DLP Guide Forum - The Disneyland Paris magicforum community

Hi there

Yesterday I came back from a little week in Paris/DLP and what a great trip! I went with one of my friends, Kristian, who had been to DLP once before and had been on most of the thrill rides but not the classic attractions. So we ended up giving each other new experiences of both parts, which ended up making the trip absolutely unforgettable. We also had a day in Paris.

This is the place where you can read my report, see my photos and eventually a trip video. I'll once again start with a "Pre-Trip" report:

Originally we should have travelled with the danish DLP touring company Magic Tours, but that tour was cancelled and we was unable to use any of their alternative trips. We ended up going by Eurolines and staying 4 nights on Hotel Santa Fe with 5 days access to the parks. The Eurolines part was a bit tiring with coach change in Hamburg, 3 different drivers and some delay, but we each safed 100 € compared to the original trip - leaving more money (for me) to buy stuff at DLP and in Paris :)

We left Aalborg at 2:40 pm on monday the 26th of July and changed busses in Hamburg around 10.30 pm - it has never taken me so long to travel only 450 km, but we got great spots and was ready for an uncomfortable night with way less sleep than you would want.

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At 2.15 AM our driver turned on the lights and said: "Good morning, we are now taking a 45 minutes break" - Yay, way to go. Wake us at 2.15 with a nice Guten Morgen/Good morning after having slept app. 30 minutes since leaving Hamburg at 11.00 PM. :lol:

Well, this would not be the funniest with this driver. Early in the morning (app. 5.00 AM) he stopped the bus again to ask if anyone was going to Eindhoven (clearly indicating that he didn't want to go to Eindhoven) and one person carefully raised his hand causing the driver to roll his eyeballs all around his scull and I am not kidding he asked this poor guy: "Are you sure??" - what kind of question is that :P

So in Eindhoven one of the main roads were blocked, causing our driver to take a small villa road with this giant tourist bus, when he found that this road was blind and ended with a bicycle-road he had his moment of glory that me and my friend would remember, quote and laugh over on the rest of the trip:

After 2 minutes, in which he only said "Mann, mann, mann, mann" he yelled so everyone could here it: "Diese scheisse-Eindhoven, Mann, mann, mann!" The man from Eindhoven was still in the bus and everyone was having a laugh despite the time and lack of sleep - it made the night for us :P

At 11.00 AM we arrived in Paris taking the metro and RER to Marne-la-vallee and the magic. We checked in at the Hotel around 1.30 PM and was ready for the parks at 2.30 PM. The magic was here :-)

Day 1 to follow shortly :-)

looking forward to reading the report!!!!

Mann, mann, mann what a start. Hope it got better!

Holy shart, nearly 24 hours travelling?  :shock:  :shock: Dunno if I could manage that :lol:

Day 1 - Disneyland Park:

As said in the Pre-Trip report our day in the park started at 2.30 PM and we went to the Disneyland Park for a start - after all this is where the magic is in my opinion. Because we had not had breakfast or lunch (just a bon with chocolate from the day before early in the morning) we were quite hungry, so we visited the Deli Market House on Main Street U.S.A - the smell of the croques was insane and really bad, so we decided to eat our fresh sandwiches in the Discovery Arcade. It turned out they weren't that fresh, but hey, without real food for half a day we made it through the hard baguette with ham :lol:

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After this we discussed what to do for a start and of course we went to the information board to check out the waiting times and it was here we realised that even though my friend had been to Disneyland before he had not tried any of the classic and most amazing attractions. Actually he had only tried Space Mountain, Star Tours, Indiana Jones, It's a small world and Pinocchio in the Disneyland Park as he recalled it. So off we went to Frontierland to start a tour of the classic masterpieces of WDI. First stop: Phantom Manor!

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After a short wait we were guided to the elevator and every effect was working and we had a great cast member. The ride in our Doom Buggy was just as amazing as always with all effects working as I recall and my friend was very impressed with the effects although it lacked some shocks, but the storytelling of this attractions adds up to this and so much more a wonderful attraction. Afterwards we strolled around the graveyard:

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We wanted to try Big Thunder Mountain, but the over 60 minutes wait made us save it for later in the afternoon only to leave for Adventureland and the first retry for my friend: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril. It is fun, but the uncomfortable seating is way worse than the attraction is fun, so we actually decided not to try the attraction again on the trip (We couldn't keep that promise though :P)

Afterwards it was time for part 2 of my tour of WDI classics and masterpieces: Pirates of the Caribbean. We queued outside the tent in front of the building :O I had never queued that long for Pirates, but I was very happy to, it meant that people wanted to go - even despite we do not have Jack Sparrow and the other characters. I hope we will keep the original attraction for many years - this is the magic that inspired the succesful movies - NOT the other way around!

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Although my friend was impressed by the effects and story, I do believe he found the ride a bit too long and not thrilling enough. I enjoyed it and he did too. I've always wondered why we need an on-ride photo on this ride and later on the trip we started to make a couple of silly ride photos, but we will come back to this :)

We still expected the line for BTM to be over the 1 hour, so I said I wanted to try Le Pays des Contes de Fées most of all to take some photos. The ride had been closed on my two latest trips in October 2008 and 2009, so I hadn't been on it for years. It was a great revisit, although this land within the land really is aimed at really small children, we joked about trying Casey Junior, but I ended up guessing I couldn't get into the train due to my height (2.05 m), so we dropped it and went towards BTM for the first of a total of 11 rides on this great attraction.

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The queue at BTM was app. 50 minutes so we went on (it took just 40) and I used the waiting line to photograph lots of the great themening and details in this queue. I love these details and if you study them you tend to forget how warm it can be inside that house :lol: The ride itself was as awesome as ever, and you even got a bit wet on the first lift hill - great in the heat. My friend was also happy with the ride and especially the final tunnel sequence impressed him - a brilliant ending to a great and funny attraction that combines the thrill and magic of WDI. One of my favorites - no doubt!

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Before BTM we had actually taken fastpasses to Indy and we ended up trying it again the same evening that we had promised not to try it again on the whole trip :P

After this we got our food at Col. Hathis - I got the Pizza Royale and my friend got the Pasta Bolognaise. Not amazing cuisine but still way better than lots of fastfood chains. We went for the hotel just to get my tripod and then the rest of the day was dedicated to video filming the Fantilusion Parade and taking photos of the Enchanted Fireworks.

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Coming back to the park at app. 9 PM I got a great spot near the gazebo on Town Square - I had wanted to go inside the gazebo to get an elevated view to use for both the parade and the fireworks, but this place was taken already. My spot was great up until 5 minutes before the parade - then people began to push in front of me and even the children right out to Main Street U.S.A had to go up onto their parents' shoulders - I understand why people do this in 3rd, 4th and other rows - but in the first row?? This of course made people stand on the little hedges around the flower beds makin my spot (which I had been in for almost 1.5 hours) unusuable.   :x

I walked around to try and find a spot but ended with my parents' camera on my tripod for video taping (it shoots 720p video with autofocus, while my DSLR also shoots 720p but only with one static and manuel focus point). I held the tripod up in the air - only in my own height not to block someone elses' view of the parade. I ended up getting some great video (you can see it later in the trip video that I will post after the report), but I had to run through Discovery Arcade in order to find a usuable spot from which to photograph the fireworks in the short amount of time between the parade ends and the fireworks began.

The fireworks began and I was still finding a spot, when I did so I quickly got the camera rigged and turned on to the right program and settings and then I went crazy with the remote control. It was quite a different spot to photograph the fireworks from, but after seeing the photos I am pretty happy actually. The fireworks was beautiful and extremely well timed to the great music by Alan Menken from Enchanted. Me and my friend was a bit hard to impress though having just seen the Tall Ships Races 40.000 € Fireworks display in Aalborg 3 days before leaving (see photos here: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=5302&start=540 (https://forum.dlpguide.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=5302&start=540%22%20onclick=%22window.open(this.href);return%20false;))

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After the fireworks I took the traditional night time photos of the castle, Main Street U.S.A and the castle seen from Main Street U.S.A. Afterwards we wrapped up and finally got a good night's sleep in a real bed after a night in a bus with app. 2 hours of uneasy sleep. What a day to start out with - the magic had taken us :D

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Tomorrow I will post day 2 - we visited Paris and Disneyland Park in the morning and night on this day :)

woooooooooow i love the firework pictures!!!!!!!!!!!! amazing quality and made me really excited!!!
11 rides on BTM? haha you must really love it!!!  
can't wait to read more
xx

Please note, that I have uploaded our silliest on-ride photos to the thread dedicated to those. Drop in, if you dare :D

And thanks toritinker - it is a very beautiful show :)

:lol: We do that in Legolan  as we visit a lot! We have lovely photos of us on the Dragon but now we see who can pull the silliest face-I normally lose as my son and DH are mad! :lol:
11 times on BTM? Wow! I wonder if you are starting a competition to see who can ride it the most during their holiday! :lol:
And your firework photos are beautiful. They got me excited too :D

Fantastic trip report nicolai can't wait to read the rest :)
Your ride photos made us laugh I think we will try to so some as well in November!
Your photos of the fireworks and the queue area at btm are amazing more please! Lol

Great photos I must say! :-)
And to bad that you couldn't use the place you had chosen for the parade....

Great report so far, and gorgeous pictures, as always!! Can't wait to read more!

Day 2 - A daytrip to Paris

Thanks for the comments - I hope that my future updates will be just as good and pictures too :)

We started day 2 with breakfast in Chalet de la Marionette at 8.15 (in the hotel we would have had to wait until 10 am to get our breakfast (too late when you want to use extra magic hours before going to Paris). The breakfast was great as always - the fruit seemed a bit more fresh than the next mornings in the hotel and they had yoghurt here, which they did not have in the hotel. After breakfast we went for the next of my classic attractions: Peter Pan's Flight - I'd never understood why this has longer queues than Snow White and Pinocchio, but I figured out that in order to try one of these it probably would have to be in the morning, so it was Peter. The attraction is beautiful and the ride system great - I spotted several cars in the miniature London scene, which was way brighter than on my latest trips - thumbs up!

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Afterwards it was time for my first lesson from my friend: Space Mountain: Mission 2. I had said prior to the trip that I might try this, but I had never guessed it would be right after breakfast on the first morning possible. The queue was only 5 minutes, which was great for me - it gave me no time to think about it perhaps making me quit it. As for the ride: is was not that comfortable to sit in and I was a bit too concentrated on "surviving" so I didn't take the time to enjoy the ride. But it was quite fun and I knew that I would be willing to go again (ended up going 7 times). I was a bit proud of myself before entering Buzz Lightyear - I won that round, but with the embarrasing score of app. 70.000 :-( Poor Zurg was missing a complete arm (the one with the gun)

After this we exited the park at app. 9.40 noticing they already let people into the Studios. We noticed this and used the memory the following morning to go on Crush with a reasonable queue.

Before going to Paris we decided to buy a Travel Card for 5 zones allowing us to travel freely for a day for the price of 18 € (Disneyland -> Paris was 6,70 each way on it's own).

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We arrived in Paris by Chatelet with our first stop, Notre Dame, just minutes away. I had been there a couple of times before but it still impresses me how many details you'll find on the front - amazing! It was filled with people but they queue was moving really fast, so we decided to go inside.

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It is really huge and impressive inside - the beautiful details unfold around every archway really. I could have spent a complete day photographing inside, but we stayed for app. 30 minutes taking a walk all the way through the main room. Of course the lovely stoned glass windows are beautiful and worth a photo or two. Here are my favourites from inside the church:

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After Notre Dame we went to another beautiful church - Saint Sulpice. We are both fan of movies, so this visit was mostly due to the church's appearance in the Da Vinci Code. Inside, the church is beautiful and I am sure it is on the outside too - unfortunately most of it was under scaffolding for a refurb. The alter (room) is something special in here - I couldn't get to photograph this, because they were in the middle of a session while we were there.

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We took the metro back to Rue de Rivoli continueing towards Louvre. We would not go inside but the outside of Louvre is so special that it is a must-see on a daytrip to Paris no matter if you are visiting the museum or not. It is so wide, extravagant and filled with atmosphere - plus it is very, very hot! :lol:

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We walked about for a bit and started to feel a growing hunger, so we found a place to buy a sandwich and a beverage and we then sat down by one of the huge fountains in the public park right between Louvre and Concorde. If a baguette for lunch, a view towards Louvre and the Paris wheel isn't a real French lunch I do not know what is ;)

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After this we went towards Champs-Elyssess for a short time of shopping. We went past Place de Concorde before entering the giant boulevard on which they were still removing barriers and seating areas from the Tour de France final on Sunday.

This would turn out to be a very expensive shopping spree for me, which started in the Paris Saint Germain Shop. I have a collection of original football shirts and I always get one with relevance to the city I visit. SO I ended up buying the new 40-year anniversary away shirt with official badges, name and number paying no less than 100 € - that is one expensive collection you see :P

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After studying Arc de Triumph my shopping spree continued in the record store FNAC. I bought a special tin box edition of Disney Treasures with Mickeys early B/W days and a unique to FNAC Limited Collector's Edition Blu Ray of Casablanca filled with extra material. It is amazing how sharp the picture is thinking about the movie is from 1942! Amazing.. I needed to stop spending all my money, so I resisted from buying a beautiful Alice in Wonderland/Tim Burton book and the Lord of the Rings Blu Ray box (insanely low price) in Virgin Megastore. I needed some money for DLP too :D

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We also visited the Peugeot show room which had a special Shanghai World Expo exhibition and Disney Store, which - I am sorry to say - was quite a mess. Upstairs it was ONLY Toy Story and downstairs it was a sale that could have been seen in silly Danish mall.

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After this it was time for our final stop - the Eiffel Tower. We took the Metro to Trocadero walking the final way towards this majestic piece of architecture. We discussed whether it was beautiful or not and I actually do not find it beautiful - it is just extremely impressive and an one h*ll of a construction - that makes it breathtaking. Before getting to close we took the standard "hey-I-am-bigger-than-the-tower" photos and had quite a laugh.

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We then walked under the tower which makes it even bigger and more impressive. Some street dancers were doing a pretty amazing show with the acceptance of the police, so it was pretty organised. I am still flabbergasted however by seeing parents not even noticing the dancers inviting their children in to the middle - two children were taken in there to dance and one pair of parents didn't even notice it before their child already was running towards them again screeming :O

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We walked towards the nearest metro station - blind as we were we did not find Bir Hakeim and ended up walking nearly 1 km to find a metro station. However this took us directly to Nation from where we took the RER back to DLP - the clock was now app. 7 pm. What a day in Paris - we had really seen a lot in a short amount of time :D

We entered the park for the last couple of hours with a stomach aching for fish'n'chips ;) So we went towards Toad Hall which was closed. We then went to Marionette (closed), Col. Hathi (closed) and Bella Notte (closed) - I guess it was because Fantasyland and Adventure land closed at 10.00 pm because of the fireworks but this meant that the restaurants in Main Street U.S.A was absolutely stuffed with people. They could have one restaurant open in Fantasyland until at least 9.30 to take some of the pressure off the smaller Main Street places like Casey's or Victoria's. We ended up eating some nuggets in Videopolis at 9.40 PM.

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While our Captain EO showing on Tuesday evening was cancelled after the pre show due to technical issues, this wasn't the case this night and we got our first showing of this classic that none of us had seen before. My friend is a big fan of MJ and I am big sucker for WDI story telling. So you might guess that we absolutely loved the show - I actually didn't find it dated at all. Of course the effects was old, but the story and music was so amazing and this makes this a more-than-one-show-per-trip experience which HISTA was not! However, we did find the new old pre show very long and a bit tiring. A lot of people walked our during this - I understand why they want to show it, but it didn't work IMO.

We had decided not to see the parade/fireworks and go to Frontierland in stead. We queued up for BTM at 10.30 with a 30 minutes queue. This ride is so much fun at night! We got out at 10.59 and ran towards the entrance and only two people were let in after us :D We got a nice surprised when coming out the first lift hill - the fireworks had started. Everybody in the train cheered and went crazy with jubilations - it was a magnificent sight and very magical.  This was when we decided to drop the parade/fireworks again on Thursday to get this experience once again. I filmed it and you guys can see it in the future trip video.

The perfect ending to a hard but amazing day 2 :)

Day 3 will follow tomorrow with further groundbreaking experiences for me!

cant wait to see that video it sounds amazing, and sounds like you had a good trip =]

Fantastic trip report. I cant believe how much you managed to do! :D

wow disney...then paris..then back to disney?! what a lot you guys can fit into a day!!!!!!!

Quote from: "toritinker"wow disney...then paris..then back to disney?! what a lot you guys can fit into a day!!!!!!!

Quote from: "tubbsy"Fantastic trip report. I cant believe how much you managed to do! :D

Well, it was a hard day, but I always say: "When you travel you can sleep and relax when you are back home. There must not be time for it during."

Day 3 - The powerful rain shower

So we started off day 3 with breakfast in La Cantina at 7.45, so another early morning after a late night - no problem though! The breakfast here was okay, although it lacked a bit compared to Chalet de la Marionette the day before. As said before the fruit was not as fresh and there was no yoghurt. After this little disappointment we went towards Disneyland Park to catch Space Mountain during EMH - this was the only attraction planned, as we wanted to queue up for the studios before the gates opened at 9.30 sharp.

This time I was more relaxed and enjoyed the ride a bit better - especially the blast off and first round inside is great - I found the 2nd round with the cork screw a bit rough due to the comfort of the seating, whereas the 3rd and final round was a bit more down on earth, although the light tunnel was great fun. [spoiler:j17aqram]The best effect was IMO how long it seemed to take going upwards facing the supernova, that was a special feeling.[/spoiler:j17aqram] I liked the effects, but wished it would have been the original layout as all I have heard is that it was much more amazing. Well a fun ride and we walked towards the Studios through Main Street U.S.A.

We were in the queue for the Studios right before 9.30, so we were a bit back in the queue. When the gates opened and people were allowed inside some people were going crazy they ran towards Studio 1 as if the Axe murderer was chasing them. It was fun to watch while walking slowly towards Crush' Coaster and still being among the first 100 in the queue. What wasn't fun to watch was how people used the unorganised queue for queue jumping (they hadn't opened the dedicated queue and rope lines yet). Some people walked up to the front of the queue pretending to look at the signs and then just went into the middle of the queue. I cannot understand why people bother when it is this early in the morning??? (I never understand it and I hate it, but this time it seemed just a tat more stupid)

As for Crush itself, me and my friend were a bit scecptical since none of us really likes spinning rides (hence, us not going on Cars, carpets, Orbitron, Tea Party or Dumbo - well more reasons for the latter but you get the point ;)) However, we wanted to try it and we were not disappointed. We rode in the front and some of the effects in the non-coaster part was not working from this seating. [spoiler:j17aqram]I did not see the jellyfish or the fish "jumping" out in your head[/spoiler:j17aqram]. The non-coaster part is very beautiful and the coaster part is extremely funny. [spoiler:j17aqram]The first drop is the funniest drop I have ever tried - amazing![/spoiler:j17aqram] I begin to understand why this is so popular - a shame about the capacity.

Having already crossed my own boarders by trying Space Mountain and now Crush I was thinking about TOT. We took fastpasses for later so I could think about it as I wasn't sure yet having said before the trip, that this was the only ride that I was absolutely sure I wouldn't try. Just after taking the fastpasses a small but heavy rain shower took over the park. We were looking for some shelter and I suggested the Tower of Terror queue as it was only 20 minutes. And this was how a rain shower made me go on TOT. My heart was pounding a bit, but most of all with excitement about what to expect having never been on a drop ride before. I have a fear of heights, so I had that in mind too.

From the moment you step inside you forget every thoughts about whether you dare to try or not. You are absorbed into the magical story telling that only WDI can bring. The immersive themening and attention to detail is as Disney as everything. I loved it.

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When we met the first cast members I was even more impressed - they were very much in character and made some of the PM CMs look like CMs from the local entertainment park :lol: It was very impressive and I would personally love a job like that, altough it must be hard during the hot summer months.

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We were taken to the left library which was in French, but we got the feeling and our cast member freaked a group of girls out. You were really taken into the hotel feeling from the moment you stepped inside and the library pre show was perfect in duration and execution. It was looking better and better and we were getting closer and closer to the drop sequence (which in fact is only the climax of an amazing experience which starts when you go into the queue.) The boiler room just takes the themening further and keeps you in the right mood. Are you scared, excited, fascinated or nervous? You never really get to know :) The cast members' speech right before the drop sequence is great and really offers them a spot to be creative - we never had the same speech on any of our 7 rides.

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The special effects used before the drop are mindblowing and true WDI magic - I don't quite know how they do this and especially the mirror scene fascinates me. [spoiler:j17aqram]Whereas the integration between the hallway scene and the drop sequence is very clever and surprising on your first ride.[/spoiler:j17aqram]

As for the drop sequence itself it is one of the funniest things I have ever tried. [spoiler:j17aqram]The one drop when it shoots you upwards then only to drop you right away is extreme and great fun. You really feel that you are travelling faster than gravity.[/spoiler:j17aqram] We bought the photograph afterwards and this is the best since we do not know what is about to happen or that we are photographed.

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After this we went on Studio Tram Tour - still a must-do for me, but ONLY due to Catastrophe Canyon. After trying it this time I have some prayers for this attraction:

1. Please add new props or reorganise the current - the way towards and from Catastrophe Canyon is completely identical and it is a bit boring.

2. Please remove the sign to Walt DIsney Studios Costume Department - it looks pretty stupid with this sign with no building.

3. The most important: Please redo or reedit the onride movie - it is not updated with the reorganized route and it seems very unprofessional that they still tell about what is going on inside the costume department, when you're not going through it. As an alternative they could just have a live host - I guess this could make it more diverse, interesting and updated.

4. The movie still ends with: "Sponsored by Orange" - I do not know if Orange and Sony Ericsson are co-operating with each other, but otherwise SE must be pretty darn tired about this.

Well, Catastrophe Canyon worked perfectly and that still excites and impresses me, so I will still visit the ride for this, but please look into it. It is a pity that a somewhat unfinished ride takes up so much space in this park.

Afterwards we still had our fastpasses so it was time for another drop into the Twilight Zone and this time we got the English library which was just the icing on the cake.

After this we caught the Cinémagique showing on 12.00. My friend had some few memories of the show, but being a huge fan of the movies as myself, he fell in love with this show from the very first second. I still find this one of the funniest, most clever and well-done attractions in the whole resort. I love it! After half an hour in the company of Martin Short and co. we walked around a bit, ending up in Restaurant des Stars. The buffet is a bit expensive (23.70 € excl. beverage), but the food is also very delicious in here. We both had three platters stuffed with great food (2 with hot food and 1 with the lovely desserts). I took an extra lemon jelly on the way out just to get something for every euro cent ;)

After this my friend had a fast pass for Rock'n'Rollercoaster. I decided not to try this ride at this time, due to the acceleration and the fact that we had just eaten. My friend liked it, but described it as more uncomfortable than Space Mountain and Indy and this was when I decided I would not go on it and he decided not to try it again. We were hoping for a spot for the 2 PM Moteurs Action..., but the theater was full :) So we had to wait until the final show of the day at 3.45. We used the waiting time to walk around the park visiting the Blockbuster Café for a quick look - I still despice the HSM room and adore the POC room. Most of all I wish they had left this restaurant untouched in the first place.

We ended up going to Art of Disney Animation. I love the exhibition before the attraction and the first showing. The second showing is a bit irritating when you do not speak French, since the live hosts audio is much louder than the one in the head phones. Plus Mushu is a bit to excited here for me - he ruins the interesting information you get in this show.

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It was now time for the exciting Moteurs, Action... Stunt Show Spectacular... A lot had been changed since my friend had seen it - it seemed untouched for me (last seen it in 2008), although Herbie didn't split in half. Is this permanent or would it have been due to technical issues? Well this show is best decribed through these pictures :) (cropped in to 16:9 to give the real effect ;))

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And not to be all negative, but this is how an attraction should be seen from this theatre without you noticing it:

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... this is not:

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I will be giving my review of Toy Story Playland in tomorrows Day 4 update.

After this we went back to the hotel visiting some shops and Haägen-Dasz on the way, before going to Disneyland Park for the evening. We once again missed Toad Hall but got to Bella Notte just before they closed. I once again got the Pizza Royale and my friend the Pasta Bolognaise.

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After this we went for another (and the last) first for me: Star Tours. When reading the warning signs we almost changed our minds when thinking about the fact that we had just had dinner, but we continued to our Starspeeder through the very well-themed waiting area. You were in the Star Wars universe although everything seemed a bit dated. As for the attraction itself we found it VERY dated and uncomfortable. I am amazed by the effects they can make with these simulators, but in this you were thrown too much around in your seat. I hope they will make the moving a bit more smooth for Star Tours: The Adventure Continues, and I might ride it again. If this doesn't happen or the update doesn't make it to Paris, I can say for sure, that this was the only time I did this attraction.

The rest of the night had rides on Captain EO, Space Mountain, Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean before we had our 4th, 5th and 6th ride on Big Thunder Mountain, with the final giving us once again a view of the fireworks. Once again a magical end to a great day.

Note that this was also the night, on which we started the silly ride photos as a protest to the expensive on-ride photos:

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Day 4 will follow tomorrow.

haha loving the on ride pics!!!!!! such a good idea!
I love TOT - it's my fav, great to read that cast members are still just as great!! can't believe how in role they keep.
thanks for sharing yet more great pics/report..can't wait for more :D xx

Again another brilliant report. :D I love the on ride photos :lol: In one pic theres a guy joining in at the front!

Great report and pictures!
Thx for sharing them with us.  :thumbs:

Oooooo! Nicolai your trip report makes me want to go to Disney right now...this very second.  :mrgreen:
And all the photos! =O
Eeee I can't wait to go next year!
I'm looking forward to the rest of your report! :mrgreen:

Great trip report and pictures Nicolai!

Can't wait to see and read more!

Day 4 - Disneyland Park, Walt Disney Studios Park, Shopping

Well, first of all thanks for all the comments :)

Todays update will be a bit short since I took this day cameraless - no camera at all besides my iPhone. Since I tend to recap the events of the day through my pictures this day's report cannot be as detailed as the previous and future ones :)

You are about to know our morning routine. This day it was breakfast at 7.30 in La Cantina and then off to Disneyland Park for the EMH before Studios at app. 9.20.

During the EMH we once again tried Space Mountain, which was starting to grow on me - this being my 4th ride of the trip :) After this we went for a spin at Buzz - I lost big time and my friend denied me an opportunity to get my revenge  :x  :lol:

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After this we went towards the Studios - I had to stop by the bakery to get one of their chocolate cookies. I always get these watching the daytime parade, but since we weren't gonna see this on this trip, I had to get it now before I forgot it. A tradition is important - especially a DLP tradition ;)

This morning we were actually the first in our queue for the Studios - for some reason people seemed to ignore the left entrances on this morning. Despite being first in our queue we were still situated a bit back in the Crush queue, because we didn't want to run towards the queue line. This early (before park opening time) you will get to ride it pretty fast even though you do not run your heart out :lol: They had learned from the day before and had opened the queue line at the same time as the gates so the queue was much more organized with less opportunities for queue jumpers.  :thumbs: This morning, however, they were very strict with the time inside WDS and the first people were allowed into their shell at 10.00 AM sharp!

We rode the back this time and found that this was best (at least at this time). [spoiler:1ni1pchr]We saw way more effects working in the non-coaster part and the first drop was even funnier this time. However we didn't see the effect with Squirt and the fishing net right before the coaster part. Is this only visible when you are in front?[/spoiler:1ni1pchr] We had so much fun again this time.

As for TOT we got a fastpass ticket for later in the morning/noon. The waiting time was used for Armageddon, which I am sorry to say was a bit boring to both of us. The pre-show is exhaustingly long in comparison to the actual ride, which has some pretty nice effects, but it just seems to be over in a second having just witnessed that pre-show. The idea of a special effects attraction is great and the kind of stuff the Studios need, and I actually think Armageddon can be that ride - just with a few adjustments.

It was time for TOT and it was yet another great ride on this funny attraction. The CM's were great once again - we especially enjoyed Cedric, Francisco and a guy named Joao (something more). When exiting we took fastpasses for later (1.05 PM) - it fit perfectly with the 12.00 showing of Cinémagique. [spoiler:1ni1pchr]This time we sat close to the actor and it was very funny to look at him before the show and how he prepared. I was amazed at how quickly he got into the theater - we were there before him and decided to look out for the seats. We were looking away for 3 seconds at most and suddenly he was there. You could sense that he was a bit irritated by us and the guys behind us - I guess he could sense that we knew what was going on, although we tried not to show it.[/spoiler:1ni1pchr] A great show!

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The funniest experience with TOT was when we had to enter with our fastpasses for 1.05 PM - we were there 12.55 and of course we knew this was too early so we waited a bit. During this we observed the CM Cedric - man, was he in character! He said to everyone "Enjoy your S-tAy" it was so much fun to watch. We tried our fastpasses by him at 1 PM and he laughed at us and waved us away. Then again at 1.02 PM - waved us away. Then when it was 1.05 PM he waved at us and gave us the "Enjoy your S-tAy" - he was really great!

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Cedric

After this we wrapped up WDS for that day and let me wrap it up with my thoughts on Toy Story Playland (quoted from an earlier post in the Toy Story Playland topic)

QuoteI have just returned from DLP and here are my updated views on Toy Story Playland (bad in red and positive in green):

- I got to ride Crush - for me the negative development started with the Toon Studio addition. Crush is really great fun, but what does it have to do with a studio. I did not see ONE studio reference in that attraction and I do not see this in TSPL either I'm afraid.

- The capacity of the rides. Crush was almost impossible to ride if you didn't ride it 9.45 as we did 3 mornings in a row. I can fear the same happening to especially RC Racer which will attract some of the European thrill seekers.

- I for one do not like the giant Buzz or Rex - that are just a bit too much for me + they and the many details of the land, which has to be colorful to be effictive, will require immersive refurbishing on a regular basis. Will this money be taken from refurbishing beautiful sights like Captain Hooks Ship, Main Street U.S.A or Fantasyland? I hope not.

- I am sure the rides will be popular with a lot of people no matter if they are American, Asian, African or European. There are different kinds of guests in a Disneyland park. (On my latest trip with my friend, he was mostly into the thrills while I love the traditional Disney attractions - we taught each other something of each parts and had a blast.) And please remember that the money is the same to Disney whether it comes from a passionate fan for 50 years or a newborn fan on his/her first trip. Let's just hope that this money will put into good use - for instance a mindblowing unique Ratatouille attraction, The Little Mermaid or something only the guys at WDI can come up with.

- The greenery - almost any greenery put into WDS is a plus in my book.

- If the feeling of being shrunk into the size of a toy is as impressive as stated by some witnesses it could prove to be a stroke - a small one though - of magic that will put this above things like Midway Mania, Fliks and Dinorama, although not as good as Mermaid Lagoon.

No matter what: one addition will not make me ignore or stay away from DLP. Is THAT what Walt would want? That you stay away from old, classic attractions (Pirates (the only without Jack S), Phantom Manor, BTM, Swiss Family Robinson Tree (not Tarzan), it's a small world) or new attractions that has the finesse, character and imagination that Walt admired and gave the world (Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, Cinémagique and Moteurs, Action...)

Photos of Toon Studio from Thursday: (just to spice up this update ;))

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For lunch we finally had Fish'n'Chips from Toad Hall - in fact we were greeted by some sort of manager giving us a menu and showing us a line to go to. Was this a test perhaps? If so the printed menu can proof to be a brilliant idea which makes a language barrier no problem at all. This Fish'n'Chips was just as good as I remembered and IMO the best food option if you are not offering the money for a buffet or real restaurant experience like Aubergde de Centrillon or Walt's.

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The rest of the day was just a day filled with excitement and excellent experiences. We went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, Captain EO (twice), Space Mountain: Mission 2 (twice), Phantom Manor and Big Thunder Mountain (4 times).

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In between these experiences I went for some shopping. First of all I got my first addition of the trip to my Walt Disney Classics Collection:

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And in the evening - after the fireworks I bought all the presents for my family: a mug for my dad, some candy and a tin box for my mom and for my sister and her husband I got stuff for their baby to come: a Winnie the Pooh shirt and an extremely cute Cars/Buzz Lightyear plushie. My sister loves Winnie the Pooh and her husband is into Pixar especially Toy Story and Cars, so these presents seemed perfect. :D

I will post pictures of my merchandise with the Trip summary in the weekend.

We had dinner in the Videopolis: Chicken Nuggets. A bit dry but better than the burgers.

Tomorrow I will be seeing Inception so Day 5 might be postponed for Saturday afternoon :)

More brilliant additions and excellent photos, thanks for sharing!
Your thoughts on TSPL seem measured and probably quite close to my own although I havent seen it yet. Looking forward to making up my mind in November.
I'm so happy you enjoyed all the thrill rides, although you're seriously missing out by not going on RnRC - do it next time!
And, wow, can't believe you got a photo of Cedric! What a legend, he was our ToT CM twice last year and we found him to be hilarious. Those CMs are definitely the best in the parks.

great update, again!!!! noooo don't go to the cinema, finish this instead haha!!!
Love the CM comments you raise about TOT - they really are the best characters! :D
I still cannot believe how much you guys can get done in one day!!! what's the secret?!
tori x

Thanks for the comments :D

Quote from: "loladelorean"More brilliant additions and excellent photos, thanks for sharing!
Your thoughts on TSPL seem measured and probably quite close to my own although I havent seen it yet. Looking forward to making up my mind in November.
I'm so happy you enjoyed all the thrill rides, although you're seriously missing out by not going on RnRC - do it next time!
And, wow, can't believe you got a photo of Cedric! What a legend, he was our ToT CM twice last year and we found him to be hilarious. Those CMs are definitely the best in the parks.

I tried making a thought trough TSPL comment in stead of some of those presented in the topic. I tried posting this in there, but it was just ignored :P

Cedric really was brilliant - unfortunately we only saw him in the fastpass queue and the library - I would have loved to see him right before the drop sequence :) This is a photo of a photo :P

Quote from: "toritinker"great update, again!!!! noooo don't go to the cinema, finish this instead haha!!!
Love the CM comments you raise about TOT - they really are the best characters! :D
I still cannot believe how much you guys can get done in one day!!! what's the secret?!
tori x

I guess it is all about visiting the rides at special times when the queues are short. For instance go to BTM, SM, Cpt. EO in the evening and do SM, Buzz and Peter Pan during the EMH if you have the opportunity. Otherwise take all the fastpasses you can, get into the studios when they open (helpful regarding Crush aswell as TOT). Another explanation could be the lack of parades/shows we watched - the queues are smaller during the parades.

:lol: I think TSPL topic gets just a teeny bit heated at times!
Loving the report and the CM is brilliant! :D

Brilliant Trip report and excellent photos! Sounds like you had an amazing time!

I love our photos of the notre dame as I never got to go see it when I was in Paris, it looks really nice inside, I can just invision Esmeralda walking about hehe!

Thanks for sharing!! :thumbs:

Thanks for another update!

Did you take all the pictures with your iPhone, because the quality of the pictures is really good.

The photos were taken with a Nikon D90 DSLR.

Quote from: "forza_united"[spoiler:2j0ydxca]This time we sat close to the actor and it was very funny to look at him before the show and how he prepared. I was amazed at how quickly he got into the theater - we were there before him and decided to look out for the seats. We were looking away for 3 seconds at most and suddenly he was there. You could sense that he was a bit irritated by us and the guys behind us - I guess he could sense that we knew what was going on, although we tried not to show it.[/spoiler:2j0ydxca]

Was wondering something about Cinémagique;
[spoiler:2j0ydxca]When you sat next to him, you know, how was it when his phone started to ring? Did the others around react in some way? And how did he prepare himself for the show? Was he far away from you?[/spoiler:2j0ydxca]
And I also wonder, is it always the same guy in every show, 365 day a year?

Great report anyway :-)

Quote from: "Alan"The photos were taken with a Nikon D90 DSLR.

That's correct Alan, although a few of the shots were taken with my iPhone and some with a Panasonic DMZ-7.

Quote from: "norhel"

Quote from: "forza_united"[spoiler:2t6tny9n]This time we sat close to the actor and it was very funny to look at him before the show and how he prepared. I was amazed at how quickly he got into the theater - we were there before him and decided to look out for the seats. We were looking away for 3 seconds at most and suddenly he was there. You could sense that he was a bit irritated by us and the guys behind us - I guess he could sense that we knew what was going on, although we tried not to show it.[/spoiler:2t6tny9n]

Was wondering something about Cinémagique;
[spoiler:2t6tny9n]When you sat next to him, you know, how was it when his phone started to ring? Did the others around react in some way? And how did he prepare himself for the show? Was he far away from you?[/spoiler:2t6tny9n]
And I also wonder, is it always the same guy in every show, 365 day a year?

Great report anyway :-)

[spoiler:2t6tny9n]At one of the showings the people behind seemed quite shocked and angry at him, and it took them quite a while before realising it was all part of the show. That was quite fun. I could clearly hear that both the talk and the phone was recorded, but I guess you doesn't realise when you don't know it is an actor. It is quite convincing.

The guys seemed a bit nervous (perhaps because we were looking at them), but one of them did a great job of acting during the silent movies part before the phone sequence. He laughed his heart out and it was actually almost over the top. His suit made him stand out from the crowd during the summer though!

We sat near him twice and it was not the same guy :D[/spoiler:2t6tny9n]

Great trip report so far :D
I hope you had a good time :) Great photos!

Quote from: "forza_united"

Quote from: "toritinker"wow disney...then paris..then back to disney?! what a lot you guys can fit into a day!!!!!!!

Quote from: "tubbsy"Fantastic trip report. I cant believe how much you managed to do! :D

Well, it was a hard day, but I always say: "When you travel you can sleep and relax when you are back home. There must not be time for it during."

I totally agree with that one

I am really enjoying this trip report!! Your pictures are fab. We went last November and Cedric was on the TOT he was brilliant and my 2 kids thought he was great!

Thanks for all the comments and sorry for the delay - but I had Inception on my mind :P (Saw it twice during the weekend). Here it is:

Day 5 - the last day of magic:

It was Saturday - the last day of July and the last day of our wonderful trip. We had until 4 PM in the parks and we agreed that we needed to try as much as possible on this last days. All our favorites should have that last visit from us!

After the usual breakfast in La Cantina at 7.45 and dropping of the luggage in the hotel we went towards the Disneyland Park for the EMH. Of course we started out trying Space Mountain: Mission 2 for the 7th and last time of the trip. This time we actually had a comfortable ride sitting in the back in the middle of the train. It was nowhere near as rough as the other times - great way to say goodbye... After this we strolled around Discoveryland and Fantasyland for some photos...

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... ending up by Peter Pan's Flight for our second and last flight through London and Neverland. The queues really are too long during the day, so it is great that you can visit this attraction in the morning as is it with Buzz :) Extra Magic Hours is a wonderful invention.

We then went towards WDS through Main Street U.S.A. - taking some photos of this masterpiece and interior of the bakery...

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We got one of the free drink coupons in the bakery and were unsure whether we had the time to use it in the afternoon or not. So I wanted to give it to someone in stead of just throwing it away. Why not make someone happy - and save them 2,50€. I first asked a mum (because her son was wearing a Manchester United Shirt :lol:) - I gently said: "Excuse me, would you like a free drink later in the day using this coupon." Before I got to explain further, she almost ran away from me and seemed scared. I don't know if I've looked like someone who was going to hustle her, but I was astounded by this reaction. Just before leaving the park I asked a family of 4 and they were very happy and grateful, so I came to the conclusion that the first mum had just been a bit uptight :lol:

When we left the park the marching band was playing in front of Disneyland Hotel - great to see them back - FINALLY! It just adds that extra excitement and atmosphere when you arrive at the entrance of the magic.

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In the Studios they had once again changed the way things went. This morning they opened the gates at 9.30, the queue for Crush was already open and they got people in the shells right away, which meant that we had had our 3rd and last surfing session with Crush at 9.45 - one quarter of an hour before the park opened.

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We went towards TOT and took a fastpass for app. 11 AM and got in the queue - they hadn't opened the lobby yet so everyone was standing in the outside queue. After all the time was only 9.55 and everyone had quite a laugh when they announcer said that the Walt Disney Studios Park was now open at 10 AM - pretty much everyone in the queue had already been on Crush by then, so this seemed a bit misplaced. But they opened the lobby and we were desperately scouting for Cedric - with no luck! It took a long time and we wondered why - when exiting the Library we got the explanation - the middle shaft was not working. So app. 8 cast members was just outside the exit of the library to scare us, because their shaft was out of operation. Once again the ride was amazing! And it was just as amazing when we used our fastpasses - but still no Cedric!

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After this we caught the 11.15 showing of Cinémagique after taking another fast pass to Tower of Terror - we needed a last ride. So we had fast passes for 01.15 PM. Cinémagique was once again a pleasure [spoiler:str0yurq]although a actor didn't seem as much in character compared to the one on Friday[/spoiler:str0yurq]... Now we had some time to spend, so we decided finally to use the ability of the tickets - to switch parks as much as we wanted to. We went back to Disneyland Park for lunch and perhaps a ride or two, before we had to go back to WDS for TOT.

We were welcomed by the March Band - this time in Town Square - once again it brought that extra dimension of atmosphere into the park that only they can bring.

(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0516.jpg)

We had lunch in Toad Hall - we had to take advantage of the fact it was actually open now. I once again had the Fish'n'Chips and Kristian had the chicken burger. After this we had some time to spend - the fastpasses for Big Thunder were already too late in the day (4.30 PM) so we headed towards Indy (because of the long waiting lines at BTM) for the last "ride of hell". Although the ride is a bit bumpy, I still like the themening - it is sad to think about the fact that has been even more immersive than this :(

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After this we went towards the Studios for the last ride on Tower of Terror - still no Cedric but a wonderful ride that we enjoyed very much. I am already looking forward to trying it again - it has pretty much everything that I ask of a WDI masterpiece! On the way there we walked past Studio 1 and afterwards through the Studios:

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After this we left the Walt Disney Studios Park for the last time of our visit and entered Disneyland Park for the last time - time was really running out. I took photos of all the old posters beneath the Main Street Railroad Station - you will be able to see them when I post the link to all of the photos in tomorrows Trip Conclusion.

It was time for the final countdown of favorite rides - which had os going on Pirates of the Caribbean, Big Thunder Mountain and Captain EO. A 50 minute wait by Big Thunder Mountain was the reason we didn't ride more rides in these couple of hours.

The magic was running out, but what a day we had and what a trip to look back at :mrgreen:

Tomorrow I will post the Trip conclusion and a link to the complete album with all my photos from my trip, and sometime in the future you will be able to see the trip video - I'll try make it faster than the latest which had a couple of months' delay :P

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Aw! End of the trip! I hate that feeling. Shame Cedric wasnt there
Loed reading your reports and you have some great photos :D

Aww
I loved this trip report
I laughed when I saw the POTC on-ride photos :')

what a great finish to your trip, thanks for taking so much time :D
x

Lovely Trip Report!!! Fabulous pictures! Really did love it and has helped me plan our first trip to disneyland after 5 years with younger brother and sister!  :D

Loved reading your report and the photos!! they are all lovely.  

Just wondering where abouts on the park was the wizard of oz little bit from day 1 trip report??
XX

Quote from: "jackieann"Loved reading your report and the photos!! they are all lovely.  

Just wondering where abouts on the park was the wizard of oz little bit from day 1 trip report??
XX

thats on.... *checks map for proper name* Le Pays De Contes de Fees, its the boat ride thats next to the casey jnr ride =] (we call it story book village lols)

Once again - thanks for the comments :)

Trip conclusion

So as you who has read the entire report would know, we had a magnificent and magical trip. In this last post before the more visual ones (Photo album and Trip Video) I would like to sum up the trip. The easiest way is a list - once again I will list positive things in green and negative things in red.

The negative stuff:

- Some of the older queue lines could use a refurbishment giving them an air condition system - especially Space Mountain! You can stand within the building for quite a while and when it is 35 degrees outside it is at least 40 inside and probably more. One evening (9-10 PM) it was so hot that people were leaving the queue and doors were opened everywhere. I know it probably isn't the easiest, but on the other hand it must be possible. Other queue lines with heat problems: BTM, Star Tours, Indy (FP) and some of the Fantasyland attractions (based on previous trips).

- People's behaviour during parades - this is hard for DLP to do anything about, but I struggle to understand how people think they can come to the parade 5 minutes before show time, almost tackling their way through the crowd making it to 1st/2nd row only to put their children up on their shoulders. This ruined my possibility to get my dream photos of the fireworks from Town Square (I was there for over an hour), but more important some of the kids at my position could not see one bit of the parade because of people arriving right before show time. Any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

- The price of merchandise - mainly on-ride photos. 20 € for 2 normal photos is a rip-off and don't get me started on 15 € for one. When I bought the BTM photo I asked what the cheapest option was and it was 15 €. That is crazy, I'm sorry to say.

- Cleaning of the toilets... I understand that it is extremely hard to keep the toilets clean in the park during the day. But in the morning? Sometimes all toilets looked like - well cr*p. That cannot be right - some of them were extremely dirty and disgusting later on.

The positive comments:

Where do I begin??

- The Marching Band - It was very nice to see them back in action. Especially in a summer with a lack of other entertainment. As said in the report they just give that extra magic that makes it even more Disney.

- The Enchanted Fireworks: I have to say, I enjoyed this more than I did Wishes on my latest summer trip. The timing and elegance were in top and even though I had just witnessed a 40.000 € fireworks display 3 days before going I was very impressed. A worthy end to your days of magic.

- The easyness of crossing Main Street U.S.A in the evening right up to the parade. CMs formed a crossroad by Casey's and Victoria's giving people like me and my friend an easy way from Frontierland to Discoveryland or vice versa without having to go through the crowd making people irritated.

- The possibility to ride Big Thunder Mountain right up to 11 PM - this gave us some moments of true magic watching the beautiful fireworks from the mountain while experiencing the ride when it is most funny.  :thumbs:

- The way they handled the Studios in the morning. A smart move to actually have 30 minutes of EMH for people to queue for and on Saturday also try Crush' Coaster. They know it will be very popular when the crowds are that big.

- The food variety... It surprised me to see that the only place (correct me if I am wrong) to get a cheeseburger in the Disneyland Park now was Café Hyperion. The only dish I saw multiple places was pizza (and Nuggets) - although everything is still fast food this actually gives you a possibility to get some variation during a 4 nights stay without having to spend hours in Disney Village.

- Many more, magical moments (e.g. the TOT Cast members)

That pretty much sums up the trip and my experience. Hope you enjoyed it and look out for the Photo Album and Trip Video.

As a final treat for now you are not going to miss out on my merchandise (I got a lot :lol:)

Two things are not photographed: my PSG shirt and my Tower of Terror: I survived shirt. The latter gave me a lot of attention walking around the parks wearing it.

Well here it is:

(//http://www.magicalmountain.net/images/emporium/disneyana/disney-vinylmation-9-inch-blank.jpg)
For my work station at work

(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0595.jpg)
My two on-ride photos and a bag of Disney candy

(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0596.jpg)
I have been seconds from buying this on my two latest trips, so now I did on my third...

(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0597.jpg)
The traditional christmas ornament

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My two latest additions to my WDCC collection

And now the pins:

(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0604.jpg)

(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0605.jpg)

(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0606.jpg)

(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0607.jpg)

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(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0610.jpg)

And finally my two film collection additions from Paris:

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(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0593.jpg)

Thanks for a great and entertaining trip report  =D>

Brillaintly summed up-and great report  :thumbs:

Quote from: "forza_united"Once again - thanks for the comments :)

Trip conclusion

So as you who has read the entire report would know, we had a magnificent and magical trip. In this last post before the more visual ones (Photo album and Trip Video) I would like to sum up the trip. The easiest way is a list - once again I will list positive things in green and negative things in red.

The negative stuff:

- Some of the older queue lines could use a refurbishment giving them an air condition system - especially Space Mountain! You can stand within the building for quite a while and when it is 35 degrees outside it is at least 40 inside and probably more. One evening (9-10 PM) it was so hot that people were leaving the queue and doors were opened everywhere. I know it probably isn't the easiest, but on the other hand it must be possible. Other queue lines with heat problems: BTM, Star Tours, Indy (FP) and some of the Fantasyland attractions (based on previous trips).

- People's behaviour during parades - this is hard for DLP to do anything about, but I struggle to understand how people think they can come to the parade 5 minutes before show time, almost tackling their way through the crowd making it to 1st/2nd row only to put their children up on their shoulders. This ruined my possibility to get my dream photos of the fireworks from Town Square (I was there for over an hour), but more important some of the kids at my position could not see one bit of the parade because of people arriving right before show time. Any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

- The price of merchandise - mainly on-ride photos. 20 € for 2 normal photos is a rip-off and don't get me started on 15 € for one. When I bought the BTM photo I asked what the cheapest option was and it was 15 €. That is crazy, I'm sorry to say.

- Cleaning of the toilets... I understand that it is extremely hard to keep the toilets clean in the park during the day. But in the morning? Sometimes all toilets looked like - well cr*p. That cannot be right - some of them were extremely dirty and disgusting later on.

The positive comments:

Where do I begin??

- The Marching Band - It was very nice to see them back in action. Especially in a summer with a lack of other entertainment. As said in the report they just give that extra magic that makes it even more Disney.

- The Enchanted Fireworks: I have to say, I enjoyed this more than I did Wishes on my latest summer trip. The timing and elegance were in top and even though I had just witnessed a 40.000 € fireworks display 3 days before going I was very impressed. A worthy end to your days of magic.

- The easyness of crossing Main Street U.S.A in the evening right up to the parade. CMs formed a crossroad by Casey's and Victoria's giving people like me and my friend an easy way from Frontierland to Discoveryland or vice versa without having to go through the crowd making people irritated.

- The possibility to ride Big Thunder Mountain right up to 11 PM - this gave us some moments of true magic watching the beautiful fireworks from the mountain while experiencing the ride when it is most funny.  :thumbs:

- The way they handled the Studios in the morning. A smart move to actually have 30 minutes of EMH for people to queue for and on Saturday also try Crush' Coaster. They know it will be very popular when the crowds are that big.

- The food variety... It surprised me to see that the only place (correct me if I am wrong) to get a cheeseburger in the Disneyland Park now was Café Hyperion. The only dish I saw multiple places was pizza (and Nuggets) - although everything is still fast food this actually gives you a possibility to get some variation during a 4 nights stay without having to spend hours in Disney Village.

- Many more, magical moments (e.g. the TOT Cast members)

That pretty much sums up the trip and my experience. Hope you enjoyed it and look out for the Photo Album and Trip Video.

As a final treat for now you are not going to miss out on my merchandise (I got a lot :lol:)

Two things are not photographed: my PSG shirt and my Tower of Terror: I survived shirt. The latter gave me a lot of attention walking around the parks wearing it.

Thanks for the conclusion.

Having air condition in Space Mountain would be great. That's what I like at WDW. Nearly all queues had AC

I can't agree with you on the food variety. I'm vegeterian and the choices for us were really bad in February, but maybe that has changed.

The photo souvenirs are really expensive, that's the reason why we only buy one per trip.

You are so right on the toilettes, but I think that's only a problem during the summer season, because in February nearly all toilettes were working and clean. Nothing to complain about. Unfortunately in Summer 2008 we experienced the same. Very bad show Disney!

The behavior of the people during parades is really bad, but that's happening at WDW, too.

What's your opinion on the merchandise that is offered at the moment. By the way you have bought some great stuff. Is it still cheap mechandise that's not worth the money? Are they still selling the same stuff in each shop? Did they increase the variety on pins, especially on attraction pins? Or are they still selling only a small variety and mainly Stitch and Princess pins?

I think Kristof said that Disney will improve the quality of the merchandise products, did you notice anything!

Thanks for answering my questions and for your great trip report and pictures. It was a pleasure to read it.

Great trip report, gets me all excited for when i go lol, just in response to what you said about the rudeness of others at parades, i found the only way to stop them is to push them out of the way, i discovered this when i took my 8 year old brother back in march, and we sat on the curb for about an hour n half and when it came to like ten mins before the parade people were trying to push in front of us, i dont mind little kids standing in front of me, but when its fully grown adults i get a bit annoyed, i dont like been rude, im far too mild mannered for that, but i found this to be the only way to ensure my little brother could see xx :belle:

great sum up!!
And I LOVED seeing what you bought in the shops hehe!!
x

Quote from: "dagobert"

Quote from: "forza_united"Once again - thanks for the comments :)

Trip conclusion

So as you who has read the entire report would know, we had a magnificent and magical trip. In this last post before the more visual ones (Photo album and Trip Video) I would like to sum up the trip. The easiest way is a list - once again I will list positive things in green and negative things in red.

The negative stuff:

- Some of the older queue lines could use a refurbishment giving them an air condition system - especially Space Mountain! You can stand within the building for quite a while and when it is 35 degrees outside it is at least 40 inside and probably more. One evening (9-10 PM) it was so hot that people were leaving the queue and doors were opened everywhere. I know it probably isn't the easiest, but on the other hand it must be possible. Other queue lines with heat problems: BTM, Star Tours, Indy (FP) and some of the Fantasyland attractions (based on previous trips).

- People's behaviour during parades - this is hard for DLP to do anything about, but I struggle to understand how people think they can come to the parade 5 minutes before show time, almost tackling their way through the crowd making it to 1st/2nd row only to put their children up on their shoulders. This ruined my possibility to get my dream photos of the fireworks from Town Square (I was there for over an hour), but more important some of the kids at my position could not see one bit of the parade because of people arriving right before show time. Any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

- The price of merchandise - mainly on-ride photos. 20 € for 2 normal photos is a rip-off and don't get me started on 15 € for one. When I bought the BTM photo I asked what the cheapest option was and it was 15 €. That is crazy, I'm sorry to say.

- Cleaning of the toilets... I understand that it is extremely hard to keep the toilets clean in the park during the day. But in the morning? Sometimes all toilets looked like - well cr*p. That cannot be right - some of them were extremely dirty and disgusting later on.

The positive comments:

Where do I begin??

- The Marching Band - It was very nice to see them back in action. Especially in a summer with a lack of other entertainment. As said in the report they just give that extra magic that makes it even more Disney.

- The Enchanted Fireworks: I have to say, I enjoyed this more than I did Wishes on my latest summer trip. The timing and elegance were in top and even though I had just witnessed a 40.000 € fireworks display 3 days before going I was very impressed. A worthy end to your days of magic.

- The easyness of crossing Main Street U.S.A in the evening right up to the parade. CMs formed a crossroad by Casey's and Victoria's giving people like me and my friend an easy way from Frontierland to Discoveryland or vice versa without having to go through the crowd making people irritated.

- The possibility to ride Big Thunder Mountain right up to 11 PM - this gave us some moments of true magic watching the beautiful fireworks from the mountain while experiencing the ride when it is most funny.  :thumbs:

- The way they handled the Studios in the morning. A smart move to actually have 30 minutes of EMH for people to queue for and on Saturday also try Crush' Coaster. They know it will be very popular when the crowds are that big.

- The food variety... It surprised me to see that the only place (correct me if I am wrong) to get a cheeseburger in the Disneyland Park now was Café Hyperion. The only dish I saw multiple places was pizza (and Nuggets) - although everything is still fast food this actually gives you a possibility to get some variation during a 4 nights stay without having to spend hours in Disney Village.

- Many more, magical moments (e.g. the TOT Cast members)

That pretty much sums up the trip and my experience. Hope you enjoyed it and look out for the Photo Album and Trip Video.

As a final treat for now you are not going to miss out on my merchandise (I got a lot :lol:)

Two things are not photographed: my PSG shirt and my Tower of Terror: I survived shirt. The latter gave me a lot of attention walking around the parks wearing it.

Thanks for the conclusion.

Having air condition in Space Mountain would be great. That's what I like at WDW. Nearly all queues had AC

I can't agree with you on the food variety. I'm vegeterian and the choices for us were really bad in February, but maybe that has changed.

The photo souvenirs are really expensive, that's the reason why we only buy one per trip.

You are so right on the toilettes, but I think that's only a problem during the summer season, because in February nearly all toilettes were working and clean. Nothing to complain about. Unfortunately in Summer 2008 we experienced the same. Very bad show Disney!

The behavior of the people during parades is really bad, but that's happening at WDW, too.

What's your opinion on the merchandise that is offered at the moment. By the way you have bought some great stuff. Is it still cheap mechandise that's not worth the money? Are they still selling the same stuff in each shop? Did they increase the variety on pins, especially on attraction pins? Or are they still selling only a small variety and mainly Stitch and Princess pins?

I think Kristof said that Disney will improve the quality of the merchandise products, did you notice anything!

Thanks for answering my questions and for your great trip report and pictures. It was a pleasure to read it.

I guess the food variety still is bad for vegetarians - I am not so I didn't notice it, but thinking about you could only get saldads really and something in Fuente del Oro I think. This needs to be changed.

Well I did see some improvement on some merchandise - more DLP exclusives. E.g. the very creative and funny plushie I got for my future nephew. Unfortunately almost every (!) shop sells the same things still. The only shops that has exclusive merchandise is Star Traders, the one by Indiana Jones and the Tower of Terror shop (although this had fallen a lot in quality and exclusive products)... It was insane to see the amount of Toy Story merchandise...

Regarding the pins you can still only get the really big attractions and Stitch and Princesses are very much dominating. That being said, I really like the amount of Limited and Special Edition Pins they have around.

All in all I did not notice a huge step in the right direction, but maybe a small one...

Thanks for the comments everyone :)

I loved your report! Thanks so much for all the detail you put in, was really nice to read about everything. The first time I rode TOT (this summer), Cedric was the CM loading us!!!!! He was incredible and really enhanced the experience, and while the ride is amazing, further times were just not quite as good as that first time. I can't wait until I see him again!

Hi everyone - thanks for the comments and as promised here is my Photo Album:

//http://gallery.me.com/nicolaika#100009

great report :thumbs:

I totally agree with the toilets, last trip I used the ones up by PM and there was loo roll all over the floor and thet stank of pee  :( its really not that hard to keep toilets clean!

Quote from: "forza_united"(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0597.jpg)
The traditional christmas ornament

I am thinking of buying some of these for peoples christmas presents this year, are they expensive?
Kelly x

Quote from: "kelly.dylan"

Quote from: "forza_united"(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0597.jpg)
The traditional christmas ornament

I am thinking of buying some of these for peoples christmas presents this year, are they expensive?
Kelly x

This particular ornament was 8.95 € - I'll leave that for you to decide whether it is expensive or not :) It's actually pretty big.

Quote from: "forza_united"

Quote from: "kelly.dylan"

Quote from: "forza_united"(//http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k377/forza_united/Disneyland%202010/DSC_0597.jpg)
The traditional christmas ornament

I am thinking of buying some of these for peoples christmas presents this year, are they expensive?
Kelly x

This particular ornament was 8.95 € - I'll leave that for you to decide whether it is expensive or not :) It's actually pretty big.

Really, thats really good, i was expecting it to be at least €15 :thumbs:
Thanks x

Great trip report and wonderful photos as usual Nicolai. Love the look of that Christmas decoration. Thanks for posting.

Great trip report and excellent photos :)

Once again I have been unable to keep my promise of making a Trip Video within a couple of weeks from returning, but now it is almost ready and I hope to upload it in the evening following a couple of days' work!

Keep an eye on this topic in order to see it :-)

FINALLY - the Trip Video is here for your enjoyment:

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[dailymotion:1qxfh8wq]xfz1ba[/dailymotion:1qxfh8wq]

[dailymotion:1qxfh8wq]xfz1cw[/dailymotion:1qxfh8wq]

[dailymotion:1qxfh8wq]xfz1el[/dailymotion:1qxfh8wq]

It looks as though the quality is lower on part 2, I am sorry about this :)

This part is mainly Fantillusion but the last 4:30 minutes are from Paris :)

Please share your opinion about the movie...

Have not been on for a while.....fabulous report and excellent photos as one expects now from you!

Awesome video Nicolai!!!