My Family:
Myself Susan, just turned 40 (ouch), Disney fan with 1 trip to WDW and 2 trips to Disneyland previously enjoyed.
DH Darling husband, also just turned 40. Never been to Disney and at a loss to understand why I love it so much
Zino 7 Years, lover of all things Disney having accompanied me on all my Disney trips the first one being when he was 1 year old!
Zak 20 months First time visitor to Disney. Not really interested unless its covered in chocolate.
Our flight was leaving at 5pm and we had a bit of a debate about this day. It was Monday, and the first day of the off peak season for Disney after their peak Christmas season. Hubby was well and truly fed up with all things French and all things Disney. He wanted to spend the day shopping! On the other hand I was hoping that being the first day of off peak season, the parks would be relatively quiet. So we decided to split up for the morning. It was still extremely cold and Zak was finding it very unpleasant outside so Hubby decided to take Zak to the shopping centre and the Aquarium, while I took Zino to Disney. We would then meet at 12.30 to catch the TGV to the airport.
We checked at reception who told us that the Hypermarket opened at 8.30 and the rest of the Val dEurope centre opened at 10am. Wrong. Hubby spent an hour wandering the empty corridors of the centre with Zak, as nothing opened until 10am . The Aquarium was closed for the day. Nobody seemed to know why.
I headed to Disney with Zino for the 10am opening time. At the RER station I checked at the information booth who told me that the TGV left every 45 minutes throughout the afternoon. We put our bags into storage at Disney, through the gates at 9.45 (no queue) and straight up Main Street for the rope drop at 10am. It was incredibly cold and already our toes were turning numb. I was most relieved I had not brought Zak today. It was actually a little more crowded than I expected, but speaking to others I realised that like me, many of them were using up the last days of tickets brought at peak season prices before heading home. At 10am we headed straight for Peter Pan. Surprisingly we still had to queue 15 minutes this really is a popular ride but well worth it. As soon as we got off we got a fastpass for a repeat ride for an 11.40ish time slot. The main queue was now 60 minutes long.
We then headed straight to Pirates. Woops, all shut up for maintenance. I know that this is essential work, but I thought it was a bit unfair to shut it on the first day of low season as many of us are still here having paid peak season prices. So we made our way quickly to our favourite ride, the Phantom Manor. It had broken down. Might be working this afternoon we were told. Not much use to us. Big Thunder Mountain was also closed due to ice. The Paddle Steamer was also closed. Most of the shops and restaurants were closed. In fact Frontierland and Adventureland felt like ghost towns. Back to Fantasyland. Went for a ride on Snow White. Wanted to ride on Pinocchio but found that this was closed until 11am. So we rode on Snow White again. And again. Were starting to get (shock horror) bored at Disney. So went and rode on Its a small world and then back to Pinocchio for the 11am opening. 60 minutes queue. Went to the information board on Main Street to see when Phantom Manor would open. They told me it had been open since 10am. I had to inform them that actually it was closed. (According to the information board everything was open, including the Pirates and Big Thunder Railway) The Cast Member made a phone call and then said that Phantom Manor would be closed until at least 2pm.
We were at a bit of a loss what to do next (neither Zino nor myself like the thrill rides too much so that ruled out Space Mountain and Indiana Jones) so we decided to head over to the shooting gallery. Zino was really keen to do this again. As we wandered over we could see people entering Phantom Manor. It was open (a cast member had only just told us it was closed until 2pm)! Yippee, and no queue either. We went on this three times. This is by far and away my favourite Disney ride and cheered us both up considerably. The queue was starting to build up a bit after our third ride so we headed back to Peter Pan to use our fastpass ticket. We had to wait 10 minutes for this, mainly because some lady had insisted on bringing her huge pushchair into the queuing area (my baby is asleep and I dont want to disturb him) and had managed to jam it between the barriers. I loved Peter Pan and would happily do it again but the queue was now 90 minutes and our time was running out, so we did a bit of shopping and then left to meet Hubby and Zak at 12.30 at the RER station.
Found Hubby jumping up and down in a panic. He had arrived early and gone to the TGV office (way, way over at the far end of the station) to find that there was a TGV at 12.45, and none after that until 4pm! Once again I had been given the wrong information. So we ran over to the TGV office and managed to get tickets and onto the train with seconds to spare. Just as a final insulting farewell, an elegant French lady refused to move her briefcase from our (booked and paid for) seat, telling us that our children did not get a seat and could sit on our knees. When we insisted that 7 year old Zino was indeed entitled to a seat she got up in a huff and stood in the corridor. We are only talking about a 10 minute trip to the airport here!
Arrived at CDG to find that we could not check in due to a bomb scare. Waited one hour to check in. When we were eventually seated on the plane we were then told that due to icy conditions we had lost our take off slot and we had to sit in the plane, on the tarmac for 2 hours for a take off slot. Great with a bored toddler. Was with much relief that we arrived in London. I never thought that I would actually think Heathrow was an attractive airport!
Conclusions:
Would I recommend a visit to Disneyland Paris? Maybe!
I fully realise that what happened to us was mainly a combination of bad luck and bad timing and bad advice. But having booked for a peak season visit at peak season prices, I did expect Disney to be a little more prepared for rain and bad weather. Nevertheless, having experienced other Disney parks I can acknowledge that this Disney Park is just as good as the rest. But the Studios I thought was quite small and desperately in need of some Disney atmosphere in the outside areas.
As for visiting again, hubby has declared over my dead body. Zino is determined to go again and still determined to climb the Eiffel Tower. Zak has yet to voice an opinion. I would go again in the winter only if I did not have children with me. As an adult I can tolerate the cold/wet/blizzards but with kids the cold really took away a lot of the enjoyment. We were well dressed for the cold but with all the standing around and queuing it was hard to avoid. And once the ice arrived it was almost impossible to walk without slipping over. Add to that the amount of rides that were either closed or broken down because of the weather and I really feel we missed out on a lot.
I also have to admit that I found the locals to be a distinctly unhelpful and unfriendly bunch. I really missed the sunshine and the smiles of Disneyland LA and WDW. Another minor gripe as well. We have unused days left on our 3 day passports and these are only valid for 3 years (unlike USA passes which are valid forever). I think this is a bit mean spirited on Disneys part. Disney is a very very expensive holiday and I think expecting us to use the tickets within 3 years is unrealistic for a lot of people. I still have my WDW tickets from 1999 and plan to use them in 2004 or 2005 this is more realistic.
I forgot to mention one more thing annoying about the hotel that you may find interesting. There was no light switch to the lights in the bathroom. They worked on a movement sensor and an automatic timer. When you walked into the bathroom the lights were supposed to automatically turn on. Only often they didnt. So you had to wave your arms around furiously and jump up and down to get the lights to turn on. ( great when you are half asleep at 4am desperate for the loo) . And if you sat on the loo for too long, the sensor decided that you had left the room and switched the lights off leaving you in total darkness. So then you had to stand up (ladies, you can imagine the difficulties here!) and wave your arms around to get the lights back on. The sensor didnt reach the shower and bath so if you stayed in the shower or bath for more than a couple of minutes, you were again plunged into darkness. And then you had to yell for someone to come and open the bathroom door to get the sensor to turn the lights on again. A bit like a very bad comedy movie actually. But it got pretty damn annoying. Reception told me there was nothing they could do. Maybe this was their way of conserving both electricity and water!
Myself Susan, just turned 40 (ouch), Disney fan with 1 trip to WDW and 2 trips to Disneyland previously enjoyed.
DH Darling husband, also just turned 40. Never been to Disney and at a loss to understand why I love it so much
Zino 7 Years, lover of all things Disney having accompanied me on all my Disney trips the first one being when he was 1 year old!
Zak 20 months First time visitor to Disney. Not really interested unless its covered in chocolate.
Our flight was leaving at 5pm and we had a bit of a debate about this day. It was Monday, and the first day of the off peak season for Disney after their peak Christmas season. Hubby was well and truly fed up with all things French and all things Disney. He wanted to spend the day shopping! On the other hand I was hoping that being the first day of off peak season, the parks would be relatively quiet. So we decided to split up for the morning. It was still extremely cold and Zak was finding it very unpleasant outside so Hubby decided to take Zak to the shopping centre and the Aquarium, while I took Zino to Disney. We would then meet at 12.30 to catch the TGV to the airport.
We checked at reception who told us that the Hypermarket opened at 8.30 and the rest of the Val dEurope centre opened at 10am. Wrong. Hubby spent an hour wandering the empty corridors of the centre with Zak, as nothing opened until 10am . The Aquarium was closed for the day. Nobody seemed to know why.
I headed to Disney with Zino for the 10am opening time. At the RER station I checked at the information booth who told me that the TGV left every 45 minutes throughout the afternoon. We put our bags into storage at Disney, through the gates at 9.45 (no queue) and straight up Main Street for the rope drop at 10am. It was incredibly cold and already our toes were turning numb. I was most relieved I had not brought Zak today. It was actually a little more crowded than I expected, but speaking to others I realised that like me, many of them were using up the last days of tickets brought at peak season prices before heading home. At 10am we headed straight for Peter Pan. Surprisingly we still had to queue 15 minutes this really is a popular ride but well worth it. As soon as we got off we got a fastpass for a repeat ride for an 11.40ish time slot. The main queue was now 60 minutes long.
We then headed straight to Pirates. Woops, all shut up for maintenance. I know that this is essential work, but I thought it was a bit unfair to shut it on the first day of low season as many of us are still here having paid peak season prices. So we made our way quickly to our favourite ride, the Phantom Manor. It had broken down. Might be working this afternoon we were told. Not much use to us. Big Thunder Mountain was also closed due to ice. The Paddle Steamer was also closed. Most of the shops and restaurants were closed. In fact Frontierland and Adventureland felt like ghost towns. Back to Fantasyland. Went for a ride on Snow White. Wanted to ride on Pinocchio but found that this was closed until 11am. So we rode on Snow White again. And again. Were starting to get (shock horror) bored at Disney. So went and rode on Its a small world and then back to Pinocchio for the 11am opening. 60 minutes queue. Went to the information board on Main Street to see when Phantom Manor would open. They told me it had been open since 10am. I had to inform them that actually it was closed. (According to the information board everything was open, including the Pirates and Big Thunder Railway) The Cast Member made a phone call and then said that Phantom Manor would be closed until at least 2pm.
We were at a bit of a loss what to do next (neither Zino nor myself like the thrill rides too much so that ruled out Space Mountain and Indiana Jones) so we decided to head over to the shooting gallery. Zino was really keen to do this again. As we wandered over we could see people entering Phantom Manor. It was open (a cast member had only just told us it was closed until 2pm)! Yippee, and no queue either. We went on this three times. This is by far and away my favourite Disney ride and cheered us both up considerably. The queue was starting to build up a bit after our third ride so we headed back to Peter Pan to use our fastpass ticket. We had to wait 10 minutes for this, mainly because some lady had insisted on bringing her huge pushchair into the queuing area (my baby is asleep and I dont want to disturb him) and had managed to jam it between the barriers. I loved Peter Pan and would happily do it again but the queue was now 90 minutes and our time was running out, so we did a bit of shopping and then left to meet Hubby and Zak at 12.30 at the RER station.
Found Hubby jumping up and down in a panic. He had arrived early and gone to the TGV office (way, way over at the far end of the station) to find that there was a TGV at 12.45, and none after that until 4pm! Once again I had been given the wrong information. So we ran over to the TGV office and managed to get tickets and onto the train with seconds to spare. Just as a final insulting farewell, an elegant French lady refused to move her briefcase from our (booked and paid for) seat, telling us that our children did not get a seat and could sit on our knees. When we insisted that 7 year old Zino was indeed entitled to a seat she got up in a huff and stood in the corridor. We are only talking about a 10 minute trip to the airport here!
Arrived at CDG to find that we could not check in due to a bomb scare. Waited one hour to check in. When we were eventually seated on the plane we were then told that due to icy conditions we had lost our take off slot and we had to sit in the plane, on the tarmac for 2 hours for a take off slot. Great with a bored toddler. Was with much relief that we arrived in London. I never thought that I would actually think Heathrow was an attractive airport!
Conclusions:
Would I recommend a visit to Disneyland Paris? Maybe!
I fully realise that what happened to us was mainly a combination of bad luck and bad timing and bad advice. But having booked for a peak season visit at peak season prices, I did expect Disney to be a little more prepared for rain and bad weather. Nevertheless, having experienced other Disney parks I can acknowledge that this Disney Park is just as good as the rest. But the Studios I thought was quite small and desperately in need of some Disney atmosphere in the outside areas.
As for visiting again, hubby has declared over my dead body. Zino is determined to go again and still determined to climb the Eiffel Tower. Zak has yet to voice an opinion. I would go again in the winter only if I did not have children with me. As an adult I can tolerate the cold/wet/blizzards but with kids the cold really took away a lot of the enjoyment. We were well dressed for the cold but with all the standing around and queuing it was hard to avoid. And once the ice arrived it was almost impossible to walk without slipping over. Add to that the amount of rides that were either closed or broken down because of the weather and I really feel we missed out on a lot.
I also have to admit that I found the locals to be a distinctly unhelpful and unfriendly bunch. I really missed the sunshine and the smiles of Disneyland LA and WDW. Another minor gripe as well. We have unused days left on our 3 day passports and these are only valid for 3 years (unlike USA passes which are valid forever). I think this is a bit mean spirited on Disneys part. Disney is a very very expensive holiday and I think expecting us to use the tickets within 3 years is unrealistic for a lot of people. I still have my WDW tickets from 1999 and plan to use them in 2004 or 2005 this is more realistic.
I forgot to mention one more thing annoying about the hotel that you may find interesting. There was no light switch to the lights in the bathroom. They worked on a movement sensor and an automatic timer. When you walked into the bathroom the lights were supposed to automatically turn on. Only often they didnt. So you had to wave your arms around furiously and jump up and down to get the lights to turn on. ( great when you are half asleep at 4am desperate for the loo) . And if you sat on the loo for too long, the sensor decided that you had left the room and switched the lights off leaving you in total darkness. So then you had to stand up (ladies, you can imagine the difficulties here!) and wave your arms around to get the lights back on. The sensor didnt reach the shower and bath so if you stayed in the shower or bath for more than a couple of minutes, you were again plunged into darkness. And then you had to yell for someone to come and open the bathroom door to get the sensor to turn the lights on again. A bit like a very bad comedy movie actually. But it got pretty damn annoying. Reception told me there was nothing they could do. Maybe this was their way of conserving both electricity and water!
