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[Scissorsboi]

I realise I'm very late in writing this report, but it's better late than never! Way back on October 6th myself and 3 friends from work headed out to Disney, I've been a few times since Eurostar moved to St Pancras, but this time in particular they seemed to really have the operation/train loading down to a tee! It really made the start of the holiday that much more stress free than previous visits, which is always a good start!

This is one of my most memorable visits to the Resort as I finally got to experience a 'special event' which they put on, I honestly felt that if they would only do more things like Not So Scary, and add benefits to the ones they do have (fireworks would be awesome!) then it'll go some way to making the Park feel that much more like the WDW!

We arrived at the Resort around 1.30pm, and settled in at Hotel New York, my first stay here and I really enjoyed it! I'm such a Cheyenne fan, but now I have 2 hotels which I'd happily stay at and know that I'll have a fantastic time, my only real gripe about it (and all of the DLP hotels) is that there is no 'food court' area like Pop Century (WDW) has, it's only sit down restaurants. A cheaper, more self service type place would definately mean I'd eat at the the hotel more!

As I've jumbled the photos, and there's a lot of repeats over the days, I've broken it down into parks instead of days for this report!

Parc Disneyland

The park is looking fantastic this year, it really seems that they've stepped up in the presentation of things! A positive sign for the future. I've not been for Halloween in a few years (favouring Christmas), so this year was a nice change, the park is well decorated and feels like something 'extra' is going on.


We've all seen it, but again for good measure, the New Generation display!


Main St looked pretty busy for a cold weekday! The weather definately helped to add to the Halloween feeling.


Almost the same shot, but framed nicely by the Station's archways!


Something I seem to be particularly good at is entering the park when Character Express is out. In Halloween costume!


Even the Pumpkinmen (and women!) were out on it, they're very popular, and it's awesome to see original, seasonal characters being so well recieved!


Discoveryland was first up, for us. The area looks very fresh right now, it looked like it'd had a lot of refurb?


On the way we stopped at Buzz, it was nice to see the queueline Buzz working again after he was curtained on my last visit!


This is one of my favourite photos from the trip, it shows off the style of the land well I think!


Mission 2 had no smoke on the launch for the entire trip, which I always think takes away a massive amount of atmosphere!


I finally managed to get on Autopia, a big line as always, but after so many visits with no rides, we bit the bullet and queued for it. I really enjoy Autopias for some reason, and this is one of the prettier courses!


We did Captain EO twice during the stay, it's a good little film, an a much welcome change from HISTA!


On the way out I noticed this beautiful view of the Castle I've never seen before!


Moving over to Fantasyland, and we hit Dumbos on EMH morning which gave this photo of a restored and beautiful Dumbo!


And a dawn view of Fantasyland from the sky!


The lanterns in Mad Hatters Teacups are fixed up and look very nice again!


The park has plenty of 'well framed' photo spots! The Castle just poking out of the mist looks magical here!


As was Curious Labyrinth, it just needs those few 'details' added back in and it'll be a fantastic original attraction again!


On the last day, IASW re-opened after the terrible accident, at the time we were unaware of anything, so it was a shock to come home to.


Heading out past Pinocchio which seemed to have been refurbed? Or at least neatened up a little, Snow White was down for the majority of our visit on refurb.

Moving into Adventureland, Hook's Ship looks old, it's a good job it's getting replaced soon as the area it sits in is so picturesque!


We had enough time to explore the caves of Adventure Isle, which is one of my favourite past times at the park!

Onwards into Frontierland/Halloweenland, the whole area gets such a massive overlay, but at times it felt like they'd put TOO much in, and it started to look a bit repetitive and almost tacky in places! I also had an issue with Phantom Manor, but I'll come to that in a second!


Welcome to Halloweenland! We hope you don't have a pumpkin phobia!


A couple of Pumpkinkids by the Jack & Sally meet and greet.


Speaking of the meet and greet.. I loved Jack and Sally being here, nice to have some different characters out, and great interaction!


The evil skull has moved away from the Town Square this year, back to the Ranch area!


I'm still not sure if this was cute, or a little creepy!


Right, Phantom Manor.. there is something I personally find wrong about seeing blood in a Disney park, especially splattered across such a hideous character! I appreciate the 'themed' Bridge/Groom scarecrows fit the ride but I think the blood makes it too extreme for the park. I'd be interested to see what everyone else thinks?


The Manor itself looks as awesome as ever in the Autumn, I really feel that this is one of the Resort's finest buildings!


Leaving I bumped into a solitary Dr Facilier, all the guests were at the bottom of the hill with the other villains, so I got a bit of one on one time with him and it was amazing! I had a nice chat and we worked out the best pose in front of the Manor! I honestly wish they'd make him a year round character, it'd be simple to add his grave to Boot Hill and let him wander there freely, he's one of the best character interactions I've ever had at the park!


Moving down the hill I found Malificent, who also had a nice chat with me, and posed for a few photos. It was really nice to see the villains out, I seem to enjoy them more than the usual characters!


Just a quick shot of BTM from the boats before heading back to Main St!


A quick stop off to watch Villains Showtime! Jafar doing his little dance!


Dr Facilier in the show being all obnoxious to Minnie, all she wants is a nice party for her friends!

As always, we caught Once Upon a Dream Parade a few times during the trip, I definately think it loses a lot of charm without a show stop! It's a shame, but the new Halloween float was very nice, I think it would have been nicer as a pre-parade instead of a post-parade though!


I liked this shot for some reason, Chernabog picking the Castle up!


Mickey and Minnie heading it up.


Goofy hitching a free ride as usual!


I've always loved the clear Castles in Parades, and this one is a lovely finale to the parade!


A quick look at the Villains float! It's a very nice new addition, could almost be used as a second Dreams of Power float should the current one go out of action!

And finally, a few shots of the park at dawn which I love!


The Disneyland Hotel


Looking up Main St with the lights still on.


And finally, the Castle waking up to a new day!

That's all from Parc Disneyland, I'll update with WDS and then Not So Scary Party/other photos shortly! Hope you enjoyed!

[Scissorsboi]

Walt Disney Studios

Studios is a nice park, and for the first time since it opened, I had to return to get on a ride. I think Playland has just pushed it past the 1 day visit mark. I had a very memorable experience here, where we went on Stitch Live, and for the first time I got picked on, it was really fun, and made one of my favourite attractions even better!

Toystory Playland is a nice addition to the park, certainly everyone seemed to be enjoying it. It's by no means perfect, and I think I'd have preferred Toystory Mania to add another indoor attraction to the lineup, not to mention another ride type which is not currently in the park. Maybe Ratatouille will fill this gap?

I'd love to see next year focus on a massive clean up/refresh of the original attractions, Armageddon needs to be addressed, along with Art of Animation, and if they could find the budget to change Animagique to Nemo the Musical that'd be a welcome change and be a very marketable draw for the park again! Done reading? Want photos.. ok then!


Without the Billboard I think Studios has one of the most thematically impressive entrances to a Disney Park, not to mention one of the most attractive.


Walking out and seeing Tower is a fantastic first impression, I honestly feel that Tower was the ride which saved the park.


Tram Tour looks nice now, even with the Ratatouille work walls up on the return visit. I think ours actually has more to look at than the Hollywood Studios one, which still uses Catastrophe Canyon as the finale.


We caught Moteurs Action twice, the second time during the Ballet Chase two villains collided when one didn't complete the handbrake turn fully. It was interesting to see what happened in that situation!


The fire stunt is still one of the highlights of the show for me.


As much as I love the flowerbeds the Partners statue is in, I still think it belongs in front of the Castle, and hope that ultimately it ends up there!


Ok, so it's time. Toystory Playland, has a pretty impressive entrance I think! It definately sets the scene, and Buzz is very popular as a photo op!


This is where I think the area succeeds well, there are points where you are totally immersed in the theme, and the sense of scale really works!


It also works well to frame Tower of Terror, I don't know if this is designed in, but I love the way it helps to force the perspective down.


I liked the ride experience of RC Racer, and thought it was clearly popular with other guests. However I wish it was a bit more highly themed on the undercover part of the queue!


I didn't get on Parachute Drop due to the constant long lines (I don't know why it's so popular, I guess parents use it as a 'training' for ToT?). But I liked the little details, such as the 'Blue Sky' plane, could live without the tacky 'parachuting' photo point!


Inside Art of Animation is one of the multiplane cameras used to record Snow White, this is such a major artifact that I can't believe it's just left unnoticed by many!


The Cars facades are one of my favourite areas in the park, I can't want to see what they do with Carsland!


Armageddon's facade must be high on the list of renovations surely? Or a new attraction, it'd be easy to drop the Armageddon name and make it a generic 'disaster movie' theme, much like Disaster at Universal was adapted from Earthquake!


Stars & Cars was still a very odd concept, even after seeing it a few times! I don't understand why it's not just left as a parade with a show stop. Having it end, then a 'second show' start just seemed flawed to me, and I found it hard to enjoy. Saying that, there was a fantastic cast member who gathered all of the kids in Princess dresses, and gave them their own mini-parade along the route whilst they waited for it to start! A really nice Disney touch!


Good to see Donald and Daisy back in their Studios costumes!


Long story short, I've not once managed to get a good photo of Mary Poppins! She's always blinking, or hidden by something!


This Cruella kept popping up wherever we went, and she was awesome!


And one last shot as I left of the entrance plaza!

I do enjoy Studios, I just think that it needs a lot of work on it before it can even begin to rival it's neighbour, hell, at times I don't think it even rivals other European parks. I'm always more excited about the future of this park than Parc Disneyland!

Coming up next, Not So Scary Party, and general resort photos! I'm taunting you I know!

[dagobert]

Thanks for this wonderful trip report. It seems you had a fantastic time at DLRP. Your pictures are great and I also like your Discoveryland photo, the one that shows the style of the land. It's a shame that the Buzz Lightyear bilding has another colour scheme.

We are also big fans of the Pop Century Food Court at WDW, and I think such a restaurant would be a good addition to the hotels.

WDS has indeed a great entrance and I'm so happy that the facade got a refurbishment and that Disney removed the ugly billboard.

Can't wait to read more.

[ed-uk]

Great trip report thanks for posting, and I'm pleased to read a positive review of TSPL and WDS Park.

[Scissorsboi]

Glad you are enjoying it! As I said, I do like WDS as a park, but I think it needs to have things addressed before it can be the best it can be!

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

Finally! The party, and the bad news is that I have few photos of it as my camera really doesn't like the dark, but the photos I do have cover the party pretty well! I really enjoyed this event, not only because I could stay in the park from 9.00am until midnight (which was amazing, I really got to relax during the day and just enjoy the park!), and because it offered me something new and different to experience in the park!

As I said before, the party is a great addition, and could be made even better by adding some other bonuses, fireworks would be a lovely ending to the evening (Hallowishes would be awesome!), and if they could have a few areas open with cookies/hot chocolate as Very Merry Christmas at WDW does it would add that sense of 'extra magic' to the night.

I'd definately use the event again if I'm around when it's on, and night riding was really good. Particular thanks go out to Phantom Manor, who let us stay on at offload and ride through to onload again, sure it breaks the illusion of the Manor, but it's something I've wanted to do for ages, and finally getting the chance to do so made my holiday!

Onto some photos, I'll explain things as they go along if needed!


The signage for the party was added to the Castle, a nice little detail. A lot of it was covered during the day and revealed when the party started.


Fantasyland at the start of the 'Party', it was pretty dead, didn't really pick up during the night, I guess it was because the guests were spread between the shows and the larger areas!


Night falls on the Castle.


Fantasyland at night, the new light package on Teacups looks really nice, would be even better if it was animated and faded between colours?


Halloween Mickey was doing a meet and greet, so this filled my photo with Mickey quota for the trip, he had very little queue either!


The Castle looks amazing lit up in blue! One of the joys of night time events are seeing it lit!


The show at the hub was nice, included characters I've rarely seen in the park!


The entrance to Frontierland had a really cool mist screen effect, when a white light was shone into it you couldn't see which villains were waiting the other side. Eerie!


Meanwhile the courtyard area was lit with some more kid friendly lighting effects.


The Witches Academy show was cute, but I found that as a show location it's very awkward to watch!


Highlight of the event by far was the waterfall of dry ice coming from upstairs in the Castle! It was pouring down the stairs, and through the balcony!


Another shot about 5 seconds after the one above, a really fantastic effect!


The Cavalade was just Stars 'n Cars, but it was a nice ending to the evening! Plus I got this photo of Mary Poppins, with only a slightly blurry face!


I love this photo, Malificent is arguing with Clopin and Ariel seems to have a light emitting from her face?

So there we go, a quick roundup of the Party, a very well done event that is definately going from strength to strength, as I said, a few additions to the lineup, Hallowishes and those few extra added bonuses and it'll be something I'd probably travel over just for instead of as an addition to an existing holiday!

I've got a few more photos to post of Village/Panoramagique, but they can wait until tomorrow  

[dagobert]

Thanks for the next part. The Halloween party looks nice. We have been to the Pirate and Princess Party at Walt Disney World and it was the best thing we have ever done at Disney.

Like you said, WDS is a nice little park, but it needs more placemaking to be considered a real Disney park. Compared to Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida it is just a movie park, but not a Disney park. I have to admit that I like some parts of the Paris park better than in Florida and some attractions are a lot better at DLRP than at WDW, but the park is still not what we can expect from Disney. I think that WDS will be a great little park after Ratatouille was built and Disney changed the Production Courtyard to a Hollywood themed land.

Can't wait for the rest of your trip report.

[Scissorsboi]

Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying it! I know what you mean about Studios, there's a lot that can be done if they add some more placemaking, I'd love to see them add MuppetVision to the parks once the digitally enhanced one opens at the other parks, I think it's the comedy that's missing from the park! That's the problem.. aside from Stitch there's no 'jokes' in the park to make it feel fun!

I've got a few other little photos from around the Resort to round the report up with, so here we go;

Village/Other Bits!


Looking across from HNY to Newport Bay on the way to EMH! The hotels around the lake are very picturesque!


I don't know why, but I absolutely loved the character pumpkins dotted around the park.


The work walls for World of Disney had just gone up when we arrived. I can't wait to have that view blocked!


Village was very busy most days we were there!


I really like Starbucks in the Village, the building breaks up the clinical feel of the metal design a bit!


And to sign off, a photo from Panoramagique.

That's all of the traditional 'updates', I'm looking at doing some photo editing/tilt shift effects on my favourite shots, if any turn out well I might add them onto the report! Hope you enjoyed!

[DisneyMAD..Woops]

Great trip report, the hallowe'en themeing looks amazing, I'm hopefulling going for the Mickey's Not So Scary Hallowe'en Party in 2012, which will also be the 20th anniversary  /

Lovely pictures, too (:

[Elaine]

We were at DLP for the first MNSSHP on 8th October too - it was our first and I loved loved loved it, would definitely recommend it, and really hope we can do it again some day   .

Thanks for your photos, the castle at sunrise, wow thats fantastic  :thumbs:  :thumbs: .

Elaine