On our last trip to Paris, we thought it would be fun to check out the world famous Moulin Rouge for a date night. Watching a stage full of love ladies performing cute can can dances sounded like a nice night out.
When booking you are given a few options, including whether or not you want to have dinner and/or champagne at your table. Since my wife is a vegan, we generally don’t do a lot of dining out restaurants that don’t offer substantial options for her. That said, we also didn’t think we needed a full bottle of champagne for show, so we figured we’d just buy a couple of drinks while we were there.
The venue is directly accessible via the Paris metro, so getting there from anywhere in Paris is a breeze. They run several shows a day, allowing just enough time to clear out the previous show before bringing in the next group. You’ll likely need to queue up for a bit before eventually being let in. Once inside, you’ll queue up again, but at least you can start to absorb the ambience. They have a coatcheck on the right and a gift shop on the left. Don’t worry, you’ll have a chance at the end to hit the gift shop.
Unfortunately, the venue doesn’t allow photos inside, so we can’t show pictures of the performance. Sadly, that’s where the disappointment started. Once seated, we never saw another server again – there was literally no chance to even buy a drink once inside. It seems like they were only there to deliver preordered drinks and that’s it. We couldn’t even get someone’s attention. Add to that the fact that the seating is quite tight and it’s a bit of a bummer.
While there were some highlights in the show and some really unexpected performances (think Cirque du Soleil), overall the show felt outdated and a bit cheesy. Two ladies dressed as clowns pretending to be stuck together in a sort of drunken stumbling performance was probably the highlight of the evening, along with the one instance of can can style dancing. Otherwise, it was basically a mash up of Chippendales and a Vegas showgirl show. My wife frustratingly said “it’s not at all like the movie”, so if that’s what you’re expecting, you might opt to skip it. With the notoriety and long history, frankly we expected more.
Upon leaving you will realize that the venue is also poorly planned. The exiting crowd is forced to clash with the incoming crowd, because the incoming line is right in front of the restrooms and coat check. Interestingly, the men’s restroom has a waterfall feature built into that wall, which I had never seen before, so at least that was interesting.
The gift shop was small and I guess depends on your taste. There were definitely some cute items, but others that were corny. None motivated us enough to buy them, especially after the somewhat disappointing show. Frankly, the shows at Paris Disneyland are better.