Welcome to the last chapter of our Paris Chronicles! ;) Just incase you missed the previous posts:
A lovely Paris engagement session with our best friends!
The Roots do Tennessee (Just incase you were interested in that, too!)
Though I’d been to Disneyland Paris in the past, it was long before they opened the Walt Disney Studios park! On our first day, I was dying to get inside and see what it was like. :) The park is really different- You walk through this main building with a couple shops and a quick-service food place to get to the rest of the park.
I think the reason I love going to other parks (well, just Disneyland and Disneyland Paris, I suppose) is that it all feels like a dream. I know Walt Disney World like the back of my hand, and I love learning new lands and seeing how even though so much is the same, it’s all just a little off. Like the Partners statue being in a different park, or Sorcerer Mickey’s hat being so tiny!
Me new favorite quote. <3
I love their Sleeping Beauty Castle! I think it’s so much prettier than Cinderella Castle, though I admit it may just be one of those ‘grass is greener on the other side,’ things.
The best thing about it is the huge breathing dragon found in the dungeon. :)
The Queen of Hearts isn’t sweaty here, just wet from rain. So gross!
We were excited to be “painting the roses red,” ok?!
I wasn’t buying Jack Sparrow. :/
The biggest waste of money, ever… Their Blue Lagoon restaurant! It was such a horrible experience- The food was terrible, it took us over an hour just to get our drinks, and to top it all off, the service lights on Pirates of the Caribbean turned on, killing the only thing this place had going for it- The atmosphere!
My favorite, Phantom Manor. <3
So pretty!
Nate and I came back again just before our trip was over.
I will say I was bummed with their shops. I’m pretty much the easiest guest ever when it comes to Disney merchandise because I wanna buy everything, but I think the only thing I came away with for myself from DLP were coffee mugs. (Well, hot chocolate mugs, here in the Root home!)
I know that Disneyland Paris often gets a bad rap, and I dunno, I kinda love it. I think it’s so unique and even though it’s much simpler than all the other parks, I think there’s something really sweet about it. I love going to hang out more than do stuff. While I wouldn’t make a trip to Paris just for Disneyland Paris, I wouldn’t ever take a trip to Paris and not go. Does that make sense?
I’ve also heard people complain about the cast members. I’ve always found them to be just fine, but you have to remember the cast members are French! I’ve never had a problem with the French being rude to me, I think it’s because I try really hard to speak to them in French first, breaking out my high school French! Once they saw me struggle for a few minutes, butchering their language and miming out what I could, they’d always jump in and answer my question in English. :) So I think just like here in America, so much of their attitude reflects your attitude. If you’re getting frustrated and yelling at them in English, they’ll do the same back to you! *Gets off soap box.*
Whew! So there you have it, folks, our trip to Paris! Don’t be bummed it’s over- Make sure you come back next week for a preview of the fun we had in AFRICA! :)
Hey!
I just had fun looking at your DLP photos. I have to say though, that when we went last Christmas the CMs were awful and as a fluent French speaker I was pretty disheartened to hear them swearing (and not just the minor swearing words, the BIG ones that I won’t use in English)and laughing at some of the other guests. So I don’t yell at them in English, I yell at them in their own tongue ;)
I’m glad you liked the dragon, I make a beeline for him every time we go. He’s so cute! Sorry your Blue Lagoon experience was awful, it was really good when we went last time, we had the most amazing food but as you say the service was awwwwwful.
Glad you had fun!
Sara-Jayne, that makes me so sad!! I guess we were just really, really lucky with the cast members we met! The dragon is my absolute favorite- I think we just sat and watched him for a good 20 minutes. :) Blue Lagoon was awwwwwwful, but now we’re looking forward to going to Disneyland’s even more next year. :)
Great photos! I think their castle has the gorgeous colors and details like the one at Disneyland but it appears to have the size of the one at WDW. So to me it looks like the best one (based on the photos anyway.)
I think I agree with you, Jill! :) The landscaping around Paris’ castle is what makes it so special!
Looks like an amazing trip! It is high on my places to travel as well :) We went to HK disney and it was tiny but I loved it as well!
Your photo of the castle in black and white is amazing!
Thanks, Amanda. :)
Wonderful update and photos of a very magical place!
I may be biased as it was our engagement spot, but the DLP Castle is by far my favourite, so I don’t think it’s a ‘grass is greener’ thing.
DLP has such wonderful small touches, and I find a lot of the rides are a bit better than their American counterparts (mainly due to the fact they are a lot newer and the imagineers had a chance to really think how the originals could be improved) but I do think that the European guests and CMs do take away the friendly magic of WDW and DL.
I’m glad you two enjoyed your trip, I do feel a bit bad when Americans visit once and write it off, rather than appreciate it as what it is.
Completely agree- Kudos to Jack for picking the best castle to propose! :)
Jensey – Love the pics (as well as the site!) I’m jealous you got to go to DLP, it’s the only one left on my list! Can’t wait to see yours and Nathan’s pics of Africa!
Thanks so much, David! Now I just have to hit HK and Tokyo Disneyland, which I’m itching to see!
I love your Paris pics! They put mine so far into the dust. I am pleased to say I snapped lots of the same pics and in similar compositions – so great minds think alike! I just don’t have your awesome talent!
SoOOOOOO looking forward to Africa!
Aww, thanks! :)
Ok, I loved, loved this post! Disneyland Paris is so cool to look at. Like you said everything is just a little “off” to me too.
The “painting the roses red” picture was great!!
I still like Cinderella’s Castle better, LOL.
Do you, really?? I like the colors of Cinderella Castle, but the landscaping and detailing of Paris’!
I don’t know how you do it! Everything you photograph captures my fascination and makes me want to learn more (be it far off places or your fantastic subjects on their wedding day). I’ve never had even an inkling of interest in DLP, but now . . . I’m wishing I could change our flight and actually get to leave the Paris airport on our way home from our honeymoon in Italy (yeah, that’s right, we booked it while you were on your African adventure)!
It wouldn’t have been odd to me if the Queen of Hearts was sweating. She’s a bit of a hot-head and not the thinnest of queens. I bet all that yelling about and anger would make one sweat a bit. ;-)
Is the Phantom Manor their Haunted Mansion?? I LOVE it!!
And, I don’t know if I like either BETTER per se, but I do love the details of the Snow White Castle! And the dragon?! So cool! I definitely understand what you mean about the grass-is-greener possibility. Mike and I were talking the other day about the fact that, because we grew up in Central Florida, we never had the week-long take the family to Disney experience. We never stayed in any Disney hotels. For me at least, I went so often that it wasn’t as awesome as it probably should have been.
I’m uber jealous that they still have Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I realize it’s not relevant to kids today, but I LOVED that ride growing up.
Oh, and did Peter Pan have 5 o’clock shadow?!
Yay for your Italian honeymoon! ;) Well, DLP will still be there whenever you make it back over the pond… And at this point, you should totally wait until the new Ratatouille ride is built! ( http://www.photosmagiques.com/wdsfans/news/ratatouille.php )
And actually, they don’t have Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride- That was a quick service restaurant! It’s still alive and kickin’ in CA’s Disneyland, though, which is still our favorite of the parks to date. :)
I can’t believe you guys have never stayed at the resorts at WDW and visited! You need to do a ‘staycation’ and fix that, pronto! (Our favorite is the Beach Club!) Maybe a mini honeymoon before Italy? :) I miss visiting and *really* going to the parks, not just driving in the morning and going home at night. It’s such a different experience! And that would be amazing if Peter had a 5 o’clock shadow- It was just thick shadows from a rainy day. :)
Oh! And yes, Phantom Manor is their Haunted Mansion- It’s my favorite from all of the parks (that I’ve been to). The story is much clearer and it’s such an intense, dark ride!
Wow, amazing. My favorites are the photos of the castle. It doesn’t even look real – beautiful.