DLP- One day trip report.

[beachta1]

Part 1

The view from our apartment in Paris that morning:

So I knew that the park opened at 10am, so my goal was to get there for 945 or so. Of course, that didn't happen. We left the house around 8:15, for some reason I'm not a morning person when I'm traveling in Europe. We took the metro from our stop to Les Halles, which is where we would connect with the RER A train headed for Marne-la-Vallée. The signage at the train station was pretty good.





When we got to the station, there were signs that the train was delayed. Great. Finally a train came and it was already pretty packed but we were able to get onto it. When we got on, it was tight standing room only and we were there for about 10 minutes before we started moving. The train had some families on it but it was a lot of people commuting for work. It was a Monday morning after all!

Finally the train started and even though we had longer waits at a few stations, it was about 10am when we got off the train at Marne-la-Vallée. I had read a tip online to buy a return ticket to Paris when you get there, but the lines were long and we didn't want to miss morning park hours. We decided we'd just deal with it later, which ended up working out fine. We walked out the train station and boom, there was DLP equivalent of Disney Springs (going to get in the habit of calling it by its right name!), Disney Village. We could see the rides for Studios Park and a long line for bag check. There was a shorter covered area off to the side, and thankfully we could go through that as well. I laughed to see the no selfie stick sign, even though we did see a couple while at the park.

We got through the bag check and followed the signs to Disneyland Park.


It was great to turn the corner and see the beautiful resort!! I loved walking under the Disneyland Hotel to get into the park. We had purchased one day, one park mini-tickets. The mini tickets can only be used certain days during the year (mostly non-busy weekday times). They have a calendar that lets you know which days you can use the mini, magic or super tickets. Once we got to the ticket booth, they scanned our printed tickets (which also worked for fastpasses) and entered the park! I was sad to see the construction and signs up at the main entrance, but loved the Halloween theming. They scanned our tickets, we walked under the train station and bam, we were at Disneyland Paris!!!

 

[bookgirl]

Planning a trip to London next year, and trying to figure out how to get to DLParis for a one day trip, so looking forward to hearing about yours.

 

[beachta1]

Part 2We walked onto Main Street and I was so giddy with excitement! It was cool to see how the park looked different than MK, but also how familiar it felt. The decorations down Main Street were awesome. I felt like I could have stopped in front of every store / restaurant / decoration and take pictures but we wanted to get to the rides and start our day.

















I didn't have an action plan so we decided to start in Discoveryland aka Tomorrowland and work counter-clockwise. It worked out for us for the most part! We turned into Discoveryland and the first thing you really lay eyes on is their version of Astro Orbiter. While I think its visually appealing, I like that AO is up high and you can get a view of the park. We didn't go on it but I thought it was really beautiful.





First on our agenda... Space Mountain 2. I hadn't really eaten anything for breakfast so I figured an empty stomach was the best time to go. Plus the wait time was posted at 5 minutes (walked right on) so that helped convince us to go there first.









I have to say, its more like RnR than SM to me. It had 2 flips, more lighting and seemed more intense then the SM back in the US. I thought it was a little bumpy but not a ton more than I was expecting. By the end my stomach was a little unhappy and I was ready to get off. DH wanted to ride again and I said "maybe later" and we moved on.

I knew Star Tours was near by, one of DH favorites, so he popped over. I can't stomach ST so I decided to pass. He was bummed to go on a ride alone on our honeymoon but there was no way I could do it without losing my petit-dejuner. The posted wait was 10 minutes so I didn't mind wandering around Discoveryland and taking pictures while waiting. He said he really liked the ride because he got an original story and it wasn't in 3D so it made for a different experience. I'm glad he liked it so much, and I'm glad I got to wander and just enjoy the atmosphere.







I was also very happy to see Wall-E!

 

[cherrymarzipan]

Great pictures and nice to see what you choose and notice on a one day trip.

 

[Ware Bears]

Enjoying this!

 

[beachta1]

After DH finished up at ST, we decided to finish the rest of Discoveryland and walked to Buzz! It was a 5 minute posted wait, but it felt more like 10 before we got onto the ride. The queue was similar to that of WDW, but there was a Buzz speaking to us in French! It was funny to listen to while we waited. I would say the ride seemed to last longer and have more scenes then WDW. I'm never very good at Buzz and my DH was really killing it, so I sort of stopped playing and enjoyed the detail in the game. Fun fact: the gun is not attached to the base of the ride, but is attached by a string, so there is more room to move it around.









The last activity we wanted to do in Discoveryland was walk through 10,000 leagues under the sea, aka The Nautilus. I've never seen or read 10,000 seas so the entire thing was sort of lost on me. It was a walk through and it was not a ton to see. Of course there was a lot of detailing but I was distracted that I was in a pool looking at a fake submarine and there was much more to see and do at DLP!





On our walk out, I snapped a few pictures of their version of Speedway and more details of Discoveryland.







We decided we were going to walk up to Fantasyland and continue on our journey. We noticed ropes were up along the path which only means one thing- parade!! I checked our times guide and there was a parade about to start so we decided to watch from that spot. Horray for a Halloween disney parade!! Lots of decent parade pics...


Our vantage point.


Daisy leads us off.




Dancers!


Donald with Huey, Duey and Louie!


Side of their float.

With Scrooge on the back!




Pooh and friends



More to come...

 

[beachta1]

Some more parade pictures...















I love this one of Mickey and Minnie waving at these adorable little girls.


Who the heck is this girl chipmunk?!


At the end of the parade we continued walking and came across the curious labyrinth. I was very much looking forward to walking through here because the theming and the details are just so cool. Not all of the electronics worked, but it didn't stop us from having a good time. We probably wandered through here for 20-30 minutes taking pictures, getting lost in the labyrinth and enjoying ourselves. Lots and lots of pictures...

 

[KNovacovschi]

Watching this thread is making more and more excited for our day at DLP next year, I just wish it would come sooner. I can't wait to do the Labrynth, Alice in Wonderland is my favorite so this will be fun.

 

[cherrymarzipan]

I can't wait to do the Labrynth, Alice in Wonderland is my favorite so this will be fun.

Don't forget to push the rock with the albatross on it around (pictured 8 photos up, in the centre of the spiral maze). People always seem to rush past this then are surprised when they see us spinning it round!

 

[beachta1]

Great pictures and nice to see what you choose and notice on a one day trip.

Thanks! As you read through the report, we decided to do almost everything! We didn't have a method plan, just experience with WDW and lines there.

Enjoying this!

Thank you so much for following along!!

Watching this thread is making more and more excited for our day at DLP next year, I just wish it would come sooner. I can't wait to do the Labrynth, Alice in Wonderland is my favorite so this will be fun.

So glad to hear you are doing a day at DLP! Not sure the rest of your plans,but make sure to give yourself a rest after. Its exhausting. Especially with taking the train to and from the city, it makes for a loooooong day.

Don't forget to push the rock with the albatross on it around (pictured 8 photos up, in the centre of the spiral maze). People always seem to rush past this then are surprised when they see us spinning it round!

It was spinning while we were there, it was so cool. The whole area is pretty incredible!

 

[KNovacovschi]

Don't forget to push the rock with the albatross on it around (pictured 8 photos up, in the centre of the spiral maze). People always seem to rush past this then are surprised when they see us spinning it round!

Thank you, I will definitely do it!!

 

[beachta1]

After we finished walking through the Labyrinth, it was time for the teacups! I think this may be the most beautiful ride, my pictures don't do it justice. I was dreaming about the tea cups after seeing pictures online. I'd google it if you want to see better ones than mine. My stomach still wasn't 100% so we didn't spin a ton, but it was still a lot of fun. To me, there is something so fun and quintessentially Disney about them.









After the Tea Cups we headed over to Snow White, which had a 15 minute posted wait. The ride is so short but we had to do it since we only had once change at MK. DH was curious why they didn't build a new meeting area for the princesses and keep Snow White up. Either way, the ride was the same to me as the one in MK as far as I remember.







Next up was Pinocchio. I can't tell you the last time I saw this movie or can even tell you what happens in it, but we had to do the ride because it was something different! Very similar to Snow White, short dark ride. I'll have to watch Pinocchio again to refresh my memory! The posted wait was also 15 minutes for this.











We walked by Peter Pan hoping to get a FP, but the FP wasn't open and the wait was 40 minutes. PP is one of DH favorites but we didn't want to wait in that type of line for a ride we could do at MK. We talked about going back later to see if the line died down but we never made it back. We'll be sure to check it out on our next MK trip together, whenever that is...

 

[Togadadof2]

Loving this report! We're thinking about doing London/Paris next summer with the kids and doing a day or two at DLP as a part of that trip. I can't wait to see more!

 

[beachta1]

We decided we should keep walking counter-clockwise and make our way to BTMR to get FP. The process was easy, we just scanned our paper ticket and the paper FP came out. I was sad we couldn't keep them, its like vintage to have now! I have to be honest, using the paper FP made me miss FP+. I know there is something to be said for only getting so many and booking in advance, but walking to the ride and not knowing what the return time would be was stressful. Thankfully, the timing worked out and we were able to grab some!



We were right near the Indiana Jones ride so we thought we'd check out the wait time. 15 minutes. Not bad. Figured we should just wait and do it. I had read bad reviews of this ride so I wasn't looking forward to it. Reviews were (and I agree with) that is really short and even though there is one inversion, its nothing special. I didn't like the flip because it was small so by the time you realized you were upside down, it was over. I sort of like the big loops where you get to really feel the entire inversion. Either way, the ride and queue were really cool.















We got off the ride and look who we ran into... Louie!!



Now I have to tell you, at least from what I saw, DLP characters are a lot more free-range then in the US. We saw various characters wandering the streets. We heard the CM tell a family "the characters will stop if they'd like to." A lot of the character meet ups we saw randomly were just sort of there. It was neat but I could see how it'd be stressful for a family of planners from WDW who are used to scheduling meet times. You can only do that for a very few characters at DLP.

Would you see this at AK? Probably not.


It was getting to be later afternoon and we were both starving. I had read good reviews online of Blue Lagoon, so we walked over there to see if we could be seated for lunch or maybe get a reservation for dinner. Blue Lagoon is connected to Pirates and you can see part of the ride from the restaurant.



They told us they could seat us for dinner at 5:30pm. We said yes to the reservation, took it and walked out. Then we realized the other parade was at 5:30 so we went right back inside and canceled it. Oh well. We decided to walk back towards Fantasyland and just grab something easy for lunch. It was like 2pm at this point, how crowded could anywhere be? Wrong. Quick Service my @$$. I went and grabbed a seat, Jon waited at least 20-25 minutes in line for two lousy hamburgers. It was awful and poor planning on our part. The only positive thing I could say that there was a CM when you walked in that directed you to a line, so they were all sort of evenly spaced out. She also gave people menus so they could decide what they wanted in advance. I thought it was a great idea for crowd control and also so people aren't waiting to get to the front and then ordering. I've been behind people like that more than once at WDW so it was nice to not happen here. I thought theming of the restaurant was cool but it was a waste of time and money to eat here...

 

[markpsych]

Would you see this at AK? Probably not.

Brilliant photo.

Now if King Louie had just had a cigarette in his hand as well....that would really have put the cat amongst the pigeons

 

[beachta1]

Brilliant photo.

Now if King Louie had just had a cigarette in his hand as well....that would really have put the cat amongst the pigeons

Right?! I didn't notice the cigarette right away but it really makes the picture.

 

[Ms Poppins]

Really enjoying this Bringing back lots of nice memories of our trip a couple of weeks ago.

I agree about the Teacups. It's even more beautiful in the evening when the lanterns are lit

 

[ehsmum]

Great pics and recount! We will be in DLP for 3 days over Christmas, so excited! Glad to see the old FP system is in place, I haven't had a lot of time to research and a new system would have stressed me out :lol:

 

[beachta1]

After lunch we knew that the Villians Show would be starting near the castle so we walked our way over there. Walking behind the castle we saw the Malificient meeting area. We stopped in shops inside the castle but we didn't go through the rest. I wish we had because when we tried later to see the dragon and wander inside they were closed for the day (super disappointing).









So so cute.






We finally made our way to the side of the castle for the show! I feel like the word show is strong, it was a song and then the characters went to meet in front of the stage / in the seating area to meet guests. It didn't seem like there was any rhyme or reason to where they went to stand, and there was was no set line for meeting. I didn't even try to get to everyone, I just grabbed some pictures of who was out!

 

[ashmac8]

Loving this thread. Great insight as we plan our trip for June 2016. Can you tall me about the photopass program at DLP? How does one purchase the package? Did you notice photographers stationed around the park like at MK?

Many Thanks,
Ashley