After All Now, This is France! (June 2022)

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I am going to DLP for the first time in November. Please keep writing! I am loving the report and am taking notes.

 

[Kestryl]

I am going to DLP for the first time in November. Please keep writing! I am loving the report and am taking notes.

I’m glad you’re finding it helpful! That’s what I did before we left- read a bunch of reports, just so I could get a sense of the place.

 

[Kestryl]

SUNDAY - BRING ME THAT HORIZON

OK. Moving on.

We took a walk through the Aladdin miniature scenes, Le Passage Enchanté d'Aladdin. It’s an impressive showcase with scenes from the movies. I wish the US parks had more walkthroughs like these!

My husband thought it would be a good idea to go over to Captain Jack’s to try to get in after the debacle from the day before. I disagreed and thought they would turn us away. I’m glad we went with his plan. We went at opening and got in line. A CM started coming down the line and was turning people away if they didn’t have reservations, telling them to try again later. When the CM got to us, my husband politely asked about getting in with two, and I mentioned that we had our reservation canceled yesterday because of the closure. She let us stay in line and told us to mention our issue to the CM doing seating arrangements. So we waited a bit more, got up to the host stand, explained the situation, and the CM got us in. The ambiance is very cool- similar to Blue Bayou at Disneyland (Anaheim). I really like the background soundtrack, it’s a mix of sea shanties and stylized Disney songs. We went ahead and did the Pirate’s Treasure Menu- starter, main, and dessert for 42 euros. I also got a pina colada. I had the island-style fish soup, Caribbean check and prawns, and mango puree. My husband had the chopped smoked chicken with green papaya and pickled vegetables, Caribbean chicken and prawns, and the shortbread. The soup was really good- kind of like a fishy minestrone. The chopped smoked chicken wasn’t really to our liking. My husband liked the cold chicken well enough, but everything felt overpowered by the vinegar. The Caribbean chicken and prawns were filling, and the desserts were, well, desserts. We liked them. It’s hard not to like desserts.



Since we got to sit by the water, we watched many boats sail by. And quite a few of them featured people waving their cell phone flashlights around. We did not have this experience at Blue Bayou back in 2019. Once again, if you are on Pirates, do not do this. It is annoying.

 

[Kestryl]

SUNDAY - A VERY MERRY UNBIRTHDAY

Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups: It’s the tea cups! You spin. They play music. It’s covered like the Magic Kingdom version.

Alice’s Curious Labyrinth: This. This right here is a prime example of what DLP does right compared to the US parks. The little labyrinths and walkthroughs add such a magical touch. Anyways, this hedge labyrinth is excellent. We truly got lost a few times. There’s jumping water fountains and statues that pop out of the maze and music playing. There’s a lot of good photo ops if you’re into that thing.



We did a character meet with Mickey. The line was physically short but it moved incredibly slow. We think it’s because of the time they gave groups to interact- not that we were with Mickey for a particularly long time, but it was definitely longer than average.

Then we met with Darth Vader over by Star Tours. This was a short line, though again, a pretty substantial interaction.

In both of these character meets, we were asked ahead of time if we spoke French, English, or something else. The cast members are quick to adapt from one group to the next, and I’m very grateful for all the English offerings. My French is pretty abysmal, with only enough to explain that I’m very bad at French and I’m very sorry about it.

We decided to head back to WDS, but first we caught the parade portion of “Dream… and Shine Brighter!” I will never ever get tired of those songs.

 

[Kestryl]

SUNDAY - SHOWS AND FINAL NIGHT

Cars Road Trip: After several tries, we FINALLY got on this tram ride. It’s fine. It’s not particularly exciting, and I feel like they could add a lot more to it to make it less boring. The best (weirdest) part of this attraction was the car that caught on fire. He seemed ok with it? I know this is a holdover of the previous attraction but seeing a “live” car catch on fire is just so bizarre. The attraction just feels so disconnected from everything. They really need something else- attraction, meet and greet, cozy cones- to fill out this area. But I also realize that there are a lot of changes on the horizon at this park.



Mickey and the Magician: Mickey blinks! I’m still amazed at costumes like this. It’s a cute show, with lots of music from different movies. It’s a bit odd to have Frozen and Lion King included when Frozen has its own show just across the way and Lion King in the next park over. Maybe it could use a re-fresh to bring in some different properties. But it’s a good show overall.

Frozen: A Musical Invitation: So we had no plans to see this, but it re-opened while we were there. I didn’t have any expectations. I was a bit disappointed that it was not a sit-down show, but only because I wanted to be lazy. You actually transition from one set to the next, and it’s quite a small setting. Parents were getting upset that others were standing in front of their kids, and people were upset that they lost their front row spots moving from one room to the next, so, you know, normal crowd behavior. The cast was excellent, and the blend of English and French made the show really easy to follow.



Wanting to have something a bit lighter for dinner, we stopped at Earl of Sandwich out in Disney Village. It remains a reliable place.

We finished out the night with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Hyperspace Mountain, and Star Tours, without hardly any waits. It was raining pretty heavily by the time we got to Star Tours- they actually pulled the fireworks and just did a projection-only show for the night, from what we could tell. We took our time leaving and hit up the stores on the way out for some souvenirs (pins and t-shirts).

 

[Kestryl]

MONDAY - CHECK OUT DAY

Check-out day. We took our luggage to the front for storage.

Funny note: When we walked into Walt Disney Studios, I recognized the music… and it was from the Harry Potter score. I have no clue why it’s included here!

We took a quick ride on the Tower of Terror, then headed back over to Disneyland Paris.

We had lunch at Hyperion Café. Nothing too exciting. I actually liked the restaurant itself. It was very empty, making it a chill place to hangout. They were playing Mickey shorts on the screen. It looked like the stage was set up for a band performance later. The mobile order process was a bit frustrating- if you do this, note that you have to show the email they send you, not the message in the app. I don’t know why. Also, side note, these were the worst bathrooms I saw on property. The sinks were always clogged up and many toilets were unflushed.

And then, yep, you could probably guess… Dream… and Shine Brighter! The full show again this time. We chose a different location. Again, I highly recommend you see this multiple times from different spots. There is so much movement, and it is impossible to catch everything in one go.

I bought some macarons from a store along Main Street. Then we then hit up Indiana Jones, Storybook Canal, and Snow White again. (And by then I had eaten six macarons. What a life.)

 

[Kestryl]

MONDAY - DO WE HAVE TO GO?

We decided to split a meal from Pizzaria Bella Notte. I’m not sure if we caught this place on a bad day, but the line to order was ridiculous. It was clear that people were not looking at the menu until they got to the counter, which was incredibly frustrating. The menu is not complicated. It’s pizza and pasta. It’s not like there are an infinite number of options. We ordereda Mickey pizza meal, with side salad, garlic bread, yogurt, and a pop. The food was basically standard pizza meal from Disney, so nothing special, but also nothing terrible.

We ate over by the parade and show area, because of course we did, so I could get just one more hit of Dream… and Shine Brighter!



We then headed back to the hotel. We had a bit of time, so we hung out on the deck overlooking the back for about a half hour. It was very peaceful. There were a few people smoking, but we were able to keep away from it.

For our ride to the airport (CDG), we opted to do the Magical Shuttle, which was 23 euros a person. We intended to take the last shuttle at 6:25 pm. However, we had gotten to the pickuppoint pretty early, and there was already a bus there, so we left just before 6. While they guarantee buses at the times listed on the schedule, they will send more if demand is warranted. The ride took about an hour. Once we got to the airport, we were able to take the tram to our hotel to stay the night.

 

[Kestryl]

SOME GENERAL THOUGHTS

Languages: The cast members were well-versed in French and English. It was very easy to communicate with them as a native English speaker. Many of the CMs had badges with flag pins of other countries as well, showing they could speak other languages. It made the experience more welcoming.

Ride Operations: We usually waited as long or longer than the wait times listed. This contrasts with the US parks- in my experience, they tend to inflate the wait times there, and the actual wait is much shorter. Not so here. They also appear to be much less efficient at loading and unloading. For many attractions, they would unload before counting out the next group. Then count the group, let them load, run the ride, unload, count the next group… In the US parks, they would be counting out the next group while the previous group was on the ride. It was just odd.

Smoking: There are designated smoking areas, but many people ignore that and smoke wherever they please. It’s very odd to listen to a pre-show spiel that states that there should be no smoking inside or on the ride.

Food: We had heard that the food was bad, but we actually thought it was pretty good. We did not experience much quick service food, so that may be the weak spot. The reservation system for dining was frustrating. There isn’t a set time for when reservations open. We just kept checking before our trip for openings. They also had to be made through the app- you could not make reservations or find menus on the website. I wish there was a reservation finder like for the US parks.

Merchandise: Not a lot of options, and certainly not a lot relative to the US parks. Perhaps it was a supply chain issue. They only had one popcorn bucket option, and it was pretty generic. We bought some 30th anniversary t-shirts, pins, a porg plush, and a pair of ears, but I didn’t feel a pull to buy much.

Clothing: I was surprised at the lack of Disney-wear. Disneybounding is quite popular in the US parks. It didn’t seem as much of a thing here. And people weren’t even wearing Disney shirts.

 

[Kestryl]

Overall, it was an excellent trip. The shows- particularly the Dream… and Shine Brighter! day show and Disney D-light night show- and the walkable areas were the highlights of our trip. I’m glad we got to do it, and I’m hoping we can return in a few years once the upgrades to Walt Disney Studios are made. We missed Avengers Campus (it opened a month later), and they’re adding Frozen and Star Wars. I expect those upgrades will really improve WDS.

I’m happy with the amount of time we put towards this. It made the trip less stressful to have that room to breathe and accommodate changes in plans for the weather and let us explore the detailed areas. I’m also happy that we stayed onsite. The train does drop off right in front of the parks, but the Disney bubble was still worth it for early access and slow, quiet walks back.

So ends my trip report for Disneyland Paris Resort. What comes next? Guess we’ll have to wait and see! Adventure is out there!

 

[Kestryl]

(And of course, if anyone has any questions, or requests for pictures of anything, let me know!)

 

[Ms Poppins]

I’ve just caught up with your trip report. So lovely to read, you clearly had a great time. Thanks for taking the time

** I’ve noticed on a few recent YouTube vlogs and reports that Harry Potter music being played at the studios confused everyone . We did a tour of the studios years ago and they explained that the whole premise of the park is that you’re on a studio lot, and everything around is based on movies in general, not just Disney movies. This includes music, design and props. In previous years we’d hear music from Jurassic Park & Gone with the Wind regularly. There used to be a fantastic show called Cinemagique in the studios which displayed the theme perfectly. **

 

[Isabelle12345]

I am considering a trip to DLP next summer
How were the wait times?
Did you use any paid premier access passes?
Thanks for your report, very helpful!

 

[Kestryl]

I’ve just caught up with your trip report. So lovely to read, you clearly had a great time. Thanks for taking the time

** I’ve noticed on a few recent YouTube vlogs and reports that Harry Potter music being played at the studios confused everyone . We did a tour of the studios years ago and they explained that the whole premise of the park is that you’re on a studio lot, and everything around is based on movies in general, not just Disney movies. This includes music, design and props. In previous years we’d hear music from Jurassic Park & Gone with the Wind regularly. There used to be a fantastic show called Cinemagique in the studios which displayed the theme perfectly. **

Thanks for reading! That’s pretty funny about the music. I would have gotten a kick walking through the courtyard, listening to Jurassic Park, and then seeing Mickey waving from the balcony!

 

[Kestryl]

I am considering a trip to DLP next summer
How were the wait times?
Did you use any paid premier access passes?
Thanks for your report, very helpful!

That’s great! My spouse is a teacher, so we live and die by the school calendar. You may know this, but take a look at school breaks for the region. My understanding is August can get quite busy- a lot of people out there will vacation in the month before school starts there. We went in June for better chances at weather (not that it worked for us!) and because many schools were still in session. (Which was a different kind of difficulty- school field trips to museums and gardens, whoops! But not to Disneyland!)

Wait times varied greatly- the morning and later at night (right before fireworks) were short, some even with a walk-on. Early afternoons were brutal. For example, Hyperspace Mountain was about 30 minutes of waiting later in the day Thursday and a total walk-on Sunday night, but we saw it get up to 100 minutes Saturday around 1 pm. Crush’s Coaster was consistently high. We never saw a short time for that. Everything else would start low, ricochet high by 2 pm, cool off a bit, then bottom out later at night.

We did not use paid premier access passes. I could rant about this forever, but I refuse to buy any form of skip-the-line passes, ha.

 

[Isabelle12345]

That’s great! My spouse is a teacher, so we live and die by the school calendar. You may know this, but take a look at school breaks for the region. My understanding is August can get quite busy- a lot of people out there will vacation in the month before school starts there. We went in June for better chances at weather (not that it worked for us!) and because many schools were still in session. (Which was a different kind of difficulty- school field trips to museums and gardens, whoops! But not to Disneyland!)

Wait times varied greatly- the morning and later at night (right before fireworks) were short, some even with a walk-on. Early afternoons were brutal. For example, Hyperspace Mountain was about 30 minutes of waiting later in the day Thursday and a total walk-on Sunday night, but we saw it get up to 100 minutes Saturday around 1 pm. Crush’s Coaster was consistently high. We never saw a short time for that. Everything else would start low, ricochet high by 2 pm, cool off a bit, then bottom out later at night.

We did not use paid premier access passes. I could rant about this forever, but I refuse to buy any form of skip-the-line passes, ha.

Thanks for your reply!
We are actually looking at end of June (when our school gets out of session) - great tip about field trips to museums during the week! I will definitely look at school vacations in France!