Baggage check...

When you arrive at the parks, Disney's crack security staff will ask you to open any purses or backpacks so they can feign a check for contraband. On multiple occasions, they didn't even check my backpack, which was dangling from our youngest's stroller. I had stuffed a fleece jacket in there and could have hidden another child under it with virtually no chance of being detected.

If you're some kind of terrorist, ignore this post: I'm setting you up to get busted by the Mouse Patrol.

Otherwise, take this into consideration if you think about taking food etc. into the parks.

Where's your bracelet tough guy?

Another benefit of staying at a Disney hotel is that there are certain days that the park stays open later only for these guests. Since the park wasn't particularly crowded during our stay and because our kids are young, these last 2 hours from 19:00-21:00 on Wednesday didn't make much of a difference for us. I'm assuming that when the park is really crowded these extended hours could be a big benefit.

If you stay at a Disney hotel, ask them what day has the extension. At 17:00 on that day you'll get in a quick line at the park for bracelets for everyone in your party. We noticed that they weren't tightly controlling distribution. I think it would be easy to get a couple of extra bracelets if you needed them.

My wife the (Disney) supercomputer

My wife planned this trip exceptionally well. During college, she worked at Disney World for a summer. The chip they implanted in her melon still works like a charm, if at a subconcious level. Without her (or with me in charge), we would have probably waited 4 days just to ride the first attraction.

5 cheers (from Sandra, Robert, Emily, Sophia and me) for my wife B!

Things we didn't do so well...

This post will describe things I wish we'd done differently. Another post describes the good decisions we made.

It's a bummer that we...

didn't take more food with us.
Food around the park is expensive and not all that great (in our experience). We were dead tired at night and would have eaten even simple food if we'd taken it.

didn't buy an adapter for our cooler.
My wife bought a cooler that plugs into the car lighter and acts like a refrigerator. If we'd bought the wall plug, we would have had a fridge in our room.

wasted an hour taking a picture with Minnie at the entrance of Disney Studios
We should have said "no" immediately when our daughter wanted to take a picture. I don't think she would have cared much and we wouldn't have wasted so much time.

waited 45 minutes to Ride Big Thunder Mountain
When we could have used Fast Pass and waited 10 minutes like we did on subsequent rides on this attraction.

didn't have much lower expectations of our hotel
the Sante Fe really annoyed me. It didn't seem to bother the rest of the family that much though.

Things we did well...

In this post I'll try to highlight things we did that improved our trip. In another, I'll list things we could have done better.

I'm glad we...

stayed at a Disney Hotel
Even though I thought the Sante Fe was a dump, we were close to the parks and had a very convenient shuttle. We didn't use our van the whole week.

used the Fast Pass System
As I described in a separate post, using this system well can make a huge difference in your Eurodisney experience.

saw the shows
They're pretty good and much, much longer than most of the rides.

didn't let a little rain slow us down.
The rain ended up working in our favor, keeping it cool and keeping plenty of folks at home or the hotel

took a laptop
I took tons of digital photos and needed someplace to upload pictures. BTW, the Sante Fe had no internet connection except some really bad kiosks.

drove
The drive from Heidelberg to Paris is relaxing and beautiful, passing through one of Germany's wine regions and Champagne on the French side. We hardly heard a peep from the kids thanks to their exhaustion and the entertainment system in the van.

Eating in The Magic Kingdom...

This post is essentially a partially-informed rant about the absurd cost and questionable quality of food we encountered on our trip. Feel free to skip it if you don't like negativity.

Eating at Disneyland Paris proved to be tricky for us. Since there were six of us, this was one area where we tried to economize. In our experience, there are two types of eateries at Disney: 1) rediculously overpriced garbage 2) outragiously overpriced "other" places.

Now we all expect to pay an "amusement tax" when we eat at a place like Disneyland. What I didn't expect from Disney was to pay an absurd quantity of money for the type of food prison riots are made of. On our first day, we had hamburgers for lunch at a place called "Au Chalet de la Marionnette". The meat on the kids' hamburgers was literally the size of a silver dollar. The buns were soggy and the fries were a grease-laden disaster. I probably wouldn't have thought twice about paying twice the market rate for food if it had been decent. No such luck.

Near the entrance of the park, we found a nice sitedown type joint that charged about 20 Euros per child, 50 Euros per adult. That's would have put the total for us at around $270 for a single (probably average) meal. Puh-lease... While this is obviously a luxury, the point is that the options we found at the park seemed extreme.

If you don't want to eat inside the parks, you can go to Disney Village across the "street", which has a few chain restaurants including Rainforest Café and Planet Hollywood. A plate of pasta at Rainforest was going for over 20 Euros. I'm guessing that a meal for the six of us would have run about 150 Euros. While some of you are probably saying "Quit whining! You're on vacation!", I still think it's abusive. Just one man's (strong) opinion.

We ended up having lunch the other days at McDonald's in Disney Village (it's kind of hidden -- turn right just before Rainforest). At least you know what you're getting. For dinner, we had sandwiches from the Exxon (Esso) station next to our hotel. They were actually pretty good.

I realize I sound like a cheap old fart, but if I had to do it again I would take plenty of food with us. As an amusing aside, we saw many people shoveling bread and sandwich meat into plastic containers at breakfast. We then saw these same people eating lunch on the cheap inside the park! Not such a bad idea! Here's to sticking it to "The Mouse".

In the spirit of ending on a positive note, the last day we ate at Cowboy Cookout Barbecue in Frontierland. It was decent food at a price you would expect from an amusement park (about 50 Euros for the six of us). There was also a live bluegrass band.

Most disappointing rides

Here's another (subjective) list of rides that for a variety of reasons didn't impress me much. The upshot is that if you don't have much time, you might consider other rides before these.

Buzz Lightyear
This interactive ride is surprisingly low tech on the inside. It looked cool on the video but turned out to be a bit of a yawner in my opinion.

Art of Disney Animation
This supposed "behind the scenes" attraction was really, really weak in my opinion. A shame given the typically long lines. We happened upon a fairly short line so, not knowing any better, entered. A good part of the show was spoken in French (although translation into various languages was available on headsets).

Spinning "Up and Down" rides, e.g., Dumbo
These rides essentially go round and round, allowing you to go up and down a bit as you "orbit". I must admit that my daughter loved the "Aladdin" variant. Low throughput is my biggest complaint with these rides. As very few people fit on it each time, we saw some of the longest lines at the park for these rides. The lines also seemed to move the slowest, all for a minute and a half or so of mediocre"thrills".

Aladdin Ride

Dumbo ride.

Best rides at the park...

Here's a short (totally subjective) list of the what I consider the best rides at the parks...

Big Thunder Mountain
A really fun, well designed roller coaster that most of the family can ride. No loops or super high speeds, but tons of fun. This seemed to be the most popular attraction based on the consistent long lines we saw. Use the Fast Pass system to minimize your wait.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Takes longer than most rides and is still pretty cool after all these years. I was surprised though that the animatronics don't seem to have changed much at all since I first went to Disneyland in the late 70's. We got lucky (I think) and were able stay on to ride twice on two different occasions. Based on the amount of space they leave for lines, I guess the wait for this one can be brutal when the park is busier.
Rock n Roller Coaster Avec Aerosmith
A really good inside roller coaster at Disney Studios. Jams Aerosmith tunes during the ride which was a (slight) plus for me. During our stay, there were virtually no lines whatsoever for this ride. The initial acceleration is a fun experience. I went twice and never waited more than 10 minutes.

Space Mountain
Fun enclosed roller coaster with plenty of loops and spirals at breakneck speeds.
Disney Studios Tram Tour
Not a exactly a breathtaking ride, but it lasts more than many others and the fire/flood experience is fun. We waited about a half hour for this one. I'm not sure I'd wait much more than that though.

It's a Small World
Crass corporate sponsorship from French Telecomm aside, this ride is a classic that is sure to please young kids. It also has pretty good throughput so you shouldn't have to wait in line an unreasonable amount of time. We went twice, never waiting more than 10 minutes or so.

I like a parade...

The kids love them. Every day there are two parades at Disneyland. The second one at around 16:00 (4:00 pm) is the "Dream Parade" (June, 2007), an extravengant affair that the kids saw each of the days we were there. They never seemed to tire of it. My five year old daughter was absolutely mesmorized during most of it.
The parade consists of several themed floats with live characters in costume on board. Some of the characters walk the streets and interact with spectators. People start lining up on the streets for a good spot early so keep that in mind.
In my opinion it's worth getting a good "seat" at least once during your stay. If you like to take pictures, make sure you sit facing east (away from the sun). We liked the area near the park entrance, close to "City Hall". Also, remember that the view is different on the left and right sides of the floats; if you stay more than one day be sure to watch the parade from both vantage points if possible.

Do see the shows...

Something I hadn't considered when we made our plans was that there are shows at Disneyland that distract the kids for 30-45 minutes. We saw the Lion King and Tarzan shows on our second day. You don't pay extra, you simply pick up tickets at a particular location for each show. See the park brochures or talk to the staff at your hotel for details.
On the third day, we saw the Animagique show at Disney Studios. A good show for the young ones although it was another example of how Eurodisney is a bit run down. Some of the costumes were showing their age and parts of the set itself looked a bit old.

The Tarzan show is a must see. Very cool "trapeze-like" act. The Lion King show was very good as well.

Fast Pass, what a concept...

The Disney parks have a system called Fast Pass designed to help you avoid excessive waits in line for some of the attractions. Contrary to my expectation, this system doesn't cost anything extra. Here's how it works:

- Go to one of the attractions that uses the Fast Pass system, e.g., Peter Pan's Adventures
- Take a look at the "board" that indicates what time you'll need to return if you get a Fast Pass
- Pass your "Disney Passports" (park tickets) through the machine and collect the Fast Passes (tickets) that come out.

You then simply return to that attraction during the time period printed on the Fast Pass (usually about a half hour "window") and enter a special line that can literally save you from hours in the "normal" line. Note that you can't have Fast Passes for overlapping periods of time, i.e., you can only have a Fast Pass for one attraction at a time.

For example, we loved the Mine Train, one of the most popular attractions at the park. When we arrived at Disneyland on our third morning, we made a beeline for this attractions and got our Fast Passes. We returned a few hours later and waited less than 10 minutes to ride. That day I think people in the "normal" line were waiting 30 minutes or more.

Managing the Fast Pass process is probably the single most important ingredient to ensuring you maximize your time at Disneyland.

Most don't plan to fail...

they fail to plan. This cliché is especially true of Euroedisney. The resort is huge and if you don't go in with a gameplan, you can be sure you'll lose a lot of valuable time.

My wife already had an idea of the attractions she wanted to see and a rough idea of the days we would see them. I'm not the kind of person that likes to overplan a vacation and you might not be either. However, trust me, you're in for a rough ride if you wonder into the park with no idea where you're going or what you want to do.

You can get all the information you need from travel brochures and the internet. The little time you invest in planning will more than pay for itself once you're inside the park.

Probably my biggest learning was using the Fast Pass system.

General impressions of the parks...

It's hard to distill the Eurodisney experience into a few lines, but I'll try anyway.

First, Disneyland Paris is nice but doesn't meet the standards of its American counterparts. Parts of the park are a bit rundown, needing paint or other minor repairs. The fountain in front of "It's a Small World" had a visible coat of algae that you simply wouldn't expect at Disney World, for example. Although it sounds like petty carping, Disney in the past has set very high standards for itself. Somehow these standards don't seem to have survived the trip "across the pond". Realize that Disney is still better than most amusement parks.
Disney Studios was quite a disappointment. Although it has a reasonably good roller coaster, the park itself is small and has at least a few attractions that are simply a waste of time, e.g., the Disney Animation attraction. We went twice for a few hours each time but probably could have done everything that was worth doing in a little over a half day. The highlight is probably the characters that walk around close to the entrance at the beginning of the day. The hour-long wait to take a picture with Minnie is a bit excessive though.

Shuttling...

The Santa Fe has an enourmous shuttle bus that circulates between the hotel and a stop near the parks (Disneyland and Disney Studios) every 12 minutes. The trip takes about 5 minutes and is extremely convenient.

There are some other hotels on the resort that had shuttles as well, but the lines at their stops seemed to be extremely long. We had to wait for the next shuttle only once, going from the hotel to the parks at peak times in the morning (9:30-10:00, when the parks open).

The walk from the bus stop to the parks is about 5 minutes. I personally didn't find having to shuttle around inconvenient at all.

You get what you pay for...

Our rundown Disney hotel had "free" breakfast. Americans should note that this means"continental" breakfast, consisting of bread and cold cuts. There's also coffee, juice and milk.

Our travel agent had booked breakfast for us at the park, which may be better but was less convenient for us (or so we imagined). We ate breakfast at the hotel all three mornings.

Breakfast time is a true cattle car experience, with throngs of hungry tourists cramming into the giant cafeteria to load up on free food before handing over an internal organ for food inside and around the parks (more on this racket later).
The tables are grimey and a flock of small birds flies around inside the cafeteria. While the birdies don't really seem to bother anyone, one wonders where all their poop ends up. We luckily avoided any avian "spackling".

The best part of breakfast at the hotel was the characters that showed up in the reception area to take pictures with the kids. This was a great way to start the day.

What...a...dump

The infamous words of Betty Davis echoed in my noggin as we pulled into the Disney-run Sante Fe hotel. Assuming we wouldn't spend much time at the hotel (which proved to be the case), we assumed the cheapest Disney hotel was the way to go. Breakfast was included and because we took our nanny and needed 2 rooms, we thought this was a good way to save a few Euros.

"How bad can a Disney-run hotel be?", I asked my wife when we made the reservation. It turns out that it can be pretty bad.

The Santa Fe is rundown, dingy and in many parts even smells bad. The rooms we stayed in were small with very old furniture that have not withstood the test of time.

The grounds are poorly maintained and all the buildings could use a coat of paint. All that having been said, I might stay there again just because it is the least expensive Disney hotel and we only went there to sleep.

On the positive side, the rooms were clean and the beds were comfortable. A couple of other pluses are the shuttles and extended hours for Disney hotel guests.

Finding Disneyland Paris...

From the A4, it is a no-brainer to find Disneyland. For some reason, our navigation system was unaware of a direct thoroughfare from the A4 to the park. We followed the signs and found our hotel, The Santa Fe (on the resort premises), with no problem.

However, the hotel turned out to be one of the lowlights of the trip.

Pony up on the tollroad, si vou plait...

You stay on the A4 for most of the trip from Heidelberg to Paris. On the way, you'll pay several tolls, all on the French side. I didn't count them up, but I estimate it was about 30 Euros.

You can pay the tolls with a credit card, which I strongly recommend as there is virtually no delay at the toll plaza with the automated machines. Although I'm no fan of paying tolls, the roads were in excellent condition. There are also emergency phones every kilometer or so and plenty of places to stop and rest, use the restroom or fuel up. The bathrooms don't exactly set the bar in terms of cleanliness but could be worse.

By the way, at one of the toll plazas, you'll take a card which you'll stick in the machine at the next toll plaza to see how much you owe. For us, this stretch cost about 13 Euros.

The Paris Express...

We decided to drive to Paris from Heidelberg as map24 showed it was only 5 and a half hours away. We actually made it in a little less than five hours and maintained moderate speed while in Germany (where many parts of the autobahn have no speed limit).

The speed limit in France is generally 130 kph (80 mph). We left Heidelberg at about 7:30 am on a Monday an encountered no traffic and very little construction on the way. We returned on a Thursday evening, leaving the park at 17:30 or so. I'm not sure how, but the return trip was even faster (we encountered a lot of stretches of low speed limits due to construction).

Mother Nature be kind...

We caught some rain while we were at Eurodisney but, contrary to my expectations, it really didn't break our stride much. The day we arrived it started to rain a bit as soon as we entered the park. My wife had bought raincoats for our girls so they were in good shape. We bought inexpensive rain ponchos (8 Euros adult, 6 for my son) at the park and were set. Many of the rides are inside anyway so the only time you really deal with the rain is walking between rides.

Here's something you might not have considered: many folks simply don't like rain so avoid the park during inclement weather. During dinner our first day, it really poured for a while. After dinner, the park was virtually empty. We road Pirates of the Caribbean twice without even getting off the ride!

Another benefit of rain is that you don't have to deal with intense heat and/or sunburn. I'm not sure I would change anything about the weather we encountered during our trip.

Timing is everything...

First of all, we picked a 2 week window during which there is a German holiday and school break in the state where we live. The advantage of this period (late May, early June), is that the rest of Germany does not have a school break. It's also before the real heat of summer.

We were very happy with the days we picked as the park was not particularly busy and we caught reasonable weather (some rain and some sun).

Le Magic Kingdom

Welcome to the Prickril family's blog on going to Disneyland in Paris. We are an American family that had three kids aged 3-7 when we made the treck from our home in Heidelberg, Germany to Disneyland Resort Paris or "Eurodisney" as some call it.

We spent four days there from May 28 - May 31, 2007. Although we had a good trip, a bit of guidance ahead of time might have made things a bit easier.

Consider this blog our attempt to help others make the most of their trip to Disneyland Paris.