TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
Good Morning!!!
Well we returned home late last night and went straight into bed, so one of my first priorities this morning was to post a brief encapsulated summary of the highs and lows of our Disneyland Paris trip .....so here goes:
Highs (in no particular order - just as they come into my head):
1. Meeting up with fellow DIS member Verity (VerityChambers), her DH Simon and DD Evie for a lovely meal in Cafe Mickey and again the next day when we rode IASW. Watching Evie's face when she saw the characters and in IASW when she was pointing out all the different things she liked was really wonderful - seeing Disney again though the eyes of a small child really brings back the magic which is sometimes missing when you travel with teenagers.
2. The feeling of "Just being there": the atmosphere and the wonderful relaxed feeling of being in a Disney park just never ceases to affect me.
3. Accomodation in Hotel Cheyenne: really excellent, with fantastic theming and attention to detail. The rooms were lovely, and the breakfasts were just perfect! Shuttle buses were frequent and quick. Loved it here.
4. Spending time with family and friends: it was lovely to be able to share quality times with our family and friends - just relaxing over a drink, having some great meals and just wandering around the parks.
5. Food: The food was on the whole really good - we had excellent food and service in Planet Hollywood, and good food in Annettes and Cafe Mickey. Counter service meals were ok, but there are a few negatives on the food front which I will come to later.
6. Weather: The weather was lovely and sunny on 3 of the 4 days - more to come in the "lows" section.
7. Rides: Managed to get on most things as we wanted using fastpasses, so that wasn't a problem - apart from Crush's Coaster - see "Lows".
Lows:
1. Busy, busy, busy: the parks were very busy - probably a combination of school summer holidays and the 40% discount offer this year - but from the amounts of people there I don't imagine Disneyland Paris are suffering too much from the credit crunch! Previously in July we have chosen the week before UK schoold finish for the summer and this makes a definite difference - to the point that I would be very reluctant to visit in school holidays again. There seemed to be an awful amount of large groups there and without intentionally offending anyone I found some of them to be even ruder and less courteous than usual.
2. The food: Very poor and slow service in Annettes Diner although the food was very good. Waiter just wasn't interested. What has happened to the Backlot Express - turned into some soul-less High School Musical themed place called Blockbuster Cafe, and no delicious french patisserie cakes on offer any more - very disappointing!
3. Cast Members: very little interaction or personality shown by anyone really. Maybe because it was so busy that they just seem to be concerned with getting people on and off rides as quickly as possible.
4. The cost of everything: of course the exchange rate is not the fault of Disney, but we really noticed the difference with everything really. The average price of an evening table service meal for 5, with not all of us having 3 courses was about £150 - £170. Shopping was also more expensive - although pins were still 6 euros - the cheapest adult T-shirts were 19.90 euros, and hooded sweatshirts were 45 euros!
5. A distinct lack of Pirates of the Caribbean merchandise!
6. Still no fastpasses for Crush's Coaster - what is going on here? The standby line was actually 120 minutes 15 minutes after the ride opened! Disney - DO SOMETHING!
7. The outward flight: Flybe offer a very efficient service and the negatives here are less about the service and more about my personal fears and travel-sickness issues, but the aircraft was very small (with propellers!) and it seemed to bump about so much more when passing though the clouds on the descent, which made for a very uncomfortable experience. On the return flight it was much better, so it isn't really a reflection on the airline, more on the flying conditions and the viewpoint of a very poor flyer.
8. RS Transports - very good service when they picked us up on the outward journey, but they only sent one van to pick us up (party if 10) to bring us back to the airport. So we had to cram into an 8 seater. They got us there on time but it was a good job we were friends!
9. Fireworks: What have they done to Wishes - very disappointing! The new fireworks "Enchanted" seemed to be operating on a budget and were far from impressive - set to the Enchanted soundtrack. I was gutted - what a disappointment. Taking away Wishes which can move a grown man to tears (Tony) and replacing it with something very average which you might see at a decent 5th November display in the UK. Not good!
10. Fantillusion: also very condensed - 5 floats and a couple of dancers in between - not as impressive as it used to be and once again disappointing.
11. Rain! One evening was ruined due to a very heavy downpour and we had to abandon plans to return to the park after dinner. Also the last day was heavy rain and storms, and rides had to be closed because of the lightning. We also didn't prepare for rain and had only brought one pair of shoes etc, so it made the journey home quite unpleasant in soggy shoes. Of course this is not Disney's fault - they may be magical but weather control is beyond their capabilties at the moment.
So thats all I can think of on first reflection - I will try and put together a more detailed report at some point. I think this is the first time ever that my "lows" list has exceeded my "highs" list but I suppose they are really niggles more than anything else. We actually did have a wonderful time, and spending 4 days with my family and friends in this magical place certainly outweighs any of the disppointments. These niggles would certainly not deter me from visiting Disneyland Paris, although I would be a lot more selective about my timing and maybe allow my expectations to relax a little during these times of economic restraint.
Well we returned home late last night and went straight into bed, so one of my first priorities this morning was to post a brief encapsulated summary of the highs and lows of our Disneyland Paris trip .....so here goes:
Highs (in no particular order - just as they come into my head):
1. Meeting up with fellow DIS member Verity (VerityChambers), her DH Simon and DD Evie for a lovely meal in Cafe Mickey and again the next day when we rode IASW. Watching Evie's face when she saw the characters and in IASW when she was pointing out all the different things she liked was really wonderful - seeing Disney again though the eyes of a small child really brings back the magic which is sometimes missing when you travel with teenagers.
2. The feeling of "Just being there": the atmosphere and the wonderful relaxed feeling of being in a Disney park just never ceases to affect me.
3. Accomodation in Hotel Cheyenne: really excellent, with fantastic theming and attention to detail. The rooms were lovely, and the breakfasts were just perfect! Shuttle buses were frequent and quick. Loved it here.
4. Spending time with family and friends: it was lovely to be able to share quality times with our family and friends - just relaxing over a drink, having some great meals and just wandering around the parks.
5. Food: The food was on the whole really good - we had excellent food and service in Planet Hollywood, and good food in Annettes and Cafe Mickey. Counter service meals were ok, but there are a few negatives on the food front which I will come to later.
6. Weather: The weather was lovely and sunny on 3 of the 4 days - more to come in the "lows" section.
7. Rides: Managed to get on most things as we wanted using fastpasses, so that wasn't a problem - apart from Crush's Coaster - see "Lows".
Lows:
1. Busy, busy, busy: the parks were very busy - probably a combination of school summer holidays and the 40% discount offer this year - but from the amounts of people there I don't imagine Disneyland Paris are suffering too much from the credit crunch! Previously in July we have chosen the week before UK schoold finish for the summer and this makes a definite difference - to the point that I would be very reluctant to visit in school holidays again. There seemed to be an awful amount of large groups there and without intentionally offending anyone I found some of them to be even ruder and less courteous than usual.
2. The food: Very poor and slow service in Annettes Diner although the food was very good. Waiter just wasn't interested. What has happened to the Backlot Express - turned into some soul-less High School Musical themed place called Blockbuster Cafe, and no delicious french patisserie cakes on offer any more - very disappointing!
3. Cast Members: very little interaction or personality shown by anyone really. Maybe because it was so busy that they just seem to be concerned with getting people on and off rides as quickly as possible.
4. The cost of everything: of course the exchange rate is not the fault of Disney, but we really noticed the difference with everything really. The average price of an evening table service meal for 5, with not all of us having 3 courses was about £150 - £170. Shopping was also more expensive - although pins were still 6 euros - the cheapest adult T-shirts were 19.90 euros, and hooded sweatshirts were 45 euros!
5. A distinct lack of Pirates of the Caribbean merchandise!
6. Still no fastpasses for Crush's Coaster - what is going on here? The standby line was actually 120 minutes 15 minutes after the ride opened! Disney - DO SOMETHING!
7. The outward flight: Flybe offer a very efficient service and the negatives here are less about the service and more about my personal fears and travel-sickness issues, but the aircraft was very small (with propellers!) and it seemed to bump about so much more when passing though the clouds on the descent, which made for a very uncomfortable experience. On the return flight it was much better, so it isn't really a reflection on the airline, more on the flying conditions and the viewpoint of a very poor flyer.
8. RS Transports - very good service when they picked us up on the outward journey, but they only sent one van to pick us up (party if 10) to bring us back to the airport. So we had to cram into an 8 seater. They got us there on time but it was a good job we were friends!
9. Fireworks: What have they done to Wishes - very disappointing! The new fireworks "Enchanted" seemed to be operating on a budget and were far from impressive - set to the Enchanted soundtrack. I was gutted - what a disappointment. Taking away Wishes which can move a grown man to tears (Tony) and replacing it with something very average which you might see at a decent 5th November display in the UK. Not good!
10. Fantillusion: also very condensed - 5 floats and a couple of dancers in between - not as impressive as it used to be and once again disappointing.
11. Rain! One evening was ruined due to a very heavy downpour and we had to abandon plans to return to the park after dinner. Also the last day was heavy rain and storms, and rides had to be closed because of the lightning. We also didn't prepare for rain and had only brought one pair of shoes etc, so it made the journey home quite unpleasant in soggy shoes. Of course this is not Disney's fault - they may be magical but weather control is beyond their capabilties at the moment.
So thats all I can think of on first reflection - I will try and put together a more detailed report at some point. I think this is the first time ever that my "lows" list has exceeded my "highs" list but I suppose they are really niggles more than anything else. We actually did have a wonderful time, and spending 4 days with my family and friends in this magical place certainly outweighs any of the disppointments. These niggles would certainly not deter me from visiting Disneyland Paris, although I would be a lot more selective about my timing and maybe allow my expectations to relax a little during these times of economic restraint.
Sounds like overall you had a fab trip so that is nice to hear!
shame you've got such a long list of lows but at least you still had a great time.
