I posted a rather lengthy ABD trip report here:
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=18888214&postcount=96
We went to
Disneyland Paris on May 25, which was a Friday. We took the RER A train to Marne la Vallee and got to the park about 9:15. They let people in as far as the entrances to the lands, so we found a bench and looked at a map to figure out what to do first. (park opened at 10) The park itself felt the same and yet different. Part of it was that the background music sounded like music I've heard in a local theme park. At times the park felt like a very good copy of Disneyland, but not really Disney. I did enjoy it, though. We were surprised at how small it was.
We started our journey in Frontierland, going to BTM to get a fast pass. Then we went to Phantom Manor, where there was no line. I loved hearing the French narration, but my parents know very little French, so they didn't enjoy it as much. My mom was disappointed with how little narration there was and complained that she couldn't follow the story. My dad was confused about the ghost town. Maybe we should have had them read our Haunted Mansion book, which describes the ride, before we left. Oh, well. My sister and I tried to explain it to them afterwards. I thought the ghost town was the scariest part. It was a good ride, better than at Disney World, but I just don't like being scared.
After that we rode Pirates. I was surprised at how long the flumes were. Perhaps I should have mentioned to my mom that there were 2. She was also concerned about getting wet (though it was about 80 degrees outside and it would have felt good) so she ducked when the picture was taken. My dad wanted to eat at the Blue Lagoon when he saw it on the ride.
According to, dlrpmagic.com, Indiana Jones was going to be closed, but we decided to see if it was open. It was and with no line, so we got to sit in the front. That was fun.
We missed our Fast Pass time for BTM when we took a water break. That was ok. We walked through the castle gallery, but it was too crowded and we left quickly. We saw the dragon. It wasn't as cool as I thought it would be, but I still like the idea of having a dungeon in the castle. We had lunch at Plaza Gardens. We didn't want to wait for food and we wanted to sit inside. We really wanted air conditioning at that point, especially because at Disney World it's going full blast and we're used to that. It was hot in there, but not busy. So, we made sure we drank plenty of water. Our waitor was slow in giving us the check, though, so we lost some park time there. We were surprised that no one was in a hurry. The crowd mentality is definitely different from what we're used to. We couldn't believe that there was a long line for the train (and that there ropes for a queue) and a very short line for Space Mountain.
We did ride it's a small world. I loved hearing the song in French and my family got a kick out of Americans being portrayed as cowboys. We got a fast pass for Space Mountain, rode the train, and then did Space Mountain. That was my favorite ride in the park. There was only a 15 minute wait and we didn't need the fast pass, but we ended up getting to ride in the front.
We also did Star Tours. My parents know it well in English so we figured the French wouldn't be an issue. I think this one is a bit rougher than the one at the Disney-MGM Studios, but we all enjoyed it. We were curious about Le Mystere du Nautilus and were disappointed that it was a walk-through. At least there was no wait so that we didn't waste much time. We rode Le Pays des Contes de Fees. I liked all the miniature figures, especially Belle sitting with the sheep. My mom said she didn't really like it.
We did some shopping on Main Street. We all got pins to put on our ABD pin lanyards. My sister and I bought t-shirts. I also got a bookmark, since I collect them, and a cd with park music.
We decided to eat dinner at the Cafe Hyperion so that we could see the last Lion King show, which was in English. The custodians were closing off the upper levels, which we thought was strange. If there's one more show, and people are still coming in to eat, why close it off? We got a seat in one of the upper levels before it was closed off, but then people came in and stood by the railings and we could only see the show on the screen. At some point during the show it had started raining and lots of people came in to get out of the rain. It was a thunderstorm and the lightning was very close. If it hadn't been for the lightning, we probably would have tried to get to Phantom Manor again before the park closed. But, we didn't venture out until we thought it was safe. By then, the park was closing (closed at 7). With the dark clouds, we could see the candles lit up on the castle.
So, as a whole we enjoyed the park. I'm glad that the only thing on our list we missed was BTM. We're planning another trip to Disney World in a couple of weeks, so we can at least ride that one.
