Highs & Lows Jan 19-24

TeamJones22

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Highs, lows and thoughts about my trip to Disneyland Paris Sunday 19th Jan - Friday 24th Jan for my 30th birthday with my beautiful fiancee, Holly!

Highs

Cast Members – Hear a lot of horror stories about the attitude of the CM's through these forums but I couldnt disagree more. So many of them were great to talk to, positive, friendly and very helpful. Cant speak highly enough of them. Three Cast Members named Andrew, Annathasia and Disa in particular were brilliant.

Restaurants –
Again, hear a lot of horror stories but every meal we had apart from one was absolutely gorgeous! Do your research and it really pays dividends in your experiences. Rainforest Cafe, Annette's Diner, Planet Hollywood, Restaurant Hakuna Matata, Earl of Sandwich were all fantastic meals!

Dream Annual Pass – Great value and people who saw we had it made us feel important. Also, it means we will be going back before it runs out! Relatively quick and simple to get it all done as well.

Behaviour of 'foreign' guests – Another area where you hear a lot of horror stories but again, found almost all of them to be fantastic, polite and lovely. Only one incident of attempted queue jumping, but with help from my shoulder he quickly found out he wouldnt be skipping past us! A slightly painful lesson for him im sure as im sure having your head stuck between my shoulder and the Buzz Lightyear queue wall didnt feel good; but he shouldnt be trying to physically force his way past me and my fiancee, should he?! Hopefully he will be a bit more considerate of people next time!

Characters – Saw a lot of characters on our trip, in the space of five minutes we saw Captain Hook, Smee, Baloo, Rafiki, Pluto, Chip and Dale and Goofy just wandering around! Absolutely brilliant. All an absolute treat for a photo and some interaction even though we dont have kids. Fiancee wanted to do Meet Mickey Mouse and Princess Pavilion and, whilst meeting Belle isnt really my thing, found them both to be a good, fun and surprisingly quick experience if you got to them early enough!

Dream Castle Hotel – Brilliant hotel and awesome value for the price we paid; will definitely be staying again! Room was great, breakfast was lovely once you got used to what foods you liked and i even got Wifi in my room! Perfect!

Buzz Lightyear's Lazer Blast - I havent been to DLP since early 2005 so my first experience on this ride and i absolutely loved it! So much fun! Very happy with my high score of 736000! Wish they had the camera positioned differently though, the gun was always blocking my face on almost every photo!

Lows

Behaviour of some guests –
Some arrogant, obnoxious, thoughtless, selfish people around in the parks! No need for it either, really, but there we go. Just bad luck i suppose.

Disney 'Secrets' lacking –
Really enjoy the little touches you find around the parks and ive not been for a long time but they either werent working or had disappeared completely. Shame, love those little extra touches!

Leaving! - Been planning the trip off and on for 9 years since my 21st birthday and it really was a killer leaving!

Turning 30 – Thank God I was in the park for my 30th birthday so I could forget about it! Not the parks fault that im getting older a lot faster than id like to though!

It was just such an amazing holiday. You hear a lot of negativity on forums, reviews even through petitions but its a brilliant, happy, fun place and I cant wait to go back!

Thanks for all of the little tips, special thanks to the Dedicated to DLP podcast and site; its great having something to read and listen to when everyone else is sick of talking about Disneyland Paris!

I think the strategy that they seem to have for the next couple of years of focusing on putting the smaller touches right such as shows, parades etc and generally improving in-park experiences as opposed to building rides is definitely the right move! Cant wait to be there to see the changes!
 
Thanks for sharing, sounds like you both had a fantastic trip and its so great to hear about all those characters being out and about.
 
Really nice to hear that so many highs, especially the bits which are often negative. Reassuring for me, taking grandparents to DLP for first visit soon and I worry they'll compare to the American parks.
Hope you did enjoy your birthday, after all best place to celebrate it! Be great to hear any other tips you have!
 
Welcome back, can't think of a better place to celebrate a milestone birthday. :goodvibes
 

Love the shoulder "check"! Good for you!

Your 30's are fantastic - savour every moment!

Thanks for sharing.
 
Thanks a lot everyone!

It was really great spending my birthday there, i got a birthday certificate and everything ha ha!

The character queuing system worked really well, everyone was happy to queue and wait their turn which is new. After hearing problems theyve had with this all over the world it was nice to see it working well in Paris.

Dobbycog a lot of people compare it to the American parks but i think its an entirely different experience. Rides like Phantom Manor and Pirates are very different and a lot of people think a lot better than their American counterparts so maybe try and focus on the positive differences as much as possible!
 
From what I remember, it was prettier than American parks. I agree different, but still disney. Hoping they agree, even if not far easier for travel with 2yr old
 
Great highs and lows :thumbsup2
I'm going for my 40th in October don't know if I will get a birthday badge :blush:.
I also think the the Disney park is far better and prettier than the magic kingdom
X
 
Out of interest, which Disney secrets weren't working?

Glad you had a fabulous trip!!

C x
 
Out of interest, which Disney secrets weren't working?

Glad you had a fabulous trip!!

C x

To be honest Cdsmiler it would be easier to ask which ones still work. The phone in the photo shop isnt there because the photo shop has closed, the rubbish bin near Aladdin didnt talk at all whilst we were there, the vent outside Armageddon is now round the side and does nothing, it doesnt 'rain' on the umbrella in the studios anymore, all the instruments outside Aerosmith were broken. Maybe just when we were there but none of them worked and thats to name but a few. Its been a long time since ive visited, but they all used to work!

Its not a huge deal, everything around you is so cool that you kinda forget about it; its just a shame because how much could it cost to get these small things working well? Not much i bet.
 
To be honest Cdsmiler it would be easier to ask which ones still work. The phone in the photo shop isnt there because the photo shop has closed, the rubbish bin near Aladdin didnt talk at all whilst we were there, the vent outside Armageddon is now round the side and does nothing, it doesnt 'rain' on the umbrella in the studios anymore, all the instruments outside Aerosmith were broken. Maybe just when we were there but none of them worked and thats to name but a few. Its been a long time since ive visited, but they all used to work! Its not a huge deal, everything around you is so cool that you kinda forget about it; its just a shame because how much could it cost to get these small things working well? Not much i bet.

Awww that's a shame. I was going to start actively looking for these secret things so it's good to have a heads up that some might not work.... Thanks!

C x
 
Yes hopefully just a blip. I wonder if any little secrets like that have been installed in the toy story area?
 

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