hllb
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2009
I thought I would update on how our one day visit went. My 17 yr old daughter and I were in Paris for a week and spent a day at the parks (original thread here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/itinerary-review-for-day-trip-visit.3880224/#post-63946183 )
We took the RER to Chessy in the morning, and arrived around 8:30ish for a 9:30 open. It was raining....fairly hard too. The only day our entire trip that rained during the day. We decided on the train ride that we would get soaked, and we would make the most of it. We started at Parc Disneyland (wait times in Studios were already at 2 hours when we arrived) and they let us in around 9:15 am. We headed back and rode Thunder Mountain with a 5 minute wait. We were then able to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and Phantom Manor, both with 5 minute waits (basically takes that long to walk through the queues). Next we rode Indiana Jones (5 minutes) and then Star Tours (5 minutes). The signs at the park entrance said the parks were sold out for the day (the next day was still open for both parks) but the parks felt low crowd first thing in the morning. Probably because it was raining....really hard. We had brought ponchos with us, and planned ahead and wore running gear and sports bras so we would dry quickly. At this point, it was maybe 10:30 or 11 AM. We wanted to ride Buzz Lightyear, but it was a 30 minute wait and we decided it wasn't worth it. and maybe we could pick it up later (news flash: we couldn't LOL). At that point, the waits at Studios for Ratatouille and Crush were 1.5 and 2 hours respectively. I ended up purchasing premium pass for both of those rides. So around 11 am, the next slot for Crush was 2:10 pm and the next slot for Ratatouille was 11:45 am. So we headed over, wandered around a little, and then hit Ratatouille. Thumbs up - it was a fun ride with a unique perspective. The wait for the regular line was 90 minutes, and the single rider was only 10 minutes. After that, we grabbed lunch and then had about an hour and 10 minutes before our premiere pass for Crush. The regular wait for Crush was 130 minutes at that point, and single rider wait was 90 minutes. Since we had time to kill, we waited in line for RC Racer. The wait was posted at 70 minutes. In the queue, there's a point where you can select to do single rider, though they don't post wait times for it. We opted for that. It was SLOW....and then the ride broke down when we were pretty close to the front of the single rider line. It was only down for maybe 5 to 10 minutes though. We both got to ride it, but ended up waiting 70 minutes total in the single rider line. I suspect the regular line would have been shorter, but who knows. I probably wouldn't advise single rider on that one. It all worked out though, and we went over to Crush for our 2:10 pass (probably got there at 2:15 or 2:20). While I find the cost of the premiere pass abhorrent, it was worth it in our case since we only had limited time. Crush was 13 euro each and Ratatouille was 12 euro each. The Crush coaster was a lot of fun, and is a unique ride so we are glad we got to do it. At this point, we wanted to head back to Disneyland and Studios felt SUPER crowded. There isn't much there and with construction, even less space than normal.
Heading back to the other park, we really didn't have any rides we wanted to do except Buzz. The wait times for that were at least 50 minutes so we opted not to do it. We walked around the park, saw the dragon (I think this is a fun scene to walk through) and hit some shops. We got shakes at Victoria's Home Style Restaurant. I had a Dale nutella shake and my daughter had the 30th anniversary raspberry shake. Both were excellent!
After walking around some more, my daughter decided she wanted a stuffed red panda from Turning Red we saw at the other park (we only saw it at one store in Studios) so we headed back to studios. Sadly, they were all gone! But, the wait for Tower of Terror was only 20 minutes or so, so we rode that one. My daughter isn't a huge fan of that ride, so we hadn't planned on riding it if the waits were long. At this point, it was 5 or 5:30 PM and we had done everything we wanted to do. We focused on coasters, or rides that we hadn't ridden before in the states. We finished earlier than I thought we would as I didn't really realize how much smaller the parks are than WDW in Florida. We decided to head to Disney Village for dinner. We checked the World of Disney store for the red panda, to no avail. Then we headed back to the restaurant area (decided to eat at Rainforest Cafe) and passed the Disney store. And they had the panda! So, success on the souvenir front! We had dinner and then caught the train back to Paris.
It rained heavily in the morning, and lightened up (but still rained) around 11 am. The crowds really picked up at that point. It stopped raining while we were in line for RC Racer, but started up again before we rode. It rained maybe another hour in the afternoon, and then was sunny and hot the rest of the day. And the crowds did feel like the park was sold out - though still not as busy as the parks in WDW. Not sure if they still have reduced capacity in the Paris parks or not.
We had a good time, despite the rain, and got to ride everything we wanted to! I'll post some pictures shortly too.
We took the RER to Chessy in the morning, and arrived around 8:30ish for a 9:30 open. It was raining....fairly hard too. The only day our entire trip that rained during the day. We decided on the train ride that we would get soaked, and we would make the most of it. We started at Parc Disneyland (wait times in Studios were already at 2 hours when we arrived) and they let us in around 9:15 am. We headed back and rode Thunder Mountain with a 5 minute wait. We were then able to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and Phantom Manor, both with 5 minute waits (basically takes that long to walk through the queues). Next we rode Indiana Jones (5 minutes) and then Star Tours (5 minutes). The signs at the park entrance said the parks were sold out for the day (the next day was still open for both parks) but the parks felt low crowd first thing in the morning. Probably because it was raining....really hard. We had brought ponchos with us, and planned ahead and wore running gear and sports bras so we would dry quickly. At this point, it was maybe 10:30 or 11 AM. We wanted to ride Buzz Lightyear, but it was a 30 minute wait and we decided it wasn't worth it. and maybe we could pick it up later (news flash: we couldn't LOL). At that point, the waits at Studios for Ratatouille and Crush were 1.5 and 2 hours respectively. I ended up purchasing premium pass for both of those rides. So around 11 am, the next slot for Crush was 2:10 pm and the next slot for Ratatouille was 11:45 am. So we headed over, wandered around a little, and then hit Ratatouille. Thumbs up - it was a fun ride with a unique perspective. The wait for the regular line was 90 minutes, and the single rider was only 10 minutes. After that, we grabbed lunch and then had about an hour and 10 minutes before our premiere pass for Crush. The regular wait for Crush was 130 minutes at that point, and single rider wait was 90 minutes. Since we had time to kill, we waited in line for RC Racer. The wait was posted at 70 minutes. In the queue, there's a point where you can select to do single rider, though they don't post wait times for it. We opted for that. It was SLOW....and then the ride broke down when we were pretty close to the front of the single rider line. It was only down for maybe 5 to 10 minutes though. We both got to ride it, but ended up waiting 70 minutes total in the single rider line. I suspect the regular line would have been shorter, but who knows. I probably wouldn't advise single rider on that one. It all worked out though, and we went over to Crush for our 2:10 pass (probably got there at 2:15 or 2:20). While I find the cost of the premiere pass abhorrent, it was worth it in our case since we only had limited time. Crush was 13 euro each and Ratatouille was 12 euro each. The Crush coaster was a lot of fun, and is a unique ride so we are glad we got to do it. At this point, we wanted to head back to Disneyland and Studios felt SUPER crowded. There isn't much there and with construction, even less space than normal.
Heading back to the other park, we really didn't have any rides we wanted to do except Buzz. The wait times for that were at least 50 minutes so we opted not to do it. We walked around the park, saw the dragon (I think this is a fun scene to walk through) and hit some shops. We got shakes at Victoria's Home Style Restaurant. I had a Dale nutella shake and my daughter had the 30th anniversary raspberry shake. Both were excellent!
After walking around some more, my daughter decided she wanted a stuffed red panda from Turning Red we saw at the other park (we only saw it at one store in Studios) so we headed back to studios. Sadly, they were all gone! But, the wait for Tower of Terror was only 20 minutes or so, so we rode that one. My daughter isn't a huge fan of that ride, so we hadn't planned on riding it if the waits were long. At this point, it was 5 or 5:30 PM and we had done everything we wanted to do. We focused on coasters, or rides that we hadn't ridden before in the states. We finished earlier than I thought we would as I didn't really realize how much smaller the parks are than WDW in Florida. We decided to head to Disney Village for dinner. We checked the World of Disney store for the red panda, to no avail. Then we headed back to the restaurant area (decided to eat at Rainforest Cafe) and passed the Disney store. And they had the panda! So, success on the souvenir front! We had dinner and then caught the train back to Paris.
It rained heavily in the morning, and lightened up (but still rained) around 11 am. The crowds really picked up at that point. It stopped raining while we were in line for RC Racer, but started up again before we rode. It rained maybe another hour in the afternoon, and then was sunny and hot the rest of the day. And the crowds did feel like the park was sold out - though still not as busy as the parks in WDW. Not sure if they still have reduced capacity in the Paris parks or not.
We had a good time, despite the rain, and got to ride everything we wanted to! I'll post some pictures shortly too.
you didnt go to any shows or parades?
