Trip report 12-14 september

Tommie · 10-01-2007, 08:44 AM

My first visit in years and the first time with my 1,5 year old! So here my trip report.

The night before
To make the most of our visit, we decided to leave the Netherlands on Tuesdayafternoon, stay at a hotel near DLP, and be the first in line on Wednesdaymorning. After some internet research we decided to stay at the Campanile-hotel at Torcy/Collegien (near the junction of the A104/A4, about 12 kilometres from DLP).

After some car-trouble, I discovered that our two rear-tires were completely worn-out and needed replacement, and 300 euros lighter, we left our home town around 13.00. After a nice car-ride, with few traffic-jams, we arrived at the Campanile around 17.30. The rooms were small, but oke. Plus the hotel was located behind a very, very ,very large Carrefour-hypermarket, so we could do some last-minute shopping. And being from a country with very small supermarkets, a hypermarket is always a treat!

Our Disney hotel
Having visited DLP numerous times, this was the first time that we stayed on-site. We stayed at the New York Hotel, and I must say that I was impressed. Because of a very large convention of Price Waterhouse Coopers, they had no standard rooms left. So we got an upgrade to a suite!
The suite was really nice. A good-sized living-room, two bathrooms and a huge bed! We really enjoyed staying there! The room and the hotel were also perfectly maintained. No real need for refurbushment there!
Breakfast was no problem at all; every moring we were almost alone there! At one morning we decide to check out SL and NPB; lines as far as the eye could see for the breakfastrooms! Food and choice was very good. Cocktails at the bar were also great, but somewhat expensive (11 euros). Lunch at the Parkside Dinner was good, do try the New York Style Cheesecake!
The hotel does not look very Disney-like, but as long as the rooms, sevice and food/drinks are good, I don't mind!

The best thing about the hotel was the distance to Disney Village and the parks. Within 5-10 minutes you could be from your hotel-room tot Disney Village and the parks. Really handy with a 1,5 year old in need of a nap!

Disneyland park
After all the stories about bad maintenance and neglect; I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe it helped that all three days the weather was great; around 20-25 degrees celcius with nice blue skies. But most parts of the park and the attractions looked very fine to me. Some could need a little paint, a small repair or some general TLC, but overall my impression was good. One thing that does need maintenance, is the concrete flooring in the park! All cracks and quick-repairs. This is a shame I think. But most people (who are not the Disney-fans we are) will not even notice!

On all three days the parks were pretty busy. A lot of Brits, Italians and Spaniards. They were in their last week of vacation I think. So most popular attractions did have some waiting time. But never more than 15-25 minutes.

Being with a 1,5 year old, we decided to start in Fantasyland. And after Dumbo, we discovered that this visit would be very different from our last visits! Our son does only like attractions with a lot of colour, that don't go up or down, not too fast and that aren't in the dark....pretty much limiting us to It's a Small World, The Storybook Land and the playground in Adventureland! So we decided tot take it easy, walk around a lot, and take turns at the attractions.

A few observations; BTM still is the best of its kind, SM-M2 is still a great roller-coaster; but please fix the music and make it less bumpy, Buzz is super (althuogh a clone!), POTC is still the best of all POTC, the same goes for PM and..........It's a small world doesn't really get boring with a very happy 1,5 year old next to you with a big smile!

The new parade also is great. Really colourful and the scents are a nice bonus. The parade did stop a few times for a little show time. I must say that I liked the first 3/4 of the parade the most, the princesses and Mary Poppins etc I found a little boring, couldn't they think of something new, why not a Cars-car?? But all in all a great parade for DLP.

All in all we had a very relaxing and very pleasant stay at the Disneyland-park. We will surely return when our son is a little older and can go onto a little more attractions. But beacause of him, we really did do the pak in a very different way!

Btw: No problems with queue-jumpers, rude people in lines, smokers and rude CM's! The weather probably helped!

Walt Disney Studios
This was my first visit and I was not really disappointed. Because I had read so much about it, I was prepared for what I saw.

A few observations:

The entrance-square and Studio 1 are what you expect of a Disney theme-park: they are themed!
Toon Studios: a great area, but very small! Expansion please!
Crush's Coaster: Fun dark-ride part, the roller-coaster is much faster than I had anticipated, but a great addition to the park. Waiting times from 30-45 minutes and unfortunately a lot of down-time....
TOT: Really big in comparison to the rest of the park!
Hollywood Boulevard: It look's nice, but where does it lead to? People are going tot be disappointed that it is just the street and nothing else. Plus; I am curious how they are going to bring the (more or less) real buildings and the facades together. At various points in the parks you can see the steel-beams of the sky-scrapers. This doesn't look very good in my opionion.
RnRC: Still a great coaster, as I had already discovered at MGM. Outside the theming isn't very special, inside I think it is better than MGM.
For the rest of the park; a lot of open spaces, a lot of concrete and very little theming.

WDS has potential and some great attractions (Crush, RnRC, the Magiques) but it is too small and too bland. Toon Studios, TOT, Hollywood Boulevard and Stitch are a few (small...) steps in the right direction. But the park needs much more theming and attractions to be able to rival DLP or even MGM in Florida!

Disney Village
It didn't look at it's best (especially the floor...)......but because of the great weather and a lot of people being there everey part of the day shopping, eating, drinking or just sitting in the sun......it did have some great streetmosphere! The place felt really alive with all the restaurants and shops packed with people.
So I really do think the place has got a great potential. Just give it a good and thorough refurbishment (especially the flooring!) and preferably some new restaurants and shops (aren't there some good distinguishable American-chains who want to open a restaurant/shop here?) and you have a really great area.

Btw the big balloon is really great! Looks good and is very popular. Please let it stay after the 15th!

Up to my next visit to DLP! Winter 2008??

A few photos can be found in a post down below!

mikeland · 10-01-2007, 09:18 AM

Thanks for the report! I'd love to see some pictures.

nathan detroit · 10-01-2007, 09:48 AM

Nathan Detroit Jnr was around the same age as your son on his first visit to DLP. AT that age, take him every year to 18 months for a completely different experience each time (finances permitting of course!).

The balloon (Panoramagique) is a permanant fixture with 15th Anniversary decorations added.

And having missed the parade on our last visit, I didn't realise that it was presented in Smell-o-rama!

Great report!

fizzog · 10-01-2007, 09:59 AM

Great report, thanks

Olivier · 10-01-2007, 10:46 AM

I loved your TR, thanks for sharing impressions.

Tommie · 10-02-2007, 01:43 AM

Here are a few pictures of my trip:

Castle

Adventureland

Parade

Phantom Manor

WDS

Disney Village

Olivier · 10-02-2007, 03:11 AM

WOW! Great pictures, look like postcards!

mikeland · 10-02-2007, 08:09 AM

Awesome pictures. It looks like you had great weather too.

Tommie · 10-02-2007, 08:54 AM

Thx everyone!

The weather could indeed not have been better. Not too hot, not too cold, perfectly blue skies! Just perfect for a Disney visit!

fizzog · 10-02-2007, 10:07 AM

Really nice pics, even of Disney Village lol

disneybugg · 10-10-2007, 11:06 PM

those are some really beautiful pictures. i especially love the second one of the castle! looks like you had fun.

CPTNMatt · 10-10-2007, 11:42 PM

Interesting parade...
Great pictures!

Anyone know why the H.A.B. has "F-GTDV" on it?

Alchimedes · 10-11-2007, 12:09 AM

Amazing parade, soo much detail. I especially love the Villain's float!

Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Mighty Mikerscope · 10-11-2007, 12:23 AM

^^^Me too- that Villain's float is awesome with Chernabog and friends. Also like the square trees around the castle!

Thanks!

Tommie · 10-11-2007, 03:38 AM

Thanks for the compliments! We really did have fun!
I am already thinking about my next visit after the opening of the ToT.

@CPTNMATT: The code on the big balloon is just and identifying code for all flying objects (balloons, plains , ufo's..... ;-))

10-01-2007, 08:44 AM	#1
Tommie Disneyland Paris Fan Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: The Netherlands; about 500 km from DLP! Posts: 130	Trip report 12-14 september; including pictures! My first visit in years and the first time with my 1,5 year old! So here my trip report. The night before To make the most of our visit, we decided to leave the Netherlands on Tuesdayafternoon, stay at a hotel near DLP, and be the first in line on Wednesdaymorning. After some internet research we decided to stay at the Campanile-hotel at Torcy/Collegien (near the junction of the A104/A4, about 12 kilometres from DLP). After some car-trouble, I discovered that our two rear-tires were completely worn-out and needed replacement, and 300 euros lighter, we left our home town around 13.00. After a nice car-ride, with few traffic-jams, we arrived at the Campanile around 17.30. The rooms were small, but oke. Plus the hotel was located behind a very, very ,very large Carrefour-hypermarket, so we could do some last-minute shopping. And being from a country with very small supermarkets, a hypermarket is always a treat! Our Disney hotel Having visited DLP numerous times, this was the first time that we stayed on-site. We stayed at the New York Hotel, and I must say that I was impressed. Because of a very large convention of Price Waterhouse Coopers, they had no standard rooms left. So we got an upgrade to a suite! The suite was really nice. A good-sized living-room, two bathrooms and a huge bed! We really enjoyed staying there! The room and the hotel were also perfectly maintained. No real need for refurbushment there! Breakfast was no problem at all; every moring we were almost alone there! At one morning we decide to check out SL and NPB; lines as far as the eye could see for the breakfastrooms! Food and choice was very good. Cocktails at the bar were also great, but somewhat expensive (11 euros). Lunch at the Parkside Dinner was good, do try the New York Style Cheesecake! The hotel does not look very Disney-like, but as long as the rooms, sevice and food/drinks are good, I don't mind! The best thing about the hotel was the distance to Disney Village and the parks. Within 5-10 minutes you could be from your hotel-room tot Disney Village and the parks. Really handy with a 1,5 year old in need of a nap! Disneyland park After all the stories about bad maintenance and neglect; I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe it helped that all three days the weather was great; around 20-25 degrees celcius with nice blue skies. But most parts of the park and the attractions looked very fine to me. Some could need a little paint, a small repair or some general TLC, but overall my impression was good. One thing that does need maintenance, is the concrete flooring in the park! All cracks and quick-repairs. This is a shame I think. But most people (who are not the Disney-fans we are) will not even notice! On all three days the parks were pretty busy. A lot of Brits, Italians and Spaniards. They were in their last week of vacation I think. So most popular attractions did have some waiting time. But never more than 15-25 minutes. Being with a 1,5 year old, we decided to start in Fantasyland. And after Dumbo, we discovered that this visit would be very different from our last visits! Our son does only like attractions with a lot of colour, that don't go up or down, not too fast and that aren't in the dark....pretty much limiting us to It's a Small World, The Storybook Land and the playground in Adventureland! So we decided tot take it easy, walk around a lot, and take turns at the attractions. A few observations; BTM still is the best of its kind, SM-M2 is still a great roller-coaster; but please fix the music and make it less bumpy, Buzz is super (althuogh a clone!), POTC is still the best of all POTC, the same goes for PM and..........It's a small world doesn't really get boring with a very happy 1,5 year old next to you with a big smile! The new parade also is great. Really colourful and the scents are a nice bonus. The parade did stop a few times for a little show time. I must say that I liked the first 3/4 of the parade the most, the princesses and Mary Poppins etc I found a little boring, couldn't they think of something new, why not a Cars-car?? But all in all a great parade for DLP. All in all we had a very relaxing and very pleasant stay at the Disneyland-park. We will surely return when our son is a little older and can go onto a little more attractions. But beacause of him, we really did do the pak in a very different way! Btw: No problems with queue-jumpers, rude people in lines, smokers and rude CM's! The weather probably helped! Walt Disney Studios This was my first visit and I was not really disappointed. Because I had read so much about it, I was prepared for what I saw. A few observations: The entrance-square and Studio 1 are what you expect of a Disney theme-park: they are themed! Toon Studios: a great area, but very small! Expansion please! Crush's Coaster: Fun dark-ride part, the roller-coaster is much faster than I had anticipated, but a great addition to the park. Waiting times from 30-45 minutes and unfortunately a lot of down-time.... TOT: Really big in comparison to the rest of the park! Hollywood Boulevard: It look's nice, but where does it lead to? People are going tot be disappointed that it is just the street and nothing else. Plus; I am curious how they are going to bring the (more or less) real buildings and the facades together. At various points in the parks you can see the steel-beams of the sky-scrapers. This doesn't look very good in my opionion. RnRC: Still a great coaster, as I had already discovered at MGM. Outside the theming isn't very special, inside I think it is better than MGM. For the rest of the park; a lot of open spaces, a lot of concrete and very little theming. WDS has potential and some great attractions (Crush, RnRC, the Magiques) but it is too small and too bland. Toon Studios, TOT, Hollywood Boulevard and Stitch are a few (small...) steps in the right direction. But the park needs much more theming and attractions to be able to rival DLP or even MGM in Florida! Disney Village It didn't look at it's best (especially the floor...)......but because of the great weather and a lot of people being there everey part of the day shopping, eating, drinking or just sitting in the sun......it did have some great streetmosphere! The place felt really alive with all the restaurants and shops packed with people. So I really do think the place has got a great potential. Just give it a good and thorough refurbishment (especially the flooring!) and preferably some new restaurants and shops (aren't there some good distinguishable American-chains who want to open a restaurant/shop here?) and you have a really great area. Btw the big balloon is really great! Looks good and is very popular. Please let it stay after the 15th! Up to my next visit to DLP! Winter 2008?? A few photos can be found in a post down below! Last edited by Tommie; 10-02-2007 at 04:00 AM.

10-01-2007, 09:18 AM	#2
mikeland World Traveler Join Date: May 2005 Location: Aventura, FL Posts: 3,732	Re: Trip report 12-14 september Thanks for the report! I'd love to see some pictures. __________________

10-01-2007, 09:48 AM	#3
nathan detroit Ring-a-ding-ding! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Relieved that 'Up' was everything he'd hoped for - and so much more! Posts: 6,181	Re: Trip report 12-14 september Nathan Detroit Jnr was around the same age as your son on his first visit to DLP. AT that age, take him every year to 18 months for a completely different experience each time (finances permitting of course!). The balloon (Panoramagique) is a permanant fixture with 15th Anniversary decorations added. And having missed the parade on our last visit, I didn't realise that it was presented in Smell-o-rama! Great report! __________________

10-01-2007, 09:59 AM	#4
fizzog Pirate - G'har! Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Yorkshire, England Posts: 1,658	Re: Trip report 12-14 september Great report, thanks __________________

10-01-2007, 10:46 AM	#5
Olivier Membre Join Date: May 2005 Location: France Posts: 812	Re: Trip report 12-14 september I loved your TR, thanks for sharing impressions. __________________ livier My Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Report + Pics!

10-02-2007, 01:43 AM	#6
Tommie Disneyland Paris Fan Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: The Netherlands; about 500 km from DLP! Posts: 130	Re: Trip report 12-14 september Here are a few pictures of my trip: Castle Adventureland Parade Phantom Manor WDS Disney Village

10-02-2007, 03:11 AM	#7
Olivier Membre Join Date: May 2005 Location: France Posts: 812	Re: Trip report 12-14 september WOW! Great pictures, look like postcards! __________________ livier My Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Report + Pics!

10-02-2007, 08:09 AM	#8
mikeland World Traveler Join Date: May 2005 Location: Aventura, FL Posts: 3,732	Re: Trip report 12-14 september Awesome pictures. It looks like you had great weather too. __________________

10-02-2007, 08:54 AM	#9
Tommie Disneyland Paris Fan Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: The Netherlands; about 500 km from DLP! Posts: 130	Re: Trip report 12-14 september Thx everyone! The weather could indeed not have been better. Not too hot, not too cold, perfectly blue skies! Just perfect for a Disney visit!

10-02-2007, 10:07 AM	#10
fizzog Pirate - G'har! Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Yorkshire, England Posts: 1,658	Re: Trip report 12-14 september Really nice pics, even of Disney Village lol __________________

10-10-2007, 11:06 PM	#11
disneybugg savvy? Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: southern california Posts: 11	Re: Trip report 12-14 september those are some really beautiful pictures. i especially love the second one of the castle! looks like you had fun.

10-10-2007, 11:42 PM	#12
CPTNMatt Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Anaheim, California Posts: 99	Re: Trip report 12-14 september Interesting parade... Great pictures! Anyone know why the H.A.B. has "F-GTDV" on it?

10-11-2007, 12:09 AM	#13
Alchimedes Senior Minion Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 9,622	Re: Trip report 12-14 september Amazing parade, soo much detail. I especially love the Villain's float! Thanks for sharing your pictures.

10-11-2007, 12:23 AM	#14
Mighty Mikerscope Can see my car from here Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: The OC Posts: 722	Re: Trip report 12-14 september ^^^Me too- that Villain's float is awesome with Chernabog and friends. Also like the square trees around the castle! Thanks! __________________ Next refurb— Autopia powered by Substitutiary Locomotion.

10-11-2007, 03:38 AM	#15
Tommie Disneyland Paris Fan Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: The Netherlands; about 500 km from DLP! Posts: 130	Re: Trip report 12-14 september Thanks for the compliments! We really did have fun! I am already thinking about my next visit after the opening of the ToT. @CPTNMATT: The code on the big balloon is just and identifying code for all flying objects (balloons, plains , ufo's..... ;-))

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