DLP Tips?

[Prenexus]

Hey guys,

Planning on making the trip to Paris in September to complete our world tour of Disneylands (HKG doesnt count yet!). We've visited all of the other parks so far (Orlando, then Anaheim, then Tokyo), and this will be our last big trip for quite some time.

We need some advice and tips.
We're planning on 2 days in the parks (1 for each). Would this suffice? We did Tokyo Disney in 2, and Anaheim in 3 (really 2, but we used the 3rd day for a "favourites" tour).
How does DLP compare time wise?

Are the on property hotels worth staying at? We try to stay in the lower budget places, but prefer to be close to the park to maximise time available.

We found some excellent Tokyo Disney sites before our last trip - is there any similar for Paris?

Many thanks for your time!

Mat and Jodie

[Tutter]

2 days is okay - make it 1/2 in one and 1/2 in the other.

Definately stay onsite - it is such a hassle travelling otherwise. The cheapest Disney one there is Hotel Cheyenne and is wonderfully themed and a good budget, hotel, it is walking distance (about 15 minutes), or there is a free shuttle bus.

You will find DLP larger that Anaheim (I think the actual park is the biggest of all the Magic Kingdoms) - so it takes more time to get around.

[lisap]

Are the on property hotels worth staying at? We try to stay in the lower budget places, but prefer to be close to the park to maximise time available.



The on-property hotels were pretty much the only game in town when we went a couple of years ago--the park is not in the middle of a city like in Anaheim. We stayed at the Newport Bay, which is classified as a mid-range, and we loved it--great views, close to the park. Have a great time!

[littlemissgorgeous]

One day for each park is okay...but you might want to add a third day for shopping, dining or as you just wrote a " favorites tour "...
Disney park is large in size, but there are not as many attractions as it might look... ;)
Disney Studios was somehow a small disappointment, nothing compared to MGM... :(
Also sad that @ attractions only french is spoken..the CM`s speak english most of the times...

The onsite hotels are good and very close to the park ( walking distance, but free shuttles are available ) some are located right @ the lovely Disney lake , I stayed @ the New York hotel, which is expensive but very good ( in and outdoors pool, great bar and breakfast)- we had a full view of the Disney park from our window.. :)

Disney Village ( french version of downtown Disney ) is also very close..
If you arrive by plane the connection to the parks is very good with the Metro ( takes up to one hour, depends on which airport you arrive ), but you can also book a shuttle...

Disney also recommends ( you can even book them on the Disney site ) some other hotels which are in the neighborhood, they are a little farer away, but often shuttles are provided..they are cheaper and good ...I once stayed @ the Holiday Inn, which was nice, but if you want to be in the middle of the action stay on Disney property.. :)
Check out the official website for hotels and packages : www.disneylandparis.com

Helloween @ Disney Paris is great..they have lots of decorations, specials, parades..I don´t know when they start decorating..but I will check..it´s really great... :D
weather in Sept. can be bad @ times, there might be rain and very cloudy skys...but you also have a good chance for sunshine...european weather is going crazy :eek: ... check a weather site before leaving..

Make sure to visit downtown Paris, Champs de Elysees is just 40 min by Metro away..from there most sights are in walking distance: Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Galerie Lafayette and more..make sure to check the schedule for the last train...very important :D
if you like to stay downtown, all major hotel chains have at least one hotel downtown ..If you need more info I stayed @ several hotels downtown..
If you plan to stay longer downtown make sure to buy a Paris City passport...check out this website for info on Paris sightseeing, hotels and more : www.parisinfo.com

don´t forget a french dictionary...the younger people often speak english, but you will often need some translation.. ;)

[fccabs]

don´t forget a french dictionary...the younger people often speak english, but you will often need some translation.. ;)

If you do go into Paris then make the effort and try and speak what little french you can (presuming you're not fluent) as you will get a nicer reception then if you just expect the Parisians to speak English. I barely speak a word of french but my fiance speaks a little and on the 2 occasions we've visited paris we've been treated really niecely as my fiance always tries (very badly at times ) to communicate at first in french.

[Colin]

Hiya,

Glad to hear you are visiting the European capital of the Magic ;)

I'm sure you'll enjoy your trip!

Personally I would recommend 3 days on Resort, I would recommend 1/2 - 3/4 of a day in Walt Disney Studios, you can do everything in that time, even on the busiest of days! Disneyland Park I would recommend you take 1-2 days in, the park itself is a lot more detailed than the other Magic Kingdoms, and I love just wandering around soaking in all the details!

In Disneyland Park, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain: Mission 2, Peter Pan and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril are all fast passed.

In Walt Disney Studios Rock n Roller Coaster and Flying Carpets over Agrabah are fast passed!

One thing to note with Paris fast passes, is that you are able to have one pass per attraction, not one per park at any one time!

In order to see The Legend of the Lion King show (I would highly recommend this) tickets are required, they are distributed at 11am and 3pm currently, this could change of course. I would recommend turning up to ticket collection at least 20 minutes before they start distributing, preferably 30, go to the Videopolis and ask where to queue, as the queue location has recently moved!

I would like to correct LittleMissGorgeous, she stated most attractions are spoken in french, in fact the only attraction I can think of Solely in French would be Phantom Manor, and that does not rely on Verbal Story telling as much as its American Counterparts, what you will find in Paris is they try to tell the story a lot more in your surroundings, as to avoid the Language Barrier. Most other attractions are either showed in french and provide english translations, by headset or on screen titles, some shows alternate english/french (ie lion king) or shows like Honey I Shrunk the Audience have set days, I believe its 4 days a week in french, 3 in english (and you also have headset translations in there if you go on the wrong language day). I should also mention, I very rarely have problems communicating with CMs in DLP, it is a requirement (though they are a little lax on this lately) that to work at the resort you must speak French and English. Often I find you may ask for something in French, and they respond in english, good on them in one sense, but when you've made the effort to speak french, it can be a little irritating LOL

My recommendation if you wish a cheap hotel, would be the Holiday Inn at Disneyland Resort Paris, go to http://www.priorityclub.com and book from there, you can get rooms as cheap as €60 a night, and it is on site, only a 20min walk from the parks, or there is a regular free shuttle service which runs from about 6am til about an hour after park closure. If you cannot get a room in the Holiday Inn, check the Kyriad https://www.envergure.fr/kyriaden.html again this is on site with a free shuttle, next door to the holiday inn, so again only a 20min walk if you stay too late in Disney Village! One thing I will mention if you book directly through these sites, they do not include park admission, but booking these hotels direct through disney increases the price dramatically, I believe you are better off booking your hotel through the website, and then buying your park tickets upon arrival! A full range of tickets is available for sale in the hotels (well the Holiday Inn at least, though I think Kyriad do too) and I believe they are slightly discounted also!

LittleMissGorgeous Mentioned Halloween, this is typically running from 1st October - 31st October, and on the 31st October they have a special 'Halloween Soiree' where the park closes at 8pm, re-opens at 8:30pm for those with special tickets for sale separately, and then remains open til 1am, with fireworks usually at midnight, and a lot of special entertainment. Also the Christmas Season (my personal Favourite Season) runs from the middle of November (either 12th or 19th Nov this year I believe) until the middle of January.

As LMG said, its easy to get from Charles de Gaulle airport to DLP, though the Metro is probably the slowest (yet cheapest) method, the most popular would probably be the Vea Shuttle as it stops at all hotels on the resort, so you don't have to carry far, you can find more info on this here http://www.vea.fr/uk/index.asp This also runs from Paris Orly airport. The Quickest way from CDG to the Resort is the TGV, though this is also the most costly, it takes only 10 minutes from CDG to the resort, find more info on this and book here http://www.voyages-sncf.com You will need Paris Charles de Gaule to Marne-la-Valee Chessy (Parcs Disney)

If you are interested in Disney Dining there are many places to eat on the resort, but I must say my favourite Table Service restuarant has to be Manhattans in the Hotel New York, its mid-high on prices, but the service is excellent and the food exceptional. I absolutely love the atmosphere in this Restaurant. If you do wish to book any restaurants or character dining, Priority Seating can be booked on (33) (1) 60 45 60 45.

Oh and the website you were hoping for can be found at http://www.dlp.info Its a great site, with more information than you could really ever need! If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask here or PM me!

C°o°lin

[efoxx]

you will need two days for the MK at the least. personally I think it is the most beautiful of all the disney parks. but only about two hours (maybe three) for the studios, it's the worst disney park I have ever been to. do the stunt show, RnRC, and a couple of minor things then get out quick.

if you are arriving from Charles De Gualle then it's worth the effort to walk or ride the bus over to the TGV station and take that. ten minutes and you will be there, right there in the heart of paris disneyland. plus the ride is so cool.

[mayanlily]

Bonjour!! I think you will just have a blast at DLP!!! I was in Paris in May for a wedding, and we did alot of museums. My son said he would go with me to DLP, and of course, I said yes!! I just kept feeling like I was in Florida!!! Only kidding. I just had one day so we just went to Magic Kingdom. It was just beautiful with lots of little hidden surprises... Like the dragon under the castle!!!! It is clean and a bit spead out... The only thing I did not care for was the storyland cruise ---which cannot compare to Anaheim!!! The only on site hotel I saw was the one you pass under to go to the park. It looked like the Floridian, and was very pretty. I felt that the restaurant service was rather slow but fine. While you are there, you need to see Paris. we stayed at the Hotel Burgundy.. a 3 star which was fine---tres Parisian!! near the Ritz!! While you are there, be sure to see Versailles for a day. We only spent 4 hours, and that was not enough. Be VERY!!! careful on the Metro. We were pickpocked despite the fact that we were careful . Have everything in a belly
pack UNDER your clothes. Keep maybe 10 euros available. Also check into exchanging monet there. We felt that the servie charges were high. You will love it!!

Hey guys,

Planning on making the trip to Paris in September to complete our world tour of Disneylands (HKG doesnt count yet!). We've visited all of the other parks so far (Orlando, then Anaheim, then Tokyo), and this will be our last big trip for quite some time.

We need some advice and tips.
We're planning on 2 days in the parks (1 for each). Would this suffice? We did Tokyo Disney in 2, and Anaheim in 3 (really 2, but we used the 3rd day for a "favourites" tour).
How does DLP compare time wise?

Are the on property hotels worth staying at? We try to stay in the lower budget places, but prefer to be close to the park to maximise time available.

We found some excellent Tokyo Disney sites before our last trip - is there any similar for Paris?

Many thanks for your time!

Mat and Jodie

[Prenexus]

Thanks for all the hints guys.

I think 2 days might do us for the park, but we might buy a 3 day park hopper in case we need to use the 3rd day. Although, looking at the prices, its only cheaper if we decide to use that day. Decisions!

I think we'll probably stay on property in one of the cheaper places, then move into the city (Latin quarter I hear is excellant value and close by to most attractions) for the last few days. We've been to Paris city before, so we plan on hitting the highlights fairly quickly, then discovering something a little more "French" whatever that might be ;)

I didnt realise that the Fast Pass system was different - seems like a bad change for queue times. Can you effectively run around to all the FP rides, get a FP and then come back later for each of them with no queues? Seems weird after experiencing it at the other parks.

Any tips for the first up ride to take? We raced to Pooh's Adventure in Tokyo and got to ride it twice before the lines got up to around 3 hours! Is there anything like that in Paris?

Again, thanks for the tips - and the websites - Dlpinfo.com is an excellent resource, and had links to some other great sites too :)

Thanks again!

[Colin]

The fast pass rides... well, Peter Pan and Big Thunder tend to get insane queues, but Indy and Space mountain have such a good throughput that Fastpass doesn't have a major impact on your queue length... If you want to ride Peter Pan (Which is MUCH more detailed than that in Anaheim) go first thing, fast pass issue begins at park opening but the passes are for 10am onwards (in fact some days they make it 12, and only run standby til then) as soon as fast pass runs, the queues on Peter Pan can be unbearable! Big Thunder is consistently 90mins once fast pass opens, go there early, walk on 2 or 3 times, grab yer fastpasses and come back and ride again later, again, Big Thunder is awesome in Paris, puts Anaheim to shame.

You will find that with all attractions that are at both parks, our Pirates is better (IMHO), Autopia, BTM, Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion)... You get the idea.

With space mountain, even since mission 2 opens, the queue doesn't seem to be too bad, 30 tops, of course you almost walk on with Fast Passes, grab some but maybe queue to see the queueline as well! Its not as cool as it was before when you could see the track, but its still nice!

As I said above (sorry just replying to what you asked as I read it lol) if you are going to rush to attractions, make it Peter Pan or Big Thunder Mountain, everything else is totally bearable!

Anything else, just ask :)

C°o°lin

[mayanlily]

We never even go to Peter Pan which was insane as we walked on to almost everything else.

[cemeinke]

If you stay onsite, your tickets will be included in your hotel - these are park hoppers, which you'll want after setting foot inside Walt Disney Studios, there are a few things there, but Disneyland is the park you want to stick around in, if nothing else to soak up the beauty of the place.

My favorites, include touring the castle dungeon to see the Dragon, Space Mountain - with a loop! Phantom Manor - the creepiest "Mansion," And the Best Big Thunder of all Disney parks.

I'd also suggest trying to go during Halloween, there's nothing like it in any Disney Park you can see some of my photos here (http://albums.photo.epson.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=4218323&a=31473474&f=).

As for sites to help you plan, http://www.dlp.info/Guide/index.htm has always been a great resource for me (there's also a message board with some cool folks - who knows you could go to a meet)

You're going to have a great time.

[mad4mky]

you will need two days for the MK at the least. personally I think it is the most beautiful of all the disney parks.

I agree. Course, I haven't seen Tokyo Disneyland...yet.

But of the parks I have been to...Disneyland Paris is absolutely the most beautiful.
Visit the dragon in the dungeon in the castle. The BEST thing in the park. :D