Trip Report Disneyland Paris : A weekend full of upgrades!

Hello everybody!

I just got back from a weekend full of Disneyland Paris magic. Apologies for posting this DLRP Trip here but the Disneyland Paris section on this forum is kinda... slow. As the majority of you famous Trip reporters are frequent WDW visitors, an insight of another Disney Theme park is sometimes also refreshing ( I know how much I like reading all your TR's).

So, who/what/when/why/etc...

My name is Laurence, 27 yo, a senior auditor at EY Brussels who basically refuses to grow up.. Kind of a problem when auditing Banks and Insurance companies:D. I'm an annual passholder at Disneyland Paris and luckily only need to drive a short 3 hours to Disneyland Paris:inlove: ( THANK GOD)!

What? I'm going to state the obvious but.. YES WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYLAND PARIS!! I've been counting down ever since I was there on the 30th of December. Dreading the days in between, we finally decided to go during the weekend of 4-5 February ( instead of the 21-22 January).

Who? Let me introduce the party of five that joined me on this trip. First person I should mention is my father who bankrolled this trip and got soo much done during those 2 days that he is semi-responsible for creating this magical weekend. Other people joining me were : Kristel ( girlfriend of my father); Alix ( my sister); Gaëtan ( my little brother) and Jef ( my sister's boyfriend).

Why? Just because we wanted to go and explore some magic with the Family ( and because secretly my birthday is coming up on the 15th of February).

NOW : Enough with the introductions and long long sentences.. We are off to Disneyland Paris !:inlove::inlove:
DSC01736.JPG

** Picture taken from a solo trip I did back in September.
 

Laurenciaa

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Friday the 3th of February
As I really went though a hell week at work ( working from 7AM to 1AM in the morning), I decided to stop working on Friday at 3PM and allowing myself to rest a bit before the whole crew came to Brussels. After a short nap ( okayy a 2 hour nap:brb:), I went to get some food for tomorrow in the car ( you know we all get sometimes a bit hungry....:rolleyes:). After all the groceries were stored, the bell rang and my father, his girlfriend and my little brother arrived ! FINALLLY! Alix and her boyfriend were also on the way.

Once all at the appartment ( that i share with my sister), we opened a bottle of champagne and pre-celebrated our weekend plans. You'll see later on this TR that we are pretty much fans of food and wine and all other things that do no good to our profile:joyfull::joyfull:!

After the pre-celebrations we went to a small restaurant and ordered a quick meal. We were all kinda tired and we needed to sleep in early as we wanted to leave the apartment at 6.30 AM at the latest. So off we go, all into our little beds. Sleep tight. so I thought. I shared my double bed with my little brother but he is a pro in kicking out other from the bed. Mid-night I decided to go to the living room and sleep the rest of the night on the sofa. So far not the optimal conditions to prep yourself on a good night of beauty sleep. ZzzzzZZZzz

Saturday the 4th of February

As I pre-set the alarm for 5.15 AM, I was already up and walking around the condo around 4.45 AM. Adrenaline EVERYWHEREEE. DISNEY MADDNESSSSS present! And I know I was not alone as my father also woke up 25 minutes before his alarm. He doesn't want to admit it but he likes Disneyland Paris as much as I do:happy:!

The other members of the family also woke up and we started prepping our liitle breakfast/lunch boxes. Ham/Cheese/Salami/... all were there present for our lunchboxes:p. At 6.45AM we were ready to go ! Navigation set on Disneyland Paris and off we were!

At 10 AM we finally arrived at the Disneyland Hotel. OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG WE'RE HEEREEE!!!
DSC00385.jpg

I took this picture the morning after when not many people ( read : no one) was in the lobby. The following pictures shows quite good how crowded it was upon our arrival
IMG_2616.JPG

How many people are staying at the Disney land Hotel???? As my father and myself waited in line I snapped some pictures around me
IMG_2617.JPG

IMG_2618.JPG


I will look for another picture in front of the stairs but for all of you who visited the Grand Floridian, the concept of the hotel is much more the same. After a solid 45 minute wait ( No faspasses for this one... GRR), a very friendly man, Jean-Louis ( I will shorten his name to JL for efficiency purposes), waved at us to process our reservation at the hotel. When my dad handed over the reservations he questions JL, he requested if we could have two rooms one next to another. He apologized that this was not possible for the normal rooms but he could look into the Castle Club section of the hotel is there was still some availability.

Hearing the word Castle Club, I almost started tearing up. The Castle club is the "crème de la crème" but unfortunately very very very expensive even in low season. We used to go to the Castle club with my mom and dad when we were little but the prices have been very high ever since. JL came back to us and made us an offer we could not refuse. For a small top up for the two rooms we would be able to enjoy a fastpass with unlimited use, free high tea at the Castle club lounge and a relaxed area with character breakfast on Sunday. not to forget that we got our rooms next to each other with a private entrance... God damn it we were lucky! My father thanked JL ( the stars and the moon) for the generous offer and our reservations were upgraded. Another perk in staying at the Castle Club is that there is a special elevator that gives you immediate access to the park. You nearly get out of the elevator in front of the access posts of the Disney land park.

Hereunder a couple of pictures of our room.. I am sorry but I forgot to take a picture from our full room but I added a picture from our last stay when we had a room at the Disney land hotel ( no Castle club)
IMG_2691.JPG

IMG_2620.JPG
IMG_2622.JPG
IMG_2624.JPG

You can see that the bedpost from the Castle club has a "chateau" painted on it. The "normal" rooms don't
DSC00389.jpg


Besides the VIP fastpass and the Access cards ( no Magic bands yet^^); we also received a credit card from the Hotel.. prettyyyy useful for the shopping :p ( and the card was linked to my fathers Visa... oups):rolleyes::rolleyes:
IMG_2619.JPG

Coming up : Disney land Park !
 

Laurenciaa

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday February 3th

After a short tour around the Castle Club level ( and a trip down to memory lane for my father, my sister and myself), we changed into some comfortable clothing to get down to the Disneyland park. The weather conditions were not good ( and its visible when you look at the state of my hair :mad::mad:)...but that was not stopping me from smiling though the drops of rain and the massive crowds... WHY ARE YOU ALL HERE?
IMG_2625.JPG


You can clearly see that my father was appreciating the view from the backside of the Castle. Jef also liked it and Alix looks like she's seen a ghost with a bad hairday ( no no she's NOT looking at mee:joyfull::joyfull:).

Backside of the Hotel:
IMG_2627.JPG

Pretty sure the guy in the picture did not give his approval for appearing in my TR.. sorry dude but we are really NOT looking at you but at the hotel. You can see three rows of windows. The first two rows are from the "Inventions" Restaurant and the third row is probably one the the suites at the Castle club...only for the rich and famous...:depressed:...

So moving on onto Main street, we take a left though the Arcade.. We particularly try to avoid crowds when navigating through the different parts of the disneyland Park.. Yes there is a shortcut between Frontierland and Mainstreet..:geek:
DSC00404.jpg


First attraction of the day ( and this will always be the same ) : Haunted Mansion!!
DSC00409.jpg

While waiting in line... What to do? You snap some pictures..!
Hello oddly shaped looking fountain
IMG_2629.JPG


And hello Molly Brown!
IMG_2632.JPG


As we prepared to enter the attraction, I tried to snap a picture of the decorations inside the Haunted Mansion..My effort should be quoted a -2/10.:cautious::cautious:
IMG_2634.JPG


What you can see is that's is dark, dusty and.. waiting for our company... bouuuhhhhhh :p

So, first attraction is DONE!
 

amjt660

Premium Member
Hi Laurenciaa
I am soooo glad that you decided to write a trip report AND that you put it in this forum
I almost (not really) feel bad for guilting you into writing it....... ok I dont feel bad

and of course I am following along.... DL Hotel - very cool - I stayed at the Sequoia back in 2011

Looking forward to the rest of the report!

Max
 

Laurenciaa

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Bon back to business! Just finished some audit sections and now it is back on track with the TR.. Where were we? Ah yes The haunted Mansion.

I must say I really like this attraction. I often go by myself a second time at night just to enjoy the more spookier surroundings.

Next up was the Big thunder Mountain! Until this day the favorite attraction of mine in the Disneyland Park. And it even gets better when you ride it during nighttime. The attraction was closed for a major refurb for more than.. 4 months ( If there is another DLRP-goer, please correct me if I'm wrong)!.. The attraction still smells like new. You can really smell the new rubber on the minetrains at the end of the ride when we go down the last hill at quite a speed.. I JUST LOVE IT !

On our way to the Big Thunder mountain :
IMG_2635.JPG

It was a pretty crowed day that Saturday! Luckily we could take the advantage of the VIP Fastpass at any time. Please also note that unlike many of your TR in WDW, it most of the time is bad weather in France :D ! Not the summer time Florida Conditions!
IMG_2636.JPG

Hello there Raincoats from Disney ! I saw in a shop that they sell them for 8 euro a piece.. They better be from a good quality to charge you 8 Euros for a plastic cover-up!

As you can see this restroom area is not as pretty as the ones in WDW... BUT I must say that I entered a refurbed restroom near the Indiana Jones and those were fantastically re-done!
IMG_2639.JPG

You can see in the back of the picture that there was quite a line waiting for the Fastpass entrance. They were waiting for the new time slot to open.. We passed them by and entered the Fastpass Queue.I think we still had to wait a solid 25 minutes before it was our Turn.
IMG_2638.JPG


I snapped some pictures in the waiting line of the surrounding of BTM:
IMG_2644.JPG
IMG_2647.JPG
IMG_2648.JPG

At that point is was our turn to FINALLY board on the Big Thunder mountain. No pictures on-ride due to the bad weather but you can see on the picture below that I was ecstatic during the ride.
IMG_2649.JPG


My father and my little brother also gave the seal of approval ! Thumbs up Disneyland Paris for this Refurb!

After a short but Wild ride through the west, we re-directed ourselves to Indiana Jones.
IMG_2650.JPG
IMG_2651.JPG


As this ride is quite short ( don't think it lasts a full two minutes), the bruising on my arm is quite extensive. I really don't know what I did on that ride but it left me 2 bruises afterwards. Maybe after all I'm not made to go treasure hunting in the "Temple du Péril".:facepalm::facepalm:
 

Laurenciaa

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
When we went off the ride we started wandering around in Adventureland. As you might have read of heard, The Pirates of The Caribbean is undergoing a refurb to look a bit more like the WDW/DL version. Personally I think it's a shame buutttt I don't wanna step on any of your toes who are a fan of the WDW version of the POTC. I inserted a picture from my December trip just to give you an idea on how the inside looks like :
16593772_10155007568229268_765706747_o.jpg

16650976_10155007568234268_1410219658_o.jpg
16593746_10155007568214268_335410492_o.jpg


No Pirates this year BUT we'll be back probably somewhere again in 2018 to go and see the refurb.

Hello its's us taking a selfie in Adventureland!
IMG_2655.JPG


After visiting "La Cabane de Robinson" and passing through/by/around the Skull, we wandered back to Phantansyland to ride Peter Pan !
Weekend queues for this attraction can go up to a solid 75 minutes for a ride of merely 2 minutes. I think they already slowed the ride down which is nice. You really get to see the "London" Deco pretty well. I rode Peter Pan twice that day just because of the particular music on this ride. My apologies for the crappy pictures:geek::geek:
IMG_2656.JPG
IMG_2661.JPG


Coming Up : Mad Hatter's Tea Cups and a short stop at the hotel.
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
@Laurenciaa ,

Enjoying your report! Maybe someday I'll make it to Disneyland Paris.

Regarding the reburb to make Paris Pirates more like WDW's, from what I understand about the excellent version there - it should be the other way around!

Looking forward to more!
 

Laurenciaa

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hello Everybody, hopefully you are all having a good morning/lunch/afternoon/evening. It's almost Friday which means almost weekend!

A small recap from posts :Check-in, done, HM, done, BTM:inlove::inlove::inlove:, done! Indiana : done including some bruises.

Now after been spun around vertically in the Indiana Jones, why not spun ourselves around in a horizontal way?

Bonjour Mad Hatter! Comment allez-vous?!
IMG_2662.JPG
IMG_2663.JPG


Can you also spot in the back te "Meet Mickey Mouse" House? 90 minute wait to see the star of the show. I, however ( don't wanna get anybody jealous), had the privilege to see him tonight and the day afterwards sitting next to me at the breakfast table... buuttt thats for later in the TR ( sorry I suck in Cliffhangers, to eager to tell it all:angelic::angelic: !)
IMG_2664.JPG


Hello, Its us again!
IMG_0341.JPG
IMG_2668.JPG


I was a bit opposed to entering Mad Hatter's as I am not a fan of horizontal spinning. That's why I am not going onto the Crush Coaster in DLP. I Don't know if there is anything alike in the other parks but I was quite sick afterwards... oepsie..:depressed::depressed:

My pictures tell me that after the Mad Hatter's, we brought a visit to Buzz Ligtyear Laser Blast! I sat with my Dad and he literally killed my buzz in having a high score... Laurence (me) : 64300.... Father: Way over 130000....SO much for letting me win! Thanks Daddy!
IMG_2673.JPG


In between we also spotted Anna & Elsa. Btw you won't see any parade pictures. We are more into the thrill/slow rides and walking around and enjoying the scenery than looking at the Day parade. Chances are likely you feel offended.. Apologies..:happy::happy:!
IMG_2672.JPG


Maybe you've already noticed but no food pictures. I was so famished each time that I forgot to take pictures and.. Taking a picture of a half eaten Chicken Burger is not a pretty sight...

We left our two Frozen movie stars behind and walked over to the Disney Studios Park. Like every year we only do one or two attractions in the Studios on the first day. This time it was only one ( due to the drizzling rain) but it was THE attraction that none of my family did before. Ratatouille !! Oh when I think about the movie, the music, Little Chef.. ahhhhh Such a superb movie !

We, yet again, showed our Fastpasses and off we were. Now I think Ratatouille is a unique attraction as I haven't seen it pop up in none of your TR's. It's a attraction with 3D-glasses. Lol I wanna say soo much more about it but I fear that if someone ever comes to DLP, I would have ruined the imagination if it. BUT ! Everybody was pleasantly surprised in how pretty the attraction was and how well it was done (voilà thats all you get as a cliffhanger :joyfull::joyfull:)

IMG_2675.JPG


The theming in this area is soo well done. You really are transported back to the movie and the streets of Paris ( including the little chef's in the sewerages :p)
We did not eat in the Bistro but my father made a point of it that we should do that the next time! Table service restaurant during the day? I don't mind attt alll!


IMG_2676.JPG


After Ratatouille, we decided to go back to the hotel to enjoy our High Tea moment.
En route vers l'hotel ! Sorry speaking a bit a french, just spent a whole day on a french speaking client... mais oui!
IMG_0358.JPG


You can see our room on this picture :D I just realized that! Later a picture from our view will follow.

So still being on time for our high tea, we went up to the Castle club to enjoy our beverages and some delicious made salmon sandwiches.
Pictures on the next post!
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom