The Lurkyloos Do Disneyland Paris in the Snow! UPDATED 10/18 - How to Get to Paris from Disneyland!

[Lesley Wake]

ME TOO! I remember looking them up in an encyclopedia and being kinda disappointed....

That is honestly such a relief that I'm not the only weird one!

 

[amalone1013]

I'm so glad to have stumbled upon your trip report for many reasons, including:
1. Your reports are always amazing and entertaining.
2. You and Patrick are awesome people and seem like the coolest people to hang out with.
3. I've been thinking of doing a trip sort of like this, as my husband has never been to Europe (or really out of the country at all, minus Quebec for work and Nassau, Bahamas on our Disney cruise honeymoon)
4. I went to London in high school, and a couple years ago my friend and I went back and also did a day in Paris and a day at DLP. I've learned more from your report about some places so far (Kensington, Tower, British Museum) than I did on either trip... where we did the mostly pointing at things and wandering.

I wish I had your tips on the crown jewels. By the time we made it in and over the whole outside queue was full. So we decided to skip them because we waited in that line in high school.

 

[reyasmommy]

I just found your TR and I'm only on the 1st page so far .... However, I just needed to let you know that I am sooooooooo excited to read it! We're doing a Paris/DLP/London trip in about 60 days! I'm excited to see how your experience was. The first page is filled with the best information possible. THANK YOU!

 

[Lizzim]

@lurkyloo I think I stayed at the same hotel in London a few years ago! We are from the UK and were doing a trip to see a show, is it a slightly odd building that doesn’t really look like a ‘hotel’?

Looking forward to the DLP portion

 

[lurkyloo]

I'm so glad to have stumbled upon your trip report for many reasons, including:
1. Your reports are always amazing and entertaining.
2. You and Patrick are awesome people and seem like the coolest people to hang out with.
3. I've been thinking of doing a trip sort of like this, as my husband has never been to Europe (or really out of the country at all, minus Quebec for work and Nassau, Bahamas on our Disney cruise honeymoon)
4. I went to London in high school, and a couple years ago my friend and I went back and also did a day in Paris and a day at DLP. I've learned more from your report about some places so far (Kensington, Tower, British Museum) than I did on either trip... where we did the mostly pointing at things and wandering.

I wish I had your tips on the crown jewels. By the time we made it in and over the whole outside queue was full. So we decided to skip them because we waited in that line in high school.

Thank you for the kind words! I really hope you get to do this trip. I think it will be especially magical for your husband—mine was positively agog at all these real versions of things he'd only seen Disney versions of before!

I just found your TR and I'm only on the 1st page so far .... However, I just needed to let you know that I am sooooooooo excited to read it! We're doing a Paris/DLP/London trip in about 60 days! I'm excited to see how your experience was. The first page is filled with the best information possible. THANK YOU!

Yay! Thanks for joining in. You are going to have such an amazing trip! I'm so jealous of people who get to go when everything's up and running.

@lurkyloo I think I stayed at the same hotel in London a few years ago! We are from the UK and were doing a trip to see a show, is it a slightly odd building that doesn’t really look like a ‘hotel’?

Looking forward to the DLP portion

Yes! I'll bet it was the same hotel. I definitely waffled for a bit on the decision because it isn't the sort of chintz-and-antiques thing we Americans expect from our British accommodations, but the level of comfort and convenience made up for that.

 

[lurkyloo]

OK, you guys: I have more than 500 photos from our first day at Disneyland Paris, and we didn’t even enter the park til 4pm! So I’m going to break this day up into two parts, one covering all the nitty-gritty details of getting to Disneyland Paris from London on the Eurostar and then checking into the Disneyland Hotel, and a second post with just our experience in the park and at our California Grill dinner that night. This way, you’ll get a little more Disney a little sooner, instead of having to wait forever to read it all at once.

In the morning we packed up and loaded all our luggage into a capacious, flat-floored black cab for the short ride to St. Pancras Station to catch the Eurostar. As we were waiting for the cab, Patrick decided he couldn’t leave London without a classic phone booth photo…


“So long, guv’ner!”

Our cabbie of course knew exactly which entrance we needed to be dropped at when we got to St. Pancras so we’d be closest to the Eurostar gate. We were super-early so we wandered around not taking any photos. In true Disney-fan fashion, people began to form makeshift pre-queues (or “crowds”) while we were waiting for the actual queue to open, and there were multiple Eurostar staffers required to part the masses so that passengers on earlier, non-Disney-bound trains could get into the queue. Finally they called out Disneyland Paris/Marne La Vallee-Chessy and the masses surged forward into the queue.

You have to scan your Eurostar ticket to get through the automated gates before you even reach security, so be sure to have that out. Security was airport-style, but we didn’t have to take off shoes and belts. After the metal detectors, you have to talk to an immigration officer because you’re about to leave the UK. Then they release you to a pre-boarding area below the train boarding platform, where they have a few places to eat and a minimart. It’s pretty nice!

I think this shot is supposed to show you all the convenient power outlets, but you can also kinda see the central hall and then some of the many escalators to the train platform in the back.



This gives you a better idea of the departure lounge. It was taken from a little roped off eating area adjacent to one of the cafes.



The lounge was a bit under construction when we were there. When you go, you’ll be able to enjoy another branch of the ubiquitous chain Pret-a-Manger. (And they’d darn well better be serving that Pickle Train on the kids’ menu!)



There’s a coffee shop with sandwiches….





…And a sandwich shop with coffee and booze!





That’s the one we chose. Patrick got a breakfast croissant because he hadn’t been to France yet and didn’t know any better…





I got a toasted cheese and salmon breakfast sandwich. Salmon is like bacon over there—they put it in everything! (And bacon is like ham… it’s all very confusing…)



Here’s the WH Smith where Patrick requested I get him a pen for journaling. I came back with a bazillion choices, but the one he loved best was the cheap Union Jack ballpoint I grabbed as a souvenir. This is also where I tried contactless payment for the first time on our trip, and I was in LOVE! Hold yer phone next to the terminal, hold it up to your face and click the side button, then hold it next to the terminal again and you’re done (and that’s on an iPhone X—other iPhones have one less step!).





When they announced boarding, we did the Disney Dash up the speed ramp and down the platform looking for our car. They have helpful maps with carriage numbers on them.



I did a lot of research about the luggage restrictions on Eurostar because we were traveling with our two ginormous, gone-for-three-weeks suitcases, not just a knapsack for some dirty weekend across the Channel. The savvy travelers on TripAdvisor assured me that there was zero enforcement of any of the baggage size or weight restrictions listed on the Eurostar website and that people shove oversized luggage, huge sets of skis and (probably) tuba cases into the racks wherever they’ll fit.

There are two racks at either end of each car, and since we’d dashed up to the platform, we had no trouble finding space.







As I mentioned in the Introduction post, I booked us into Eurostar’s Standard Premier class from London to Disneyland Paris because it was only about $20 more per ticket going that direction (heading back to London from Paris was a different story). It was a good thing, too, because—judging by the conductor’s constant pleas for people to make space—the standard cars were packed like sardines with eager Disney fans.

Our car was basically empty! (Although the one noisy kid in the car was seated directly behind us—classic…)



The seats are a little nicer than in the regular cars I guess, with built-in reading lamps and cupholders!







I used the excellent website Seat61 to figure out which car we wanted to be in, which seats faced forward for the journey, and which had a full window view. I think I did OK!



You also get a little breakfast in Standard Premier class. It won’t knock your socks off, but it’s nice to have in case you get nosh-y on the 3 1/2-hour journey.



This is how you drink your tea in Standard Premier class:



Disneyland Paris offers the option to add a Magical Express-type service called Disney Express Hotel Check-in & Luggage Service for something like €15 per person. A Cast Member goes up and down the train checking guests into their hotels and giving them their tickets (which are part of the hotel package) so they can go straight to the park while Disney schleps their luggage to the hotel. We’d planned to go to the hotel first to freshen up and then meet some folks from Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings for a venue tour, so I decided to skip this service. Even after our meeting got rescheduled, I was glad I didn’t spend any money on this. I’m just too anxious about being separated from my luggage for that long!



As I mentioned in the last post, I’d also been pretty anxious about potential delays or cancellations of Eurostar service due to this snow we’d started to hear about. As it turned out, our train was only about 20 minutes late due to having to drive slower when we got into the snowiest part of France.

I didn’t start taking photos til we hit France. The under-the-Channel part really does go by as quickly, as they say, and I never felt claustrophobic or anything.













It was so sunshine-y and idyllic, I couldn’t believe we’d see any snow at all!









Then, gradually, we came upon a light dusting of snow…







And then a little more…

 

[lurkyloo]

And then suddenly there was snow EVERYWHERE: Beautiful trees covered in snow, snowy rivers and ponds, and then of course snowy little villages—we even saw some bunnies frolicking in the snow! It really made the trip magical. Each icy new vista was so exotic to this SoCal native that I barely even looked at the Internet. (Oh yeah: They have WiFi on the Eurostar. It can be spotty.)


(Bunnies not pictured)


Forget the snow—what’s with the giant ghost hand hovering over this lake?










I sure hope this doesn’t say something dirty in French…

And then we were at Marne-la-Vallée/Chessy Station!

I got a little flummoxed inside the station. Everything I’d read just said, “Walk straight out of the station and Disney’s right there!” But the station is a big rectangle with an exit on each side, and all I could see out any of them was WHITE. I was so worried that we would go out the wrong exit and be miles from where we needed to be, that I led us to each of them and poked my head out to see if it was the right one. Meanwhile Patrick is behind me going, “Why don’t we just follow, like, EVERYONE ELSE out that door?”

So here are the simplified directions in case it is also a snowy mess when you get there or you’re just as flappable as I am…

1. When you get off the train, get on the escalator up to the main concourse. These only go one direction, so this is the easy part!



2. At the top of the escalator, turn to face the exact opposite direction and start walking toward the same exit everyone else is heading to. Ignore all other exits!



3. This is what the correct exit looks like.



Right as we exited the station, I got confused AGAIN because I saw a sign that said the Disneyland Hotel was to the right and the parks were straight ahead. I don’t think it was entirely unreasonable of me to assume we should go to the right because we were headed to the hotel, not the parks.



We bumped our suitcases along the tiny path cut through the snow as everyone else from the train headed toward Disney Village and the parks (another clue I missed). The gate looked pretty closed, but there was a doorway open off to the right.



And in that doorway was the only rude person we ever met in France, a brusque security guard who shouted at us, “No! Go back!” etc. until we understood that this was just the entrance for cast members; we were supposed to walk all the way back to Disney Village to enter. Even though the sign said THIS was the entrance to the hotel. And I—knowing only the manual bag checks at the American parks—could not fathom how we would get through the security check at the entrance to Disney Village with our ginormous suitcases without incurring the wrath of hundreds of people behind us as the guards meticulously combed through our three weeks’ worth of underpants and stuffed corgis.



Now, three months later, I think I have it figured out: I’m gonna say that this normally IS the entrance to the hotel, but it was closed due to the snow. Just to make myself feel less dumb!

ANYWAY…. This is where we were supposed to be:



Looking back toward the super-under-themed train station, on the left, and Disney Village, on the right.







If I’d been more observant, I would have noticed that we weren’t the only people with ginormous suitcases. Because it turns out Disney has airport-style X-ray machines at the security checkpoint for you to send your luggage through.







Finally we were in the right place and headed toward the Disneyland Hotel. We took forever to get there because we had to keep stopping and taking pictures of all the gorgeous snow all over everything.











This area is called Fantasia Gardens and was designed by Tony Baxter to include the water, fountains and gardens of Fantasia. (Trust me, they’re all there under the snow!) And because he is a GENIUS, the path has you winding through a peaceful, snowy forest until you go around a bend and then WHAM! This happens!



Believe it or not (those of you who’ve been, don’t spoil it for the others) THIS is the main entrance to Disneyland Park! But it is also the Disneyland Hotel! >mind blown< I mean, OK, we stayed at Hotel MiraCosta in Tokyo DisneySea, but that one you don’t really see until you’re inside the park.

The story goes that the Imagineers thought it would be cool to have the façade of a Victorian hotel above the entrance to Disneyland Paris. But Michael Eisner was like, “Why not just make it an actual hotel?” (on account of it’s pretty expensive to build the fake shell of a hotel already). But, because this was to be one of the largest hotels in Europe, the Imagineers were worried that it would dwarf Main Street. So they added a ton of intricate detail to make it appear smaller from inside the park. They also put a big Mickey clock on the front to make it less imposing, and John Hench decided it should be pink because white and black were not as warm and friendly. Bless John Hench!







To get into the park you take one of the two sweeping paths hugging the lake and enter what looks like it should be the hotel’s grand entrance.



Here are some shots Patrick got on another day to give you a better idea….





I knew from my research that, by contrast, the entrance to the Disneyland Hotel is pretty obscure. I was able to find it by poking around for something that didn’t look very much like the grand entrance to a flagship Disney resort.


At Tokyo Disneyland, this would be the service entrance!

There is a slightly grander entrance around the corner, but you only see it if you arrive by car.

As has been copiously documented by the Internets, the lobby of Paris’ Disneyland Hotel is kind of underwhelming compared to those of the other Disney flagship resorts around the world. It feels like the lobby of a Disney Vacation Club wing at Walt Disney World. I think the Imagineers just tried so hard to make the hotel seem less imposing that they did their job a little too well.


May I take home the adorable French toddler playing with the red ball as my souvenir please?





The one thing in the lobby that is imposing is this ginormous fireplace! It’s almost like they started here and then ran outta money to decorate the rest of the lobby…



Michael Eisner: “I decree that the lobby shall have a massive three-story fireplace, and it shall be made out of four kinds of marble, with every architectural flourish recognizable to the common American….”



“… And the mantel shall surround a ginormous Victorian painting of Main Street, circa 1892. And it shall be executed with every color known to the Ink & Paint Department. And the guy on the white horse shall look like me, only younger and cuter…”



“…And the rest of the lobby—”

Pencil Pusher: “Eisner, you’re outta dough!”

Eisner: “—shall have the carpet of a Ramada and a shabby-chic chandelier I’m getting rid of at my country home…”

 

[lurkyloo]

It didn’t matter cuz we weren’t there very long. I’d paid through the nose for Castle Club concierge service, and I was gonna use the heck out of it! I marched over to Bell Services and asked, “Castle Club?” as I pointed my nose in the air snootily to get the message across. Two cast members sprang into action: one handled our luggage (and by “handled” I mean “pried it out of my grasp as I frantically tried to ask when we were going to see it again in French”) and the other led us into the elevator.

You can also take these stairs, but I wasn’t paying to take no stairs!



Here’s a map so you can see where everything is. The pink room called “HALL” is the lobby. That orange square indicating the elevator to the Castle Club is the same one that takes concierge guests straight to the park entrance.



We walked along the bridge to the second floor (you can see it on the left in the shot of the unassuming hotel entrance, above). Here’s a photo from a sunnier day, looking out toward Fantasia Gardens and the way we’d arrived…







… And here’s the view out the other side, toward the park.



We passed this lovely Herb Ryman concept art for “Oriental” (Tokyo) Disneyland….



Across the way is Galerie Mickey, the hotel’s gift shop, which had a fantastic window display, and this is all you’re gonna see of it for now!



Then it was up a special elevator to the 3rd Floor’s Castle Club reception area.


Oooh! Special elevator!

The Castle Club reception area is a sort of wide spot in the circular balcony overlooking the 2nd Floor’s Main Street Lounge. This picture’s a little wobbly, but you will be too after realizing how much you’ve paid to stay there!



Main Street Lounge is the hub where you’ll find the entrances to the restaurants, California Grill and Inventions, and the cocktail lounge, Cafe Fantasia.



Here’s what Main Street Lounge looks like when you’re in it…



Both the Castle Club check-in desks were already occupied, so a nice concierge led us into the beautiful the Castle Club Lounge and sat us in the back corner overlooking the snowy “foyer” of Disneyland.



Usually there was a bowl of hard candies on Goofy’s platter. Insider Tip: You can take as many as you want cuz he’s never looking!





Patrick took this shot of the Castle Lounge from the buffet area—we were seated in that bright back corner on the left, and I think it’s the best spot in the place!



Afternoon snacks…





The lounge overlooks California Grill restaurant, which was being used as the Inventions buffet restaurant while we were there because that restaurant was under renovation.



Here’s what California Grill and the Castle Club look like from inside the park:



This was our view while we waited…



Our concierge did as much as she could to get us started with the check-in process before we could hand somebody our credit card and the rights to our first-born (joke’s on them! Our first-born is a cat!). She went over the schedule and the map and let me practice my terrible French.

Here’s what’s supposed to be open during Extra Magic Time at each park. When we got to Walt Disney Studios for Extra Magic Time later in the trip, only one of these was actually open…



Twenty minutes later we’d finally been seen by a check-in agent and had a bazillion pieces of paper and plastic we needed to keep track of for our stay.

They are (clockwise from left)…

• Hotel room key card
• Yellow room-charging card
• Club-level VIP FASTPASS that gets you onto any FASTPASS-enabled ride after 10:30am, maybe… (more on that later)
• Park-hopper ticket

Room # 2307 was just a short walk down the hall from the Castle Lounge. When Patrick swung open the door, all I could see was this:



What, you ask? Was it the breathtaking, snow-dusted view of Cinderella Castle, Main Street Station and Space Mountain all at once?

Nope! It was The Big Pink Wall o’ DOOM… We’d saved for years to be able to afford this ridiculously priced Castle Club Theme Park View room, thinking we were guaranteed to get a 180-degree view into the park like the ones I’d seen in YouTube room tours. Instead we had the room on the end… next to a wall… with at most a 70-degree view… and the very same price tag.

From inside the park, our balcony is in the middle of the three stacked rooms in this corner next to The Pig Pink Wall o’ Doom.



But check-in had taken so long, and Patrick hates it so much when I ask to switch rooms, that I resolved to only ever look out three of the windows and just enjoy the slice of view we did have. I mean, come on… This is pretty friggin’ amazing!!!







Patrick, who is much more sensible than I, was very excited—in fact, he was more excited than I have ever seen him be about taking photos of a hotel room, and he dashed around shooting EVERYTHING.

First, here’s the Photoshop composite he promised he’d make, since it was impossible to get one photo that exposed both the inside of the room and the view out the windows.


Big Pink Wall o’ Doom photo bomb!

 

[lurkyloo]

Now the glamour shot….











The coffee drawer in the armoire was super-well-stocked. Yes, those are cookie spoons, and yes, they ARE the perfect way to eat one of those mousse cones they were handing out in the Castle Lounge! Also, the Mickey-head sugar cubes are the perfect purse-size hiccup remedy. Hot tip for ya there from the Hiccup Queen…











The pattern on that shower tile is tiny dancing hippos from Fantasia!



Even the mirror is Disneyfied…



Well now that’s just cruel: A scale in a place that counts “Fries” as one of the five main food groups?



The room felt Grand Floridian-nice, which is to say, in need of updating and not nearly worth what you’re paying. The decor actually looks a lot like what the Grand Floridian had prior to its refresh a couple of years ago, but it’s the infrastructure that’s the real problem. The plumbing is tied with that of the Disneyland Hotel in California for worst: no water pressure, and the temperature fluctuates between hot and cold every 45 seconds. We reported it a couple of times, but I think the problem ran deeper than something an earnest maintenance guy with a wrench could fix.

However, there were many wonderful things about the room: It was huge! It had a king-size bed! It was directly above the entrance to the park! And the Castle Club service was AMAZING!

Apparently the Castle Club staff enjoys leaving special little surprises in your room, and the more times you stay in the Castle Club, the more surprises you get. Since we were newbies, we only got stuff the first night, but lookit all this loot!

…A Tinkerbell mug!



…Real flowers!



…Waxy chocolates!



…A fruit bowl to shame any at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel!



…Sodas instead of Champagne cuz I’d mentioned we don’t drink booze!



… A cute lil’ anniversary/wedding pillow!



…And a card signed by all our pals!



I have to say, the Castle Club staff really made our stay. Any time we had a question about anything, there was someone there to answer it, night or day. They helped us make and cancel dining reservations, gave us insider tips about snow-day protocol at Disneyland Paris, and explained how to pronounce things in French. They answered general questions about France and etiquette and where to get off the RER-A when we got to Paris. They were unfailingly polite and, more than that, friendly! If you’re going to splurge on Concierge/Club Level at a Disney hotel, do it in a foreign country, because the assistance is invaluable.

So… Just as we caught our breath, our anniversary cake arrived!

I was gonna save my excruciatingly detailed description of the experience of ordering a custom cake at Disneyland Paris for the diehards in the DISboards’ Cake Chatter Thread, but you guys must like excruciating detail too or you wouldn’t be here, right? Here we go…

This was a frustrating experience, but the results were better than those of the equally frustrating experience I had trying to order a standard, non-customized cake (which you will hear about later). After several weeks of being shuttled from department to department via email and phone, I learned that custom cake orders must be placed via the Disneyland Paris Special Activities department (DLP.DISNEY.SPECIAL.ACTIVITIES@disney.com) and that a reply can take up to two weeks (yet they don’t want you to email them more than 3 months out).

They did send me my choices and some photos over email. But to pay for the order, I had to call again, which was another ordeal of dropped calls, botched transfers and promised returned calls that never materialized before I finally was able to do it. If your phone provider has a low-cost international calling package, add that first!

The Bad News: Fancy cakes may only be ordered from the Special Activities department, and they have a minimum order of €300! So even if all you are getting is a cake with no actual “activities,” it’s €300. Their first offer was €625 for …

• a personalized cake with “Happy 10th Anniversary“ and names
• a bottle of Lanson Champagne, Disneyland Paris
• 2 Champagne glasses engraved with your initials
• a decoration made with heart-shaped rose petals on the bed
• a romantic balloon decoration around the bed
• a personal message in one of our cards

Which looks like this:



For the equivalent of $750, that was totally not happening…

So what do you get for your €300? You get to choose from a list of pre-designed 8-inch cakes. There is no way to customize a design. But at least they’ll let you write something besides “Happy Birthday” as the message on the plate! These are the choices:









The only flavor options are

• All-Chocolate
• All-Vanilla
• Spéculos (it’s like Trader Joe’s cookie butter)
• Vanilla Praline

Vanilla Praline was the most interesting-sounding to me, but I worried the Praline would be almond and have marzipan in it. Since I thought I was getting a vanilla standard cake later in the trip, I asked for chocolate for this fancy cake and picked the Snow White style. Here’s how it turned out…



They remembered to bring the milk I’d requested (after the cast member first suggested we might like orange juice [?!]), plus enough forks and plates for a small army because surely not even gross Americans would order an entire 8-inch cake for just two people!

I about died laughing when I saw that our wedding anniversary inscription—which was supposed to say “You are my happily ever after”—was just a “Happy 10th Anniversary” dedicated only to me. I guess they know who all these cakes I get are REALLY for!



Yes, that is a ginormous fondant apple, and yes, I eventually did take a big ol’ bite outta it. Pretty dang tasty!







I was very excited to get a cake with dragees, which have been outlawed in California and I haven’t seen in ages!

 

[lurkyloo]

Although the frosting wasn’t my beloved Walt Disney World old-school sugar-bomb buttercream, it wasn’t foofy, flavorless whipped cream frosting either. It was somewhere in between. The mousse was as bland as I’d expected, but the cake was moist and more flavorful than Walt Disney World chocolate cake can be. And the fondant was the magical Disney kind that’s soft and sugary, not hard and flavorless!

So before we hit the park, we pushed aside the fruit, soft drinks, chocolates, etc. and sat down at our little table for a nice quiet moment to eat a piece of anniversary cake and take more photos of our view. It was a lovely start to our trip, which is good because things kinda went downhill from there….


Wall? What wall?















Of course I resisted the urge to draw a face under that snow hat—what do you take me for?!







OK, so maybe this part should go in the next post about entering Disneyland, but since this one is all about the benefits of Castle Club reservations…. Here are the special elevators that deposit you right at the gates of Disneyland! And, more importantly, whisk you directly back to your room at the end of a long day in the park!



And here’s what you see when you step out of the elevator….





Up Next: First Time in Disneyland Paris!

 

[Karin1984]

Oh my ... how did I miss this report! I love your detailed writing and I love an American view on my home park

(And I screamed when I was the pictures of the Dark Crystal, one of my favorite fantasy movies ever, I can watch the extras on the dvd for hours!)

 

[lurkyloo]

Oh my ... how did I miss this report! I love your detailed writing and I love an American view on my home park

(And I screamed when I was the pictures of the Dark Crystal, one of my favorite fantasy movies ever, I can watch the extras on the dvd for hours!)

Yay! I'm so glad you found me! Hoping to finish the next installment later this week....

 

[lurkyloo]

Virtual Tour of Disneyland Paris… In the Snow!

At last! We were about to enter Disneyland Paris for the very first time. We stepped out of the super-secret Castle Club elevator, got our paper tickets scanned by the gate cast member and then… we were IN!!!

It’s not a feeling you get to experience very often. Can you even remember your first visit to Disneyland or Magic Kingdom? Well, I didn’t need to remember this visit because Patrick was shooting E V E R Y T H I N G—especially Main Street—so thoroughly that Google could create a street view just from his photos.

Join me now on this virtual tour of Disneyland Paris….

What do you suppose Patrick’s first shot inside the gate was? The majestic Main Street Station? The special 25th anniversary light-up sign with Tinkerbell and the Fab Four? Nope, it was…

…A TREE!!!



Granted, it is a pretty gorgeous tree covered in magical snow….

Instead of a huge planter that forces you to enter on one side or the other, Disneyland Paris’ “foyer” has three tunnels that go straight under Main Street Station to Main Street, U.S.A.







I love Tink’s snow hat in this shot! Very Doctor Zhivago…



Say… Isn’t that the yellow safety cone from Westminster Abbey? I think we’re being STALKED!





According to Alain Littaye and Didier Ghez’s Disneyland Paris: From Sketch to Reality, the Imagineers were worried that Europeans would have no familiarity with or nostalgia for the types of Main Streets found at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom, so they considered setting this one in the 1920s. They referenced European interest in America of the ’20s, with its jazz and movies, and wanted to have an elevated train down one side of the street, a Circle-Vision theater dressed as a grand movie palace, and even a speakeasy. Everything was going to be Art Deco, with big flashy billboards lining the streets.

Then cooler heads prevailed/got scared and they went back to the original idea of Main Street, asking Herb Ryman to conceive for them the “spirit of Main Street.” Littaye and Ghez write, “The essence of Main Street, the Imagineers discovered, was tranquility, but with an awareness and welcoming attitude for the approaching world of progress, dynamism, optimism and new ideas. This was the spirit prevalent in the United States at the turn of the century—a new economic boom that nothing was going to stop.” The Imagineers decided that people anywhere in the world could appreciate that kind of excitement. So what Paris got was very similar to the American versions of Main Street, U.S.A. but more intricately detailed because—as we had already learned on this trip—everything in Europe is way more detailed than its American counterpart.

Looking back toward Main Street Station….




Wait, wasn’t that safety cone just in front of us…?











A-HA! Yellow Safety Cone IS following us!



To the left as you enter is City Hall, nice and familiar…



The adjacent Storybook Store is pretty amazing on the inside. More on that later….





To the right as you enter is the Main Street Transportation Co., where the trolleys go in and out. The blue building on the right of it is where you rent strollers and wheelchairs.















This shot was taken standing with the Main Street Transportation Co. on your right, facing the wraparound portion of the right side of Main Street. In California, the parades exit to the right of that lamp post.



This is the left side of the mouth of Main Street—pretty familiar to Magic Kingdom regulars.



I’ll bet you know where you are now!



Forget the snow hat—now Tink’s got a whole snow cape!

















I love that Paris’ Main Street has both its side streets intact, with no store or restaurant occupying what was intended to be an open space.





THAT is how much snow they got at Disneyland Paris!



If this were an American park, the IP lawyers would have already demolished this snowmouse for being off-model!



Facing the opposite direction, toward the other side street, which is between the end of the Emporium and Walt’s — An American Restaurant.




Didn’t think we were going to turn around so fast, did ya, Yellow Safety Cone?

 

[lurkyloo]

Uh, yeah, we can still see you back there, Yellow Safety Cone…

Now we’re back on Main Street, heading toward the castle but taking lots of photos of what’s on our right!




Yellow Safety Cone, whistling: “Just waitin’ fer the parade…. Yep! Definitely not stalking anybody…”

Wow—the parade at Disneyland Paris sure is weird!





Mickey, are you in there?






OK, maybe Yellow Safety Cone really did just want to see the parade—looks like he’s headed for the exit…



I’m still kicking myself for not going in the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor and enjoying some Ben & Jerry’s inside a Disney park for the first time. It was closed for the rest of our trip. Actually, it might have been closed then too but just had the doors unlocked. I’m going to tell myself it was closed then too…


If this were Maine, there’d be a line of eager ice cream buyers out the door on a day like this!



Patrick didn’t take a lot of shots of the opposite side of the street because so much of it was behind construction tarps. But here’s a section between Walt’s and Casey’s Corner…



And here’s the smaller entrance to Casey’s. This cast member helpful stepped alllllmost out of the shot for me so I could document the sign for my brother, Casey. It is a well-known fact that people LOVE being texted photos of random things with their names on them!



Enjoy al fresco dining adjacent to Casey’s Corner…. just bring a scarf! And a change of pants!



We never figured out what this building was, but looking at this photo, wouldn’t you want to LIVE there?!



I mean, THIS would be your view!!!



… And this…


GAH!!! It was a fake-out—Yellow Safety Cone is BACK!!!

…And this…



… And this (trust me, these are all different pictures—I promise)!




Yellow Safety Cone: “I’ve mastered the ability of standing so incredibly still that I’ve become invisible to the eye. I am sure I’m invisible.”

You’ll always be able to tell which shots in this report are from my phone cuz I’m the one standing there mashing all the photo filter buttons shouting, “More color! MORE COLOR, I say!!!”





This hill is pure genius! It makes what is already arguably the most photogenic Disney castle in the world even MORE photogenic.













Sorry… Patrick got distracted by a shrub for a second…

… Back to the castle!





The castle is like a magnet, always drawing your eye. You’ll spy something you’ve never seen before—the astonishingly incongruous sight of a Moorish gate and desert palms all covered in snow….





… but the next thing you know, you’re staring at the castle again!





There’s something quite Seuss-ian about these snow-covered plants!





All three weather vanes agree: It’s snowy out!

 

[lurkyloo]

Disneyland Paris’ Adventureland is just to the left of the castle, where Frontierland is at Disneyland and Liberty Square is in the Magic Kingdom. We decided to bypass it for the moment and continue back toward Frontierland, which is where Adventureland is at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom.







…Aaaaaand CASTLE!



This section is particularly magical in the snow because it’s something you might actually have seen in the past of real life.











I love the way the Frontierland sign looks in the snow!



One thing I was particularly enchanted by were all the snowy creeks and ponds and rivers in the park, and I spent most of the trip tossing rocks into them to try and break the ice.







Disneyland Paris’ Fort Comstock is cool because there’s stuff to see in the windows. (Even when Disneyland’s Tom Sawyer Island fort was still open, it was all just empty rooms.) I think Patrick got some shots through a window later in our trip.



Frontierland was closed for business. I’d just barely gotten over the fact that Phantom Manor—the only ride I was really interested in—would be closed as part of its 9-month renovation, but we were nonplussed to discover Big Thunder, the Molly Brown river boat and all the restaurants were closed too.









In my haste to get this shot, my feet slipped right out from under me and I landed on my caboose in the snow for the first time since I was, like, 9! It was so ridiculous, I just burst out laughing.



Looking in the opposite direction, toward the Devil’s Ice Patch…









Not only was Big Thunder closed, it appeared to be giving us The Finger!


“Ha ha haaaaaa, suckers! No rides for you!”













I was bummed to find Phantom Manor behind tall construction fences. I dunno why this was such a surprise to me… I guess I thought the construction would be limited to the inside of the ride and we could still get some amazing snowy shots of the exterior.



This is a nice touch I feel like the American Disney parks wouldn’t bother with if they closed their Haunted Mansions for 9 months.









Here’s what we managed to shoot through the cracks in the fence…

 

[lurkyloo]

Undeterred, we decided to go back out to the Hub and enter Adventureland from the main gate.

But first…. CASTLE!



I was really excited about Adventureland because I love Disney’s take on the Middle Eastern aesthetic. Tokyo DisneySea’s Arabian Coast is one of my favorite places in all of the parks, and of course we’ll always have a soft spot for Morocco in Epcot.



One valiant torch continues burning away to spite the snow…



Pretty!



But once you walk through the gate, that’s pretty much it… The only other things here are an Arabian Coast-esque buffet restaurant and a “They Don’t Make ’em Like That Anymore” Aladdin diorama walk-through, both of which I’ll show you in a future installment.

Here’s a gift shop that was never open for the rest of our trip… We shoulda gone in right then! I could be the proud owner of a neon zebra-striped Minnie Mouse bobble-head pen right now!



Wow! Looks like Adventureland drivers are just as bad in the snow as L.A. drivers are in the rain!





Just another balmy day in Adventureland…





I threw a rock in there!



Further into Adventureland is the Adventure Isle playground, which was also closed that day and most of the rest of our trip.



I did get excited just to see the Pirate Galleon and Skull Rock. I was too little to remember these from Disneyland, so getting to see them here was like stepping back in time… and into a snow globe!









I know Skull Rock is s’posed to be scary, but it does kinda look like he’s barfing…




“BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRFFFF!”




>serene nature sounds<


“BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRFFFF!”

From Adventureland we headed into Fantasyland. Here’s Peter Pan, which I believe was also closed.





Closed!





Toad Hall is a counter-service restaurant at Disneyland Paris, not a ride, but Tom at the Disney Tourist Blogsays it’s one of the best for food and theming. After all I’d read about it online (the Imagineers made it a restaurant so people could actually spend real time inside), not being able to go in there was one of the bigger disappointments of our trip. We checked every day, even going so far as to run all the way back here minutes before we were supposed to leave for Paris, but it was never open. (Despite the fact that the Disneyland Paris mobile app kept saying it WAS open—argh!)











Time for a pit stop! Looky what we found in the bathrooms…



Are these new, in response to the longstanding complaints about lack of upkeep in the parks? Or have they always been here? Either way, I LOVE them! If the bathroom’s dirty, just punch the frowny guy in the face!

I dunno what this is. Let’s just say it’s a foie gras stand…



Ugh! OK, this is another one…. If we had gone to Disneyland Paris on a normal, snow-less week, we would have spent 10 minutes poking around Alice’s Curious Labyrinth and been like, “Yeah, it’s aight…” Instead, because it’s unique to Disneyland Paris and we were repeatedly denied entrance—including, again, when the app showed it as open—it became this sort of Holy Grail and we wasted so much energy constantly checking to see if it was open.


They don’t call it Alice’s *Curious* Labyrinth for nuthin’!


“Let me see… The Labyrinth will open at Never o’Clock!”



I tried to throw a rock in here but my arm wasn’t long enough!



I LOVE the inclusion of The Old Mill! What a great idea, even if it is just a quick-service Pheasant Under Glass stand…



This is either the head or the tail of a dragon. For safety’s sake, I should probably learn the difference one of these days…



It’s a Small World probably would have been a good ride to go on at that point, but we wanted to shoot as much of the park as we could before it got dark. I love how the lamps look like soft serve in the snow!







What the…? Yellow Safety Cone again?! I thought we’d lost that guy!!!



I remember it being very important to me that Patrick take this photo, but now I don’t remember why. Maybe because it was one of the few fully cleared walkways in the park?

 

[lurkyloo]

The other side of the castle!







The area around the Plaza Gardens restaurant is probably already pretty gorgeous, but the snow took it over the top! We didn’t go inside cuz it’s one of those pay-right-inside-the-door buffet places. Also, Yellow Safety Cone…



Yes, I threw a snow ball in there.



Right about here is when I started to get really discouraged. For one thing, even though I’d planned the heck out of our wardrobes—preparing us with scarves, hats, long underwear, gloves, things that go between your gloves and your sleeves, and convertible rain jackets with zip-out layers of snuggly down—I hadn’t considered that we might need shoes with tread thick enough for walking on snow! So I’d exhausted myself slipping and sliding around Disneyland for hours, even as cast members were telling us it would be worse tomorrow because all the snow was expected to freeze into ice overnight.

Also, after the novelty of seeing everything covered in snow began to wear off, it was replaced by sinking dread as we noticed more and more closed rides, restaurants, shops and even entire sections of the park. Here we were during a season when many rides were already closed for annual maintenance, and suddenly it looked like we might not even get to ride most of the remaining attractions!

At that point, I felt about like this…


Abandon hope, all ye who enter here….

But Patrick gave me a pep talk, and I agreed that we really should round out our photo tour with Discoveryland before it got too dark, so we pressed on.

Discoveryland. Yay.



Actually, my curiosity about Discoveryland did overcome my sagging spirits for a while. I love that it’s a Jules Verne/H.G. Wells/Leonardo da Vinci/George Lucas mashup that finally abandons the flawed “future” concept of Tomorrowland. (Tony Baxter summed it up nicely when he said that people don’t get excited about technology, they get excited about what technology can facilitate.) And I’d always been curious to see if it worked better than our Tomorrowlands.

If nothing else, it’s certainly better looking! Somewhere in Disneyland Paris: From Sketch to Reality they mention that Discoveryland was so successful that the Imagineers imported the concept back to the Tomorrowland in California’s Disneyland. I had to scan the furthest reaches of my mind for a moment on that one… It finally hit me that the authors were referring to the Great Brown-ing of Tomorrowland in 1998. Originally Disneyland was going to import new ideas and rides based on Discoveryland. But then Disneyland Paris was such a flop that Eisner slashed budgets across the board, and “Tomorrowland 2055” became 2,055 gallons of bronze paint.

If I’ve said it before in past trip reports, forgive me—I want to be sure it’s down on virtual paper: Why doesn’t Disney just make Tomorrowland the land of the Future That Never Was, circa 1955? Yes, OK, Discoveryland is supposed to be that, but it’s a steampunk fantasy based on 19th Century visions of science fiction and fact. But Disneyland’s Tomorrowland could be an homage to all the bright, streamlined wacky visions of the future generated in the 20th Century. It would be a nod to Disneyland’s origins, to Walt Disney’s futurism and to the current mania for Mid-Century Modern everything. Oh yeah… they can’t do it because there’s no branded franchise they can apply to it. If only Brad Bird’s Tomorrowland had been a massive hit!



Discoveryland doesn’t have a lot of rocks just lying around. I think I threw a snowball in this one!



The Orbitron, so out-of-place in Disneyland, actually works in the place it was designed for—go figure!















These snow-covered trees were my favorite thing about Discoveryland. They’re downright otherworldly!







We finally decided we probably should try to get on at least one attraction before the park closed and chose Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain as our first-ever ride in Disneyland Paris. Our Club-level VIP FASTPASSes got us in a side door, so we only had to wait about 10 minutes.

I liked the being-shot-out-of-a-cannon intro, but overall it was a little bit disappointing. It felt like Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster (even though they actually have a Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster over in Disney Studios Park) with a cheap, tacky overlay of screens showing Star Wars stuff. Also there was no music or sound effects, which was weird. (We gave it another shot later in the trip and liked it much better with music and sound effects!).

Afterward, we headed straight for Les Mystères du Nautilus, another attraction I’d been excited to see because we don’t have anything like it in the US (anymore). But guess what happened…. Just guess! That’s right: It was closed!





We ended up riding Star Tours and finding it remarkably enjoyable. We hadn’t seen any of the new Last Jediscenes before, and we got two of them! Also, it was in English, so it felt very familiar but new at the same time. I also noticed over the course of our trip that the French cast members are more egalitarian (or possibly less interested) in who they secretly pick to be the rebel spy. It’s not always some cute little kid—sometimes we hideous grownups get a chance too!





Discoveryland is really really pretty at dusk in the snow.











Guess they don’t have chains or snow tires for the cars at Autopia!



If you think the castle is gorgeous during the day, just wait til you see it at night!





Patrick and I stole each other’s shot. Here’s his Canon Rebel shot….



…And here’s my iPhone X shot!



We thought about sticking around to see the fireworks from in front of the castle, but it was SO cold out that we decided to watch from the comfort of the Castle Club Lounge. We spent the last open hour of the park exploring the arcades on Main Street.









OK, so the Imagineers had the brilliant idea of creating indoor arcades that run behind each side of Main Street, U.S.A. to easily funnel guests in and out of the park in France’s frequent inclement weather.

Liberty Arcade commemorates the creation of the Statue of Liberty, France’s gift to America (and Disney’s way of reminding the French that they used to like us!), and runs behind the Emporium on the left side of Main Street as you face the castle.

This photo tour actually starts from the far end, down by Casey’s Corner, and proceeds up Main Street, U.S.A. toward the train station.

 

[lurkyloo]

Halfway up the street you can pop out into Liberty Court, one of Main Street, U.S.A.’s two side streets I was enthusing about earlier, and look at the pile of dirty snow.









At the end of Liberty Arcade we stopped into the Emporium to marvel at this exquisite stained glass ceiling.




Tink: “America doesn’t deserve anything this nice!”

We crossed the street and started at the entrance to Discovery Arcade, which celebrates the “golden age of invention” via scale models of various gadgets and whirligigs inventors have patented. Also barbed wire.



I didn’t move back to L.A. until 1998, but I’m pretty sure none of this stuff was happening there in 1996…





This early fire escape would have been a big hit, except it was tiny and made out of wood…



John Hallner: “I call this stuff the ‘Tamer of the American West and Extinguisher of the Cowboy Way of Life’—catchy, amiriiiiiite?!”



The world’s first Rube Goldberg Machine!



The Uneasy Chair…



This early washing machine had wheels and handles on it so you could drag it back to inventor Mason Pike’s house whenever it ate one of your socks!



The Rocket Cycle: Guaranteed to get you there fast! (Not guaranteed to get you there in one piece)



On our tour of the Paris Opera House a few days later, we learned that it was one of the first places in the world to have electricity installed.



We tried to stop into the clothing shop at the end of Discovery Arcade to get Patrick another sweatshirt, but it was closed. Story of our trip! He used the last of the strength in his rapidly freezing fingers to get you these two photos…



Disneyland Paris closed at 8pm every night of our trip, and the fireworks were scheduled at closing. I made our California Grill reservation for 8:30pm so we could maximize our time inside the park while it was open and be able to watch the fireworks before dinner.

Retreating to the Castle Club lounge for the show seemed like the smartest idea on that freezing cold night. Patrick got us a great seat right by the window and ordered us two hot chocolates (which came with extra pieces of chocolate!). I was in heaven!



You can tell how excited I was by how blurry my photo is!



Unfortunately, due to the weather, they ran a modified version of the show with just the castle projections, no fireworks. So we were actually in pretty much the worst place to see the show!







XXXXTREME iPHONE ZOOM!!!!







On the other hand, once the show was over, we only had to walk a few feet around the corner to go to California Grill for dinner! What we didn’t understand at the time was that California Grill is actually the place downstairs that I showed you in the last installment. But since it was being used as the Inventions buffet while that restaurant was being refurbished, they opened up this room-that-I-have-no-idea-what-it-is across from the concierge desks by the Castle Club elevators. Let’s say it was Michael Eisner’s Secret Lair.


Nice view, but where do they keep the laser sharks?





Little girl: “You know that Main Street is still open, right? And that we could be out there having fun?!”









True Story: I thought we’d been sitting next to a Secret Tooter all night until I passed this cheese display on our way out and realized THAT was the source of the smell.

 

[lurkyloo]

We spent almost three hours here and still aren’t sure what’s “California” about it. True, this is not its normal location, but look at these photos of the actual interior and tell me how swagged cabbage rose chintz and tiny floral wallpaper is Californian. California restaurants didn’t even look like that at the height of the Shabby Chic Eighties! (To see what California restaurants did look like in the Eighties, watch Steve Martin’s L.A. Story.)


© Disney


© Disney


© Disney


© Disney

The food wasn’t particularly Californian either…. Foie gras, confit, tart, financier… You might find these things on a menu in California, but there was nothing uniquely Californian in their preparation or presentation. I mean, even California Grill at Walt Disney World, with its fixation on pizza/flatbread, bless it, offers more of a Californian experience than this place!

I dunno, maybe I’m just extra-touchy because I’m actually from California. Maybe French people go to Chefs de France in Epcot and roll their eyes because there’s no wine on the kids’ menu.

Your choices are the €90 (€115 with wine) Tinker Bell Menu…



Or the €130 Michael Eisner Menu…



There’s also a Premium Menu for people on one of Disney’s pre-paid meal plans. I did the math six ways to Sunday and could not figure out how any of these would be a good deal for us, so I skipped them. However, when I mentioned I’d pass on the dessert course with the Tinker Bell Menu (cuz… fruit!), they said I could have the chocolate dessert on the Premium Menu. So you may be able to order other stuff off this one if you’re paying out of pocket.



And there’s a kid’s menu, which I did not even dare try to order from, lest they eject us from the hotel altogether.



Probably the most “California” thing at California Grill is the iPad wine menu.





We were seated at the far end of the room behind a temporary screen that shielded the entrance to what I thought was the kitchen but now know was probably just Michael Eisner’s executive bathroom kitted out with a hot plate and a bag of ice in the sink for a fridge.

We had a lovely view of a table that had a lovely view…



Our table backed up to some book cases lined with neat old photos of Walt and Roy.



Walt: “Would adding arms make this Easter balloon more creepy or less creepy?”

Roy: “Oh it’s all creepy, Walt!”



Walt: “I think I can get this baby up to 55, 60 miles per hour!”

Roy: “Uh, you got 5 feet of track…”



Walt and Roy: “WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”



Roy: “Can you believe this story about you accepting an invitation made the FRONT PAGE of the Marceline News?!”

Walt: “Heh heh… Just wait’ll I cryogenically freeze myself!”



I know much has been made about the lack of quality in Disneyland Paris’ food, though it seems the Internet has acknowledged an improvement since they began gearing up for the 25th anniversary. So I guess we should be grateful we didn’t have any truly horrible meals at Disneyland Paris. But we didn’t have any truly memorable ones either. And when you’re paying Disney prices with an unfavorable exchange rate in a country renowned for its food, that stings.

Our dinner at California Grill was fine. Nothing to write home about (but something to write half a blog post about, apparently!). I guess I could compare it to Citricos or Narcoossee’s, where we’ve never had anything terrible or wonderful. It certainly wasn’t as good as the better meals I’ve had at California Grill in Walt Disney World or our favorite steakhouse in L.A.

Bread: Acceptable, and no one chipped a tooth (my super-specific phobia after a classmate broke his front tooth on a baguette during our high school choir trip to Europe)!



Butter: Portable and adorable!



Amuse-bouche: What bouche wouldn’t be amused by a cube of salmon with a dollop of crème fraiche?



Appetizer: Patrick had the “Semi-cooked Scottish Label Rouge salmon tempura and wasabi yuzu sherbet” and said the “tempura” was more like a soggy Beef Wellington wrapper. Even the camera didn’t want to focus on it!



But the award for least-photogenic appetizer goes to my “Cream of cep [mushroom] soup with chestnut slivers, herb foam.” I never thought anything that looked so much like spit-out toothpaste could taste so good!



Entree: We both ordered the “Grilled Angus beef fillet, polenta with 12-month PDO Cheddar and grilled ceps, Robert Mondavi Cabernet sauce.” The filet was pretty flavorless, but at least they cooked it exactly as we’d asked (medium-rare). The best part was the garlicky mushrooms. I coulda eaten a whole plate of those!



The Robert Mondavi sauce came on the side…



Dessert: Patrick had the “Pistachio financier with seasonal fruit” and thought it was just OK. Sure was pretty, though!



I had the “Dark chocolate fondant, mandarin and sweet pastry croutons,” which was just a solid rectangle of ganache. I’m not complaining!



They aren’t kidding when they say the French like a leisurely meal. We nearly fell asleep while waiting for the bill and didn’t get outta there till after 11pm!

This was waiting for us when we got back to the room.



As was this view…



In my sleepy state, my positivity defenses were down and I started getting anxious and disappointed again about the snow. I felt like we’d saved up all this money for a blowout three-night trip to Disneyland Paris, but now we were not even going to get to do most of the things that you can do at Disneyland Paris and had wasted our money. Patrick pointed out that the thing we paid all the money for, Castle Club, was working out great—friendly, helpful cast members; gorgeous views; free meals; direct access to the park—so we couldn’t complain. But I can complain and did so vigorously until the second my head hit the pillow!


Goodnight, Big Pink Wall o’ Doom! You’ll be the first thing I see in the morning!

Up Next: First Full Day in Disneyland Paris!

 

[olafLover]

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