Disneyland Paris/EuroDisney - Questions & Answers

maisiescamp · 13 January 2012 at 9:47PM

Just a quick question for those of you that have gone to DLP on the eurostar! To keep costs down I was going to take enough snacks such as biscuits, crisps, etc in my luggage to last our 3 day stay. Is this allowed, do the check etc?

Thanks in advance!

bestpud · 13 January 2012 at 10:37PM

maisiescamp wrote: »

Just a quick question for those of you that have gone to DLP on the eurostar! To keep costs down I was going to take enough snacks such as biscuits, crisps, etc in my luggage to last our 3 day stay. Is this allowed, do the check etc?

Thanks in advance!

There is no problem at all with taking snacks in your luggage. No baggage limits either.

Janepig · 14 January 2012 at 11:54AM

Hey all, got back last night after our four days in the parks. Totally knackered and didn't bump into anyone I knew

:D.

I don't think we ended up spending an awful lot of money - we made sandwiches at breakfast and also took some chocolate croissants for the kids, and me and DH made up flasks of hot chocolate as well. We were really lucky with the weather so sitting outside to eat and drink was fine. It wasn't too cold and it was really dry. Our hotel (Dream Castle) was fab too.

One thing I don't remember from when I went before (a lonnngggg time ago) and that I don't seem to have read on here, is the amount of people smoking in the park. I'm not particularly anti-smoking, but the overwhelming smell in the park (particularly the Disneyland park) was fag smoke. In the queues, waiting to see characters, everywhere. It was quite unpleasant. And I almost cracked yesterday when we were waiting to get a photo with Pinocchio and DD and DS were being pushed out of the way but adults wanting to see him.

That was the other thing that surprised me, the number of adults who were quite happy to get in front of small children to see the characters. People with no children with them (no law against that!) but clearly they know that it's a person in a costume, whereas the kids don't. So I was looking at alot of people as if they were mental when they were pushing in to get a hug with Tigger and the like.

Luckily it was quiet, being the time of year, but I don't think I'd manage if it was any busier, particularly the meet and greets. I think the longest we waited for anything was for the green soldiers parachute drop which was about 20 minutes. Yesterday was the quietest of all, even stuff like crush's coaster was practically a walk on!

Jx

bestpud · 14 January 2012 at 12:23PM

Janepig wrote: »

Hey all, got back last night after our four days in the parks. Totally knackered and didn't bump into anyone I knew :D.

I don't think we ended up spending an awful lot of money - we made sandwiches at breakfast and also took some chocolate croissants for the kids, and me and DH made up flasks of hot chocolate as well. We were really lucky with the weather so sitting outside to eat and drink was fine. It wasn't too cold and it was really dry. Our hotel (Dream Castle) was fab too.

One thing I don't remember from when I went before (a lonnngggg time ago) and that I don't seem to have read on here, is the amount of people smoking in the park. I'm not particularly anti-smoking, but the overwhelming smell in the park (particularly the Disneyland park) was fag smoke. In the queues, waiting to see characters, everywhere. It was quite unpleasant. And I almost cracked yesterday when we were waiting to get a photo with Pinocchio and DD and DS were being pushed out of the way but adults wanting to see him.

That was the other thing that surprised me, the number of adults who were quite happy to get in front of small children to see the characters. People with no children with them (no law against that!) but clearly they know that it's a person in a costume, whereas the kids don't. So I was looking at alot of people as if they were mental when they were pushing in to get a hug with Tigger and the like.

Luckily it was quiet, being the time of year, but I don't think I'd manage if it was any busier, particularly the meet and greets. I think the longest we waited for anything was for the green soldiers parachute drop which was about 20 minutes. Yesterday was the quietest of all, even stuff like crush's coaster was practically a walk on!

Jx

It was unseasonably warm there this week. And that made the crowds bigger than they usually are this time of year. We really noticed it, being anti-crowd peeps!

The smoking is a bit of a culture shock, I agree, and so is the smacking of children IMO.

We get used to not seeing these things here and then it's more noticeable abroad!

I like Disney but there is some real die hard fans who love the characters! DD is pretty good at the meet and greets - she won't push in but won't let people walk over her! lol Taught her well!

Did you enjoy it, despite all that though?

Lomcevak · 14 January 2012 at 12:33PM

Janepig wrote: »

Hey all, got back last night after our four days in the parks. Totally knackered and didn't bump into anyone I knew :D.

We're just back too (Sun-Weds in our case). Staying at the Davey Crockett ranch, which was quite nice - good pool for the kids too. Apart from the Sunday it was very quiet, and we could walk on to almost anything - bit of a mixed blessing at times, after the eighth time through Buzz Lightyear it got a bit old

After four quiet days we did find ourselves wishing there was another park, as we'd pretty much done everything several times by day three - for a longer stay Florida really benefits from Epcot, Animal Kingdom, etc. alongside the main park.

Janepig wrote: »

One thing I don't remember from when I went before (a lonnngggg time ago) and that I don't seem to have read on here, is the amount of people smoking in the park. I'm not particularly anti-smoking, but the overwhelming smell in the park (particularly the Disneyland park) was fag smoke. In the queues, waiting to see characters, everywhere. It was quite unpleasant.

Yeah, we found just the same thing - as soon as you were out of the car there was smoke everywhere, couldn't escape it. Not so nice.

bestpud · 14 January 2012 at 1:36PM

Lomcevak wrote: »

We're just back too (Sun-Weds in our case). Staying at the Davey Crockett ranch, which was quite nice - good pool for the kids too. Apart from the Sunday it was very quiet, and we could walk on to almost anything - bit of a mixed blessing at times, after the eighth time through Buzz Lightyear it got a bit old

After four quiet days we did find ourselves wishing there was another park, as we'd pretty much done everything several times by day three - for a longer stay Florida really benefits from Epcot, Animal Kingdom, etc. alongside the main park.

Yeah, we found just the same thing - as soon as you were out of the car there was smoke everywhere, couldn't escape it. Not so nice.

You were there the same time as us and we found it far busier than normal for this time of year. We are used to staying on rides but there was queues (albeit small ones) for most things we went on.

Janepig · 14 January 2012 at 2:53PM

bestpud wrote: »

It was unseasonably warm there this week. And that made the crowds bigger than they usually are this time of year. We really noticed it, being anti-crowd peeps!

The smoking is a bit of a culture shock, I agree, and so is the smacking of children IMO.

We get used to not seeing these things here and then it's more noticeable abroad!

I like Disney but there is some real die hard fans who love the characters! DD is pretty good at the meet and greets - she won't push in but won't let people walk over her! lol Taught her well!

Did you enjoy it, despite all that though?

Yeah, it was fab. DD managed to meet loads of characters and get their autographs, even Elvis in the Disney Village on Thursday night! DS was picked on yesterday by a bell boy in the tower of terror, which was hilarious. Poor thing was also frisked in the airport on the way home, and for a laugh the security guard put on latex gloves to do it - cue loads of French security guards hysterical with laughter and poor DS not having a clue what was going on!

Wednesday was particularly mild. We couldn't believe the weather was so good. It was alot colder and very misty by Friday, and we found that yesterday was the quietest day of all for us. I was quite surprised how busy it was earlier in the week, I did think it would have been quieter.

On Thursday we stood at the start of the parade route to watch and I was amazed there was hardly anyone around, but as we walked back through the park behind the parade, there were loads of people around the middle of the park towards Main Street, jostling for a good view, so my top tip is go to the start or the end of the route for a good view.

By yesterday though I was ready to come home - I think the constant music was starting to grate a bit. But my moans are very few, we had such a good time.

I was a bit surprised that there are adults queuing for the meet and greets who will see fit to actually physically move your children. Twice DD and DH had someone put their hands on their shoulders and move them out of the way. I didn't want to get too cross to spoil things for them, but afew people I know would have probably started a fight over such behaviour towards their children!!

I was grateful for reading a tip somewhere (can't remember if it was here) about putting rolled up socks (or in our case lots of tissues) in the heels of DD's shoes to raise her up a bit so that she was tall enough for Space Mountain! Lol. Bad mother!! She loved it though and went on afew times. I went on once and that was enough for me - my brains were rattling about inside my head!

Jx

Lomcevak · 14 January 2012 at 3:17PM

bestpud wrote: »

You were there the same time as us and we found it far busier than normal for this time of year. We are used to staying on rides but there was queues (albeit small ones) for most things we went on.

Blimey, must be quiet normally then - don't think we ever stayed on rides, but for most the queues were no more than a minute or two. Last time I was in a Disney park was Florida in April where the queues hit two hours for the most popular rides :eek: (strategic use of fastpass was the only way to go, really - we lucked out with a dozen free 'any time, anywhere' fastpass tickets too) so this seemed terrific in comparison with that.

One thing I realized was how lucky we were with the weather though, quite mild and got better every day, but if we'd had cold and/or rain it would have been tricky.

On Thursday we stood at the start of the parade route to watch and I was amazed there was hardly anyone around, but as we walked back through the park behind the parade, there were loads of people around the middle of the park towards Main Street, jostling for a good view, so my top tip is go to the start or the end of the route for a good view.

We watched from Main Street station, which is a great vantage point

Janepig · 14 January 2012 at 4:14PM

Lomcevak wrote: »

We watched from Main Street station, which is a great vantage point

Yes, I saw on Tuesday, when we watched from the end of the route, that there were lots of people watching from the station and it looked like a really good vantage point.

Jx

meer53 · 14 January 2012 at 5:54PM

I found that a lot of the people at DLP were far ruder and impatient than the people in the Florida parks. It spoiled it for me at DLP, adults pushing in front of kids at both the meet and greets and also whilst waiting for the parades. We also found that you had to be careful in the queues for the rides, British people are far too forgiving and we found ourselves being overtaken at every opportunity if there was half a chance. You just don't get this in Florida. The atmosphere is completely different between the two and would recommend Florida over DLP every time. I appreciate not everyone can afford Florida but i would rather save up and go there rather than DLP again. We've been twice to DLP (thought i'd give them the benefit of the doubt !) but won't be rushing back ! Am currently saving for my 5th trip to Orlando !