First New Disney Park in Over A Decade - A March 2017 Disneyland Paris Trip Report *Update-Aug 13*

[kickpuncher305]

Bonjour et Bienvenue!

...And that is the extent of my French (I know, I'm a bad Canadian)
Anyways welcome to my 3rd trip report, this time to a Disney Park I had never been to before...



Disneyland Paris!!!

This is the first new Disney theme park I have been to since I went to California Adventure way back in the early 2000's. If you like comparisons between attractions/shows in different parks, you have come to the right place.

A little background on who was all on the trip.


There was myself (Aaron), who is currently working on my masters in Germany.



Next up is my Mom (Joanne), who isn't the biggest fan of the thrill rides but still really enjoys everything else!


And finally is my Dad (Rick). He loves roller coasters and thrill rides, which is great because so do I.

Mom and Dad came over from Canada to meet me in Paris for a few days of sightseeing in Paris (which we had visited before many years before) and then have three full days in Disneyland Paris!

Here are some photos from our time sightseeing in Paris. For anyone who has wanted to come over from North America to go to Disneyland Paris, I can't recommend visiting a few European cities while over and make a longer trip out of it if possible. Paris is one of my favourite cities in the world and I really enjoyed having a few days to explore it again!


Arc de Triomphe


Eiffel Tower


Mona Lisa


Notre Dame (no hunchback but still many gargoyles...)


Champs Elysees


Stade de France, me and Rick got to go to a France-Spain soccer match. It was amazing!

After the three full days we spent in Paris, next up was a travel day out to Val d'Europe/Chessy (AKA Disneyland Paris!)​

 

[kickpuncher305]

Day 0 - Travel to Disneyland Paris and Disney Village

Now with all of the boring introduction stuff out of the way, the real trip report can start!

Our hotel in Paris was in the city center (literally a five minute walk to the Arc de Triomphe!), so we ended up taking the RER A line directly to Val d'Europe where our hotel was located. For anyone worried about travelling in a foreign country where you don't speak the language, the Paris Metro and train system could not be easier. Most things are somewhat in English and you just have to follow the colours and numbers to find your train. Also, the machines in the station are also in English so buying tickets is very easy. I believe the tickets were under ten euros each, which is much cheaper than taking a bus or taxi as Disneyland Paris is quite far outside Paris. The train ride is just under an hour and we got off at the stop before Disneyland Paris, Val d'Europe.


Here is our hotel (somehow we didn't take a picture of it so here is one I found online), Hôtel l'Élysée Val d'Europe. The hotel was less than a two minute walk from the train station and was an awesome hotel! We didn't spend much time in it during the day (since we were at the parks from opening to close!) but it was very clean and the staff was great! Another bonus of this hotel is you get a bus pass for the days you are staying there that can take you to Disneyland. We walked this first day and it was about thirty minutes but every other day we took the bus, which came about every thirty minutes and was only about ten minutes.

After we had successfully checked in and put our suitcases away, we were off to explore the Disney Village.


I don't think I mentioned it before but this trip was at the very end of March 2017. I think this day was the coldest day as I was able to wear shorts and a shirt for most other days.

Back to Disney Village, it was nice but a little "tired" looking. It is pretty obvious this was built in the late 80s/early 90s and hasn't been updated much since then. It is definitely not a destination like Disney Springs (or even Downtown Disney at Disneyland) but was good to check out on a non-park day.


It did have a really nice and quite big World of Disney store where I eventually got a few souvenirs from this trip. DLP just started their 25th Anniversary celebration so we got a couple of mugs with the logo on them and I got a shirt with the logo on it along with a Vinylmation (who knew these existed still! I collected one of these each trip for the longest time but couldn't find one my last trip to WDW and I gave up on looking for them but here they were!)



We kept walking through the Disney Village and eventually found a Earl of Sandwich for lunch! We each got a delightful sandwich and ate it outside in the French sun. It tasted like the other times I've had Earl of Sandwich, which means they are really good especially for the low price.


They have a Characters in Flight here too!

After our break eating our sandwiches, we went for a walk around the Lac Buena Vista and just took some pictures of the outside of the hotels.


Disney's Sequoia Lodge (really liked the look of this hotel, reminded me of Wilderness Lodge or Grand California but is much less expensive than many of the other on-site hotels at DLP)


Hotel New York (I haven't heard the best things about this hotel but it looked nice from the outside. I think this hotel may be getting an update to be Marvel themed, which would be pretty cool I think)


Newport Bay Club (looked very nice and kind of like New England-y)

After walking around the lake and looking at the three hotels, we walked back through the Disney Village and popped into a few shops before making our way to...


The Disneyland Hotel! Underneath the hotel is the actual entrance to Disneyland Parc, meaning you could see parts of the actual park from your hotel room. That is if you could afford to stay there (maybe next trip if I win the lottery...). Anyways, the hotel and area right in front of it is beautiful!


We walked around and took a ton of pictures before finding the bus stop and leaving the park (or area right in front of the park...) for the day. We wanted to grab some breakfast stuff and dinner before turning in early for the night. Tomorrow was going to be a big day at our first new Disney park in well over a decade!

Thanks for reading this update, I promise they will become more interesting once we actually get inside the parks! If anyone has questions about Disneyland Paris, please let me know and I will be more than happy to try to answer them!

Next Update: Parc Disneyland!!!​