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Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015 - Complete

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Yea another one......... :lol:

So back in November me and Frank (boyfriend) decided to book a trip to DLP to celebrate being together for 6 years. January was the date, we knew some of the attractions would probably be down but decided the good deal and smaller crowds were worth it.

We set out on the Eurostar early on the Thursday morning. There were some delays as there has been a lorry fire in the tunnel the weekend before so we we had to wait just outside the tunnel for about 40 minutes. During January no trains run direct to DLP so we had to catch a connection at Lille. This was fine except they seemed to put all of the transfers from the Eurostar on one carriage, cue a load of British tourists arguing about the luggage space.

Finally we arrived around Midday, handed in our luggage at the Disney Express and made our way into the Studios Park. First up was Crush's Coaster. I'd heard queues could be long for this, so seeing as it was only 30 minutes we decided to get it out of the way. It was decent enough, I liked the outside section at the start and the lights and effects inside. Due to the darkness you couldn't see what came next, I liked this combined with the spinning, made for a pretty fun ride.

We went and grabbed a fast pass for Ratatouille and then headed over to RC Racer. It was good and had some nice airtime at the top but was over way too quickly.



Next we headed over to Rock n Roller Coaster. I'm not really sure why they bothered with the pre-show, it doesn't serve any purpose to the ride compared to the one in Orlando which created a good storyline. We got a seat towards the back, the launch was more powerful than I'd remembered and the ride wasn't as rough as i'd expected. It went on for quite a while as well, I enjoyed it.



On to Tower of Terror next, which i'd been looking forward to riding more that anything else after loving the one in Orlando. The theming and detail of the building were as impressive as ever - just so immersive and I love the pre-show part. Anyway I don't know if we just got a bad cycle on our first ride, but I was left slightly disappointed. The drop didn't seem to pack a punch as much as i'd remembered and I just didn't enjoy it as much. I still had a few more rides left though so there was time for that opinion to change.







Last ride of the day was Ratatouille. The technology is absolutely incredible and the detail to the ride is seriously impressive. I love how they mix up the 3D and the giant props inside the ride to really create the storyline and sense that you have genuinely been shrunk. Would have loved to have ridden it again but Frank didn't enjoy it as it made him feel sick and the queues were up to 90 minutes long later in the trip.

It was time to check in to our hotel so we called it a day and headed back. We stayed at the Sequoia Lodge which was just a short walk from the park. The room was nice and comfy, decorated with Bambi wallpaper which was a nice touch. Had a buffet dinner in the hotel restaurant, which was lukewarm and frankly a bit crap, before calling it a night ready for an early morning.



I'll leave you with some pictures of Disney Village from our Hotel.





 
S

SimonSays99

Guest
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015

Even while Disneyland Paris is the closest Disney park to me I so far only visited the original Disneyland and Disney World. While it is on my to-do list I have heard that the Paris parks are a notch down in "Disney Magic" compared to the US parks. Maybe it will get better as there are rumors that Disney will directly take over management of this park.

At the moment I am more inclined to re-visit Orlando not only for Disney but the new stuff around like Diagon Alley or the two coasters at Fun Spot which would be new for me.

Thanks for the TR anyhow :)
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015

^^ I agree slightly, having been to the Orlando Parks the "magic" is slightly lacking in Paris, but I still think they are both fairly good parks. The studios park is looking a little bit run down, but I had a good time and there are quite a few good rides and attractions.

^No it was my first time.
 

Martyn B

CF Legend
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015

Simon is spot on really, but it's still worth a visit. IMO the rides at the Disneyland Parc are better than their namesakes at the Magic Kingdom.

I love the Sequoia Lodge, and I'm glad to hear you enjoyed Crush!
 

caffeine_demon

Strata Poster
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015

I'm just sipping a cocktail in Santa fe at the moment

Ratatouile is great and dreams became away
 

gavin

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Social Media Team
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015

Rachel said:
I don't know if we just got a bad cycle on our first ride, but I was left slightly disappointed. The drop didn't seem to pack a punch as much as i'd remembered and I just didn't enjoy it as much.

The newer versions of the ride (Paris, California and Tokyo) don't have different cycles like the original in Florida. They simplified the ride system, which is better from an operational and throughput point of view (I think), but in the process it means that you'll always get the same ride.

I haven't been on the Florida version yet (just a couple of weeks to go until I do), but most people seem to enjoy that one more than the newer models when it comes to the actual ride system. I've loved the other three so far though.
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015

Oh right interesting, i'm not really sure why I didn't enjoy it that first time then, perhaps i'd over-hyped it too much after going on the Florida one.
 

nadroJ

CF Legend
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015

^I think it's probably that. Everything about the Orlando version is spectacular, including the way it looms at the end of the street, the immersiveness of the queueline, everything! Paris' version is just sort of...plonked, so the atmosphere isn't right from the word go.
 

caffeine_demon

Strata Poster
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015

caffeine_demon said:
I'm just sipping a cocktail in Santa fe at the moment

Ratatouile is great and dreams became away

Damned kindle auto correct - that should have said "Dreams blew me away!"
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015

For our first full day at the parks we decided to do the main Disneyland Park. We chose the slightly later breakfast slot of 8.45 – it wasn’t quite as horrendously busy as it was later in our trip. Anyway we got to the park around half 9 and took a few obligatory shots of the hotel and castle.


Would love to stay here if I could afford it!









I thought the castle was stunning and preferred it to the one in Orlando. It looked much more “real” up close and I love the fact that you can’t see it from anywhere outside the park until you are walking up Main Street.

First port of call was Buzz Lightyears Laser Blast. I loved the theming in the queueline and it was a fun little shooter ride. I like that you can control the spinning on the ride car, I used that to wind Frank up who was taking it very seriously. Anyway he absolutely thrashed me.





Next was Astro Orbiter. It was absolutely dreadful – let me explain. I had the idea that because it was so cold, Frank could sit at the front and I could sort of snuggle into his back, being protected from the wind. We didn’t realise that the ride cars were in no way designed for 2 fully grown adults and as soon the ride started my leg ended up crushed by Frank during the entire ride. It hurt like hell and I couldn’t wait for the bloody thing to stop.


Evil thing


Spite! </3

We found another nice little angle to take some castle pictures from and so stopped to do so.



It’s a small world came next. You all know what happens, not much to say about it really.



We saw Snow White and Aerial heading for the Princess Pavilion so went to go and join the queue. It was already 120 minutes at 10am so we decided to leave it for a bit later. Next we came across the Alice In Wonderland maze. It was so fab! A decent sized maze and I loved all the bits of Alice theming scattered throughout.








This archway was my personal fave <3

Finally we got to the middle and took a few pictures of the view.













When we came out we walked along to Peter Pan’s Flight. I’d heard the queues get really long for this so it was nice that it was only 10 minutes. For some reason we never got round to going on this when we were in Florida so I was looking forward to it. Its ok, the effects and theming are pretty impressive but it didn’t blow me away.

Pirates of the Caribbean came next, I really enjoyed it and the drops were fun. I can’t really remember the Orlando one that well to do a comparison, I don’t think there was much different about the 2 rides.



Indiana Jones was a decent enough coaster, slightly rough but had some fun little drops and was a +1 to the count.



Headed over to Big Thunder Mountain next, I love the way its set out on the lake, its looks so stunning. The tunnels are a really fun part of the ride and it goes on for quite a while as well, never becoming boring. Perfect example of a family coaster.





Headed over to Phantom Manor which was down due to technical problems, so decided to have a look around the castle and in some of the shops. We did the castle walkthrough which was ok and took a few pictures of Fantasyland.







We noticed the Snow White and Pinocchio rides so rode both of those. Didn’t realise they were pretty much exactly the same ride apart from the different stories, wasn’t that impressed to be honest.

So we decided to head back in the direction of the Princess Pavilion to see how long the queue was. It was showing 75 minutes and as we had already got so much done and it was only midday we decided we might as well queue up for it. The woman at the entrance was explaining the rules of the attraction – you can only meet 1 princess at a time and you can’t decide which one it is. This seemed a little unfair to me but when you get to the front they do ask you if you’ve met anyone already and try to accommodate so that you don’t meet the same princess again. There was also no Anna, Elsa or Merida. We had no idea who we were going to meet the first time so Rapunzel was a pleasant surprise. She was nice enough, asked us how our day had been, posed for the photos etc. It was a bit awkward but oh well.



Decided to go and grab some lunch at Planet Hollywood and saw Pooh Bear on the way out.



Had the fajitas for lunch followed by a ridiculously big Banana Split to share. We didn’t realise how big it would be and it was embarrassing as they brought it out for only the 2 of us – most people in the restaurant were staring. It wasn’t as nice as the one I’d had at Downtown Disney which was disappointing.

After a quick trip back to the hotel to grab a bigger coat we made our way back to Main Street to get a good spot for the parade. We were right at the front and I too a few decent pictures.


















This man infuriated me! I’m not a fan of selfie sticks, I think they look stupid and so do the people using them. But I kind of get the point and I can see why people would buy them. But they are for exactly that. Selfies. If you’re already standing at the front of a crowd and have the best photo taking spot then why the hell do you need to be so selfish by holding your camera out with a stick and ruining everyone else’s view. If I could have gotten away with snatching it out of his hand and hitting him over the head with it I would have. Complete idiot.



Once the parade had finished we headed over to Phantom Manor. It was good but I felt that it lacked anything that was truly creepy or that made you jump. The ride op had a brilliant laugh though and the building looks great from the outside.





We did Buzz Lightyear one more time (Frank beat me again) before going to the castle to get a good spot for Dreams. We got the perfect spot just behind one of the fenced off grass areas so no one was directly in front of us. Had to wait about half an hour until the show started so took some pictures of the castle lit up – it looked even more stunning than it did during the day.







So Disney Dreams, what can I say? Disney shows have never failed to impress me and this was no different. The combination of fireworks, lights, fountains, projections – it was so perfectly done and the end result was spectacular. They used a great mix of films as well, some of the newer ones and the old classics and I had a smile on my face the entire way through.

I didn’t take any pictures from the actual show but these are from right at the end.





Coming next – a day in the city of Paris.
 

Jordanovichy

Credit Whore 2016
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015

Rachel said:
After a quick trip back to the hotel to grab a bigger coat we made our way back to Main Street to get a good spot for the parade. We were right at the front and I too a few decent pictures.

OMG IT'S AJ xD

Great report though, Disneyland Paris does look like a decent park, that archway made my the Alice in Wonderland cards is amazing <3

That twat with the selfie stick though </3 I HATE it when people do that, ok, use them to take SELFIES but don't ruin everyone's experience by getting it in everyone else's way. Just spiteful and selfish.
 

nadroJ

CF Legend
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015 - UPDATED

^I tagged him in it on Facebook when I saw, so funny haha!

Rachel I 100% would have snatched that camera out of his hand and told him no. Was he English? Also, Dreams is **** incredible, it's just when the castle lights up at the very beginning, I've seen it many times now and it never fails to impress!

DLP Pirates is a LOT better than the Orlando version, which is a total bag of balls. I also love the entire surrounding area of the Paris version, and the ride entrance with the pirate fort <3<3
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015 - UPDATED

^No he wasn't, I think if something like that happened in the UK I would say something but I didn't really want to cause a fuss in another country.
 

Ian

From CoasterForce
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Social Media Team
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015 - UPDATED

Let's all assume that Selfish Selfie Man is a poor father who was taking loads of photos deliberately to keep reminding his kids how wonderful he is.

And I did an actual LOL when I saw AJ. Brilliant!
 

caffeine_demon

Strata Poster
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015 - UPDATED

I just thought - Instead of "selfie sticks" they should call them "selfish sticks"!
 

peep

CF Legend
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015 - UPDATED

I'm a little surprised a cast member didn't say anything to that silly man to be honest. It looked like he was occasionally sticking it out quite far. Idiot.

Nice trip report though. It's always interesting to read someone's first time.
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015 - UPDATED

So for the culture section of the report :) . On the Saturday we decided to go into the city of Paris for the day. I’ve wanted to go to Paris for a long, long time and was looking forward to this day a lot. It was really easy to get there – we took an RER train from Marne-la-Vallee Chessy straight into the centre of Paris where we could then join up to the Metro.

We only had a limited amount of time in the city so the plan was to literally just sightsee. We wouldn’t be going in any attractions, just making our way around the city and seeing all the main sights.

First stop was the Eiffel Tower. There was a moment of excitement when I saw it through the train window for the first time. This is one of the most iconic landmarks in the world and to see it through my own eyes for the first time was pretty special. We took quite a few pictures –









This building looked impressive so I took a picture. Apparently it’s a military training building.



As we walked back towards the Eiffel Tower we were approached by 2 African men who tried to con us out of money by making us bracelets. Looking back we should have carried on and ignored them but I suppose we were a bit naïve. They got a bit funny when we told them we didn’t want the bracelets and were trying to get Frank to give them money but we managed to shake them off. We’re lucky things didn’t turn nasty.



Few more pictures of the tower.



Testing the zoom out on my new camera.



Originally we were going to catch the metro to each place but since it was a fairly nice day we decided to walk along the river so that we got to see a bit more of the city.












We came across one of the infamous love lock bridges and obviously I had to buy a lock :wink: .



The bridge was the Pont Des Arts which I don’t think was the original bridge but the trend seems to have taken over most of them in the city now. The actual bridge is all boarded up so you can only put the locks at the side of the river now. The boards are covered in graffiti so its actually a bit grim and you can’t actually see any of the locks when you are standing on the bridge.







Originally we had planned to go down and see the Notre Dame but as we were getting closer we saw a fight break out between a woman and a young gypsy girl after the girl tried to mug her. It was a bit unpleasant to witness so we re-diverted and decided to head back up towards the Louvre.







We had been walking for nearly 2 hours now so stopped off for a bit of lunch. After this we headed to the Louvre to see the famous triangle.







The area is genuinely stunning. I’m not going to pretend I’m someone who’s into architecture or anything like that, but the quality of the buildings and area as a whole was seriously impressive.











From here we walked along Jardin des Tuileries which was lovely, I bet this would be a great place to come and chill out during the summer.









Then we walked along Champs Elysees up towards the Arc De Triomphe. We did consider going up it but there was a massive queue and we were a bit strained for time as we had dinner reservations back at Disney. So we just took some pictures.



















From here we got the train straight back to Disney. I’ll be completely honest, Paris disappointed me. I’d totally brought in to the whole “City of Romance” tag and was expecting so, but I just thought the city was slightly grubby. Add this to the fact that I felt on edge the whole day, not only because of the incident at the Eiffel Tower but the fact that there were heavily armed police and soldiers everywhere due to the recent terrorist attacks and the city seemed to be swarming with gangs of gypsies. I was hoping that the day would be like a “taster”, leaving me wanting more but I have no desire to rush back any time soon.

In the evening we had dinner reservations at the Blue Lagoon restaurant. The castle was looking beautiful at sunset so I took a snap.



The restuarant was nicely themed – I love how the boats from POTC go past, unfortunately we didn’t get one of the tables near the ride. For the starter I had the Seafood Soup – it was okay, a bit too fishy (stating the obvious :lol: ). Main course was Caribbean Chicken Colombo which was delicious and for dessert the Coconut Pie which was alright but nothing special.



When we got out the restaurant we went exploring around Adventure Isle. Its such a hidden little gem, we spent ages exploring around all the caves and it really was quite atmospheric, especially at night-time. Eventually we came across the bridge which gave an amazing view of the castle and another angle to take some photos.





After we went to go and get a night ride on Big Thunder Mountain but it had a 60 minute queue so we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.
 

caffeine_demon

Strata Poster
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015 - UPDATED

"Testing the zoom out on my new camera."

I was thinking they were nice pics - What's the camera?
 

Martyn B

CF Legend
Re: Disneyland Paris PTR - January 2015 - UPDATED

You wouldn't believe it, but they stick a disgusting fun fair in the Jardin des Tuileries for the summer months!
 
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