I know I'm glossing over these, but I'll answer any questions you have about particular lands in more detail...
Disney Dreams is incredible and uses technology brilliantly. The story is sort of flimsy, but I appreciate that there is a story rather than a random montage.
I didn't find the story flimsy at all. What I also loved was that it wasn't Princess-centric and that it featured many films, especially Hunchback of Notre Dame, that get left out of Disney shows in favor of the Toy Story gang or Nemo.
And it's about time they built a nighttime show around Peter Pan instead of Tinker Bell.
DLP looks beautiful for Christmas, and even its 20 year old tree (I hear they're getting a new one next year) doesn't show its age too badly. The new Christmas Cavalcade is cute, but nothing special. Overall, Magic Kingdom and Disneyland both do much more for Christmas, but DLP is definitely no slouch.
I have never been at Christmas, so I have nothing to compare it to. But the only resorts that update their Christmas entertainment regularly are the Asian ones. TDL has a new parade practically EVERY year. I realized last year in Anaheim (where I hadn't been for Christmas since 2007) how truly tired The Christmas Fantasy Parade is. And looking at pics of the MK, it seems like the decorations are the same ones that were up 20 years ago (or more). You need to change things up.
What really impressed me is the layers and layers of detail wherever you looked. Shops, restaurants, queues, etc., were all designed with meticulous attention to detail. I can see why that park cost so much. The Castle is beyond incredible. The park is amazing.
So so true. From having a dragon in the castle dungeon with a 'secret' entrance in a shop to the props around BTMRR to the signage on Main Street, there just is a layering that you only get at TDS as a whole.
Then, you go next door to WDS. That park is worse than DCA 1.0. I had heard bad things about it, and suspected people were exaggerating. They were not. The park is a mess in every conceivable way and needs some serious placemaking. We spent three hours there, and that was about 2 too many. Crush's Coaster was okay, but it's really overrated and probably wasn't worth the 30 minute wait we endured in its largely generic queue.
The stark contrast between WDS and DLP was really surprising. Toad Hall, alone, is probably more detailed than all of WDS. Hopefully the Ratatouille dark ride and its surrounding area will make things better...
Placemaking will never work for that park. Did you notice the one key element it lacks that can be found in every other Disney Park in the world?
It was built on the cheap and to ensure Disney didn't lose the land. But it has a depressing vibe that I've never felt in other parks. That said, it actually has some wonderful attractions. Cinemagique is one of the best at the resort. Anamagique is very good too. Armageddon is the best special effects show of its type. ToT is the same as DCA and has some great CMs. I prefer RnRC at DSP when the effects are working fog and stage lighting beat plywood cutouts in O-Town. I even would enjoy Stitch Live over Turtle Talk, but that's a personal taste. I like Crush's Coaster as well, but agree it isn't worth the waits it regularly has.
We stayed in Sequoia Lodge at the recommendation of @
marni1971 who said it was recently refurbished, and it was an excellent choice. I visited every single other hotel (but not the campground), and I definitely think we made the right decision. For a value resort, Cheyenne was pretty cool, but for the price and distance from the parks, you'd be better off staying in Val d'Europe and taking the train. (We stayed there our first night in a beautiful, brand new hotel for less than it would have cost to stay at the Cheyenne.) All of the other hotels besides Disenyland Hotel seem fairly dated (especially the distinctly-Graves Hotel New York). Hotel Santa Fe is downright creepy as many of the buildings are closed to the public as it undergoes a massive rennovation. DLH is pretty, but not pretty enough for its nightly price. So my suggestion here for anyone using this as a trip planning post would be Sequoia or off-site.
My strong recommendation would be to stay off-site even in Paris and train in. The resorts were pretty much ignored for 20 years. Only Sequoia has had a full renovation and, even there, I noticed many corners were cut. I stayed in a Grand Villa at the nearby Marriott Village, which was amazing. But usually I'll Priceline a very nice hotel in Paris (4-star) for between $80-150 a night. The Disney service at the Parisian resorts generally makes WDW's look top-notch.
Disney Village is a mix of old and new. The World of Disney store is brand new, but there are several dated stores nearby.
WoD wasn't open in the spring. But the entire Village needs (and will be getting) a major makeover. It is very ugly and was always the weak point of the resort from an architecture standpoint.
As far as overall layout goes, DLRP is a mix of DLR and WDW. It's small enough that you can walk everywhere, but there are more hotels than at DLR. It's still much closer in nature to DLR than it is WDW.
A lot of people have asked me about Cast Members and other guests. In general, we found the French to be great. That said, I always made an effort to initiate every conversation in French, and concede after a couple sentences that I comprehend a little French and can't speak it well. At this point, most gladly spoke English. If you approach people and immediately start speaking English, don't expect the same results. Then again, how many of you are extremely pleasant to folks who come up to you and only speak another language? In our experience, the popular sentiment that the French are rude is a myth. If you're disrespectful to them, many will be rude. Isn't that true in any society, though?
In DLRP, almost every Cast Member can speak enough English to assist guests.
That's always been my experience and my French is likely no better than yours. Most CMs speak English or understand enough to help you. The only resort where you won't find this is Tokyo.
The CMs were definitely not as cheery as US Cast Members, but we didn't mind this at all. I'd rather have real enthusiasm than feigned enthusiasm, and at least you know that's what you're getting when you encounter an enthusiastic CM in DLRP. None of them were rude to us, but we also didn't hear many say "have a magical day!" Personally, this is something I don't need. I'd rather have an awesome park to experience than 20 people tell me to have a magical day. YMMV on that.
One of the worst aspects of WDW, to me, is the 'Have a MAGICal Day' nonsense or the "Welcome Home' crap. I love that the other resorts don't participate in this hokey 90s way of pretending to care, but still try and attain a high level of genuine guest service. I know some folks need those hokey greetings as part of the Pixie Dust addiction, though.
Another thing I noticed was that there weren't many strollers and I didn't notice a single ECV. I'm not going to open a can of worms by commenting on this, so I'll let it speak for itself...
You can see plenty of strollers in more crowded periods. But they are not the giant double-wides that make WDW a living hell on moderately busy days. And ECVs ... well, you'll only see those if someone has a medical need. There's not the morbid obesity issue that we have here (although those UKers seem to want to be like us!)
Other guests were generally fine, too. There's a lot of smoking in the park. I've heard of guests walking on grass and throwing trash on the ground, but I didn't notice this. We went during a particularly slow season, so there was really no need to walk on grass.
Trash hasn't really been a problem on my visits (and I've had an AP for something like five of the last eight years), but I have seen the walking on the grass and camping out for parades and shows in the planters/ walled off areas. Some people like to blame the Spanish (sorta the way WDW fans will attack Brazilians) but I've seen people clearly from all over the world do this there. And, unfortunately, the cast does let them get away with it.
This is already really long, but I think this is a good start.
One caveat I want to add before concluding is that although I pay close attention to detail in the parks, I know there were things I didn't notice. I know this because I've since looked at some DLRP forums (auto-translate in Chrome is such an awesome feature) and people have pointed these things out. Some, like the large apparatus that secures the garland strands, were so obvious that I can't believe I missed them. I'm sure there were some other things.
In closing, I think DLRP is often overshadowed by TDR, and I can understand that. But DLP is a really special park that's definitely worth a visit if traveling to Europe. The rest of DLRP is interesting, too, but nothing around which I'd plan a visit. A serious Disney fan could spend a ton of time exploring DLP, though.
EDIT: I forgot about the WDW comparison. This is already too long, but in DLP v. MK, DLP trounces MK. Hotel-wise and dining-wise, WDW is superior. Maintenance-wise, I'll give a slight edge to DLP.
I always suggest WDW regulars to visit DL before anywhere else, but when traveling beyond, DLP is the first place I'd advise a US Disney fan to go. It's beautiful. Has many unique attractions and features. And the cultural differences aren't as great as going to Asia. DLP offers a lot and I wish I were headed back before my AP expires (not likely). I'd only suggest that there really is more worthwhile in DSP than you gave it credit for. It isn't a park for great photography, though, and since that's a part of your trips I understand why you'd want to be at the beautiful Parc Disneyland instead.
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