Originally Posted By FerretAfros Well, everybody else is giving their thoughts, so I thought I'd pipe in with mine (plus, it helped that I had a quiet afternoon at work today, so I could get most of it written from there!) I traveled alone, and went for 2 days (Wednesday/Thursday), including my birthday. I’ve been to DLP before, but it was around 2000, so many things have changed, including the addition of a new park and the switch from the Franc to the Euro. I had really light crowds during my visit, and seldom waited more than 5 minutes for anything. Thursday was much busier than Wednesday (possibly double the number of people in the parks), but the crowds were still fairly light. Over the two days, I was able to experience almost every attraction in both parks at least once, and repeated several of them. While I have a ton of thoughts about all the differences, I’ll only write about the things that really stick out in my mind. GENERAL: Since I was traveling alone, I did a lot of people watching. I was really surprised by some of the behavior I saw, but it seems like it must be the standard there. Also, I had just come from Germany, where everything seemed to have its place, so the French and British (among others) behavior was a bit of an adjustment for me. In the US, we’re notorious for having “helicopter parents” who hover over their children and don’t allow them to actually be kids; DLP seems to have the opposite problem, where the kids run rampant and the parents don’t do a thing about it. Beginning mid-day Thursday, I started noticing a lot of teenagers in the park, which I expected would lead to more behavioral problems. However, I was surprised to see that most of them behaved themselves just fine, and my day was no worse for the wear; that would definitely not be the case in the US. I did see a lot of people sitting on the grass inside the planters throughout the park (including many that had fences around them), which just struck me as odd. The CMs didn’t seem to be bothered by it, so it must be pretty normal; I have a huge amount of respect for the landscaping crew that manages to keep everything looking so good, despite getting trampled every day. While my experiences with the food weren’t nearly as bad as what others have reported, they still weren’t great. Many places weren’t open, but due to the low crowds it wasn’t an issue. Found it a little helpful that they had signs at the entrance to the restaurants that were closed, offering other options, but many of these other options were also closed (though the signs didn’t say that). There was a really nice list of all the restaurants on the park map; maybe they could list the opening hours on that, or in the entertainment guide, or anywhere. It’s also very odd that they start Dreams at 10:30 (waiting for it to get dark), yet close down most of the counter service places at 8:00 (while that may seem late for dinner in the US, it’s quite common in Europe). Both nights, I ended up scrambling to find something open at the last minute. I waited in a short line (2-3 people) a couple times, but it moved quickly; I often walked right up to the counter. The service was much faster than at DL in California (where it can easily take 20 minutes to order and get food, even at off-peak times), and the food was comparable (though not as good). While the prices were quite expensive with the exchange rate, they actually seemed like better value than the food in the US (relative to what you’d find at other tourist areas outside the parks). Overall, my food experiences were somewhere between “acceptable” and “good”. Not great, but certainly not terrible. Another so-so experience was the bathrooms. They all had wet floors (I’m not even going to ask what it was) and smelled like a latrine. Some of them were also just generally dirty; it was a strange experience. The only one that seemed up to standards was (surprisingly) the one just outside the DLP gates at the end of the night. I expected the worst from the high-traffic location, but it seemed to be the best cleaned. Something else that surprised me a little was seeing which characters were popular, since it is a different audience. The big surprise to me was how popular The Jungle Book is, being featured prominently in Dreams and Animagique, with huge reactions from the crowd to both. It was a little crazy how Pixar-heavy WDSP was, but people seemed to like it. Lightning McQueen in Moteurs, Action! was a real low-point in the show for me, but the crowd reaction was huge. In general, the maintenance looked pretty good on the surface, but you could tell that things needed work. I saw several broken AAs, and a lot of areas that just needed a fresh coat of paint. It was rainy on Wednesday morning, which meant that all of the mildew in Frontierland was bright green, and really stood out. In general, it seemed like things were on the recovery, but there’s still lots of work to be done. Throughout the parks, the merchandise was a little underwhelming. There did seem to be some variety between the stores, but it was all character stuff. Generally, I did like the merchandise better than the character items in the US, but it was just a little lackluster for me. I really enjoyed exploring all the shops at DLP, since their designs are really great, but I wasn’t walking into most of them to see the stuff for sale. However, I was impressed that there were 2 places with glass blowers in the park, since I don’t know if there are any left in the US parks. WALT DISNEY STUDIOS PARC: This was my first time visiting WDSP, and it wasn’t as bad as I was fearing. It definitely still has a long way to go, but it’s not terrible. While they may not be the best additions for the long-term, the Toon Studios stuff really seems to add a lot to the park and breathe some life into it. I can’t imagine what it would have been like before the recent stuff opened. Overall, it wasn’t a *great* park, but it’s getting there. Animagique was a cute show, but I had gone in with higher expectations. There was nothing wrong with it, but it didn’t really deserve ‘headliner’ status. The Under the Sea segment was the best part, but I’d already seen the exact same thing (in a more logical show) in WDW, so it was a bit of a letdown. I was expecting a lot more neat puppet effects, but it was mostly dancing rubberheads. Cinemagique, on the other hand, really blew me away. I didn’t know quite what to expect, but had heard really good things about it. It’s basically just a clip-show-style movie montage with a couple in-theater effects, but it was just incredibly well done. I can see how it would be less impressive on repeat viewings (I passed up the opportunity to see it again, which I now regret a little), but it’s probably the best movie-based attraction I’ve seen in any park. The new Toon Studios area theming was well done for each little area, but the whole thing just felt too cramped for me. No one area was big enough to carry a theme of its own, and it ended up being a lot of half-done themes plopped next to each other. I thought that Toy Story Playland was nice, for what it was, but I can definitely see how it could be miserable on a day with moderate crowds (let alone heavy ones!). Most of the other attractions in the park were very similar to attractions I’d seen in the US. While none were significantly better (though Rockin’ Rollercoaster was a definite improvement over the WDW version), it was neat to see the differences. The Art of Disney Animation was very strange to me, partially because I didn’t really know what it was, but it was nice to see all the fun interactive exhibits at the end; it seems like that building could be changed into something better pretty easily. DISNEYLAND PARC: I’m pretty sure that Phantom Manor was my favorite attraction. I do remember parts of it from my previous visit (which led to confusing memories about which elements were in the US versions, when I was actually thinking of Paris), but I had forgotten the overall experience. It’s one of the few theme park attractions that you walk out of and feel like you’ve been on an emotional journey. The ending was very strange to me, since there’s a hauntingly beautiful story line, and a generic spook house finale (complete with zombie bride with tongue hanging out of her mouth), but it was different enough that it was fun too. I really enjoyed how they were able to work in clips from the Ghost Host’s narration into the scene with the town. I’m pretty sure that the mayor in the finale is Epcot’s Dreamfinder, wearing different colors. The design of Pirates also really impressed me. It took a couple rides to get used to the different order, but I think it makes a lot more sense. The lighting was much more theatrical than the US versions, which I think worked well. However, this was definitely one of the attractions that needed some maintenance. There were several AAs that weren’t moving (hanging from a rope attacking the fort, one of the auction brides, drunk before burning village), and the sword fighting pair was covered up. It also looked like there was a big gash across the Red Head’s neck, likely from 2 different pieces of skin that aren’t connected. Good infrastructure, but it could use some love. Speaking of things that need some love, Space Mountain was rough. Really, really rough. To the point that I regret my last ride on it. My previous visit had the original theme, which I think worked much better. Overall though, I really didn’t focus on the theming inside, as I was too busy trying to avoid getting banged up too much. It has the potential to be a great attraction, and I’ve seen it be great, but I think it was the worst in the resort in its current condition. Big Thunder was fun, but surprisingly similar to the US versions (except for the long tunnels under the river). Several of the effects (cave-in, bats, waterfall in cavern) were turned off, which I kind of expected, but was still disappointed by. What really surprised me was how loud it is going up the lift hills. I don’t think I’ve heard a louder coaster anywhere. Granted I was traveling alone and listened to background noise more than most people, but I could even hear it from the parade route near it’s a small world. None of the other coasters seemed to be this loud, which makes me wonder about it. Speaking of small world, I really enjoyed it. The first day, it was closed for most of the day (including closing the area surrounding it for a while, which seemed odd), so I only rode it twice, but it was pleasantly different from the US versions. I really liked the way that there weren’t separate rooms for the different continents, and the more full sounding orchestra (though the music loop never really resolved until the finale). The Europe area at the beginning had a ton of stuff to look at (a little bit of an overload), but it seemed that the further into the attraction, the less stuff there was. The finale room was particularly sparse; it seemed that this was a design issue, not maintenance. It also seemed like there were some seasonal things for the attraction that didn’t quite make sense. In the queue, there were signs hanging overhead with snowflakes on them, and names of various winter celebrations; I visited in May. Inside the attraction, there were several areas that had small white lights outlining parts of the set, but they were turned off. I can only assume that these lights are turned on for the holidays, but they’re pretty noticeable throughout the year. There may have been one or two AAs with issues, but my overall impression was that it felt very clean and bright and refreshed. It was neat getting to see all of the walkthrough attractions at DLP, since they are really unique and a lot of fun. I was impressed with the variety of them (Aladdin is nothing like the Nautilus, which is nothing like the Labyrinth, etc), as well as the number. None of these are really headliner attractions, but they added up to a huge addition over the course of my visit. Although the Treehouse could use some love, and the exterior of the Nautilus is already looking a little shabby (there was a small tree growing out of one of the ropes), I was surprised to see that the overall maintenance looked pretty good. DLP has a lot of really interesting little corners to go explore, and it really rewards visitors for taking the extra time to look in every place possible. I can definitely see how this park was the basis of a lot of ideas that were expanded for DAK and TDS. The parade wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible. I’m not much of a parade person, so I didn’t expect much. It seemed that the floats were all in pretty good shape (since they were recycled from a previous parade, right?), and there were a lot of different characters out. The music could have been better (musically, it reminded me of the Carpe Diem song from Phineas & Ferb), but it was fine. The fairies ‘floating’ on Segway bases were kind of neat too. I also saw the character train go by once, but missed it most of the time; despite what some people think about it, I really have no feelings for or against it. Dreams was a fun show, and use the infrastructure surprisingly well. I was concerned about how the fountains and mist screens would work in that location, but since they were only used a few times throughout the show, it worked nicely. Having the combination of the projections, water features, and fireworks really helped the show’s pace, and it covered up the story/pacing issues (which weren’t nearly as bad as World of Color). It’s a really nice show, and definitely something worth staying for; it’s also great that they can run it throughout the year, without bothering the neighbors too much. They do need to work out some better crowd control for this show. Both nights, there were issues with people standing in front of a crowd of seated guests. While I have no problem standing for a show, I don’t know how popular that would be with the European crowd; people seemed pretty annoyed when they were told that they had to stand for the parade earlier. Generally, the crowd was pretty well behaved, but there was a lot of room for problems, and quite a few annoyed guests. It seemed like there were only a handful of CMs in charge of crowd control for the show, which seemed odd compared to the army that they have in the US. I assume that these issues will be worked out before the busy summer season. Overall, it was a really enjoyable couple of days. I don’t know when I’ll have a chance to get back, so I’m really glad that I was able to take so much in. With this trip, I have now visited all 11 Disney parks worldwide, so that’s pretty exciting (until they open the park in Shanghai…I was just there in 2010 and have little interest in returning)! Thanks to everyone who helped me figure out the details of how to actually make this trip work!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros And dagobert, you had asked about my time in Austria. In short, it was great! I'd visited Vienna many years ago, and remember it being cold and rainy, but for some reason just loved it. And the same thing happened this time. It was drier (in Vienna at least), but I really just loved the city. It had a really great cosmopolitan feel, without being a really big and overwhelming city. We also went to Salzburg for a couple days which was a lot of fun. I did the marathon (with a new personal record of 4:20:30, about 20min faster than my previous best), so that took up a lot of my time, but it was a great way to get to see the city and surrounding area. It rained both days of our stay (including the last ~1mile of the marathon, with a little sleet mixed in), which was a bummer, but it was a really lovely city. It has a lot of really interesting history, and fun places to visit as a tourist. I had taken German in high school, and recently used Rosetta Stone to brush up on it, so it was a lot of fun to try and figure things out. I had a tough time in Vienna at first (though my brain may have still been listening for Russian), but I got the hang of it pretty well. I'm sure that I messed some words up, but I was able to get by, and feel like I was a little more savvy than the average traveler. As with most of the trip, we were there long enough to get a good feel of the city, but not nearly long enough to do everything. In a way, it was perfect, because we saw all of the big things, but we really want to go back and see the cities again, spending more time there.
Originally Posted By tashajilek Nice trip report! I was thinking about visiting DLP next year and its good to know what to expect especially when you are used to the way things are in the U.S parks. Im glad you didnt witness a CM slapping anyone this time lol.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Nice trip report, glad you enjoyed it. Just to confirm, the mayor in Phantom Manor is indeed dreamfinder, lol. Did you try out Armageddon? It too is unique to WDSP, but is often panned by visitors (but I like it). 6 weeks later and the duelling pirates are still missing. That is a shame..... I notices in IASW last month, the finale room was sparse, that was because there were loads of AA's missing. And I agree, space mountain is a shadow of it's former self unfortunately, and big thunder, once the very best version, has too many broken effects :-( It frustrates me. In terms of beauty and design, DLP is the very best MK park on the planet imho. But due to maintenance, cast, and virtually no entertainment unless character based, the park feels like a bizzaro Disney experience.
Originally Posted By dagobert Thanks for this wonderful trip report. I'm glad you enjoyed your time in Austria. It always makes me feela little bit proud when someone likes our small country. As for DLRP, it seems you had a good time despite all the problems DLRP is facing. Hopefullyone day DLRP will be up to the standard we expect it from Disney. Cinemagique is just wonderful. I love it and although I've seen it many times, I still enjoy it. Did you see the updated version with scenes from Avatar and some Pixar movies?
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Actually, you both reminded me. I must have seen Cinemagique about 20-30 times now, and it is so well put together, I have yet to tire of it (though a number of effects were 101 in April). And I must say, I still have never managed to watch it without at least one tier. It is wonderful and made me a fan of WDSP from the preview days onwards.
Originally Posted By dagobert Dave, did you see the updated version, or was the movie altered after your visit?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Armageddon was closed while I was there, so I missed out on it. I've done Backdraftt at Universal, which I belive is a very similar concept, and really enjoyed it, so I was a little diasppointed that I wouldn't get a chance to see it. I did see the new version of Cinemagique, but couldn't really tell where most of the changes has been, since it was my first time seeing it (I guess that means they did a good job putting them in appropriate places). The one that I definitely remember is Alfredo and Colette from Ratatouille kissing in the alley for the first time, in the middle of the kiss sequence. At first it seemed strange to have an animated piece in the middle of a bunch of live action, but it fit in the overall show. I enjoyed how they were able to use a kiss that was more than just a dramatic "I love you" type scene, since neither of them were actually intending to kiss in the scene; pretty clever!
Originally Posted By u k fan I sometimes wonder if the amount of Europeans who venture on to the grass is less about respect and more about an outdoor park culture that seems to exist in Europe. We're used to public parks that have open expanses of grass to sit and picnic/play on. I know they exist in the States as well, but it feels like that may be part of the mindset behind it. A few other random thoughts: I agree about Animagique and think it's time for it to go. It's a fun show, but I don't think it ever should have been as permanent as it's become. I enjoy parts of Armageddon, but the preshow especially is dull. It's a shame to hear about at the effects/AA's that aren't up to standard especially with increased attendance (hopefully) this year. Glad the food wasn't a total washout. This isn't new though. I remember in a previous visit years ago only 1 counter service restaurant being open on a summer evening. It was Pizzeria Bella Notte which was a nightmare as we'd eaten pizza for lunch Jungle Book is very popular in the UK. For a while it was the best-selling video/DVD ever! Glad you had a great time!!!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Hi dagobert, no, we saw the old version. I wonder what i would think of the new one as I thought the update of the art of animation when they put all the Pixar scenes in was particularly weak.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Shame you didn't see armageddon. I really like it, but given the unpopularity of it, I wondered what you would have thought.
Originally Posted By dagobert Armageddon is only interesting the first time. I like the special effects, but the pre show is way too long. I guess that's the reason why it's so unpopular.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Maybe if they scrapped the Preshow (which I don't get the hate about) and people waited outside longer, it would be more popular. Then again, I loved backdraft and twister too.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Nice report Ferret. You're observations and experiences are pretty similar to mine, although I hated RRC (never been on the WDW version), and I visited DSP before the Toon Studios and Playland additions were built.
Originally Posted By tonyanton Thanks for the report...just as an FYI...there are still glass blowers at both Magic Kingdom(Main St.) and Epcot (Mexico) at WDW. Also at DL (Main St. and I think NOS too).
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>I sometimes wonder if the amount of Europeans who venture on to the grass is less about respect and more about an outdoor park culture that seems to exist in Europe.<< I also thought about that, but none of the large parks I went to have fences that people climbed over. There were a couple patches of grass without fences (like the back walkway between Fantasyland and Discoveryland) where people were sitting, and that didn't seem so strange in the European context. It did seem weird to see people sitting in the grass next to the shaped topiaries next to Autopia, or on the hill between the Frontierland and Adventureland entrances. On our previous visit, I remember seeing a small graphic sign that meant "no drinking" next to the decorative fountain by the Casey's Corner patio. It was one of those "Oh, you wacky Europeans!" moments, but it seemed to work. Maybe they could post similar signs on the fences, to keep people out of the gardens? >>Hi dagobert, no, we saw the old version. I wonder what i would think of the new one as I thought the update of the art of animation when they put all the Pixar scenes in was particularly weak.<< I also thought that the updates to that montage were pretty weak. I had never seen it before, but it was pretty obvious to me where it had been changed. The parts in Cinemagique only stood out to me because they were recent movies; they completely fit the overall flow of the show. It was a little odd to have a couple animated clips, but I thought their content was entirely appropriate for the moments in the show.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Just to confirm, the mayor in Phantom Manor is indeed dreamfinder, lol.<< I knew it! When I rode the first time, I literally did a double-take as it passed by, and it stuck with me for the rest of the day. On my later trips (I think I rode it 4 or 5 times total in the two days), I kept trying to get a good look, but with the weird face colors and strange lighting in that room, I just couldn't tell for sure. Was he part of the attraction on opening day, or is it a figure that was taken from Epcot after that version of the attraction closed?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros >>Also at DL (Main St. and I think NOS too).<< I've been in the glass shop on DL's Main Street a couple times, but I don't remember seeing anybody actually making the figures. They do the etching and stuff, but I don't remember seeing any of the exciting fire techniques (not that it's *that* exciting, but it's fun to watch for a couple minutes)
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>> Was he partofthe attraction on openingday,oris ita figure that was taken from Epcot after that version of the attractionclosed?<<< Nope, he has been there from day 1, they simply used the same molds. Just like some of the other town folk were molded from some of the world of motion figures.
Originally Posted By dagobert Ferret, where did you stay? Did you also get a chance to visit Val D'Europe?
