Thoughts and Opinions from a first timer

[cjkeating]

Mickey & the Magician is the best thing in the park, and exclusive to the resort. It should be a priority for anyone visiting IMO.

@voodoo321 I concur with @Animaniac93-98 you missed out by not seeing Mickey & the Magician, I don't know anyone who hasn't been at the least impressed by it if not blown away.

 

[erstwo]

We were there the week of Thanksgiving as well! We were in DLP on Monday and spent the rest of the week either in Paris or day tripping around other places.
I was surprised by how many Americans were in the Parks. I was prepared for British, but by an large the English speakers we encountered were American.
I loved Crush - I think everyone would go bonkers for it in the States. Too bad it has such low capacity. I agree about the Studios being bizarrely mashed together. It was just....strange.
What did you think about maintenance (you may have mentioned it and I just missed it)? I sat in the (empty and closed) Main Street Plaza Ice Cream Shop adjacent to the Bakery to drink my coffee and looked at all the chipped paint and thought - "I never want to hear another complaint about WDW maintenance again.....??" Even the castle - the parts you could tour up top and down below - needed a coat of paint in most spots. For me, it was crazy after years of WDW and DL.
Interestingly, I thought we had great service, but I thought it was because of the low crowds?

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

DLP proper is the prettiest Magic Kingdom there is, IMHO.

 

[voodoo321]

@voodoo321 I concur with @Animaniac93-98 you missed out by not seeing Mickey & the Magician, I don't know anyone who hasn't been at the least impressed by it if not blown away.

I should have gone. I had heard good reviews of the show and considered it. I will go to the occasional play and ballet but going to a show in the parks feels like too much of a gamble to me with the time investment. I've enjoyed many that I've been to, but I have been to an equal amount of time wasters. I don't have that experience with the rides. I guess I could always walk out of the shows, and have. It also seems like a bit of a hassle to time my day with show schedules. I skimmed through a video of it before the trip. I know, I know, a video can't do it justice and probably shouldn't have even watched it. I think by the time we thought about it, we were just ready to get out of this park.

 

[voodoo321]

We were there the week of Thanksgiving as well! We were in DLP on Monday and spent the rest of the week either in Paris or day tripping around other places.
I was surprised by how many Americans were in the Parks. I was prepared for British, but by an large the English speakers we encountered were American.
I loved Crush - I think everyone would go bonkers for it in the States. Too bad it has such low capacity. I agree about the Studios being bizarrely mashed together. It was just....strange.
What did you think about maintenance (you may have mentioned it and I just missed it)? I sat in the (empty and closed) Main Street Plaza Ice Cream Shop adjacent to the Bakery to drink my coffee and looked at all the chipped paint and thought - "I never want to hear another complaint about WDW maintenance again.....??" Even the castle - the parts you could tour up top and down below - needed a coat of paint in most spots. For me, it was crazy after years of WDW and DL.
Interestingly, I thought we had great service, but I thought it was because of the low crowds?

We were in the parks Monday, Tuesday and Thursday morning. You may have noticed me. I was the only idiot walking around with short sleeves. Everybody else was bundled up like Eskimos. The rest of our time was mainly spent in Paris. I had the same expectations and thought we would be some of the only Americans in the park and too was very surpised. Same goes for Paris. Many Americans. It sort of disappointed me, if that makes any sense.
I didn't get the feeling that maintenance was any worse than the MK, which isn't a compliment. Just like in Florida I think that most of it looks great and then you see something that makes you scratch your head that it could be left in that condition. Maybe it is just easier to see these details when you aren't fighting crowds. That is what I told myself anyway. There are worse examples, but one that stood out to me was a plaque on the wall exiting the Discovery arcade. I saw it being held up by masking tape on Monday and just assumed that they were letting the glue dry. The masking tape was still there on Thursday.

 

[jpeden]

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.

We spent five days in Paris and two days in Disneyland Paris at Newport Bay in a September. The food at Disney was horrible. I was so excited to eat at Walt’s and it was the biggest letdown. The food was frankly disgusting. The ceasar dressing tasted like fish paste and the turkey and dressing I had was bad - like, middle school lunch room bad. The best meal we had was at McDonalds in Disney village.

In regards to food in Paris, people say it’s expensive and yes you can spend €1000 per person if you want, but we didn’t find it more expensive than a lot of places. We ate at more local and small restaurants and had a great time.

I will say I have to disagree with the OP about phantom manor and BTMRR. I found those to be two of the best rides there. I enjoyed them greatly and was slightly disappointed in WDW’s version when we returned to the world in November.

 

[voodoo321]

We spent five days in Paris and two days in Disneyland Paris at Newport Bay in a September. The food at Disney was horrible. I was so excited to eat at Walt’s and it was the biggest letdown. The food was frankly disgusting. The ceasar dressing tasted like fish paste and the turkey and dressing I had was bad - like, middle school lunch room bad. The best meal we had was at McDonalds in Disney village.

In regards to food in Paris, people say it’s expensive and yes you can spend €1000 per person if you want, but we didn’t find it more expensive than a lot of places. We ate at more local and small restaurants and had a great time.

I will say I have to disagree with the OP about phantom manor and BTMRR. I found those to be two of the best rides there. I enjoyed them greatly and was slightly disappointed in WDW’s version when we returned to the world in November.

BTMRR in Paris is much better than at WDW. I just don't think it is as good or fun as Disneyland's. And I liked Phantom Manor. Just being critical as it compares to the originals. For me.

 

[JayJay2018]

It’s so nice to hear other people’s opinions on DLP. It is our favourite park and holds some special memories. Glad you enjoyed your stay and please come back soon