Quick 1st visit thoughts.

[finchy3]

Arrived for our 1st visit yesterday staying at the Disneyland Hotel which is beautiful.
We came with low expectations after always visiting Anaheim and the lone visit to WDW, we have been pleasantly surprised it is a lovely park which is spotlessly clean and well maintained, a few of the rides surpass Anaheim’s in my eyes ( Big Thinder Mountain & Hyperspace Mountain).
It was a lovely day in the park, although there were a few people strolling around smoking that was the only negative.
We are spending the day at Walt Disney Studios today hoping for another good day

 

[olafLover]

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[Karin1984]

Arrived for our 1st visit yesterday staying at the Disneyland Hotel which is beautiful.
We came with low expectations after always visiting Anaheim and the lone visit to WDW, we have been pleasantly surprised it is a lovely park which is spotlessly clean and well maintained, a few of the rides surpass Anaheim’s in my eyes ( Big Thinder Mountain & Hyperspace Mountain).
It was a lovely day in the park, although there were a few people strolling around smoking that was the only negative.
We are spending the day at Walt Disney Studios today hoping for another good day

Big Thunder Mountain in Paris is the best in the world
And after the last refurb, I love Space Mountain, in the previous cars I always came out with a headache.

 

[tink2424]

I'm not sure that I agree that the studios are not a full day park. There definitely isn't as much to do as in main park but for a first timer like me I did spend almost the full day there and probably could have used another hour or 2 to really see the fully park. Now I didn't take advantage of the extra hours in the morning which would have made all the difference in the world but I think for first timers there is a lot to take in and to see.

I guess I was just expecting a lot less so it did surprise me that I spent as long as I did in that park.

And I agree the parks are beautiful and I was pleasantly surprised by the Disneyland Hotel. I did feel that it was about as grand as the Grand Floridian. It didn't have all the same amenities but it had that same feel.

One last point is that I had really great luck with the food at the parks. We ate at Walt's & Bistro Chez Remy for 2 main meals and then lunch at Toad Hall which were all very good. I think I enjoyed the food more here than at DisneyWorld or Disneyland in the US. The food was that well done.

 

[finchy3]

On our last day of 4 today, we have really enjoyed our stay here at the Disneyland hotel.

The parks have impressed us so much we are now looking at maybe getting an Annual Pass for the year we don’t travel Stateside.

One year DL Anaheim then one year DL Paris, I will crunch the numbers on return to the UK to see if it’s workable.

 

[Karin1984]

On our last day of 4 today, we have really enjoyed our stay here at the Disneyland hotel.

The parks have impressed us so much we are now looking at maybe getting an Annual Pass for the year we don’t travel Stateside.

One year DL Anaheim then one year DL Paris, I will crunch the numbers on return to the UK to see if it’s workable.

That's good to hear Glad you enjoyed yourself, and once you get an AP, you will look for more ways to get back ;-)

 

[Maineiak]

One last point is that I had really great luck with the food at the parks. We ate at Walt's & Bistro Chez Remy for 2 main meals and then lunch at Toad Hall which were all very good. I think I enjoyed the food more here than at DisneyWorld or Disneyland in the US. The food was that well done.

Did you book your reservations for Walt's and Remy's in advance? Or wait until you go there? We arrive in 2 weeks!

 

[olafLover]

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[closetmickey]

We are staying at the DLH in July. Any tips? Favorite things we should seek out? Thank you!

 

[olafLover]

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[tink2424]

Did you book your reservations for Walt's and Remy's in advance? Or wait until you go there? We arrive in 2 weeks!

Hi, sorry for the delay as work has been busy! I booked in advance using the website and had no problems. Walts was pretty empty the day we went but Remy's was busy. I would definitely book in advance so you can be sure to get in. Have a GREAT time!!!

 

[Donalyn]

We just returned from our first trip to DLP yesterday. Here are my thoughts:

* DL park is so cute - the theming is great.
* The parks weren't busy when we were there, so we could do a lot and never had to grab a normal fast pass (which was good, since they didn't open right away when the parks did, we noticed.)
* The night show at DLP was great.
* Parks were clean, didn't see any real issues. (Although was surprised to see a man cleaning a women's room at one point.)
* Smoking was better than I was expecting - didn't see much outside of designated areas.
* Big Thunder Mountain is great!
* Loved Crush's coaster.
* Loved the Golden Forest check-in line at Sequoia
* CMs were all pleasant

A few cons:

* Not enough DL Paris branded merchandise. (and very little Pooh sized apparel).
* Breakfast at the Golden Forest had the exact same things on the buffet day after day. (The food was good, just wanted some variety. We did love the coffee machines, though.)
* Counter service was pretty slow, even when eating outside of normal times. (And we had a hard time understanding this, as each place has like 4 things on the menu.)
* A lot was being refurbished, which is necessary but also unfortunate when you likely will never be back to the park again.
* We didn't have enough time there, since we also needed to take the kids into Paris some too and we were exhausted after the first part of our trip in Italy.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

We were there with you @Donalyn! We took the train in from London on Sunday and returned last night after a one-night stay at the Disneyland Hotel (Castle Club).

Our "home" park is the original in Anaheim, but we'll have been to all the parks next month when we hit Tokyo. I was shocked by how much we loved Paris Disneyland! I don't know why it has taken me so long to get there, but we will definitely be back. The parks were charming, clean, and the CMs were *so* friendly. We absolutely loved Castle Club. We've done a number of VIP/concierge Disney offerings before, and I think CC was my favorite. The magic fast pass was awesome, as was the convenient entrance, afternoon tea, wonderful viewing for fireworks in the lounge, and the delicious character breakfast. We literally sat and had breakfast with Minnie and Donald for about 10 minutes! (They sat at our table with us). Crazy! The parks themselves were relatively light in crowds compared to the American parks, which was so nice. The food in the parks wasn't my favorite, but we only had a few meals so we managed. I'd done zero planning, which is unusual for me, but it was a last minute trip.

I loved the Ratatouille ride, and Crush's Coaster as well as BTMR. I still prefer the Disneyland version of SM but maybe that's because in Paris I was in the last car and my head was knocked around all over the place. It felt faster, but very jerky. We just managed to catch the show right before we left and so glad we did--absolutely loved it. Very very cute with enough English to make it easy to understand--I understand quite a bit of French, but they do a good job of going back and forth. Highly recommend.

The smoking was oft putting and people were doing it in the park even where it was supposed to be a no smoking zone, but what can you do? When in Rome, LOL!

 

[tink2424]

A few cons:

* Not enough DL Paris branded merchandise. (and very little Pooh sized apparel).

I totally agree with you on this and I noticed the same thing when I went to Hong Kong Disneyland too. You would think the non-US parks would have more branded merchandise. The options just weren't as plentiful and if you are going to spend a bunch of money on an item you want it to say that it is unique to that park you are visiting.

Additionally my Mom is pooh sized and that left her with even more limited options. Luckily she is pretty easy to please but this shouldn't be the case.

Finally, I think there should be an option to ship your items back to your home internationally if the guest wants. We did end up buying another suitcase to take our Disney swag home but I think we would have bought even more if it could have been shipped directly home from Disney like we can in the US.

Glad to hear you had such a GREAT time! I did too and hope to be back sometime again one day.

 

[Karin1984]

I totally agree with you on this and I noticed the same thing when I went to Hong Kong Disneyland too. You would think the non-US parks would have more branded merchandise. The options just weren't as plentiful and if you are going to spend a bunch of money on an item you want it to say that it is unique to that park you are visiting.

Additionally my Mom is pooh sized and that left her with even more limited options. Luckily she is pretty easy to please but this shouldn't be the case.

Finally, I think there should be an option to ship your items back to your home internationally if the guest wants. We did end up buying another suitcase to take our Disney swag home but I think we would have bought even more if it could have been shipped directly home from Disney like we can in the US.

Glad to hear you had such a GREAT time! I did too and hope to be back sometime again one day.

When it comes to merchandise, Disneyland Paris is a business and it's about supply and demand.

About the internationally shipping, I think that wouldn't be a deal many international travellers would go for. It's probably too expensive for most guests to set up a process.
Or maybe it's an European Insurance law thing, wouldn't be surprised if something like this exists.

 

[tink2424]

When it comes to merchandise, Disneyland Paris is a business and it's about supply and demand.

About the internationally shipping, I think that wouldn't be a deal many international travellers would go for. It's probably too expensive for most guests to set up a process.
Or maybe it's an European Insurance law thing, wouldn't be surprised if something like this exists.

Possibly, but one can dream! I'm not sure what they would have to do to "set" this up. I would think they would just box it up and use FedEx or something to ship it. And then the consumer has the choice to pay or not. Just throwing it out there.

 

[olafLover]

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[Karin1984]

I believe somebody (in a trip report) tried to send some stuff to the US, they asked the concierge in the DLH and it was possible, but really expensive

Yeah, it is. I once left a coat at a hotel in the US and checked with 3 companies, and each gave me a quote of over $100 to get back a 2kg coat.
I was just discussing it with a friend and she believes Disney could negotiate rates, but then it would probably only be a good deal if you agreed to wait a few weeks, and they could ship several pieces of merchandise for several guests back to the US in batches.

For Europe it might be more interesting, but then only for those from outside France, Benelux, Germany, as those come by car, so for those who come by plane or train.
We first need to investigate how many people who visit the parks buy merchandise, where are they from, how do they travel and would they buy more if they had shipping options.

 

[pamcarey]

For Europe it might be more interesting, but then only for those from outside France, Benelux, Germany, as those come by car, so for those who come by plane or train.
We first need to investigate how many people who visit the parks buy merchandise, where are they from, how do they travel and would they buy more if they had shipping options.

I have never heard the term Benelux before, so I looked it up to learn what it is. Thanks for helping me learn something new today!

 

[olafLover]

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