blimey it was busy!!

[Disney day dreamer]

just back from disney and can not beleive how busy it was. I've been lots of times before xmas, summer peak school holidays and it has never been so busy. even at 9am in the extra magic hours it was heaving.
the hotels were busy and huge q's for breakfast at 7.30am!!! packed. in florida when it reaches capacity you have other things you can do, like shows, play areas and they put on extra characters etc but at paris they just didn't have it. the park didn't look very pretty either, scoffolding over walts detracted from main street looking its best and the castle was covered as well. restarants like walts and pizza planet was only open for lunches which again meant limited choices for eating.

we were disappointed with our sequoia room as well, having paid for a montana room to be close in the building they have moved them all to the lodges. no fridge or mini bar as promised and again the hotel was covered up at the front and areas closed for refurbishment. the rooms are nice and bigger than i remebered but they should have told people before they arrived that this work was taking place.

the meal plan was poor value as well, with no lucky nugget saloon character meals opportunity our HB plus voucher didn't enable us to have a character meal in the park. our cafe mickeyt meal was fab though, food great quality and fab interaction. we ended up paying extra for a meal at the disney hotel to see the charaters about an etar £75 for 4 of us. fab but expensive. however this was the best way to see characters as q's in the park was ridiculous.

we did get some of the disney magic and the little moments with the charatsers and the children were lovely but overall i think this was the most disappointing trip to paris ever. and in 15 years of going i have a lot to compare it too. disney need to get focused and ensure they provide a great holiday experince even when they are refurbishing and ensure their web info is up to date and accurate.

i think we'll leave it a while to visit again, what a shame.

DDD

 

[micksn]

What a shame you were dissappointed with your room, however the new brochure makes it quite clear that the montana rooms are now the refurbished lodges. They will the revert to being in the main building when the refurbishment is complete! Did you like the new Bambi theming? We are considering this for our next visit.

 

[Lisa_C]

the Montana Rooms have been causing confusion lately when booking through a TA, or even the website, but it's been quite well know about the refub as it started way back in October last year.

The rooms have indeed been moved outside the main building for the time being, enabling guests to have to best rooms as a Montana room as the lodges were refurbished first. When the refurb has finished (sometime next year) they will indeed revert back to the old room locations. But for now, it's all a reversal.

Such a shame you were disappointed to have a refurbished new room, I've heard they are wonderful and lovely and clean. But just so you are aware, no rooms in Disney hotels have fridges as standard, and I'm not even sure if you can request them either. True, Montana rooms are advertised with minibars, but they are not capable of being used as a fridge and are weight sensitive meaning anything moved, you will be charged for. But to be honest, I've never used the mini bar as they are really expensive (except my first stay in the Sequoia in 2000 when we drank all the coke and replaced it with coke from the garage ROFL!! No weights in those days!)

I am not going this year due to all the work that is currently being carried out, but they have to to this sometime I am afraid. Next year everything will be sparkling and new ready for the 20th anniversary and I can't wait to see the improvements for myself

 

[MummyMinnie]

It's a shame you were so disappointed what actual dates were you there? We were there for 5 days over the Easter period and can honestly say that it was only Easter Tuesday that we felt the park was to capacity. This was our 9th visit and also having been at other peak times we found it to be no different. We seem to see so many characters this time - in fact we commented more than we've ever seen in the parks.

What did you think to the Magical Moments show? this is the only disappointment for us - and no big deal as we've seen so many

Hope it hasn't put you off going back in the future.

 

[Disney day dreamer]

What a shame you were dissappointed with your room, however the new brochure makes it quite clear that the montana rooms are now the refurbished lodges. They will the revert to being in the main building when the refurbishment is complete! Did you like the new Bambi theming? We are considering this for our next visit.

In fairness though we haven't used the brochures, we searched and booked online and i do think disney has a responsibility to keep all info up to date. i wasn't aware of any planned refurbs - i should have been on here sooner! i'm not realy sure about the bambi theming though, nice pictures in the rooms but nthing else. unitl refurb is finished i'd opt for different hotel, upgrade to newport or down grade to cheyenne - unless they are refurbing as well. we have used mini bar as cooler before fitted in milk for my daughter who was little at the time.

i guess i'm just frustrated that i didn't get what i thought i was getting. an email from diseny to tell me the changes would have been a simple courtesy.

i've got lots of planning still for my next disney trip this summer, this time in florida!
DDD

 

[Disney day dreamer]

It's a shame you were so disappointed what actual dates were you there? We were there for 5 days over the Easter period and can honestly say that it was only Easter Tuesday that we felt the park was to capacity. This was our 9th visit and also having been at other peak times we found it to be no different. We seem to see so many characters this time - in fact we commented more than we've ever seen in the parks.

What did you think to the Magical Moments show? this is the only disappointment for us - and no big deal as we've seen so many

Hope it hasn't put you off going back in the future.

We were there 25th - 29th. we felt the movie park was easier to see things and yes plenty of characters there. there was so much shut in the disney park - big thunder (but now we know why!) swiss robinson tree house, woody's roundup village, pinochio and lots of refurb as well. which was the magic moments show - the 7pm one? we never made it past 5pm as had enough of the q's. it has put us off to be honest. we're limited to school holidays due to our work as teachers but dream of days when we can go off peak. 5 mins q's and space to take it all in. we only even managed small world once due to q's and this is normally where we go when everything else clogs up.

maybe i'm jut being grumpy.....it's always been such a solid favourite. xmas was my favourite in 2008, freezing cold and frost so thick it loooked like snow everyday. busy but everything open and i love the minnie and mickey show in the chaparrel theatre - and santa of course. happy days
DDD

 

[hildasmuriel]

Sorry to hear it wasn't the trip you were hoping for. It is a pity you couldn't have been there in the evening as that is when we got most of our rides done last week. We took a midday break every day and then stayed until 9 o'clock each night when things were so much quieter.
Like you, I work in a school and I have only ever been during school holiday times. This Easter was very busy but I don't think it quite hit the crowds we see in August and it certainly wasn't as busy as the Christmases we've seen. Except last Christmas of course when the snow kept most people away.

 

[Ware Bears]

What a shame you had a disappointing time.

i should have been on here sooner!

I think this proves how invaluable the internet community is ~ I like to check out DLRP Today most days as they are both very quick and accurate with any news, and between the DIS and the other DLP forums I think people tend to get to know about most things.

Hope your next trip will be a bit more enjoyable.

 

[bobbleboo]

just back from disney and can not beleive how busy it was. I've been lots of times before xmas, summer peak school holidays and it has never been so busy. even at 9am in the extra magic hours it was heaving.
the hotels were busy and huge q's for breakfast at 7.30am!!! packed. in florida when it reaches capacity you have other things you can do, like shows, play areas and they put on extra characters etc but at paris they just didn't have it. the park didn't look very pretty either, scoffolding over walts detracted from main street looking its best and the castle was covered as well. restarants like walts and pizza planet was only open for lunches which again meant limited choices for eating.

we were disappointed with our sequoia room as well, having paid for a montana room to be close in the building they have moved them all to the lodges. no fridge or mini bar as promised and again the hotel was covered up at the front and areas closed for refurbishment. the rooms are nice and bigger than i remebered but they should have told people before they arrived that this work was taking place.

the meal plan was poor value as well, with no lucky nugget saloon character meals opportunity our HB plus voucher didn't enable us to have a character meal in the park. our cafe mickeyt meal was fab though, food great quality and fab interaction. we ended up paying extra for a meal at the disney hotel to see the charaters about an etar £75 for 4 of us. fab but expensive. however this was the best way to see characters as q's in the park was ridiculous.

we did get some of the disney magic and the little moments with the charatsers and the children were lovely but overall i think this was the most disappointing trip to paris ever. and in 15 years of going i have a lot to compare it too. disney need to get focused and ensure they provide a great holiday experince even when they are refurbishing and ensure their web info is up to date and accurate.

i think we'll leave it a while to visit again, what a shame.

DDD

How did breakfast work at the SL? Did you get a VIP pass with being in a Montana room or did you have to book breakfast? Do they show you to a table? Sorry for all the questions but we go the end of May.

 

[jothp]

How did breakfast work at the SL? Did you get a VIP pass with being in a Montana room or did you have to book breakfast? Do they show you to a table? Sorry for all the questions but we go the end of May.

We stayed at the sequioa lodge last year and the year before in montana rooms. We have always had to book a breakfast slot but were told it was fine to go at a different time especially if you went early. You get shown to a table and they write on the tablecloth to show the table is being used so they don't give it to someone else while you are getting food.

 

[dent]

We visited Disneyland Paris for the first time from 24th to 28th of April. I have to say I was disappointed at how busybusy i was... I expected a lot of people, but nothing like this! To wait in line for one full hour to for instances take the Casey jr train is not for me or my children (but, hey, we did it anyway...) I would have liked to try Crushes Coaster, but I really didn't have two hours to wait in line...
After putting the children to sleep, I went back to the park at 8, but the Indiana Jones ride still had 45 minutes of waiting...

IF I ever go back, I'll be sure to pick a time less busy (if possible...)

How busy is the park usually? How much time do you spend waiting in line?

 

[DLPdaft]

Hi dent,
Elaine, Jackie, Elaine and Reid welcome you to the DLP DIS board

We are a friendly bunch here so please join in on any other thread or if you have a number of questions then just start a new thread for each

If you have not had a look yet, DLP posting rules are here
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1477038,
DIS posting guidelines can be found here
http://www.wdwinfo.com/guidelines.htm

The quietest times at DLP are low season, midweek. If you go at this time, most rides are walk-ons or have less than a maximum 20 minute wait times, at all times of the day (except for Crush coaster and possibly the Parachute Drop, which could be 50 minutes or more, unless you are there before 10am, or in the last hour or so of the studios park day, when they reduce dramatically).

 

[bobbleboo]

We stayed at the sequioa lodge last year and the year before in montana rooms. We have always had to book a breakfast slot but were told it was fine to go at a different time especially if you went early. You get shown to a table and they write on the tablecloth to show the table is being used so they don't give it to someone else while you are getting food.

Thanks for your reply. I thought we would have to book a breakfast slot but some people had told me they were in a Montana room and were given a VIP pass, which meant they could go at anytime.

Did you always get the time you wanted for breakfast? I assume you can book the whole week when you book in.

 

[jothp]

Hi, I think there was only one day when we didn't get what we wanted (we wanted all 7.00) and were told to try to swap it the night before but if we couldn't it didn't matter and we could turn up when we liked anyway and would still be seated!

 

[Disney day dreamer]

How did breakfast work at the SL? Did you get a VIP pass with being in a Montana room or did you have to book breakfast? Do they show you to a table? Sorry for all the questions but we go the end of May.

you book your breakfast time slot when you checked in and then when you arrive there were two q's, one for 'on time' another for other times. it didn't seem to make much diffeence to be honest though. we booked early slots as wanted to off and out but it stayed prety busy at all times. hot chocolate was nice and the cream cheese as well. oh and the pain au chocolate always a treat on holiday.

i also asked if they still did the fantasyland breakfast, i hadn't seen any mention on it anywhere. so they were but only on one day we were there - out of 4. really nice change, same breakfast but different location. ours was in plaza gardens but can be in any of the fantasyland restaurants.

DDD

 

[hotfudgesundae]

DH and I and two of our granddaughters aged 5 10 went on Tuesday last week returning on Friday night. This was our first visit to the Parks in Paris. We stayed at the Newport Bay had a lovely quiet room, the parks were so busy we were quite surprised by this but on the whole we had a good time.
Its a pity that the queues are not more organised there was a lot of pushing and shoving when pirates opened on Friday morning some people coming to blows and we were attacked by someone with their pushchair, both of us being practically run over.
We managed to do the rides we wanted. But dissapointed about Thunder Mountain we didnt know why it wasnt running until we came home.

Meals were fine we were on HB Plus and had 2 meals in the hotel and one at the Blue Lagoon by Pirates which we really enjoyed. I think if we went again we could go when the park is not so busy. Another thing which surprised us was having our luggage x rayed before going into the hotel to check in.

 

[DLPdaft]

The x-ray machine for luggage is a fairly new addition to the security station at the park entrance - you used to have to open your suitcases for inspection there before that. Its because you used the park entrance way of getting to the hotel (I'm assuming it was the Disneyland Hotel?). If you'd gone directly to the front entrance of the hotel you wouldn't have had your luggage x-rayed or checked by security.

 

[hotfudgesundae]

We were staying at the Newport Bay Club Hotel and the x ray machine was at the front of the hotel outside so we had to have our luggage x rayed before we could go into the hotel. There was an x ray machine at the disney village and also at the park.

 

[DLPdaft]

thats different - I hadn't heard of that before at any hotel apart from the DLH .

 

[hotfudgesundae]

They seem to change these kind of things all the time you never know from one day to the next what will be changed. I suppose these days they cant be too careful its for our safety after all.