Who has been to DLP recently? Do you agree? What can be done to improve the park? I'm going to DLP for 5 nights 16 - 20th December, staying in the Davy Crockett Ranch... Please tell me your queries and I will report back.
I visited the Disneyland Paris parks in July 2012 and could can find my reports in that month's archive. In short, I thought that Disneyland Paris was in fine shape, though the food left much to be desired. (Ironic, give that the food everywhere else in France is amazing.) The park needs new attractions for frequent visitors, but for a first-timer, I appreciated the very different versions of Pirates, Mansion and Space Mountain.
The Studios park, however, is a disaster - easily the worst Disney park in the world. Cheap, poorly themed and decorated and with few attractions worth seeing, Disney would do well to order a complete rebuild of this park.
I'd be interested in hearing how much you paid for your room on-site. When I priced official hotels during my stay, they all were insanely expensive, so I stayed by the Val d'Europe mall instead.
Have a great trip!
I was disappointed with the entrance ‘hanger’ – the big warehouse that you enter through – as they’d put up cool neon signs saying things like ‘bar’ and ‘diner’, but when we went to investigate, they were just for show and it was really just a strip of fast-food counters.
The Backlot-tour was a complete waste of time. The 30-min queue turned into over an hour, standing in unprotected area outside with a freezing wind...then the ride was short... Sure Catastrophe Canyon was fun, but apart from that there was barely any film memorabilia to look at.
And sure, there aren’t that many big attractions...The Lights, Motor Action show has been done to death, they desperately need a new show here. But the things I do like are obviously Tower or Terror and Rock n’ Roller, I thought the Animagique show was really good, and the Stars and Cars parade.
In terms of decor I will have a good inspection. But what do you mean by poorly themed? In that the theming wasn’t consistent or that there were run-down areas?
With regards to our room on-site... Davy Crockett Ranch is the self-catering ‘cabin’ (caravan) area, so it’s much, much cheaper than the hotels. We actually booked the holiday, then found there was a sale on a couple of months later, so cancelled completely, paid the cancellation fee and re-booked under this deal, and still saved money! Ending up costing £285 per person, which includes 5 night’s accommodation and 5 day’s hopper park tickets. We will be driving / ferrying it, so that will be a bit extra – and we’ll have to buy our food...but at least we can stock up from the supermarket and make food for ourselves. We’re even taking Disney blankets in the car (because apparently the cabins aren’t very Disney-fied) and a little Christmas tree and decorations, since it’s the week before Christmas! Not forgetting the hot-chocolate and marshmallows, we can’t wait to enjoy these whilst sitting all wrapped up on our decking...!
While I do not think the Disney Studios is a disaster, there is something going wrong there. I actually enjoyed a majority of the attractions there. The shows were pretty solid and the attractions were pretty unique. Lights Motors Action! is better here. Still, the park seems disjointed.
One final thought - the weather - people often compare DLP to WDW and DL and whilst there is little doubt the parks in the USA are much nicer, I don't think the northern European climate helps - let's face it, visit a park on a sunny/warm day in FL or CA and it is bound to affect your perception and enjoyment compared with a dull/grey/cold day in Paris (that's not to say its always dull and cold but Fl and CA does have much nicer weather and that makes a big difference)
