Thought I'd share my experience from my first trip to WDW.
I've been to Disneyland Paris twice before and really enjoyed it, so I was really looking forward to it.
Firstly, the Magic Kingdom was quite dissapointing. It is much smaller than Paris and even though we went in September, still found it quite crowded. We also found it all to be quite old. We did really enjoy some attractions a lot - Philharmagic, Splash Mountain, The Haunted Mansion and Pirates were great. However, as we had already been on The Haunted Mansion and Pirates several times in Paris we found there wasn't too much that was new for us. Space Mountain was a dissapointment too - without the cannon blast and corkscrews in Paris it was a bit tame and even a little sore.
When we Fastpassed Space Mountain we got a surprise Fastpass for the Carossel of Progress. The people using Fastpass went in the right door and those in the normal queue went in the left door. They were pretty pointless as the theatre was roughly 1/8 full when the doors shut, so no matter what door we went in we could choose whatever seat we want. As for the attraction itself, while we could see how revolutionary it must have once been I am not joking when I say that the man next to us fell asleep during it, which says it all really.
Luckily though, the rest of the trip was EXCELLENT. I loved MGM, even though the Rock n' Rollercoaster was closed. We had done many of the attractions before in Paris - Star Tours, Backlot Tour, Lights Motors Action, Magic of Disney Animation, etc, but I can't say we were bothered. We knew it would be like that and the attractions were so enjoyable we didn't mind doing them again. The Tower of Terror was amazing and Fantasmic was spectacular. Only slightly strange thing was the Narnia attraction. Everyone just looked around at the end and sayed "Is that it?" and one kid said quite loudly "Well that was boring." I don't think anyone really understood the point. We also went to Universal and in comparison we all enjoyed MGM a lot more.
Epcot was also great. We went for two days and enjoyed them both. Soarin' was probably the best ride we went on, although my mother almost never went on it due to the signs saying "sudden drops and twists" outside, so it wasn't until we had been on it the first time that we eventually encouraged her on and she loved it. Test Track was lots of fun as well. Epcot did also have the least enjoyable attraction though - Ellen's Energy Adventure. I don't know what it was, but everyone just seemed bored through the whole thing. Another minor issue was Mission Space. In all the warning signs with all the warnings there were no mention of clostrophobia. I have had problems with that in the past and didn't really find it enjoyable and I don't think I would do it again. Most people seemed to love it though and if I didn't have a problem with the cramped space I'm sure I'd have loved it.
Animal Kingdom was my favourite park by far, to my complete surprise. I've never been an animal lover, in fact I am allergic, so I can't say I thought it would be most enjoyable experience for me, but it was. I had no problems with allergies, for some reason and loved all the animal exhibits. We did all the trials and all the little paths we could find and even came back another day to finish bits off. Expedition Everest was probably my favourite coaster I've ever been on. Scary enough, but not stomach turning.
We really couldn't imagine going back there in summer though, again the parks were very cramped and crowded despite it being off peak, esp. in MGM and Animal Kingdom. Mind you, the queues were fantastic. We practically walked onto everything, from Tower of Terror to Test Track, it was great. Soarin' and the Safari had the largest queues and we could simply Fastpass them and walk right on, so no trouble there at all, which was strange when you saw the number of people outside, but I assume its due to the high capacity of most of the rides.
I know I sound like I'm moaning a bit, but overall the whole holiday was great and I loved it. I would definately go back. The problems we had were pretty minor and didn't spoil things very much at all.
I've been to Disneyland Paris twice before and really enjoyed it, so I was really looking forward to it.
Firstly, the Magic Kingdom was quite dissapointing. It is much smaller than Paris and even though we went in September, still found it quite crowded. We also found it all to be quite old. We did really enjoy some attractions a lot - Philharmagic, Splash Mountain, The Haunted Mansion and Pirates were great. However, as we had already been on The Haunted Mansion and Pirates several times in Paris we found there wasn't too much that was new for us. Space Mountain was a dissapointment too - without the cannon blast and corkscrews in Paris it was a bit tame and even a little sore.
When we Fastpassed Space Mountain we got a surprise Fastpass for the Carossel of Progress. The people using Fastpass went in the right door and those in the normal queue went in the left door. They were pretty pointless as the theatre was roughly 1/8 full when the doors shut, so no matter what door we went in we could choose whatever seat we want. As for the attraction itself, while we could see how revolutionary it must have once been I am not joking when I say that the man next to us fell asleep during it, which says it all really.
Luckily though, the rest of the trip was EXCELLENT. I loved MGM, even though the Rock n' Rollercoaster was closed. We had done many of the attractions before in Paris - Star Tours, Backlot Tour, Lights Motors Action, Magic of Disney Animation, etc, but I can't say we were bothered. We knew it would be like that and the attractions were so enjoyable we didn't mind doing them again. The Tower of Terror was amazing and Fantasmic was spectacular. Only slightly strange thing was the Narnia attraction. Everyone just looked around at the end and sayed "Is that it?" and one kid said quite loudly "Well that was boring." I don't think anyone really understood the point. We also went to Universal and in comparison we all enjoyed MGM a lot more.
Epcot was also great. We went for two days and enjoyed them both. Soarin' was probably the best ride we went on, although my mother almost never went on it due to the signs saying "sudden drops and twists" outside, so it wasn't until we had been on it the first time that we eventually encouraged her on and she loved it. Test Track was lots of fun as well. Epcot did also have the least enjoyable attraction though - Ellen's Energy Adventure. I don't know what it was, but everyone just seemed bored through the whole thing. Another minor issue was Mission Space. In all the warning signs with all the warnings there were no mention of clostrophobia. I have had problems with that in the past and didn't really find it enjoyable and I don't think I would do it again. Most people seemed to love it though and if I didn't have a problem with the cramped space I'm sure I'd have loved it.
Animal Kingdom was my favourite park by far, to my complete surprise. I've never been an animal lover, in fact I am allergic, so I can't say I thought it would be most enjoyable experience for me, but it was. I had no problems with allergies, for some reason and loved all the animal exhibits. We did all the trials and all the little paths we could find and even came back another day to finish bits off. Expedition Everest was probably my favourite coaster I've ever been on. Scary enough, but not stomach turning.
We really couldn't imagine going back there in summer though, again the parks were very cramped and crowded despite it being off peak, esp. in MGM and Animal Kingdom. Mind you, the queues were fantastic. We practically walked onto everything, from Tower of Terror to Test Track, it was great. Soarin' and the Safari had the largest queues and we could simply Fastpass them and walk right on, so no trouble there at all, which was strange when you saw the number of people outside, but I assume its due to the high capacity of most of the rides.
I know I sound like I'm moaning a bit, but overall the whole holiday was great and I loved it. I would definately go back. The problems we had were pretty minor and didn't spoil things very much at all.
