Thoughts and Opinions from a first timer

voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Myself and my two teenage daughters just returned from a long desired trip to DLPR. We are veterans of the American parks with multiple visits to each but had never been to a Disney park abroad. I guess I just assumed it would be too expensive and maybe I was a little intimidated. As it turns out it was cheaper than either of my last two trips to DLR and WDW.

As Disney theme park nuts our main objective was visiting the resort, but I knew it would have been insane to go all the way to France and not spend at least a day in Paris. I shouldn't have been surprised to discover that Paris was the highlight of the trip as we spent an extra day their instead of the parks. That's not disparaging the parks at all. It's just that Paris is that cool. I'll try to give a brief rundown of my observations of the resort in coming posts.
 

voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
-The size and layout of the resort is perfect. Everything is within walking distance, unlike WDW, but it isn't as crammed in as Anaheim.

-Resorts- Sequoia is Wilderness Lodge light, Newport Bay is Yacht club light, Cheyenne and Santa Fe are the Values and are better themed and quieter than any of the Values at WDW. Even smaller rooms though. New York was a poor design choice imo. It looks like an apartment complex. The Disneyland Hotel is similar in style to Grand Floridian but has the bonus of being on top of the entrance to the park.

-Disney Village is their Downtown Disney and isn't much to look at. It looks fairly run-down, maintainance wise, and just plain ugly. The theming of the Rainforest cafe exterior, in particular, is downright embarrassing and most of the rest looks like a late 90's shopping mall. The food is a bit cheaper here than in the parks though. I believe, or hope, it is earmarked for a re-model.

-Transportation- The train station for the RER line and TGV is between the park gates and Disney Village. It's pretty cool to be able to just hop on a train from here and go to Paris or elsewhere. The Navigo pass is the best option if you will be travelling to Paris, as it covers the RER lines and Metro, plus city buses. I admit that I did a double take at seeing military security with rifles in hand at Disney, though technically on the grounds of the train station. The resort bus depot, if you choose to use it, is a pretty decent walk from the park gates and doesn't really get you to your hotel any faster unless your timing is good. There are buses to the offsite resorts too, though.

up next.... the parks
 

voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Disneyland
Entrance-The gardens, water features and walkways leading up to the Disneyland Hotel are grand and more beautiful than the entrance areas to DL or MK. The hotel is certainly nice to look at but I found myself missing the simplicity, sounds and kinetic energy of walking up to the train station and having that feeling that something magical is happening just beyond. I do appreciate the different experience, but just prefer it the other way. The area under the hotel leading to the turnstiles is richly themed in Victorian style. There is a courtyard beyond the turnstiles that works but is a bit anticlimatic. The train station is understated.

Crowds- I went the week of Thanksgiving. No crowds. I haven't been to a Disney park, so sparsely crowded in over 10 years. Only used fastpass for about three rides and didn't really need to. The longest wait otherwise was 25 minutes.

-Main St- Even more detailed than MK's but I still like the charm of DL's scaled down buildings. The BIG difference here are the arcades running along the backside of the shops on both sides of the street. The atmosphere and theming here is everything you hope for and make for a unique experience. There are even displays and little exhibits bases on the themes of Liberty, on one side, and Discovery on the other. A great way to get around the parade crowds too, which I am not generally a fan of and won't be discussing. I didn't get to ride the train. I waited in line twice for over 20 minutes and was cut off from entering the turnstiles by less than 10 people both times. Was then told it would be a 30 minute wait. I wasn't a fan of their queuing system here. A broader operations point that I will elaborate on later. I understand that they were only running one train but we didn't care to wait. I guess we couldve tried our chances at one of the other stations but didn't.

-Next up..... Frontierland
 
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voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Frontierland- This was the area of DLP that I was most excited for. There is a lot of hype surrounding this land and based on the videos and pictures that I saw, the hype seemed well deserved. Maybe my expectations were too high; the weather was drab; many of the plants were taken in for the winter?; but it didnt grab me. I guess I am a sucker for Splash Mt at WDW, even though it may not technically belong in Frontierland. I will still admit that, overall, it probably is the best Frontierland of the three that I've been to. The theming of the buildings is on par with it's counterparts and it is larger too. Much of that space is taken up by a relatively empty area leading up to the bbq restaurant, which don't get me wrong, is sometimes nice to have a wide open area. Kind of how the IASW area at DL is a respite to the rest of the park. There are a few paths from here to Adventureland. One or two kind of hidden, so much so that I thought that maybe I was on a cast member only path.

Big Thunder- Sure, it is cool that it is out on the island, but that is kind of lost on having to go through a pitch black tunnel to get there and back. That is the fastest part of the ride but takes place in the dark. I was told that this was the best of all the BTM's, especially after the refurb. I just didn't find it to be as fun as DL's. I think it was shakier and absolutely more noisy. There was a constant vibration as if a wheel was stuck, maybe it was? I guess the telling part for me is that we didn't want to ride it again, even though we had the chance in subsequent days, yet we rode DL's three times in one day.

Phantom Manor- I was excited to see a different take on the Haunted Mansion. I was happy to experience HMH at DL and it was fun. I still prefer the original though. The house and theme of the ride is well integrated into Frontierland, even though it looks alot like the Psycho house to me. I appreciate that they were brave enough to do a different take on the ride and not simply copy it from the three previous iterations. On its own merits this ride could be considered one of Disney's best dark rides of all time but the inevitable comparisons to what is argueably the best dark ride of all time in HM, have to be made. I understand that this ride is going to go through a major refurbishment in the coming year and things may be changed or plussed.
-Wasn't a fan of the stretching room portraits. I did like the loading area with the grand staircase. Not a fan of the orchestral/cinematic type score. The "going under ground" thing in the graveyard was clever but it was too reliant on blacklight effects. The sets seemed too close to the ride vehicle with no scrim to give it an ethereal quality. The bride in the crystal thing was odd and cheap looking. The hitchiking ghost was poorly done. The ride seemed a bit cheap. More like a fantasyland dark ride without the whimsy and silliness. The seriousness of the ride makes the props stand out as cheap and corny. BUT, If I had never ridden a HM ride, I'm sure this wouldve been one of my favorites and I did like it for what it was. I just had to compare and criticize.

Next up.....Adventureland and Pirates and more positivity!
 
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Robbiem

Well-Known Member
Great posts. It's interesting to see what people think of DLP. I think it's a great park with a lot of potential, I hope it becomes more rounded with the recent buyout
 

voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Adventureland- Overall a pretty impressive theme park land and huge in size. Its only problems are not being in a climate conducive to tropical plantlife and not having a Jungle Cruise ride, maybe at least partly for that reason. The entrance is middle eastern inspired, with an Aladdin walk-through attraction, which is kind of neat and worth 5-10 minutes of your time. and branches out to Frontierland on the left, a dead end at Indiana Jones and off to the Treehouse, Pirates and towards Fantasyland to the right. It is one of Disney's best themed lands and is fun to explore.

The Swiss Family Treehouse- Prettty much the same as our old friend in Florida but this one has pathways to explore around it. Some of those paths lead into a cave or "root cellar" of the tree. It also branches over to the caves leading up to Pirates. Similar to a Tom Sawyer Island experience.

Indiana Jones- I don't have much good to say about this ride but not much bad either. It is pretty much a themed wild mouse style coaster with a loop. The theming is ok but there is no story or adventure to be had. Just a strange mini roller coaster, outdoor mine cart ride with IJ stamped on the sign.

Pirates- By far far far and away the best of the three Pirates rides that I have been on. I had always thought that a marriage of the queue in MK and the ride at DL would yield the perfect ride. To me, this one bests both of those elements. A great exterior, great queue, atmsophere, ride experience, length. Just about perfect in every way. Except a few things. I don't think the PoC movie elements belong. They add too much contemporaneousness ( is that a word?) to a ride that is best as evoking a time period, place and mood in a passive observer sort of way. Having animatronics of contemporary actors ruins all that. Not a fan of the changes to the bride auction scene either. Get over this PC nonsense. It was a different time and place and that is all part of the fun of visiting it.

Next... Fantasyland
 

voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great posts. It's interesting to see what people think of DLP. I think it's a great park with a lot of potential, I hope it becomes more rounded with the recent buyout
I totally agree. I think it will benefit in the operations department too. I haven't got to it yet but it is missing a bit of the "magic". You are right. It has the bones of being a great resort. A ride or two and a revamp or two could make it an incredible park. The guy next door needs alot of help though.
 

voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Food- More expensive than the American parks and that's not even accounting for the exchange rate. They like their buffets over there. It seemed like most of the restaurants were that format, and not character buffets. I thought buffets were more an American thing. Still, they were very pricey. Funny thing is that dinner in Paris is as or less expensive than in my local suburb. I'm not talking about Michelin star places, but excellent food and atmosphere can be found on every block nonetheless.
 
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AndyS2992

Well-Known Member
Food- More expensive than the American parks and that's not even accounting for the exchange rate. They like their buffets over there, and I thought that was an American thing, and most arent character buffets and are still very pricey. Funny thing is that dinner in Paris is less expensive than in my local suburb. I'm not talking about Michelin star places, but excellent food and atmosphere nonetheless.
It's ridiculous. We stayed for 5 days and refused to pay the prices in the parks so went to McDonald's every day except one. Burger, fries and a drink in the parks is 16 Euros compared to 7 Euros at McDonald's. We decided to eat in the parks one day to say we had and we went to Chez Remy and was pretty disappointed, expensive and didn't taste all that great, service was also really slow. They need to work on this but obviously they don't care because they just announced that food prices are about to be hiked up even more.
 

voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Fantasyland- I could fill a few pages but I can better boil it down by saying it is close to the charm of DL's and has the size and even better layout than MK's The dark rides, Pinnochio, Snow White, (other than the silly mannequins at the end that we laughed at) are mainly the same, Pan is a bit better as a ride than MK, but no enhanced queue. There is a different and somewhat abridged Storybookland Canal boats and a Casey Jr., It's not really important to spell out the differences of those here. IASW has a different art design, and to me, nicer quality about it. The shops are cute, the buildings impressive and theming well integrated but I wasn't exactly feeling the magic as much and not exactly sure why. I'll explore a possibility or two on that later. Maybe it was just my mood because the quality was definitely there.

Castle- by far the prettiest and most interesting of any of the castles, imo and I should have talked about that in the Main Street post. There is the the mezzanine upstairs to walk around but of course the coolest thing is the Taniere du Dragon underneath. You may not spend more than 5 minutes in there, but it is one of most memorable aspects of the park.

Discoveryland next.. I may save it til tomorrow and try to be really brief. I already feel like I've been negative enough and actually really enjoyed my time at DLP. But I forgot that I still have The Studios to talk about. Haha.
 
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voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It's ridiculous. We stayed for 5 days and refused to pay the prices in the parks so went to McDonald's every day except one. Burger, fries and a drink in the parks is 16 Euros compared to 7 Euros at McDonald's. We decided to eat in the parks one day to say we had and we went to Chez Remy and was pretty disappointed, expensive and didn't taste all that great, service was also really slow. They need to work on this but obviously they don't care because they just announced that food prices are about to be hiked up even more.
Yes! And slow, slow service as well. Even more insane than that, I let my kids grab three small bags of Lay's chips and two drinks at souvenir stand without paying attention and it totalled close to 20 Euros. I can't complain about my package price on the hotel and tickets though. Not compared to WDW.
 

voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Discoveryland- I think it was a good idea to do the Jules Verne inspired version of the future but its execution didn't work for me. Might be that it was better at opening and has been tinkered with too much since? The colors?? I could go on about that but won't. I do remember watching the EuroDisney opening special with Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith on the night it aired and thought Discoveryland looked amazing. Star Wars doesn't fit in with the theme but it makes for a couple of decent rides. I don't think they should, but why not just go ahead and re-theme the entire land to Star Wars with elements of the the ones being built in The U.S. But. I would think that they should work on Discoveryland within its theme and put Star Wars in The Studios. It needs help.

-Space Mountain- I liked the ride even though the queue was uninteresting, the screens were too obvious and the effects were cheap. I think the tie-fighter laser thing worked well as an effect though and the ride experience was pretty good. I wasn't too inspired to ride a second time but one of my daughters insisted. It's probably better than MK's ricketty wild mouse but doesn't hold a candle to DL. Also, it has inversions, if you didn't know.

-Star Tours- Pretty much the same as the others but my experience seemed quite a bit smoother and less jerky than Orlando or Anaheim. Maybe I just got a simulator that wasn't working 100%, but I liked it better that way.

-Nautilus walkthrough- A cool little extra experience. Would be an incredible queue to a ride.

-Buzz and Speedway- Didn't do either. Not a fan. I will state that Buzz is better at DL than MK.
 

voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Overall DLP is an incredible park. My criticisms probably come from the fact that I wasn't feeling the "magic" as much here. The main thing that I can put a finger on is Service. The cast members aren't exactly rude, but just not all that friendly either. They don't seem to go out of their way to make your experience special. I did have a few that seemed to go out of their way to be dismissive and curt. And one even worse than that. I am about as cooperative and non-demanding as a guest could be and made every attempt to greet them in French too. The service is maddeningly slow at counter service. Twice the time in line, with half of the crowd of DL or MK. I didn't let it bother me much though really, just didn't get that good feeling as much.

Other things, like drab weather, leaving backstage area doors open, background music absent in many areas, and inefficiant/lazy/indifferent ride operations in a few cases, could have contributed to that. Overall though, I loved this park. It would only take a few good changes to make it exceptional. And maybe some of those will come with the buyout??

Next up.... Disney Studios
 

Robbiem

Well-Known Member
Discoveryland was better in its original version. Instead of Buzz there was the original Jules Verne circle vision which became timekeeper in Florida and space mountain (added after opening) was much better with its rocket to the moon theme. Totally agree with the nautilus- all the walk throughs at the park are hidden gems but the nautilus and the dragon dungeon are my favourites
 

voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Disney Studios Paris- Sounds grand huh? I guess enough negativity has been thrown this park's way that I don't need to do it myself. I will say that anything bad that you have heard about this park is absolutely the truth and not hyperbole. I was hoping that I would have, at least, a small amount of surprise of liking this park more than I thought I would. I, like a lot of people, will criticize something that is overhyped, but good, and find the good in something that has widely been panned. I had watched the walkthrough videos with confusion and disdain but had an open mind as I walked in. It's just.....not good. I'm not going to go into why it is so bad and how it could be better. There is enough discussion of that elsewhere. I will just throw out some quick and simple observations.

-The entrance is welcoming and fairly grand. Evokes the feeling of walking through the gates of a Hollywood Studio in the Golden Era.
-Studio One- Looks like, and has the cheap atmosphere of, a pavilion lobby of a riverboat casino.
-The faux city scene and backdrop with TOT over to the side is the only thing that I found aesthetically interesting, the rest is dressed up warehouses, as was intended apparantly. Oh yeah, the Ratatouille area is nicely themed.

-Crush- A fun little spinning coaster. Go on it first thing in the morning at extra magic hours or fastpass. The capacity is terrible and it is one of only 4 good rides in the park. Plus the queue is nothing more than outdoor switchbacks. Inside is like a filmset of Finding Nemo, which is kind of clever. There are a couple of scenes at the beginning and end but the majority of the ride takes place in what looks like, and is, a warehouse. Fun ride though.

-Ratatouille- Curious that they would build a little Paris-land less than an hour from the real thing but it is the best themed area of the park. As far as the ride, the nighttime Parisian rooftop in the queue is the best part. The ride moves you, trackless, from screen to screen among some oversize props for a 3d movie. Fun. But nothing particularly special. Chez Remy is the restaurant that you see at load. It is highly themed and highly expensive.

-Toy Story Land- Creative theming for a kiddie land, but the rides are nothing more than carnival types. Same for the weird little Cars area. Are they trying to say that this is a land?

-Rockin' Rollercoaster- Instead of cardboard cutouts in Orlando, you get stageshow lighting. Better in my opinion.

-Tower of Terror- The old California version. All that needs to be said.

-I'm not a show or parade person, though I do appreciate a good one now and again. We just didn't want to waste anymore time in this park and we didn't have much interest in what was offered. Same with the Backlot Tour. I did want to experience Catastrophe Canyon one more time, but passed.

-Make sure to hit this park at the extra magic hour and do the 4 main rides.

-Nothing more that I want to say about this park other than I hope it receives a "California Adventure" style budget for a makeover. Though it is a far worse park now than DCA was before it got money thrown at it.
 

voodoo321

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Discoveryland was better in its original version. Instead of Buzz there was the original Jules Verne circle vision which became timekeeper in Florida and space mountain (added after opening) was much better with its rocket to the moon theme. Totally agree with the nautilus- all the walk throughs at the park are hidden gems but the nautilus and the dragon dungeon are my favourites
Thanks. That's what I figured. I didn't realize that Buzz used to be that. I liked Timekeeper at MK. I agree on your hidden gems. I think every park needs these type of attractions as little surprises/diversions that give it character and as a balance to the headliners.
 

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
he service is maddeningly slow at counter service. Twice the time in line, with half of the crowd of DL or MK. I didn't let it bother me much though really, just didn't get that good feeling as much.
I have come to marvel at how they can have three people doing a job that one person should be able to do and take twice as long to do it at DLP. Just getting a cup of coffee in the morning can be quite a time investment even if you're almost the only person in there trying to buy something. Maybe it is a cultural thing, as I love France but find French service generally ver inefficient and slow. Still, if Disney really wants to up their profits they should look at the low levels of service instead of just compensating by raising prices ever higher.

Thanks for the trip report! All very interesting!
 

IanDLBZF

Well-Known Member
-Space Mountain- I liked the ride even though the queue was uninteresting, the screens were too obvious and the effects were cheap. I think the tie-fighter laser thing worked well as an effect though and the ride experience was pretty good. I wasn't too inspired to ride a second time but one of my daughters insisted. It's probably better than MK's ricketty wild mouse but doesn't hold a candle to DL. Also, it has inversions, if you didn't know.
A lot of people have said that the DLP version of Space Mountain gave them the "Vekoma Headache."
 

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