Walking down a promenade lined with old-fashioned street lamps and trees; a magnificent, teal-coloured ice castle looms in the distance, nestled atop a 36-metre-high snowy mountain.

At the base of the North Mountain (as it’s called in the film), you can make out the distinctive wooden buildings of Arendelle – the fictional Scandinavian home of Frozen’s beloved characters, Anna and Elsa.

We’re at Disney Adventure World in Paris (part of Disneyland), where the newest attraction World of Frozen opened to the public on 29 March.

As my children – aged four and two – clock the view on the horizon, there are loud squeals and they break into a sprint towards the place they have only ever seen on-screen. It’s a 10-minute walk for little legs, but they make short work of it. Cue the cries of: “This is the BEST day ever!!”

Arendelle itself is beautiful – the cobbled streets are home to a snowflake-adorned water fountain, stunning shops and even a restaurant, The Nordic Crowns Tavern, where you can expect to find dishes containing turkey meatballs, salmon steaks, potatoes and veggies.

The traditional wooden buildings, all in varying colours, shapes and sizes, look like they’ve been sat there for centuries. Characters like Oaken (yoohoo!) and a puppet troll called Mossie wander around, striking up conversation with passersby.

There are two stores (complete with Rúna, an adorable interactive troll only available in Arendelle), a meet and greet opportunity with Anna and Elsa, and the icing on the cake, the Frozen Ever After ride.

This is, in my opinion, one of the key reasons you should make the effort to come to World Of Frozen. It’s a water ride suited to all ages, but not without a bit of thrill – you board a boat and become immersed in visual story-telling and song, complete with real-life animatronic characters (my kids genuinely think Olaf, Elsa, Anna and co are there performing to them).

At one point, you come across Marshmallow (Elsa’s slightly terrifying snow monster creation), who booms at you as you drop down a pretty steep waterfall with an almighty splash. Both kids are briefly scared (as captured on the drop-cam), but smile and laugh about it afterwards. My four-year-old ends up going on again later, and loves it even more.

The gift shop afterwards proves to be an emotionally intense experience (both kids want everything, the merch offering is 10/10), but we manage to leave relatively unscathed. (The tears quickly subside on seeing Mossie mooching about outside.)

As Arendelle is sat on the shores of a lake, there’s also the opportunity to watch a celebratory show featuring Frozen characters (Elsa, Anna, Olaf and Kristoff etc) performing new songs, from the creators of the hit classic Let It Go, on barges.

As part of the new opening, we also hop aboard the new Rapunzel ride (the teacups, but in Tangled-themed boats), which both kids are obsessed with.

We also visit The Regal View restaurant where we meet four Disney princesses – Mulan, Jasmine, Merida and Ariel – who spend time chatting with the children throughout the three-course meal, posing for photos, cuddling and signing their names in my eldest’s notebook.

Each meal is inspired by a Disney princess and we have a fun time guessing as each dish is brought out with a clue. The food is certainly refined (a treat for us grown-ups, mostly rejected by our two-year-old, although she does enjoy the bread), but the opportunity to meet princesses IRL more than makes up for it. (Special mention to Merida, who takes the time to personally escort our four-year-old out of the restaurant by skipping with her hand-in-hand – and in doing so, makes her week, if not year.) A side note: you need to book so if you do plan to visit, get this sorted asap.

Since returning home, I asked my children to share their reviews of the experience, in case I’d missed anything. Here’s what they had to say:

R, four: “I loved it, the boat ride was the best because I got to see Elsa and Anna – they singed to me. The drop hurt my tummy a bit because it was fast. I liked the Rapunzel ride because it had a steering wheel what had a sun on. I loved seeing Merida, Jasmine, Ariel and Mulan – they wrote their names in my book.”

W, two: “I liked Anna and Elsa. I liked castle. Went on ride.”

While the attraction is called World of Frozen, Arendelle is quite small in size, so it doesn’t require a huge amount of time to visit – we spent a couple of hours there and were ready to move on.

It feels like there’s certainly scope to expand this world. I’d love to see more immersive rides included in this area over time (even if it’s just putting pedalos on the vast lake!).

While I wouldn’t book a trip just for World of Frozen alone, the rest of Disney Adventure World, encompassing an impressive Marvel Avengers Campus and Worlds of Pixar section (think: Toy Story, Cars and Nemo-inspired attractions) will easily fill the rest of your day. And if you’re visiting this world, you absolutely have to make time to visit the Disneyland Park, too.

It can be exhausting travelling with two young kids, but the magic of Disney is encapsulated in this newest instalment. Being able to experience it through the eyes of my (very excited) young children will be something I cherish forever.

Natasha visited Disney Adventure World on a press trip with Disneyland Paris.