Greetings from Paris with Trip Report

glenpreece

DIS Veteran
Joined
Oct 21, 2008
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Hello everyone I made it to Paris safe and sound after waiting forever since they cancelled my train: DLRP is beautiful the attention to detail is amazing love th Castle. Today i will return for the morning and then my first trip into Paris to visir the Louvre. Kevin has been so great helping me out over the pasr 2 days. oh and french keyboards are a pain lol. A bientot
 
Donner Mickey Souris un français baiser de moi!
 

Donner Mickey Souris un français baiser de moi!
sorry wally but the line is too long LOL

needless to say but the character meet n greets are a fiasco here i would rqther wait in line than these free for alls they have here

Louvre tomorrow
 
Don't forget to have lunch at Walt's American Restaurant on the second floor of Main Street!
 
Walter! :lmao:

Good to know you've arrived and are having a great time! Enjoy!!! (And be sure to tell us how wonderful it all is)! :teeth:
 
Glad to hear you arrived and are enjoying your trip!
 
Hello all!!! I made it home safe and sound even though they cancelled my train from DLRP to CDG. I will do a TR with photos etc Paris was great and Kevin was a great tour guide
 
So for my Trip Report I will just break it up into Parts since doing Day to Day would too boring since there was so much overlap at DLRP.

Part One- Arrival
I arrived on time to CDG Airport in Paris went to the bathroom and accidently got out of the luggage area so after asking at the info desk I made my way back to find my luggage and got through no problem. Then headed down the airport to find the train station. And behold the strikes in France caused my train to be canceled. I had to sit around for about 3.5 hours freaking out about the strikes etc. I called Kevin several times and got him worried too. LOL so after what seemed like ages I got on a train that i hoped was heading where I wanted to go and it did :) I arrived at DLRP where I had to take the rural train to my hotel. No problem there. I arrived at Bussy Saint Georges and exited the station. I did so on the wrong side and got lost again LOL. Another call to Kevin and some doubling back and I found my hotel. Had I gone out of the right side of the station I would have seen it immediately. Checked In and got my room, nice and clean. Beds were small and hard but not a problem. I was glad that it really was more like an "International" hotel than a "European" one. I was supposed to go DLRRP that afternoon evening but I was so exhausted from the flights/trains I just stayed in the room. I of course tried to stay up as late as I could but that didn't happen so I of course woke up at 4am lol. Hit up the computer and then went back to sleep for a couple hours.
 
Sorry it has taken me so long to get to the next part, my arthitis has been acting up REALLY bad so I haven't been very functional lately. Anyways onto the good stuff :)

Disneyland Paris is BEAUTIFUL. The attention to detail on everything is fantastic. Everywhere you look there is something to see from the signs, lampposts, buildings and attractions. I don't know if this is true but to me it feels as if this is the biggest "Magic Kingdom" of the 3 I've been to.

Everything has its own space and there is so much area in each land. Logistically there are some problems with dead ends here and there. for example the Phantom Manor is a dead end you need to head back into FL to get to the other attractions and sometimes the paths to the next land/area are not exactly as obvious as at WDW or DL.

One big thing I noticed was the lack of gift shops at the exit of each attraction. On one hand it was nice and on another it meant that attraction specific merchandise is non existent. What merchandise they did have was duplicated in each and every single store within the entire Resort area. The same things could be found in both parks, Disney Village and the Hotel gift shops. I know we think WDW is bad but DLRP is by far worse. This meant that i actually came home with just over $100 euros and didn't use my credit cards!!!

The food was like any other Disney park over priced and not the greatest but at least each day I received a voucher for a free hot drink for the afternoon. It was roughly between 10-15 degrees Celsius each day. Perfect weather for me and it was sunny with a few clouds off and on during my trip.

I had read some pretty negative things about upkeep within the park but I didn't notice anything really disturbing but I guess if you go often it would be more noticeable.

As for attractions alot of them are the same just with a slight twist or in French. Phantom Manor was very cool. I loved the different take on the Haunted Mansion story as well as the different ending. It is certainly more "macabre" then the other Mansions as was the Halloween music they played in the park with loud screams and cackling. Something we would never hear at WDW or DL. BTMRR was identical maybe a bit longer and you go under the river to reach the island where the ride actually takes place. The Europeans seem to love this ride as wait times were always over 45mins. POTC was almost the same as DL's minus the Johnny Depp figures. The Indy coaster was fun and killed my back since I wasn't expecting it to be so rough.

Fantasyland has the normal dark rides like Pinocchio, Snow White and Peter Pan. When they were open they each had longs lines. Alice's curious labyrinth was nice. I love Alice in Wonderland and it was a fun maze with some cool animatronics and even the Queen of Hearts Castle. The tea cups are identical except for the glass covering over top.

Now speaking of castles the Sleeping Beauty Castle here is GORGEOUS. The detail on it was fantastic and the retelling of the story upstairs with tapestries, sculptures and stained glass windows is beautiful. This castle ties with Cinderella Castle at WDW for my fav. The Dragon in the dungeon below was great too.

I loved that Canada was included in the IASW and of course we are playing hockey and their is a mountie too.

Discoveryland (aka Tomorrowland) has their Space Mountain which unlike ours is a high speed looping coaster. It was really fun except for the fact it killed my back. Both times I rode it I walked on no wait. Kevin tells me that's because it is more thrilling as opposed to BTMRR which is more family orientated so it is the busier one. They have Buzz Lightyear, Autopia, Astro Orbitor and Star Tours here as well. All identical except for being in French. I go to see Capt EO for the first time ever and hooray it was in English!!!! It was ok kinda dated but nice for the MJ nostalgia.

The Villains show for Halloween was fun and the parade was cool too. For such a large park it really didn't seem like their was much to do just alot of things to see. I loved the walkways they have behind each side of Main Street since you can't all the way up the street through the shops. One is themed around the statue of Liberty and how the French gave it to America. The other is about what people thought Major US cities would be like at the end of the 20th century.

Now for Walt Disney Studios Park. This is a sorry excuse for a park. People think DCA is bad well no, this one wins the worst park battle. The attractions are very limited. The new area called Toy Story Playland is 3 carnival style rides themed around Toy Story. The area itself is cute but 45mins to ride a U shaped back and forth ride for less than a minute I think not. Tower of Terror is identical to DCA's and part of it is in English surprisingly. Rock and Roller Coaster is almost identical just with a slightly different theme and less decor in the actual ride. Animagique is a black light show kinda along the lines of Mickey's Philharmagic but live action. Donald gets into the film vault and has different encounters through song with different Disney Characters.

The 2 best attractions are Crush's Coaster, you ride a turtle shell through the EAC and have brief encounters with Nemo and his friends. I waited over an hour for it and I will say it was fun and should be brought to other parks. Needless to say it killed my back lol and also the British guy beside me. The other great attraction is Cine Magique. a mixture of live action and film starring Martin Short and a well know French actress who i don't know. It's funny that Martin Short is in so many Disney attractions. It was a great show and seems to be a real hit with Europeans.

They have an Armageddon special effects show, an animation show and a Backlot tour. As well as the original Light Motors Action Show and a small Cars area with a Cars ride where you circle around in a figure 8. And that's pretty much it for WDS Park.

Now unlike WDW and DL character meets are few and far between. As I said before they are also very unorganized with CM's to handle the crowds or help the Characters. There are only a few with an actual queue. I only waited for Tiana and Naveen and because the 1 CM went off to talk to an Italian family I had nobody to take my pic. But they were nice and posed for some pics for me anyways. The Princess line was about 45mins and you only got to see Belle. Aurora and Phillip do a a little show behind the castle and pose for a bout 5 mins after the show. She was in her Blue dress. Apparently children in Europe can tell the difference between her and Cinderella LOL The villains did M&G over by Phantom manor but that was a madhouse with no lines and just a free for all. The only characters I have pics with are from Cafe Mickey, the Character restaurant in Disney Village which Kevin took me to for my b-day.

Overall I am glad I went. It was a beautiful park and I am now able to cross it off my list of Disney Parks to visit. It's funny that the 2 things people like to do in line there are smoke and make out. I look forward to going back to WDW and the DSA's that most people seem to abide by.

Here's the link to my pics
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=236772&id=515627991&l=fac9c8a2a0

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=236788&id=515627991&l=8a672262c0
 
I loved :love: Disneyland Paris. Their "Magic Kingdom" was so beautiful. Their Studios was a disappointment. But I'm sure it will get better over time.

Sorry to hear about the trains. The French will strike for just about any reason and will do so at the drop of a hat - in fact I think the had a strike about a dropped hat. I was lucky and the airport workers two day strike happened while I was there. I didn't get impacted by it.

The city of Paris is one of my favorite places and I must get back there some day. It's been 3 years since I was there and there is not a day that goes by that I don't recollect something about it.

Je suis heureux que vous ayez eu un bon visite.

Randall
:rainbow:

ohhhh, top!
 
Now for the part about the Louvre and Paris :)

I am not a museum person by any stretch of the imagination. When Kevin took me to the Invalides and wanted to look at the "museum" part wll I was not thrilled. So prior to meeting up with him I ventured into Paris all by my lonesome and went to the Louvre. I spent roughly 2.5hrs there. I saw the biggies like the Mona Lisa and Venus De Milo etc. and saw most of everything. I look at it and then move on. I enjoyed a lot of the sculptures as they are more impressive to me than a painting. The Mona Lisa was busy of course but not as small as I thought it would've been. The Louvre itself was beautiful. The ceilings, floors and the detailed columns, it was gorgeous. I guess this is to be expected since it was the Royal Palace at one point.

Louvre pics
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=236792&id=515627991&l=c0fd894b94

By then end of the 2.5hrs my feet were already killing me but I ventured through the Tulleries and the Place de la Concorde up to the Champs Elysées and the Arc De Triomphe. It was a beautiful day and the air was filled with some sweet scent for most of the walk. I went to Monoprix to grab lunch and had the best packaged sandwich ever!!! The Champs is just like any other tourist avenue just with some French stores thrown in here and there. The Disney Store was pretty sad and had almost the same stuff that we have here. After that I was done so I joined the masses and headed back to the hotel to rest up for the marathon we would be doing over the weekend.

Kev arrived early Sat morning and after a quick bfast we headed into Paris. Our first stop was Notre Dame. This was the absolute must do for me. Although Kev didn't understand why i wanted to see a cathedral lol. I told him I loved the movie and the book as I feel i can identify with Quasi. Anyways we looked around and then waited to go up to the tower. There were alot of stairs that never seemed to end. I am pretty good at climbing lots of stairs but I was close to death by the time we reached the top. It has started to rain so their was a kid of mist over the city. The view was still amazing and the gargoyles are so cool, they each seem to have their own personality. We got to see the big bell of which Kev shares the same last name :)

We walked around the island and then across the street and found a place to have lunch and hide from the rain. I had onion soup and beef bourguignon. it was AMAZING. I wanted some meat so badly since all I had been eating was croissants and fruit over the past few days besides some Mc D's. After we walked to Ile St Louis for the BEST ICE CREAM EVER!!! It cost an arm and a leg but it was so delicious. Berthillion ice cream is to die for ;)

Since the rain continued we went to the big dept stores in Paris. Galleries Lafayette and Printemps. Amazingly I didn't see anything I wanted to buy. We saw some groups gathered protesting the retirement age change.

Then it was off to the Opera, the place that the Phantom of the Opera is based on. It was beautiful from there he took me to the "5th avenue" of Paris. I got to see my Dior and had my pic in front of it :) Then it was off to the Eiffel Tower which was a lot bigger than i thought it would be. We did all sorts of pics there and then decided to head back to DLRP for dinner at Cafe Mickey which was for my birthday :)

The next day we started off by seeing the Moulin Rouge and Kev's coffee fix at Starbucks. I love my new display pic of me sipping Hot Choc with he Moulin Rouge in the background ;) We hiked up some streets to find Montmarte which was pretty small and boring. Nothing I really wanted here either. Then we went to see the Scare Coeur and head back down to the metro stop near Moulin Rouge. I bought some post cards and a gay mag with Catherine Deneuve and a naked guy on the cover LOL.

We took the Metro to see the Arc de Triomphe and walk the Champs. I bought a scarf at Celio and a pin at the Disney Store. We were going to eat at Ladurée but they were still serving lunch not tea so we had some Pizza instead. I couldn't believe I was eating Pizza on the Champs Elysées!! How ridiculous is that. They mixed up my order and I got the wrong pizza it had ham on it so i wasn't all that impressed. What's with the ham? It's everywhere here.

After lunch we walked to the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais then to the Invalides to see Napoleon's tomb. Such a big tomb for such a little guy.... I endured the medieval artifacts museum as long as I could and then we headed to the Marais which is supposed to be the gay district of Paris but honestly there was nothing "gay" about it. We saw Notre Dame again in the late afternoon and then headed back to the room. Kev had a 3hr drive home and my feet were KILLING ME.

If you look at my pics you'll see pics of carousels, this is because on The Young and The Restless a few years back they went to Paris so i was hoping to see the same carousel they showed in the show. The whole time I kept bugging Kevin saying "Nick and Sharon were here!!!"

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=236861&id=515627991&l=deb67874d9
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=236867&id=515627991&l=61f14ceb1a

The next night I ventured back into Paris to have dinner, buy some pictures and see Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower lit up. They were both very beautiful and a great way to end my visit to Paris :)

I am so glad I went to Paris it's a very beautiful city and certainly a must see. Now just got to go to Tokyo :)

Thanks for reading
 












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