Post by baymaxfan on Dec 25, 2023 23:53:50 GMT -5
This is my first attempt at a trip report and I’m doing it from my phone, so there might be some typos here and there. At any rate, this one is about Disneyland Paris (DLP)!!
Cast: Me, DW, DS (young adult), DW (senior in high school)
Length: 3 days and 2 nights (with 5 more nights in Paris)
We had a smooth couple of flights in. Left the house in Southern California at 3:45PM on X-mas eve to catch our 8AM flight on American. Connected through JFK and then on to Paris, landing at around 6:15AM on X-Mas day. DS had finished finals on the east coast on 12/21, so he headed off to Germany on 12/21 to hit the X-Mas markets in Essen and Cologne and met us at the Paris airport on X-Mas day. Customs line was super slow, but we got through at to the train station within Terminal 2B at CDG around 6:45AM and met up with DS.
First order of business was to get our Paris Navigo Decouverte public transportation pass. For only 30 euros (+5 euro deposit), you can get a weekly pass for all forms of public transportation expect the TGV and a particular train to Orly Airport. The main problem is the line is slow to buy this pass so it took about 45 minutes. Now, it’s off to DLP! There are 3 ways: 1) take a 10-min TGV 1 stop but is it pricey at about 30 euros/person, 2) take a train in to Paris and then transfer to a train to DLP but it takes about 2 hours, or 3) taxi/Uber. We took Uber, but CDG is a HUGE airport and it took about 30 minutes just to get to the Uber pickup point, 15 minutes of waiting for pickup, and then another 40 minutes to get to DLP. Total cost was about 70 euros. Retrospectively, I would go with option 2 next time. The pass we just bought would’ve made that free, but I didn’t realize how long it would take to get to and wait for the Uber.
We arrived at the Disney Hotel New York to check in. It is a very nice hotel with a New York meets Marvel theming. I think it is well done. As expected, the room wouldn’t be ready until 3PM, so we dropped off our luggage, obtained our park tickets, and it was off to the parks!! We had just missed the early entry (8AM-9AM) and just entered DLP a shade after 9AM. We will have early entry the next 2 days, so today was just supposed to be exploration and maybe get on a few 2nd tier rides. As it turned out, the park was, relatively speaking, empty. For a holiday time, it was nothing like WDW or DL.
I don’t want to ruin the surprise for future park goers, so here are my impressions:
1. Tomorrowland - Jules Verne steampunk theming. We went on Hyperspace Space Mountain. This is much different than SM in the U.S. It is much more intense and requires a shoulder harness. So, yes, that means inversions. The Nautilus walk though is a mock up of Captain Nemo’s ship. Autopia had a nice, longish track. It isn’t particularly scenic like DL, but smooth and seemingly less fumes.
2. We were starving by now, so looked for a quick bite to eat. From what we saw, it’s either buffets (no thanks) or hot dogs and hamburgers. We ended up with Casey’s for hot dogs. DLP food pricing is closer to Universal than WDW. The hot dogs were 12 euros. So, 4 hot dogs, 1 fries, and 1 soda set us back about 56 euros. The food was fine. Nothing bad or great.
3. Frontierland - very nice western theming with excellent touches. We went on Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion) where the story is more focused on the bride. It was more macabre so very little ones could actually be a bit scared. Some guys was literally on my right shoulder walking in. He was so close to me that I thought it was one of my family on top of me. When I turned and saw him, I stopped and he nearly tripped on me. He gave me this look and I gave him one back. He didn’t say anything so I didn’t either and just let him go forward.
4. Adventureland - a huge island in the middle with a lots of areas for exploration. There were suspension bridges, lookout points, caverns, etc. Indiana Jones and Temple of Peril is the same as Raging Spirits in Tokyo DL. Pirates has an amazing facade of a Spanish-style fortress. The scenes are completely out of order on the ride, which was kind of weird.
5. Fantasyland - theming was what you would expect here except the castle is amazing. It is large and you can get good pictures from several angles. There is even an underground cavern with the dragon under the castle. By this time, we were dragging so only went of Storybook Land and Casey Jr.
We got back to the hotel, just a 10-min walk from the park around 2:15PM and fought sleep until the 3PM room time. The kids just slept. I went in and out. DW stayed up the whole time. The room was ready at 3PM so we went upstairs and immediately to sleep for an hour. At around 4PM, we woke up and got ready and headed over to Disney Village (Disney Springs). I thought we had a 4:30PM dining reservation, but it was actually at 5:30PM so we went to Disney Studios Park (DSP) and went on 1 ride - Cars Road Trip. It is literally the old Back Lot Tour with Cars theming. This park is VERY small. We’ll be here with early entry tomorrow. Went to dinner at Brasserie Rosalie (French). It was solid. I had the onion soup and scallops. Others had a sauerkraut pattern with meat, smoked salmon, and braised beef. All were good. After dinner, we made our way back to DSP to go on Avengers Assemble. This is basically the Rock N Rollercoaster track with Marvel theming. I really enjoyed it, but my 2 kids were less impressed. After being roughed up by SM, DW sat this one out. We thought about going on other rides, but decided we needed to get some sleep.
Thoughts from day 1. The parks are beautiful! I know some will say, why would you go all the way to Paris and go to Disneyland? Well, we are huge Disney fans and plan on going to all the parks at some point (we still have Shanghai and Hong Kong). As one of the most recognizable brands of the 20th century, I consider Disney to be a cultural icon. I would highly recommend DLP to any Disney aficionado. The Disneyland Hotel looked amazing. It is under renovation, but it is gorgeous from the outside and literally creates the front entry wall of DLP. Food was average and expensive. There are smokers walking in the parks. I expected this, but there honestly weren’t very many. The rides we’ve seen are similar, but with plenty of differences to make things interesting. I always thought Disney was making a mistake by completely duplicating experiences (like Star Wars land). It’s OK to have the same ride, but change it a bit to generate desire to see the different versions. Universal did the same thing with the original Harry Potter land. There would be quite a few Star Wars/Harry Potter fans who would go to all the parks if each one had a different theming of the land. Can you imagine Hoth or Endor or some other area at DL? Even if they had the same ride track as Galaxy’s Edge, it would generate more interest to see the all versions. But I digress.
Cast: Me, DW, DS (young adult), DW (senior in high school)
Length: 3 days and 2 nights (with 5 more nights in Paris)
We had a smooth couple of flights in. Left the house in Southern California at 3:45PM on X-mas eve to catch our 8AM flight on American. Connected through JFK and then on to Paris, landing at around 6:15AM on X-Mas day. DS had finished finals on the east coast on 12/21, so he headed off to Germany on 12/21 to hit the X-Mas markets in Essen and Cologne and met us at the Paris airport on X-Mas day. Customs line was super slow, but we got through at to the train station within Terminal 2B at CDG around 6:45AM and met up with DS.
First order of business was to get our Paris Navigo Decouverte public transportation pass. For only 30 euros (+5 euro deposit), you can get a weekly pass for all forms of public transportation expect the TGV and a particular train to Orly Airport. The main problem is the line is slow to buy this pass so it took about 45 minutes. Now, it’s off to DLP! There are 3 ways: 1) take a 10-min TGV 1 stop but is it pricey at about 30 euros/person, 2) take a train in to Paris and then transfer to a train to DLP but it takes about 2 hours, or 3) taxi/Uber. We took Uber, but CDG is a HUGE airport and it took about 30 minutes just to get to the Uber pickup point, 15 minutes of waiting for pickup, and then another 40 minutes to get to DLP. Total cost was about 70 euros. Retrospectively, I would go with option 2 next time. The pass we just bought would’ve made that free, but I didn’t realize how long it would take to get to and wait for the Uber.
We arrived at the Disney Hotel New York to check in. It is a very nice hotel with a New York meets Marvel theming. I think it is well done. As expected, the room wouldn’t be ready until 3PM, so we dropped off our luggage, obtained our park tickets, and it was off to the parks!! We had just missed the early entry (8AM-9AM) and just entered DLP a shade after 9AM. We will have early entry the next 2 days, so today was just supposed to be exploration and maybe get on a few 2nd tier rides. As it turned out, the park was, relatively speaking, empty. For a holiday time, it was nothing like WDW or DL.
I don’t want to ruin the surprise for future park goers, so here are my impressions:
1. Tomorrowland - Jules Verne steampunk theming. We went on Hyperspace Space Mountain. This is much different than SM in the U.S. It is much more intense and requires a shoulder harness. So, yes, that means inversions. The Nautilus walk though is a mock up of Captain Nemo’s ship. Autopia had a nice, longish track. It isn’t particularly scenic like DL, but smooth and seemingly less fumes.
2. We were starving by now, so looked for a quick bite to eat. From what we saw, it’s either buffets (no thanks) or hot dogs and hamburgers. We ended up with Casey’s for hot dogs. DLP food pricing is closer to Universal than WDW. The hot dogs were 12 euros. So, 4 hot dogs, 1 fries, and 1 soda set us back about 56 euros. The food was fine. Nothing bad or great.
3. Frontierland - very nice western theming with excellent touches. We went on Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion) where the story is more focused on the bride. It was more macabre so very little ones could actually be a bit scared. Some guys was literally on my right shoulder walking in. He was so close to me that I thought it was one of my family on top of me. When I turned and saw him, I stopped and he nearly tripped on me. He gave me this look and I gave him one back. He didn’t say anything so I didn’t either and just let him go forward.
4. Adventureland - a huge island in the middle with a lots of areas for exploration. There were suspension bridges, lookout points, caverns, etc. Indiana Jones and Temple of Peril is the same as Raging Spirits in Tokyo DL. Pirates has an amazing facade of a Spanish-style fortress. The scenes are completely out of order on the ride, which was kind of weird.
5. Fantasyland - theming was what you would expect here except the castle is amazing. It is large and you can get good pictures from several angles. There is even an underground cavern with the dragon under the castle. By this time, we were dragging so only went of Storybook Land and Casey Jr.
We got back to the hotel, just a 10-min walk from the park around 2:15PM and fought sleep until the 3PM room time. The kids just slept. I went in and out. DW stayed up the whole time. The room was ready at 3PM so we went upstairs and immediately to sleep for an hour. At around 4PM, we woke up and got ready and headed over to Disney Village (Disney Springs). I thought we had a 4:30PM dining reservation, but it was actually at 5:30PM so we went to Disney Studios Park (DSP) and went on 1 ride - Cars Road Trip. It is literally the old Back Lot Tour with Cars theming. This park is VERY small. We’ll be here with early entry tomorrow. Went to dinner at Brasserie Rosalie (French). It was solid. I had the onion soup and scallops. Others had a sauerkraut pattern with meat, smoked salmon, and braised beef. All were good. After dinner, we made our way back to DSP to go on Avengers Assemble. This is basically the Rock N Rollercoaster track with Marvel theming. I really enjoyed it, but my 2 kids were less impressed. After being roughed up by SM, DW sat this one out. We thought about going on other rides, but decided we needed to get some sleep.
Thoughts from day 1. The parks are beautiful! I know some will say, why would you go all the way to Paris and go to Disneyland? Well, we are huge Disney fans and plan on going to all the parks at some point (we still have Shanghai and Hong Kong). As one of the most recognizable brands of the 20th century, I consider Disney to be a cultural icon. I would highly recommend DLP to any Disney aficionado. The Disneyland Hotel looked amazing. It is under renovation, but it is gorgeous from the outside and literally creates the front entry wall of DLP. Food was average and expensive. There are smokers walking in the parks. I expected this, but there honestly weren’t very many. The rides we’ve seen are similar, but with plenty of differences to make things interesting. I always thought Disney was making a mistake by completely duplicating experiences (like Star Wars land). It’s OK to have the same ride, but change it a bit to generate desire to see the different versions. Universal did the same thing with the original Harry Potter land. There would be quite a few Star Wars/Harry Potter fans who would go to all the parks if each one had a different theming of the land. Can you imagine Hoth or Endor or some other area at DL? Even if they had the same ride track as Galaxy’s Edge, it would generate more interest to see the all versions. But I digress.
