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[Disneyland Paris Treasures]

Hi everyone,

we are just back from a great week at the resort and here are the things I noticed that I find worth mentioning:


HOTEL NEW YORK

- I was a bit worried because of the negative experiences some forum members had with the Hotel New York in the recent past, so I was glad to find both service and quality at the top level I experienced in the past. We have been upgraded to a lake view room with a great view over Lake Disney and it was one of those few rooms with the full height windows! Also the kids got a nice Remy plush as a surprise.

Awesome view:



They have stylish new bed sheets with Mickeys on them:



- Both the New York Bar and the Parkside Dinner offered the possibility to sit and be served on the outside. This was not possible during our stay in May last year, so this was a pleasant surprise.

- Any purchase in the souvenir shop gave a coupon for a free soft drink in the New York City Bar on the condition that at least 6 Euro are also spent in the bar. Good idea and saved us the money for the drinks of the kids when I had my Manhattan there :-)

- The stupid trampoline in front of Hotel New York is still gone (hope it stays away)

- The stupid carts on the water pool in front of Hotel New York are still there (hope they go away)

- The trees on Rockefeller Plaza had a few lights coming from a couple of light chains that have been cheaply attached to the very lowest branches. Cheap, but better than nothing.


LAKE DISNEY

- The light in the Lighthouse of Newport Bay Club was broken again the whole week.

- In addition to the electrical boats and the pedal boats there were some strange bicycle-like "boats" available for rent:




STARBUCKS

- On Monday the scaffolding was still there but a door was left wide open, allowing a sneak peak of the work in progress



- On Wednesday the scaffolding came down:





- On Saturday again a door was open, reveiling more interesting details:



- Lets zoom in:



Are those coffee sacks!? Are they already putting in the interior? Or are these part of the "green" way to build this Starbucks?

Some more interior detail here:




DISNEYLAND PARK

- As Kristof already reported all four torches on Fort Comstock were fixed and lit!! Also the two torches on the Adventureland entrance were lit and the lighthouse on POTC also!! Sadly, this was only on Monday (which was a holiday) and during the rest of the week only the torches on Adventureland entrance were lit. But still, great to see more details comeing back!







- Some refurbs going on here and there, the largest still being Plaza Gardens of course. From Tuesday on Peter Pan also went onto a two week refurb. "Its a small world" was open during the EMH instead.






PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

- The sail is till torn :-/

- Quite some cobwebs have been added here and there, probably during the last refurb in January. Compare before:



and after:



- Now for the best surprise, I couldnt believe my eyes:

As you will know in the recent past the duelling pirates have been standing ridiculously far apart, they looked really strange and the sound effect of the touching swords sounded silly and unbelievable with them standing so far apart. But now they have been moved together again!! And I mean REALLY close! Sadly, their sound effect was not working for the whole week but because of that one could actually - really - hear their swords touching every now and then!! I really hope they manage to keep it like this, it is much more impressive. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they stand as close they did in the beginning (when they really touched all the time), but this is a huge improvement. Now bring back the sounds and their shadow projection and it would be perfect!



- Sadly, the major in the well scene is still not spitting any water and I'm starting to fear that this effect is gone for good. Maybe the constant wetness did do too much damage to the major? But then they manage to have this effect in all the other parks, don't they? I really hope this will come back one day.

- Again the wind+rain effects in the Grotto were not working (no, the few drops that hit you when you leave the cave is not the rain effect!), although it was pretty good weather the whole week (~25 Celsius). Another effect I fear will not come back. Probably the result of to many people whining about getting wet...


FRONTIERLAND

- Seems like the park trained new keelboat personel as the keelboats were running the whole week and did several manoveurs (incl. landing at the river boats landing) but all the time without guests. On Saturday they were transporting guests again though.



- Although the Molly Brown was scheduled for refurb this week and I was looking forward to the Mark Twain it didnt happen. The Molly Brown ran the whole week and the Mark Twain was parked and looked like it hasnt moved for a while:



- On Big Thunder Mountain the big Splash Effect was working, but the waterfall at the top was not.

- They finally fixed the BTM Fastpass board, but the yellow dots don't really fit the theme ...





- Of course the Geysirs werent working. This time I asked a cast member about this and she said that this is due to the Geysir effect being too dangerous for the birds!!! Same as the Discoveryland fire effect! If that is the true reason I fear we won't see this effect again, at least not for a long time.


DISCOVERYLAND

- They fixed yet another huge portion of the floor



- All the pigeons on the Hyperion were gone, hopefully for rehab. Their sound effect was still running and pretty loud too.




MISC STUFF

- The dragon was in really bad shape. Never seen her before like this. The water was not lit, the mouth wasn't moving, no smoke at all. Skin of the right eye lid was hanging down. She is in serious need of a rehab!! Didn't dare to take any photos.

- Mickey was waving goodbye on Monday (which was a holiday, Whit Monday)



- the resort obviously was trying to save personnel as the Hotel pools are from now on only opened from 15:00 to 22:00. Also Indy was opened only from 12-18 through the whole week and Storybook Land was closed the whole week, only opened Friday and on the weekend

- at Tower of Terror there was a Cast Member standing in front of the photos hindering people from taking photos of the on-ride screens

- I used my Dream Pass twice and gained access to the Hotel New York parking lot without problems. But they looked closely that it was not expired. The new passes (bought after June 4th) will no longer allow access to the hotel parking lots.

[The Butlin Boy]

Thanks for sharing your fantastic report and photos Nicolai, it's really good to see the resort in such great shape

I'm glad you had a great time :wink:

[Epcot_Boy]

Thanks for that........some interesting bits and pieces =D>  :-k

Epcot_Boy :ears:

[never2old]

Thanks for that  

[Aveen2008]

Hey thanks for posting all the information and the photos.

I am really glad to hear you enjoyed the Hotel New York because i am staying there for the first time in September!!    Can't wait!

[DLP-Photos.com]

Thanks for a great report with some great updates and photos - brilliant  /

[mommy2ash]

thanks for all the info

[Kristof]

They have stylish new bed sheets with Mickeys on them:

Well they first appeared 2 years ago.  

[Snow_White_Girl]

Thanks for sharing Nicolai! Great to see so much positive stuff, but

The dragon was in really bad shape. Never seen her before like this. The water was not lit, the mouth wasn't moving, no smoke at all. Skin of the right eye lid was hanging down. She is in serious need of a rehab!! Didn't dare to take any photos

this really upsets me! I love that dragon and I hope he's back to his old self again very very soon!

[The Butlin Boy]

Thanks for sharing Nicolai! Great to see so much positive stuff, but

The dragon was in really bad shape. Never seen her before like this. The water was not lit, the mouth wasn't moving, no smoke at all. Skin of the right eye lid was hanging down. She is in serious need of a rehab!! Didn't dare to take any photos

this really upsets me! I love that dragon and I hope he's back to his old self again very very soon!

It sounds like Disney have had bad luck with their Dragons lately, what with this and the brand new state-of-the-art Fantasmic Dragon breaking before it could even premier. They're clearly not paying them enough, that or Disney's Dragon health scheme is pretty poor :roll:

Eliot the Dragon (DCA's Electrical Parade), watch your back!

[Agent Lex]

It sounds like Disney have had bad luck with their Dragons lately, what with this and the brand new state-of-the-art Fantasmic Dragon breaking before it could even premier. They're clearly not paying them enough, that or Disney's Dragon health scheme is pretty poor :roll:

Eliot the Dragon (DCA's Electrical Parade), watch your back!

Sounds to me like Prince Philip is going around defeating all the Maleficents of the world!

[SophieD]

a great little report Nicolai!! I really enjoyed reading it
Fab pictures also  

[Anthony]

Bit late of me, but - great report! Amazed at those torches and love the themed refurb scaffoldings. And look at the Coyote keelboat! It looks brand new!

- They finally fixed the BTM Fastpass board, but the yellow dots don't really fit the theme ...

Glad it's not just me that doesn't like these dot-matrix screens everywhere. How do the other resorts manage themed ones? They ruin the ToT entrance, compared to the themed DCA version.

- at Tower of Terror there was a Cast Member standing in front of the photos hindering people from taking photos of the on-ride screens

Oh, nice move! Quite daring for Paris, that. I guess it's better for a CM to be stood there than stood behind the photo counter idle because everyone has already taken a photo of their photo!

[Disneyland Paris Treasures]

They have stylish new bed sheets with Mickeys on them:

Well they first appeared 2 years ago.  

I didn't know. They still have both designs then, because during our last stay at HNY in May 2008 we had a room with the old sheet design (which is also very beautiful, by the way).

[Walts heir]

Great report