I have just returned from a few days at Disneyland Paris, my first visit since September 2014. Despite no brand new rides being added between then and now there have been several major ride refurbishments and Space Mountain currently has the Hyperspace overlay. And of course the resort is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary.
All three of my visits to Disneyland Paris have been during weekdays in September (2012, 2014 and 2017). The parks have been fairly quiet during my first two visits but the same could not be said this time; everywhere felt considerably busier, especially on the Wednesday. I know that attendance has been disappointing over the last few years so hopefully this is the start of a pick-up for DLP.
Both Pirates and Big Thunder are looking brilliant after their refurbishments. In fact the whole of Disneyland Park is looking fresh, clean and beautiful. You can really tell that a lot of effort has been put in to make sure the park is looking its best for the anniversary, and long may this continue! We also noticed an improvement in the general friendliness of Cast Members and an increase in characters around the park.
Phantom Manor is due to go down for an extensive 9 month refurbishment in 2018 yet it was in tip top condition. I can't wait to see what Disney have in store for the ride, no doubt they will be adding some awesome new effects!
Hyperspace Mountain is fine however the sooner it returns to a Space Mountain theme the better; Star Wars just does not fit with the Jules Verne style of the attraction. However the new trains are an improvement! Star Tours: The Adventure Continues is now on par with its American counterparts so all is good there.
Disney Illuminations is the new nightime show. I was a huge fan of Disney Dreams and unfortunately the new show is just not as good. Technically it is better but it doesn't really seem to have a story and you do not get that emotional connection that you did with Dreams. For me Star Wars and Pirates of the Caribbean have no place in such a show; the same could be said for the live action version of Beauty and the Beast. It felt more of a marketing show than a classic Disney show, but the counter argument could be that this is Disney's new direction.
On to Walt Disney Studios park and not much has changed since my last visit. The new show, Mickey and the Magician, is wonderful though and everything that a good Disney show should be! A must see if you are there. Tower of Terror remains as good as ever, I pray that this does not undergo a Marvel re-theme.
We all know that Crush's Coaster has a poor throughput and always generates a queue because of this. However in my opinion Ratatouille is even more of a problem. As the newest ride at DLP it is obviously very popular however thanks to one of the two loading stations being dedicated entirely to fastrack the capacity for the main queue is nothing short of woeful for an E-ticket. I worked out that the main queue was getting around 500pph, this was with slow dispataches following some downtime but I do not imagine that the main queue ever gets over 600pph when the fastrack is being used. So so poor.
Hopefully we will get some positive news regarding future development of the whole Resort in the coming months and things can keep moving forward.
