Photo TR - Disneyland Resort Paris

[Paul Arthur]

Part 3.... Disneyland park continued...

I leave you with a pretty shot of the castle all lit up.

Main Street all lit up as we left.

We finished up with one last ride on Space Mountain.

As the sun sets, we got the first beautiful sky in 2 days.

By the end of the day, the brick work was not finished.

For dinner, we went to the all you can eat Plaza Gardens buffet on Main Street.

One of the many overflowing trashcans we saw at the Disneyland park.

These Lumiere 15 year anniversary figures were all around the center hub.

This was the only time we saw Ratatouille characters out. You'd think that a popular and current movie set in Paris would be more promoted here.

We caught the end of the 'Candlebration' show.

Outside we saw what looked to be this guy dealing something looking like packs of drugs out to the girls. The hats just made this all the more strange.

Under the castle is an animatronic dragon. You can easily miss the entrance if you don't look hard.

As we exit the Labyrinth, we can't help but wonder if we're in Anaheim.....

From atop this castle, we see the back of Sleeping Beauty castle and the Tower of Terror in the distance.

This was closed all 3 days we were there.

Distant view of Space Mountain. As you can see the crowds are getting bigger.

From atop the castle, we can see the back of the Pirates show building facade.

View from the top of the castle.

The Queen of Hearts' castle.

Back of the Queen of Hearts' castle.

This very visible area was really attractive...

Most of the pop up figures weren't working.

The eyes spin around.

Notice the kid freely climbing around on set pieces.

Into Alice's Labyrinth.

Many of the topiary figures had not filled out yet. I think this is a frog....

It's like dinner theatre... only with concession stand food and and more modern dance.

For lunch, we headed in to see the Lion King show.

One of the Tweedles came over to sit with Rebekah on the bench to keep her company. I like the expression of the guy sitting next to her.

Jessie was pushed up against the same fence into a position that, I imagine, can't be comfortable.

Characters get off the train only to be mobbed by children wanting autographs. Scrooge was pushed up against a fence to the point of crushing.

This character train travels down through Main Street every hour. The first couple times, the theme is catchy.... after 5 times it really drives you insane.

We checked out the Tarzan show... basically 30 minutes of group acrobatics and tumbling.

There was a lot throughout the park that needed to be repainted.

Refurbishing one of the brick walkways.

This version features the better blasters that aren't attached.

Buzz's nose was off from his projection. It was quite disturbing in person.

Over to Buzz Lightyear.

.....Two more people were treated for head bangs by park medics.

As we were standing near the exit.....

At the top of the launch, just before you go into the show building.

Inside the tube, right before launch.

I decided to give it one more chance... this time in the front seat.

[terrancew_hod]

At night, the ending drop diving under the water is amazing. It seems to go on and on forever.

 

Awesome pictures. Thanks for posting them.

 

--James

 

And thank you for spoiling the surprise for me when I go on the TPR trip next month.

 

When they say nice surprises, let's keep 'em that way 'eh?

 

Terry

[SharkTums]

Great TR!

 

I've merged them together as I think it tells the story better then to have them in different threads.

[Paul Arthur]

Awesome! Thanks Elissa...

[Nemesis Inferno]

Quite a few problems over there then...

 

Shame really, especially over the mechanical issues, sounds more like a trip to Thorpe than a Disney park... Seems to be a lot more q-jumping over there in Continental Europe than in the UK as well... I can see myself being hassle when I go, must learn the French for 'That's jumping the queue you silly ejit'

 

I look forward to my trip in July regardless... As long as it's not busy...

[Paul Arthur]

Seems to be a lot more q-jumping over there in Continental Europe than in the UK as well...

 

This is very true... we spent a total of 10 days split between London and Paris before going to Disney. We had similar line problems at many of the Paris tourist attractions..... but very few, if any, in London.

 

BTW Nemesis... We enjoyed our stay in your city very much and hope to return there sometime soon.

[dino]

The TOT advertisements look pretty cool, but it seems like overkill. All of the anniversary signs down main street are a bit much, but they do look really nice lit up at night. Overall great pics from a cool park, seems pretty unique among the magic kingdoms.

[packfanlv]

Thanks for the TR. You have posted so many great pics.

 

I think the pictures of the parade characters with their undergarments were hilarious. It is a shame that so many things are breaking and in disrepair. I will be there in three months and have high hopes, but after seeing your TR I will lowering my expectations a bit.

 

For Pirates and Phantom Manor, two of the headline attractions to have effects and audio missing is inexcusable IMO. I am looking forward to Thunder Mountain and the Indy coaster though.

 

As for line cutting I have never seen anything like it is here in Southeast Asia. People will knock you out of the way to cut you off or simply push their way past. It sure makes me miss the rowdy teenagers in American parks. (Ok, not so much!)

[Groteslurf]

Great pictures from Disneyland aswell.

 

It's true, nowhere in Europe people queue better than in the UK. I was amazed about the discipline at the waiting rows in the UK parks.

 

I just found following link to a video of the official opening of ToT. I wish I was there during that opening. The effect on the tower were just great.

Link

[coastercrazed49]

Great Trip Report.

Disney Land Paris looks awesome. Also it was really nice for the cast member to right you up a fast pass since there was none left. The main street looks really nice to, its looks really cool be completely bricked. Do they still run the Indiana Jones cars backwards?

[SharkTums]

It's really a bummer to hear about all of the problems on Phantom and Pirates as those two are both my favorite versions out of all of them!

 

I hope they get that fixed up by summer!

[Absimilliard]

Indiana Jones was turned back forward at the end of 2006... It just wasn't very popular when it ran backward!

[ghost007jas]

Fantastic report, thanks for sharing!

 

It looks like DLP has better versions of many standby attractions (Phantom Manor, Space Mountain, Big Thunder, etc..) but it seems like the over all park experience is subpar for a Disney park. From many reports I've seen countless examples of technical problems, guest problems and even employee problems.

 

I think I'm starting to see why this resort gets a bad rap sometimes.

[Paul Arthur]

it was really nice for the cast member to right you up a fast pass since there was none left.

 

I think it was an idea that seemed great at the time, but since there was no counter to ration how many were given out... it became kind of a mess later on in the evening when everyone returned to use them. I suspect that the fastpass return line was as long, if not longer, than the standby line.

[nojarama]

Thanks for your fabulous trip report & piccies. From what I read on another forum, PM is supposed to get a refurb later this spring. Haven't heard about POTC though. Thanks again for sharing your experience at a park I drool at visiting one day soon!

[Bopshop]

Cool pics.

 

You said this was closed during your trip.....

 

 

It's just a food kiosk and access to a backstage area on the left and a seating area around to the right or have I been missing something on all my visits?

[coastercrazed49]

^I don't know if its just a food Kiosk, because if you look at the buckets they have guard rails along the side. Why would they put that there if no one rides it and its just for show?

[Bopshop]

^I don't know if its just a food Kiosk, because if you look at the buckets they have guard rails along the side. Why would they put that there if no one rides it and its just for show?

 

I've visited from the UK about 10 times in the last 3/4 years and never seen that. I know at Christmas, they fill the buckets with presents as the area features as Belle's Village.

[Brad_G]

it used to be a ride but they stopped using it a few years back.

[Owain11]

Yes, it use to be a ride but due to low capacity it shut.

As a BIG DLRP fan i am shocked at this report about how bad the resort looked when you visited, but glad you still had a good time.

 

Just to add some information to some terrible guests;

Climbing on fountain/Ride props - This has been a big trouble lately since cars opened when people were climbing over Luigi and guido which linked to people no longer being able to have photos with them, there are now fences blocking them all thanks to direspectful people, there were even photos of adults sitting on them !

 

But now to see people climbing in the TOT fountain is unbelievable. And on the props in Alices Curious Labyrinth which is also bad as it is going down hill and aprantly euro disney cut its maintenance !

So we do not no when it will be fixed up, hopefully after summer there will be a huge maintanance on it.

 

Well im very sad to see the state that the resort was in during your trip !

 

Owain

[Bopshop]

Funny you should mention that, as you can see from this pic, I met John Lasseter outside the ride last year and his big comment to me was about that fact people could climb all over them.......they did eventually put in some barriers to prevent it.

 

[crogiez]

Hello i am french

and my home is near DisneyLand PARIS

 

I can write for any problem with PARIS, DISNEY, PARC ASTERIX,...

 

French Kiss from FRANCE

[Owain11]

Funny you should mention that, as you can see from this pic, I met John Lasseter outside the ride last year and his big comment to me was about that fact people could climb all over them.......they did eventually put in some barriers to prevent it.

 

Off topic; to add to this now they have developed the fences to this;

Not as nice as without them but if it keeps people from climbing on them

 

Source; http://www.photosmagiques.com/wdsfans

[JayJay]

Nice Trip-Report.

Always interesting to read about the impressions that Americans get, while traveling Europe.

I am guilty. That fence is my fault!

[microsan]

Hello everyone,

 

Although this should be -as far as I remember- one of my first posts on this board, I decided to take a moment to comment different subjects I've read in this topic.

 

Concerning the date of your trip : perhaps did you ignored it at that time but May 1st, 2nd & 3rd were "test dates". Explanation : For 3/4th of the year Walt Disney Studios regular operating hours are 10am to 7pm.

 

On that particular days, it was both an extended and special opening as a test to keep the WDS park opened later for "very peak dates". (i.e : 8pm and 9pm)

 

It was also crowded because in France May 1st is a bank holiday (Labour Day=Fete du Travail) and many people took a long week end -4 days- as a short break.

 

Concerning the Flying Carpets, as far as I know, in the USA the ride is indeed in Adventureland. For any unknown reason it has been set in the WDS since the opening (March 16th, 2002). I must be honest : it won't never have as much guests as Dumbo or Peter Pan but it is not always as empty as your pictures let it think !

 

About "queue jumping" : One more time must be sincere : it happens ! But the cheaters are not always the "Frenchies". Just as an example : spanish people start to queue up with 2 or 3 in the party and end at 10 Next time -if any- you see it happens just advise one of my fellow crew members : even if it is not as official as it should be Disney does not joke with improper behavior (in queues for instance)

 

Concerning the attendances of Crush's Coaster. As one of the member of TPR quoted it Crush's Coaster theorical ride capacity is ca. 900 rph (riders per hour). Considering the fact that service interruptions are now rare (compared to June 2007 during the first months of operation) and that technical issues have been fixed we can offer the maximum number of "turtles" on the track. Therefore wait times varies between 45 to 90 mn. I understand that this might look very long -especially when your time is precious- but it is unfortunately difficult to throw people away and avoid them to ride this "E-ticket".

 

My advice : enter the line around 6.45 pm (15 minutes before the entrance of queue lines close in the park), ignore the electronic od showing a over estimated wait time and.... have fun quicker than ever in the day !

 

Concerning the single riders line and the fast pass for Crush it is still being processed. What is sure is that there will be at least one of the two solutions offered "soon". The issue is that when imaginers decided to set Nemo's friends in Paris they never imagine that it would be so popular. Furthermore, the minimum size to take part was 1.20 meters (vs 1.07 meters now). The main challenge is that we need to re-design the queue line and considering that the ride is still a hit, we can't imagine refurbish the ride and close the ride for now (even for 2 or 3 days). We would be in an awful mess with guests comments.

 

concerning the question of the best period of the year to visit our resort is clearly : on week days during January. Parks are empty (as low as 7000 guests a day for both parks).

 

I understand that this might not be the perfect place to give all these informations but I thought it was a good one at least. If you think, dear moderators, that this is not the right place, please move this post to the most appropriate thread or board.

 

Finally, I wish to apologize for being so long and I just hope there are not too much typically english expressions in my post and not too much spelling problems. English is (unfortunately) not my mother language.

 

Magically yours

Microsan

Cast Member at Toon Studios (Crush's Coaster, Cars, Art of Disney Animation, Flying Carpets over Agrabah and Studio Tram Tour Behind the Magic)

 

Should you require further infos on the MAGIC KINGDOM in Paris do not hesitate to contact me by PM.