The Toff's Do Disneyland Paris..last minute!

ToffPrincess

Mouseketeer
Joined
Sep 10, 2017
DAY BEFORE

So, this is my pre-trip report and report all in one as we booked and went within 48 hours. There was a lot of talk about going as in the UK we have something called half term but the second the parents in DS's class suggested a trip I said no. I have never been a fan of Eurodisney and the pricing is just so high I would rather add plane tickets and go to Florida. I said a hard NO and that was the end of that.. or so I thought.

2 weeks pass and it is the weekend that starts our half-term. DH had a big meeting cancellation and he said, ‘why dont we just go with DS's classmates. DS will be so suprised and happy.’ He still has no idea I booked us a 9 day trip in October so I didn't want to look suspicious. I said yes expecting everything was booked up but it was not. It seems we were actually going to go to Disneyland Paris for 3 days.

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a fan of Disneyland Paris ‘Eurodisney’ at all. I went once when I was 12 and honestly, I blocked most of it out. It wasnt very good. Logic tells me its not that bad and things have changed but I cant help it.. I am not excited at all. DS nearly fainted when we told him that we are going to Disneyland Paris. He knows its not Disneyworld and we explained to him that its a bit different but he is still very, very happy.

So I am off to pack a small suitcase for us. Weather will be ok but chance of rain. I will share more later & tomorrow as it will be a live report!

Toff’s do Disneyland Paris… Last Minute
TRAVEL DAY & DAY 1

So here I am on the Eurostar train. We picked the direct train going out and return. We are sitting in something called Standard Premier which is pretty lovely. I had found standard tickets that worked with our hotel reservation but when it came to checking out I handed DH the laptop to enter names (so I wasn’t distracted on the phone with the dining reservations) and Mr ‘I prefer club level’ clicked a totally different class of what I had found. DH said it wasn’t that expensive and refused to tell me the cost, stating, ‘it’s half the price per person of a last-minute train ticket to Manchester.’ Helpful. You can never really tell with DH if he is being honest as he will tend to do for anything ‘premier’ he can, not that I am complaining. Disney had sold all of its allocated train tickets for our outgoing and return dates so we had to book them ourselves but there were plenty of times left to choose from so that was surprisingly easy.

They don’t have a business class/first cabin on this route but this is the more comfortable option. It is pretty amazing so far I must say.. absolutely huge, soft seats and a lovely breakfast of croissants, yogurt, juice & coffee. So far so good. Everyone was so nice at St Pancreas station. Great start.

For anyone wandering.. it was clean and the bathrooms were also pretty clean.. but I still used a whole mini-hand sanitizer up and half a pack of wipes. (Bath and Body Works some sort of mint-vanilla combo.. very nice!)



This was a very last minute booking (think less than 48 hours) so I have done my best to get everything sorted. When we arrive, we will be staying at the Disneyland Hotel. Our itinerary is pretty relaxed. 3 days in a castle club room with VIP fastpass access. Totally different concept than Disneyworld with the whole fastpass thing. I don’t think (judging by the wait times I have seen) it is really needed but as half term is this week and next (depending on which school you go to) in the UK, so this time and on main holidays I think it’s nice to have the VIP option if it’s in your budget. The VIP fastpass option is only available to people staying in suites in all the hotels and people staying in castle-club (or club level as us WDW fans know it as) at Disneyland Hotel from what I can see. I may be wrong but that’s what my searches came up with. Then again, last minute holiday booking means I probably didn’t see all the options normally available.

We went for castle club over a standard room as there is a character breakfast included every morning in the lounge, you get those VIP fastpass tickets and DS’s classmates will be at the same hotel in ‘castle club’ which sort of forced our hand. If you are going to haemorrhage you may as well go for broke. For the price of this three day trip we could have spent a week in a standard room at the Grand Floridian.

When it comes to DS's classmates.. one mother has gone dark on wattaspp for the last 24 hours and the other informed me at 7am that her son had chicken pox and they couldn’t come. Amazing. I know some others will arrive the next day but I am not so close to them..or not close enough to be messaging them off the mummy's watts app group.

I booked Buffalo Bills Wild West Show for dinner tonight, lunch at Auberge de Cendrillon tomorrow. Have no clue what any of what I have just said means. Had no problem getting any reservations and something called ‘inventions’ was available as well. I guess it is unlike WDW in that you don’t need 6 months’ notice for good bookings.

We have almost arrived so will update later.


DAY 1 CONT.
DISNEYLAND PARK & BUFFALO BILLS

We arrive at the station and disembark. The hotel is quite literally a two-minute walk from the exit of the station once you pass the a security scan and turn away from the Disney Village. I had zero butterflies sadly getting out of the train and unlike in Florida, there was no Disney smell that hit my senses. DS was super excited and bouncing all over the place I found it hard to keep a hand on him on the walk to the hotel.


There is a beautiful park area outside the hotel with a lot of greenery and seating where a lot of benches are occupied by people smoking. The hotel entrance is off to the side as the centre part of the hotel is a walkway to the park. I do wander if the rooms facing that area are noisy or not but I have to say the crowds aren’t too loud at all. The hotel is very cute and looks a little bit more theme parky as it’s US Victorian counterpart the Grand Floridian. It is much less grand from the outside. It’s lower and more pink coloured so it actually looks a bit like a relative of the Paris castle.


Very sweet and very Victorian. Actually, it reminds me in sizing and layout a bit more like the Beach Club. Lots of trellises and railings. The inside is filled with carpet, wallpaper with various floral designs. Very pretty and there is that familiar Disney mezzanine type thing where you can look down on certain areas and lobbies. There is no particular smell or perfume that hits me there and DH and I comment that as gorgeous as it is.. it is kind of lacking atmosphere. A little music wouldn’t hurt.

After queueing in the check-in queue for about 15 minutes, a lady checked my print out confirmation and told me we were in the wrong area for Castle Club. She took us in a little lift to the second floor and we walked through the hotel and past the shop till we go to the Castle Club lifts which are a few meters after the gift shop hidden in a little side room opposite some green London phone boxes. There is an old school phone on the table which she picked up to call us a lift. The phone is broken. She tries her card but that doesn’t work. Just before she leaves us there to go all the way back to reception to call them to call us a lift an older man staying in castle club comes along and we get in the lift with him to the third floor. You get out at third floor and there is a truly beautiful reception area for Castle Club.




Check-in takes forever because there is so much to be explained. Everything has separate tickets and paperwork. There are park entry paper tickets, fastpass tickets, tickets for each and every meal we will eat, a ticket to go to the gift shop and get the photopass thing activated.. paper, paper, paper.


Much needed lanyard

Very pleasant CC staff and quite surprisingly someone is at the desks 24/7. At the GF Club Level they work 7-10 and then you use regular reception which I find amazing enough so 24/7 is pretty impressive.



View from 3rd floor balcony and view from the Castle Club lounge

We are then shown to our room on the 4th floor. It’s a gorgeous room on the corner so we have a huge hallway when we enter which leads to the usual and familiar Disney room format. A corridor area with the cupboard opposite the door to the bathroom and then the main bedroom. We have one kingsize bed, one queen and one daybed. DS quickly claims the daybed as his own and the lovely cast member who showed us to the room says it will be made up for him by the time we re-enter the room later. Aside from the entrance corridor I would say this is the same size room as the GF standard rooms and standard club rooms with different furniture.




The bathroom I much prefer here to the WDW bathrooms as its more homely and there is a main door and the rest can be used open plan. The toilet can be separated but the bath area is far less claustrophobic as its not in the toilet cubicle. And.. there is a shower head with a hose.. hallelujah.


So much easier to wash a kid with a hose! What I love is the attention to detail.. all the bath products have mickey ear lids as do all the sugar cubes. There is a little peter pan on the outer door knob. These are the little magical touches I love and DS noticed them all straight away.



After a quick freshen up we go to the gift shop to get the photopass thing sorted. We are given a box with more cards inside and told to download an app. The lady doesn’t speak great English and she says something like we have to activate our first photo in a shop.. but I can’t understand. I ask her 3 times to clarify but she still can’t explain it to me so we just move on. The internet is terrible in the hotel and I can’t download the app so as we enter the park I spend the next park of an hour trying to join Wi-Fi or get my network to work and get the stupid app working.

As we hit main street there is a bit of a crowd as there is some sort of mini-parade happening. The first thing I notice is the heavy and I mean heavy smell of cigarette smoke. I actually have no idea about the Paris smoking policy but I guess it is more relaxed than WDW as until we entered the park, almost every single person we passed sitting on a bench was smoking. I have no issue with smoking, I smoked for the best part of 15 years (yes, I know, I know if you do the math I started very young) so I try not to judge but there is a time and a place for it and in my brain.. it’s not Disney. Come on people. Anyway, DH turns to me and says in our native language so DS cannot understand, ‘do you smell that? Where is that lovely Disney smell. This isn’t Disney.’ We keep battling our way around Central Plaza and decide against better judgement to get some food via the first quick service place we see. The place is Pizzeria Bella Notte and it is STUNNING.


This is Disney theming done right. It is an Italian restaurant themed around Lady and the Tramps Italian date night and the attention to detail is marvellous. That’s where the complements end. I queue for 30 minutes to get told that basically everything is out of stock. So, I get us one pizza to share. It was your standard freezer type synthetic pizza you would expect from a dollar store. I wouldn’t expect anything that bad to come from a restaurant advertising itself as Italian or a pizzeria. But it did the job and we had something to eat.


Just assume from this point on DH and I didn’t speak a single word of English for DS’s benefit although I do suspect he understands us anyway. We get in the queue for Small World and DH whispers at me again. ‘Err, where are the children?’ he asks and I turn around and oh my god he is right. In the 15-minute queue and sea of faces there are maybe 3 kids other than DS. EVERUYONE else is an adult. A few moments later, ‘have you noticed that no one is smiling?’ Again, I look around and he’s not kidding. With the exception of DS, DH and one lone cast member organizing the chain queue not one single person has a smile on their face. The ride was ok. I mean, it’s bright so you see everything so I wouldn’t classify it as a dark ride. The ceilings which are in need of repair, the walls, the curtains.. it’s not a dark ride. The music isn’t as loud as in WDW so you hear people chatter over it and oh my god do they talk. Our boat would not shut up the whole time. I liked to see a bit of a different layout and a few new additions to the countries but it doesn’t work for me. Also, rather strangely.. there is no familiar water ride smell. It doesn’t smell like a Disney water ride. No Bromine or less bromine.. who knows!


Then we used our fastpasses for the Peter Pan ride. That was amazing. Jerkier than in WDW but I liked the bedroom scene a lot more. Then we did Buzz Lightyears ride and that was also just not as good as WDW. Yes, it’s great that the guns can be taken in your hand but the whole thing is less exciting and far less immersive. We then had to queue 15 minutes to get our photo and then it never uploaded to our account. Its frozen and won’t work.


Coco area

All those 3 rides seem not to be as absorbing and immersive as in WDW. I think they aren’t dark enough so you are very aware that you are on a ride and you don’t feel so transported into whatever world you are supposed to be in. That being said we have yet to do the other rides so keeping an open mind. The cast members however are very pleasant. Very happy and helpful.

DS at this point looks at me and says, 'This is ok this Paris land (how he calls Disneyland Paris) but I like Disney World mummy, ok?’ and DH immediately says, ‘Don’t worry when we finish our Florida trip mummy will book us a nice week there.’ He looks at me and asks me if that’s ok and I try very hard not to laugh in his face. You all better believe I have the hotel booked, ADRs done, excel spreadsheet done, Mickeys Not So Scary tickets booked since the day the ADRs opened almost 2 weeks ago.. DH, you fool! I say that it will be no problem. DH then says the words I would never thought I would hear, and in English for DS’s benefit, ‘Mummy I miss Disney World I can’t wait to go back to our place.’ I would marry him again if I could.

We then leave the park to go to our dinner reservation which is the Buffalo Bills Wild West Show in the Disney Village. It is super easy to find as it is one of the first buildings you see when you enter that area.

We queue to enter and soon enough the doors open and we get our seating tickets and cowboy hats. Each hat has a different coloured band to symbolise the colour team you will support. We were blue for Wyoming. We go into a great hall with a large bar and get ourselves a beer while we wait. There is a photo area but no photographer. Wow that 66 euro photo pass is looking more and more like a rip-off by the second. It’s a great pre-show holding area. There is a pre-show (3 musicians and then Goofy appears) which DH and DS love and bop around to. Finally, the crowd seems to be in a Disney mood and people start dancing and yeehaa-ing along. I LOVE country music so I know all the words to every song played before the pre-show starts which I think surprised DH.

We are then seated in the arena and the tables are long and bench style so you can watch the show as you eat. The tables are set with cornbread and tin plates and bowls. I LOVED the food. Cornbread, chilli, ribs, chicken legs, potatoes and then apple crumble with ice-cream. What’s not to love?! Ok I don’t like potatoes in any form but that aside it was amazing. DS had a kid’s meal because the BBQ sauce on the ribs was spicy as was the beans. We were on the beer and it kept being topped up every time the server passed us and I am not going to lie I had about 3 glasses of beer on top of the small pint I had pre-show.

The show itself is amazing. Horses, cowboys, characters, singing, audience participation, team races.. I don’t want to go in too much detail but it was really good. DS had to be handfed because he was so transfixed he didn’t look away the whole time.




I am not a vegan by any means but I am an animal lover. I never quite know how I feel about animals being used in entertainment. There was a point where there were Bulls and Byson onstage to be ‘hearded’ and what was nice was that the animals were not man handled or touched at any point in the show/demonstration. However, I do feel a few of the smaller calves (or whatever baby ones are called) looked a bit sad/scared so I personally could have done without them being there.

All in all, that dining show is AMAZING! 10/10 really amazing. Something I would expect to see in America and I almost can’t believe they don’t have it in WDW. Fantastic cast members, amazing food, great atmosphere, fab music.. well worth the cost of the ticket. And you get to keep your cowboy hat. DS & DH loved it too although DH was cursing himself after as he ate so much. He is still trying to lose his WDW and general laziness weight gain. 3kg down 6kg (ideally 9kg) to go.

With that done we head back to the hotel to get an early night and so DH can get some work calls done. He is so busy with work at this time of year I end up helping him write emails whilst DS plays with his new Cowgirl toy (‘friend of Buddy’ as he calls her) and that concludes day 1 of our last-minute Paris trip.

DS’s haul
 
Last edited:
DAY 2
DISNEYLAND PARK, AUBERGE DE CENDRILLON & WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

We wake up nice and early so we don’t miss all of the park’s extra hours. The parks are open 10am usually but for hotel guests they are partly open from 8.30am.

One thing I remember is that in the room there is only ONE plug hole to use should you need to charge your phone unless you want to start unplugging lamps and the TV. ONE. And it wobbles so much when you put anything in it, I would keep kids well clear.

DS’s classmates are nowhere to be seen and I decide to not even bother trying to contact them as the one who’s mother is missing on wattsapp still hasn’t been online and the ones arriving later today will be too busy doing things we did yesterday to meet up with. If we see them at dinner.. great. If not.. whatever. The cell phone reception is dire in most locations here and the wifi is awful so I mostly use my phone for photographing things.



We head to the Castle Lounge which is pretty empty for breakfast and to meet some characters. Goofy & Mickey immediately sit down with us on the table as we order our coffees and entertain us for 15 minutes taking photos, signing autographs and generally having fun. Great interaction! The buffet breakfast is.. ok. Waffles (not mickey ones but those sugared from a packet Belgian style ones) and similarly basic croissants. Some tinned & syrup fruit, cold cuts, bacon and yogurts and there is an egg station for omelettes. Not very Disney at all but very typical for a French hotel breakfast. It’s hard to be healthy as there is no fresh fruit aside from some sliced oranges & grapefruits in sweetened juice. I stick to coffee as does DH and DS tries to eat a waffle but he doesn’t like them. He settles on a croissant and before you know it we are off to the Disneyland park to start the day.

We have a plan of action to do Fantasyland and some of the rides you can find anywhere else in the world.


We get there and as it is empty it is a nice chance to see the beauty of the construction. Lovely little buildings and incredible detailing everywhere. It is so true to Disney and yet.. not. Something is missing. I don’t know if it is the lack of music or lack of smells or lack of warmth.. that magic factor isn’t quite there. None the less it’s a beautiful, warm sunny day and there are rides to do.

We head to Les Voyages de Pinocchio which is broken and according to the extremely rude cast member, ‘it will open when it will open.’ So, we then go to ride Dumbo. One theme we noticed from the day before, whatever the wait time stated.. DOUBLE IT! So, we wait 20 minutes for that and then we do Le Carrousel. We notice that Pinocchio’s ride has now opened so we join the queue and wait 25 minutes for that. The ride is so cute and a great idea. I love the ending scene with all of Gypetto’s creations tick-tocking on the wall. So sweet.



Next, we go and do Blanche-Neige (Snow White) and that is amazing and so very magical apart from the abrupt ending. It is a truly amazing dark-ride but there seems to be a scene missing where Snow White is woken up and it abruptly goes from a scary area to Snow White and the Prince waving you off.

Those two rides are such great rides.. do not miss, especially if you have young kids. We then take the main street bus around for a cycle as our plan to go around Alice’s Labyrinth didn’t work as the crowd started to get really heavy around there and head off to Pirates to see if it really is better than its US counterpart.

Adventureland is simply a stunning piece of work. It is much prettier and like a labyrinth compared to the one in Magic Kingdom which is more themed. I can’t say I prefer it as I actually really like the rides you can find at WDW and I do find this adventureland a bit hard to navigate. Totally different ideas but both work really well. I love the huge Pirates ship docked in it's own 'sea' area. Really beautiful to walk around this part of the park. I terribly miss Aladdin’s carpets and the Tiki rooms but this is great in it's own way too.

Pirates is AMAZING. It is so much better and bigger than the WDW one although I may be in the minority as I prefer the WDW queue but the Paris ride. I don’t want to spoil the ride for anyone but there is just so much more to see here, more space, more scenes, wider and higher stages.. an AMAZING Barbosa animatronic. Simply amazing. The photos were broken meaning that it is now day 2 and we have one broken Buzz Lightyear photo we can’t access and that is it. What a waste. There isn’t a single street photographer. Actually, on the paths and street areas there are no cast members full stop. Should you want to ask for directions.. tough luck.






We then went around La Cabanes des Robinson which again is better than its WDW counterpart. We also wander around Adventure Isle which is so well thought out. Great for little kids and so imaginative. DS loved it.

Frontierland is not to our liking and sadly their version of the Haunted Mansion is under construction. Without rides like Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion, Tiki Rooms, Seven Dwarfs.. the park does seem much smaller and easier to finish. Had we had wanted to do Big Thunder Mountain we could have as the queue wasn’t too bad for it but DS wasn’t keen. The other rides we haven't done don't really appeal to us with the exception of Alice's Labyrinth which we will try to do before leaving tomorrow.

With the exception of Adventureland and it's beauty, complexity & amazing Pirates ride.. none of the other lands are in any way competition to WDW’s Magic Kingdom. And the castle beautiful as it is.. seems smaller and less grand. I prefer the mosaic interior of Cinderella’s castle to this one although this one is very pretty.




Nothing here is lacking in beauty it just doesn’t really compare. I guess thats the thing.. if you have ever been fortunate enough to go to WDW in Florida (and I suspect the original California Park is the same) everything else is just a copy. The American parks may have their flaws but they are Walt’s vision and his & his brothers work. Everything else is an afterthought and it just doesn’t feel like Disney. At least not to us. The magic is really missing here. The atmosphere isn't the same. We all feel it and who knows if it would be that way if we had never done WDW but we have and it is how it is.

Another thing we noticed is that the merchandise is very different here. There are no Mickey Ice Creams, no churros, no Mickey rice treats.. the cookies are sold in star shapes or regular circles not Mickey shapes. The Goofy brand candy sold is not as nice and there are only two or three options. There is no Dooney & Bourke or Loungefly merchandise (or none that I have seen) and there is much less Disney branded merchandise. Lots of clothing options but different to what’s offered in the US parks. More longer sleeved options and much less ‘cute’ and more wearable clothes. No one seems to buy the merchandise as with the exception of a few classic Minnie Ears sprinkled around.. that’s it. Kids don’t wear Disney t-shirts (I have seen just a handful of Princesses) and no one wears pins. It’s all very normal day-to-day gear here. I love to dress up in Disney as does DS so this kind of doesnt work for me as I feel people will look at us a bit weirdly if we do.

We go back to the hotel for a few espressos in the Castle Club lounge. There are no snacks.. not even a bowl of pretzels for the whole hour and a half we sit there. Very shabby for a club-level style lounge.

We re-enter the park for our lunch reservation at Auberge de Cendrillon. The Princess character option in the park. The restaurant is lovely but a bit bland on the inside. If you have ever driven from the UK to France, Germany or Austria it reminds me of a motorway rest-stop. There is no music so it is a mix of chatter and awkward silence that fills the air. We have a lovely server and the food is ok. Just ok. I won’t go into too much detail on that as I wasn’t expecting much and we didn’t get much.. but imagine tough, dry chewey meat and limp vegetables. My pumpkin soup and the desserts were the highlight but they were hadly anything to write home about.




What is great is the character interaction. You meet Cinderella, Rapunzel, Belle, Aurora and the two mice from Cinderella and from those cast members you really get a A+ interaction full of the warmth and happiness you expect from Disney. Can’t fault them and they make sure you see everyone before you leave which is a lovely touch and something I feel the WDW restaurants should really do. You pay for a character meal.. you should get characters. For character loving kids this place doesn’t disappoint.

The restaurant also has the filthiest bathrooms I have ever seen at any place Disney so save yourself for the park bathrooms not that those are that much better.

The whole lunch DH spoke about Disney World and how he misses the Grand Floridian and how the Paris Hotel is stunning & spacious but hasn't got that 'coming home' feeling the GF has for us. Then he surprises me by saying he even misses spending time at the Poly (he doesn't like the Poly and refuses to do a split stay there) and how this time when we go to WDW he will appreciate it more and know how to enjoy himself more. Honestly it was like he was reading from a script from the book of 'ideal husbands.' He even asked if we can make sure to plan certain ADRs (Liberty Tree Tavern, Jiko) and started going into detail comparing Paris and Florida. He even brought up Golden Oak (which I am amazed he remembered as I told him about it so long ago I assumed he had forgotten) and said if one day it was in his budget he would consider getting us a small house there. People, I nearly fainted and fell off the table. :hyper:We have a Disney fan on our hands. We all know the chances of that really happening are slim to none but it is the thought that counts. He was a reluctant one but the disease has stuck.. he's Disney obsessed! :rotfl:This Paris trip has been worth it just for the lightbulb moment DH has had.

After lunch, we wander to the Walt Disney Studios which is their version of Hollywood Studios.



We went straight to Ratatouille ride which we ended up doing 2x in a row. It is AMAZING! Basically, you are one of the rats (even the thing you sit on is a little rat shaped vehicle) and it is a moving ride combined with 3D animation and it is probably our favourite ride out of all the rides we did in Paris. 10/10 amazing!

We then went to do Slinky Dog ride but it was broken. Not a single photo pass photographer to be seen here either.


Rainclouds started to appear so we headed off to the room for a little break before our Inventions buffet dinner later. We agree to spend most of our time in the Studios tomorrow before our train back home to get a chance to explore properly and to do Ratatouille again.




More to come later..
 
Last edited:
END OF DAY 2- DINNER AT INVENTIONS

We get back to the hotel and the room to hear some thunder strike and there is a little rain. Perfect timing! Not much rain at all but it sounds far worse than it is. Before you even know it, it stops.

DS and DH have a little lie down but don’t sleep. I take a shower and wash my face and do a bit of trip reporting. Here are some photos of the detailing in the room/bathroom that is quite nice and very Disney. I love the seven dwarf bathroom mirror!!





Before you know it it’s time for a quick pre-dinner drink (in this case tea) which we take in the Castle Club lounge. The barman doesn’t speak a word of English and the internet won’t work so I can’t google translate, so we have to wait for a waiter to come to take our order. Why did I not pay more attention in French class?? Again, the place is barren, not a soul to be seen and nothing to make it look welcoming at all. Mid-way through our tea they set the place up for breakfast. Wow, so different to the club lounges in WDW!! What is the point of advertising this thing at all, I can get free tea in my room! God this place lacks atmosphere and for the pathetic 'VIP' fast passes I am tempted to say skip Castle Club if it ever comes your way!

We go to Inventions for dinner which is a buffet character meal. We are seated in a room far away from the entrance at a table by the waiter’s station. The first thing that happens when we are seated is that a waiter hits me HARD with his elbow while getting something and then doesn’t even apologise. We are seated and we wait, and wait.. no waiter. So, we go get food and we are finished with our first plate before our waiter comes by. We ask for mineral water and he seems shocked he has to do something.

It’s not a great start and is made worse by the fact the food is pretty average to pretty bad. There is a lot of choice don’t get me wrong, but the quality of the food is terrible. As someone who’s family hails from a sea side town.. the first rule of fish is that it shouldn’t smell fishy. The seafood options reek of not-so-fresh fish. Everyone seems to be going wild for these star shaped chicken nuggets and saucy meatballs so I grab a plate full for us all. Against my own good judgement (and sense clearly as someone like me can't afford to get sick) I get a few crayfish and mussels to try but don't get through them as they aren't so good as suspected. It’s not the good kind of WDW chicken nuggets (which is essentially fried chicken breast).. this is that proper ground ‘meat’ could-be-anything kind of nugget and the meatball is the same texture. It’s so ground-up it’s smoother than the finest mince, which means anything could be in there. It seems as I was right as we all immediately notice what we are eating is gritty and I spit out a chunk of what looks like ground up bone. I remind DH we are here for DS and characters so we go get some pasta and cheese & crackers instead and sure enough the characters start coming around. I’m one of those people who can’t keep eating if they get a bit of grit or bone in their food but I try to nibble on some crackers for DS’s sake. I have to say the cold options on the buffet (pickles, sardines etc) look ok to me.


Fabulous choice of characters.. Captain Hook, Mr Smee, Mickey and Goofy make the rounds. Really good character interaction and the characters all have very neat, detailed signatures. DS was thrilled as he has never met the pirates before. Then there is a very, VERY long pause. I go to see if that is it from the characters while the boys have some dessert and there is some huge drama at the front with a young man dressed in Phillip Plein surrounded by staff members threatening to call security. He is totally calm and not at all making a scene but the waiters are going wild. I am told there are two more characters to come and as I sit back down with something sweet, security appears and surrounds a woman feeding her child. She super calmly keeps feeding her little girl whilst voice noting someone. Eerily calm. Arrogantly calm. It soon becomes obvious that something has happened along the lines of she just walked in with her daughter without a reservation and started eating and meeting characters and her husband was the man getting the fallout out front. In the end, she refuses to leave until he makes her at the request of security. She is so blaze she just finishes another few mouthfuls and then saunters off checking her phone.

Now a good 25 minutes has passed and it becomes clear the other characters are delayed which is disappointed but we have been there over an hour and we want to go back to the room to sleep.

It is extortionately expensive for what it is but I cannot fault them for the unique and fantastic character interaction. However, the food and service is shocking. Desserts are ok though. I don’t know what to say when it comes to if I recommend it or not. Where else can kids meet Hook and Smee? I don’t know. I guess if you can afford it, it is nice to do once for the experience but it isn’t a great meal.

Now we are back in the room and DS is on his bed snoring away (he KO-ed the moment we got in the room and put his pjs on) and DH is answering work emails whilst muttering, ‘por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas’ as if that is a normal mantra to calm himself down. What has happened to him?! I think one thing is for sure.. he has a new found appreciation for Dinseyworld.

Tomorrow rain is forecast, so I don’t know how our few last hours will go before the train home. I guess we will see!! Right I am off to help DH do some work emails and documents and I will check in on the train home tomorrow!!
 
Yeah... I don't think you should ever go back to Disneyland Paris again. Whenever you have this period off, just travel the other way. Besides a handfil of good things, it doesn't sound you are enjoying yourself.
 


Yeah... I don't think you should ever go back to Disneyland Paris again. Whenever you have this period off, just travel the other way. Besides a handfil of good things, it doesn't sound you are enjoying yourself.

Agreed. I think that once you experience the all consuming magic & great service that Americans do so well.. it is very hard to do a ‘copy’.

However for niche characters, character buffs would LOVE it here. Aside from Capt. Hook and Mr Smee I saw the white Rabbit walking around & Gepetto! And the french rides are pretty unique.

It definitely has it’s purporse and some people will love it but anyone like me who need that magic atmosphere and happiness factor from the cast members & guests wont feel comfotable here. Plus.. how can you not have Mickey Waffles???
 
Because waffles aren't really a thing in France ;) it is build for a different audience and till recently run by a different culture and not an exact copy of the Amercan parks.

For your last day, instead of looking for and focussing on everything that is different and not to your liking, maybe look for the magic that is there.

If you have always driven a Mercedes and now have to drive a Toyota, you can look back on all you had, and miss that the Toyota still might be a good car that can get you from a to b while enjoying the scenery and your family. Without all the fancy stuff a Mercedes has.
 
Last edited:
Because waffles aren't really a thing in France ;) it is build for a different audience and till recently run by a different culture and not an exact copy of the Amercan parks.

For your last day, instead of looking for and focussing on everything that is different and not to your liking, maybe look for the magic that is there.

If you have always driven a Mercedes and now have to drive a Toyota, you can look back on all you had, and miss that the Toyota still might be a good car that can get you from a to b while enjoying the scenery and your family. Without all the fancy stuff a Mercedes has.

I am looking forward to seeing how it works in the rain. I can imagine that it manages quite well as so many queues have indoor shelter!

Yes your right we will try to enjoy the beauty in what we see and experience. I know that Ratatouille for example is something that will be missed as it really is FANTASTIC. If there will be one thing my son will ask for in the future from this trip.. it will be that. If you combine the list of my top Disney rides it would be on it for sure.

We are having a lovely time, don't get me wrong but when writing the review and speaking to my husband.. it is when the obvious comparisons come up and then seem so drastic once written down. But the actual experience has been nice so far. It has been a lovely trip.
 


Also.. UPDATE for anyone wandering. Two of DS's classmates arrived to the hotel today and we saw them briefly in the corridor on the way up. The plan is to have breakfast together. The one who has chickenpox is very sad to be stuck at home missing the fun. The other one who was supposed to arrive on the same train as us.. still MIA. Hope all is ok but none has heard from them.
 
DAY 3
WALT DISNEY STUDIOS, DISNEYLAND PARK & TRAIN HOME

We wake up nice and early today and just before we leave the room we put the suitcases by the door. DH laments that we didn’t try any pillows off the pillow menu but we had some lovely super soft ones (our preference) already so it wasn’t something we really needed to do.

We head off to breakfast at the castle club lounge and decide to take our time as DS wants to meet more characters. Tigger and Eeyore are first to come around. Tigger plays with DS for about 15 minutes and comes back 3x to see us and sit with us. Eeyore comes to us 2x and is so lovely with DS. DS loves Eeyore and he gives him so many hugs at one point he almost knocks him off his feet. Eeyore makes sure to wave goodbye to DS and send his kisses when he leaves the room. The photos are really amazing as the bright windows mean the light is nice and bright. The characters are in great form and even go up to the buffet and pretend to help themselves.






Today the food is better.. they remembered to put fresh fruit out. I have some of that and get a coffee while DS has a croissant and a pear. Rabbit and Goofy then make an appearance and DS almost faints. I think it may be the first time he has ever seen Rabbit ‘in the flesh’ and he is overjoyed. Both characters come around 2x before and sit with us and play around with DS. After a good 40 minutes in the lounge we leave and the photos we have as memories are priceless!


Rain had been forecast and although there is a grey sky and what looks like rain clouds over-head no rain falls so it is actually quite a nice fresh day. A jumper or light rain jacket is all you need which is actually pretty good ride weather.

We decide to head off to Walt Disney studio and the first thing we do is Ratatouille. Such a good ride! DS wants to go again but we decide to see if Slinkydog is open which it is. We queue for that and it was a sweet but short ride. DS loved it and then requested Ratatouille again so we go back to Ratatouille because.. why not? DS loves the ride and we all agree it is our favourite ride in the Paris parks.

We decide to do the Cars ride and despite an advertised wait time of 10 minutes we wait for AN HOUR! That ride is so grubby I can’t say I would rave about it. The ride itself is not in the best condition.. one of the cars is covered with green plastic and then we look over our shoulders to see the ride has been closed and they are just letting people who were already in the queue do it. What a waste of an hour.




We then head over to the main park to do the storybook ride which has an incredibly long French name that I can’t spell. That is lovely and very much the Disney ride one would expect anywhere in the world.

Lunch was at Captain Jacks. I wasn’t expecting such an amazingly themed restaurant. It was really fantastic to behold when you walk in and find yourself on a mix of island/shipwreck/ship! Gorgeous theming and you can see the boats sail past on the way to the actual ride.





My photos aren't great as I didn't want to use flash and potentially distract someone on the ride


The food was a bit of a let-down. I had the fish soup to start. It arrived cold which was not a great start. I dislike coriander, so the soup which was full of it was too much for me. DS had tuna wrap rolls which were amazing. Then I had a chicken and prawn dish and DS had the beef. We ordered it well done and it arrived raw just seared on the 4 sides. We couldn’t get the waiters attention so I just left it and told him we would eat later as I am not about to let my 3-year-old eat raw meat. I really wanted a beer but the waiter just didn’t come by nor did his colleagues. The next time we saw the waiter was when he was bringing DS’s mousse dessert (before even clearing the main courses) and that’s when we asked for the bill so as not to waste any park time. DH had what I had but couldn’t eat any of it as a business call came in and he had to excuse himself from the table and we met him outside after. He would have hated the soup as it had coriander in it and his aversion is worse than mine. The annoying this is when we ordered, we checked with the waiter that nothing we had picked contained it and he reassured us we would be fine. He was wrong.

We then went on a bit of a tour of Adventureland and did the caves and everything there is to do that is walkable. Then we went for a closer look at the castle, the shops in it and the dungeon (stunning but weirdly Wednesday was so much busier than the previous 2 days so the crowds were pretty intense around the castle area.) I wanted to take a photo of the dragon but I dropped my phone and smashed the screen protector (phone is ok) a little earlier so I didn't which is so annoying. Before we could do any more rides, DS announced he was tired and we headed back to the hotel for some coffee and to chill in the Castle Club lounge before our train. I had a chance to go to the gift-shop and get a few pins and a room spray on Gill H’s recommendation (on DIBB forums) which is divine and totally my kind of scent.






As for DS’s classmates I think that it was overly optimistic to plan a trip with 3 year olds (actually 2.5-4 year olds) and to think their body clocks and desires would align. We had a brief espresso and juice with only one mother and son duo at the lounge for an hour before we left and that was that!

For the remaining time, we chilled and the boys fell asleep on me at one point. Then before you know it, it was time to go home. This is where DLP is great. You take your suitcase and in less than 3 minutes you have walked to the train station. Simple!

We are now on the train back as I type and have paused somewhere for some reason. We got an older train for our home journey which is slightly grubby but you better believe I have my hand sanitiser and dettol wipes at the ready. Some things never change! :rolleyes1
 
TOFF’S VIEW ON DISNEYLAND PARIS​
Obviously, this is just the Toffs feelings and not representative of the whole Disneyland Paris experience. However, if you find yourself nodding along to some of my past reviews/trip reports you may find it helpful in answering some DP questions and if a visit is for you or not.

In short, it is a pretty area and park to visit and nice to do but as a family, we don’t have any desire for another visit. This one wasn't really our idea to begin with but we booked it and it satisfied our curiosity of DLP.

Do I think it is worth doing? Yes! There are many beautiful things to see and unique features which makes it a must do even if it’s just a one-time visit. However, despite the branding, it doesn’t register Disney to us. Most probably because as you probably noticed, I can’t help but compare it to WDW and because we feel there is a little bit of magic missing. I don't feel like this visit satisfied the Disney craving we all have however, that aside.. it is a nice way to spend a few days. It's a great break from normal life and it is fun.

When it comes to how long.. our personal view was that it was a nice 3 days trip, with one full day and two ½ days at the parks. Because the train ride is easy from London you aren't really that tired on travel days. I feel that you may need 3 possibly 4 FULL DAYS to do absolutely everything and to allow for a few ride closures and favourite ride re-dos.

BEST BITS
Ratatouille.. such an amazing ride!
Pirates of The Caribbean Ride which really is better than the WDW one
Adventureland in general
The fact they have done more with the castle and there is more to see in and under it
Wait times are 20-40 minutes typically but what is great is the streets are much less crowded so you feel less claustrophobic. Here you can actually take a nice walk down Main Street and stop and look at everything.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show
The Characters
Everything is a walking distance from everything else which is great. DS didn’t need a stroller and we averaged 8km a day but unlike with WDW we were out all day long with very little hotel time. At WDW we normally have pool time, rest/nap time and DS can’t be without the stroller.
Character breakfast at Castle Club

IT IS FOR YOU IF..
..you like to meet characters- queues here are much shorter for them and you can find up to 8 (yes 8) at a sit-down character meal. The interactions are also quite lengthy which is amazing value
..you like some of the lesser seen classic Characters like the White Rabbit, Gepetto, Captain Hook, Smee, Rabbit, Daisy Duck, Goofy..
..you are spontaneous. Dining reservations aren’t that hard to get last minute.
..you don’t like to fly and prefer to drive/take train (I guess this is for EU area ppl only)
..you like photography. Due to the smaller crowds, you can capture so much more and even take full length building shots without a single person in the frame.
..you prefer a cooler climate
..you speak French
..you have a spare day and are in the Paris area
..you want to be a walking distance from everything including the train station


IT MAY NOT BE FOR YOU IF..
..you like smiles & happy, friendly, chatty people
..you are looking for American style comfort food or are a foodie
..you like to dress Disney. No one here really gets into the whole mood of things which could make you feel a bit awkward if you do go all out.
..you like longer holidays. It is very easy to do the parks in a few days and I personally think a week here would be too long unless you combine it with trips outside property
..you like modern technology. The paper tickets are so fiddly and the Wi-Fi is not so great. Photopass app is scandalously bad too
..you like your personal space. People here love to get up close in the queues and let their kids push and knock you. You can literally feel their pulses, they stand that close. It's not just a few people but the majority! You have been warned.
..you go to WDW and think that that represents how Disney should be. You would be setting yourself up for a huge disappointment.

OUR THOUGHTS ON CASTLE CLUB​
The Character breakfast is a really nice bonus as the characters come around again and again but that one thing alone is not enough to make us say Castle Club is worth the extra cost
Do not expect anything like Club Level in WDW it is not that. It is what it is.
Pretty check in area and nice, quiet seating areas
24/7 concierge

OUR THOUGHTS ON DISNEYLAND HOTEL​
Clean rooms, pretty decor and cosy feel
Nice and quiet- a great nights sleep.. you don’t hear a thing.
Victorian Style
Very expensive for what you get in our opinion
Large, comfortable rooms with ample space for clothes, suitcases etc
Can fit at least 5 people in the room we were in
Comfy beds and HELLO PILLOW MENU!
Lovely little touches in the wall paper, bedding, bathrooms however it lacks more obvious theming.

GOOD TO KNOW​
The train station is literally a few minutes stroll to the actual Disneyland hotel & parks. That is truly amazing. If you want to go straight to the parks do consider the ‘Disney Express’ option so your luggage is taken care of.
The photopass didn’t work for us at all. There were no street photographers anywhere, some ride photos were broken and the one photo we got we could never download/save as it won’t work.
The fireworks, if there are any are at park closure which is 11pm. Ok for adults not so good for small children.

VIP Fastpasses only work on 10 rides across the two parks and even then, there is a queue. So, I personally don’t think choosing a room type to get them is worth it but they are really nice to have as you can do a ride multiple times.
It isn’t cheap enough to come here on a whim (maybe if you live in France and have an annual pass it is or if you stay off property.. but not for the whole on property, eating at the Parks/Hotel Disney experience) as when you factor in transport, park entry and a hotel it all adds up. Food is also a bit more expensive here. We would rather save up a bit more for flights and go all out in America.
 
Enjoyed reading about your trip to DLP! Thanks for taking the time to share it. Even though it has its shortcomings, it look really beautiful and I would definitely book a stay if we ever travel to that area. The train option sounds great! And less crowds would also be a plus - WDW has become SO busy year round.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top