Highs and lows on Paris and DLP Aug 12-15 '12

[the_princess]

So we got back 2 days ago, and I'm still tired. We stayed in Paris but went on a one day trip to DLP and a one day trip to Versailles. This was the first time not staying on-site. We have been to Paris several times, but always stayed at DLP.

HIGHS:
Paris:
The hotel. We did spend a long time finding the right hotel, reading reviews on tripadvisor. We ended up staying at Clarion Collection Etoile Saint Honore, which was a very nice 4 star hotel close to Arc de Triumph.

The gardens around Versailles. Not the castle, but more on that later. The gardens and the Hamlet were amazing!

Staying in Paris and seeing a lot more of the city then we have before.

The people. We only met nice and helpful people around Paris.

DLP:
The biggest highlight on the whole trip was walking up Main Street seeing the castle without that horrible platform in front. I forgot how beautiful the castle look, when you can see it and walk up to it... PLEASE Disney, don't ever put anything in front of it again!!!

The Tarzan show was great. It's a shame it won't continue.

The crowds were lower then we had expected. Going in the high season means big crowds, so we had prepared for the worst. It wasn't that bad. Everything was open and people weren't pushing or jumping lines.

The shops had a lot of new stuff. We were there 1,5 year ago, so it was nice to see a lot of new stuff. But it's still the same stuff all over the parks.

The new World of Disney shop was amazing, and very quiet in the morning.
I like the fact that they changed the Disney Store into a Christmas shop with Christmas stuff for this year as well.
Disney Fashion is at the moment the most beautiful shop in all of DLP. They have really done a great job decorating it.

We had dinner at Agrabah. It used to be our favorite restaurant, but the last time it was so awful, that we haven't been back since (that's several years ago) We decided to give it a new chance and luckily it turned out to be a great meal.

LOWS:
Paris:
Transportation around Paris. Normally I find it quite easy to take the train and metro around Paris but for some reason, it didn't go that well this time.
On the way from the airport the train suddenly changed direction which they didn't inform about in English so we were about 20 non-French speaking people who got off at the wrong station and had to buy a new ticket to get into Paris (you had to exit the station and enter again to get to the right platform and there fore buy a new ticket)
Next time we'll take a taxi ;-)

Versailles - the castle. It was way to busy. You couldn't move around without being pushed. There were tour groups EVERYWHERE. Toilets were something you waited 30 min in line for and it was impossible to enter the shops. We were not impressed by the castle at all. In Denmark we have lots of castles inspired by Versailles, so this was not anything new. Skip the castle and spend time in the beautiful gardens instead.

DLP:

No lows at all
We didn't watch the parade or did the meet'n'greet, so we didn't experience any pushing.
I'm a little sad, that we didn't see Dreams, but we had to get back to Paris and to bed since we had an early day, the next day as well.

We had an amazing trip were we did spend way to much money on shopping and came back with back pain from walking so much. But Paris was wonderful, the weather was amazing. Sunshine every day and about 25-27 degrees.

Feel free to ask questions :-D

At last I want to say a big thank you to all of you, who helped planning this trip by answering my questions and giving inspiration and ideas... THANK YOU!

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Hello and welcome back

Great to see your highs Glad you enjoyed Paris so much

You decided not to see Dreams in the end ? Did you see Fanti or not bother either ?

Hey for Agrabah, I ate there on my b'day and had a good meal too. Will you write a little review if you have time on the restaurant page

Versailles is a nightmare in the summer, much better to go to Chantilly or Fontainbleau, I can't believe how long people queue over there


Told you that weather forecast that I use was accurate You escaped the really hot weather - it's 31° atm and will be 34° Sat and 36° Sun then next week will have bad thunderstorms.

 

[tinkertaylor05]

Welcome home

Sounds like a great trip, the gardens at Versailles are one of my favourite memories from visiting when I was younger shame the palace was so busy.

You've really got me excited reading your highs and lows thanks for reporting back

 

[cherrymarzipan]

Lovely highs! I did a Paris trip in April and Versailles was just as packed then so I'm not sure when is good, perhaps January/February? But then you are unlikely to have good weather for all the outside bits which, incidently, I have never seen as I seem to put a jinx on Versailles and it always pours with rain when I go!

Glad you were met with universal kindness everywhere too - makes such a difference.

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Lovely highs! I did a Paris trip in April and Versailles was just as packed then so I'm not sure when is good, perhaps January/February? But then you are unlikely to have good weather for all the outside bits which, incidently, I have never seen as I seem to put a jinx on Versailles and it always pours with rain when I go!

Glad you were met with universal kindness everywhere too - makes such a difference.

After mid September is nice as far less tourists - it's packed from April (Easter) on throughout the late spring/summer - you'd get nice weather too for the gardens

Versailles isn't a/c so when it's this hot you get people fainting and worse inside and not pleasant with the smells and 3 hour queues at the entrance aren't unusual atm

 

[cherrymarzipan]

After mid September is nice as far less tourists - it's packed from April (Easter) on throughout the late spring/summer - you'd get nice weather too for the gardens

Versailles isn't a/c so when it's this hot you get people fainting and worse inside and not pleasant with the smells and 3 hour queues at the entrance aren't unusual atm

Oh really? Hmm, well maybe I could squeeze a visit in at the end of September.

I know security is important but those queues... we wasted half the morning just trying to get in. I so want to see the Trianon Palaces, Marie-Antoinette’s Estate and all the rest of the grounds though so might give it a go then - thanks!

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Oh really? Hmm, well maybe I could squeeze a visit in at the end of September.

I know security is important but those queues... we wasted half the morning just trying to get in. I so want to see the Trianon Palaces, Marie-Antoinette’s Estate and all the rest of the grounds though so might give it a go then - thanks!

Tip - Go in via The Queens gate Perfect way of seeing the above and bypassing the queues at the main gate

http://m.en.chateauversailles.fr/prepare-my-visit-/single/access

This works well even in high season (found via google to check if the QG still was better )

http://celadoncupcake.blogspot.fr/2012_08_01_archive.html

 

[the_princess]

Hello and welcome back

Great to see your highs Glad you enjoyed Paris so much

You decided not to see Dreams in the end ? Did you see Fanti or not bother either ?

Hey for Agrabah, I ate there on my b'day and had a good meal too. Will you write a little review if you have time on the restaurant page

Versailles is a nightmare in the summer, much better to go to Chantilly or Fontainbleau, I can't believe how long people queue over there


Told you that weather forecast that I use was accurate You escaped the really hot weather - it's 31° atm and will be 34° Sat and 36° Sun then next week will have bad thunderstorms.

Yeah we decided to skip Dreams this time since we had been up since 6 am and had to get up the same time the next morning. Time went so fast that day, suddenly it was 10 pm and time to leave. We were tired!!!!

Tip - Go in via The Queens gate Perfect way of seeing the above and bypassing the queues at the main gate

http://m.en.chateauversailles.fr/prepare-my-visit-/single/access

This works well even in high season (found via google to check if the QG still was better )

http://celadoncupcake.blogspot.fr/2012_08_01_archive.html

Next time I'm skipping the castle and that queue and will head straight to the Hamlet and that area!

 

[cherrymarzipan]

Tip - Go in via The Queens gate Perfect way of seeing the above and bypassing the queues at the main gate

http://m.en.chateauversailles.fr/prepare-my-visit-/single/access

This works well even in high season (found via google to check if the QG still was better )

http://celadoncupcake.blogspot.fr/2012_08_01_archive.html

Thanks Carrie, I'm not getting on here much lately so have only just seen this. It's looking like a definite possibility for me now late September if I can persuade DH to stay on his own in the park with DS so DD and I can have a day out.

This information has gone into my "Carrie's Paris tips" Word doc that I keep adding to!

 

[Ware Bears]

Glad you had a great time

Staying in Paris and seeing a lot more of the city then we have before.

The people. We only met nice and helpful people around Paris.

Snap, so did we! We loved staying in Paris.

The crowds were lower then we had expected. Going in the high season means big crowds, so we had prepared for the worst. It wasn't that bad. Everything was open and people weren't pushing or jumping lines.

I thought it was more crowded than on our previous August trips, I'm basing this on wait times ie 70+ minutes for Studio Tram Tour and ToT had a huge line at opening whereas it used to be a walk-on first thing because everyone used to rush to Crush - but we also didn't experience any pushing or line-jumping. I was also impressed that when we watched Dreams there was plenty of space around us.

We had dinner at Agrabah. It used to be our favorite restaurant, but the last time it was so awful, that we haven't been back since (that's several years ago) We decided to give it a new chance and luckily it turned out to be a great meal.

We ate there too and really enjoyed it

Versailles - the castle. It was way to busy.

We were lucky and managed to get there before the tour groups, we only had to wait 10 minutes for the security line to open and managed to keep ahead of the crowds all the way through - hope I don't sound too ignorant but the only thing I really wanted to see in the chateau was the Hall of Mirrors. The musical waterfalls were wonderful (I so wanted to jump in ) as were the gardens but we just couldn't manage to enjoy them properly because it was just too hot - 39F. We went for lunch in Angelina's to try and cool off and were hoping to get over to Marie-Antoinette's estate afterwards but it was so unbearable we had to admit defeat, we couldn't even face going in the noddy train. Still, it gives us a good excuse to go back one day and do just Marie-Antoinette's hamlet, will have to remember the Queen's gate tip!