Well, this time I will try to write this little report. Please excuse my bad english and be creative if I didn麓t explain things like you english speaking population would do that :-)))
Thanks in advance!
So, it was good friday early in the morning and we were on our way to Paris. YES, Paris... My girl had a BIG wish and she always wanted to see Disneyland Paris. (well, imagine, we are in Florida EVERY year at least 4 - 6 weeks and are always in Disney)
I didn麓t get this wish but hey, I just booked a trip to Paris over easter beginning good friday till monday.
And so we headed west towards Paris 7 am. Had a good speed (220 Km/h) until we arrived in Aaachen (Belgium Border). Only 120 Km/h allowed at any time!! Yuck!
Ok, had a big traffic jam near Bruxelles but after 7 hours (!) we arrived safely at Disneyland.
We had a lovely Hotel but this is not really relevant here in the orlando forum and so I will reduce this report a bit and I try to compare DW vs. DL.
This afternoon we went down to Paris (which is a 40 min train ride away!!) and had a GREAT evening. Paris is nice but don麓t ever THINK that parisienne will HELP you in any way... (well, not Orlando related either and so I cut this out, too)
Saturday, first day in Disney!
We LOVE Disney and we are probably the biggest fans you can find around the world and so we were exited to go there!
Woke up 7 am because we wanted to be there right in time for the opening and we expected heavy crowds over easter.
We dicided to have our dinner in the park after riding the best rides once.
When we arrived 8:30 we were very surprised that we were able to get a parking spot right in the 2nd line.
First comparison between Florida and Paris is parking:
Florida wins by far. In Florida everything is organized and well planned. In Paris 2 guys stood around, showing somewhere in the direction where we should be able to find a parking spot.
08:40...
Way to the park. Music all around but still very light crowds (not to say we were alone)
Made it to the gate and we had to change voucher into ticket.
Then realized that the park opens at 10 am... ******!
Went over to Disney Village to have our Breakfast. Not so easy. It is a small place with one Planet Hollywood, a Steakhouse, one german restaurant and a sandwich store. A few shops and that was about it.
second comparison:
Downtown Disney vs. Disney Village
That谩 a bit unfair because Disney village can be built 3 to 4 times only in the parking area of downtown disney. Of course Florida won and everything was just far away from the magic you get in Disney World.
Still got our brekki (new york style) which was one piece of toast with scrambled eggs and a piece of bacon.
That was not very much (almost nothing) and I opted for a muffin (yummy).
Well, prices are insane there! NEVER EVER complain again in DW !! This breakfast was 7 EURO per person plus 2 Euro Cafe and 2,50 for the muffin. That麓s 20,50 Euro which is around 27 Dollar. BTW, cafe was a small one :-)
Ended our breakfast and went over to DL at 9:30 just to realize that Disney discided to let the people in shortly after 9 because of the crowds.
WHAT??
Yeah, we went in and walked Main Street USA.
A little different in Paris. Nicely done.
We instantly went to Discovery Land to ride Space Mountain Mission 2. YES, in Discovery Land!
Only a 20 min wait. GREAT ride! So much faster and better than the Florida Mission 1! A lot of fun!
Took Fast Passes and after a little shopping in Discovery Land we rode it again. I asked the CM if we can ride in the back this time (had front row the first time) but he just stared at me. I asked again and he responded in french. Even asking a third time didn麓t bring success so we had the front row again. Rode it, had fun, raved :-)
We left the car and saw ';our'; castmember, talking to a lady from asia. Guess what, in a perfect english of course!
We had this several times. In DL with castmembers and even in paris (we asked a member of the train company for help) but noone ever pesponded in english!!! That was very disgusting and we found that very rude, but hey, it麓s theire country, right?
comparison 3: friendlyness:
hands down, this is no question.
Florida wins again by far! Sooo many nice CM always a smile on the faces, helpful and nice.
NOTHING like that in DL. NO smile at ALL! (i麓m not kidding!)
That麓s about CM... The crowds were not better at all. Spitting, queue jumping, even pushing from the back was the rule there... No conversation, no smile! BAD!
Don麓t want to complain, we can be on our own very good and we don麓t need to meet new people and talk to them. BUT we like it and it is always a pleasure in Florida.
Is it the air?????
We had a great day though and there are 2 exceptions where DL won the comparison!!
- Space Mountain
- It麓s a small world (newer!)
The rest was OK but not DW...
Ok, prices again...
I was a bit hungry and so we went for a snack.
Several places with lots of options!
small portions!
For example:
A menue with a baguette (or pizza) with a small chips and a soda (0,5 liter) for 15 Euro. That is 20 Dollar. PER Person.
In the evening we wanted to have a nice dinner and some wine. We went to the steak house and we had a look into the menue. MAN, 40 Euro per person for a steak with fries... (54 Dollar)
Well, I always enjoy to have a GOOD dinner with a GOOD wine and expect to pay a little more than normal. But HEY... 54 Dollar???
We went to planet hollywood and had a cheeseburger with chips (17 Euro, 23 Dollar). Was nice and we still enjoyed the dinner! Had an appetizer plate for 18 Euro which was very nice too!
The table behind me was there since 5 minutes and he asked the server if he can order something sometimes... The waiter asked if he wants to complain. And IF so, there is the door and you can leave anytime you want (that is the original answer).
OK, long story short...
2nd day was Hollywood Studios! (or what it was supposed to be!)
We entered the park and headed right onto ToT. Nice but a little different. Your lift only moves a few steps back and you are in the free fall tower....
Then Rock麓n Roller Coaster. What was that??
Only a plastic wall as decoration showing a disk.
The pre show was 1 min and no music in the boarding area.
The ride was the same BUT the cheap version without neon lights, traffic signs, EVERYTHING! It was really just a BAD copy!!!
The Studios are soooo small that you can walk from one end (RRC) to the other (animatronic) in less than 3 minutes!
Everything is just plastic, the pavement is bad (like an old road) and no magic anywhere!
Sorry for the bad review but the studios are nothing like disney!!!
I really think that Disneyland is nice. Some rides are better than florida and they have some rides, florida can not offer. But you can SEE that disney put a lot of magic in it back in 1992 and the perfection of disney can be seen everywhere (even if the park is only half of Magic Kingdom!)
But the Studios just seem to be a cheap version of the studios in florida. They had to do something new but didn麓t want to spend money. And so it is... only a shadow of the real one!
All in all we had a great time and we got to see the DL in Paris too. That is awesome for real Disneyfanatics and that麓s what counts, right??
One last word about prices. Disney Hotel, Park Tickets and Meals... 2 Days, 3 Nights... 1000 Euro! (1300 Dollar)
I will never complain about prices in Florida again...Iwill never complain about prices in Florida again...I will never complain about prices in Florida again...Iwill never complain about prices in Florida again...
Sorry for the long story but this was what I really want to say.
Next stop: DISNEY WORLD!!!
Next Year: DL Hong Kong! (maybe better!???)
Have a magical day everyone!!
Disneyland Paris VS Disney World (sorry, Loooooong!)
I guess I should have posted this here instead of the other thread. Anyway, my two cents:
Disneyland Paris is NOTHING like the Magic Kingdom. The rides are slightly better - I%26#39;ll give them that - but they fall short in every other way. From rude cast members to lack of crowd control to how they take care of how the place looks.
On one day we went there we only found one cast member that spoke English, and he was German. NONE of the French CMs at the turnstiles spoke English. Yes, I know we were in France, but I%26#39;m not being an ugly American here. The largest group of people visiting Disneyland Paris - at least when I checked before my trip - is not the French but people from the UK! You would think they would have their English-speakers at the front of the park to help out. In fact, one of the English couples we met said that at one of the attractions, the French cast member asked if anyone spoke French. No one did. Most spoke English and a few spoke German. She said, ';Well, I%26#39;m going to do this in French.'; She did her dialogue, pausing for crowd response, only to have everyone just staring back at her blankly. Ridiculous!
Nobody waited in line at DLP. They would crush in a huge crowd around fast pass lines, concession lines, and many would walk right past you in ride lines without a second care. A guy from the UK and I got shoulder to shoulder to keep people from getting by us and they would glare at us like WE were the ones doing something wrong.
Also, we passed the same food spill three times over the course of the day. No one cleaned it up in over six hours.
Magic Kingdom is heaven compared to Disneyland Paris. But then, DLP is majority owned by a French consortium who just doesn%26#39;t care about keeping things Disney-like.
Lastly, I do have to say that while the French CMs were the rudest people we met on our trip, the French people we met in Paris and Versailles were absolutely the most gracious, friendly, and polite people ever. Without exception, every French resident we came across was as nice as can be. My wife and I found it amazing that the only rude people we met on our trip were Disneyland employees!
Disneyland Paris VS Disney World (sorry, Loooooong!)
Oh, and the dragon that lives under the castle in Disneyland Paris is a really nice touch. But as floridianer mentioned, everything that Disney actually built is fantastic. It%26#39;s what they%26#39;ve done since giving up controlling interest that makes DLP so bad.
It makes you wonder why the Disney folks couldn%26#39;t have built their European park in Spain. THAT would have been a much better place.
Im sorry you had a bad time, I used to love DLP until we experienced WDW we made the mistake of going to DLP the same year and like you hated it.
My mum recently offered to take the whole family on a special trip to DLP to celebrate her 60th birthday but I had to put her off as i knew it would be a disapointment for my kids who are avid WDW fans. I did a series of quotes for her, then did a few for Florida...the prices were amazing, I could get 10days WDW with flights for a few hundred pounds more than 4days in DLP via eurostar and the dining plan in DLP was only 1meal whereas WDW was 2 cs, 2 snacks and 1 refill cup!! Mum is now considering joining us in WDW during our trip in december instead.
Thanks so much for the comparisons, I found it very interesting. I will probably never get to Disneyland Paris, and now I don%26#39;t mind. Long live Disneyworld.
I haven%26#39;t been to Disneyland Paris so can%26#39;t compare the two but I will say that it is quite rare for younger generations of French people not to be able to speak English. They just choose not to. I have heard that from so many people.
Thanks for the report, it was very informative.
:o)
We usually describe Disneyland Paris as %26#39;Disney without the Magic%26#39;! We have been many times to Florida and Paris just does not compare! The worst things we found were the rudeness of the cast members and the fact that people just don%26#39;t know how to stand in a line! My daughter was 2 when we went (7 years ago) and I lost count of the number of times she was knocked out of the way by adults trying to get on the rides first - had to be seen to be believed. Needless to say we will never visit Disneyland Paris again and are going to Disney World in Flordia for our 11th visit in October this year!
Friends have often asked us why we go all the way to Orlando to go to Disney, when there is one so close. I always reply, that first and foremost, we don%26#39;t go just for Disney and secondly, I have heard too many stories like the two posted above.
I have to agree that, whenever we have been to France, the French people have always been very nice to us, so that, to me at least, their reputation for rudeness is unfounded. It makes it hard to understand why they are so rude and ignorant at DLP.
Thanks to both of you for your reports and I think if I want a dose of Disney, I will stick to our friends in the US.
I agree DLP is great if you haven%26#39;t been to Orlando, once you have there is no comparison.
It remains the case, as I was told several years ago, if you want to visit Disneyland Paris, go before you have been to Walt Disney World, Orlando.
I think I must be one of these people that attracts rude people! I have been to France several times now and I remain convinced that they are the rudest people on the planet. I am sure that there are some lovely French people out there, it is just that I am yet to meet one!
';Eurodisney'; would have been so much better in Germany or Spain!
B x
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