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Might plan a trip to Disneyland Paris

a2grafix

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Hi ...

Usually I am more of a WDW news and rumours / WDW General Discussion type of member here on this site, but just recently I had a job opportunity fall into my lap. Well, it was through email, but close enough. I might have an opportunity to live in England for the next three months.

I have been to WDW in Orlando and Disneyland in California but never to EuroDisney / Disneyland Paris. But that might change come this spring.

I was wondering, if I receive this assignment, can I go Disneyland and the Studios in one day over there in Paris? Or is it better that I take the chunnel / train to Paris, and stay at least two days before I return to England?

Can I do Disneyland Paris / Studios / taking a tour of the hotels / Disney Village in about 2 days? Can it be done in a weekend?

Thanks in advance ...
 

kev1000

Member
when we go it is for 3 days and we have loads of time to do and see most of the parks.
you only need about half a day in the studios.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Studios - you`ll be out mid afternoon. Disneyland Parc - 2 days for every attraction, a browse in some shops and to watch some shows and both parades (Fantillusion is seasonal). Possibly the 2nd half of the studio day or part of a 3rd day to walk the resort hotels and village. No way in one day. You`d miss a lot in 2 days.

The resort hotels are fantastic - you can see where the money went. Disneyland Parc is, well, stunning. The MK pales in comparison design, layout and detail wise, and comparable D and E rides do not compare. Even if you`re used to DLCs recent overhaul you`ll be surprised at DLP.
 

RonAnnArbor

Well-Known Member
It depends on when you go. Weekends are always busier than week days. You would do better to take a sick day on a friday and go then and stay over to the saturday. Do Disneyland Parc the first day and the Studios the morning of the second day, returning for lunch and the rest of the day at Disneyland Parc.

For comparison purposes - Disneyland Paris is about 2/3 the size of the Magic Kingdom, with more attractions squeezed into that space - the E ticket rides at Disneyland Paris include rides found in the other parks at WDW - Star Tours, Honey I shrunk the audience...

The Studios are a disaster. While they are frantically working to add more attractions, it does not currently have more there than a 1/2 day of attractions. Maybe 4 hours at most, and that would include all the major rides as well as one or two of the shows (cinemagique is stunning). Tower of Terror is not slated to open until the end of the year, and their new indoor roller coaster (think Premievel Whirl indoors, themed to Nemo) won't open til even later.

They have a parkhopper (it's called a Passe Partout). That will allow you to go back and forth between the two parks.

By the way - it hasn't been alled EuroDisney for three years. The name is Disneyland Resort Paris. While EuroDisney is still the name of the corporate entity that owns the resort, you won't find anyone in Paris calling it Eurodisney at all...in fact, europeans have gone out of their way to distance themselves from using "euro" as a stem for anything anymore.

I go to Paris a few times a year, and always take a day at the parks. I can do everything I want to do with my friend in one day. That omits some of the attractions you might want to see when you are there. I do not stay at the resorts there, I stay in Paris and take the RER to the park (40 minutes from downtown Paris). The resorts are pretty, but they lack the magic at WDW. They are themed nicely but are more the quality of a business-class hotel in the States, not the resorts at WDW. You can forget the pools -- they are filled to the gills with Russian tourists and their 18 kids, and they are LOUD - you think the pools around the value resorts get loud at WDW, it is nothing compared to the unsupervised idiocy at the pools at DRP.

Disney Village has nothing in it to see -- don't even bother unless you are staying in the resorts there. They are not comparable to the the Downtown Disney thing -- it is merely a series of buildings next to each other with two restaurants and a McDonalds. There are some small shops - nothing on the scale of anything in the US Disney entertainment villages. You will be sorely disappointed if you waste your time planning to spend any of it in the "Village". It's merely a "holding pen" to keep the resort guests busy after the parks close for an hour or two.

The parks themselves are prettier than any other Disney parks anywhere -- Disneyland Parc is stunning and as the poster above indicated, all of their E-ticket rides are far superior to the US versions. But Europeans don't go to Disney to "linger" over the parks, like we do in the US...they go in a clockwise direction, do each ride, then go home. Often by 3:00 in the afternoon, you can walk on the major attractions (the exceptions being Space Mountain II and Big Thunder Mountain). They also have much better use of Fast Passes so you can plan your day quickly around those.

I don't know when you will be there but summer is HORRIBLE at the parks - the crowds are horrendous - and Europeans don't really stand in lines - they just jostle their way into crowds around the entrances, hop the queu lines if they can, and the term "waiting in line" is merely treated as a "suggestion". During the summer, prepare for very long waits on all the major attractions. If you are there during the summer, go on a day that it is raining - the parks clear out, almost everything is indoors, and you will get to do more while there.
 

a2grafix

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thank you all for the information provided. I unfortunately, have not been to WDW in Orlando since August 1993 and only visited Disneyland California in June 1999.

Basically, all that I remember at either of the two parks and the attractions everyone talks / raves about I have never tasted -- the World of Motion and Dreamerfinder and Figment and Horizons were all alive and well in Epcot, so was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and 20k Leagues at the Magic Kingdom. As well, Tower of Terror was being built in 1993 (WDW Studios expansion) and California Adventure was also being constructed in June 1999.


I do value your thoughts, but as I recently found out today, the slots were filled for the 3-month stay in London. I was a week late in volunteering in the assignment because my supervisor didn't read the fine print. She received the opportunity two days after deadline.

But there are other opportunities coming up later on this year for an extended stay somewhere in Europe. Now, if I get to go to Europe, and not in London but somewhere else, is it possible for me to take the rail to-and-from Marne-la-Vallée somewhat economically? Or will I be looking into paying extra and spending extra time on the rail (which I do not mind).

Once of these days I would love to visit the rest of the Disney properties. I was close to visiting Toyko Disneyland in 1998 when I was stationed in Alaska.

Thank you once again. Go Blue! --
 

RonAnnArbor

Well-Known Member
There are package deals to Disneyland Paris from all over Europe -- Eurostar is the official provider of transportation packages from all points Europe to Marne-le-Valle. The train station is 100 feet from the Disneyland Parc entrance. From paris, you take suburban metro High Speed RER - its your typical suburban subway train.
 

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