I thought i’d share a few thoughts and photos from my trip to Disneyland Paris in November. As it was the end of the month we were able to enjoy the parks all done up for Christmas which was really beautiful. Despite the many attractions currently down for refurb we had a great time and i’d like to head back and see what it’s like during the 25th anniversary.
The Resort
The Parks
Food
The Resort
- Being able to walk around the entire resort was nice. Knowing that we could get back to our hotel easily without waiting around for a bus kept things relaxed. I’ve always thought Disney World should incorporate more walking/cycling paths.
- We used Disney express which was pretty painless and nice to be able to go straight to the parks from the train station.
- The hotels are a bit of a mixed bag. I thought the Newport Bay looked beautiful, the Sequoia Lodge where we stayed was pleasant but a bit boxy compared to something like the Wilderness Lodge. The New York looks like my old university halls of residence.
- The resort area I thought could use a bit of beautification. The Disney Village in particular is very dated.
- The interior of the Sequoia was very nice and the room seemed like a decent size. We stayed in a Golden Forest room which only worked out £50 extra each for the whole trip which worked out to good value as we made good use of the Golden Forest Lounge and upgraded breakfast.
- I didn’t notice much smoking at all except for one girl in the Crush’s Coaster line.
The Parks
- Despite the large number of construction walls during our visit, Disneyland Parc is one of the most beautiful Disney parks i’ve visited.
- The arcades to Frontierland and Discoveryland are so handy, and also really beautifully themed. They should have these at every castle park.
- Wait times were always much longer at the Studios park. I guess Disneyland Parc rides were built for capacity.
- I’ve heard that Pirates of the Caribbean is currently in a terrible state, but I still enjoyed it more than the Orlando version. Two drops helps.
- Big Thunder Mountain was down for refurb but i’ve seen videos since and I’d definitely like to go back for that.
- We only went on Space Mountain once. It was too painful.
- Ditto Indiana Jones.
- Casey Jr. was weirdly thrilling.
- Peter Pan looks great now compared to the Florida version. I also don’t remember the Florida one swinging quite as violently!
- Maybe it was due to coming during low season but a lot of Disneyland Parc felt quite sparse and lifeless. Each land needs at least one more attraction - particularly Frontierland and Adventureland.
- It was really nice to go into the parks without much of a plan and be able to go on pretty much everything we wanted.
- Walt Disney Studios is in desperate need of an overhaul. The quality I’ve come to expect from a Disney park just isn’t there. They need to demolish that bottleneck food court at the entrance and make it one long street with buildings instead of facades. The ride count is fairly good and there are some decent attractions, it just needs some work to give the park enough cohesiveness and ambiance to make people want to hang around.
- The Ratatouille area was really nicely themed but we found the attraction a little lacking. I was expecting more movement and effects but a lot of the experience is just being sat static in front of a screen.
- I thought the theming around the Tower of Terror could have been more elaborate, but the cast members were really wonderful. We rode several times and each time they got really into character.
- Mickey and the Magician was probably the best Disney show I’ve seen at any park. The pacing and the length were perfect. Cinemagique was also very enjoyable.
- The Backlot Tour and Armageddon are both embarrassingly out of date. It was nice to experience Catastrophe Canyon again but I wouldn’t be sad to see it go.
- Crush’s Coaster was great though we only managed to get on once because of the consistently long line.
Food
- Disney inflation and a weak pound meant food was really expensive.
- I’m glad we visited the Remy restaurant. It was really enjoyable to have a nice French wine at lunch time in a theme park. Very expensive but it was a one off.
- The Lucky Nugget felt like good value. The restaurant was beautiful to look at and there was constantly something going on on the stage. The ribs were pretty good too.
- The Golden Forest Lounge was really good value for us as we took advantage of the breakfast every day. We barely went for the continental choices so it was definitely a good option for us.
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