Just Back--Disneyland Paris

[wintergreen]

Just wanted to report on our recent spring break trip to London and Paris, which included 2 nights at the Disneyland Hotel in Disneyland Paris. Arrived around noon on the Eurostar from London (fantastic trip--the train ride was one of the highlights of our whole trip for my DDs, 10 and 13). Walked over to the hotel from the train station. Only weird part was having to have our suitcases looked through at the bag check for the entrance to the park (which is under the Disneyland Hotel). Room was of course not yet ready, so we got our tickets (pre-paid for length of stay, as now required when booking using points), and headed for the park. When we got back to the hotel around 5:00, the room was ready, and we were pleasantly surprised to have been upgraded from a regular room with two queen beds, to what I think is referred to as a "family room" with two queen beds and a day bed.

The hotel was lovely. Breakfasts were nice, and included both hot and cold items. We made sure to get there during "off" times, so it was not too crowded. Made use of early opening at Disneyland Park one day. Wish they also had early openings for the Studios, but no such luck. Anyone who goes should be sure to check out Crush's Coaster in the Studios. There is no FP, and lines are long, but it is worth the wait.

We really enjoyed DLRP (although it was COLD). This was our second time staying there on points (the first time we stayed at the Newport Bay Club), and we would do it again, if vacation plans take us back to Paris.

Oh, also saw the Lion King on stage in London. This was the ABSOLUTE highlight of the trip.

Happy to answer any questions!

 

[BEASLYBOO]

Sounds like a marvelous trip. Thanfully I have relatives in Paris and can spare the use of my points when I visit. How does the rest of Disney Paris compare to Disney World?

 

[Tiggerlover48]

I'm jealous. But someday I'll get there. I'd love to know too how it compares to WDW.

 

[Inkmahm]

I'll be there at the end of May/ beginning of June after a business trip to Paris. Are there no EMH for the studios? I thought I looked online and there were EMH every day, thought it was for both.


I've never been to Disneyland Paris so I'm looking foward to something that is a little familiar but also new to me! What were your favorite attractions besides Crush?

 

[wintergreen]

Not sure how to compare DLRP with WDW. They are very different. Disneyland Park is similar to the Magic Kingdom, but also very different. It has its own, really wonderful attractions. For instance, Tomorrowland is "Discoveryland" in DLRP, and has a very Jules Vernesque feel to it (2000 Leagues Under the Sea, etc.). We happen to love it, and feel that the theming is timeless. The castle is Sleeping Beauty's, rather than Cinderella's, and is a beautiful walk-through attraction. Fantasyland has lots of great attractions not included at WDW, including an Alice in Wonderland maze, that my kids love to spend time in. Instead of Tom Sawyer Island, there is a Pirate-themed island. I like the Haunted Mansion version better in DLRP. The only attraction from WDW that I really missed was the Jungle Cruise.

The Studios are much smaller that the Studios in WDW, but have some neat stage attractions (Animagique and Cinemagique), that WDW does not have.

A couple of things to note:

While the hotels are very nice, the pool areas are not as well done as those at WDW (they are usually cold, and I don't think Europeans "get" the hot-tub thing).

Queuing is not an art that patrons at DLRP seem to understand very well. I have never seen so many line jumpers in my life!

People smoke everywhere, even in lines!!! I am an occasional smoker, myself, but this was bad. My kids were horrified.

There are no Disney Channel offerings in English for the kids. Apparently there are now more Spanish-speaking than English-speaking guests in the hotels, so the two Disney channels offered are in French and Spanish. There is CNN, but my kids were not interested in that. No DVD players either, and the movie theatres in Downtown Disney play only movies dubbed into French. Evening entertainment options were therefore limited.

The food was good! We had wonderful dinners at the California Grill in the Disneyland Hotel and the Manhattan Restaurant in the Hotel New York. Even the counter service places in the parks were a step up from what you generally get at WDW, in my opinion.

 

[DVC Mike]

Wow, one day I must visit DLRP, although as you mentioned, the weather is much cooler than WDW as it is farther north. They should have built their European park in Spain.

I also want to visit the Tokyo park -- especially DisneySea!

 

[Inkmahm]

Not sure how to compare DLRP with WDW. They are very different. Disneyland Park is similar to the Magic Kingdom, but also very different. It has its own, really wonderful attractions. For instance, Tomorrowland is "Discoveryland" in DLRP, and has a very Jules Vernesque feel to it (2000 Leagues Under the Sea, etc.). We happen to love it, and feel that the theming is timeless. The castle is Sleeping Beauty's, rather than Cinderella's, and is a beautiful walk-through attraction. Fantasyland has lots of great attractions not included at WDW, including an Alice in Wonderland maze, that my kids love to spend time in. Instead of Tom Sawyer Island, there is a Pirate-themed island. I like the Haunted Mansion version better in DLRP. The only attraction from WDW that I really missed was the Jungle Cruise.

The Studios are much smaller that the Studios in WDW, but have some neat stage attractions (Animagique and Cinemagique), that WDW does not have.

A couple of things to note:

While the hotels are very nice, the pool areas are not as well done as those at WDW (they are usually cold, and I don't think Europeans "get" the hot-tub thing).

Queuing is not an art that patrons at DLRP seem to understand very well. I have never seen so many line jumpers in my life!

People smoke everywhere, even in lines!!! I am an occasional smoker, myself, but this was bad. My kids were horrified.

There are no Disney Channel offerings in English for the kids. Apparently there are now more Spanish-speaking than English-speaking guests in the hotels, so the two Disney channels offered are in French and Spanish. There is CNN, but my kids were not interested in that. No DVD players either, and the movie theatres in Downtown Disney play only movies dubbed into French. Evening entertainment options were therefore limited.

The food was good! We had wonderful dinners at the California Grill in the Disneyland Hotel and the Manhattan Restaurant in the Hotel New York. Even the counter service places in the parks were a step up from what you generally get at WDW, in my opinion.

I'm really looking forward to it, it's been a long time since a Disney park was "new" to me and I didn't know it like the back of my hand! Is there enough to do in the Studios park for a whole day if it is that much smaller than the Florida version? Maybe Disneyland is one day and the studios/downtown Disney are another?


The pool areas and the lack of English on tv won't bother me at all. I'm there on business and then meeting a cousin from Germany for the Disneyland portion of the trip so I doubt we'll be doing much swimming or tv watching.

The poor conduct in lines (skipping ahead) and smoking will BOTH offend me, however. Now that I know about them ahead of time, I'll have to figure out how to keep myself calm when I run into them. I thought France was finally putting in "no smoking" rules in public places, too? Maybe not.

 

[wintergreen]

They should have built their European park in Spain.QUOTE]

LOL!! That's exactly what my DH said!

I want to visit the Tokyo parks as well. The only ones I have not been to. Was lucky enough to visit Hong Kong DL following a business trip a couple of years ago.

 

[wintergreen]

I'm really looking forward to it, it's been a long time since a Disney park was "new" to me and I didn't know it like the back of my hand! Is there enough to do in the Studios park for a whole day if it is that much smaller than the Florida version? Maybe Disneyland is one day and the studios/downtown Disney are another?


The pool areas and the lack of English on tv won't bother me at all. I'm there on business and then meeting a cousin from Germany for the Disneyland portion of the trip so I doubt we'll be doing much swimming or tv watching.

The poor conduct in lines (skipping ahead) and smoking will BOTH offend me, however. Now that I know about them ahead of time, I'll have to figure out how to keep myself calm when I run into them. I thought France was finally putting in "no smoking" rules in public places, too? Maybe not.

You could definitely do the whole Studios in one (short) day. Not a whole lot to the Downtown Disney.

The only no smoking signs that I saw were posted INSIDE in ride queues.

 

[jbrowna]

Went to DLP in October of 2005 (were there for Halloween, which is quite the experience!), and will be going back at the beginning of May. We have a couple of CM's in the family, so we don't need the park passes; however, it is very difficult to book rooms only! You can't do it with points, and they have very few rooms available at the Cast rate. We wound up buying some shares of EuroDisneySCA and joined the Shareholders Club and were able to book rooms only through their special hotline.

I will concur with both of the observations about smoking and line jumping from our trip in 2005. One other thing: even though I have seen this on occasion at WDW, in DLP there always seem to be a group waiting at the FP entrance to attractions -- often blocking the way -- waiting for their time window to open. The first time we saw this, we thought the ride was down, or for some other reason they weren't letting people in the FP line. Once we caught on, we would excuse our way through the crowd and show our fastpasses to the CM, who would let us in the line.

 

[Inkmahm]

You could definitely do the whole Studios in one (short) day. Not a whole lot to the Downtown Disney.

The only no smoking signs that I saw were posted INSIDE in ride queues.

So if I have 3 days for the pleasure part of my trip, it sounds like using two of them for Disney will be plenty of time? If they are hopper tickets and we run out of stuff to do at the studios and Downtown Disney, we can always hop back into Disneyland, I guess.

 

[Inkmahm]

Went to DLP in October of 2005 (were there for Halloween, which is quite the experience!), and will be going back at the beginning of May. We have a couple of CM's in the family, so we don't need the park passes; however, it is very difficult to book rooms only! You can't do it with points, and they have very few rooms available at the Cast rate. We wound up buying some shares of EuroDisneySCA and joined the Shareholders Club and were able to book rooms only through their special hotline.

I will concur with both of the observations about smoking and line jumping from our trip in 2005. One other thing: even though I have seen this on occasion at WDW, in DLP there always seem to be a group waiting at the FP entrance to attractions -- often blocking the way -- waiting for their time window to open. The first time we saw this, we thought the ride was down, or for some other reason they weren't letting people in the FP line. Once we caught on, we would excuse our way through the crowd and show our fastpasses to the CM, who would let us in the line.

I didn't know about the business trip until just recently so the Disney Hotels were already booked and also VERY expensive compared to what I'm used to these days with DVC points! I looked at the points needed for the Disneyland hotel and say no way. Plus, I'll be there for 4 nights but really only 3 days, and only want park tickets for 2 of those 3 days. I ran into the same thing with the room including park tickets. I reserved an "offsite" room at Hôtel l'Elysée Val d'Europe at Disneyland Resort Paris but I guess this is still "connected" with Disney somehow so that I still have the EMH advantage. I hope that's true, anyway.

I also bought shares and joined the Shareholders club to get the discounts on the restaurants and stores! The 15% discount seems to be better than their annual pass discounts (unless you get the pricey Dream annual pass.)

I've discovered that making arrangements for the Paris trip is much more complicated than a trip to WDW where I know what I'm doing.

Thanks for the tip about the bands of people blocking the fast past entrances. Now I'll know to do the same as you did and walk right through!

 

[Claire L]

While the hotels are very nice, the pool areas are not as well done as those at WDW (they are usually cold, and I don't think Europeans "get" the hot-tub thing).

Queuing is not an art that patrons at DLRP seem to understand very well. I have never seen so many line jumpers in my life!

I think most Europeans, certainly those in the northern parts do like hot tubs, but for some reasons hotels are not quick to catch on and agree pools are not that well themed.

Also the line jumping is a way of life in continental Europe

Wow, one day I must visit DLRP, although as you mentioned, the weather is much cooler than WDW as it is farther north. They should have built their European park in Spain.

Totally agree about the fact the park should of been in Spain, I have no idea what possessed Disney to built it in France

Claire

 

[Inkmahm]

Also the line jumping is a way of life in continental Europe

What happens if a pushy American points out to the line jumpers that they are jumping line and should go to the back of the line to wait their turn, like everyone else?

 

[Claire L]

What happens if a pushy American points out to the line jumpers that they are jumping line and should go to the back of the line to wait their turn, like everyone else?

In my experience their knowledge of English may well disappear! Although some will listen, not all do.

Claire

 

[Princess Amy Lyn]

We loved "Its a small world" at Euro Disney...because there was an American section. That was fun!

Can't wait to someday go back!

 

[simzac]

Thanks for the great trip report. Glad you had a wonderful trip. I too hope to someday visit not only DLRP, but Tokyo and Hong Kong parks also.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Went to DLP in October of 2005 (were there for Halloween, which is quite the experience).

We were there early Oct in 2002 when everything was done up for Halloween. I believe I am forever going to think of DLP as the Halloween resort since I've never seen it without it's decorations! It was kind of strange being somewhere that had such similarities but yet was so different. We were wearing black leather jackets right along with 2/3rd's of the rest of the people - you don't see that in DW much!

We also noticed the line jumping and thought that the cleanliness and CM's (many seemed very bored) were not quite up to the level that there is in FL and CA, but I also heard at the time that all the parks were having a bit of trouble keeping things up to par.

At the time I remember that we enjoyed the Studios in Paris more than we did in DW, but right now I cannot recall why.

 

[jbrowna]

What happens if a pushy American points out to the line jumpers that they are jumping line and should go to the back of the line to wait their turn, like everyone else?

I was there with family -- 5 grown kids. Our solution was to simply hold hands while in the queue, so that no one could get by us.

 

[Inkmahm]

We also noticed the line jumping and thought that the cleanliness and CM's (many seemed very bored) were not quite up to the level that there is in FL and CA, but I also heard at the time that all the parks were having a bit of trouble keeping things up to par.

At the time I remember that we enjoyed the Studios in Paris more than we did in DW, but right now I cannot recall why.

I was about to ask where the CMs are when there are line jumping problems. In Florida, I guess I assume the CMs keep order but I don't really have a lot of experience with people even trying to line jump.