Nick
TS Member
Disneyland Paris
A bit of background before I begin. Going to DLP was my most anticipated event of this year- even more so than riding the Smiler. Having never been to DLP before meant my excitement was insanely high (I hadn’t been to a new theme park since Thorpe Park in 2010). I knew to some extent what to expect- I have been to Disney World, albeit this was in 2006, and therefore, my memory of it is not the best and, of course, I was not a huge theme park enthusiast back then, so would not have appreciated the theming as much as I do now- and so my expectations were very, very high.
Having now returned, I can say my expectations were firmly met.
We (being my family and I) visited on a Monday, 21/10/13, knowing that we would have to cram a lot (both parks) into one day. However, the park closed at 10 PM- and this isn’t just a Halloween event, in summer, the park closes at 11 PM! This was fantastic, as we had twelve hours to visit, allowing us to ride everything we wanted. If you stay at any of the hotels (we didn’t) you also can use two hours of early ride time on a few rides (they were all in Fantasyland and Discoveryland I think). This was definitely important, given the popularity of the park and the relatively small amount of attractions, but it made me question why other parks can’t do the same. Even though it costs more to run attractions late at night, it would drastically increase customer satisfaction. Another of the good things about DLP was Fast Pass. This meant you could skip a large extent of a queue by gaining a ticket that told you to return to the ride at a set time. You could only have one Fast Pass at a time. This was very good on some attractions- we used it only once, on Buzz Lightyear, which skipped the entire of the outdoor section of the queue. However, on others it was very frustrating managed. On Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, annoyingly, the Fast Pass merged with the main queue where attendants had to let people through turnstiles. This meant there was many more people in the Fast Pass queue being let in than in the main queue, making queuing take significantly longer.
Anyway, we decided to do the Studios first- as there was the lower amount of attractions of the two parks. We didn’t have time to do shows, which was a shame, as I remember them all to be so good at Disney World.
First ride of the day was Crush’s Coaster, a Maurer Sohne spinning coaster, due to it having a low throughput and no Fast Pass. We began queuing before the queue was opened, and a few minutes later we moved into the main queue. I was very disappointed by the outside queue. Boring, slow moving and poorly themed- I had expected better from Disney. The station itself was much better, featuring moving and talking birds on top of the nice surf shop themed ride op’s cabin. However, being a Maurer, it inevitably broke down for half an hour whilst we were in the station. Needless to say, those birds got very annoying. On to the actual ride. It starts with a cute, tiny first lift before going through the only outside section (above) and a nice indoor section that was well done. Then was the main lift, which was very fast, and into the main ride building. The ride itself was decent, with a good first drop, and then nothing much else. You would have thought it being in the dark would have made it better, but I don’t think it was much improved by it. There wasn’t much variation in the ride, and it was mainly just turn and uninteresting drops that were forceless. It was just alright, really, and not nearly as good as Sonic Spinball.
5/10
Then came Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, which turned out to be a bit of a disaster. The outdoor queue was very uninspiring and, before we got inside, the coaster broke down for around 45 minutes. Two breakdowns out of two rides, just my luck. Then we moved inside, which had the slowest moving queue I’ve ever been in (eventually, we found out this was down to the poor management of the Fast Pass). The inside section of the queue was much better, with it themed to a record company’s recording studio. Although, I swear the guitars that were signed were not used by the actual bands, but whatever. Anyway, after excruciatingly slowly making it pass the turnstiles, we made our way into another room where we saw a recording studio and Aerosmith talking, in a quick video, to us. Then we got into the station and onto the ride. The launch was pretty good, the first element was also good and the corkscrew the same. The rest of the ride was incredibly poor. It was pretty much two slow and forceless helices that were very long. The ride itself was not very dark at all, and there were not many props inside the ride building. So, a poor ride combined with a poor queuing experience gives as poor score:
3/10
After that came possibly my most anticipated ride, Tower of Terror- I remembered loving the model in Florida, and so, I wanted to see how this one compared. Well, the queue was much better than the previous two rides, being contained inside the ride’s walls in a sort of garden. The queue was, unfortunately, very slow, though, which we, again, found out to be because of the infernal Fast Pass. However, I didn’t mind how slow the queue moved when we got inside. The lobby is extraordinarily well done, with cracks in the wall and many, many props- such as painting, carpets, tables and flowers. The effect is certainly good, and it definitely feels like a hotel. Then were directed into a library where we were shown a quick video giving a bit of background to the “hotel”. After leaving, we were in a sort of basement area. However, this was not as well done as in Florida as that made you feel you were in a basement, whereas this did not give the same effect. Upon entering the ride vehicles, we went through a shortish dark section. However, unlike in Florida- where the car moves forwards, this model just moves up and down- which wasn’t as good an experience, but made more sense for the ride. The ride itself was amazing. Superb air-time, a mix of drop heights and simply fantastic. It didn’t have the randomness of Florida’s model, but it was still great nevertheless. Surely Disney’s finest dark ride, but not as good as the ride in Florida.
9/10
After this, it was 2:00, meaning we had spent four hours on three rides, so we had a quick lunch at Earl of Sandwich in the Disney village (which was excellent) before moving over to Disneyland Park. The “magic” starts almost straight away, as you walk through some very nice gardens and around a lake, before heading under the hotel, through the gates before catching the first glimpse of the castle and the Main Street:
Our first ride in the park was Space Mountain: Mission 2, which is in the superb Discoveryland, that has a great steampunk theme. The outdoor queue is nice, rapped around a lake (with has cute duck in it!) and a view of the ride’s inclined launch. The inside section was decent, but was mainly long tunnel, before you get to the magnificent station (which was, thank God, dual-loading, which resulted in a much lower queue time than other rides we had already done). The pre-launch section is hilarious, as it has the ORP in it after a tiny drop. Seemed rather pointless to me. The rest of the ride was much better than the other two coasters we had ridden. The launch was good, the ride was actually dark (instead of the semi-darkness of the other two) with well place props, and a well paced layout. There was also a very well placed tunnel that appears to appear out of nowhere that was very good. On the first ride, it was smooth, but the ride later on was fairly rough (especially after the first inversion) which was strange, as I was in the same seat as before. Anyway, the ride was still good, and way ahead of the other two dark roller coasters.
7/10
Next ride was Star Tours. The queue was well done, with good props- including animatronics of C-3PO and R2-D2. However, it was very, very slow. And guess why that was. Yes, it was the poor management of Fast Pass. AGAIN. When we finally got to the loading area after about one and a half hours, we frustratingly discovered that only three out of the six loading points were being used, which was strange, given the queue times. The ride itself did not make up for the long queue, I’m afraid to say, with a rather boring simulator that was nothing compared to, for example, Spiderman at IOA. I know Star Tours must have been revolutionary when it was built, but it’s the 21st Century for God’s sake, and it needs updating.
4/10
After this came another of my most anticipated rides Pirates of the Caribbean. First things first, the queue was incredible. Entirely indoors and entirely amazing. You basically follow a tunnel, which passes gruesome props, featuring skeletons, before reaching the station, which is even better. You feel as if you are in the tropics, with the warm heat, and the high ceiling makes you feel outside. The ride was also incredible, with superb animatronics making truly memorable and diverse scenes. The only problem I have with it was the drops. I realise that they represent moving between two scenes- with the latter of the two moving into my favourite part of the ride, being the underwater cavern section- but I wish the drops were more unexpected or more hidden. Still, truly a special ride.
9/10
Then came the notorious Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril. The whole coaster looks impressive when you first reach it- with the dive into the loop looking especially nice. The loop is entirely hidden- even in the queue you cannot see its track. Now the ride itself, well, it was very poorly made. It was incredibly rough on all the lateral transitions, the loop was incredibly tight (the two cars were very close to one another) and the transitions out of the two main drops were far too quick. The dive into the loop had about three transitions in it! It really needs to be fixed, as it was not a pleasant ride. It’s much, much worse than any Vekoma I’ve ridden (including Goudrix). The layout wasn’t the best either, and the latter half of the ride was very boring and forceless. It was definitely a disappointment.
5/10
Next we would use our first, and only, Fast Passes of the day on Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast. On the way there, we quickly stopped of at La Tanière du Dragon- which is a huge animatronic dragon under the castle- which was very impressive and showed the uniqueness of the Disney parks.
Then, after arriving at Buzz Lightyear, we used our Fast Passes to skip the outside section of the queue, into the inside section. The inside section of the queue was very cartoon like, featuring a animatronic Buzz Lightyear and also this humorous map with the most ridiculous names I’ve ever seen:
The ride itself was good, allowing you to change direction of the cars. However, there was something missing, really, that made this shooter not as good as Duel or Men In Black at Universal in Florida. Possibly it was due to the lighting not being as low, knowing what was coming up and no change in speed, but I just know it wasn’t as good as the aforementioned two.
6/10
By now it was fairly late in the day when we started queuing for Big Thunder Mountain. I was buzzing, because we could use the approaching night to make it a dark ride- which I really wanted to do, and so wanted to do the coaster late in the day. The queue was OK, just a bit boring, and the fact that they split it into two meant you didn’t know when it was going to end, or where you were moving. Anyway, when we finally got on the ride, it was a very good one. The initially pre-lift section was fun, with a couple of unexpected turns. The rest of the ride was also a blast, keeping a good pace throughout with excellent scenery. Personal highlights were the helix after the second lift and the incredible finale, featuring a drop with a very low decline, that feels like it goes on forever, and the resulting speed as you go under the lake in pitch darkness. Really a sensational family coaster.
8/10
The final ride of the day would be Phantom Manor, which, by the time we began queuing, was at night and was very dark- giving it a very authentic feel. When you get inside, there is an excellent pre-ride section where the room you are in moves down, revealing pictures that appear innocent at first but are shown in an increasingly sinister nature the further down you go. The ride itself was good, but was not as good as I’d hoped it would be. However, there were definitely highlights, with one being the room containing the ghosts that either danced or were sitting by a table. The best section, however- like that on Pirates of the Carribbean- was the underground section, which was very, very good. Overall, it was definitely good, however, there were sections that were definitely much better than other sections.
7/10
After this we ate at Planet Hollywood before heading back into the park for one last ride on Space Mountain and to watch the fireworks. The show itself was good, however, it was irritating that it was all in French and the fireworks didn’t really bang, if you know what I mean. This ended what was a thoroughly enjoyable day in a memorable nature that is unique to Disney parks. Hell, the majority of the park was unique to Disney parks. In terms of theme parks, Disney cannot be beaten.
Ride Count:
Walt Disney Studios Park:
Crush’s Coaster
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
Tower of Terror
Disneyland Park:
Space Mountain: Mission 2 x2
Star Tours
Pirates of the Caribbean
Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril
Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
Phantom Manor
Highlights:
The late closing time- take note Alton Towers.
Tower of Terror- possibly the greatest dark ride in the world.
Pirates of the Caribbean.
The excellent scenery as you walk around the park.
Just the pleasure at being in a Disney park. It’s one of a kind.
Lowlights:
Being busy despite not being in holidays. I didn’t expect walk-ons, but it was much more than I expected.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster’s mediocrity.
Poor management of that damn Fast Pass.
Not having enough time to do everything.
A bit of background before I begin. Going to DLP was my most anticipated event of this year- even more so than riding the Smiler. Having never been to DLP before meant my excitement was insanely high (I hadn’t been to a new theme park since Thorpe Park in 2010). I knew to some extent what to expect- I have been to Disney World, albeit this was in 2006, and therefore, my memory of it is not the best and, of course, I was not a huge theme park enthusiast back then, so would not have appreciated the theming as much as I do now- and so my expectations were very, very high.
Having now returned, I can say my expectations were firmly met.
We (being my family and I) visited on a Monday, 21/10/13, knowing that we would have to cram a lot (both parks) into one day. However, the park closed at 10 PM- and this isn’t just a Halloween event, in summer, the park closes at 11 PM! This was fantastic, as we had twelve hours to visit, allowing us to ride everything we wanted. If you stay at any of the hotels (we didn’t) you also can use two hours of early ride time on a few rides (they were all in Fantasyland and Discoveryland I think). This was definitely important, given the popularity of the park and the relatively small amount of attractions, but it made me question why other parks can’t do the same. Even though it costs more to run attractions late at night, it would drastically increase customer satisfaction. Another of the good things about DLP was Fast Pass. This meant you could skip a large extent of a queue by gaining a ticket that told you to return to the ride at a set time. You could only have one Fast Pass at a time. This was very good on some attractions- we used it only once, on Buzz Lightyear, which skipped the entire of the outdoor section of the queue. However, on others it was very frustrating managed. On Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror, annoyingly, the Fast Pass merged with the main queue where attendants had to let people through turnstiles. This meant there was many more people in the Fast Pass queue being let in than in the main queue, making queuing take significantly longer.
Anyway, we decided to do the Studios first- as there was the lower amount of attractions of the two parks. We didn’t have time to do shows, which was a shame, as I remember them all to be so good at Disney World.
First ride of the day was Crush’s Coaster, a Maurer Sohne spinning coaster, due to it having a low throughput and no Fast Pass. We began queuing before the queue was opened, and a few minutes later we moved into the main queue. I was very disappointed by the outside queue. Boring, slow moving and poorly themed- I had expected better from Disney. The station itself was much better, featuring moving and talking birds on top of the nice surf shop themed ride op’s cabin. However, being a Maurer, it inevitably broke down for half an hour whilst we were in the station. Needless to say, those birds got very annoying. On to the actual ride. It starts with a cute, tiny first lift before going through the only outside section (above) and a nice indoor section that was well done. Then was the main lift, which was very fast, and into the main ride building. The ride itself was decent, with a good first drop, and then nothing much else. You would have thought it being in the dark would have made it better, but I don’t think it was much improved by it. There wasn’t much variation in the ride, and it was mainly just turn and uninteresting drops that were forceless. It was just alright, really, and not nearly as good as Sonic Spinball.
5/10
Then came Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, which turned out to be a bit of a disaster. The outdoor queue was very uninspiring and, before we got inside, the coaster broke down for around 45 minutes. Two breakdowns out of two rides, just my luck. Then we moved inside, which had the slowest moving queue I’ve ever been in (eventually, we found out this was down to the poor management of the Fast Pass). The inside section of the queue was much better, with it themed to a record company’s recording studio. Although, I swear the guitars that were signed were not used by the actual bands, but whatever. Anyway, after excruciatingly slowly making it pass the turnstiles, we made our way into another room where we saw a recording studio and Aerosmith talking, in a quick video, to us. Then we got into the station and onto the ride. The launch was pretty good, the first element was also good and the corkscrew the same. The rest of the ride was incredibly poor. It was pretty much two slow and forceless helices that were very long. The ride itself was not very dark at all, and there were not many props inside the ride building. So, a poor ride combined with a poor queuing experience gives as poor score:
3/10
After that came possibly my most anticipated ride, Tower of Terror- I remembered loving the model in Florida, and so, I wanted to see how this one compared. Well, the queue was much better than the previous two rides, being contained inside the ride’s walls in a sort of garden. The queue was, unfortunately, very slow, though, which we, again, found out to be because of the infernal Fast Pass. However, I didn’t mind how slow the queue moved when we got inside. The lobby is extraordinarily well done, with cracks in the wall and many, many props- such as painting, carpets, tables and flowers. The effect is certainly good, and it definitely feels like a hotel. Then were directed into a library where we were shown a quick video giving a bit of background to the “hotel”. After leaving, we were in a sort of basement area. However, this was not as well done as in Florida as that made you feel you were in a basement, whereas this did not give the same effect. Upon entering the ride vehicles, we went through a shortish dark section. However, unlike in Florida- where the car moves forwards, this model just moves up and down- which wasn’t as good an experience, but made more sense for the ride. The ride itself was amazing. Superb air-time, a mix of drop heights and simply fantastic. It didn’t have the randomness of Florida’s model, but it was still great nevertheless. Surely Disney’s finest dark ride, but not as good as the ride in Florida.
9/10
After this, it was 2:00, meaning we had spent four hours on three rides, so we had a quick lunch at Earl of Sandwich in the Disney village (which was excellent) before moving over to Disneyland Park. The “magic” starts almost straight away, as you walk through some very nice gardens and around a lake, before heading under the hotel, through the gates before catching the first glimpse of the castle and the Main Street:
Our first ride in the park was Space Mountain: Mission 2, which is in the superb Discoveryland, that has a great steampunk theme. The outdoor queue is nice, rapped around a lake (with has cute duck in it!) and a view of the ride’s inclined launch. The inside section was decent, but was mainly long tunnel, before you get to the magnificent station (which was, thank God, dual-loading, which resulted in a much lower queue time than other rides we had already done). The pre-launch section is hilarious, as it has the ORP in it after a tiny drop. Seemed rather pointless to me. The rest of the ride was much better than the other two coasters we had ridden. The launch was good, the ride was actually dark (instead of the semi-darkness of the other two) with well place props, and a well paced layout. There was also a very well placed tunnel that appears to appear out of nowhere that was very good. On the first ride, it was smooth, but the ride later on was fairly rough (especially after the first inversion) which was strange, as I was in the same seat as before. Anyway, the ride was still good, and way ahead of the other two dark roller coasters.
7/10
Next ride was Star Tours. The queue was well done, with good props- including animatronics of C-3PO and R2-D2. However, it was very, very slow. And guess why that was. Yes, it was the poor management of Fast Pass. AGAIN. When we finally got to the loading area after about one and a half hours, we frustratingly discovered that only three out of the six loading points were being used, which was strange, given the queue times. The ride itself did not make up for the long queue, I’m afraid to say, with a rather boring simulator that was nothing compared to, for example, Spiderman at IOA. I know Star Tours must have been revolutionary when it was built, but it’s the 21st Century for God’s sake, and it needs updating.
4/10
After this came another of my most anticipated rides Pirates of the Caribbean. First things first, the queue was incredible. Entirely indoors and entirely amazing. You basically follow a tunnel, which passes gruesome props, featuring skeletons, before reaching the station, which is even better. You feel as if you are in the tropics, with the warm heat, and the high ceiling makes you feel outside. The ride was also incredible, with superb animatronics making truly memorable and diverse scenes. The only problem I have with it was the drops. I realise that they represent moving between two scenes- with the latter of the two moving into my favourite part of the ride, being the underwater cavern section- but I wish the drops were more unexpected or more hidden. Still, truly a special ride.
9/10
Then came the notorious Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril. The whole coaster looks impressive when you first reach it- with the dive into the loop looking especially nice. The loop is entirely hidden- even in the queue you cannot see its track. Now the ride itself, well, it was very poorly made. It was incredibly rough on all the lateral transitions, the loop was incredibly tight (the two cars were very close to one another) and the transitions out of the two main drops were far too quick. The dive into the loop had about three transitions in it! It really needs to be fixed, as it was not a pleasant ride. It’s much, much worse than any Vekoma I’ve ridden (including Goudrix). The layout wasn’t the best either, and the latter half of the ride was very boring and forceless. It was definitely a disappointment.
5/10
Next we would use our first, and only, Fast Passes of the day on Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast. On the way there, we quickly stopped of at La Tanière du Dragon- which is a huge animatronic dragon under the castle- which was very impressive and showed the uniqueness of the Disney parks.
Then, after arriving at Buzz Lightyear, we used our Fast Passes to skip the outside section of the queue, into the inside section. The inside section of the queue was very cartoon like, featuring a animatronic Buzz Lightyear and also this humorous map with the most ridiculous names I’ve ever seen:
The ride itself was good, allowing you to change direction of the cars. However, there was something missing, really, that made this shooter not as good as Duel or Men In Black at Universal in Florida. Possibly it was due to the lighting not being as low, knowing what was coming up and no change in speed, but I just know it wasn’t as good as the aforementioned two.
6/10
By now it was fairly late in the day when we started queuing for Big Thunder Mountain. I was buzzing, because we could use the approaching night to make it a dark ride- which I really wanted to do, and so wanted to do the coaster late in the day. The queue was OK, just a bit boring, and the fact that they split it into two meant you didn’t know when it was going to end, or where you were moving. Anyway, when we finally got on the ride, it was a very good one. The initially pre-lift section was fun, with a couple of unexpected turns. The rest of the ride was also a blast, keeping a good pace throughout with excellent scenery. Personal highlights were the helix after the second lift and the incredible finale, featuring a drop with a very low decline, that feels like it goes on forever, and the resulting speed as you go under the lake in pitch darkness. Really a sensational family coaster.
8/10
The final ride of the day would be Phantom Manor, which, by the time we began queuing, was at night and was very dark- giving it a very authentic feel. When you get inside, there is an excellent pre-ride section where the room you are in moves down, revealing pictures that appear innocent at first but are shown in an increasingly sinister nature the further down you go. The ride itself was good, but was not as good as I’d hoped it would be. However, there were definitely highlights, with one being the room containing the ghosts that either danced or were sitting by a table. The best section, however- like that on Pirates of the Carribbean- was the underground section, which was very, very good. Overall, it was definitely good, however, there were sections that were definitely much better than other sections.
7/10
After this we ate at Planet Hollywood before heading back into the park for one last ride on Space Mountain and to watch the fireworks. The show itself was good, however, it was irritating that it was all in French and the fireworks didn’t really bang, if you know what I mean. This ended what was a thoroughly enjoyable day in a memorable nature that is unique to Disney parks. Hell, the majority of the park was unique to Disney parks. In terms of theme parks, Disney cannot be beaten.
Ride Count:
Walt Disney Studios Park:
Crush’s Coaster
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
Tower of Terror
Disneyland Park:
Space Mountain: Mission 2 x2
Star Tours
Pirates of the Caribbean
Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril
Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
Phantom Manor
Highlights:
The late closing time- take note Alton Towers.
Tower of Terror- possibly the greatest dark ride in the world.
Pirates of the Caribbean.
The excellent scenery as you walk around the park.
Just the pleasure at being in a Disney park. It’s one of a kind.
Lowlights:
Being busy despite not being in holidays. I didn’t expect walk-ons, but it was much more than I expected.
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster’s mediocrity.
Poor management of that damn Fast Pass.
Not having enough time to do everything.
