Trip Report 25/27 March

[tifosi]

Firstly I would like to thank everyone here for the great info which helped our trip. No one slept in anticipation of our trip. We were all far too excited. This was our first trip to DLRP but we are veterans and big fans of WDW and DL. I will stick to the positives of the trip and put aside all the negatives. The journey on Eurostar was very good. Its so quick, we were in the park at 2.00 pm so I made sure we headed straight over to Buzz. Thanks to the great advice on this board I knew public opening was just beginning. Only a small queue and we were on. This Buzz is great, the best of all. No fixed guns here, you can wave them around as much as you like and this makes shooting Daddy all the more enjoyable, DD prefers to shoot me rather than anything else. The whole family likes this ride and we all agree this is the best version. Our next ride is another favourite of ours, the teacups, DD has the objective to spin so fast that we all go green. Usually I take over and the table gets turned (pun intented). We all stagger off this ride and again agree its good. TIme to get our room at the Disneyland Hotel. The convenience of the hotel is perfect. No time is wasted, there can be no better location. The room is nice, it compares with GF and BW at WDW. In fact it is almost identical to the size and facilities of a std room at GF or BW. Breakfast in the hotel was good. A reasonable selection of hot and cold food, something for everyone, even fussy kids. There was an overflow room where we ate so no queues. Our first ride of the day was IASW, having done this ride more times than I can remember in the US, at one stage it was the only ride my DD would go on so we just went on it time and time again, it was a relief to see a different version. We even carried on round and went on it twice. DS refused to sing the song but was prepared to hum it!! We had two more objectives of the day, to see Lion King and ride Autopia. Family queued for Autopia and I scrummed down for Lion King tickets. I felt like I had won the world cup when I was awarded tickets for the 12.00 show. Rushed back to Autopia and on we go. This is DS favourite ride in the whole world, as he keeps telling us. Suitably armed with his racing driver gloves we chase DW and DD in the car ahead. I press the accelerator and he steers. All good fun, the cars are the nicest and the track is good. DS settles for a purple car, although he really wanted red of black. Again we all agree this is a good version. A quick dash and we make Lion King. This is the show we enjoy the most in WDW and we were not disappointed in Paris. Really pleased we got to see it, especially in English. As MK was so crowded we decide to head to the Studios. We meet a really friendly CM who advised us to watch the 1.30 parade at the end of the route. What a great tip. There is no crowd and the characters all gather at the end of the parade. The highlight of our trip was the Birthday Party for DW at Plazza Gardens. We achieved our goal and stuffed ourselves to sickness. It was an outrageous scene of gluttony. A good selection of characters and good interaction. The birthday girl got a badge and a Mickey that sings Happy Birthday, and a hat that was proudly worn throughout the rest of the day. They wouldnt let us take the birthday cake out of the restaurant so we got retribution and decided if we couldnt have it no one would so we let the kids loose on it. Chocolate splattered everywhere. No dinner was required and our excess of sugar ensured none of us slept. Monday in the park was much better, reasonable weather and no queues. We liked Animagique, although I did feel our levels of acceptance had lowered. The tram tour was good although the highlight for us was getting stopped for a survey as we got off the ride and being able to vent our opinions. I felt slightly sorry for the moody CM with bad attitude who sat at the front of the tram tour as she got pelters from us in the survey. Still, it made us feel better! I then rode Autopia a number of times with DS, no queues so we went round and round. I was amused at the number of father and son combos that were clearly doing the same thing. Had a chat with a chap in front of me on the same mission. Final ride was PM with DD, who is never scared and never screams and is very very brave, at least thats what she told DW. PM is superb and is really 'orrible. HM at WDW is not truely scary, its light hearted but PM is really gruesome, some of the creatures do look very real. A quick painless trip to get our cases and we are back on the Eurostar and home. Cannot say we will rush back in a hurry though.

 

[Cyrano]

Inspite of some negative points you sound as though everyone had a great time.
Not unsurprisingly our DS declares Autopia as his favourite ride also

 

[tifosi]

Yes we did have a great time and I am very appreciative of the advice given on this board that helped us have a great time. We were not going to let anything spoil our trip.
My DS, usual racing attire is his racing gloves ( his mittens ) and his crash helmet (putting his pants on his head). Although we dont let him outside the house in that gear

 

[SandraVB79]

Unfortunately, Autopia is or closed, or there is a 2-hour wait when I went to DLP

Actually, in January they told me it is only operating in July/August...

 

[luke]

So what were your negatives by the way? Would be interesting to know

 

[janejakelibbyemma]

sounds like you had a wonderful trip, we also ate at the plaza gardens for the character dinner, and like you stuffed ourselves, now my ds wants to go back for his b'day so he can get a cake and pressie fo ickey, but like you i don;t think dh would go back we are looking at wdw in about 18-24 months, what were your negatives?? the crowds??

 

[Ware Bears]

Glad you enjoyed yourselves. What were your negatives? I couldn't really tell from your report, is it just that it is not like WDW or DL or were there more specific things?

 

[tifosi]

I really dont want to upset people on here who love DLRP. There is nothing wrong with the resort. I expected to come back an AP holder and in fact as soon as we got to the resort I enquired about upgrading our tickets to AP's, sadly the bad attitude of the CM's set the tone for our experience.
Lets just say, for me, Europeans do not do Disney as well as America. I prefer 'Have a nice day' to 'Non'. If the cost to go to DLRP was cheap then maybe I would put up with the bad attitude of the CM and European guests (not the British ones I should add). If it is a choice of 4 long weekend trips to DLRP or 2 weeks in WDW its an easy decision for me.

 

[Bexx]

Thanks for the report - enjoyed it very much. I'm glad you had a good time on the whole.

Lets just say, for me, Europeans do not do Disney as well as America. I prefer 'Have a nice day' to 'Non'.

It's funny but I've never noticed a huge difference in this. I can honestly say that I don't find the CMs at WDW so much more "Disney" than the ones at DLP. I've met a lots of nice helpful CMs at both resorts, and I've met a few unhelpful ones as well - even at WDW!!!

 

[luke]

I can honestly say that I don't find the CMs at WDW so much more "Disney" than the ones at DLP. I've met a lots of nice helpful CMs at both resorts, and I've met a few unhelpful ones as well - even at WDW!!!

Same here, I've never noticed any overly rude CM's at Disney, and in fact have had more bad experiences in Florida with CM's.

Do agree with some rude "European Guests", but think thats just human nature wherever you go, luck of the draw i guess. Hope it didnt spoil your holiday too much