SirDossa
TS Member
Having not been to Disneyland Paris for over twenty years (was 14 on my last visit), myself and 12 others set off via the Eurostar from Kings Cross for a four-night stay at the Newport Bay Hotel. Our tickets to both Disney parks allowed entry for a whole week, and as a result of this, we were able to take a somewhat leisurely approach to our visits to the parks. The trip was planned around the UK half-term, but we were aware that Schools in France had no scheduled Holiday’s during this period. I will go in to more detail about the queue times and operations later on in the report, but it’s fair to say that we made the most of the 11 pm park close each day as queues were definitely at the shortest from around 8 pm through to close.
Having been to Europa Park and Phantasialand over the last few years, I was keen to see how DLP would now compare to these parks. I have nothing but the fondest memories from childhood trips to DLP, and I couldn’t wait to see the reactions from my six nieces and nephews (ages ranging from 4-10). I was aware of the ongoing strikes within the resort, and was fearful that they would ruin the magic and immersion for all of the kids, but thankfully this wasn’t the case. However, I did witness the Saturday morning march as a large number of strikers/protestors passed whilst venturing through the Village to the parks. Thankfully, none of the kids had yet set off to the parks, and there were no further signs of any action throughout the remainder of the day. It’s hard to say what the knock-on effects were of these strikes during the Saturday as certain rides did experience some downtime, and queues seemed to be at their peak across the day, but this was probably expected on a sunny June Saturday.
Having never been on the Eurostar before, it was a smooth journey both there and back with no delays experienced. We couldn’t get a direct train back to KX from the Disney station so had to venture in to Paris for the return leg of the journey. Having previously stayed at the original New York New York hotel, it was nice to experience the Newport Bay hotel. The rooms seemed a little bit dated in places, but were cleaned every day, and the bar was open until 1 am which was a bonus. Drinks were on the more expensive side (like everything on the resort!), but service here was reasonable, and it is a huge bonus having these hotels within such a short walking distance to the Disney Village and parks. We hadn’t opted for any food options at the hotel, and chose instead to eat in/around the Village and parks.
On to the fun part..the rides and attractions! Across the trip, we managed to get multiple rides on all of the classics. As a kid, I loved Pirates, Phantom Manor and Big Thunder Mountain, and it’s safe to say that this is still the case. These three rides are utterly fantastic, and I could sit on them all day. Despite the parks being busy, queues rarely got above 15 minutes for both POTC and Phantom Manor, and were walk-on throughout the evenings. My oldest Brother had wanted to ride these rides for years as he is a real sucker for theming and immersion, and it’s safe to say that they did not disappoint. I must have lapped up nearly double figure rides on both of these classics, and on each ride, I managed to notice some new theming elements. All of the kids loved them too, and it was amazing seeing all of their reactions.
Night-time rides on Big Thunder Mountain remain one of the best ride experiences ever, and this ride really is the complete attraction. My Dad (who is closer to 80 than 70) even went on it, and a great time was had.
On to the other coasters, and I’ll echo what others seem to say about the Star Wars overlay on Space Mountain. It’s nowhere near as good as the original, and I hope the rumours are true that the original theme will come back in the not so distant future. The ride is still fun, but much rougher than I remembered it to be as a youngster. Space Mountain did encounter quite a bit of downtime throughout the trip, and there was an evac when we were in the queue for it one evening. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but a large group of young kids were spotted outside it shortly after with a few looking extremely distressed. It didn’t open again that day..
Indiana Jones remains a ‘one and done’ ride, and was about as good as I remembered it to be..I.e not very good at all. I managed to get a new credit in the form of the Casey Jr powered coaster which was a fun little ride, and all the kids in the party enjoyed it immensely.
Rides such as ‘It’s a Small World’, ‘Peter Pan’, and ‘Star Tours’ were also firm fan favourites within the group, and catered to the many different needs of our group. Being in such a large group, it was hard trying to satisfy every request at any given time, but this meant that we could just break off and do our own thing. Indeed, myself and my fiancée remain child-free so we were able to venture off and do some of the more adult attractions more regularly.
On to the Studios, and I do echo what others say about the park resembling a bit of a building site. However, it is hugely better than what it was when I first visited, and it’s hard to argue with the quality of some of the attractions. I’d previously experienced the Orlando Tower of Terror, but the one here blew me away. I couldn’t believe how much air-time there was! Two of my young nephews were brave enough to go on it, and I think they thought that they were going to fly out through the roof. I joked to my oldest nephew that we were going to be staying there for the last two nights of the trip, and he believed me! Crush’s coaster was another new credit for me, and this was great fun. Due to the low throughputs, the queue was never short, so we only did it once, but everyone thoroughly enjoyed this one.
I was keen to experience the Avengers overlay on what I will always refer to as the Aerosmith rock n roller coaster. The coaster itself remains pretty intense with its forceful launch, but the overlay didn’t do much for me. This is probably because I’m not much of a Marvel fan, but the area on the whole is certainly more coherent and better themed than what it was previously. I was spited by the R Racer coaster due to downtime and queue times which I wasn’t particularly willing to wait based on what others have previously said about this attraction.
Ratatouille was another ride that I was excited to experience, and yet again, the quality of this attraction was superb. This area feels the most complete area within the park as it does have a relatively coherent theme, and the buildings are stunning. The Spiderman webslingers ride was another new attraction for me, but despite boshing what I thought was a pretty monster score, the ride itself didn’t do much for me. Whereas Ratatouille combines set pieces and other theming elements with screens, Spiderman relies too much on the screen element. However, I can see why this would be a winner for kids, and Spiderman fans alike.
Personally, I’m not one for shows, but some of our party enjoyed various shows throughout the stay as well as character meet and greets which made the kids days. I did manage to catch the afternoon parade on one of the days, and the back-end of the night time spectacular, and both were of the standard that you would expect from Disney.
With no Banks robbed, and no winning Footy accas on the final day of the season, I was fully aware that my Bank balance would take a complete hit throughout the trip. There was barely a cloud in the Sky throughout our trip, and temperatures reached the late 20’s so regular refreshments were needed. Food/Drink were as dear as expected to be with bottles of water averaging around the 3 euro 50 mark, and more importantly beers ranging from the 8-10 euro mark. To be honest, it’s probably even more at bars in the centre of Paris, and we did manage to enjoy a pretty good selection of beers in the Royal Pub in the Village. It was also a nice touch being able to watch the FA cup final in the Sports Bar there which probably has the biggest screen I’ve ever watched a game of Football on. Although the Village appears to be half under construction, we had breakfast at the Earl of Sandwich each morning which was fairly reasonably priced solid fare. McDonald’s took a bit of a beating, and we also enjoyed meals at the Rainforest Café (very nice indeed), and Annette’s diner. Queues for the eateries on park were constantly long, and we chose to prioritise rides/attractions when on park although I did manage to enjoy a good old dog from Casey’s Corner. I would one day love to experience some of the themed restaurants located in the parks though, and in particular the Captain Jack’s restaurant located in POTC. The smell alone as the boats pass through gets me every time!
Sorry, this has been a bit longer than I envisaged, but I can’t end it without a closing through niggles. Little things like getting a snack or bottle of coke/water seemed to be a chore when purchasing on park. Little things like vendors not having correct change or card machines not working were somewhat annoying, and the customer service on display throughout the trip was certainly not of the level experienced when visiting the Orlando parks or indeed other parks such as Europa Park. Thankfully, the kids in the party were not involved with this side of the trip, but it was a little bit frustrating being met with stern and un-interested looks from a large number of shop/food and drink vendors as well as ride hosts. I guess that this is partly a fall out/a reflection of the ongoing strikes. However, it’s worth noting that this wasn’t the case across the board, and some ride hosts were certainly more in the spirit than others.
On the whole though, an incredible time was had by all. It was great to see my 6 nieces and nephews have the time of their lives, and we leave with memories that will be treasured forever.
Having been to Europa Park and Phantasialand over the last few years, I was keen to see how DLP would now compare to these parks. I have nothing but the fondest memories from childhood trips to DLP, and I couldn’t wait to see the reactions from my six nieces and nephews (ages ranging from 4-10). I was aware of the ongoing strikes within the resort, and was fearful that they would ruin the magic and immersion for all of the kids, but thankfully this wasn’t the case. However, I did witness the Saturday morning march as a large number of strikers/protestors passed whilst venturing through the Village to the parks. Thankfully, none of the kids had yet set off to the parks, and there were no further signs of any action throughout the remainder of the day. It’s hard to say what the knock-on effects were of these strikes during the Saturday as certain rides did experience some downtime, and queues seemed to be at their peak across the day, but this was probably expected on a sunny June Saturday.
Having never been on the Eurostar before, it was a smooth journey both there and back with no delays experienced. We couldn’t get a direct train back to KX from the Disney station so had to venture in to Paris for the return leg of the journey. Having previously stayed at the original New York New York hotel, it was nice to experience the Newport Bay hotel. The rooms seemed a little bit dated in places, but were cleaned every day, and the bar was open until 1 am which was a bonus. Drinks were on the more expensive side (like everything on the resort!), but service here was reasonable, and it is a huge bonus having these hotels within such a short walking distance to the Disney Village and parks. We hadn’t opted for any food options at the hotel, and chose instead to eat in/around the Village and parks.
On to the fun part..the rides and attractions! Across the trip, we managed to get multiple rides on all of the classics. As a kid, I loved Pirates, Phantom Manor and Big Thunder Mountain, and it’s safe to say that this is still the case. These three rides are utterly fantastic, and I could sit on them all day. Despite the parks being busy, queues rarely got above 15 minutes for both POTC and Phantom Manor, and were walk-on throughout the evenings. My oldest Brother had wanted to ride these rides for years as he is a real sucker for theming and immersion, and it’s safe to say that they did not disappoint. I must have lapped up nearly double figure rides on both of these classics, and on each ride, I managed to notice some new theming elements. All of the kids loved them too, and it was amazing seeing all of their reactions.
Night-time rides on Big Thunder Mountain remain one of the best ride experiences ever, and this ride really is the complete attraction. My Dad (who is closer to 80 than 70) even went on it, and a great time was had.
On to the other coasters, and I’ll echo what others seem to say about the Star Wars overlay on Space Mountain. It’s nowhere near as good as the original, and I hope the rumours are true that the original theme will come back in the not so distant future. The ride is still fun, but much rougher than I remembered it to be as a youngster. Space Mountain did encounter quite a bit of downtime throughout the trip, and there was an evac when we were in the queue for it one evening. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but a large group of young kids were spotted outside it shortly after with a few looking extremely distressed. It didn’t open again that day..
Indiana Jones remains a ‘one and done’ ride, and was about as good as I remembered it to be..I.e not very good at all. I managed to get a new credit in the form of the Casey Jr powered coaster which was a fun little ride, and all the kids in the party enjoyed it immensely.
Rides such as ‘It’s a Small World’, ‘Peter Pan’, and ‘Star Tours’ were also firm fan favourites within the group, and catered to the many different needs of our group. Being in such a large group, it was hard trying to satisfy every request at any given time, but this meant that we could just break off and do our own thing. Indeed, myself and my fiancée remain child-free so we were able to venture off and do some of the more adult attractions more regularly.
On to the Studios, and I do echo what others say about the park resembling a bit of a building site. However, it is hugely better than what it was when I first visited, and it’s hard to argue with the quality of some of the attractions. I’d previously experienced the Orlando Tower of Terror, but the one here blew me away. I couldn’t believe how much air-time there was! Two of my young nephews were brave enough to go on it, and I think they thought that they were going to fly out through the roof. I joked to my oldest nephew that we were going to be staying there for the last two nights of the trip, and he believed me! Crush’s coaster was another new credit for me, and this was great fun. Due to the low throughputs, the queue was never short, so we only did it once, but everyone thoroughly enjoyed this one.
I was keen to experience the Avengers overlay on what I will always refer to as the Aerosmith rock n roller coaster. The coaster itself remains pretty intense with its forceful launch, but the overlay didn’t do much for me. This is probably because I’m not much of a Marvel fan, but the area on the whole is certainly more coherent and better themed than what it was previously. I was spited by the R Racer coaster due to downtime and queue times which I wasn’t particularly willing to wait based on what others have previously said about this attraction.
Ratatouille was another ride that I was excited to experience, and yet again, the quality of this attraction was superb. This area feels the most complete area within the park as it does have a relatively coherent theme, and the buildings are stunning. The Spiderman webslingers ride was another new attraction for me, but despite boshing what I thought was a pretty monster score, the ride itself didn’t do much for me. Whereas Ratatouille combines set pieces and other theming elements with screens, Spiderman relies too much on the screen element. However, I can see why this would be a winner for kids, and Spiderman fans alike.
Personally, I’m not one for shows, but some of our party enjoyed various shows throughout the stay as well as character meet and greets which made the kids days. I did manage to catch the afternoon parade on one of the days, and the back-end of the night time spectacular, and both were of the standard that you would expect from Disney.
With no Banks robbed, and no winning Footy accas on the final day of the season, I was fully aware that my Bank balance would take a complete hit throughout the trip. There was barely a cloud in the Sky throughout our trip, and temperatures reached the late 20’s so regular refreshments were needed. Food/Drink were as dear as expected to be with bottles of water averaging around the 3 euro 50 mark, and more importantly beers ranging from the 8-10 euro mark. To be honest, it’s probably even more at bars in the centre of Paris, and we did manage to enjoy a pretty good selection of beers in the Royal Pub in the Village. It was also a nice touch being able to watch the FA cup final in the Sports Bar there which probably has the biggest screen I’ve ever watched a game of Football on. Although the Village appears to be half under construction, we had breakfast at the Earl of Sandwich each morning which was fairly reasonably priced solid fare. McDonald’s took a bit of a beating, and we also enjoyed meals at the Rainforest Café (very nice indeed), and Annette’s diner. Queues for the eateries on park were constantly long, and we chose to prioritise rides/attractions when on park although I did manage to enjoy a good old dog from Casey’s Corner. I would one day love to experience some of the themed restaurants located in the parks though, and in particular the Captain Jack’s restaurant located in POTC. The smell alone as the boats pass through gets me every time!
Sorry, this has been a bit longer than I envisaged, but I can’t end it without a closing through niggles. Little things like getting a snack or bottle of coke/water seemed to be a chore when purchasing on park. Little things like vendors not having correct change or card machines not working were somewhat annoying, and the customer service on display throughout the trip was certainly not of the level experienced when visiting the Orlando parks or indeed other parks such as Europa Park. Thankfully, the kids in the party were not involved with this side of the trip, but it was a little bit frustrating being met with stern and un-interested looks from a large number of shop/food and drink vendors as well as ride hosts. I guess that this is partly a fall out/a reflection of the ongoing strikes. However, it’s worth noting that this wasn’t the case across the board, and some ride hosts were certainly more in the spirit than others.
On the whole though, an incredible time was had by all. It was great to see my 6 nieces and nephews have the time of their lives, and we leave with memories that will be treasured forever.
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