Quick highs/lows from a 1 day trip

[Dav2205]

Don't post much on here but I enjoy reading everyone elses highs and lows so much I thought I'd post my own. first of all I'll start with an unfortunate story that sadly didn't reflect well on Paris. My girlfriend and I don't have much money so decided to get the Eurolines from London-Paris. It was the standard terrible sleepless night, but we decided to get off at CDG when the bus stopped and get the train into Paris because we were both so tired. However on the train into Paris we witnessed 2 women get their bags snatched and 1 sleeping man be completely robbed of his valuables. I didn't do anything about it because there was 3/4 of them and you never know who has a knife. Anyway after this my girlfriend was too scared to travel anywhere within Paris itself so we never made it back to Paris after the first night (we were staying at Val d'Europe). The spare time in the next few days was spent trying to find an alternative route home and I eventually lucked out on a direct Eurostar from DLP-Ashford for only £80 each which was much cheaper than the £300 they wanted for the Paris train. It was unfortunate as it's no doubt a very rare occurence but it really put a damper on my opinion of Paris as a whole. The other tip I'll give is no matter how tempting and cheap the bus looks DON'T DO IT! Save up and pay the extra and travel another way!

Anyway onto the DLP part, which I'm glad to say was MUCH MUCH better.

Major highs were -

Dreams - Probably the best Disney nighttime show around for me now (seen all of the Orlando shows). Some of the effects were brilliant and it was well worth the hype!

Hotel Ibis Val D'Europe - Great location at a very attractive price point!

Crush's coaster - Queued for an hour because I missed it in my last trip in 09. Well worth it, a great laugh!

Every other ride to be honest. I always thought Paris had the best versions of BTM and Pirates compared to Orlando and I still have that opinion. They're brilliant!

Cast members all very friendly.

When I went in 09 the exchange rate was dreadful (which I know can't be helped by Disney) but it made the prices around the resort feel even more incredible than they already are. This time the better exchange rate along with seemingly more set menus made it not quite as intimidating for those of us on a budget. We ate at the Steakhouse, King Ludwigs and Rainforest Cafe. King Ludwigs was definitely the surprise, good value at 20Euros for 2 courses and food was lovely!

Overall we both had a brilliant time at DLP. I said to the girlfriend that we'll go back at Christmas for a few days if I can get the direct Eurostar at a reasonable price. It was also really nice to see the parks through the eyes of a first timer, made it seem like I was experiencing it in a totally different way.

We were in the parks from 10am-11pm yesterday. Manageable crowds overall. A tiring but great day! Thumbs up to DLP

 

[DLPdaft]

that does sound like a great day of highs at DLP .

Scary stuff on the journey there though!

 

[Ms Poppins]

Sounds like a very successful trip, after the shady start.....I agree, it's sad to say but I wouldn't intervene either - you just never know what they are capable of.

You managed to get lots done by the sounds of it, and well done on getting direct Eurostar at a good price at such short notice Direct Eurostar is definitely the best way to get to and from DLP.

Thanks for posting

 

[sammie1884]

Shame the first part of your trip was not very nice. It would of put me off too
Sounds like you had a fab time dlp though! How many rides did you manage to do in a day? Did you feel rushed? We are going for a day and half in a couple of weeks so just wondered what to expect!

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Don't post much on here but I enjoy reading everyone elses highs and lows so much I thought I'd post my own. first of all I'll start with an unfortunate story that sadly didn't reflect well on Paris. My girlfriend and I don't have much money so decided to get the Eurolines from London-Paris. It was the standard terrible sleepless night, but we decided to get off at CDG when the bus stopped and get the train into Paris because we were both so tired. However on the train into Paris we witnessed 2 women get their bags snatched and 1 sleeping man be completely robbed of his valuables. I didn't do anything about it because there was 3/4 of them and you never know who has a knife. Anyway after this my girlfriend was too scared to travel anywhere within Paris itself so we never made it back to Paris after the first night (we were staying at Val d'Europe). The spare time in the next few days was spent trying to find an alternative route home and I eventually lucked out on a direct Eurostar from DLP-Ashford for only £80 each which was much cheaper than the £300 they wanted for the Paris train. It was unfortunate as it's no doubt a very rare occurence but it really put a damper on my opinion of Paris as a whole. The other tip I'll give is no matter how tempting and cheap the bus looks DON'T DO IT! Save up and pay the extra and travel another way!

Terrible experience for you

I take it you were on the RER B from CDG ? Was this an express train or one that stops at all stations ?

You came back from Paris to Val d'Europe on the RER A or did you get a taxi/shuttle ?

The RER B is notorious for many reasons but please don't let it reflect on the rest of Paris which has so many amazing things to see and do

Anyway onto the DLP part, which I'm glad to say was MUCH MUCH better.

Major highs were -

Dreams - Probably the best Disney nighttime show around for me now (seen all of the Orlando shows). Some of the effects were brilliant and it was well worth the hype!

Hotel Ibis Val D'Europe - Great location at a very attractive price point!

Crush's coaster - Queued for an hour because I missed it in my last trip in 09. Well worth it, a great laugh!

Every other ride to be honest. I always thought Paris had the best versions of BTM and Pirates compared to Orlando and I still have that opinion. They're brilliant!

Cast members all very friendly.

When I went in 09 the exchange rate was dreadful (which I know can't be helped by Disney) but it made the prices around the resort feel even more incredible than they already are. This time the better exchange rate along with seemingly more set menus made it not quite as intimidating for those of us on a budget. We ate at the Steakhouse, King Ludwigs and Rainforest Cafe. King Ludwigs was definitely the surprise, good value at 20Euros for 2 courses and food was lovely!

Overall we both had a brilliant time at DLP. I said to the girlfriend that we'll go back at Christmas for a few days if I can get the direct Eurostar at a reasonable price. It was also really nice to see the parks through the eyes of a first timer, made it seem like I was experiencing it in a totally different way.

We were in the parks from 10am-11pm yesterday. Manageable crowds overall. A tiring but great day! Thumbs up to DLP

So pleased that the rest of your stay was enjoyable and that you got to do so much

 

[Dav2205]

Shame the first part of your trip was not very nice. It would of put me off too
Sounds like you had a fab time dlp though! How many rides did you manage to do in a day? Did you feel rushed? We are going for a day and half in a couple of weeks so just wondered what to expect!

I'll try to remember everything we did. From memory we managed Phantom Manor, BTM (with fastpass), Pirates, Peter Pan, meet Mickey, Buzz, Crush's Coaster, Animagique, Cinemagique, the Parade and Dreams.

Quite a lot of the day was taken up with the wait for Crush (1 hour) and queuing early before the shows and parade. We also left the park and went to Disney Village for dinner so that was another hour or so. We didn't feel rushed at all, crowd levels were very manageable for most rides. Found that the queues definitely got shorter as the day went on particularly in Fantasyland, for example Peter Pan was ~40 minute wait throughtout the day but we went after 9pm and it was only 10minutes. Likewise for the Mickey meet and greet, 1 hour queue during the day but 15 minutes after the parade. My girlfriend and I both agreed that an extra half day would have been enough to see everything we missed.

Terrible experience for you

I take it you were on the RER B from CDG ? Was this an express train or one that stops at all stations ?

You came back from Paris to Val d'Europe on the RER A or did you get a taxi/shuttle ?

The RER B is notorious for many reasons but please don't let it reflect on the rest of Paris which has so many amazing things to see and do

Yeah we were on the RER that stops at all stops. I think the time of day was a factor too (it was 7:30am) and the train was very quiet. We then got the RER A out to Val d'Europe and never ventured back into Paris, just heading up to Disneyland for the trip and the Eurostar home. I've been to Paris a few times so it hasn't put me off totally. It was just one of those things, but it didn't put a damper on anything once we got to DLP .

 

[sammie1884]

Excellent, thank you for the info, I think we will leave the ones with bigger ques until later in the eve then we are also going to dv for lunch so I am pleased to hear you still managed to get a lot done. We are taking our 3 year old so cant rush as much as we would on our own.

 

[Ware Bears]

Goodness, that must have been seriously scary

Glad you didn't let it spoil your day at DLP though.

 

[tennisfan]

Glad you enjoyed the Disney part of the trip

 

[kmg148]

That's so scary! That's what I'm worried about traveling on the RER.

 

[Mum to Belle]

Sounds like you had a great day!!

Shame about your experience in Paris, it must have been really unnerving for you.

I agree with you about the set menus - I think they offer great value, especially with shareholder discount!!

 

[jothp]

That is a scary start to your trip Glad you didn't let it spoil things and still had a great time.

 

[Dav2205]

Thanks for all the nice posts! It was a bit unnerving but we've both put it down to a bit of bad timing. I would like to reaffirm my love for the eurostar now. I'm living in Canterbury for university and being able to get door to door in around 3 hours from Disneyland was incredible .

Also does anyone know how to remove my ticker? It's been nearly 4 years since that trip and I think I need to remove it now....(4 years since a trip to Orlando )