A Disneyland Paris Trip Report

MichWolv

Born Modest. Wore Off.
Premium Member
Original Poster
I usually do not write trip reports for posting on wdwmagic.com, largely because we have so many visitors to WDW and, to a lesser extent, DLR, that I rarely believe I have anything new to say in a trip report. But we don't have a lot of Disneyland Paris details here at wdwmagic, so I thought I'd post some of the details and pics from my trip a couple of weeks ago. I'll drop on in some thoughts on DLRP from the perspective of an American who, like most of you, visits WDW regularly.

Travelling were me (Scott) and my wife (Lynn), both around 40, and our 7 year old son, Aaron. I've been to WDW over 30 times, my wife at least a dozen, and Aaron 5 times. We've each been to DLR-Anaheim multiple times as well. I had been to Disneyland Paris a while ago for a quick trip, and neither my wife or son had been there at all.

We traveled to DLRP by Eurostar from London, where we spent several days on either side of our trip to DLRP. The train trip direct to DLRP took about 2 1/2 hours. The Eurostar was as pleasant a trip as could be. Check-in at St. Pancras International was easy, the train ride was comfortable and smooth. The US could learn a lot. Because this trip was direct to Disneyland Paris (one trip like that a day), there were lots of families on the way to DLRP. Disney representatives were on baord for those that had booked packages, passing out information, including luggage tags for the free transfer service. Nice touch.

We arrived about 1:30 pm on Monday, July 5. The Eurostar stop is within 100 yards (or as they say in Europe, meters) from the gates to the parks and the entrance to the Disney Village. Other trains, including the RER subway-like trains from Paris, also stop here. It is incredibly convenient.

We could have gone directly to the parks with no need for transfer, had we wanted to stow our luggage. There are three ways to stow luggage upon arrival, if desired. First, if you booked a package through DLRP, you can check in at the train station and they'll deliver the luggage to your room. We did not book a package and so could not do this. However, the train station has a luggage locker facility where you can store luggage for up to 72 hours for a flat fee depending upon locker size. Also, both parks have luggage storage at Guest Relations. If you have only one bag to store, Guest Relations is probably cheaper. More than one, and the locker at the station will be cheaper. We did neither of those on arrival, preferring instead to freshen up in the hotel.

We stayed at the Dreamcastle Hotel, one of the "Partner" hotels located very close to DLRP, but not operated by Disney. I would say they are approximately the equivalent of the hotels along Hotel Plaza Drive in the DtD area. We chose the Dreamcastle basically because they had a room with a King size bed and a set of bunk beds for a reasonable rate. To get a guarantee of a King bed at a Disney-owned resort would have been far more expensive. Further, the cheaper Disney-owned resorts do not have air conditioning in the rooms, which is a must for me in the summer.

Buses to the partner hotels arrive at a very Disney-looking bus transfer terminal just oustide the train station. This is also the stop for the parks and the village, given how close they are. On arrival, we waited approximately 30 seconds for a bus, which we came to realize, is about the average wait. The service was incredibly efficient. Even with all our luggage, we hopped right on the bus for the short ride to our hotel. The bus to the Dreamcastle serves 3 other hotels as well, all of which are located side by side around a lake/pond just outside of the circular road that roughly defines the borders of DLRP.

Upon arrival at the hotel, we ran into one of only glitches in the trip. It was about 2 pm. Check-in is listed as being 3 pm. The hotel made clear that they would NOT be allowing us into a room until 3, and would not even check to see if one was available. Although there is certainly nothing requiring them to let us into a room before 3, I have never before been told essentially that I could not get into a room before check-in time even if one was available. And clearly, rooms were ready at 2, since they handed out keys to a dozen families right at 3.

This wasn't a real problem, as there was a play area to keep my son occupied in the lobby, and we took a walk around the pretty, but not extensive, grounds of the hotel. The theme of the Dreamcastle, which is not layered on extensively, is Arthurian legend, complete with the requisite sword in the stone, which Aaron was not able to extract.
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At 3, we got our room, which was basic, but fine for our purposes. King size bed, and a set of twin bunks. Closet, television, desk and chair, and a hotel-sized bathroom. Not spacious, but functional. You aren't here for the hotel room, but it'll serve it's purpose as a comfortable place to sleep. The bed, as it turned out, was extremely comfortable, and Aaron rated the top bunk as fun. There was a curtain to pull across the bunks, so we could keep some light on over the bed without disturbing him.

In the next posts, I'll cover the time at the parks, but I'll make a few other, non-chronological hotel-related points here.

First, all of the hotels around DLRP have breakfast included. The breakfast at the Dreamcastle was a buffet, and was both extensive in selection and good in quality. Eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, pastries, breads, fruit, yogurt, cereal, juices, coffee, tea, etc. It was a very good way to start each morning, and was run efficiently. Despite the expected crush of people trying to get to the parks around opening time, there was no problem seating us and no delay.

Next, as I noted earlier, the bus service worked incredibly efficiently for us. Once we waited 5 minutes for a bus from the hotel to the parks. Every other transfer involved essentially no waiting at all. WDW could learn something.

Facilities at the Dreamcastle and the other hotels around the same lake were comparable. Each hotel seemed to have a restaurant, bar, pool, store, and some arcade games, etc. All adequate, but nothing about the hotel would make me specifically want to return there.

Next posts, our three days at the parks.
 

MichWolv

Born Modest. Wore Off.
Premium Member
Original Poster
Once we checked in at the hotel, we headed to Disneyland Park (the Magic Kingdom-type park). The walk from the bus stop/train station was 5 minutes, and included the now-standard half-hearted bag check.

For those who have never been, remember that the flagship hotel, The Disneyland Hotel, is at the entrace to the park. In fact, ticketing is literally underneath the hotel. There is an extensively landscaped plaza in front of the hotel/ticketing area. It is beautifully done.
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As we didn't purchase a package, we then went to buy our park tickets, where I received the best return I was ever to get on my very poor investment in EuroDisney stock from a few years back. Members of the shareholders club get 15% off admission tickets, which save us 60 Euros total on our 3 day passes. If you are going to DLRP and own stock don't forget to join the club (needs some advanced planning). We also got 15% off our table-service and buffet meals at the parks. Indeed, if you don't currently own stock, you might do well to buy a few shares and join the club if you're planning a trip.

Upon entry that Monday afternoon, we realized that Monday at Disneyland Park is like Monday at the Magic Kingdom -- crowds as far as we could see. We made the best of it, though, since we had decided we'd just walk the park, ride whatever we could with fastpasses and short lines, and catch the parades.

First up was a curious procession down main street called the Disney All-Star express which is a little parade like train that goes up and down main street several times a day, and happened to be running right when we arrived.
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There were several train cars, featuring a mix of classic and new (Pixar) characters. While seeing Wall-E and Mickey at the same time was odd, it was refreshing to see a celebration of new and old characters together.

From the street, Main Street DLRP looks very similar to WDW's. There are classic names in the windows...
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...and even classic gags in the shops, although they aren't quite as hidden in Paris. [The sign to the right explains what a party line is/was, and tells you to pick up the phone to listen in]
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After the little parade, we were off to explore.
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We hit Snow White and It's a Small World, both of which are comparable to experiences in the US with some differences. Notably, IASW has a US area. Also, it is built in one huge room, with the scenery servicing to separate the different areas, rather than each area being in a different room. No real difference in quality, but something I noticed. And, as you can see, the IASW building is grand like the DLR version.

After grabbing Buzz fastpasses for later, we hit Captain EO.
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Now this gave us a chance to see how a truly cheap operation runs. You think TDO is bad? The park maps still had HISTA shown, and several families were suprised when Captain EO's pre-show started that they weren't there to see HISTA. They did not even reprint maps when they decided to bring EO back. Also, there were Imagination Institute icons all over, including on the carpet, walls, and this marvelously outdated topiary.
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There would be more evidence of operational savings measures as well, including unannounced (except at the attraction) early closings or late openings of attractions (railroad stations, Casey Jr. and Storybookland, all of Adventureland and Fantasyland [although this was only an hour early for fireworks, and could be excused], Mark Twain, Nautilus], running attractions at less than full capacity despite lines, etc.

The attraction, however, was running great. The floor shook, the lasers lit up, the crowd applauded. It was great to see it again. My son even got up and danced at the end. They were running as a pre-show the "making of" video that I understand is running in California, at least. It was nice. The intro to the pre-show, which was spoken in French, and shown in subtitles in Spanish, English, German, and Italian, commented on how Disney invented this 3-D technology with Kodak almost 20 years ago, and how the pre-show video we were about to see was the original video shown in Disneyland when EO first opened. I believe there are about 5 (explicit or implied) errors in that information, but that's what they said. Anyways, errors and cheapness aside, it was great to see. The crowd was not large, however, so it appears that it may not be a big draw in Paris, despite being virtually the only "new" thing in Disneyland Park.
 

MichWolv

Born Modest. Wore Off.
Premium Member
Original Poster
Dinner our first night at DLRP was at Plaza Gardens, which is their version of the Crystal Palace. Same look and feel, except that it's on the Tomorrowland side of the hub, instead of the Adventureland/Frontierland side. I'll take this opportunity to make a few comments on the food offerings at Disneyland Park. First, the variety of restaurants is truly amazing. Pretty much every land at the park has a buffet, a table-service restaurant, and a high-volume counter service restaurant, in addition to speciality counter-service and other locations as you would expect. Despite being a very busy time of year, I was able to get reservations only a few days in advance, and walk-in to some good places when plans changed. The variety and the fact that all kinds of restaurants are located all over the park is the good news.

Bad news are the prices, which were high even for somebody used to WDW standards. The Plaza Gardens and several other buffets without characters were 25 Euros adults without a drink. Table service were generally more expensive than that, and characters added about 8-10 Euros more. With my 15% Shareholders Club discount, the prices were more tolerable. A counter service "meal deal" type thing including sandwich, fries, drink and a small desset was around 12 Euros all over the park.

Back to the trip...After dinner, it was time for the "daytime" parade at 7:15 PM. A late start for sure. I imagine this is in part to allow guests visiting the Studios park to come over, as that park closes at 7 even in the summer. The parade is standard Disney daytime parade stuff. Characters "talk" in both French and English throughout the parade. We didn't have a great viewing spot, but I was able to snap a couple of decent pictures.
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Then it was time for our Buzz fastpasses. The ride is basically the DLR version, with the removable guns. Big Buzz in the queue speaks French and English, and draws on Etch alternately in both languages as well. At the end of the ride, I took part in what I had come already to realize was a normal thing at DLRP -- taking a picture of your picture.
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A strange practice, but given the frequency with which I saw it, one that Disney must be aware of and wasn't doing much to stop. There are more on-ride photos here that at other Disney parks, and I suspect they must be selling quite a few in order to justify having so many, but quite a large number of folks thought nothing of taking photos of their pics instead of buying them.

After Buzz, we skipped Space Mountain and Star Tours for line reasons, grabbed Big Thunder fastpasses and headed to PoTC. Here is where I should mention that Adventureland and Frontierland are flipped in Paris, so that Frontierland is towards the front of the park, and Adventureland in back. There is no Jungle Cruise, and the center of a huge Adventureland is Adventure Isle, a larger and Pirate themed version of Tom Sawyers Island, which is reachable by several bridges over the waterways of Adventureland, which do not support a ride. I mention this here because their PoTC is located in the back of the park, in AL, right next to Peter Pan's Flight in Fantasyland. On the other side of PoTC is one of the main bridges to Adventure Isle. The theming flows great and looks great. PoTC is basically the non-Jack Sparrow experience we know and love. They have a Blue Bayou restaurant like DLR that is visible at the beginning of the ride, and one of the Pirates is still chasing the woman, instead of the other way around. Disalogue is mainly French, with the song (Yo Ho) still in English. No movie updates here, despite Johnny Depp's popularity in France.

I mentioned above that Adventureland is huge. I should mention that it is also rather "eclectic". The Pirates area is quite large and extensive, and flows well into the Swiss Family Treehouse (pics to come in a later post). But there are also parts of Adventureland themed to Aladdin, Indiana Jones (althought poorly), and eateries themed to Lion King and Jungle Book. So those of you that don't like the carpets in WDW's Adventureland should count your blessings.

After walking Adventureland for a while, we headed for Frontierland, and Phantom Manor, their version of the Haunted Mansion. Here was one of the few language problems. The streching room doesn't work nearly as well when you don't understand the audio. But the attraction is what we've come to expect, with some better continuity. The bride is here, and there are repeated appearances of sort of a "Lead Phantom" who is quite eerie-looking. Very well done.

Our last ride of the night was Big Thunder, a true highlight of this park. The main portion of the ride is actually in the center of the Rivers of America. You load on the bank, and then go through a tunnel, coming up on the island. The ride is more extensive, and the visuals, both on the ride and looking across the river at it, are amazing. This attraction is head and shoulders better at DLRP then at DLR or WDW. Pics don't do it justice, but here's a couple anyways.
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ClemsonTigger

Naturally Grumpy
Thanks for sharing your experience. Interesting to compare your observations to my thoughts from my visits there. Think we're pretty much in alignment so far.
 

harveyt0206

Well-Known Member
Thanks so much for posting. Looking forward to the additional pictures. One question for you: Did you plan the trip yourself or did you use a travel agency? I would worry that I was "missing" something since I'm not an experienced foreign country traveler.
 
Thanks for sharing the info! I've been thinking about going, and my question for you, do you have the link or can tell me how to apply for the shareholder discount? I own stock in Disney.
 

ClemsonTigger

Naturally Grumpy
Thanks so much for posting. Looking forward to the additional pictures. One question for you: Did you plan the trip yourself or did you use a travel agency? I would worry that I was "missing" something since I'm not an experienced foreign country traveler.

It is pretty easy to plan this yourself. DLP is much simpler than WDW or even DL. Basically you choose your hotel, either on property or in the nearby town. (You can walk to the park from all Disney hotels, short bus ride from partner hotels). You can arrive by train or one of the regular bus services that run from CDG airport. There are only three areas of interest, DLP (Magic Kingdom), Studios (right across a courtyard) and a small area also on the courtyard that is a mini DTD. Park layout and event times are published or available from CM's or Guest services as in the US parks.

There are some nice seasonal events that are well publicized on the website.

If you still feel you need some assistance, Kingdom Konsultants for one is a good planning resource.
 

lisak09

Well-Known Member
Great report, a nice reminder of our trip there in 2009:). We found it to be very expensive in DLRP and Paris in general.
 

MichWolv

Born Modest. Wore Off.
Premium Member
Original Poster
Thanks for sharing your experience. Interesting to compare your observations to my thoughts from my visits there. Think we're pretty much in alignment so far.

I suspect that most of us WDW freaks would have similar views of DLP.

Great report, thanks for posting!

You're welcome. Much more to come now that I've unburried myself at work.

Thanks so much for posting. Looking forward to the additional pictures. One question for you: Did you plan the trip yourself or did you use a travel agency? I would worry that I was "missing" something since I'm not an experienced foreign country traveler.

We planned it ourselves. I am a very experienced international traveler, and wasn't worried at all. If you're a little worried, DLRP has packages like WDW that include hotel and park tickets as well as airport/train transfers, etc. But it really wasn't difficult.

We booked the hotel online after doing some reasearch on the available options. As we weren't actually visiting the city of Paris this trip, that made it easier. Park tickets were just purchased at the gate after I realized the EuroDisney shareholder discount was better than anything I could find elsewhere. As we were coming form London, the train direct to DLRP was the obvious transportation choice, so I booked that on-line as well. One phone call to make Dining reservations, and we were set.

The thing that I found surprising was that I could not find the type of minutely-detailed information about DLRP online that is available at wdwmagic and elsewhere in regards to WDW and DLR. And that's why I'm being very detailed in my posts here.

Thanks for sharing the info! I've been thinking about going, and my question for you, do you have the link or can tell me how to apply for the shareholder discount? I own stock in Disney.

The stock needs to be in EuroDisney, which is a separate public-traded company in which the Walt Disney Co owns a signficant share. The link, if you do own EuroDisney shares is...http://corporate.disneylandparis.com/shareholders/shareholders-club/index.xhtml

Thanks for the info. With a party of 7 it would be worth it to buy some shares just for the discount.

If you do not qualify for other discounts, yes. If you own 5 shares or more, you can join. There is a fee for the shareholders club of 30 Euro for a two year membership if you own less than 20 shares. More than 20 shares and it's free. There are benefits other than discounts, including members only special events and Salon Mickey, which I'll mention when I get to Day 3 of my trip report, but the discounts are the biggest thing. I saved 60 Euros just on park tickets, and another 30 Euros or so on the 3 table service meals, and that was just for a party of 3. So it's well worth it for a larger party if you don't otherwise qualify for discounts.
 

MichWolv

Born Modest. Wore Off.
Premium Member
Original Poster
Picking up where I left off...

Our first night concluded with viewing of Fantillusion and the Enchanted Fireworks. Now, it is important to notes that both of these run only in the summer and around Christmas/New Years. The rest of the year, no nighttime parade, and no fireworks. Plus, the DLRP did not officially confirm them until literally 3 days before our trip. Although they finally posted July park hours in early June, showing that Disneyland Parc would be open until 11, they didn't confirm the nighttime parade and fireworks, which started running on July 3, until about June 29. I found it odd.

The hub at Disneyland Parc is huge, meaning there is a lot of room to line up for the parade. However, the lush landscaping means there are mounds of earth and bushes in certain spots that you might want to stand. However, guests at DLP are not deterred by fences and landscaping. Below is a picture of one of the plant/grass beds surrounding the hub. These people are lining up an hour before the daytime parade. During Fantillusion, every bit of space inside the fence was filled. It was odd...
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In any event, the fact that so many people were watching from flower beds made me feel not so bad putting my 7 year old on top of a garbage bin to see over the hordes of people. I posted a few pics of Fantilluision in my wdwmagic photo album, but our viewing spot wasn't great, so I won't copy them here. Suffice to say Fantillusion is a worthy Disney nighttime spectacular. There are show stops and the floats and music are great. I'm partial to MSEP, but I would not complain at all if Fantillusion came to WDW for a while.

The fireworks started about 10 minutes after Fantilluision passed the hub. Everybody watching the parade just stepped out into the hub to watch the fireworks. Because the hub is so large, it was fairly easy to get a spot where the fireworks could be viewed with the castle backdrop, so that was nice. The fireworks show itself...not so great. I joked with my wife the whole day that they didn't even try to name the fireworks show...it's just called "The Enchanted Fireworks". Turns out I had missed the point...the show was set to music from "Enchanted". A strange choice, I thought, but the music worked well for a fireworks show. And they could just focus on music from one movie because the entire show was only 6 minutes long. So, it is was a good show, but inordinately short.

Then, a zillion of my closest friends and I were ready to leave the park together. This is when I discovered a wonderful thing on Main Street. DLP's Main Street has covered arcades behind the shops/restaurants on both sides of the street. Indeed, you can walk from Frontierland to Town Square (and on the other side, almost from Tomorrowland to Town Square) completely under cover. The two arcades are themed (Liberty and Discovery) with pictures representing ideas of freedom and invention from the appropriate time period. The Liberty aracade even has a little display of the dedication of the Statue of Liberty. These arcades are actually a throwback, I believe, to the original plans for Disneyland's Main Street area, in which the cross-street was originally intended to lead to parallel streets on either side, which would have been themed as the DLP arcades are themed. Here are some pics...
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When the weather is bad, I'm sure the arcades are a great help, for those who know about them. Which brings me back to my great discovery, which is that not too many people know about the arcades. My family and I walked full speed down the arcade after the fireworks, encountering no crowds, which put us way ahead of most of the crowd heading out of the park.

As we would eventually come to expect, we waited about 1 minute to board a bus and were back in our hotel room at 11:30, even thought the fireworks had started about about 11:05. We were tired, and happily hit the sack quickly.
 

MichWolv

Born Modest. Wore Off.
Premium Member
Original Poster
Before moving on to day 2, I'll post a few thoughts about Disneyland Park in general.

First, the park is beautiful. From the entrance to the theming of the lands, to the architecture and landscaping, it's head and shoulders above the MK and Disneyland Anaheim. You can tell this one was designed all at once, and that they had space to work with.

The size is noticeable. The hub is much larger. The castle more ornate.
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Main Street seems longer (I think it is). Frontierland and Adventureland are larger in that you can walk 3/4 of the way around both of the waterways. Fanstasyland is just huge. Pathways around the park are wide. Space Mountain is in the middle Tomorrowland, and you can walk all the way around it. There are plenty of places to sit and rest around the park, and a lot of space dedicated to static exhibits, such an extensive walking tour of Legends of the Old West, and a native American teepee display.

Frontierland is themed very much like the WDW and DLR versions. It is old west all the way (except for the odd inclusion of the Pocahontas themed playgroud. The Powhatans were in Virginia, but I suspect to Europeans all "Native American" stuff looks like Old West). It is dominated by Big Thunder in the center of the Rivers of America, which is visible from everywhere in FLand. ON the far side of ROA when you enter FLand rises Phantom Manor, which overlooks ROA from a hillside.
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Adventurland is also huge, and, as I mentioned earlier, has areas themed to a variety of things. It all comes together in part because of the extremely detailed and large Swiss Family Treehouse, which dominates the land visually (attraction report later on).
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Again, it possible to walk 3/4 of the way around the waterway, and across the waterway to Adventure Isle (attraction report to follow). The Isle is complete with Skull Rock just across from the PoTC exit.
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The Pirate area is themed great. The rest of the land is somewhat oddly-eclectic, but it works, inlcuding the excellent Agrabah entrance.
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The visuals in Tomorrowland are dominated by Space Mountain, visible everywhere, and the Hyperion airship, which is attached to a restaurant/theater of the same name. The theming is less futuristic and more (in a Horizons-like manner) about what we used to think the future would be like.
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And Fantasyland is spread-out and pretty, with each attraction having its own little separate area, not crowded and unwalkable like in Anaheim, or open and airy, like at the MK pre-FLE.
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Overall, Americans would be, I think, very impressed with the look and feel of this park. The size does mean that there is more walking needed here to experience everything, but not so much that I'd call it a huge drawback.

On to day 2 (Studios and then back to Disneyland Parc) in the next post.
 

MichWolv

Born Modest. Wore Off.
Premium Member
Original Poster
Tuesday morning, following a good breakfast at the hotel and the quick bus ride, we were at Disneyland Studios Paris right at the 10am opening (yes, the parks opened at 10, not earlier. Since I'm not a morning person, I approve).

The Stdios is a much smaller park. There are less attractions, fewer restaurants (2 table service vs. 8!), and less things to see. Whereas Disneyland Parc is beautiful, ornate, and full of eye-candy, the Studios is pretty much themed the whole way through, except for the ToT area, as a studio backlot. The visuals are mostly concrete and buildings. For that reason, I have only a few pics.

The good news about the size and set-up is that you can walk the whole park in 10 minutes. The attractions are of high quality, but the visuals and atmosphere in the park are seriously lacking. The Toy Story Playland that opens soon might rectify part of this, but not much.

In any event, the entry area is where the best landscaping and eye-candy is. In fact, there are some parts of the Studio 1 building that look like DHS.
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Unforunately, that building, which has very good visuals, and which you must go through on the way in and out of the park, serves little purpose. Stores on one side, the only large counter-service restaurant on the other. So while it is nicely done, it is simply utilitarian, and since it's indoors, you don't see it from anywhere else.

We started out by checking the line for Crush's Coaster, the newest attraction, which was listed as 70 minutes already! No fastpass, so we passed for now. We grabbed ToT fastpasses, and then rode the Magic Carpets of Aladdin and the Cars Race Rally, two recently added rides in the "Toon Studios" area. The area is, in theory, where cartoons report for filming and work, so the Genie is the director on set at the Carpets, filming you and others, while the Cars Race Rally (a teacup sort of ride, but with an added movement, a la Francis's Ladybug Boogie at DCA) is supposed to be a set-up for a scene in Radiator Springs. It works OK, actually, as theme. Both rides were as you would expect. Oddly, there was a fastpass set up (not being used) at the carpets. I guess it was really popular when it opened.

Then we hit a showing of Animagique. This is sort of a live version of Mickey's Philharmagic, using blacklight pupputry like Voyage of the Little Mermaid. It is a great show. Donald uses Mickey's key and gets into the studio vault. Songs characters from Disney movies are recreated, with Donald involved in all of them. Donald and Mickey alternate speaking French and English, but the plot was still easy to follow. As I said, it is thematically the same as Philharmagic, but live. Nice theater set up as well, with tiered seating so everybody has a good view. A real gem here.

Then we hit Tower of Terror, which is pretty much exactly like the DCA version. Well done and exactly as expected. The French ride ops were actually getting into their characters, which was nice to see, even if I couldn't understand what they were saying!

We tried at this point to see "Stitch Live", the Paris version of Turtle Talk. This was the one attraction we wanted to see but wound up missing. They alternate French and English showings, and we kept getting there just after an English showing started, meaning it was 45 minutes until the next English showing.

So we grabbed lunch at the restaurant at Studio 1. Again, shocking food prices, but that's the way it goes. Surprisingly, our receipt came with a coupon good for a free bottle of soda good between 3-7 that day at any one of several counter-service locations in either park. Since they normally ding you 2.5 Euros for a bottle, that was a nice surprise. The burger and fries were adequate, but certainly nothing to remember.

On to Cinemagique, which was my favorite attraction at the Studios. This is their replacement for the Great Movie Ride, I would say, but done with film. Martin Short is transported, by movie magic, into films of various genres, all the while attempting to find a woman he meets when he first transported into the films, played by Julie Delphy. He speaks English, she speaks French, but you can keep up with the plot easily. They cycle through silent films, wild west shootouts, and a chase on the Death Star, amongst other scenes. There are clips from major films, blended seemlessly with new footage for the attraction, and some stage special-effects as well. This is really a top attraction.

After grabbing Rock n Roller Coaster fastpasses, we got in line for Armageddon, a live special-effects show. After a wait in line that was needlessly long (they were only running one of two pre-show set-ups, meaning we waited 30 minutes for something that should have been about a 10 minute wait, tops), we went in a large group into the pre-show. Here, a "director" explains that you are all going to be extras in the filming of a scene from Armageddon. A video piece has Michael Clarke Duncan explaining the special-effects work, and then you go onto the set, which is a mock-up of the space station from Armageddon. "Filming" starts and we hear the Russian cosmonaut talking (English) to the computer, which responds (in French) to his questions about the asteroid headed for the station. After some chaotic warning beacons, the special effects begin. There is fire, and smoke, and crashing, and by the end, you realize the entire station has pretty much collapsed around you. While it was a bit hard to follow, it really works well. It'd be better with a movie that is a bit more memorable, but it works.

Then we headed to the Studio Tram Tour. This attraction needed maintenance like you wouldn't believe. They were running three trams, and each time one came back for loading, CM's were working on it in front of everybody. Loading was crimincally slow. There were video monitors in each car, 3/4 of which (including our car) weren't showing video. This was quite remarkable as the recorded narration (between Jeremy Irons in English and a French actress in French whose voice I didn't recognize) actually referred to visuals like what costumes they were wearing. Not just bad show...terrible show. There were severay boneyard type areas with nothing interesting to see before we made it to Catastrophe Canyon, the only good part of the attraction. This CC seems to have been kept up, or built better, or just newer. The shaker-table was working great, the props were bright and the effects were strong. Unfortunately, we were still on the Tram and had to endure a trip through a set from Reign of Fire (failed movie) that clearly wasn't close to fully operational. A sad excuse for an attraction. This needs serious work, and the disrepair of the trams should get somebody fired.

After this, we hit Lights, Motors, Action, which is as good or bad as you think it is at DHS (I like it). Again, some dialogue and narration was in English, some in French, but it worked well. Then came RnRC, which is the same ride as in DHS, but with a ruined pre-show. You're looking in on the Aerosmith recording session, and Steven Tyler, in English, describes to his bandmates...the design of the roller-coaster that you are about to ride! It lasts 20 seconds, and then you're in the line. How silly. But it was my son's first time being tall enough for RnRC. The verdict..."I LIKE IT! Let's go again!" So we did, since the line was really very short.

By this point, we decided it was time to wait in the line for Crush's Coaster, which was down to 50 minutes. Crush's coaster reminds me of a cross between Space Mountain and Primevil Whirl. It is enclosed and themed. The loading area looks like a little beachside marina with the birds from Nemo there making their annoying noises. The idea is that you are riding on a turle's back, the way Marlin and Dory did in the EAC scene. The turtles you ride on seat 4, back to back!
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The ride begins with a few show scenes, including one on the incline. They set the atmosphere nicely. The track is more like Space Mountain (Disneyland version) than it is Primevil Whirl, as the curves are banked, but the turtle shell car spins freely like PW. The effect is disorienting and a whole lot of fun. A version of the coaster (themed however you want) would be a perfect family coaster to add to WDW. It's only problem is capacity, but the theming and ride experience were great.

After that, it was about 6:15, and we had seen everything except Stitch Live (just missed the last English show -- park close at 7) and Playhouse Disney (no interest, as it's the same show as in DHS and DCA), so we were done with the Studios.
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My overall impression of the Studios park is that it was done as cheaply as possible without compromising attraction quality. What's there is good, but it needs more (and when it opened, there was no ToT and no Crush's Coaster), and the theming is virtually non-existent. We were able to see some of the new attractions being built in the soon-to-open Toy Story Playland. At least there will be something to look at, even if the attractions seem underwhelming. This park needs some placemaking and about a half dozen new attractions, starting with a dark ride or two. I liked the attractions very much, but it pales in comparison to its sister park, even more than pre-makeover DCA paled in comparison to Disneyland Park.

Next up, the evening in Disneyland Parc.
 

sueuk

Member
I'm enjoying this thread - we know the Parks well and I was really interested to see a 'newbie' report. The Studios still needs lots of additions, but it's getting better every year; it has a very long way to go to be Hollywood Studios though! The resort is lovely at Xmas - but I haven't seen WDW at that time of year yet :).
 

MichWolv

Born Modest. Wore Off.
Premium Member
Original Poster
Continuing...

After spending the day in the Studios, we walked over to Disneyland, leading me to remember the thing I love most about Disneyland and (now) DLRP -- the parks and Downtown Disney (Disney Village in Paris) are next door to each other. Park hopping in 2 minutes > parking hopping in 30 minutes.

It was dinner time (for Americans, anyways) when we arrive back at Disneyland. We decided to try the Agrabah Cafe, a mediterranean buffet, which we very much enjoyed. The food actually seemed to me to be true to the ethnicity it was targeting. Good selection of meat and vegetable entrees, and the setting definitely felt like an Arabian bazaar -- kind of like getting lost in the crooked streets of Morocco in Epcot. In fact, a buffet like this one would work well in Morocco.

After dinner it was about 7:30, but we still had well over 2 hours of daylight left (WDW should consider putting in for a time-zone switch to accomodate such things). We took the time to tour the castle at this point. Underneath the castle is a dragon that breathes fire and smoke every few minutes. It was pretty neat, even if it did scare unsuspecting onlookers and resist my attempts to take a decent picture. We then went up the stairs in the castle, where stained class and tapestries tell the story of Sleeping Beauty. Those of you who like the dioramas in the narrow corridors of the Sleeping Beauty walkthrough in Anaheim definitely need to see the Paris version. Wide corridors, and beautiful art telling the story.
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And you can walk out on the back balcony to get a bird's eye view of the rest of Fantasyland
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Best castle, hands-down.

PPF had an hour long line, so we hit Pirates for another trip, and got a few pics, some of which will look familiar.
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We also spent some more time exploring Adventure Isle at this point. This incarnation of Tom Sawyer's Island really puts the others to shame. First, the accessibility is a real plus -- no need to wait for a raft. There is a great pirate ship themed play area for the kids, and the familiar paths through and around the rocks that we've all come to expect. But there are just more of them. We explored for about a half hour and still couldn't find our way to a big bridge that we saw in the distance.
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We did, however, find our way into Skull Rock, allowing this cool picture.
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After a bit more playing around, we decided we'd come back the next day to explore some more, as we wanted to hit Tomorrowland at night. First we did a bit of exploring, walking all the way around Space Mountain, and into the Hyperion restaurant/theater. This is an interesting building. The dining tables are tiered, so that when eating your counter service meal, you can see down the stage. Just in front of the stage are about 8 rows of theater-style seating for those not eating. And on the stage were....three screens showing vintage Mickey Mouse cartoons. This was clearly designed to have an actual show, as there is a whole lighting an sound package installed, but instead it was just a place to watch cartoons. Cost cutting at work, no doubt.

On another forum thread recently, there was a discussion of kinetics. DLP's Space Mountain is a great answer. The ride "launches" on the outside, through a tube that allows guests all over Tomorrowland a wonderful view. Of course, the Mountain itself is beautiful and fanciful -- much more interesting to look at that the American SMs. And the ride -- well, let's just say this isn't your father's Space Mountain. It is a launched coaster that loops several times. The ride is rough and isn't for the faint of heart. I was actually glad my son wasn't quite tall enough (52 inches required) to ride, as it might have been too rough for him. I loved the ride, while my wife thought it was too rough. There are some great visuals on the ride as well, including some asteroids floating (not projections) in the dark and screen-projected re-entry effects. In short, only the name of the attraction connects this to SM at WDW and DLR, and if you haven't ridden this one, you should. At least once.

Following that, it was time for our personal Last Flight to Endor....this time, in French! Star Tours is the same ride you know and love (or not), except that Rex speaks French (C3PO and the other Red Squadron pilots still speak English, though). I will miss Star Tours, but look forward to version 2.0.

As we had seen Fantillusion the night before, we opted for second rides on Buzz Lightyear and Captain EO to close the night. Tomorrowland at DLP is very pretty at night, but, alas, we were hurrying to beat the crowds out of the park, so no pics.

A quick bus ride back to the hotel, and we were again in bed by 11:30, ready to rest up for our last day at DLP followed by our train ride back to London.
 

MichWolv

Born Modest. Wore Off.
Premium Member
Original Poster
After checking out the next morning, we boarded the bus (after the typical wait of under 1 minute) with all our luggage. We started by storing it all in a large locker at the train station (could have left it at the hotel, but that would have required going back to the hotel and then back to the train later in the day, and we wanted to save that trip). 10 Euros bought a huge locker that held 2 big suitcases, a rollaboard, a backpack, and a computer bag.

We then spent a few minutes at the private Shareholder's Club lounge, Salon Mickey. This lounge reminds me of the long lost Annual Passholders lounge that was in the Land for a year or so, except that this one is at the park entrance and is open only in the morning. We grabbed croissants, coffee, water, and a few pics. I wish this was located in the hub and open all day, as it was a nice place to sit and relax. But first thing in the morning, I didn't need to sit and relax yet.
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The we moved on to Fantasyland first thing, having tired of the terribly long lines at those attractions. Paris visitors clearly respond to character-based attractions, as those attractions always had longer lines. Pinnocchio (sp?) was first up -- the attraction is a typical dark ride, and similar to the experience in Anaheim.

We grabbed Peter Pan fastpasses and then headed for the StorybookLand boats, which for some reason close at 6 pm even when the park is open later. I love this attraction in Anaheim. It has a better loading system in Paris, and the line moves better because of it. Missing were the live guides...instead it works as a ride-through, but the scenes are familiar enough, that it works really well.

Welcome to Storybookland
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The Cave of Wonders
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Night on Bald Mountain scene was really cool
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And look...It's the Emerald City!
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If WDW is looking for another ride for the Fantasyland expansion that isn't too expensive, this is it.

After that, it was off to get dizzy on the teacups, which are...the teacups.
Happy Family!
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Then it was time for our Peter Pan fastpasses. The ride is pretty similar to the WDW version. As we had just come from London, Aaron was exicited to recognize Big Ben as we "flew" over the city. Of course, he did ask why they didn't have the London Eye.

We attempted to take the train around to Frontierland, only to find out that the Fantasyland station doesn't open until later in the day (why?) which was confirmed as a train zipped by. So, after a quick ride on the carousel, and another spin through IASW, we headed to Adventureland.
 

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