Luis Rodriguez
I'd rather be at Disney
- Joined
- Sep 29, 1999
- Messages
- 461
This past August 22th my family (DW and DD-7) did a one-day visit to DLP, at the start of a short trip to Paris. This was my wife’s and mine second visit to DLP, the first one back in January 1999. At that time Valeria (our DD) was, of course, still on the planning board 
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So there we were, having arrived from a long trip (Caracas->Rome->Paris) just the day before, with our luggage misplaced by the airline and a good deal of jet lag, ready to battle the crowds, the heat and a double language barrier (from Spanish to English to, sometimes, French).
So, how was our visit? Well, I love everything Disney, and DLP is no exception. That said I feel that, although most of the individual attractions are beautifully designed (the castle and the Space Mountain come to mind) there is something in the layout of some lands that (in my very personal opinion) makes them feel less well “themed” or integrated than their Florida counterparts. When I think of WDW’s Tomorrowland, for example, I feel a compact, well integrated area of the park. DLP’s Discoveryland, on the other hand, have several well designed attractions but, maybe due to the size of the land, lacks that “intimate”, closed feeling that (again, for me) the Magic Kingdom has…
There were some particular likes and dislikes respect our visit. Let me state the most important and dedicate the rest of my thread to some photos.
What I did like:
What I did not like so much:
Well, enough of that. Let’s just see some photos…
.So there we were, having arrived from a long trip (Caracas->Rome->Paris) just the day before, with our luggage misplaced by the airline and a good deal of jet lag, ready to battle the crowds, the heat and a double language barrier (from Spanish to English to, sometimes, French).
So, how was our visit? Well, I love everything Disney, and DLP is no exception. That said I feel that, although most of the individual attractions are beautifully designed (the castle and the Space Mountain come to mind) there is something in the layout of some lands that (in my very personal opinion) makes them feel less well “themed” or integrated than their Florida counterparts. When I think of WDW’s Tomorrowland, for example, I feel a compact, well integrated area of the park. DLP’s Discoveryland, on the other hand, have several well designed attractions but, maybe due to the size of the land, lacks that “intimate”, closed feeling that (again, for me) the Magic Kingdom has…
There were some particular likes and dislikes respect our visit. Let me state the most important and dedicate the rest of my thread to some photos.
What I did like:
The Castle. Sleeping Beauty's castle is just lovely, full of details such as the landscaping and the Dragon’s lair.
Space Mountain! Although I could not ride it in this trip, due to the fact that it broke down several times, I think that the ride concept (you get a very fast start, as if shot from a cannon) and the exterior design are just fantastic.
The arcade behind the shops of Main Street. Again, a really nice design and a good place to escape the noise and heat of Main Street.
Toy Story Playland. Nicely done, fun for all the family.
What I did not like so much:
- In some places the “themeing” leaves something to be desired. As I see it, rides like Phantom Manor and the Tower of Terror are not up to par of their WDW equivalents in their exterior design. That said, we had an excellent sequence at TOT!!
Many ride operators were just that, not “Cast Members”. For example, at Star Tours we sorted ourselves in the entry lines, while the personnel were chatting in a bunch. At Phantom Manor, the personnel were in costumes, but not in character. In contrast, most of the personnel we found at the stores were very helpful and friendly.
The studios were a big letdown for me. I didn’t particularly like its theme (or, more precisely, its lack of it).
On a more personal note, I feel that some of the visitors were very rude. People don’t seem to mind just pushing you out of their way. While we were waiting for the night parade and fireworks, we were pushed repeatedly, had cameras thrown in suddenly just in front of our faces, etc. Not really nice.
Well, enough of that. Let’s just see some photos…
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