Scottish-Helen
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2002
The cast Helen (31) and DH Ric (32)
Right I'll finally get round to writing part 2. We've had a busy couple of weeks as Ric has just got a new job in Dublin so we've been sorting out our move over there.
Anyway back to the point in hand
Sunday 17th April
I woke up at 7.15am . I was still tired after the night befores concert but I couldn't get back to sleep so I packed the case and got ready.
It was now about 8.30 so I decided to give Ric some peace and quiet and go to the park to collect our tickets from Guest Relations (and hopefully have a sneaky go on Space Mountain - Mission 2). I walked round the lake and it was really peaceful and quiet at that time with only one or 2 people about....even the ducks were still asleep on the grass!
I went and got the tickets and it was now about 8.45 so I walked into an almost empty park and walked up Main Street USA just taking it all in. It was just magical seeing the castle without loads and loads of people in front of it and I of course stopped and took a few pictures.
I went over to Discoveryland for rope drop and got right to the front. Right on 9am a cast member came over and made an announcement in French. I heard the words Space Mountain and ferme which from my school days I knew meant closed. I don't know why but I thought he was joking.
As soonas the rope was dropped I ran the short distance to the ride with some other people but we were told (this time in English) that the ride would be down until 11am but we could go and collect fastpasses for later. I got 2 fastpasses and headed over to Fantasyland.
I had a quick ride on Peter Pan (which is a ride I really like but wouldn't want to wait in a long queue for) and then decided to test out getting more than 1 fastpass at a time which I had read about on these boards (thanks peeps)
I then headed over to Big Thunder Mountain and collected fastpasses for this as well. It was now time to head back to the Newport Bay as we had ordered room service for our Admirals Floor room which would be arriving at 9.30am. It was really weird heading out of the park just as the crowds were heading in.
I walked back through Disney Village and the little Minnie Mouse train was coming round the lake. I jumped on and paid my 2 euros (I can't believe you have to pay!) as my feet were already starting to ache and I still had a full day ahead of me.
I got back up to our room at 9.35 and breakfast was there waiting for us. We had ordered continental and cooked breakfast and there was loads. A basket with pain au chocolate, croissants and bread rolls then a plate with sausage, bacon and scrambled egg, a glass of orange juice and a big pot of hot chocolate. To be honest we would have prefered to have the cooked breakfast on it's own but you still got all the continental stuff automatically. I can't remember what the room service supplement was now but it was nice to have it there instead of having to be up and go down to a busy, crowded dining room.
We left the Newport Bay with our cases and headed back to Disneyland Park. We checked our cases in for the day with concierge which was approx 2 Euros per bag. There was now a huge queue at the Guest Relations desk which is where I had been earlier to pick up my travel agents ticket so I was really glad that I had collected it earlier on when there had been no queue at all.
I have to say that at both WDW and Disneyland Paris that I think the very best thing you can do if you do nothing else is to get to the parks alittle before the official opening time.
Our fastpass window was about to open for Big Thunder Mountain so we headed over to the ride. I always love bypassing the big queues with fastpass, I can't belive that still not everyone uses it. We saved ourselves an hours wait and walked on in less than 5 minutes. Wow!!! The DLP version of BTMR is a million and one times better than the WDW version, so much faster. We decided to get another set of fastpasses when we got off so we could ride again later on in the day (1.25 pm)
We gave away our Peter Pan fastpasses as our window was also coming up for Space Mountain. Standby line for Space Mountain was now 75 minutes so again I was glad of the fastpasses. I first went to DLP about 9 years ago with my Mum but I could remember nothing about the ride apart from the cannon at the begining. So therefore I can't really compare the new version to the old. What I can say is again what a vast improvement on the WDW version (which I always ride but always think it's not up to much) first of all you sit next to a person, then you've got that blast off up the cannon and then round and round in the dark. I think it's actually very similar to Rock N Rollercoaster but not as smooth and I did feel a bit battered and bruised when I got off. It was however a really exciting brillian ride and I decided that I would use one of the fastpasses the hotel had given us to ride it again later.
I went back to get Ric from the bench I had left him sitting on. Ric generally doesn't like rollercoasters although sometimes he will give them a try.... not today though.
It had turned into a most gorgeous, sunny warm day and I almost felt like I was in Florida. We both felt that this park was actually more detailed and prettier than the Magic Kingdom. If it had my favourite, Splash Mountain it would have been perfect. Obviously we had hit lucky with the weather and having experienced it on a wet and windy February day many years before I know it is not quite so appealing then and also the weather in this part of the world is why they don't have Splash Mountain. Why they did not build the park in Spain or somewhere sunny and warm is beyond me although Paris is easy for much of Europe to get to.
We next strolled in the sunshine to It's a Small World. The park was getting busy now but we were on within a 5 minute wait. It was after coming out of Small World that another difference with WDW suddenly hit me. You don't exit the rides into a shop, something that both my cynical husband and brother have hated and gone on about (they both see Disney as a big evil corporation and don't get the magic
)
We stopped and had an ice cream and drink which I ordered in my very rusty French. I thought the cast members were all lovely and I thought this was helped by me at least attempting a bit of the language (you are in France after all)
We then went over to Phantom Manor which had a 15 minute wait and turned out to be our longest wait of the day. We both enjoyed this, I love all the detail. By now it was 1.25 and time to ride Big Thunder Mountain again which we enjoyed as much as the first time. We had a priority seating for the Blue Lagoon it was timed perfectly to go on Pirates of the Caribbean first of all.
We had to wait a couple of minutes to be seated which wasn't bad at all. Ric had a steak and I had a Surf n Turf which was delicious. The meal came in at 75 euros for our main courses, a beer and a non alcoholic cocktail which I thought was a bit pricey but had expected. The setting in the ride with the dimmed lights was beautiful.
We finished at around 3.15 and decided to go and find a spot to watch the 4pm parade. We got a spot on a bench in the circular gardens in front of the castle and sat and waited in the lovely sunshine. Parade was great as they always are and I got some great pictures.
We went back to Discoveryland and I left Ric on a bench (again) and used my hotel fastpasses to ride Star Tours and Space Mountain. We had been given 6 fastpasses when we checked into the hotel but had only used 2 so I gave the remaining 4 to a French family who were behind me in the queue. The standby line for Space Mountain was 75 minutes so again I was so glad that I had my fastpass (and didn't have to leave Ric for hours!)
We decided to head home via the shops as it was now about 5.30 and we had to get to the airport for our flight home. We collected the cases and walked over to the bus station to get the VEA shuttle which cost 14 euros per person. The bus had only picked up at the Disneyland Hotel before the bus station and it took 50 minutes just to pick up at the other Disney hotels. We had allowed loads of time so this wasn't a problem but an Italian family almost missed their flight because of this. Our flight was at 9.15pm, we landed at 10pm and were home for 10.30 which wasn't bad at all.
We had a fantastic weekend away and I will definitely be back to DLP in the future. The only downside was the cost. I did find it to be much more expensive than WDW.
Overall though I was pleasantly surprised
Right I'll finally get round to writing part 2. We've had a busy couple of weeks as Ric has just got a new job in Dublin so we've been sorting out our move over there.
Anyway back to the point in hand
Sunday 17th April
I woke up at 7.15am . I was still tired after the night befores concert but I couldn't get back to sleep so I packed the case and got ready.
It was now about 8.30 so I decided to give Ric some peace and quiet and go to the park to collect our tickets from Guest Relations (and hopefully have a sneaky go on Space Mountain - Mission 2). I walked round the lake and it was really peaceful and quiet at that time with only one or 2 people about....even the ducks were still asleep on the grass!
I went and got the tickets and it was now about 8.45 so I walked into an almost empty park and walked up Main Street USA just taking it all in. It was just magical seeing the castle without loads and loads of people in front of it and I of course stopped and took a few pictures.
I went over to Discoveryland for rope drop and got right to the front. Right on 9am a cast member came over and made an announcement in French. I heard the words Space Mountain and ferme which from my school days I knew meant closed. I don't know why but I thought he was joking.
As soonas the rope was dropped I ran the short distance to the ride with some other people but we were told (this time in English) that the ride would be down until 11am but we could go and collect fastpasses for later. I got 2 fastpasses and headed over to Fantasyland.
I had a quick ride on Peter Pan (which is a ride I really like but wouldn't want to wait in a long queue for) and then decided to test out getting more than 1 fastpass at a time which I had read about on these boards (thanks peeps)
I then headed over to Big Thunder Mountain and collected fastpasses for this as well. It was now time to head back to the Newport Bay as we had ordered room service for our Admirals Floor room which would be arriving at 9.30am. It was really weird heading out of the park just as the crowds were heading in.
I walked back through Disney Village and the little Minnie Mouse train was coming round the lake. I jumped on and paid my 2 euros (I can't believe you have to pay!) as my feet were already starting to ache and I still had a full day ahead of me.
I got back up to our room at 9.35 and breakfast was there waiting for us. We had ordered continental and cooked breakfast and there was loads. A basket with pain au chocolate, croissants and bread rolls then a plate with sausage, bacon and scrambled egg, a glass of orange juice and a big pot of hot chocolate. To be honest we would have prefered to have the cooked breakfast on it's own but you still got all the continental stuff automatically. I can't remember what the room service supplement was now but it was nice to have it there instead of having to be up and go down to a busy, crowded dining room.
We left the Newport Bay with our cases and headed back to Disneyland Park. We checked our cases in for the day with concierge which was approx 2 Euros per bag. There was now a huge queue at the Guest Relations desk which is where I had been earlier to pick up my travel agents ticket so I was really glad that I had collected it earlier on when there had been no queue at all.
I have to say that at both WDW and Disneyland Paris that I think the very best thing you can do if you do nothing else is to get to the parks alittle before the official opening time.
Our fastpass window was about to open for Big Thunder Mountain so we headed over to the ride. I always love bypassing the big queues with fastpass, I can't belive that still not everyone uses it. We saved ourselves an hours wait and walked on in less than 5 minutes. Wow!!! The DLP version of BTMR is a million and one times better than the WDW version, so much faster. We decided to get another set of fastpasses when we got off so we could ride again later on in the day (1.25 pm)
We gave away our Peter Pan fastpasses as our window was also coming up for Space Mountain. Standby line for Space Mountain was now 75 minutes so again I was glad of the fastpasses. I first went to DLP about 9 years ago with my Mum but I could remember nothing about the ride apart from the cannon at the begining. So therefore I can't really compare the new version to the old. What I can say is again what a vast improvement on the WDW version (which I always ride but always think it's not up to much) first of all you sit next to a person, then you've got that blast off up the cannon and then round and round in the dark. I think it's actually very similar to Rock N Rollercoaster but not as smooth and I did feel a bit battered and bruised when I got off. It was however a really exciting brillian ride and I decided that I would use one of the fastpasses the hotel had given us to ride it again later.
I went back to get Ric from the bench I had left him sitting on. Ric generally doesn't like rollercoasters although sometimes he will give them a try.... not today though.
It had turned into a most gorgeous, sunny warm day and I almost felt like I was in Florida. We both felt that this park was actually more detailed and prettier than the Magic Kingdom. If it had my favourite, Splash Mountain it would have been perfect. Obviously we had hit lucky with the weather and having experienced it on a wet and windy February day many years before I know it is not quite so appealing then and also the weather in this part of the world is why they don't have Splash Mountain. Why they did not build the park in Spain or somewhere sunny and warm is beyond me although Paris is easy for much of Europe to get to.
We next strolled in the sunshine to It's a Small World. The park was getting busy now but we were on within a 5 minute wait. It was after coming out of Small World that another difference with WDW suddenly hit me. You don't exit the rides into a shop, something that both my cynical husband and brother have hated and gone on about (they both see Disney as a big evil corporation and don't get the magic
)We stopped and had an ice cream and drink which I ordered in my very rusty French. I thought the cast members were all lovely and I thought this was helped by me at least attempting a bit of the language (you are in France after all)
We then went over to Phantom Manor which had a 15 minute wait and turned out to be our longest wait of the day. We both enjoyed this, I love all the detail. By now it was 1.25 and time to ride Big Thunder Mountain again which we enjoyed as much as the first time. We had a priority seating for the Blue Lagoon it was timed perfectly to go on Pirates of the Caribbean first of all.
We had to wait a couple of minutes to be seated which wasn't bad at all. Ric had a steak and I had a Surf n Turf which was delicious. The meal came in at 75 euros for our main courses, a beer and a non alcoholic cocktail which I thought was a bit pricey but had expected. The setting in the ride with the dimmed lights was beautiful.
We finished at around 3.15 and decided to go and find a spot to watch the 4pm parade. We got a spot on a bench in the circular gardens in front of the castle and sat and waited in the lovely sunshine. Parade was great as they always are and I got some great pictures.
We went back to Discoveryland and I left Ric on a bench (again) and used my hotel fastpasses to ride Star Tours and Space Mountain. We had been given 6 fastpasses when we checked into the hotel but had only used 2 so I gave the remaining 4 to a French family who were behind me in the queue. The standby line for Space Mountain was 75 minutes so again I was so glad that I had my fastpass (and didn't have to leave Ric for hours!)
We decided to head home via the shops as it was now about 5.30 and we had to get to the airport for our flight home. We collected the cases and walked over to the bus station to get the VEA shuttle which cost 14 euros per person. The bus had only picked up at the Disneyland Hotel before the bus station and it took 50 minutes just to pick up at the other Disney hotels. We had allowed loads of time so this wasn't a problem but an Italian family almost missed their flight because of this. Our flight was at 9.15pm, we landed at 10pm and were home for 10.30 which wasn't bad at all.
We had a fantastic weekend away and I will definitely be back to DLP in the future. The only downside was the cost. I did find it to be much more expensive than WDW.
Overall though I was pleasantly surprised
. We went in May 2003 and it was sunny and up to 30 degrees most of the time, but equally know people who have had a grim time trekking round with two kids in the snow last February - Spain would have been more sensible 
