FINALLY - I have been to Disneyland Paris!

[BrianL]

Okay, so I finally made it to Paris and DLP - I've been wanting to for so long and it kept getting put off or whatever. Anyway, I was there on March 11 & 12. The first day I was solo - went right from the airport basically - in park at open on no sleep. On the second day, my mom, stepdad, and sister joined me. It was pretty wet and rainy the first day, but I slapped on a plastic poncho and went with it. Here are a few thoughts:

• The park is beautiful and I really like the layout. It feels small because of the number of attractions, but is big based on walking! I love Adventureland with Skull Rock - man!
• I went straight to Phantom Manor! I've been dying to see this version of my beloved HM. It's interesting - different in a lot of good ways. Some parts aren't as good, but I love the graveyard scene and how it takes you underground with the bones, and then there is a Beetlejuice style ghost town - it's my favorite version of that scene. The Phantom character is cool - seemed to be a newish animatronic of him, similar to Hatbox?
• Pirates may be my favorite version that I've ridden so far. I love that it has a multi-level approach, with lifts incorporated. I am not sure that I love how the opening scenes are all at the end, but overall, I was digging it, especially the ghostly Barbosa animatronic!
• There are a lot of walkthrough attractions, but they are kind of charming. The hedge maze is more fun than you might think, and a lot of it is just cool to look at. The Nautilus is a favorite of mine, though it was maybe a tad underwhelming. I love the castle and the stained glass and tapestries from Sleeping Beauty, and, of course, the dragon living underneath!
• I got over to The Studios park, and it...needs help. And it's getting it, but I just missed the grand re-opening so it was what it was. I found that I really liked Avengers: Flight Force - nice job on the reskin and gives me hopes for The Muppets RNRC. That Cars Road Trip though - what? I know they were working with what they have, but, man.
• Mickey and the Magician may be my new favorite theme parks show! I saw it twice - I told the family that they had to go watch it. Everyone loved it. It's kind of a similar story to Mickey and the Magical Map (which I loved), but the staging and everything is so cool.
• What's up with Stitch being like, everywhere?
• Back to DLP proper, while I praise the layout, I noticed a lack of detailed signage. In fact, I found all of Paris to be like that (even worse outside of Disney). It's not very efficient - as a country! Navigating can be a little difficult, but they seem to expect you to know what to do. I know I'm not stupid so, what's the deal?
• I had heard that DLP cast members aren't that good and can be rude - I found no such thing at all! I thought everyone was delighful for the most part - very friendly and helpful. Sometimes the cashiers lacked a little urgency - like if there are three people in line, forget about it, but that seems to be the laid-back culture in general. Everyone was so nice! Shout out to Bryce at the coffee stand near Indiana Jones - he chatted with my mom and made her day!
• The food was fine I thought. I had a hot-dog for my first meal in france! It was a currywurst from Chateau de la Marionette. Not bad really, though those may have been the worst fries in history! Disney park fries aren't great anyway, but man. Yeah, I ate them all too.
• We also ate at Agrabah Cafe - now this was good! They had some delicious things on the buffet, like the thing with cooked-down grapes. Very tender lamb - well cooked! The chefs were super nice, though the efficiency of checking in was lacking. What was the point of having the ADR? At least our line was short compared to what built behind us!
  • I did almost witness a fight here! Something happened in the buffet line - which was a bit of a free-for-all as opposed to flowing one way - and this guy got agitated. He was screaming at another guy and I was pretty sure he was gonna throw a punch. That fortunately did not happen, but man! I know it happens in the parks sometimes, I've just never seen it.
• I enjoyed Disney Stars on Parade. I have listened to the soundtrack many times, so it was nice to see. It seems like it was designed to be similar to Festival of Fantasy, which I also love.
• So, Space Mountain was something that I thought I hated after the first ride. The coasters were making my teeth hurt, but I think it was just me being on no sleep from the plane ride. It was better on day two, and I recongnize it is a pretty wicked coaster.
  • That said, the theming is a mess. How do they slap Star Wars on this Victorian moon-launch cannon? I can usually roll with stuff, but it's just incongruous!
• Okay - Disney Tales of Magic? WOW! WOW! WOW! What a show! I think it may be my new favorite. Maybe not musically, but overall, it was spectacular with the drones and all. I made my family stay for it, though they cancelled the drones on the second night due to the wind. Bummer.

Overall, I really enjoyed my visit to DLP. I wish I could have stayed longer and seen more of the shows, but oh well. Maybe I'll have to get back and do Disney Adventure World properly. Still, I can check one more global park off the list!

 

[LKing]

Welcome back! I was waiting for your report. Sadly, they are removing the drones from Tales of Magic on April 1.

My short list of rides that are same or similar to DLR are the following. Let me know if you feel differently.

Dumbo
Orbitron
AstroBlasters
Autopia (heard it was worse than DLR)
Peter Pan
Tea Cups
Star Tours

Was Remy open during your trip? Is it the same as at WDW? Frozen is supposed to be the same as WDW.

 

[foodiddiedoo]

Okay, so I finally made it to Paris and DLP - I've been wanting to for so long and it kept getting put off or whatever. Anyway, I was there on March 11 & 12. The first day I was solo - went right from the airport basically - in park at open on no sleep. On the second day, my mom, stepdad, and sister joined me. It was pretty wet and rainy the first day, but I slapped on a plastic poncho and went with it. Here are a few thoughts:

• The park is beautiful and I really like the layout. It feels small because of the number of attractions, but is big based on walking! I love Adventureland with Skull Rock - man!
• I went straight to Phantom Manor! I've been dying to see this version of my beloved HM. It's interesting - different in a lot of good ways. Some parts aren't as good, but I love the graveyard scene and how it takes you underground with the bones, and then there is a Beetlejuice style ghost town - it's my favorite version of that scene. The Phantom character is cool - seemed to be a newish animatronic of him, similar to Hatbox?
• Pirates may be my favorite version that I've ridden so far. I love that it has a multi-level approach, with lifts incorporated. I am not sure that I love how the opening scenes are all at the end, but overall, I was digging it, especially the ghostly Barbosa animatronic!
• There are a lot of walkthrough attractions, but they are kind of charming. The hedge maze is more fun than you might think, and a lot of it is just cool to look at. The Nautilus is a favorite of mine, though it was maybe a tad underwhelming. I love the castle and the stained glass and tapestries from Sleeping Beauty, and, of course, the dragon living underneath!
• I got over to The Studios park, and it...needs help. And it's getting it, but I just missed the grand re-opening so it was what it was. I found that I really liked Avengers: Flight Force - nice job on the reskin and gives me hopes for The Muppets RNRC. That Cars Road Trip though - what? I know they were working with what they have, but, man.
• Mickey and the Magician may be my new favorite theme parks show! I saw it twice - I told the family that they had to go watch it. Everyone loved it. It's kind of a similar story to Mickey and the Magical Map (which I loved), but the staging and everything is so cool.
• What's up with Stitch being like, everywhere?
• Back to DLP proper, while I praise the layout, I noticed a lack of detailed signage. In fact, I found all of Paris to be like that (even worse outside of Disney). It's not very efficient - as a country! Navigating can be a little difficult, but they seem to expect you to know what to do. I know I'm not stupid so, what's the deal?
• I had heard that DLP cast members aren't that good and can be rude - I found no such thing at all! I thought everyone was delighful for the most part - very friendly and helpful. Sometimes the cashiers lacked a little urgency - like if there are three people in line, forget about it, but that seems to be the laid-back culture in general. Everyone was so nice! Shout out to Bryce at the coffee stand near Indiana Jones - he chatted with my mom and made her day!
• The food was fine I thought. I had a hot-dog for my first meal in france! It was a currywurst from Chateau de la Marionette. Not bad really, though those may have been the worst fries in history! Disney park fries aren't great anyway, but man. Yeah, I ate them all too.
• We also ate at Agrabah Cafe - now this was good! They had some delicious things on the buffet, like the thing with cooked-down grapes. Very tender lamb - well cooked! The chefs were super nice, though the efficiency of checking in was lacking. What was the point of having the ADR? At least our line was short compared to what built behind us!
  • I did almost witness a fight here! Something happened in the buffet line - which was a bit of a free-for-all as opposed to flowing one way - and this guy got agitated. He was screaming at another guy and I was pretty sure he was gonna throw a punch. That fortunately did not happen, but man! I know it happens in the parks sometimes, I've just never seen it.
• I enjoyed Disney Stars on Parade. I have listened to the soundtrack many times, so it was nice to see. It seems like it was designed to be similar to Festival of Fantasy, which I also love.
• So, Space Mountain was something that I thought I hated after the first ride. The coasters were making my teeth hurt, but I think it was just me being on no sleep from the plane ride. It was better on day two, and I recongnize it is a pretty wicked coaster.
  • That said, the theming is a mess. How do they slap Star Wars on this victorian moon-launch cannon? I can usually roll with stuff, but it's just incongruous!
• Okay - Disney Tales of Magic? WOW! WOW! WOW! What a show! I think it may be my new favorite. Maybe not musically, but overall, it was spectacular with the drones and all. I made my family stay for it, though they cancelled the drones on the second night due to the wind. Bummer.

Overall, I really enjoyed my visit to DLP. I wish I could have stayed longer and seen more of the shows, but oh well. Maybe I'll have to get back and do Disney Adventure World properly. Still, I can check one more global park off the list!

What’d you think of Thunder Mountain? I think it’s the best Thunder Mountain of all the parks I’ve been to (DW, DL, TDL, DP).

 

[BrianL]

What’d you think of Thunder Mountain? I think it’s the best Thunder Mountain of all the parks I’ve been to (DW, DL, TDL, DP).

Yeah - I think I agree with that. It's not too different, but being out on the island makes it cool, and it has a bit more since you go under the water at the beginning. I wished I could have ridden it a second time, but the line was long. It had been down at one point, so that contributed. It's a great version though, for sure!

 

[BrianL]

Oh, and I love the view of Phantom Manor and the view of BTTMR from the ledge where Phantom Manor is - it's all very cool and works together.

 

[Skywalker3]

That's so, so awesome @BrianL . Glad you got to go and experience DLP!

 

[BrianL]

Welcome back! I was waiting for your report. Sadly, they are removing the drones from Tales of Magic on April 1.

My short list of rides that are same or similar to DLR are the following. Let me know if you feel differently.

Dumbo
Orbitron
AstroBlasters
Autopia (heard it was worse than DLR)
Peter Pan
Tea Cups
Star Tours

Was Remy open during your trip? Is it the same as at WDW? Frozen is supposed to be the same as WDW.

Well, I didn't get to do everything. Remy was down though, probalby to have the 3D removed. Snow White was the same as the old version from DL.

That's a shame about the drones - the show really sufffers without them!

 

[PoppyJ]

This makes me excited for my upcoming DLP trip. I can't wait to ride Space Mountain!

 

[steve_rob]

Glad you enjoyed the trip overall!

Pirates may be my favorite version that I've ridden so far. I love that it has a multi-level approach, with lifts incorporated. I am not sure that I love how the opening scenes are all at the end, but overall, I was digging it, especially the ghostly Barbosa animatronic!

It's funny because once you've ridden the Paris version enough, you start to regard the WDW/DL versions as being the wrong way round even though they were the originals!

I understand that when it was being built, the Imagineers decided that story-wise it made more sense to show the big battle and the pirates getting their spoils/plunder, before then showing the outcome of their greed at the end. Which made a lot more sense when the end scene showed a skeletal pirate captain on the pile of gold (you might have all the riches in the world, but you can't do anything with them when you're dead), but kind of doesn't work as well now they've shoehorned Jack Sparrow into that scene instead (I'm alive AND I've got all these riches - hurrah for me!).

 

[BrianL]

Glad you enjoyed the trip overall!


It's funny because once you've ridden the Paris version enough, you start to regard the WDW/DL versions as being the wrong way round even though they were the originals!

I understand that when it was being built, the Imagineers decided that story-wise it made more sense to show the big battle and the pirates getting their spoils/plunder, before then showing the outcome of their greed at the end. Which made a lot more sense when the end scene showed a skeletal pirate captain on the pile of gold (you might have all the riches in the world, but you can't do anything with them when you're dead), but kind of doesn't work as well now they've shoehorned Jack Sparrow into that scene instead (I'm alive AND I've got all these riches - hurrah for me!).

Well, the original Pirates, shows you the outcome, then kind of shunts you back in time to the days when the pirates ruled the seas. At least at the Disneyland version, it shows their desperate struggle to survive at the end. The WDW one is a little more terse. They have of course added Jack to the Paris version, and HE gets to party on a big pile of gold of course!

 

[imbelle]

If I may ask, what was your experience in transferring from the airport to DLP?

 

[BrianL]

If I may ask, what was your experience in transferring from the airport to DLP?

Well, Charles De Gaulle Airport is pretty huge and insane. As mentioned, they are not big on signage. We took a taxi as we were staying at an offsite hotel in Val d'Europe. Even that can be tricky, as people will try to guide you to cars by asking if you are staying in Paris or outside. It doesn't matter. Go to the official Taxi's with lights. It took about 45 minutes to get there. I then just took Uber from the hotel to the parks. I know there is a train, which would be good if you are staying on Disney property, but I don't know about it. There is also a shuttle I think - I saw signs for something similar to Magical Express when we were leavinng.

 

[imbelle]

Well, Charles De Gaulle Airport is pretty huge and insane. As mentioned, they are not big on signage. We took a taxi as we were staying at an offsite hotel in Val d'Europe. Even that can be tricky, as people will try to guide you to cars by asking if you are staying in Paris or outside. It doesn't matter. Go to the official Taxi's with lights. It took about 45 minutes to get there. I then just took Uber from the hotel to the parks. I know there is a train, which would be good if you are staying on Disney property, but I don't know about it. There is also a shuttle I think - I saw signs for something similar to Magical Express when we were leavinng.

Thanks, I was thinking that a taxi would be the way to go for us this time around so this is helpful.

 

[BrianL]

Thanks, I was thinking that a taxi would be the way to go for us this time around so this is helpful.

Yeah, this led to a little squabble in our family. I was asked by very official-looking people, where we were going, and they would direct you to an inner path or outer path. I reaslize now they were going to direct us to that door number regardless. There they have cabs, but they are unmarked and more expensive. My mom had watched a lot of videos and was unsure. After a long flight though, it seemed legit. Like, why would the airport allow that? But, she insisted we go back to the other cab stand, and she was right. Just go to that - they have lights on top. You can probably use Uber too, but I am not sure where you pick it up.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

For future reference for anyone reading this.

Magic Shuttle https://magicalshuttle.co.uk/
These are the official bus company licensed by Disney and authorized to drop up and pick up at all the onsite hotel, the partner hotels and Val De Europe. They have a central departure point in Charles de Gaulle airport and will then drop directly at each hotel and at the bus station in Val De Europe. You book and turn up at the departure point at the airport and just get on the next available bus. The same when returning to the airport, just wait at the bus stop at the hotel for the next bus. Journey time is approx 1 hour to Disney property and then depending on which hotel you get off at and what hotels the other passengers require, add extra time as the bus does a loop of all the hotels.

Train
TGV fast train takes approx 10 minutes. Tickets need to be bought in advance for a specific train time. Train departure times are not reliable and if your flight is delayed, then you have to buy a new ticket. Journey time is approx 10 minutes to Disney property and then you have to walk or take the free shuttle bus to your hotel.

Private Car Service.
There are multiple private car services which will meet you at arrivals and bring you direct to your hotel. Book in advance and you will know the exact price and wont get charged UBER surge charges or taxi meter prices you get stuck in traffic. Journey time is approx 1 hour, the same as the bus as they us the same route, main motorway from the airport to Disney property.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Yeah, this led to a little squabble in our family. I was asked by very official-looking people, where we were going, and they would direct you to an inner path or outer path. I reaslize now they were going to direct us to that door number regardless. There they have cabs, but they are unmarked and more expensive. My mom had watched a lot of videos and was unsure. After a long flight though, it seemed legit. Like, why would the airport allow that? But, she insisted we go back to the other cab stand, and she was right. Just go to that - they have lights on top. You can probably use Uber too, but I am not sure where you pick it up.

In Europe NEVER get in an unmarked car unless you have pre booked through UBER or a private car service. All the scammers marked you immediately as clueless tourists and you did well to not get pushed into going with them to an unmarked car.

Always walk with purpose and fake you know what you are doing and a very direct NON MERCI will deter them.

 

[BrianL]

In Europe NEVER get in an unmarked car unless you have pre booked through UBER or a private car service. All the scammers marked you immediately as clueless tourists and you did well to not get pushed into going with them to an unmarked car.

Always walk with purpose and fake you know what you are doing and a very direct NON MERCI will deter them.

It is wild to me that they let those guys just stand in the airport and direct people. They seem very official. The cars, while unmarked were typical of a livery service type vehicle and have their own spot on airport property. I didn't think we were going to get kidnapped or anything, the ride was just going to cost three times as much.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

It is wild to me that they let those guys just stand in the airport and direct people. They seem very official. The cars, while unmarked were typical of a livery service type vehicle and have their own spot on airport property. I didn't think we were going to get kidnapped or anything, the ride was just going to cost three times as much.

You were a multi generational male and female group so no you wouldnt get kidnapped. The journey time would have taken longer and who knows how much it would have cost.

The danger is mainly for young females on their own.

Its actually the same at LAX. Im used to it now and its much better since they made LAXIT but every time I have walked out of the international terminal at LAX, there are always men with unmarked cars offering rides to people.

 

[BeckyEsq]

I finally made it to DLP two summers ago and was so disappointed because Pirates was closed as were Pinocchio and Show White ridess. We so enjoyed our day there though -- my daughter especially enjoyed the magic after being exposed to historical sites in the UK and France for two weeks, lol. We enjoyed the Agrabah cafe too. I'll just have to go back to try those other rides.

 

[BrianL]

I finally made it to DLP two summers ago and was so disappointed because Pirates was closed as were Pinocchio and Show White ridess. We so enjoyed our day there though -- my daughter especially enjoyed the magic after being exposed to historical sites in the UK and France for two weeks, lol. We enjoyed the Agrabah cafe too. I'll just have to go back to try those other rides.

Yeah, it's a bummer when things are closed. I missed Crush's Coaster, which was the only unique ride, but Ratatouile and Star Tours were also down. Snow White and Pinocchio had construction walls, but were still operating.