Was really enjoying this thread it made me feel like commenting on a lot of what you're saying. I'm rather biased towards
Disneyland Paris over WDW because I've been several times and seen the good times and bad times, whereas in Florida we went at high season and it was so busy we couldn't go anywhere or do anything. My dad ended up ripping up the tickets for the MK and took us to Epcot for the rest of the trip lol.
A lot of what you're saying is very true. I think Fantasyland is beautiful and you can understand why the gardeners keep on striking, it must take a heckuvalotta work to keep the square trees looking perfect and the lawns weed-free. I went for the first time to the park back in 96, when the park was REALLY struggling and i've seen a lot of changes - some good, some bad.
Space Mountain, I love that ride although I really miss the Jules Verne theming. I'm a massive Verne fan and the original soundtrack was just the coolest thing ever. Not sure if anyone's seen the documentary 'Shoot For The Moon' which was on BBC a while back. It basically charted the progress of building the original Space Mountain (Q note: if anyone wants this I can send it to you over the internet or VCD, very very interesting program). The amount of work that went into the original ride was phenomenal so it's a shame to see they've stripped out the old ride. The good thing, however, is I find Space Mountain 2 a much better ride. It gives you one heck of a kick being accelerated from the bottom of the cannon instead of 1/2 way. Just my thoughts. Keep in mind I'm a hardened thrill seeker so it's nice there's something for us there too
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Indiana Jones is the most overrated ride in the park IMHO. It's just not worth queueing for. 2 hour wait for, what is basically 40-60 seconds. A very mild coaster though I do get excited passing the indy tent and cars, always was a big fan
Rock N Rollercoaster I thought was brilliant but I agree with the theming being out the window. Really didn't have a clue what was going on but the ride was good and all the signed guitars were interesting in the queue line.
I love most of the park. Phantom Manor is brilliant and I like the fact there's no narration like in WDW as I found this really spoils the ride. Vincent Price is scary of course, but not when he's talking as you should be fearing the silence
. I had nightmares for days after going on this in 96 (I was like 12 lol). Big Thunder Mountain is cool, POTC is better than WDW purely because there's drops. After being on this ride then going to WDW, I was really disappointed when there wasn't any (is it only DLP with the drops out of curiosity??).
Star Tours is another overrated ride I think. I love Star Wars and the queue line is better than the ride, where you get to see C3PO chatting away to R2. I find the ride a very poor simulator experience but I guess it's from the 80s when technology was first starting out so it can be forgiven.
Armageddon in the studios I found rather disappointing and doesn't compare to other rides like Twister in Universal Studios which runs along the same lines. Pretty sure there was some kind of ride in Universal also following the life of Neptune (anyone know this? Would love to remember what it was!) where you walked through water tunnels and other SFX. That was more enthralling than Armageddon. Really didn't get much out of this.
Honey, I shrunk the audience is great although you have to pick your days as it's impossible to watch this when it's not in English as the headsets they give you aren't loud enough to hear anything.
Which brings me onto another point, the studios are cool and I enjoyed a lot of rides there but sadly, couldn't make out a lot of dialogue as the headphones just don't go loud enough to drown out the live french dialogue. This was most obvious in the show where you are shown the origins of animation. Perhaps we could make a suggestion about that to the park?
Sorry if i'm just writing loads of nonsense guys, I'm just on a train of thought haha.....
A couple of interesting things at DLP which I love but think will be removed at some point (you know how it works, a ride was built when there wasn't much and then gets replaced later when they need the space) is the walk-on nautilus. This is just the coolest thing ever. The squid attack is truly terrifying and if anyone on here can explain how on earth that thing works I'd appreciate it. Is the squid actually in the water or is there a frame of water in the window? the nautilus just looks like the film and I love it, hope it stays there for a long time.
The River Keel boats are another attraction that most people miss as Disney shut it off if there isn't enough staff, and hide the station. These little boats trail the riverboats and go past the hillbilly's hut and animal hideouts. Doubt this'll be here much longer either as its popularity has been diminishing for some time.
Wow I'd better stop talking, really just felt like a ramble lol. If anyone has anything to add let me know and I look forward to more of the trip report.
tom