Disney paris for a WDW vet observations just back

ellie05

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 24, 2012
This board doesn't move as fast as others boards in the dis so I figure I'll add information that I gather and found helpful through planning as well as some observations.

Arrival

We arrived in an early flight (8:40 am), but we actually end up landing earlier. At first we were planning on using the TGV to get to resort but after looking at the schedule for the day I was afraid we wouldn't make it on time and would have for the last one before a 2 hour break it had on the schedule. So I end booking isprestige for our transfer from CDG-Disneyland and from Paris- CDG. Service was great.

Hotel

We stayed at Disneyland hotel booked through the phone on UK offer. To do this from the US just call the 407 WDW travel company and say Disneyland Paris and you will be connected. The hotel has an amazing location but honestly for the price I am not sure I would go back to. The room was ok, the outlet situation is a complete mess there are not enough and placement of the few is horrible. Hotel Wifi is another mess. Overall I think this hotels is in urgent need of a renovation the carpets are very worn. For whatever reason the beginning of the hall our room was in smelled terrible and if we were close enough I would have asked to change rooms. Worth it for this one time I would choose differently if I was going back.

Studios

The park is tiny and honestly not many original rides to it. We loved Remy ride is very well done. Crush coaster also great. Nothing else is worth mentioning or has enough differences to its WDW counterpart.

Disneyland Parc

The Park is beautiful IMO prettier than MK. IASW, Pirates, Space Mnt, are better than the WDW counterparts. I love that you can walk through the castle and the detail of the Dragons dungeon. Phantom manor is better themed on the outside than at the MK and little spookier. BTRR is smoother than MK counterpart and has better details but as a ride I think the MK one gives me more butterflies so i prefer it (only riding in the last seat). The Snow white and Pinnochio rides are pretty scary much scarier that the HM IMO. PPF track is pretty rough. Illuminations was good but not much different than Once upon a time castle show. I much prefer night entreatment at the MK. The parade is shorter but it has some great floats. I found the size of the park to be super manageable and it doesn't feel overwhelming as the MK can.

FOOD

We had the Half board offer and breakfast at innovations was included. Breakfast was good and can't beat a view of the park. I made reservations over the phone getting connected through US line as mention above about a week in advance. We choose Remy's Bistro and Walt's for our meals. We love the teaming of Remy's but food was just ok. Also trying to get seated even with reservation was complete chaos at the hostess stand. Walt's on the other hand we were super impressed by food was very good some of the best we hand at a theme park. Service was also good except at the end when the waitress was a little pushy about mentioning a tip. We had the premier course menu at both which was included with our half board meal plan.

CM and Language barrier

We went fully prepare expecting people to be rude in France towards us and we found completely the opposite to be true. We encountered the nicest CMs. I can't even point out a bad interaction with one like I can from my WDW trips which we have encountered at least one every trip. Even the CM that didn't spoke english were happy to help even if it was through hand signals.

With that being said DH and I did about 6 months of French in rosetta Stone before our trip. And read and talk a lot to our french friends to understand their culture. I can't say this enough always make sure you say Bonjour before you ask anything, it should be the first thing that happens before any interaction.

QUEUES

Some queues are really wide and the line can be kind of a mess but everyone was respectful and we didn't encountered any problems Phantom manor and BTRR come to mind. Some queues really narrow PPF was one that had this problem if you are Pooh size this might be a concern. Also every ride had turnstiles and many queues have stairs.

OTHERS

Smoking in the parks I have read previously that it was a big issue and while we did see and smell it a few times it wasn't nearly as bad as expected and also saw CM approach people and ask them to put it off or direct them to a smoking area and in this case CM very much ore strict in enforcing the rules than their WDW counterparts which we loved.

I had to see the park infirmary and I just can't say enough good things about the staff. Everyone was so so nice. They had a much bigger staff that what I have seen at the MK in previous visits. Overall a much better experience than the florida counterpart.

The park after parades and night shows ends up much cleaner than the MK.

Attire is much more elevated at the parks than at WDW this is true for everywhere we visited in France. People don't wear much disney merchandise or even ponchos when it rains, but I have the feeling it is because of how they dress in general than something against wearing disney merchandise.


Photopass totally not worth it. We didn't get and we are glad we didn't we didn't saw any photographers through the parks.

Overall we enjoyed our time in Disney but we wouldn't go back. I would only recommend going if you are a Disney fanatic otherwise it is not worth your time if you have already visited a Disney park somewhere else. There are much better things to see and experience in France. We spend 2 days and I think it was the perfect amount I wouldn't dedicate any more time.

For internet connectivity we rented a MIFI which worked great not only in Disney but through our trip.

That is all I can think of right now if you have any questions I will be happy to help.
 
Good comments!

When we were there last month the CMs seemed to scared to approach smokers and selfie stick users.
 
Thank you for that great review!

As a DLP vet that loves going to WDW once in a while, I like so much reading experiences from people doing the opposite. :love:

Have you been able to see the nighttime show? This has been one of my MAJOR disappointment at WDW, where it seemed that park closing entertainment were more fireworks with Disney theming than Disney magic with fireworks.
 


Have you been able to see the nighttime show? This has been one of my MAJOR disappointment at WDW, where it seemed that park closing entertainment were more fireworks with Disney theming than Disney magic with fireworks.

Disney Dreams at DLP was my favourite castle show. I was disappointed with Illuminations.

Once Upon a Time at MK is now my favourite, Wishes was getting bland, and this OUAT adds some new sparkle to the night time show.
 
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Did you notice that the vibe at the main Disneyland Park wasnt as 'intense' as Magic Kingdom?

Sorry it took so long to answer. I am not sure what you mean by instese. I think there is a big difference in walking into the MK than Disneyland Parc. The castle at the MK is just much bigger and in a way more iconic since the MK is what most people think about when they imagine Disney. However Disneyland Parc is just beautiful. I found myself enjoying Disneyland Parc more because of smaller crowds and the size feels so much more manageable wait times weren’t super long either so I think those things really impacts your experience.
 
Good comments!

When we were there last month the CMs seemed to scared to approach smokers and selfie stick users.

Yes it is really frustrating! Ik Florida CMs seem they rarely want to intervine. I get no one likes confrontation, but unfortunately that is part of every customer service job.
 


Thank you for that great review!

As a DLP vet that loves going to WDW once in a while, I like so much reading experiences from people doing the opposite. :love:

Have you been able to see the nighttime show? This has been one of my MAJOR disappointment at WDW, where it seemed that park closing entertainment were more fireworks with Disney theming than Disney magic with fireworks.

I saw illuminations but heard that most people preferred Disney dreams. I never seen disney dreams. Night time shows in the MK have been moving in a direction of having more of a inclusive show of projections with fireworks vs a projection show and fireworks. I think we are going to star seeing a merge of the two more and more.
 
Yes it is really frustrating! Ik Florida CMs seem they rarely want to intervine. I get no one likes confrontation, but unfortunately that is part of every customer service job.

People tend to not smoke in WDW where they shouldn't

I saw illuminations but heard that most people preferred Disney dreams. I never seen disney dreams. Night time shows in the MK have been moving in a direction of having more of a inclusive show of projections with fireworks vs a projection show and fireworks. I think we are going to star seeing a merge of the two more and more.

Happily Ever After has more fireworks than Wishes did, so I'm happy!
 
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People tend to not smoke in WDW where they shouldn't

For the most part but now that there is vaping I have found more and more people not using it at the designated areas. I mean just in general CM rarely want intervine.
 

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