Long Trip Report for DLP Short Trip

[jmcdonnell04]

We decided to spend 3 days in Paris on our way to Barcelona prior to our 11-day Disney cruise in the Mediterranean. This was my family's first trip to Europe. Due to flight problems in the US, we (DW, DD(11), DD(7) & I) arrived on Thursday, June 14th which was a day late and loss of DVC points for our reservation. We hired a private car to take us from CDG to SL -- BS Transports as mentioned on the Disboards and they were great.

The grounds of the Sequoia Lodge were beautiful. Strange that they had no employees to help with the luggage. I had to give my license to secure a luggage cart and wheeled our (8) bags to our room in one of the outer lodges and then wheel back to get my driver's license back. We were given a 4-day ticket as part of our DVC stay but we could only go the parks on Thursday. We entered the park at 3 pm and the park closed at 7 pm. (these are winter hours at WDW -- this is summertime and should be open longer and DLP is celebrating 15 years with the opening of new rides on June 9th -- why the short hours?)

We FP for Space Mountain and wait 20 minutes for Buzz Lightyear. My 7 year old was too short (50") for Space Mountain although she is tall enough for everything at WDW. We enjoyed the ride. We moved to Fantasyland and I walked over to get a FP for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We enjoyed the Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean ride. When we tried to get on BTMR at 6:45 the ride had broken down and they closed down for the night. We were drenched by a rainstorm on the walk from the park entrance to the buses. We made a 8:30 reservation at buffet restaurant at the Lodge and
changed clothes. Dinner was very expensive for what we received.

Friday morning, my wife and I were ready to head to Paris but let the children sleep until 8:30 am. We had the long line for a continental breakfast of croissants and cold tea. We took the train to Paris and sortied at Arch de Triumph (sorry spelling). We went to the top and purchased tickets for the red double decker bus which toured the city and allowed you to get off and on at the major tourist sites. We went to the top of the Eifel Tower and toured Notre Dame and also visited San Chappelle (beautiful chapel built by Saint Louis only 2 blocks from ND). We thought we did excellent job in our
8 hours in Paris. Wanted to do a hour cruise of the Seine but we got off at the wrong bridge -- we walked along the bank trying to find a place to buy a ticket as the boats went up and down the river.

Saturday Morning BS transports picked us up at 7:30 and delivered us to CDG for our flight to Barcelona and the waiting Disney Magic ship.

Overall, Paris was beautiful and the French people were very kind to me and my family. Bonjour and Merci was all that was required to break the ice. We would like to visit again for a much longer time. DLP park was nice but did not have the same excitement as the Magic Kingdom. The Sequoia Lodge was not very nice for the the amount of DVC points required to stay there. The room was a Days Inn quality for a US perspective.

 

[Cyrano]

Shame that you didn't have a longer stay but you managed to pack a fair bit in

 

[bavaria]

I'm sorry that you seem to have had such a poor experience. I can assure you that I have a very different perspective, and I have enjoyed having an American with me this week, as I was able to view DLRP and France through the eyes of an American who was open minded to enjoying differences between this park and the American parks.

I stay in 4 and 5 star hotels and resorts over 300 nights a year for work. Yes Seqouia Lodge is not VWL (one of my home resorts with DVC) but I strongly disagree with the Days Inn assessment. The beds are firm, there are duvets, it is clean, the service was excellent. I agree that the theming is somewhat basic, but other than the Disneyland Hotel and the Cheyenne the resorts don't have the same theming as in America. The Seqouia is a decent hotel by European standards; you may be shocked to see some of the more 'regular' hotels in Europe if you were not pleased with the SL.

I also dispute your breakfast claim of croissants and cold tea. I see every day a very large offering including meats, cheeses both firm and soft, jams, pseudo Nutella spread, croissants, pain au chocolat, rye bread, crisp rolls, variety of yogourts, variety of cereals, tea, coffee, espresso, cafe au lait, hot chocolate, juices, milks. In fact, I enjoy the breakfast each day after a month in India, and it was a very welcome home to Europe.

I think that it can be a challenge to leave the comfort of home, and not become negative when one doesn't find things to be the same. I just had a similar experience in India, but I actually tried to push myself out of my comfort zone and try to have more of a local experience than a European one. In that way I learned more about myself and the country, and had an enriching experience.

Disneyland Paris is very different from the American parks, but it has so many things which are actually better in Paris than in America. It seems from reports here that those who come only to compare to what they know overlook those things which make the park so special.

Enjoy your cruise.

 

[marcus.ka]

DLRP has a new system of opening hours. In the last years the park was every day (exept for 6 weeks during July and August and for the X-Mas and New Years weeks) open from 9/10am to 8pm. Now they changed this and they adjusted the opening times to the visitors they expect.
The benefit is that the park is open many many Saturdays until 10pm and on Sundays until 9pm. But therefore the park closes in weeks with not so many visitors at 6/7pm. But in weeks with many visitors the park is also during the week open until 8/9pm.

And I think this system works perfectly well.
Like this week the park is open until 9pm. Two years ago the park would have closed 8pm until the summer season starts at mid July.
And by the way: One week after your visit the park would have been open until 8pm!

And Space Mountain in DLRP is a “real” roller coaster with 3 looping that’s why children have to be a little bit taller then in the US parks.

And if you haven’t used all your days on your tickets you could try to sell them on ebay. This is worth a try.

 

[Ware Bears]

Sorry your stay couldn't have been longer, I hope you have a wonderful cruise.

 

[bavaria]

marcus is exactly correct re the new hours and how they are working. June 14th is in fact spring, not summer.

This past week the park was open until 9pm on Sunday and through the week. We went on Monday and were going to use the late EMH, but by 7pm the park was almost empty and we rode our favourites over and over, realizing that we had no need for the EMH.

marcus is also correct re SM and the height requirement - in fact, most of the attractions at DLRP are a little more intense than in America, including Casey Jr, BTM, SM, Indiana Jones (compared to DL), and even Phantom Manor is more gruesome than in America.

 

[jmcdonnell04]

marcus is exactly correct re the new hours and how they are working. June 14th is in fact spring, not summer.

This past week the park was open until 9pm on Sunday and through the week. We went on Monday and were going to use the late EMH, but by 7pm the park was almost empty and we rode our favourites over and over, realizing that we had no need for the EMH.

marcus is also correct re SM and the height requirement - in fact, most of the attractions at DLRP are a little more intense than in America, including Casey Jr, BTM, SM, Indiana Jones (compared to DL), and even Phantom Manor is more gruesome than in America.

The overall theme was we wished we had more time in the park so we could enjoy it longer. Yes, SM was more intense than in the USA. Phantom Manor was closed that week for refurbishment and BTM broke down just as we were using the FP at 6:45 pm. Since they opened new rides on June 9th, I thought longer (summerlike) hours would be in effect. Yes, Summer does not begin until June 21st.

When people inquire about our trip:

1. Disneyland - I say we did not have enough time but we liked what we
saw for those 3-4 hours.

2. Sequoia Lodge: Did not like the room, breakfast, service and the expense (DVC points) but the grounds were lovely.

3. Paris -- Beautiful city and people -- must go back again.

John

 

[taysmom]

Hey John...
We went to Paris after you, but we stayed in Paris. I chose to stay in paris due to the expense of staying at one of the DLP resorts...even using points. Taylor and I went out to DLP on friday after the cruise and we were suprised both happy and shocked. I agree with you on the expense and the park hours. I was suprised that it wasn't open as long as disneyland (we're cali people). Additionally, our hotel told us they opened at 9am on friday, however they don't open until 10am. We got to hang out for an hour. They opened the main street area at 9:30 so at least we got to look around that area. The other suprising/shock thing was that some rides opened even later. There were signs posted that "this ride opens at xx" I'm not used to that, so as a result some rides were missed that day as we didn't double back.
Basically, we are glad we went, but would probably cross off DLP as done and not give it a second chance. We'll try japan or hong kong..plus we still have WDW for my dd.
Anyways, it was great to meet you and your family. We are missing the ship already, but glad to be home.

Steph

 

[BONITATIME]

I am sorry your vist didnt go so well. We looked at DVC but the cost of its usage in Paris (our home park) was so expensive it is beter to pay rack rates.