Just thought I would post a piece about my recent stay for you all. I stayed at Disneyland hotel from October 4th - October 7th with my parents and it was to celebrate my 21st birthday.
The weather held up for the whole time with it raining quite heavy one evening. The crowds were a lot larger in the parks and hotel than we anticipated but this could have been for two reasons. Firstly, the free night offer began on October 4th and secondly the Halloween festivities began on the 6th (so I expect a lot of press were invited to the park). I think we were mostly surprised how many children there were around seen as they are meant to be in school.
The hotel was a wonderful experience though. I have previously stayed in Newport Bay, Sequoia Lodge and Santa Fe but Disneyland was definitely the best. We all appreciated the extra stuff you get at breakfast - notably bacon, eggs, sausage, tomato and waffles. And the characters of course! I would definitely recommend it. It was worth the money in my opinion although we were lucky in that we got the free night offer. This offer doesn't always apply to the Disneyland hotel I don't think. On my actual birthday we ate in 'Inventions' which has a very nice dinner buffet and I had many of the staff and 'Tweedle Dee' sing me happy birthday hahahaha!
I noticed in some reviews of the hotel I read beforehand that some people were saying the hotel was starting to look shabby. I'm pleased to say though our room was immaculate and there was actually a bit of re-wall papering going on around the hotel in addition to some maintanance work to the exterior of the hotel. Disney obviously have all this under control.
I hadn't been on the Buzz Lightyear ride before but I think it's great and we did that one many times.
In the studios all the new things are well underway. I couldn't see much of 'toontown' but 'Tower of Terrors' is well underway and is clearly visible as you enter the park. I'm glad they are doing so much extension to this park because it is very very small compared to the other park.
The actual Halloween festival was great. I have never seen Disney at Halloween before and it was visually wonderful to see the giant pumpkin in front of the castle and main street painted orange. The concept of changing Frontierland to 'Halloween Land' is great.
There were two parades - the Disney Villains parade and another one to do with Stitch. Both were very good and the best I have seen so far with perhaps the exception of 'festival of the Lion King' which was there in February 2004.
You can also meet Jack Sparrow now, near the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' ride although he unfortunately left before I got to have my photo!
My only major complaint is how Disneyland Paris cope with the characters. My parents got a bit annoyed at breakfast because some of the more *boisterous* hotel guests would crowd round the characters whenever they appeared. With a little patience you realise that the characters are very fair and come round all the tables... but some people just couldn't wait and were content on blocking up the breakfast area, and things get a bit manic.
It was also bad in the park at times. I felt sorry for little children waiting patiently to see a character and then having another family push in front of them, only to be told later the character was leaving. I noticed the characters normally have someone with them. And while some do try to make people que up properly others are completely useless and just stand there.
I will try and post some photos soon. If you guys have any specific requests let me know and as always fire away with any questions!
Ben x
The weather held up for the whole time with it raining quite heavy one evening. The crowds were a lot larger in the parks and hotel than we anticipated but this could have been for two reasons. Firstly, the free night offer began on October 4th and secondly the Halloween festivities began on the 6th (so I expect a lot of press were invited to the park). I think we were mostly surprised how many children there were around seen as they are meant to be in school.
The hotel was a wonderful experience though. I have previously stayed in Newport Bay, Sequoia Lodge and Santa Fe but Disneyland was definitely the best. We all appreciated the extra stuff you get at breakfast - notably bacon, eggs, sausage, tomato and waffles. And the characters of course! I would definitely recommend it. It was worth the money in my opinion although we were lucky in that we got the free night offer. This offer doesn't always apply to the Disneyland hotel I don't think. On my actual birthday we ate in 'Inventions' which has a very nice dinner buffet and I had many of the staff and 'Tweedle Dee' sing me happy birthday hahahaha!
I noticed in some reviews of the hotel I read beforehand that some people were saying the hotel was starting to look shabby. I'm pleased to say though our room was immaculate and there was actually a bit of re-wall papering going on around the hotel in addition to some maintanance work to the exterior of the hotel. Disney obviously have all this under control.
I hadn't been on the Buzz Lightyear ride before but I think it's great and we did that one many times.
In the studios all the new things are well underway. I couldn't see much of 'toontown' but 'Tower of Terrors' is well underway and is clearly visible as you enter the park. I'm glad they are doing so much extension to this park because it is very very small compared to the other park.
The actual Halloween festival was great. I have never seen Disney at Halloween before and it was visually wonderful to see the giant pumpkin in front of the castle and main street painted orange. The concept of changing Frontierland to 'Halloween Land' is great.
There were two parades - the Disney Villains parade and another one to do with Stitch. Both were very good and the best I have seen so far with perhaps the exception of 'festival of the Lion King' which was there in February 2004.
You can also meet Jack Sparrow now, near the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' ride although he unfortunately left before I got to have my photo!
My only major complaint is how Disneyland Paris cope with the characters. My parents got a bit annoyed at breakfast because some of the more *boisterous* hotel guests would crowd round the characters whenever they appeared. With a little patience you realise that the characters are very fair and come round all the tables... but some people just couldn't wait and were content on blocking up the breakfast area, and things get a bit manic.
It was also bad in the park at times. I felt sorry for little children waiting patiently to see a character and then having another family push in front of them, only to be told later the character was leaving. I noticed the characters normally have someone with them. And while some do try to make people que up properly others are completely useless and just stand there.
I will try and post some photos soon. If you guys have any specific requests let me know and as always fire away with any questions!
Ben x
I know what you mean about the characters though, the organisation is dreadful when they're on 'walkabout'. 
[SIZE=+3]
I'm looking forward to your pics!
