Came back from a holiday in Paris, France and for a day we visited the famous and well marketed Disneyland Paris Resort. We booked our tickets online and there was a 15% discount were you could visit both parks and so we went for that because it was the same price as visiting one park. So we went to Disneyland park and Walt Disney studios.
Disneyland Park
Our first venture was the Disneyland Park and when you get there is this big beautiful pink castle, it's massive and beautiful....perfect for taking pictures. Later on that day we found out that the building was actually a hotel. When you enter the park there are a lot of buildings...beautiful on the outside, you look in and it's shops selling Disney stuff. Throughout the park there were more shops than there were rides.
After 5 minutes walking then you will find some rides and the thing that I found quite annoying was that you don't know what you are queuing for, what the ride is like....in many UK theme parks you will actually see out in the open what the ride does but in Disneyland you don't. The first ride we queued for about 45 minutes and the ride was horrible, boring, not worth the time we waited....
We did a lot of walking and then we found a train, yay. But there was only one train and it went all around that park. So then we waited for about 20 minutes and at first we thought the train only comes to our spot and takes people around and comes back to that spot...then they all leave but when the train came a few people left and our thoughts were do these people want another go...But after going on we realised that the train stopped at 4 or 5 places in the park.
We went to other sections of the park, we went on a boat ride, which was alright but nothing special because it only went around in a circle....At that time we were all tired of the park so we looked at the map and thought take the train back to the entrance or walk....If we took the train we would have to wait but if we walked we could get lost, as we had been before. We chose the train as we were tired.
We waited for about 25minutes for the train then we went out of that park and got something to eat.
Walt Disney Studios
The first place we wanted to go on was the animation studios and the doors were open when we got in and there was a man speaking on a television screen, to us we were like is this it...then the doors opened and there were seats...it was like a cinema and on the screen it was a short clip showing all the cartoons, cartoon movies that Disney had ever made, Lion king, Mulan, cars...ect. Honestly, I could have gone on youtube and done the same thing, it wasn't anything new or of interest to me.
Then we went into another room and it was like a cinema but there was a man speaking...there were headphones were you could change the language...That was also quite boring....they tried to be funny but no one was laughing and the headphones were too loud so I just took them off. But when you got outside there was this drawing thing and we tried it out. The person teaches you how to draw Winnie the poo.
We went on a Toy story ride and the waiting time was about 15 minutes but I am assuming that was because the ride was quick and boring. We did see the Hollywood tower hotel but it had a waiting time of 45 minutes and we were tired, exhausted and the thought of waiting that long for something that went up and down no matter how high was just not going to happen.
I remember there a building which had captivating sign and label that would make you think that there was something interesting inside....So we said lets go in....I think we waited about 15/ 20 minutes outside...my feet were killing me...then the doors opened and the first thing I see is a women with a mic and we are like no, no,no....not again... It was obvious it was going to be another...oh, it was called special effects....probably another line of videos about Disney’s special effects) Luckily we quickly got out of there before the doors closed and we took some pictures on the throne and fake Hollywood sign, shh don't tell anyone.
I think, if you were going to go Paris, you cannot not go to Disneyland because it's advertised so amazingly and I give the Disney people that as they sure can advertise the hell out of their resort. But the reality of the place is it's not magic....you queue for x amount of time for any ride and their rides are not even that good. Their designs are good but the product is horrible....I would never ever go to Disney land Paris again even if they paid me...I don't mind queuing but at least a person should know what they are waiting for and even not they should have a good ride....I would rather have gone to many UK theme parks...their soooo much better than what I experienced that day.
Even the children didn't enjoy their time there....I am not trying to be discouraging but to be honest...If I had seen this maybe we wouldn't have gone or my hopes wouldn't have soooo high.
Reviews From Others
Worst amusement park ever.
If you're in France, this is the absolute last thing you should be wanting to do. Save your money and go to real castles, even if you have children.
- By England
This place was such a rip-off. I completely understand they need to make a buck or two, but this was beyond the pale. We went with 2x 8 year old boys and they were quite bored. The only decent rides that were there were a 40 minute wait. You have to be so patient as all the rides require a lengthy wait. They were too short for the main ride they wanted to go on. If you have deep pockets, this place is totally up your alley. Be totally prepared to keep putting your hand in your pocket all day long. The U.S. Disney theme parks are much better.
- By Ashley
We went to euro Disney while on a family holiday from Australia. All my daughter wanted to do for her birthday was to go to Disney. We went all 9 of us and were shocked at how terrible it was. Long delays many rides not even working ( which we weren't told as we paid) Smoking parents everywhere. Hands down the worst day of our European holiday. My sad little girl left after being on 2 dud rides quoting " Never go to Disney it ruins childhood dreams"
- By Kings
DON'T GO - especially in school holidays.
HUGE QUEUES - in 2 days got on 4 rides. Children could not cope with hour long queues - even the carousel had a queue of 25 minutes. Managed 1 queue for 45 minutes to meet a character. Missed half of the parade (couldn't see the dancers and characters) because didn't stake a pitch an hour before it started. Also queued to get in (despite having tickets), queued to get a buggy, queued for coffee, queued for toilets Etc.
FEW CHARACTERS - saw 1 character with an hour queue on first day. Had expected to see them everywhere.
I knew it would be a 'rip off', but wasn't prepared for how bad.
- By Lee
My husband and I recently returned from a long weekend in Paris. Since we were ahead of schedule, we thought we would catch some Euro Disney Magic! What we caught was very long lines, Fast Pass booths closed, several attractions closed, too many restaurants/cafes and too few attractions. The staff was terrible at loading attraction cars - normally, you line up and they try to fill all the seats, right? 20% of the cars that went by were empty. Also, in six hours, we did not see ONE charachter! It was unbelievable considering that it was so busy. At best, it was lousy. If you are an American, you will most likely hate it. Another poster said the entrance was beautiful, but it went downhill FAST after that. I agree.Europa Park in Germany is 10 X better.
- By BobbyBaby
Went last week with my 9 year old, 5 year old, husband and brother. Queued for over an hour for each ride, only to be told when we got near the front the rides had broken. Not even offered fast passes to get on them quicker the next time. The park was so busy we only managed to get on 8 rides between 5 of us in 4 days! The queue jumping with the French was terrible and everywhere you went was so expensive it stopped being enjoyable. We got told it would be great to book "breakfast in the park" at 8 am which entitled you to the park being exclusively for the people who booked to go there before it opened. What it didnt tell you was that the rides are not open till 10 am. which meant we had grumpy tired children the rest of the day for no reason! I have since been advised that Orlando is the best place to go for magic for the children (we spent the whole time trying to make it magical for the kids so all wasnt lost). Not a place we will ever return to again !
- By Wales
The theming of the park is excellent, but it was just so crowded that we could barely move. Queues for the bigger "thrill" rides were over an hour, and the fast-track option was sometimes offering a time of 2.5 hours later which (baring in mind you can only have one fast-track "open" at a time), is of little use.
There were also queues for toilets, food, drinks - everything in fact. We even had to queue up to leave the park.I expected a certain amount of queuing and crowding, but these were at completely unbearable levels and spoilt any enjoyment.
I also actually believe that other theme parks, such as Thorpe Park have a better range of rides for anyone over 10, although Disney wins on the theming.
- By Holly
You will be bitterly disappointed if you have had the luxury of going to Walt Disney World Florida. Disneyland Paris lacks the sparkle, magic, good rides and excellent customer services that the Americans are so good at. In the parade the eyes of Simba (Lion King) were broken - its just something you cant imagine happening at the Florida parks. The customer services was non-existent, in the USA the staff fall over themselves to help you, in Paris you cant find any staff to help you. Very disappointing, we wont be returning.
- By Plum
Reviews from Tripadvisor... Check it out yourself.
Would I recommend it?? Heck NOOOOO, Save your money and time. No but some people do enjoy it and some people don't we went with such HIGH hopes and expectations and were left feeling down about it. If you decide to go, we truelly hope you have a great time, everyone is different.
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