We originally were planning to do our summer vacation in Germany this year. It started off from 2 wks down to 1 wk. Then, after researching the area and what to do, we suddenly felt there just wasn't enough for the kids - at least at their ages. So, we put that plan away for another time, and decided we all really wanted to go to Disneyland. Off we went for 3 1/2 days.
The Good:
Getting there was really easy. In Italy all roads may lead to Rome, but I like to say in England all trains lead to Waterloo. We took a train from our house into London Waterloo. They used to have the train service going from there into Disney, but the direct EuroStar train goes from the newer St. Pancreas station now. Take the Underground Tube from Waterloo to get there, or like us, get a taxi. From St. Pancreas, its a direct shot. You get off right at the station in France right next to the parks (Disneyland and Disney Studios). We didn't go into Paris but I heard someone say its about 1/2 hour away.
I decided that staying at the Disneyland Hotel (the one at the park) was the way to go. It was too and I definately recommend. Yes, you can save money staying down the road. Same as you would if you went to Orlando. But as this was our kids first experience with any Disney park, we wanted the whole effect. A friend later told me that they had stayed at a nearby hotel and although the hotel was very nice, waiting for the shuttle back and forth and standing in more lines was a drag.
The best part about the hotel was meeting the characters. Every breakfast, lunch, & dinner they were there. The kids were SO excited. Coming out the elevator and running into Tigger or such gave them the biggest thrill. Any everyone was walking around with their autograph books (I think this item must be in the top 5 sellers at the park) meeting Mickey or whoever, getting signatures, and photos. It was a special quark of staying in the hotel and it was worth it. At dinner, the characters came right up to you at the tables. Capt Hook sat down with us and 'harassed' us at one dinner. It was fun.
The temps. No more ridiculous heat! Sweating it out in Orlando is a necessary evil. Not in Paris. Temps were great and really comfortable. I don't recall ever being at a Disney park when we weren't all hot and sweaty the whole time! Yeah!
In my mind, I wasn't sure what to expect of the parks. 'EuroDisney' always made me think of the poor cousin of DisneyWorld Orlando. But it wasn't. Not sure if it was smaller or not. Couldn't recall all from Orlando. But all the rides I remembered where there - Space Mountain, Peter Pan, Its a Small World, and so on. They are celebrating their 15 year anniversary this year so everything seemed in great shape and identical to its Florida relative (have never been to the California parks so can't compare there). It was good old Disney in just a different environment.
The Bad:
Smoking. I'm pretty sure I don't recall smoking being allowed in Orlando anywhere, but since France is such a big smoking country, it was allowed. I would notice it most when sitting out to eat. Inevitably we would be next to some smokers. Yuck.
Where are the characters? I seem to recall seeing more characters walking around at Orlando. Now its been a quite a few years since I've been so maybe things have changed or maybe I've glorified them in my head. But we didn't see any many characters out and about here. They would pop up at scheduled times at scheduled places, but these lines just seemed ridiculously long. We rarely got any signatures at the actual parks - thank God for the hotel.
Everything in French. I went to a small school system when I was young and it didn't have French as a language option. I sure could have used it this week. Most shows were in French and even the names of the attractions would be listed in French.
Service. In general, I have found customer service lacking in most everywhere I've been outside of the states. Not that people are mean or anything, there just seems to be no sense of urgency. And that normally combines with not enough workers. Disney was the same. Long lines could have easily been improved with a few more people working and working a bit faster. Leisurely strolls around the seats to check you on the rides was almost comical at times.
Best rides for us: Big Thunder Mountain and Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast. Ride that 'lost the plot' as they say around here in England was Crush's Coaster. A spinning coaster type ride on a turtle shell. In the complete dark. If you remember Finding Nemo, when they went in the EAC it was fast and bright and lots of turtles and such flying by. The ride could have brought that whole sense of going through a water tunnel for this attraction. The potential for an awesome experience was there, but they just put the whole thing in the dark. We found it a waste.
The Ugly:
Line Etiquette and Personal Space. We seem to have a different sense of waiting in line in the states. Probably since the way we drive is so organized. Rude people are everywhere but I don't remember having any issues with waiting in lines at Disney in the states. But many parts of the world seem to have a different way and the lines seemed a constant issue with me. First, they didn't do the ropes or lines width skinny enough. Instead of one or two person widths, it would branch out to 8-10ft widths half the time. This just constantly caused people to push past you - and they did. If there was a space, someone would get in it. And don't linger or move up too slowly. The people behind might go around you. There was a huge UK population there and those people weren't the offenders so thankfully the issue wasn't out of control. Just enough to be irritating. Along with the line etiquette I constantly found people standing too close to me. There nothing worse then being annoyed at having to be in a long line and then have the people around you crowding you. It's stifling. And I found my personal space being invaded a bit too much for my taste. I'm sure its just cultural differences, but it was obvious.
Finally, as stated above about the characters, we tried to meet some in the parks. One time my daughter was standing directly in front of Daisy Duck with her book and pen ready when the woman next to her gave Daisy a pen that wasn't working. As Daisy tried to get it to work and was shaking it, the woman suddenly snatched the pen out of my daughters hand and gave it to DD. Just grabbed it without asking or anything. As soon as the book was signed, my daughter grabbed the pen from DD and ran out crying. She is only young and this direct rudeness scared her. Interestingly, she took it out on DD and kept calling her 'that silly duck'. Not in a nice way. We didn't want her to be upset or scared of anyone, so we played along. No Daisy Duck fans here! lol.
Overall, it was a great time. The parks were 100% Disney. Everything worked and was clean. The hotel was great. Getting there easy. Getting around easy. I loved when we would be sitting to eat and you could see like all these families from around the world by you, all speaking different languages, all eating different things, all looking different, but still experiencing this same place together. We had a really fun time.
One of the podcasts I really enjoy listening to is the Cache-A-Maniacs geocaching podcasts. They are short. They talk to well-known cachers. And they discuss equipment and process - which I find really helpful. They just had their 100th episode and I was surprised to hear our name mentioned! We won a geocoin from them. Yeah! And not just any old coin. A TIKI geocoin. Oooohhh. These are all handmade low-count coins which makes them rare and desirable.
