"Don't anger the dolls"-A France and DLP Trip, June '18-COMPLETED (4/22-ride comparisons)

[QUOTE="Cloe Colton, post: 59713257, member: 619416"]We found the timed security line to be super slow too! And we also got a stern look when we entered past our stated time. Like what am I supposed to do show up at 11am for a 2PM time??[/QUOTE]
Yeah, and we got stuck behind a school group. The kids were just goofing around and taking forever in the security line! But at least we both got in even though we were late! I think the workers are just told, let them in!

This would have been Gwen's Favorite part! For sure!!

So, how high up were you in teh Effiel Tower? Like ALL the way at the top?
Yeah, all the way! You can buy tickets just to the main platform which most people do. Another ticket will give you access to the very very top and I think those are much more limited in number (makes sense since there are smaller elevators to get up and smaller space up there). It is pretty freaky! I mean cool to say I did it, but I don’t think I will be a repeat visitor!

Hello! I'm just joining in now I think. Not sure I ever made a post that I was reading before but I'm def reading now and just did the quickest catch-up ever. Everything is so beautiful. I'm in such awe. I can't even pinpoint one thing. The countryside photos are almost pulled straight out of a fairytale. I'm living for it. And The Louvre... wow. It looks so different than I expected. I cannot wait to see and read about more! :mickeyjum
Oh just wait for the next part. I think you are going to pass out!
 
Everything looks so beautiful!

The tired/hangry moodiness is an unfortunate but common occurrence, especially on busy family trips. I'm visiting my dad right now and we just got back from camping/hiking and we were all like that at dinner time. :laughing:
 
Such awesome pics from the Eiffel Tower! I can imagine being up so high is pretty scary!

Glad you enjoyed your brief time at the Louvre. I'm sure it helped having it be so empty!

I think we all have those moments on vacations where we get a little cranky and snap. I'm glad you were still able to go out to dinner!
 


The Eiffel Tower...now that's something I'd love to see in person! I imagine visiting the top would be really scary!!

I'm surprised that you could take pictures in the Louvre...unless I'm thinking of somewhere else, I thought cameras were confiscated, etc. for that
 
This is bringing back soooo many wonderful memories. I went to Paris last summer and fell in love. I was gonna say that the Louvre didn't look too crowded when you were there. It was shoulder to shoulder when we went. Awesome report. Looking forward to more.
 
I love your trip report.
Thanks! It's fun to relive everything!

Everything looks so beautiful!

The tired/hangry moodiness is an unfortunate but common occurrence, especially on busy family trips. I'm visiting my dad right now and we just got back from camping/hiking and we were all like that at dinner time. :laughing:
Yeah, I think there were definite times when we all had it with each other! But the Airbnb was great for that - gave us separate rooms to decompress.

Such awesome pics from the Eiffel Tower! I can imagine being up so high is pretty scary!

Glad you enjoyed your brief time at the Louvre. I'm sure it helped having it be so empty!

I think we all have those moments on vacations where we get a little cranky and snap. I'm glad you were still able to go out to dinner!
We were pretty lucky with crowds. We visited in late May and I guess most of the worst crowds happen in July.

The Eiffel Tower...now that's something I'd love to see in person! I imagine visiting the top would be really scary!!

I'm surprised that you could take pictures in the Louvre...unless I'm thinking of somewhere else, I thought cameras were confiscated, etc. for that
No problem taking pictures in the Louvre. I think the only place that had signs about no cameras was Sacre Coeur, since it is an actual church. We were good about that, but of course 75% of the other tourists blatantly took photos!

This is bringing back soooo many wonderful memories. I went to Paris last summer and fell in love. I was gonna say that the Louvre didn't look too crowded when you were there. It was shoulder to shoulder when we went. Awesome report. Looking forward to more.
It was a fun trip and I think we all will have fond memories of it!
 


Just catching up. I can't believe how much you accomplished in one day. Definitely Disney type planning there. I agree that pre-buying tickets is must for the Eiffel Tower. We do not and it took about 4 hours to do the whole thing. We went up at night. We did pre-buy the tickets for the Louvre and like you had zero wait to get inside. I love Paris, but there is a lot to see and do.
 
Just catching up. I can't believe how much you accomplished in one day. Definitely Disney type planning there. I agree that pre-buying tickets is must for the Eiffel Tower. We do not and it took about 4 hours to do the whole thing. We went up at night. We did pre-buy the tickets for the Louvre and like you had zero wait to get inside. I love Paris, but there is a lot to see and do.
Definitely is a lot to see and do! Even though we had 6 nights in Paris, we barely scratched the surface!
 
Day 5, Part 1: Team Princess or Team Pirate?

Today I was excited about because it was going to be me, myself and I! I had requested from my mom to have a day when I can do things alone, since there was so much I wanted to see, and it wasn’t all places other people were interested in. But in reality…I was also using the opportunity to sneak away to someplace special for a couple hours!

I got up nice and early and left the apartment around 8 am (I think I did see Mom before leaving, but I’m not sure what time everyone else got up). Stopped at our nearby patisserie and grabbed breakfast – regular croissant and apple turnover (sorry I didn’t take a photo before they got a bit squished)

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Croissants: 3, Crepes: 4

Then onto the train station, where I caught metro to a more central station, then hopped on the RER. (Accidentally got on one that wasn’t going all the way I needed to, so I did have to get off at a station and switch over to the next train coming along… Any guesses where I was heading?)

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If you couldn’t tell, here is where I was heading:

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Yup, Disneyland Paris!

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You see, when I was checking some last things about 2 weeks before the trip I realized Hyperspace Mountain was going to be refurbed the entire time I was there (June 10-14)! I was honestly pretty upset because I was really looking forward to that ride. Literally as I was venting on my PTR, I came to a realization – how about I go for a morning one of the days I’m in Paris? One-day one-park tickets for that day (Mini level) were only $61. And trains were covered with my week pass. Yes, I would be giving up a few hours in Paris itself, but I decided to go ahead and do it!

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So, anyways, I knew the park opened at 10 (resort guests get EMH at 8:30-9:30). And I did need to get back to Paris proper, so I decided to try and aim to get there at 9, but no later than 9:30 (I arrived at train station at 9:20). Good decision too, since really, they let in everyone at 9:30 (they consistently did this during my actual stay too, but I don’t remember if any rides besides the EMH rides were open in that 30 minutes as I never tried to go on them).

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At 9:34am I had my first views of the gorgeous castle (and it was a beautiful day – actually nicer than any of the days when I actually visited…but that’ll come up later). I purposefully kept my head down as I walked into the park and onto Main Street until I was right in the center, then looked up to take in the castle all at once. Unfortunately the scrim around Casey Jr sort of messes with the view, but it was still a gorgeous sight!


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I didn’t have a whole lot of time to waste, as I was rushing to Hyperspace Mountain.


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To find a 5 minute wait! Woohoo! I had thought I’d need to go single rider or get a FP, but that line wasn’t even open and they hadn’t started distributing FP tickets.


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First ride, I got to go in the first row! I also discovered they don’t line up people for different times in a row; like you know in WDW, they will have multiple groups lined up ready to go one after the other. When I went to go and get in line right after the other person, the CM had to stop me! After my experiences with guests later on I realized that most of them wouldn’t realize they had to wait until the next round.


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Anyways, I wanted to take a video from front row, but the CM made me put my phone away. And that was probably a good thing – it’s a pretty rough ride (really similar to RnRC). But it was AWESOME! Wow, just great! The Star Wars projections were used to great effect, with full screens and lots more action than the version at DL. Really top notch job they did!


While I couldn’t take an on-ride video (and to be fair, it would have turned out pretty crappy), here is one from someone else (it doesn’t give the full effect, but you get the idea)


Also, the ride setup is definitely different. Loading is actually outside, just under a covered area. The car is also very deep, and I almost tripped getting in and out!

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Then the vehicle goes inside a tube a bit (with SW music blaring), before you stop in the “blaster”, and then launch into the actual building, but the launch tube is also partially open to the outside. Though the launch isn’t as fast as RnRC or California Screamin/Incredicoaster.

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So, out and I looped back around, and it was still a 5 minute wait!

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Which wasn’t an exaggeration! I spent a bit more time taking photos in the queue – which is a steampunk style, but with added Star Wars diagrams.


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After this time, I realized I needed to pause for a moment, so I found my way to a bench in the shade and had some water – my motion sickness was definitely finding me again! If I had wanted to, I could have done it over and over again with no wait, but I knew my body would not be able to handle it. So, I got to ride it twice and it was awesome!


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Afterwards, I stopped in the Nautilus walkthrough. That was advertised to be under refurb during my trip, but it ended up getting postponed, so I could have done it 2 weeks later (though didn’t really impact anything this day). Very cool and so detailed! I love the mechanical eye that opens/closes showing the giant squid! Very impressed! I mean even the exit turnstile looks like a ship propeller!

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(another better video not taken by me)

So, now I was done with my first order of business and passed by an awesome store window display as I was leaving Discoveryland!

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And saw one of the faux-piaries of Tinkerbell (I think this was repurposed from a previous Spring Festival, but I still think it’s cute). (I also need to give my sister the credit for the term faux-piary, after seeing the fake glitter topiaries in Downtown Disney during Pixar Fest)


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It was onto my other priority for this brief visit – Princess vs Pirates!

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This year they added a new event to the DLP schedule: Princesses & Pirates Festival. Obviously, it had two teams – Team Princesses and Team Pirates. There were a couple entertainment things, including a Captain Jack entertainment thing in Adventure Isle and the Princess Promenade (just Sophia the First and Elena walking down Main Street).


But the big ticket attraction was Make Your Choice – a mini parade/show. During my research into DLP I started following a bunch of twitter accounts and they all LOVED the show, so I watched so many videos and became a bit obsessed with it (so unlike me…). It starts out at each end of the parade route, with Princesses at one side and Pirates on the other side. Team Princesses include Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Tiana, Rapunzel, Merida, and Moana. They are led by Betty Rose and Mickey. Team Pirates includes Captain Hook, Smee, Peter Pan, Wendy, and Jake the Neverland Pirate; they are led by Jimmy Ocean and Minnie (can we appreciate that they let a girl be in charge of the pirates). They come out and make a show stop (either along Main Street or at the side-Castle Stage), and do a whole show/dance based on their “team”. Everyone got new outfits for the festival, with princesses focusing on flowers, while pirates got very bright colors (I think the inspiration was as if kids themselves were drawing everyone).

After the show stop, the teams proceed back onto their floats and continue on to the Hub, which had four stages built in the planters. They split up, Princesses on one side and Pirates on the other side. Then they do a whole joint song/dance. Betty Rose and Jimmy Ocean trade quips (while the song is in English, they spoke French, so I didn’t understand most of it, but apparently it’s pretty funny). And in the end there is a truce and everyone bows to each other. They board their floats again and continue back to the opposite end of the parade route. And it is repeated several times a day.

You guys really need to watch some of these videos to see just how wonderful it is! I don’t think you can feel sad or upset when you watch that!


What DLP did too was really get the fans involved. There are particular dances for each team, and before the shows premiered they posted youtube videos to teach people how to do the dances. I visited on the last day, and people were just gathered in the Hub and knew every step, so it became a huge, happy dance party!

I originally was bummed out that I wasn’t going to get to see it, but when the whole Hyperspace Mountain refurbishment came about, I realized I could visit on the last day of the festival and actually see it!

Back onto my visit – I decided to stake out a spot for the castle stage show, because I checked all the videos beforehand and that seemed to be the best spot. No rope spots were available, but I found a spot in the center right behind a family (I think from Japan – they had a parade mat, and were pretty polite…). I figured, combine a little kid, plus shorter adults, and I’d probably still have a great view. I truly loved the show and it was just so so so pretty to look at and listen to! I also loved how each princess did the same basic dance but kept their unique personality – Moana was strong, Merida was feisty, Rapunzel was goofy, Tiana swayed her hips, Aurora kept it classic, etc.

So, enjoy a handful of photos from the show. (note – this is after culling out an insane amount. My mom glanced at my photos afterwards and she said it was like a flip book where you could watch the whole dance due to the amount of pictures I took!)

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Afterwards I high-tailed it over towards the Hub. My goal was to get there in time to make it into the center before they closed off the walkway. And I just made it! Yippee!

I first waved to the Princesses as they arrived behind me (their float was also quite lovely to look at – you’ll get a better view later in the TR).

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And then saw the pirate ship coming up Main Street.

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During the center show I ended up getting a spot right in front of Jimmy Ocean and the Peter Pan crew, who is pretty awesome. I did end up taking video of that, so please excuse my horrible quality! Also my camera picked up the haze from the sun, so not the best photos either. But it was sooo fun!



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You can sort-of see that, while the Pirates don’t have as many specific characters, their supporting cast does a whole acrobatics number, with the ship turning into a trampoline! I really was hoping to see them in front of the Castle Stage, especially because then Peter Pan gets in on the action and “flies”


I also went over to get a better look at Minnie and her crew before she left the stage.

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And caught Captain Hook trying to steal a girl’s Remy!


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Bye Pirates! I think, despite loving all the Princess dresses, I am more Team Pirate! The Festival will be back next year, though is switching to January - March (which I don't quite agree with - it feels like a Spring festival). If you get a chance to see it - take it!

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On way out I took some more photos of decorations. Meet, Patchy McLampost (that way you could tell if you were on the Pirates side of Princess side of the Hub)!

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Plus Aristocats faux-piaries. They really need to have similar (real) ones at Flower and Garden!

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On the way out I stopped to get a muffin from Cookie Kitchen, which was fine, but not exactly amazing (not WDW/DLR bakery quality)

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They had a couple more decorations at the front of the park (Mary Poppins themed)

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So I waved goodbye to DLP, at least for now! It was a brief stop but totally worth it and made me even more looking forward to getting back in 1.5 weeks!

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Glad you got on Hyperspace mountain with no wait twice!

Love the Tinkerbell and Aristocats faux-piarys!

The Pirates vs Princesses entertainment sounds awesome! Great photos! Minnie's outfit is too cute.
 
Love the history and your pictures of the Eiffel Tower and The Louvre!
We were there pre 9/11 so we didn’t have the security lines, ahh simpler times!

DLP how fun! The Princess and the Pirates parade/show looks really fun, thanks for all the pictures and videos!
 
Glad you were able to hop over to DLP for the morning and try out Hyperspace Mountain. I completely agree with your assessment of it. The SW effects were awesome, but you can't ride it a lot because it's really rough!!

Aw man, that Pirate/Princess show looked awesome!!! I really wish Landon could have seen it, he would have loved it.
 
The whole theme of Space Mountain overall is very intreesting.... Makes we think that they could really update tomorrowland.

I love the steampunk vibe!

Then the vehicle goes inside a tube a bit (with SW music blaring), before you stop in the “blaster”, and then launch into the actual building, but the launch tube is also partially open to the outside. Though the launch isn’t as fast as RnRC or California Screamin/Incredicoaster.

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This seems really cool.

This seems like a great alternative to the original.

All of it looks really cool.

This whole event looked great. Glad you were able o squeeze it in!
 
Glad you were able to hop over to DLP for the morning and try out Hyperspace Mountain. I completely agree with your assessment of it. The SW effects were awesome, but you can't ride it a lot because it's really rough!!

Aw man, that Pirate/Princess show looked awesome!!! I really wish Landon could have seen it, he would have loved it.
Him and Evie! You guys should totally try another quick weekend getaway early next year to see it! With the costumes and the pirates, wow!
 

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