Disneyland Paris - Oct 2022 (PIC HEAVY THREAD)

[Whombex]

Snort - who goes to the Gold Coast theme parks on Boxing Day?

Ha ha, silly people.

 

Wait. That’s us. We went to Disneyland Paris during French school holidays, AND on Halloween - a very popular time at any Disney park. We didn't have much choice, and I'd planned to get a quick pass or two to help with the crowds.
Mrs and I jumped on the Metro in the dawn light (7:30am sunrise in late October) and took the short trip to Les Halles, a big station that combines Metro and the next rail service up from that, the RER. The cool thing with being on the right platform there is that the stops on the way flash as the train approaches and waits. If the Marne-La-Vallee - Chessy light's flashing, jump on that train. Despite my forward planning, we snagged an earlier train than I had planned. 

We jumped on our train and began to notice lots of people dressed up for Halloween. At 8:00 in the morning. They were coming to Disneyland Paris as well. As the park gets decorated for Halloween, guests are welcome to dress up as well. Best part about it was that most of the people dressed up, were in some kind of spooky theme.
A 50 minute train ride later and we had arrived. Having been 9 years earlier, we knew the process of security and ticketing, but even though we had arrived before rope-drop, there were still significant lines. This was the point I realised it was going to be a very busy day. 

As the place is split up into two parks, Disneyland Studios and Disneyland Park, I had availed myself to a few game plans to fit in as much as possible, especially those in the thread here on Parkz. So it was to be into the Studios park first, as there was many new, and a few missed attractions since last time. 
Queue-jumpers, may you engage in unsatisfying bedtime encounters with yourselves. People had been lining up for over an hour (we were lining up 45 mins or so) and people just forced themselves in. Arrgh. 
Once in DLS, our first stop was the Ratatouille ride, as it wasn't yet there in '13. We had agreed that part of the best way to fit in as many things as we could, was to go in the single rider lines. You miss a little bit of the queue theming, but you’re not waiting 45min - 2 hours! 
So we were almost a walk-on at Ratatouille: L'Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy, which if you're not familiar, is an indoor trackless car ride, as a rat joining Remy in the kitchen and restaurant. Some scenes are screens with you using 3D glasses, others involve being in oversized rooms themed to the fridge or serving trolley. Well worthy of being regarded as one of the best dark rides in the world. Luckily, Mrs and I were put next to each other, even though the single rider queue is meant to put one person at a time on rides to fill seats, and separate groups doing what we were doing. The way the ride works, with 3 trackless cars that often change spots in their group, works really well. Adding water and smell effects really enhanced the experience.

Walking to our next attraction, we passed where the new Arendelle land is going in - a whole new land themed to the combined universe that Frozen and Tangled are set in. Will be a great new addition to the Studios park, which needs one big new area to round it off. Allegedly it was a tough decision between Arendelle and another Galaxy's Edge, and I think they made the right call. This will make an attraction unique to this park for visitors to come from all around the world.
We next moved over to the Hollywood Tower, a Twilight Zone ride we didn’t do last time with a 9 year old. In the zig zag exterior line I started composing my daily recap of the day before for my Facebook post to the family back home...but with head in a phone screen in an outdoor mouse maze queue, the 30 mins went quick. 
The old early 1900s theming was perfect, moreso when waiting at our 'elevator'. The hotel bellboy who sorted our ride and checked our seatbelts made the pre-ride so enjoyable. Unlike Movie World these days, it’s great to see park where ride operating cast being in character absolutely adds to the experience. He was creepily aloof, yet eerie in his engagement with people. Perfect. When at DLP/DLS, you quickly adapt to the rides, staff and signage being bi-lingual in French & English (often adding Spanish as well based on who is in your ride group).

On this ride, you really didn’t need to understand what was being said by the scary ghost girl in the elevator - we were in for a bad time with the hotel’s spirits! The poor kid next to us who was conned onto the ride by his dad was beside himself - to me the story was quirky, but through the right eyes, it's quite scary!
 Just around the corner is the new Avengers Campus, with the re-theme of the Aerosmith coaster skippable I’d been on before, and the new Spider-Man W.E.B ride which had a single rider line. The general queue had a 90 minute line, and the single rider 45. Again, absolutely worth it. The tricky thing they did was taking the whole single rider queue in at once to the pre-show. You wonder why so many people go to go in, until realising the exit of the pre-show puts you into another single rider queue. Well done. Well done.

For the pre-show, you join Peter Parker in the Stark WEB lab (a converted Stark Motors factory), where a prototype self-replicating spider-bot has gone rogue. The whole pre-show is in French (great French by the way, Tom Holland!) but is easy enough to follow.
He ‘goes to get Spider-Man’, and you rejoin the queue (now within sight of the station), where you hop on board the ride with 3D glasses. You use your hands to launch webs to either catch the bots or use the environment to help destroy them. You’re joined by Spider-Man and team up top defeat the bots. Great fun ride that is made more fun with your interaction. Luckily Mrs and I were grouped together again! Of the 4 people in our car, I had a come-from-behind win in the points issued to the riders. I'd figured out how to make combos by using explosive environment assets to take out more bots at once. This ride is move to a screen, action happens, move to next screen, but it works really well. 

We wandered through the Avengers Campus next, waving at Captain Marvel. It doesn't matter who or how old you are, if a character as a Disney Park interacts with you, you play along! 

Pym’s restaurant was booked out and the Stark one didn’t impress, but we found a retro 50s diner in the area and sat down to have an early lunch of New York sandwiches. Limited menu, but not pricey either.

While having lunch I opened the app and bought Fast Passes for Thunder Mountain over in Disneyland Park, as it was the main ride I'd missed out on back in '13. You get the pass as a scannable code you use at the ride entry via email and the app, so it was quite flexible. It was very helpful being able to book a fastpass for a ride, even though I was in the other park. 
On our way out of the Campus we watched a gathering of many Avengers on an elevated platform, including Black Panther, the Dora Milaje, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Captain Marvel. Cool to see if you’re into the Avengers stuff! The super heroes are likely rotated through based on staffing and whatnot. At the end of the performance, they waved and walked away, except Spidey, who did another lap of the platform in a playful way.

 

I'd forgotten to check in advance if there's an animatronic Spiderman slinging over the Campus in DLS, or just in California Adventure Campus. I couldn't find an area similar to the version in LA, so we continued on.
Having done mch of DLS on our last visit, our plan was to spend the rest of the day in Disneyland Park, so we decided to try our luck at Ratatouille again before leaving. The single rider line was almost as short as the first time, but this time we had to ride it separately. Still, a fun and exciting ride, and this time I noticed small water and smell effects much more knowing when to expect them. With real estate a bit of a squeeze, this is one of the few rides at DLP/DLS where the gift store isn't directly part of the ride exit, but certainly in the themed area of the ride's exterior.

We made our way out of the Studios which were still filling up, and crossed over into the main park. We then noticed plenty of signage outside between the parks that stated the place was a sell-out AND there was no entry without tickets & bookings.

When was the last time a GC park had a "sold out" sign out for something other than a special event..?
Upon entering DLP, we wandered down Main Street, jaws agape at the Halloween theming - lots of trimming on buildings, many statues of scarecrows and ghosts, but in that fun Disney way. The 30th Anniversary decorations are still in place as well.

We entered Frontierland, with the Halloween theming now that of Coco. Many static characters from the movie were along the paths, all in the land of the dead style. 
The fast pass line for Thunder Mountain was further along than the main entry, and the line looked huge in the general queue. We had our passes scanned, and used the fast pass queue that had its' own queue to the station, joining alongside the general queue near the platform. 

We were about 2 trains worth of people away from riding - before the ride had either an e-stop or breakdown. With the fast pass ($18EU each) we’d only have waited 10 minutes, but for the big line of people waiting over an hour, the feeling of the lines being cleared out must have been very frustrating! At the fast pass entry they re-validated our pass for anytime later in the day we wanted. 
I had taken the kid on Phantom Manor last time (as Mrs had done the Californian one before), so this time I wanted to ride it with her. We had seen the Muppets Haunted Mansion special last year so I was keen to ride it - unfortunately so did many other people who had exited the Thunder Mountain line. 

The theming is always on point at any Disney park, even in the zig zag overflow queue for Phantom Manor. I continued to compose my day-before-recap while in this queue.
When we finally got on after our longest queue of the day, the best part of 80 minutes, the ride had a stoppage just before we boarded. We were dreading the potential ride close twice in a row - I’d have laughed at the situation, then it restarted and we boarded… unfortunately the ride stopped and restarted 3 more times while we were on it, breaking the immersion. Still, it’s one of the classics of Disney and worth a ride every visit. 

As we exited the ride, Thunder Mountain was running empty train tests, so we quickly returned to the fast pass line as the ride reopened, with the head for the general line already growing quickly, it was still worth the pass.

We had a great time on the ride, with three separate hill climbs it certainly feels like a couple of rides in one! The pitch darkness parts as the ride goes to and from the island its on are crazy fast.
With my bucket list of rides done (from the '13 ad this visit), I turned the day over to the Mrs and we went straight to the castle (and Fantasyland) and explored places we hadn’t last time, including the tower, themed to sleeping beauty. 

By this stage it was well into the arvo, and we popped into and out of the dozenth shop by this point (they merchandise so well!). Gifts for the family were certainly on the menu. Most haven't been to a Disney Park before.
Passing back through the castle, we encountered Maleficent herself! Her grace and eloquence at giving park guests a bit of slander was amazing. 

We caught the back end of the Halloween parade, and then made our way into Discoveryland to ride Star Tours, the Star Wars ride. It had been re-themed since '13, and was great. No spoilers, but the droid you're expecting to 'fly' your ship isn't flying your ship! A very well known droid from the Star Wars universe is flying by accident. Being a Star Wars fan (most sci-fi in general), the gift shop after was an exercise in restraint! 

We grabbed burgers for dinner from Hyperion as it began to drizzle outside. A addition since last time here in '13, inside the same building as Hyperion and the stage show area, is a room full of power points and a hirable phone charging locker. We sat, plugged the phones into a floor plug, and ate. The room was a bit darker, with blue-ish ambient light and simulated stars. The perfect place for someone who might need somewhere if they we having issues with sensory overload.

Then, it was on to the fireworks and evening show-
The only big downer of the day was that by the time we got close to where you could watch it, the staff were already funneling visitors towards the front of the park and out the gates. If you weren’t plonked somewhere well beforehand, you kinda weren’t  going to be able to watch it at all. The Park was to reopen that night for the special Halloween event, so it sadly made sense for them to clear it out as son as they could.

Other than this, we had an excellent day there.
The plus side of leaving just as the show was ending, was that we snagged some seats on the train back to Paris.

 

Questions welcome of course.

I hadn't planned to document the whole day, so that's why there's very little pics of rides such as W.E.B and Thunder Mountain - apologies.

[Dean Barnett]

FYI You can ask the tower attendants for the ride to be in english

[Whombex]

19 minutes ago, Dean Barnett said:

FYI You can ask the tower attendants for the ride to be in english

Ah! Well the ride group were a big mix of nationalities. The bi-lingual ghost girl got the message across enough. 
Noted for if I ever go back. 
Our next big trip will likely be in '27 to Orlando.

[djmcbell]

I really enjoyed DLP back when I went in 2014. We went from the UK, so had two full days - one day at the parks (plus the evening when we arrived), then a day in Paris. Unfortunately, Ratatouille wasn't there then, and Indy, Crush's Coaster, and Captain EO were down for maintenance.

Big Thunder Mesa was brilliant, as was their version of Pirates. Not so struck on Paris's Space Mountain - I like the feeling of speed on the Florida one as opposed to all the inversions and twists of Paris.

One thing I do like about DLP though is the amount of areas that exist for no reason at all, other than "they're kinda nice to explore". The fort in Frontierland, under the castle, the galleon and Adventure Isle, the Fantasyland maze, the "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" Aladdin's alleyway, the Nautilus. That and the whole steampunk aesthetic of Discoveryland.

Also, the roads outside being named after various french cartoonists. Nearest I could get to visiting Parc Asterix (which I desperately want to do - alas, due to seasonal openings it was closed when we went).

[DJKostya]

Ah my old stomping grounds, I really do need to go back and see how it looks now from when I worked there.

Just echoing Dean's comments above, most of the rides/attractions at Disneyland Paris are able to be in English. When I worked there it was a requirement to speak both French and English, you didn't need to be fluent in English but you had to know enough to answer guest questions (I was surprised I passed the French TBH but at the same time I wasn't engaging with the public a lot).

[Gazza]

Excellent report!

Amazing how much more ornate some of the theming is in Paris compared to the other parks.

I'm surprised you skipped the Avengers coaster. Even if you've done it before I reckon the preshows Disney do make it worth a look.

Did you go back for a 2nd day? Or is it possible to do both in a single day?

DLP (Along with Asterix) is a park I've been wanting to get to, but I've been saving it for a longer trip so i can spend a solid 3 weeks in France.

[djmcbell]

20 hours ago, Gazza said:

Did you go back for a 2nd day? Or is it possible to do both in a single day?

When I went, it was possible to do both in a single day with careful planning, though that was in 2014 before Ratatouille opened, and with two coasters down.

We arrived at 4pm, did two hours in Studios (which was all we needed, and it closed at 6), then two hours in Disney (closed at 8), then the next day at Disney from opening until 4.

[djmcbell]

However, I would still say both parks are worth spending a while at. We were lucky when we went with queues, plus it was just my wife and I (no kids), plus a few big rides were closed or hadn't opened yet. DLP is a great park so deserves a good visit, and if you plan only one day (or even less!) you may barely ride anything. Your mileage may vary.

[Whombex]

On 23/12/2022 at 9:12 AM, Gazza said:

Excellent report!

Amazing how much more ornate some of the theming is in Paris compared to the other parks.

I'm surprised you skipped the Avengers coaster. Even if you've done it before I reckon the preshows Disney do make it worth a look.

Did you go back for a 2nd day? Or is it possible to do both in a single day?

DLP (Along with Asterix) is a park I've been wanting to get to, but I've been saving it for a longer trip so i can spend a solid 3 weeks in France.

You can do DLS & DLP in a day when it's quiet, but you're losing the wandering around marveling at everything, which is a must-do at any Disney Park.. Again, I went on one of the busiest days of the year.

This said, two days there would be much better. If we were able to do two days, I'd certainly have ridden the Avengers Coaster again, and added Crush's Coaster. DLS is still not a full day, not until Erendell opens at least. Our trip was not able to accommodate another day at the parks. 

I liked how they were able to blend both the 30 years and Halloween theming. It was seamless.

 

Edited December 28, 2022 by Whombex