Having just come back from the resort, and with things still fresh in my mind I decided to put pen to paper and write my opinion.

How many of us can say we have never heard of some Disney character? None I expect? For nearly all of us, Disney had been a way of life for us – as we have grown up with the famous characters: Mickey Mouse and his friend Minnie: Pluto: Goofy: Donald and the rest. So I can now confess that it wasn’t solely for our children that we went to Disneyland Paris.

We arrived at Disneyland via Eurostar train. Immediately outside the train station is the bus stop: from here you can catch a free bus shuttle to any of Disney hotels! The buses are yellow in colour and about a length and half of a typical British bus. Literally just hop on, no fare to pay, no conductor to check tickets, just hop and ride.

Arriving at our hotel we were pleasantly surprised. It was large clean and comfortable (more on that in another opinion (hopefully)).

We arrived at our hotel at around 5pm French time, (4 pm our time). As soon as we had dropped our bags off we aimed for the park (we’d been fed and watered on Eurostar).

Arriving at the park is easily done via the free bus shuttle, though a word of warning the last bus leaves the park at 11.30pm (although the park shut at 8pm).

The park is split into sections: Main Street USA and the imposing castle at the end of it are the main inlet and outlet! Find the castle (visible from most points I the park) and you’ll find Main Street and therefore your way out!

The park as I said is split into sections: Adventure land; Frontier land: Fantasy land: and Discovery land: Along with main street USA.


In Discovery land you’ll find attractions such as le Visionarium – a ‘ride’ where the whole circular room has screens and you fly over lands and seas: Space mountain – an exciting ride from earth to m
oon: and ‘honey I shrunk the audience – take your seats and prepare to be shrunk! Feel the effects as various events unfold in this 3D cinema ride!

In Fantasy land you’ll find such things as: Mad hatters tea cups- the famous teacups where you sit in the cup and spin around: Alice in wonderland maze- a fun filled maze for all to enjoy: and Pinocchio - a ride to see some fun with Pinocchio.

In Adventure land you’ll find all pirate things, ships, skull rock and more: Indiana Jones and the temple of doom (backwards) – a scary roller coaster ride –backwards!

In frontier land you’ll find: Big thunder mountain, a thrilling roller coaster ride (extremely popular); a shooting gallery (as you might expect (extra fee): Phantom manor – a scary journey through the haunted manor: Thunder mountain riverboat landing – a journey on a paddle boat around the lake.

There are heaps of shop’s, restaurants, characters, and things to do and see. We were there for three days and four nights, and still never saw the whole park, and even at the last point we found things we hadn’t seen.

Prices are in Euros, and seemed lower than what I had expected. For example a nice meal in a rather tasteful restaurant set us back around €75 or £48 (for five people with wine, drinks, bread rolls, water etc).

There are heaps of souvenirs to choose from: Toys, pictures, books, clothing, ornaments, underwear, outfits, photo albums, you name they had it. A mouse mat with Mickey and Minnie on cost me just over €3 (or about £2). Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that it is cheap – it isn’t! But it is simply not as expensive as I thought – and we actually came home with money!

++DISABLED ACCESS++
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Access for the disabled is generally very good, although if you are totally wheelchair bound then a lot of the rides a
re not accessible. Most restaurants, shops, etc are accessible.

When you get to the park head for city hall, where you will get a blue card and information book on what rides are suitable for what type of disability.

Show the blue card at the entrance of the ride, and you will be escorted to the front of the queue-via a special place for the disabled. You will be allowed on first to settle in your position.

I had the best time of my life, and I only went on a few rides, despite us being robbed of a bag of clothes and souvenirs on the way back home – the trip was superb and we WILL go again (next Feb probably).

I was very limited to the amount of rides I could go on, as my mobility at the moment is quite limited. But if you can transfer, or walk short distances, then most of the rides are accommodating.

HIGHLIGHT
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Without a doubt the highlight for me, were the parades. Every day at 3pm-where you get to see a parade of you favourite Disney characters travelling up Main Street. While of a nighttime it is quite awesome to see the electrical parade. The millions of lights not only light up the floats that trundle down before you, but the faces on EVERYONE watching.

COST
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We travelled with Thomas Cook and stayed at the Sequoia lodge, for a period of three nights. We had four day pass. The train went via Lille, and by first class Eurostar (and TVG), and cost around £1,000 for a family of 5. A steep price some may say, but personally it was worth every penny!

A can of coke was €1.50 cents (about 97p)
A packet of crisps was €1.00 (around 65p)
A meal for five people (including drinks) was €75 (about £48)
A McDonalds for five of us was €25 (about £16.25)

Once you have finished in the disneyland park you can visit disney village, a place where you can fins loads more shops, restaurants, planet hollywood, cinemas (15
screens), and more beside. The weather is much the same as the British weather, and when we were there (14th January) we had one day of rain, some fog (on the day we arrived), and the rest of the time was glorious sunshine (though cold)! I kid you not it was sunny.

Another thing worth mentioning is security, everytime you go into the park your bags are searched, this applies to both the disneyland park, and the disney village. You will need tickets to enter the park, and if you leave with intent to return - then you need to have your hand stamped upon leaving.

Thanks for reading, and if you decide to visit – you’ll enjoy I know you will!



Dave

P.S. I cannot comment on the price of entry into the park, as it was all included in my package.
www.disneylandparis.com