Disneyland paris-my review (Disneyland Resort Paris)

Member Name: dipity407

Product:	Disneyland Resort Paris
Date:	29/07/09 (87 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Seeing my daughters face when she saw mickey!

Disadvantages: erm the pushy tourists, not me obviously.....

We took our little one last Halloween me, the hubby and my mother and I am begging my other half to go back! Thinking back now i think my daughter was a little too young (2) to really enjoy it, she wont probably will not remember it, but the look on her face when she saw Mickey Mouse was worth every penny!

We actually booked through Disney itself, booking 3 nights and then getting one free! our total cost included 4 nights and 5 days tickets to both parks. We stayed at the Newport Bay...more on that later and booked our flights seperatly through easyjet. We found we got it for £500 less than what the local travel agency had quoted so my advice go to the disney website as they have some great offers, or ring they we're so helpful when I called to ask for a cot in the room and a quiet room too as i didnt request it at the time of booking online.

The one thing we do regret doing is booking the 'disney bus' operated by VEA what a nightmare!!!
We did it the week before we flew, you print of your tickets and it worked out about £15 per adult one way (we needed a taxi return as our flight was so early) ok fine...the info stated we would look for the signs at CDG airport for the 'VEA Disney Bus' the info shows what the bus looks like etc so you know what your looking for. The buses which arrive every 20 odd mins, fine we thought hey its Disney they'll be well sign posted erm NO THEY ARE NOT. we spent an hour and a half looking for where these buses went from, not just us but several families as well. and if you've flown to CDG you'll know what a hectic airport it is!
When we did finally find the bus stop (turn left out of departures and walk as far as you can its by the toilets just before Burger King) we got onto a bus which then took us to ANOTHER bus and then it was a pretty reasonable 40 min journey to the disney hotels....too much stress for me i like an easy life, plus we had to load and unload our luggage onto the buses twice and with a baby hubby and mother it was not worth the hassle. It Was 90 euros for a taxi back to CDG for us which was expensive but I think id rather do that...hubby may disagree though.
My friend however has just returned and she did the Euro Tunnel which takes you right into Disney! you come out right outside Disney village so if your staying at the disneyland hotel, Newport bay or sequoia lodge id say that was ideal and i think thats what we will try next time.

Ok The Newprot Bay..wow what a building! its set in a 'new-england' nautical theme, and outside is all whitewashed wood with shutters and beautiful lights in the trees outside i thought it was probabaly one of the prettiest looking of the Disney hotels from the outside.
We arrived at 3pm checked in straight away and left our luggage with the concierge so we could get straight out! its only a 15 min walk to Disney village and you walk past the lake and we thought it was a really pleasant walk, so we didnt bother with the free shuttle bus.

We thought the staff we helpful, some, not all but you'll get that anywhere sadly even at Disney! the beds we're comfy, rooms to a good standard if a little worn and breakfast was great! You MUST book a time slot this is the biggest hotel and conference centre in europe apparently so you can imagine how busy it gets!
We booked for 7.30 and never needed to Q we had plently of fruit, yoghurts, pastries, cereals toast etc plus a good selction of cheese and meats you go up and help yourself to pots of tea coffee juices etc. you can pay extra for a hot american breakfast but we didnt bother.
The bars in the hotel were expensive! BUT in hindsight when we all went to the Disney hotel itself for drinks we paid the same price, so maybe its a standard rate in all disney hotels?
The Newport bars get busy but to be honest but we didnt really mind, if you get a table the views are over the lake so its a lovely atmosphere, its table service and if you've got kids its so nice to see all the little ones in their new dressing up outfits running around!
They're we're some miserable old blokes sat next to us who moaned about noise but hey its disney!its going to be full of kids, book with saga next time...

After breakfast we hit the parks straight away, for me there is nothing more magical than stepping onto main street usa! as it was halloween it was all done up in orange with ghosts and funny characters everywhere! nothing too scary for the kids obviously...as our little one is only 2 we stuck to Fantasy land first! Her face on the dumbo ride was beautiful, and its a small world and peter pans flight and the mad hatters tea-cups all stood out to us she loved them all, and i'll be honest the Q'ing wasnt that bad i can imagine it is manic in school hols but we never q'd for more than a few minuites.
sadly sleeping Beautys castle was shut for renovation, you could go into the little shop (where its always xmas) and see the dragon (which scared the life out of her poor poppett) but thats all.

Onto Frontier land and Adventure Land where my hubby was dying to go on indianna jones and no-one would go on with him, poor thing. We did go on big thunder moutain -twice i loved it! and pirates of the carabian though which was also excellent...that is the good thing about taking your mother with you is it meant we could get on the rides! obviously its not like this for everyone so disney do offer a service where one of you can Q for the ride and then you swop and the other one can go pretty much straight to the front. This is what we we're told by several people im not 100% sure how it works but it is worth bearing in mind.
We also went on the swiss family robinson tree house which was great fun and aladians cave which was slightly disapointing. No-one was brave enough to venture into the phantom manor arent we wimps haa!We all really wanted to go on the steam boat which looked amazing, but sadly we didnt get the chance.
The one thing i'll say about Frontier land and Adventure land is that nearly ALL the eating places were shut, apparently as it was off season?but it halloween so it was a 'holiday' of sorts so that was a pain as we had to traipse back to main street usa.

A good tip for autograph hunters...now on main street usa and fantasy land especially the charcters come with bodyguards and you must Q for an autograph, yes really, maybe someone has a score to settle with Donald who knows! but if you go to frontier land and make your way past the big thunder mountain towards the back to cowboy cookout bbq they have a stage where charcters mill about and a little childrens farm yard where also lots of characters hang out. We got woody, Jesse, Pinochio, chip and dale and lots of other autographs and pictures here.

Onto Discovery land which i found to be a bit of a bore im afraid! my husband loved it though, we went on the star wars tour which even i like and space mountain which literally shook me to death im still coming to terms with wether i should forgive hime for dragging me on!!and these were the two longest Q's about 30-40 mins each. we also took in the Lion King show here which was amazing!i havent seen the london show but honestly the perfermonce wouldnt be far off i bet we all really enjoyed it.
Eating here was mainly Buzz's pizeria which was just a large buzz lightyear themed cafeteria i thought nothing special at all.
In fact all the food is pizza, burger and fries in Disney park and expnsive too. We struggled for anything healthy to give our daughter so we took things in with us (naughty i know)
However the eating places in Disney Village were great! we ate at Rainforest Cafe which is a must!!its set in the Rainforest (ahem obviously) and all the animals come to life every half hr, they also have a thunderstorm too its really magical. The food was good and the childrens menu was great veggies and fruit included as options.
The best meal was at the chicago steakhouse for us, it was expensive thought but worth every penny! we also ate at anettes andcafe mickey which were ok and ludwigs castle. Ludwigs castle was very disapointing the service was terrible, and my daughters shepards pie literally was potato and gravy!
In terms of the shops, well they all pretty much sell the same thing but you cant resist going in! i thought the dressing up outfits were extortionate compared to what you pay in the disney shop back here!

We loved our stay, even my 62 yr old mum! if you want fine cusiene and intellectual conversation, culture and local architecture then this is not for you. If you want somewhere magical to forget your worries, walk a lot, smile a lot, spend a lot of money and encounter a lot of pushy tourists then it is! but you know what id go back tomorrow and do it all again..

oh we also visited Disney studios but as ive rambled on a bit here i'll review it seperatly!!

Summary: Bringing a bit of Magic to your life!