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[coconut wireless]

I posted a trip report at http://thedpn.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8994 which is the forums associated with my podcast, Meandering Mouse Club TV.  I have included here just the part for the DLP portion of the trip.  

Wow, what can you say? Several years in the making, it finally happened that I was able to visit my 10th and 11th parks (parks 6 and 10 in the order of opening dates) to complete my goal of visiting all of the Disney theme parks around the globe and it was a thrill. First week of October 2008 was the travel time.

It was a year of serious talking and planning. The trip happened with an 8 hour flight to Houston, where I met up with Jeff and then we boarded the same flight for a 9 hour flight to Paris. Before heading to the parks, we visited the City of Paris and my jaw was on the floor most of the time for several reasons. First, the city is amazing. The architecture and the art put you into visual overload almost instantly. For me, it had been 7 years since I was in fall weather and it just added beauty to the trip. The return trip home for me was tough with 8 hours from Paris to Newark, NJ and then 11 hours to Honolulu. That last leg was brutal.

Day five, was transfer day to move to the Disneyland Paris Resort and checked into the Sequoia Lodge. We couldn't get in right away so we had to drop off the luggage, grab what we needed and headed over to the Magic Kingdom style park. This day was the only day that the park would be open late. Ten o'clock pm (22h00) was the closing time this night where every other night was 19h00.

The sequoia is rustic in nature. When you walk in there was a fire place smoke smell. The leaves were starting to turn color and it looked beautiful. When we went to the room, the paths with their trees, some covered walkways, and the beaver creek really added to the ambiance.

The first day for me was really hard. I was so taken aback by how dirty and in disrepair the place is. Between the dealing with smoking in queue (not inside buildings), the cost of soda, the worn paint, things not working, the dirt, the cracks in and chunks of missing pavement, burnt out bulbs, dirty algae ridden water, gum laden surfaces, junk in the flower beds, overflowing trash and trash cans I was major league bumming. Three days of travel, 12 time zones and thousands of dollars to get there and I was greeted with this. As a former custodian CM, I wanted to tell someone give me a scraper and pan and broom, I'll clean the place.

At one point while waiting for Le Petit Train du Cirque there were two majorly overflowing trash cans in the queue. My eyes got wet and I was very disillusioned with the park. My anticipation for the excitement was just crushed. It took me a little while after that I decided that it was what it was and just to enjoy the fact that I was in Paris doing something that only a handful of people have ever done. There was no sense in pointing out every flaw as there were many of them. What I had to enjoy was the detail that was in the park and get over the other stuff that distracted from it.

Effects weren't working at many locations. At Space Mountain, they cannon was supposed to have movement but wasn't. The clock at Small World was off by 5 minutes and sometimes the figures didn't come out. In Phantom Manor when something was supposed to be in your doom buggie, it didn't show. A good percentage of the lights on the back of tea cups were out. Path lights were out all over the place.

One fun experience on day one was eating at Walt's. It's a restaurant located on the corner of Main and Center Streets up on the second floor. Steak was on the menu. The restaurant was a tribute to Walt Disney. Pictures from throughout his life were throughout the establishment. The dining room was split into sections that covered different themes of the park. We walked through the adventure themed area to be seated in the fantasy section. We saw other sections devoted to discovery and the frontier.

The park has amazing details to it. In the castle, they tell the story of Sleeping Beauty with a bejeweled cover reminiscent of the old Disney movies as you enter the area. There is stained glass that tells the story. In one scene talking about the burning of the spinning wheels, there is the fireplace with the burning items. Outside of the castle you can see the back of the fireplace and the chimney. In the store attached to the Snow White ride, it's themed like the Seven Dwarves' house. There is a pick ax with a sock on the end, just like the scene where Snow White first enters their cottage. In the Nautilus walk though they have the huge organ just like in the "real" Nautilus had. Skull Rock...how cool was that??!! Over in the Cinderella area they had the well and shoes that she wore to do her chores.

The walk thru fort with closing doors, Phantom Manor, Big Thunder Railroad, Space Mountain, most of Fantasyland, Small World ride, the Castle, and Pirates of the Caribbean were in my book better than their counterparts located at any of the other parks. Imagineering did a great job with this park. When you enter the park you pass under the Disneyland Paris hotel. When you are at the castle and look down Main Street, the hotel at the end really completes the scene. The castle completes and meshes in with Fantasyland better than any of the other castles. The park itself is awesome.

We arrived on the second day of the Halloween festivities. Main Street USA and Frontierland were taken over by pumpkin people who were trying to paint the place orange. Everywhere in these areas were pumpkin people statues doing different acts of vandalism. Paint was spilled on the ground and orange foot prints were leading out of the "wet" spots.

One item that I noticed here was the freedom of the characters. First, they have characters at the hotels. One on trip inside the DLP Hotel there were characters milling in the lobby with people. They brought a train float/parade down Main Street to the hub where it stopped. The characters got off, went to different spokes of the hub and mingled with people. There was a train toot and they got back on the train and back down Main Street. Characters would interact with people chasing them around as I saw real pumpkin people doing in Town Square. In Adventureland, Tigger and Goofy were playing with each other and guests. Tigger even tried to sit in a stroller. For the most part there weren't queues of people to greet characters. It was awesome to see the interaction.

The Walt Disney Studios Paris park was a small park to say the least. You would walk front entrance to the tram tour in the back of the park in about 4 minutes and about a 3 minute walk from Stitch Live to Crushes Coaster going sideways left to right as viewed from the park front. You could see how DCA and former Disney MGM Studios had a great influence on this park. This truly is a ½ day park. From 10h00 to 14h00, we did all but Armageddon Special Effects show, Lights, Motors, Action stunt show, Cars Road Rally and Aladdin's Magic Carpets. Another 2 to 2.5 hours and we could have had done them all. It was 10 minutes for Road Rally and Carpets. LMA was 50 minutes and 20 minutes for Armageddon. The tram tour had Catastrophe Canyon and costume shop like MGM with trams like MGM. Tower of Terror was DCAs version of tower. Stitch Live was like Hong Kong. Aladdin was from Magic Kingdom. Road Rally was Francis Lady Bug Boogie redone with Cars. Rock-n-Roller Coaster was like MGM. MGM got LMA from Paris. Animation had drawing your character like DCA. Animagique was like Little Mermaid at MGM or vice-a-versa as I don't know which came first. Cinemagique was like Magic Lantern Theater in Disney Sea. So really there was nothing really new or ground breaking there. Crushes Coaster stood out in that it had the Nemo roller coaster theme with the turtle shell ride vehicles that allowed for front and back seating like Toy Story Mania and the craziness of Mulholland Madness/Primeval Whirl but this had angled/banked track instead of just flat .

[coconut wireless]

The costumes were *WAY* more detailed than anything in the US. The pirates had hats with plumes. They got to carry guns and swords. The guys had brocade jackets and were having pictures and autographs just like other characters. Those costumes that needed it for completeness had spats. This was like Tokyo where they wore spats as well. Mansion had vest, jacket and top hat. They looked cool! Personally, I don't know if American CMs would wear these detailed costumes. When I did Kitchen Kabaret, there were many times I had to get my jacket repressed to make sure the lapels were even. My other CM's didn't care and went out looking bad with uneven lapels.

In general the CMs were OK. But other times it was bad. Twice we exited the park and there were at least 8 people there and not one Good Night, Auf Weiderzein, Auv riour or any other thing from them. Not helping loading people was another one. One area where I do give them big kudos is dealing with the multiple languages. BTW, two CMs that I talked to did make comments about how dirty the park was when I mentioned it. Back at the hotel, they didn't restock TP and when I call about it they brought towels. When I said I needed TP, the guy went away and came back with 3 rolls and a pack of tissues. On the last day the bus to the Disney Village/train station stopped to let off people. I was waving down the driver and Jeff tried to get in the back door and he just drove away without any pause.

The general crowd, during the trip I was moaning over them, but now that I think about it, they really weren't all that different from crowds at the US parks. Crying babies, blocking paths, cutting lines...guests in the American Parks do the same thing. OH, they dressed in dull colors. Apparently I stuck out as one CM noted that my Mickey Mouse baseball shirt was very American.

For food, didn't eat any snacks in the parks. They had crepes instead of churros at multiple locations. Ate at two sit down meals at Walt's and the Blue Lagoon which is their answer to the Blue Bayou. Had a Pastrami and Motzerella baguette and Coke Zero at Last Chance Cafe. Coke Zero and Coke Light were the diet colas available. Over at Country Cookout had potato wedges, BBQ chicken, BBQ brisket, mini churros and Coke Zero. Inside the DLP Hotel at the Fantasia bar I had a several non alcoholic specialty drinks. When you ordered they gave you marinated black and green olives and some cool ranch Doritos. Breakfast at the Sequoia was ham, turkey, cheese, breads, cereals and yogurts. The one morning we went to Chef Mickey's for a character breakfast, they had bacon, sausage, eggs, chocolate mousse, in addition to what was found at Sequoia but no characters. Yup, we arrived at 07h30 and left at 08h00 and not a single character showed. BTW, the Coke Zero was 50cl or 16ozs for 2 Euro 50 which with exchange rate was about $3.50. It was more expensive at the sit downs, close to 4 Euro.

Would I do the parks again? I'm not sure. Was it worth it? Kinda. The city of Paris was beautiful. The parks were part of a dream that became a goal but the reality of the condition of the place really put a damper on it. There were similar complaints against Anaheim before the 50th but they managed to get it fixed for the 50th. It's a shame they couldn't have done the same for DLP's 15th anniversary. If they could get it fixed up and cleaned up it would be a not to be missed location within the cannon of the Disney global theme parks.

[coconut wireless]

Pictures from the trip can be found at:

Disneyland Paris

Paris the city

[never2old]

Thanks for your report, that was a very interesting read! I haven't done any other parks (went to Florida many many years ago, only remember it vaguely), so it's very interesting to see how they compare, and the good and the bad...

And cool pictures!

[Mr_B]

I agree with never2old - it's refreshing to hear an opinion from someone who's been to the other parks around the world (We've only ever been to DLRP so far).

I was surprised that the costumes were so much better at DLRP than in the other parks - I just assumed they would be of similar quality / detail.

I felt quite embarrased at the amount of faults you found with DLRP ie non working effects / cleanliness etc. DLRP should keep on top of this especially the cleanliness aspect as this was always one of my major complaints of UK parks compared to DLRP.

Great trip report - many thanks  =D>

Mr_B

[Malin]

The first day for me was really hard. I was so taken aback by how dirty and in disrepair the place is.

Welcome to Disneyland Resort Paris, its best to just accept its the way it is and try and enjoy it, as sadly these sort of problems are out of our hands and I am not wasting any of my vacation time complaining to City Hall. What I tend to do it make a note and go on a rant about it when I do my trip reports.

Effects weren't working at many locations. At Space Mountain, they cannon was supposed to have movement but wasn't. The clock at Small World was off by 5 minutes and sometimes the figures didn't come out. In Phantom Manor when something was supposed to be in your doom buggie, it didn't show.

I have to say this is the typical reaction the park gets from guest who know the standards to expect. I visited the park last year straight after getting back from Tokyo Disney Resort and the difference was like night and day.

The walk thru fort with closing doors, Phantom Manor, Big Thunder Railroad, Space Mountain, most of Fantasyland, Small World ride, the Castle, and Pirates of the Caribbean were in my book better than their counterparts located at any of the other parks. Imagineering did a great job with this park

This again its not a suprising response, because despite the lack of standards in maintenance, you can not deny that this is the best Magic Kingdom park out of the lot.

The Walt Disney Studios Paris park was a small park to say the least. This truly is a ½ day park. From 10h00 to 14h00, we did all but Armageddon Special Effects show, Lights, Motors, Action stunt show, Cars Road Rally and Aladdin's Magic Carpets.

Glad you never visited the park when it first opened than.

[The Butlin Boy]

Thanks for sharing your trip report and pictures, it was an interesting read. I hope you had a great trip

[Epcot_Boy]

Thanks for your well thought out report.  =D>

Much of what you reported about the disrepair of DLRP I have to unfortunately agree with. I have believed for sometime now that the powers that be should look at undertaking a major repairs project..........even if it's just a lick of paint around the resort.
Anyhow, I'm glad that on the whole you had a good time.

Epcot_Boy :ears:

[Elaine]

The one morning we went to Chef Mickey's for a character breakfast, they had bacon, sausage, eggs, chocolate mousse, in addition to what was found at Sequoia but no characters. Yup, we arrived at 07h30 and left at 08h00 and not a single character showed.

I wonder, was that Tuesday morning, the 7th October? We were in Cafe Mickey then also, and the characters didn't come out at all until 8.10am. As we could only book for either 7.30am or 9.30am, and its supposed to be a character meal, I was quite disappointed by this.

[coconut wireless]

Actually, yes it was!  I was the american in the Mickey Mouse baseball shirt seated closest to the food area!  It was the 7:30am seating.  How funny!!

[davewasbaloo]

Thanks for sharing, I will try to respond. At general level, I am sorry your experience was marred, but the Sunday was busier than summer with less staffing than normal (so some was blip, and some was true need for improvement, though DLP has been running at a loss for nearly 17 years). Sadly not perfect. Also, I think culturally you were not prepared (DLP drink prices are not that high compared to other European places - I paid $14 for a Whopper meal on the motorway today for example).

>>>Before heading to the parks, we visited the City of Paris and my jaw was on the floor most of the time for several reasons. First, the city is amazing. The architecture and the art put you into visual overload almost instantly.<<<

Funny, when you live over here, it does not feel that way, I prefer the smaller towns in France, they have much more character.

>>> I was so taken aback by how dirty and in disrepair the place is.<<<

Agreed there is still room for improvement, but the 15th did get a significant makeover, DLP was a very sad place 5 years ago in this regard. But it is still in a better state than the MK was on our last visit to WDW in 2006.

>>>Between the dealing with smoking in queue (not inside buildings), the cost of soda, the worn paint, things not working, the dirt, the cracks in and chunks of missing pavement, burnt out bulbs, dirty algae ridden water, gum laden surfaces, junk in the flower beds, overflowing trash and trash cans I was major league bumming. Three days of travel, 12 time zones and thousands of dollars to get there and I was greeted with this. As a former custodian CM, I wanted to tell someone give me a scraper and pan and broom, I'll clean the place.<<<

Hmmm, let's take these one by one.

Smoking in the queue is even illegal in France now, but this gets to me too. Even worse when they smoke on IASW! It's annoying though. But less so than the EMV problem at WDW. Maybe expensive coke isn't a bad thing afterall ;-)

Soda is not that expensive at DLP compared to the rest of Europe (but it is compared to the US). In London I pay $3 for a small bottle of coke, sometimes $4. That's a cultural and exchange rate issue. Coffee, Tea and Hot Chocolate are the economical drinks in Europe.

The dirt can get to me, as do the paint and pavement issues (though they have been working on this). But remember we need to use salt a lot to stop the ice and also the climate is very different than the other resorts (as are the French rules on materials). as a result, DLP gets really hard wear and tear compared to the US resorts coupled with years of neglect they need to sort. Again though, DLP was in a better state whis year than the MK was in Dec 2006 (Kiz, if you are reading this, please feel free to correct me - sometimes a sense check is good ;-).

But I agree, there is much room for improvement. I suppose the amazing masterplan, artistry, table service dining, dealing with languages let's me look past some of this. But I am seen on the European boards as a grumpy gus, and sadly these fans that don't know any better give DLP a pass, but I will point out stuff like coke etc.

>>>At Space Mountain, they cannon was supposed to have movement but wasn't. <<<

Sadly, this has been decommissioned since Mission2 launched (ruined the attraction for me really), much like the wave machine at DCA and the Poly, or the Yeti in EE, it is not DLP unique sadly.

>>>The clock at Small World was off by 5 minutes and sometimes the figures didn't come out.<<<

Agreed, it has been like this for years, very sad.

>>>In Phantom Manor when something was supposed to be in your doom buggie, it didn't show.<<<

The Phantom is not in your buggy, he is on top of it, and yes, he was working in august, but not that weekend (we were there on the 4th and 5th)

>>>A good percentage of the lights on the back of tea cups were out. Path lights were out all over the place.<<<

This annoys me greatly in all the Disney parks - DL, WDW and DLP.

[davewasbaloo]

Glad you like Walt's. I prefer the food at the Silver Spur to the ones you chose, but for disney fans, Walt's is a must.

>>>Three days of travel, 12 time zones and thousands of dollars to get there and I was greeted with this.<<<

Funny, this is how I feel about WDW. Maybe Disney resorts are not worth the extensive travel and money anymore? Question.

>>>The park has amazing details to it.<<<

This is why it is my favorite park (ok joint fav). If we could just have the DL standards of cast and entertainment it would be my top fav!

>>>For the most part there weren't queues of people to greet characters. It was awesome to see the interaction.<<<

This is really hit and miss. Sometimes it can be a real battlefield to see the characters (particularly because of the various cultural and linguistic differences). But at Halloween there are loads, and it makes for a great experience. Sadly though, this is often at the expense of things like the Dapper Dans (left 15 years agoish), piano players and other real live entertainment :-(

>>>....were in my book better than their counterparts located at any of the other parks. Imagineering did a great job with this park. <<<<

Absolutely. Not the highest attraction count, but the quality is amazing. this is why I get mad at the so called Disney fans in Europe who keep going to WDW and yet have never stepped foot in DLP. I really cannot understand that.

>>>re WDSP...This truly is a ½ day park.<<<

I really do disagree with this statement. It must have been really quiet during the week. We didn't go in the Studios that weekend, but we were at DLP for 6 days at the end of August and after 2.5 days at the Studios, we still did not get on Crush, Tram Tour, Armageddon or RNR Coaster. On Busy days, it takes a couple of days.

And even when the park opened with 10 attractions (pre TOT, Crush, Cars and Stitch) we easily spent a full day in the park. But it would be nice to see it fill out more.

In my opinion where the same attraction exists in DHS and WDSP, I prefer the PAris version.

>>>Cinemagique was like Magic Lantern Theater in Disney Sea. So really there was nothing really new or ground breaking there.<<<

Picks jaw up from off the floor. Personally I think Cinemagique is a fine attraction, indeed one of my fav Disney has ever produced. Then again I love movies, and this tribute has pathos, humour and a little magic.

>>>The costumes were *WAY* more detailed than anything in the US.<<<

Again, this is part of the awesomeness of the parks. Sadly they have been dummed down greatly over the years. But whereas the costume on PotC in DL or WDW are not much better than McDonalds meets Halloween, DLP's are like film quality costumes.

when DLP opened though, it was even better as every attraction had different costumes entirely, and almost all have hats of some description. There are summer and winter wardrobe, and they are changing over right now. The winter wardrobe is the best!

>>>Twice we exited the park and there were at least 8 people there and not one Good Night, Auf Weiderzein, Auv riour or any other thing from them.<<<

This is a cultural, linguistic issue. In Europe it can sometimes be considered rude for staff to speak with you unless approached first. Also there are many Europeans who do not like the American Disney service (I know it's hard to believe - but on many European boards people who complain about the fake and falseness of american culture - this is something they have actually tempered over the years at DLP). Add in the fact that if you use the wrong language, people feel insulted (even if was French, many Brits, Italians, Spaniards and Germans want their languages spoken).

Also several gestures means different things across Europe. a thumbs up in the UK means good, in some parts of the Med, it's like flipping the bird. So cast members are very careful at DLP.

again, with the hotel, with the exception of the extortionately expensive DLH, the Disney hotels in Paris offer a lesser service than comparable hotels elsewhere (I feel this way about Florida too)

>>>OH, they dressed in dull colors. Apparently I stuck out as one CM noted that my Mickey Mouse baseball shirt was very American.<<<

Yep, because with rain, snow, sleet and cramped cities (compared to the US), it easier to keep darker clothes cleaner looking than in the US. We use a lot more public transport and walk more.

But true, I am often told I still dress very American (but heck, I am).

TDLFAN and others like to mock the brits in dark socks with shorts, but here, white socks are only worn when playing sport. Very different cultures and weather implications dictate different dress (or paint - that is why the DLH is pink rather than white - because of the grey skies and dirt generated by drizzle, fog and salt in icy weather).

[davewasbaloo]

>>>Yup, we arrived at 07h30 and left at 08h00 and not a single character showed.<<<

Ya, this is bad. The characters arrive from 8, and also they are not there between 3 and 5, or late at night. Bad show. Sorry this happened to you.

Again, I explained the coke issue. Europe also charges for refills across the board, and in fast food joints, a Small in the US is considered a large here. Then again, although obesity is becoming an issue over here now, it is no where as out of control as the US.

Hmmmm, I am really sad you feel the way they do. I feel that way about WDW. I think that disney is no way what it once was. and when it takes so much effort and money to get somewhere and it not meet expectations, it can be heart breaking.

I can get to DLP in between 4-8 hours dependent on mode of transport, and can get there for as little as $100 if planned well. I can also go more frequently, so I cut it some slack.

But WDW was terrible in my experience last time. We spent a fortune to have sub standard service at the AKL, bad bus service (we started using cabs it was so bad - and I used public transport 3-4 times a week in the real world), crowds, filth and bad maintenance, mixed in with the stuff I hate about Florida already (weather, critters and red necks). It means I am not in a huge hurry to get back.

It does all make me wonder though, has Disney really lost it? If you and I are so disenfanchised? That said, I loved my trips to DL in Feb, and DLP in Aug and October. Maybe the different resorts offer different things to different people.

There are things I love about all the resorts, and others things I hate about them all.

DL - love magic, quality of entertainment, variety on offer, intamacy, best service. Hate the AP mentality, tooning, and crowds.

WDW - love Epcot, DAK, the Water Parks and Mini Golf, aspects of DHS; hate the MK, Walmarting, the upcharge events all the time, focus on toons and thrills, poor transport, that where there are clones, almost every version at WDW is a lesser version than elsewhere.

DLP - love the OTT theming, attraction quality and dining options. The mix of the best of all the other resorts, Buffalo Bills, the linguistic and cultural mix. Hate that it can be dirty and poorly maintained, poor guest behaviour, and the hotels are a rip off.

What annoys me about all the resorts:

dumbing down retail and dining selections

Realiance on character licences or cheap thrills.

But my love of the parks still outweigh the annoyances, just not as much as they used to.

BTW - if you do not know me, I am a Californian who has lived in the UK for 22 years and travel extensively around europe for business and pleasure. I speak German fluently, am ok with French, and know some Spanish, Dutch and Italian. I have been to DL at least 300 times over the last 34 years (most recently in Feb 2008), WDW for about 8 weeks total over the last 30 years, and DLP 51 times (was there opening day, last visit was when you were there).

I am not saying any of this to show off, but simply to demonstrated where my assertions, defences and annoyances come from. I welcome your thoughts based on my contributions (or indeed anyone else's)

Some nice photos of the park and the city. If you are ever in Paris again, for a nice contrast, try the Musee d'Orsay for the world's greatest impressionist collection, Mulan Rouge or Folle Bergerais for great burlesque, le Opera (very Phantom of the Opera, and a beautiful building), and the graveyard and catabombes tours.

Also I very much recommend Medieval Provins, Chantilly, and the champagne wineries and Cathedral in Rheims. Parc asterix is very cool too.

It seems you missed on of the most amazing things in all of DLP, Buffalo Bill's? It's a shame. It's disney's finest dinner show to my mind.