- Joined
- Dec 19, 2023
- Messages
- 38
My wife and I just returned from a 6 night stay at DLP at the end of September. We arrived at Charles DeGaul Airport, took the bullet train straight there (11 mins), and checked in to the Sequoia Lodge Hotel. We did the hotel/ticket package for 6 nights with the half-board meal plan. We are DVC members who both grew up in Orlando. We have been to Disney World parks & lodging hundreds of times, and to Disneyland Parks & lodging a couple times, so we are very experienced with Disney. This was our first time in Paris. Here are all my pros and cons about the trip. We truly had an amazing time!
PROS:
1. The parks and rides were amazing. The Disneyland Park takes a whole day, especially if you're eating in the park. The Hollywood Studios park takes about 3/4 of a day if you're eating in the park. It was especially fun to experience the differences on the 'same' rides we have at the parks in America. Their version of Space Mountain (Called Hyperspace Mountain) was by far the best of the 3 Space Mountains we have ridden - it even goes up-side-down!
2. We had an excellent experience with the staff at the Hotel and in the Parks. 80% of those we interacted with spoke English quite well. They were very polite and helpful, especially when you are friendly and greet them in French first! Signage was also English-friendly.
3. We booked one tour: the one that included a bus ride in to the city (and back to DLP in the evening), a boat ride on the Seine River, and lunch in the Eiffel Tower restaurant. It was amazing and worth every penny, especially for how quickly it moved us through security and the elevator lines up into the tower.
4. Even with the parks being busy, most ride wait times were shorter than what we're used to experiencing at Disneyworld. (There was only one exception - Crush's Coaster was a longer than advertised line (almost 90 minutes even though wait time said 55)) On the busy rides, we made good use of the single-rider lines.
5. The half board meal plan worked great. We got a buffet breakfast every day at the hotel, and then we ate at the 7 best restaurants at DLP that were the consensus between about 6 food reviews I googled. We ate at Walt's, Remys, Pym Kitchen, Plaza gardens, the Steakhouse, Manhattan, and Agribba. They were all very good. Manhattan and Pym were the best. (6 of these were covered by the meal plan, we paid for the last one).
6. The entire trip, I spent only $10 Euros in cash, and that was at an open-air market. Everywhere we went took my Visa card. See below about exchanging money.
7. The train system into the city was initially a daunting concern, but we figured it out easily. We spent Wednesday evening, and all day Thursday and Friday at DLP and in the parks. Saturday was our tour into the city with the boat ride and Eiffel Tower, and then Sunday and Monday, we took the trains into the city. "The Frenchies" Youtube videos were very helpful in planning our trip and walking us through different sites/museums and how to use the trains. We both have iPhones, and when we put in where we wanted to go in the maps program, hit the "train" button instead of the "drive" button, it told us exactly what trains to use. We were just careful to stay alert and keep everything secure from pick-pockets, and our trip was incident-free.
8. There's no tipping at restaurants in France; it's included int he price of the meal. Though some "shifty" waiters will try to ask Americans if they would like to leave an additional tip. . .
9. Their customs/immigration systems and lines in the Paris airport were a breeze.
CONS:
1. Based on the advertised cost of the meals, the half-board meal plan saved us just over $20 Euros. If we had not eaten at all the nicest restaurants, we would have paid more for the meal plan that what we actually used. When you consider what you're paying in Euros, food is quite expensive there. Bottom line, if you are going to be eating at counter-service restaurants, DON'T buy the half-board meal plan; pay directly and you'll save money.
2. The Sequoia Lodge was clean, but dated and a bit worn. I do not think it has been refreshed since it was built in 1992. We picked this one because it had A/C. Not all the DLP hotels do. There were only 3 outlets in the whole room, and none near the bedside tables. I had to go to the front desk and leave a deposit for an extension cord to plug in the bipap machine that I sleep with. (Don't forget to bring adapters!) The Marvel New York Hotel is brand new, and fun to walk around. And the Disneyland Hotel is their premium hotel (with premium price).
3. Their "Downtown Disney" district is small, not a whole lot besides some restaurants and the Disney stores.
4. THE RESTROOM SITUATION IS HORRIBLE, especially for women when places are crowded. At the DLP hotels, in the parks, and even in the city, they do not have enough restrooms, and the ones they do have are too small. You would think that Disney would give much better attention this problem. We frequently saw women who could not wait in a long line in the parks going in to use the men's restrooms. My wife even had to do so at one point.
5. Their Hollywood Studios Park was doing a LOT of construction, so it made it harder to get around the park and not all attractions were available.
6. If you want to get Euros for your trip, get them from your own bank before you leave so you actually get a good exchange rate without fees. I got shafted in the Paris airport when I exchanged $100 for Euros, and shafted again at the Atlanta Airport when I got back to the states and exchanged my Euros back. You don't need much - everywhere you go takes credit cards. I spent only $10 Euros cash for crepes at an open-air market during the whole trip.
7. Every single museum requires you to feed your bag/backpack through a machine and you to walk through a metal detector. The up side is that you feel very safe wherever you go, but the down side is you have to wait in security lines everywhere you go in Paris. There are security lines you have to wait in around DLP too, but their lines moved much more quickly.
8. BEWARE that in European airports, unless you have paid for premium seats on your flight, they are serious about carry-on size and weight. We traveled using only carry-on luggage. Here in the states, they pretty much let us get away with a lot - they never check weight, and something has to be obviously too large to get their attention. We flew over on Delta and had no problem, but Delta put us on their partner airline, Air France, coming home. Air France weighed and checked the size of our carry-ons and made us pay $70 Euros to check one of them coming home. They wanted us to check 2 of them, but I pushed back on that and they let us through. . . And Delta did not reimburse me for this charge even though I am a skymiles member who booked the flight with their gold credit card that guarantees me one free checked bag per person. Evidently, their free checked bag assurances don't extend to their partner airlines. . .
9. People will tell you that if you save your receipts, you can be reimbursed for the taxes you paid on purchases while in France. The purchase price of all items includes a tax. There is a place in the airport where you can supposedly go to get some money back if you are not a citizen of France. Well, if you want to get back the taxes you paid, you have to ask for the special form at every vendor you purchase from, and have those forms filled out with accompanying receipts. Then you have to visit 2 different locations in the airport -- one to verify your forms and the other to actually get reimbursed.
All that being said, this was one of the best trips we have EVER taken. We loved every minute. If we do it again, I would book a hotel in the city for 3 nights, and then do 3 nights at DLP, just to save a lot of time traveling from DLP into the city for touring. But we truly loved DLP!
PROS:
1. The parks and rides were amazing. The Disneyland Park takes a whole day, especially if you're eating in the park. The Hollywood Studios park takes about 3/4 of a day if you're eating in the park. It was especially fun to experience the differences on the 'same' rides we have at the parks in America. Their version of Space Mountain (Called Hyperspace Mountain) was by far the best of the 3 Space Mountains we have ridden - it even goes up-side-down!
2. We had an excellent experience with the staff at the Hotel and in the Parks. 80% of those we interacted with spoke English quite well. They were very polite and helpful, especially when you are friendly and greet them in French first! Signage was also English-friendly.
3. We booked one tour: the one that included a bus ride in to the city (and back to DLP in the evening), a boat ride on the Seine River, and lunch in the Eiffel Tower restaurant. It was amazing and worth every penny, especially for how quickly it moved us through security and the elevator lines up into the tower.
4. Even with the parks being busy, most ride wait times were shorter than what we're used to experiencing at Disneyworld. (There was only one exception - Crush's Coaster was a longer than advertised line (almost 90 minutes even though wait time said 55)) On the busy rides, we made good use of the single-rider lines.
5. The half board meal plan worked great. We got a buffet breakfast every day at the hotel, and then we ate at the 7 best restaurants at DLP that were the consensus between about 6 food reviews I googled. We ate at Walt's, Remys, Pym Kitchen, Plaza gardens, the Steakhouse, Manhattan, and Agribba. They were all very good. Manhattan and Pym were the best. (6 of these were covered by the meal plan, we paid for the last one).
6. The entire trip, I spent only $10 Euros in cash, and that was at an open-air market. Everywhere we went took my Visa card. See below about exchanging money.
7. The train system into the city was initially a daunting concern, but we figured it out easily. We spent Wednesday evening, and all day Thursday and Friday at DLP and in the parks. Saturday was our tour into the city with the boat ride and Eiffel Tower, and then Sunday and Monday, we took the trains into the city. "The Frenchies" Youtube videos were very helpful in planning our trip and walking us through different sites/museums and how to use the trains. We both have iPhones, and when we put in where we wanted to go in the maps program, hit the "train" button instead of the "drive" button, it told us exactly what trains to use. We were just careful to stay alert and keep everything secure from pick-pockets, and our trip was incident-free.
8. There's no tipping at restaurants in France; it's included int he price of the meal. Though some "shifty" waiters will try to ask Americans if they would like to leave an additional tip. . .
9. Their customs/immigration systems and lines in the Paris airport were a breeze.
CONS:
1. Based on the advertised cost of the meals, the half-board meal plan saved us just over $20 Euros. If we had not eaten at all the nicest restaurants, we would have paid more for the meal plan that what we actually used. When you consider what you're paying in Euros, food is quite expensive there. Bottom line, if you are going to be eating at counter-service restaurants, DON'T buy the half-board meal plan; pay directly and you'll save money.
2. The Sequoia Lodge was clean, but dated and a bit worn. I do not think it has been refreshed since it was built in 1992. We picked this one because it had A/C. Not all the DLP hotels do. There were only 3 outlets in the whole room, and none near the bedside tables. I had to go to the front desk and leave a deposit for an extension cord to plug in the bipap machine that I sleep with. (Don't forget to bring adapters!) The Marvel New York Hotel is brand new, and fun to walk around. And the Disneyland Hotel is their premium hotel (with premium price).
3. Their "Downtown Disney" district is small, not a whole lot besides some restaurants and the Disney stores.
4. THE RESTROOM SITUATION IS HORRIBLE, especially for women when places are crowded. At the DLP hotels, in the parks, and even in the city, they do not have enough restrooms, and the ones they do have are too small. You would think that Disney would give much better attention this problem. We frequently saw women who could not wait in a long line in the parks going in to use the men's restrooms. My wife even had to do so at one point.
5. Their Hollywood Studios Park was doing a LOT of construction, so it made it harder to get around the park and not all attractions were available.
6. If you want to get Euros for your trip, get them from your own bank before you leave so you actually get a good exchange rate without fees. I got shafted in the Paris airport when I exchanged $100 for Euros, and shafted again at the Atlanta Airport when I got back to the states and exchanged my Euros back. You don't need much - everywhere you go takes credit cards. I spent only $10 Euros cash for crepes at an open-air market during the whole trip.
7. Every single museum requires you to feed your bag/backpack through a machine and you to walk through a metal detector. The up side is that you feel very safe wherever you go, but the down side is you have to wait in security lines everywhere you go in Paris. There are security lines you have to wait in around DLP too, but their lines moved much more quickly.
8. BEWARE that in European airports, unless you have paid for premium seats on your flight, they are serious about carry-on size and weight. We traveled using only carry-on luggage. Here in the states, they pretty much let us get away with a lot - they never check weight, and something has to be obviously too large to get their attention. We flew over on Delta and had no problem, but Delta put us on their partner airline, Air France, coming home. Air France weighed and checked the size of our carry-ons and made us pay $70 Euros to check one of them coming home. They wanted us to check 2 of them, but I pushed back on that and they let us through. . . And Delta did not reimburse me for this charge even though I am a skymiles member who booked the flight with their gold credit card that guarantees me one free checked bag per person. Evidently, their free checked bag assurances don't extend to their partner airlines. . .
9. People will tell you that if you save your receipts, you can be reimbursed for the taxes you paid on purchases while in France. The purchase price of all items includes a tax. There is a place in the airport where you can supposedly go to get some money back if you are not a citizen of France. Well, if you want to get back the taxes you paid, you have to ask for the special form at every vendor you purchase from, and have those forms filled out with accompanying receipts. Then you have to visit 2 different locations in the airport -- one to verify your forms and the other to actually get reimbursed.
All that being said, this was one of the best trips we have EVER taken. We loved every minute. If we do it again, I would book a hotel in the city for 3 nights, and then do 3 nights at DLP, just to save a lot of time traveling from DLP into the city for touring. But we truly loved DLP!
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