I am a WDW vet and I just took a solo, 3-day trip to DLP last week. I agree with what's been said above. However, I honestly found the cast members in Paris to be MORE friendly than cast members at WDW (at least, on my more recent visits). Everyone was happy to speak English, and strangely they seemed excited when they realized I was American. ("We love your accents!" they said, more than once. What?!)
Disneyland park is BEAUTIFUL -- particularly the castle and Discoveryland, and particularly at night. That said, it's true that there is a lot under refurb right now, but it honestly didn't bother me. The adjacent Disney Studios park, however, is kind of unattractive. It features some unique attractions though -- Crush's Coaster and Ratatouille, most notably. It also has Rockin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror (pretty much identical to the one at Disneyland, only in French) and they were both walk-ons.
My favorite things about DLP:
- The dragon under the castle!! So cool!
- The castle itself!
- Disney Dreams - their evening fireworks/projection show
- Crush's Coaster at Disney Studios (line up early! this one loads very slowly)
- Mickey and the Magician show at Disney Studios -- really quite impressive!
- The friendliness of the cast members
- The Ratatouille area in Disney Studios. I honestly wasn't that impressed by the ride itself, but between the ride and the restaurant, the general area is very well-themed and very French! Must-see's if you are fans of the film.
- Space Mountain: Mission 2. I know some people think this is too rough, but if you like coasters, this is AWESOME. And not much rougher than WDW's Space Mountain -- but way cooler.
- Pirates and Small World -- close enough to WDW/DL versions to feel like "home", but different enough for hard-core Disney fans to geek out on.
- Character meets: The characters spend more time with people and are very creative and interactive! I also loved my lunch at Auberge de Cendrillon. I'm not a 'princess person' but I'd heard the food was good (it was ok), but my interactions with the face characters were AWESOME. Very attentive, multi-lingual, talented face characters really enhanced my experience and I had some memorable interactions and photos.
Things I disliked:
- The food. Overpriced and not very good. (And I ate at some of the "nicer" spots -- Walt's, Chez Remy, Inventions. The only one I thought was decent value for the quality of food was Chez Remy, and that was a stretch)
- Indiana Jones ride. I am a coaster person, but THIS was rough enough to send me to the chiropractor, and completely unremarkable too. Highly recommend skipping this.
- Alice Labyrinth walk-thru. Loved the idea of this, but it was jammed full of people it and was the only part of the park that looked run-down to me. (ie paint peeling, etc.)
- The pushiness of some of the guests. I know it might be due to cultural differences, but there was some chronic line-jumping and general disregard for the cast members who were trying desperately to keep things orderly.
- Lack of professional photopass photographers in the park. I was traveling alone and I would have LOVED to take advantage of the photopass program, but there are just not enough opportunities for it to be worth it.
- Character meets: Well, rather, the queues for them. I've been to WDW and DL, and I've never seen guests more character-obsessed than DLP. Literally, people were lined up for HOURS in the hot sun before characters even arrived at their posts. And the lines moved incredibly slowly due to the long interactions the characters would have with each guest (which is both a positive and a negative). The Princess Pavilion line was over 70 minutes every time I checked. It was madness. So -- if you are interested in seeing characters, I would suggest book a character meal or pick ONE and line up early before their first listed meeting time.
Overall, I think it is worth a visit!! It far exceeded my expectations (to be honest, I had kept them low) and I would happily return if the planets aligned.