Malton Seadog
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2007
- Messages
- 92
Right guys, here we go - my first ever trip report - hope it's ok!
Below is a pretty detailed trip report from our stay between Tuesday 4th and Thursday 6th September 2007 at the Santa Fe hotel.
Firstly, I will summarise the rides we went on, followed by a mark out of ten.
A brief warning here - a few ride spoilers are revealed, so if you don't want to know about specific aspects of rides, it'd be best not to read!
Pirates of the Caribbean... 9/10
This is one of my favourite rides at Disneyland Paris. Certainly one of the best dark rides in the world, in my honest opinion.
From the entrance and themed queuing area, to the lamp lit station area, to the background music - there is precious little wrong with this ride.
The first area, not even part of the ride, through the Blue Lagoon Restaurant, is purely magical.
Times Ridden: 4.
Phantom Manor... 9/10
Again, very little wrong with this ride. The ride gets stronger as it progresses. The moving floor effect is nice, but unspectacular. The real gem of this ride is the dancing ballroom scene halfway round, which contains various holograms dancing to eerie music. Truly amazing. The town and graveyard scenes are also fantastic.
Times Ridden: 4
Big Thunder Mountain... 10/10
Perfect. I very very rarely use the word perfect, but it applies here. The whole area of Frontierland devoted to this ride is amazing. The queue line is never boring, with something new round every corner. The ride itself is just incredible. I have never felt as liberated or as excited by a ride in my experiences visiting theme parks. In my opinion, one of the best rollercoasters in Europe, and it perfectly proves the point that rollercoasters don't have to be tall and full of inversions to be great rides. A true gem.
Times Ridden: 6
Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast... 9/10
Great fun! Circular cars for two people with two seperate laser guns. You shoot targets on the way round and earn points, which are displayed in the car. I'm happy because I beat the other half twice in a row! My best score was 52000, but apparantly the top score possible is over 999,999! Impossible, I'm sure! Long queues, recommended to take the Fastpass option.
Times Ridden: 2
Orbitron... 7/10
Bog standard 'spinny' ride where you sit in space rockets and go up and down around a planetary hub. Too tight for two adults, as we found out, leaving with minor cramp in our legs! One car each if you're taller than 5' 6''!
Good enough ride, but not one to rave about.
Times Ridden: 1
Snow White And The Seven Dwarves... 8/10
A nice dark ride with some nice scenery. Scarier than you might imagine. I'm 20 years old, and I found some of the forest bits genuinely scary. Certainly not recommended for those children of a nervous disposition or very young 'uns.
Times Ridden: 1
Pinocchio... 8/10
Another of Fantasyland's dark rides. Quite a decent ride, but one which has big queues at peak times. Quite short but pleasant enough.
Times Ridden: 1
Peter Pan's Flight... 6/10
I'm going to upset a lot of people here, but this is a poor dark ride compared to the previous two. The queues are ridiculous to say that the ride lasts a little over a minute. I'd definitely not queue for longer than 10 minutes for this ride. The part over London is impressive, but there are only about three seperate scenes and it's over before it's started.
Times Ridden: 1
Dumbo The Flying Elephant... 7/10
Not much to be said about this pleasant ride. Probably intended for the younger generation, but still a nice distraction from the more impressive rides. Gives nice views of Fantasyland.
Times Ridden: 1
Alice's Curious Labyrinth... 6/10
Ok but could be so much better. You always feel like you're on the right path, which for a maze ain't a good idea! Some nice scenic moments, but overall the implementation isn't brilliant. Too crowded too - spoiling the feeling of isolation one should feel in a labyrinth.
Times Ridden: 1
Mad Hatter's Tea Cups... 7/10
Nice easy ride in Fantasyland. Queues can be quite big, and the ride is quite short, but overall it's a nice one for the kids and it's fun spinning the cars with the joystick.
Times Ridden: 1
Casey Junior... 8/10
A very fun mini rollercoaster, designed for the kids I would have thought. It's got lovely scenery including a castle sat on a mini mountain. Really recommended, even for adults.
Times Ridden: 1
Storybook Cruise... 7/10
A nice little ride on boats which go through various scenes of fairytale stories. The ride could be longer, but the queues are generally short.
Times Ridden: 1
It's a Small World... 9/10
What can I say about this classic? It's fantastic. It's sickenenly sweet, but in an overwhelmingly cute way! You cannot help but smile as the boats cruise gently past the singing and dancing dolls. One of the Disneyland greats.
Times Ridden: 3
Star Tours... 8/10
This, strangely enough, has a queue area which is almost as fun as the ride itself. A rapping droid and a convincing spaceport comprise the queue area, whilst the ride itself is made up of four simulators.
The ride is good, but the one downside is the shortness of it. I'd say it's only 2 minutes or so in length.
Times Ridden: 2
Space Mountain: Mission 2... 9/10
Intense. Very intense. I loved it, but the other half did not. If you are not a rollercoaster fan, do NOT go on this ride. It's in the dark, it has inversions and it's fast and rough. If you're a thrillseeker, it's brilliant!
It's a love or hate ride, and it'll be a risk for a lot of you to ride it - but if you're in the love category, you'll want to go on it again and again!
Times Ridden: 1
Autopia... 7/10
Fun enough. The steering actually makes you feel like you're driving, despite being on a track. Good length ride but the queues can be horrendous.
Times Ridden: 1
Crush's Coaster... 8/10
Long long looooong queues can build up for this ride. We got in the queue at 9:45am (they generally open the park gates at 9:30 when the official time is 10) and we were still 50th or so in the queue. By the time we got off the ride at just 10:02, the queue time was already 75 minutes!! A good but short coaster. The dark section is quite intense, with a hell of a drop in there somewhere! Does this thing go upside down? It felt like we did, but I couldn't be sure as it was in the dark!
Times Ridden: 1
Cars Race Rally... 7/10
Fun enough ride. Quite short but relatively fun despite the kid orientated status of it. Worth a go if the queues aren't too bad.
Times Ridden: 1
Flying Carpets Over Agrabah... 7/10
A nice smooth ride similar to Orbatron, Dumbo etc. A nice feature is the joystick which enables you to tilt forward or backwards which gives a floating illusion.
Times Ridden: 2
Right - that's the rides dealt with! As you can see, we managed to get on BTM six times over three days which wasn't too bad. We used the Fastpass facility on BTM and Buzz Lightyear.
Space Mountian was ridden at 9:50am, so we got on the first train of the day! Autopia was also ridden before 10am. When we left the ride, the queue was already a good 40 minutes long.
It's essential to get to the big rides as soon as you enter the park, otherwise get a Fastpass and go on something else whilst you're waiting.
Three other attractions we gave marks for were Disneyland Railroad (8/10), The Legend of the Lion King show (7/10) and Honey I Shrunk The Audience (7/10).
---
The Hotel Santa Fe
We opted for the cheap option, and decided to sacrifice close proximity to the park in order to save a bit of cash. The hotel is clean, efficient and has everything you could want in a hotel, including a nice restaurant, shop, reception and games room. The only downside is the 15 minute walk to the park. Apart from this, I'd recommend it for sure!
---
The Food
Bittersweet opinions here, marred by an unfortunate scene after the holiday. More of that later in this paragraph.
The first food we tasted at Disneyland was in Planet Hollywood. We decided to splash out and have a nice meal. After all, we'd taken plenty of spending money and told each other beforehand that we were going to enjoy it - even if it meant spending a lot on food. We both had different pasta dishes, with a drink - with extra fries. The total bill for two came to 42.50. Expensive but nice.
The buffet breakfast speaks for itself. Excellent amounts of croissants, bread rolls and cereal, complimented by free drinks machines. Well done Disneyland for this excellent service.
On the Wednesday night we went to Bufallo Bills and sampled Chilli, Ribs with vegetables and Apple Cobbler with ice cream. It was vert tasty, but I felt the portions were a bit tight considering the 59 entrance fee for the show.
The final food we sampled at the park created the problem I mentioned above. Casey's Corner on Main Street USA caused me some major problems over the following 24 hours.
At 12:30pm on Thursday 6th September, I ordered a Hot Dog, Chips, Drink and Muffin from Casey's Corner for 10.95.
At 7:00pm, on the Eurostar, I began to suffer crippling stomach cramps and felt ill. I had food poisoning. This was confirmed by the shaking and feverish temperature of my body.
The condition carried on, intermittently, until the following morning where it took a turn for the worse. The pains became so bad at around 11am on the Friday that an ambulance was called for me. I have never felt such pain in my life. The paramedic said that I had extremely bad food poisoning that had originated 24 hours previously... all fingers point to the Casey's Corner hotdog. I am going to write to Disneyland Paris and complain about the intense pain I was in, could anyone give me a suitable address please?
Anyway - I shan't let it spoil my holiday - on with the report...
The weather was pretty splendid for the entirity of the stay, with only an overcast sky on the Thursday blocking the hot sun which reached 25C at it's peak.
The Eurostar journey was faultless. It just surprised me slightly how far it seemed from Calais to Paris. 90 minutes dragged on and on as the excitement built!
I don't really know what else to say, apart from the fact that Disneyland Paris is a truly magical place - and it's always so sad to leave at the end.
The total cost in sterling for:
Eurostar (London - DLRP return)
Two nights in the Santa Fe
Three days park tickets
Buffalo Bills
Planet Hollywood
Spending Money
... was just over £350pp, which I think is reasonable!
Thanks for reading, and do ask me any questions if you'd like to know more.
Below is a pretty detailed trip report from our stay between Tuesday 4th and Thursday 6th September 2007 at the Santa Fe hotel.
Firstly, I will summarise the rides we went on, followed by a mark out of ten.
A brief warning here - a few ride spoilers are revealed, so if you don't want to know about specific aspects of rides, it'd be best not to read!
Pirates of the Caribbean... 9/10
This is one of my favourite rides at Disneyland Paris. Certainly one of the best dark rides in the world, in my honest opinion.
From the entrance and themed queuing area, to the lamp lit station area, to the background music - there is precious little wrong with this ride.
The first area, not even part of the ride, through the Blue Lagoon Restaurant, is purely magical.
Times Ridden: 4.
Phantom Manor... 9/10
Again, very little wrong with this ride. The ride gets stronger as it progresses. The moving floor effect is nice, but unspectacular. The real gem of this ride is the dancing ballroom scene halfway round, which contains various holograms dancing to eerie music. Truly amazing. The town and graveyard scenes are also fantastic.
Times Ridden: 4
Big Thunder Mountain... 10/10
Perfect. I very very rarely use the word perfect, but it applies here. The whole area of Frontierland devoted to this ride is amazing. The queue line is never boring, with something new round every corner. The ride itself is just incredible. I have never felt as liberated or as excited by a ride in my experiences visiting theme parks. In my opinion, one of the best rollercoasters in Europe, and it perfectly proves the point that rollercoasters don't have to be tall and full of inversions to be great rides. A true gem.
Times Ridden: 6
Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast... 9/10
Great fun! Circular cars for two people with two seperate laser guns. You shoot targets on the way round and earn points, which are displayed in the car. I'm happy because I beat the other half twice in a row! My best score was 52000, but apparantly the top score possible is over 999,999! Impossible, I'm sure! Long queues, recommended to take the Fastpass option.
Times Ridden: 2
Orbitron... 7/10
Bog standard 'spinny' ride where you sit in space rockets and go up and down around a planetary hub. Too tight for two adults, as we found out, leaving with minor cramp in our legs! One car each if you're taller than 5' 6''!
Good enough ride, but not one to rave about.
Times Ridden: 1
Snow White And The Seven Dwarves... 8/10
A nice dark ride with some nice scenery. Scarier than you might imagine. I'm 20 years old, and I found some of the forest bits genuinely scary. Certainly not recommended for those children of a nervous disposition or very young 'uns.
Times Ridden: 1
Pinocchio... 8/10
Another of Fantasyland's dark rides. Quite a decent ride, but one which has big queues at peak times. Quite short but pleasant enough.
Times Ridden: 1
Peter Pan's Flight... 6/10
I'm going to upset a lot of people here, but this is a poor dark ride compared to the previous two. The queues are ridiculous to say that the ride lasts a little over a minute. I'd definitely not queue for longer than 10 minutes for this ride. The part over London is impressive, but there are only about three seperate scenes and it's over before it's started.
Times Ridden: 1
Dumbo The Flying Elephant... 7/10
Not much to be said about this pleasant ride. Probably intended for the younger generation, but still a nice distraction from the more impressive rides. Gives nice views of Fantasyland.
Times Ridden: 1
Alice's Curious Labyrinth... 6/10
Ok but could be so much better. You always feel like you're on the right path, which for a maze ain't a good idea! Some nice scenic moments, but overall the implementation isn't brilliant. Too crowded too - spoiling the feeling of isolation one should feel in a labyrinth.
Times Ridden: 1
Mad Hatter's Tea Cups... 7/10
Nice easy ride in Fantasyland. Queues can be quite big, and the ride is quite short, but overall it's a nice one for the kids and it's fun spinning the cars with the joystick.
Times Ridden: 1
Casey Junior... 8/10
A very fun mini rollercoaster, designed for the kids I would have thought. It's got lovely scenery including a castle sat on a mini mountain. Really recommended, even for adults.
Times Ridden: 1
Storybook Cruise... 7/10
A nice little ride on boats which go through various scenes of fairytale stories. The ride could be longer, but the queues are generally short.
Times Ridden: 1
It's a Small World... 9/10
What can I say about this classic? It's fantastic. It's sickenenly sweet, but in an overwhelmingly cute way! You cannot help but smile as the boats cruise gently past the singing and dancing dolls. One of the Disneyland greats.
Times Ridden: 3
Star Tours... 8/10
This, strangely enough, has a queue area which is almost as fun as the ride itself. A rapping droid and a convincing spaceport comprise the queue area, whilst the ride itself is made up of four simulators.
The ride is good, but the one downside is the shortness of it. I'd say it's only 2 minutes or so in length.
Times Ridden: 2
Space Mountain: Mission 2... 9/10
Intense. Very intense. I loved it, but the other half did not. If you are not a rollercoaster fan, do NOT go on this ride. It's in the dark, it has inversions and it's fast and rough. If you're a thrillseeker, it's brilliant!
It's a love or hate ride, and it'll be a risk for a lot of you to ride it - but if you're in the love category, you'll want to go on it again and again!
Times Ridden: 1
Autopia... 7/10
Fun enough. The steering actually makes you feel like you're driving, despite being on a track. Good length ride but the queues can be horrendous.
Times Ridden: 1
Crush's Coaster... 8/10
Long long looooong queues can build up for this ride. We got in the queue at 9:45am (they generally open the park gates at 9:30 when the official time is 10) and we were still 50th or so in the queue. By the time we got off the ride at just 10:02, the queue time was already 75 minutes!! A good but short coaster. The dark section is quite intense, with a hell of a drop in there somewhere! Does this thing go upside down? It felt like we did, but I couldn't be sure as it was in the dark!
Times Ridden: 1
Cars Race Rally... 7/10
Fun enough ride. Quite short but relatively fun despite the kid orientated status of it. Worth a go if the queues aren't too bad.
Times Ridden: 1
Flying Carpets Over Agrabah... 7/10
A nice smooth ride similar to Orbatron, Dumbo etc. A nice feature is the joystick which enables you to tilt forward or backwards which gives a floating illusion.
Times Ridden: 2
Right - that's the rides dealt with! As you can see, we managed to get on BTM six times over three days which wasn't too bad. We used the Fastpass facility on BTM and Buzz Lightyear.
Space Mountian was ridden at 9:50am, so we got on the first train of the day! Autopia was also ridden before 10am. When we left the ride, the queue was already a good 40 minutes long.
It's essential to get to the big rides as soon as you enter the park, otherwise get a Fastpass and go on something else whilst you're waiting.
Three other attractions we gave marks for were Disneyland Railroad (8/10), The Legend of the Lion King show (7/10) and Honey I Shrunk The Audience (7/10).
---
The Hotel Santa Fe
We opted for the cheap option, and decided to sacrifice close proximity to the park in order to save a bit of cash. The hotel is clean, efficient and has everything you could want in a hotel, including a nice restaurant, shop, reception and games room. The only downside is the 15 minute walk to the park. Apart from this, I'd recommend it for sure!
---
The Food
Bittersweet opinions here, marred by an unfortunate scene after the holiday. More of that later in this paragraph.
The first food we tasted at Disneyland was in Planet Hollywood. We decided to splash out and have a nice meal. After all, we'd taken plenty of spending money and told each other beforehand that we were going to enjoy it - even if it meant spending a lot on food. We both had different pasta dishes, with a drink - with extra fries. The total bill for two came to 42.50. Expensive but nice.
The buffet breakfast speaks for itself. Excellent amounts of croissants, bread rolls and cereal, complimented by free drinks machines. Well done Disneyland for this excellent service.
On the Wednesday night we went to Bufallo Bills and sampled Chilli, Ribs with vegetables and Apple Cobbler with ice cream. It was vert tasty, but I felt the portions were a bit tight considering the 59 entrance fee for the show.
The final food we sampled at the park created the problem I mentioned above. Casey's Corner on Main Street USA caused me some major problems over the following 24 hours.
At 12:30pm on Thursday 6th September, I ordered a Hot Dog, Chips, Drink and Muffin from Casey's Corner for 10.95.
At 7:00pm, on the Eurostar, I began to suffer crippling stomach cramps and felt ill. I had food poisoning. This was confirmed by the shaking and feverish temperature of my body.
The condition carried on, intermittently, until the following morning where it took a turn for the worse. The pains became so bad at around 11am on the Friday that an ambulance was called for me. I have never felt such pain in my life. The paramedic said that I had extremely bad food poisoning that had originated 24 hours previously... all fingers point to the Casey's Corner hotdog. I am going to write to Disneyland Paris and complain about the intense pain I was in, could anyone give me a suitable address please?
Anyway - I shan't let it spoil my holiday - on with the report...
The weather was pretty splendid for the entirity of the stay, with only an overcast sky on the Thursday blocking the hot sun which reached 25C at it's peak.
The Eurostar journey was faultless. It just surprised me slightly how far it seemed from Calais to Paris. 90 minutes dragged on and on as the excitement built!
I don't really know what else to say, apart from the fact that Disneyland Paris is a truly magical place - and it's always so sad to leave at the end.
The total cost in sterling for:
Eurostar (London - DLRP return)
Two nights in the Santa Fe
Three days park tickets
Buffalo Bills
Planet Hollywood
Spending Money
... was just over £350pp, which I think is reasonable!
Thanks for reading, and do ask me any questions if you'd like to know more.
I hope you're feeling better now 
and so glad to hear it hasn't spoilt your overall enjoyment of your holiday.
ruined the last few days of my trip.
- but want to be in Disneyland long enough but not too long, know what I mean?
