I'm Back! Highs and Lows April 22-26

[jennytablina]

Got back tonight, a little earlier than expected somehow. Will do some more indepth reviews and stuff over next few days but to the quick and simple bulletpoints

Highs

• Disney Dreams is absolutely fantastic and even better live! Got some great views the first night
• VIP Fastpass was pretty neat to have, even if I only used it for a few attractions
• Lucky Nugget was the surprise good meal of the trip - good food and great theming! Also bottomless soft drinks/water - I hope they repeat that elsewhere.
• Agrabah Cafe was also very good. Parents didn't rate it so high but seemed to enjoy exploring the food
• Earl of Sandwich for being an affordable and very tasty alternative to the generally (more than usual) overpriced food in the parks
• Getting to ride Buzz and Pirates a lot without too many queues
• Casey Jr. and Storybook Boats being open!
• Got a Montanna Sequoia Lodge room, wasn't updated with the new Bambi theme, but was nice to be in the main building all the same : )

Lows

• Rain, Rain, Rain! - I can normally deal with some rain on a Disney holiday but it was relentless most of the time and really killed the mood. We had nice Arsenal Macs (lol) but Parents were not keen on doing much when it did rain unless it was indoors (and usually the trek between indoor Attractions/Parks did us in anyway...)
• This doesn't apply to the entire park, but some attractions really needed some better management. We went on the Disneyland Railroad one day and it took 40 minutes for a train to turn up and CM's took ages getting people on it once it actually showed up. Same sort of shenanigans on the Tram Tour. On the plus side many rides were running on top notch level.
• Food prices: Maybe I'm spoiled by how the prices used to be last I went. But the prices are getting crazy in the parks right now. Even the slightly more reasonable 23 euro price of Agrabah Cafe is somewhat marred by the fact soft drinks cost 4 euro a pop!
• Pizza Planet: I'll expand more on this in the review thread, but while I can understand people wanting to flock to it because of unlimited Pizza, the limited options and even lack of refillable drinks makes this the more depressing Disney meal I have had so far
• Didn't get to have breakfast in the park at all this trip, don't know what happened there. but they said there was no days to offer when we checked in :/
• Eurostar hit with worse delays than usual - apparently French Immergration decided to strike today and so everyone was stuck waiting to very slowly pass thru baggage check. Kids getting very antsy ect. not fun

Oh and quick note regarding the "20 years of Magic" book that came out this week. It's a fantastic book if you love Disney history and well worth the 49 euro it costs, but there's NO shareholder discount on it. Apparently they can withhold it on certain special items like the book.

 

[aliscrapper]

Sounds like you had a great trip - thanks for reporting back. Was soft drinks 4 Euros everywhere or were they cheaper in the shops than with meals?? Thanks

 

[Woolly]

Is the Lucky Nugget still doing meals/hot buffets? Do they still have characters? I was under the impression this was not the case. It would be great if it was. I always like it in there.

Could you let me have more details. Thanks.

 

[DLPdaft]

jenny has already updated the Lucky Nugget review thread with her experience, and theres menu photos on there too -

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1218212&page=4

Thanks so much for all your reviews jenny, I really like the Last Chance cafe-style food and the theme inside the Lucky Nugget, so it looks like this will be a definite for us in June .

I agree with relentless rain, it does spoil things, wherever you are.

But there were loads of highs on your trip, it sounds like it was a great one overall.

Oh - one question if you don't mind - where were you standing for your fabulous view of Dreams on your first night?

 

[tennisfan]

Welcome back, shame about the weather though.

 

[jennytablina]

jenny has already updated the Lucky Nugget review thread with her experience, and theres menu photos on there too -

Oh - one question if you don't mind...f, but thought that was worth noting as well.

 

[DLPdaft]

sorry, I'm easily confused - which curb/road? were you at the end of Main Street near Victorias, Caseys Corner? Or closer to the castle than that?

 

[jennytablina]

sorry, I'm easily confused - which curb/road? were you at the end of Main Street near Victorias, Caseys Corner? Or closer to the castle than that?

Oh sorry, I explained that badly. I mean right in front of the castle almost. they close off the bridge to the castle, but while lots of people go right up against the rope, if you take the curb on the other side of the road then you get enough elevation to see over those right at the front, and a view that's easier on the neck

Note about an hour before dreams they start closing off routes to the other areas of the park (if Dreams is at the end of the Park day), so it gets pretty tricky to make it to that spot if you leave it too late. Bonus is that stops people turning up and ruining the vantage point at last minute, but does mean you might have to camp out on the spot for an hour or so.

 

[DLPdaft]

thanks for that - do you mean where the flowerbeds are, where the hub stage used to be? Aren't people allowed to stand in the road in front of the castle though, ie between the rope right in front of the castle and right in front of where you are standing?

 

[JoeSam]

jenny your trip sounds lovely apart from the blinking rain and seems like you had a lovely view of Dreams.

For the less committed though, is it still possible to get a good experience from further back, or to the sides of the hub area do you know?! Or is the 1hr plus stake-out a must-do?

I'm looking forward to my 1 day VIP fastpass even though we'll probably only use it on Peter Pan & Buzz! Hoping to get DS on to BTM this time, but he's not very brave!

 

[JDUCKY]

Got back tonight, a little earlier than expected somehow. Will do some more indepth reviews and stuff over next few days but to the quick and simple bulletpoints

...

Lows

• This doesn't apply to the entire park, but some attractions really needed some better management. We went on the Disneyland Railroad one day and it took 40 minutes for a train to turn up and CM's took ages getting people on it once it actually showed up. Same sort of shenanigans on the Tram Tour. On the plus side many rides were running on top notch level.

OMG! We ran into that many times! And considering we only had a half day for Hollywood Studios and one day at Disneyland, it all but ruined the experience for us.

CMs were consistently not paying attention, talking amongst themselves, unsure of how to restart a stopped ride, not getting people from the queue to the ride loading area, etc. A few times my wife and I were tempted to get out of line and start loading people ourselves!!

Storybook Land boats, Casey, Jr, Pirates, Crush's Coaster (which we never actually go to ride due to CM incompetence), Small World, the DL train and others. 25-30min waits should have been no more than 5-10.

Oh, and toss in the overflowing garbage cans, the pee-covered floors in the bathrooms, line cutters galore...

It was definitely not a magical experience for us and we most likely will never return. We were there a week before the start of the official 20th anniversary celebration but it seems like this was just business as usual from other things I've read besides this.

Compared to DL California and WDW here in Orlando, DLP was a huge disappointment which is really sad because the park, itself, is beautiful.

 

[jothp]

Sorry to hear you had such bad weather but it sounds like you didn't let it totally spoil your trip.

 

[jennytablina]

OMG! We ran into that many times! And considering we only had a half day for Hollywood Studios and one day at Disneyland, it all but ruined the experience for us.

CMs were consistently not paying attention, talking amongst themselves, unsure of how to restart a stopped ride, not getting people from the queue to the ride loading area, etc. A few times my wife and I were tempted to get out of line and start loading people ourselves!!

Storybook Land boats, Casey, Jr, Pirates, Crush's Coaster (which we never actually go to ride due to CM incompetence), Small World, the DL train and others. 25-30min waits should have been no more than 5-10.

Oh, and toss in the overflowing garbage cans, the pee-covered floors in the bathrooms, line cutters galore...

It was definitely not a magical experience for us and we most likely will never return. We were there a week before the start of the official 20th anniversary celebration but it seems like this was just business as usual from other things I've read besides this.

Compared to DL California and WDW here in Orlando, DLP was a huge disappointment which is really sad because the park, itself, is beautiful.

That's a shame Ducky : ( CM's can be a bit spotty in DLP but for me it was only really 2 rides. That and rides like Crush's Coaster simply seem to be a problem in of themselves to begin with (it's a shame, because it's a great attraction, but nothing is worth wasting an hour just to ride!)

Some of those issues seem to be a weird lack of respect that visitors to DLP seem to display. I hate attributing it to a certain area as it isn't clear. But it's like when the Brazilians come to WDW but on a more constant basis. People will cut in line, take pictures on a ride without thinking or shove their kids on rides they don't want to ride. It can be as much an American problem in the parks, but it seems worse in DLP - maybe because CM's are simply not as strict on upholding rules or seem to be a bit less prepared for potentially sticky situations. I think the large potential for language barriers doesn't help to boot.

It's sad because as a Park it deserves so much better still, but I think in terms of lousy CM's - Euro Disney SCA can't afford to be choosy nor can always pick the wheat from the chaff, as France are very liberal when it comes to work. As we found when we had had a 40 min delay yesterday leaving Paris - because apparently French Police had decided to strike with no warning but STILL insisted on doing a very VERY slow baggage check.

 

[Alice28]

OMGosh- we were there at the same time! We got back last night from DLP and arrived the 23rd. The rain was HORRID!!!!!

and I totally agree- the train....ugh, I wonder if we rode it the same day. We had the same problem with the Casey Jr ride- not proper loading techniques, the line was posted at 20 minutes but took almost 45. I wanted to get out there and load the train myself!

I have been to DL CA 40+ times, WDW 11-12 times and this was my first time at DLP. I have to say it is the most GORGEOUS Disney park, but the standards they set for their CMs definitely isn't as high and I was disappointed in the behavior of a lot of guests. Namely smoking in queues and the bathroom messes. Not to mention watching a mother let her 3 year old take a pee on the walkway between Fantasyland and Adventureland.

 

[Ware Bears]

I know, it's shocking, isn't it. And a shame you had such horrid weather.

Oh and quick note regarding the "20 years of Magic" book that came out this week. It's a fantastic book if you love Disney history and well worth the 49 euro it costs,

Welcome back, glad you had a great time and it's really nice to hear you're pleased with your book.