We just had an amazing trip to Disneyland Paris – great stuff. Here are some thoughts that other parents may find of interest: our own top 5 best and 5 worst things. These are from Wendy Shearer and I – they do not represent anyone else’s thoughts AFAIK.
So,… for us:
Top 5 Best Things about Disneyland Paris
- The Rides (most of them) are brilliant: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ – wicked; It’s A Small World – the original Disney ride from the 60’s! (created by Walt Disney for 1964 World Fair in NY) – such attention to detail, and great craftsmanship.
- The Disney atmosphere: The kids go into a fairytale tailspin.
- Making friends in the queues: The silver lining of THE QUEUEING – once you relax into it, you end up chatting etc.
- People watching: If you relax with a cuppa tea, and manage to get a seat, you can see all varieties of human behaviour: fighting for seats; sharing a moment; wanting to kill other people in the queue; romance; sleeping on a bench; losing it; slagging off; making up; kids shouting at the poor folks in costumes*.
- The Venues: These were just brilliantly designed and maintained, and clean as can be.
* When meeting Eeyore, one of our kids shouted at him “Oi, Cow Cow, I’m meeting Mickey later”, and a few mins later, loudly at one of the chipmunks, “Don’t touch me!”
Top 5 Worst Things about Disneyland Paris
- The Coffee (all of it, anywhere and everywhere, comes from the same vending machine): was not to our taste.
- The Hotel Breakfasts: also not to our taste,… and to add insult to injury the Diner is NOT OPEN FOR BREAKFAST – even though they have waffles and pancakes on the menu. This was CRUEL.
- Rides Breaking Down / Shut: Thunder Mountain and several other rides were shut down while we were queueing, and Star Tours wasn’t open.
- Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin – 1 hour queue for 50 second ride.
- The Meal Vouchers & system: Confusing, and even the staff get stressed about them. Kids eat for free, but not the kids menu – that’s not free, it needs a voucher. Arghhh.
