel Tower,” Remy’s fountain, and the bustling plaza. Once inside, there are dozens of little details to look at, from the Remy pattern in the wallpaper to oversized replicas of Parisian rooftops. Chef Gusteau even chats with you at one point!
Another thing I was impressed by was the ride vehicle! We were in a party of 6, with three children and three adults. The cars seat six, and before we loaded I was thinking “no way are we going to fit three normal-sized humans into one of these rows.” BUT the benches in the car actually have individual seats that are quite wide, and we had no problem fitting.
The ride itself is adorable! I won’t spoil it for you, other than to say that it is cute, appropriate for all ages, and incorporates both real-world sets of larger-than-life scenes, 3D video, and your senses of smell and touch!
It is, however, prone to breakdowns! We got stuck in the final scene of the ride (right before disembarking) for almost 25 minutes. It was air-conditioned and comfortable, but our littlest got pretty ansty after a while.
After we finally started moving again, the cast members at the exit of the ride led us to the empty single-riders line and allowed us to walk right past the entire (very long) queue of people to re-board the ride immediately! This was so sweet of them and made our kids very happy.
Unfortunately, since this ride incorporates a lot of spinning and fast movement while wearing 3D goggles, riding it twice in a row was a terrible idea for the adults in our group, who all suffered from various degrees of motion sickness after the second ride. I was honestly surprised that there weren’t more warning signs in the queue for people who are prone to motion sickness, since we’ve heard so many reports of it even from people who only rode once. Definitely keep this in mind if you find rides like Flight of Passage or Toy Story Midway Mania make you nauseous.
Remy’s Restaurant: La Crêperie de Paris
This was by far the biggest disappointment of our experience – they just haven’t had the chance to work the kinks out of this new restaurant yet! We’re hopeful that the experience will run more smoothly once this area officially opens on October 1st.
La Crêperie de Paris has two sides: a quick-service window and a table-service restaurant. The signage in this crowded area was almost non-existent, but we eventually found the long line to check in with the hostess of the table-service restaurant. We were eventually informed that the wait time for a table was approximately one and a half hours, since there were only four servers working at that time.
We thought that staffing issues were a bit unusual considering that Disney would be well aware of the demand for a brand new restaurant! But our kids were definitely not willing to wait that long to eat, so we headed over to the quick-service line.
We had about 20 minutes in line to peruse the menu and let the kiddos get their hearts set on ice cream crepes. Unfortunately when we got to the window they were entirely out of ice cream (this was at 12:30pm, about 1.5 hours into the restaurant’s day). Instead we convinced them to wait for ice cream at the normal shop in France and ordered a Bechamel, Cheese & Ham Galette, a Butter and Sugar Crepe, and a lemonade.
The crepes were… perfectly average. They were large and filling, but the savory crepe was lukewarm and the only review we could muster was “meh.” The lemonade was completely undrinkable and reconstituted from powder. I hope that the table-service restaurant gets its staffing issues figured out soon, since the Cast Member costumes are adorable and the menu looks delicious.
Our recommendation: wait a few months for them to get the kinks worked out before trying these dining offerings.
Souvenirs and Keepsakes
It was hard to miss the Ratatouille merch in both this new area and around the parks. We saw hundreds of people walking around with a Remy shoulder-sitting plush, plenty of guests wearing the new ears, and even a handful of guys sporting the $35 light-up chef’s hat.
Here’s what they had on sale at the outdoor vending cart inside the expansion… our favorite thing was the adorable kids hoodie with mouse ears on the hood!
Other than these offerings, though, the new land was sparse on non-wearable souvenirs. Here are our picks for keepsakes you can have shipped right to your home – skip the hassle of packing and the Disney Parks prices!
Taste Of France Red Wine Gift Box
Ratatouille 4K UHD Blu-Ray
And be sure to check out the rest of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival while you’re there! We have a roundup of highlights and fashion features on the festival here:
Have you gotten to experience Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and the rest of this new area yet? What are you most excited about? Let me know in the comments below, or on our Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram pages!
Pixie dust and glamour!
The Fancy Floridian 
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