I knew that many of the tourist attractions in the city of Paris would be closed for the holiday, so a couple months ago I decided to utilize Christmas Day in Paris as Disneyland day! I figured that as much as I would be dragging the kids around to historical sites throughout our trip, this could be their day to enjoy. Little did I know that I would enjoy it, too.
The last time I went to Disneyland in California, my lovely cousin accompanied us. She happened to work for Disney at the California park, and was able to get us a HUGE discount on our tickets at the gate (we are still thankful, Laura!). Discount for a Disney employee = 3 free tickets for family
I can't report on how ticket purchasing varies between Disneyland California and Disneyland Paris because of our last experience. My cousin did all of the talking at the ticket gate for our last visit, although I am somewhat sure that Disneyland in California does not have three versions of a one park/one day ticket.
What I can report with certainty is that when you buy tickets online for Disneyland Paris from the official French or UK site, you will see three price options for the one day/one park options:
· The SUPER MAGIC tickets are valid ANY day of the year and expire in a year from time of purchase. These are the most expensive option.
· The MAGIC tickets are slightly cheaper than the Super Magic option. They can be used during high & low season, depending on the date, and they expire a year after purchase.
· The MINI ticket is the cheapest option and can ONLY be used during LOW season and on limited dates. It also expires a year after purchase.
Some people will buy the Mini tickets NOT realizing there are restrictions. They think it's some kind of year round discount I guess? I read plenty of blogs before visiting; blogs about let-down families who purchased the cheap MINI tickets only to find out that they could not get into the park on the day they planned to. READ THE FINE PRINT. It will save you some heart ache and tears, not to mention money. This Disneyland bases which ticket is valid on which date off of a calendar schedule.
After another five minutes, the lights went off, and from what I could tell, the ride cycled twice before we got on next. Our Peter Pan ride went without a hitch, and even though a minor "technical difficulty" happened, we still only waited about 10 minutes total to ride it. Not shabby.
After that, we ventured to Big Thunder Mountain, only to find that it was temporarily out of order, although we saw it operating earlier. So we wandered around the area.
· There is NOT a Matterhorn ride. Major bummer. One of my favorites.
· Toon Town is non-existent.
· The Alice in Wonderland ride isn't here. Instead, there is a Alice in Wonderland labyrinth, complete with the Queen of Hearts Castle that you can climb through.
· No New Orleans Square (there is a Haunted House though, Frenchly named Phantom Manor, but it sits in Frontierland and has a western theme).
· No Pixie Hallow.
· No Splash Mountain
· No Jungle Cruise.
· They do not sell the classic Mickey ears that you get your name embroidered on
· There is a severe lack of characters in this park. We only saw Donald Duck, by chance and a Rapunzel-ish character. I say "ish" because she was dressed like Rapunzel, but hot dang, she looked like she was from India. Beautiful dark complexion, big brown eyes. Gorgeous woman, but looked nothing like Rapunzel, except for the dress and wig.
I am sure I missed a few of the things that this park lacks, but all in all, this park is actually pretty small, yet pleasantly quaint. You can walk from the entrance to the backside of Fantasyland in less than 3 minutes (if there aren't crowds). I know this much is true, because I did it!
I wasn't severely bummed about the shortage of rides, however, I WAS majorly disappointed with the quality of a few of them. For example, in It's a Small World, the NY skyline still has the Twin Towers and the ceiling is illuminated a bit too much, revealing messy paint splatters on the tops of a wall and the ceiling (see my cell photo below). There are office like ceiling tiles, and air vents exposed. It just looked super sloppy, and kind of takes away from the magic of the ride. I really do not ever remember seeing or noticing this when at the Disneyland in CA.
What I did appreciate was that outside of the Pirates ride, you can wandered through a neato area called Spyglass Hill, complete with caverns and cove mazes on foot beneath the hill. You can additionally visit the inside of Skull Rock, and peer out of its eyes and mouth! There's also a beach area where smaller kids can play (like a playground setting, but pirate themed).
I have been to Disneyland in California more times than I can count, but never once during the winter season. I can admit, I am not a huge Disney fanatic, but I have always been curious to see the park decorated in Christmas glamour.
The last time I went to Disneyland in California, my lovely cousin accompanied us. She happened to work for Disney at the California park, and was able to get us a HUGE discount on our tickets at the gate (we are still thankful, Laura!). Discount for a Disney employee = 3 free tickets for family
I can't report on how ticket purchasing varies between Disneyland California and Disneyland Paris because of our last experience. My cousin did all of the talking at the ticket gate for our last visit, although I am somewhat sure that Disneyland in California does not have three versions of a one park/one day ticket.
What I can report with certainty is that when you buy tickets online for Disneyland Paris from the official French or UK site, you will see three price options for the one day/one park options:
· The SUPER MAGIC tickets are valid ANY day of the year and expire in a year from time of purchase. These are the most expensive option.
· The MAGIC tickets are slightly cheaper than the Super Magic option. They can be used during high & low season, depending on the date, and they expire a year after purchase.
· The MINI ticket is the cheapest option and can ONLY be used during LOW season and on limited dates. It also expires a year after purchase.
Some people will buy the Mini tickets NOT realizing there are restrictions. They think it's some kind of year round discount I guess? I read plenty of blogs before visiting; blogs about let-down families who purchased the cheap MINI tickets only to find out that they could not get into the park on the day they planned to. READ THE FINE PRINT. It will save you some heart ache and tears, not to mention money. This Disneyland bases which ticket is valid on which date off of a calendar schedule.
MINI tickets run about €37 per adult, €32 per child (roughly $45 USD depending on the Euro value), and are ONLY valid on the days where you see mint green boxes.
MAGIC tickets run about €45 per adult, €40 per child (again, USD prices fluctuate based on the Euro value) and are valid ONLY on dates with mint green or sky blue boxes.
SUPER MAGIC ticket are the most expensive at €53 per adult, €48 per child (same thing with the Euro fluctuation), and are valid EVERY day of the year. The DARK BLUE boxes indicate that ONLY Super Magic tickets are allowed.
My advice: If you are unsure about when you will visit, just buck up and buy the Super Magic tickets, being as that all tickets are non-refundable, and nobody will feel bad about poor planning on your part at the gate if you purchased the wrong tickets.
Because I checked the calendar before purchasing, I was aware that Christmas day requires a Super Magic ticket to get in, thus Super Magic tickets are what I purchased. I paid $498 US dollars for two adults, and four kids between ages 8-11 (in Euro at the time, it was about €298). At the time, I compared the prices between California's park and Paris. For one day/one park at Disneyland California, the total for tickets would have been $558 USD. So a difference of $60 savings in Paris, and with the most expensive ticket option for Disneyland Paris. Disneyland Paris also bases tickets off of different ages than Disneyland in the states does.
Paris: Ages 12+ is the adult price, children are 3-11.
California: Ages 10+ is the adult price, children are 3-9.
We rode the bus to Disneyland with a free round trip travel voucher provided by our ApartHotel. Otherwise, the ride on the bus is about €2 per person. The bus is for Disney visitors only, it's not a metro type of bus.
When we arrived around 10am, I was amazed to see no crowds. Yes, there were people, but not in the masses like I had experienced during every other Disney visit in my lifetime. We went to the gate, didn't even have to wait in a line, scanned our printed tickets and through the turnstiles we went! It was amazingly simple and hassle free. I wouldn't have believed it if someone told me that it'd be that easy, but seriously, it was that easy!
I made the husband and kids pose for some front entrance pictures, then we busted out our Disney map, and set forth to enjoy our day!
MAGIC tickets run about €45 per adult, €40 per child (again, USD prices fluctuate based on the Euro value) and are valid ONLY on dates with mint green or sky blue boxes.
SUPER MAGIC ticket are the most expensive at €53 per adult, €48 per child (same thing with the Euro fluctuation), and are valid EVERY day of the year. The DARK BLUE boxes indicate that ONLY Super Magic tickets are allowed.
My advice: If you are unsure about when you will visit, just buck up and buy the Super Magic tickets, being as that all tickets are non-refundable, and nobody will feel bad about poor planning on your part at the gate if you purchased the wrong tickets.
Because I checked the calendar before purchasing, I was aware that Christmas day requires a Super Magic ticket to get in, thus Super Magic tickets are what I purchased. I paid $498 US dollars for two adults, and four kids between ages 8-11 (in Euro at the time, it was about €298). At the time, I compared the prices between California's park and Paris. For one day/one park at Disneyland California, the total for tickets would have been $558 USD. So a difference of $60 savings in Paris, and with the most expensive ticket option for Disneyland Paris. Disneyland Paris also bases tickets off of different ages than Disneyland in the states does.
Paris: Ages 12+ is the adult price, children are 3-11.
California: Ages 10+ is the adult price, children are 3-9.
We rode the bus to Disneyland with a free round trip travel voucher provided by our ApartHotel. Otherwise, the ride on the bus is about €2 per person. The bus is for Disney visitors only, it's not a metro type of bus.
When we arrived around 10am, I was amazed to see no crowds. Yes, there were people, but not in the masses like I had experienced during every other Disney visit in my lifetime. We went to the gate, didn't even have to wait in a line, scanned our printed tickets and through the turnstiles we went! It was amazingly simple and hassle free. I wouldn't have believed it if someone told me that it'd be that easy, but seriously, it was that easy!
I made the husband and kids pose for some front entrance pictures, then we busted out our Disney map, and set forth to enjoy our day!
The first ride we hit was Peter Pan. I have heard that this Disneyland is notorious for having "technical difficulties", or rides that are out of order, so I wasn't exactly surprised with the first ride breaking down.
We waited in line for 5 minutes (yes, only 5 minutes) before we were next up. Suddenly, a French voice booms loudly and we notice that the lights have been turned on inside of the ride. We could see the entrance to the nursery was illuminated while a Pirate ship with two park guests sitting in it just kept turning their heads, while probably wondering "What the hell?"
After another five minutes, the lights went off, and from what I could tell, the ride cycled twice before we got on next. Our Peter Pan ride went without a hitch, and even though a minor "technical difficulty" happened, we still only waited about 10 minutes total to ride it. Not shabby.
I was REALLY hoping that the girls would make the height clearance for the Indiana Jones ride, but unfortunately they didn't. I did check the height requirement before we traveled to Paris, and knew they were off by a smidgen, as in an inch or two, depending on the daughter.
I guess I was hoping that their choice of shoes for the day would help, or maybe that the ride attendant at the line entrance would pass them, but nope. It was all good though. Safety first, y'all. My husband and son rode Indiana while the girls and I wandered nearby shops and climbed through the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. About 20 minutes later, my husband texted me saying that they were done. SAY WHAT? The last time they attempted to ride this attraction in California, the wait was nearly 2 hours long! And the damn ride broke down during their wait (they never got to ride).
I asked my husband if this Indiana was any different (we have both rode the CA Disneyland version before) and he said "YES", in a letdown kind of way. Apparently, this ride does not have the cool boulder that comes at you, it's completely outdoors, and it's not heavily themed out. He said it just felt like a regular roller coaster, with no quick thrills, except for the loop.
After that, we ventured to Big Thunder Mountain, only to find that it was temporarily out of order, although we saw it operating earlier. So we wandered around the area.
The major differences in attractions between Disneyland California and Disneyland Paris that I noticed are as follows:
· There is NOT a Matterhorn ride. Major bummer. One of my favorites.
· Toon Town is non-existent.
· The Alice in Wonderland ride isn't here. Instead, there is a Alice in Wonderland labyrinth, complete with the Queen of Hearts Castle that you can climb through.
· No New Orleans Square (there is a Haunted House though, Frenchly named Phantom Manor, but it sits in Frontierland and has a western theme).
· No Pixie Hallow.
· No Splash Mountain
· No Jungle Cruise.
· They do not sell the classic Mickey ears that you get your name embroidered on
· There is a severe lack of characters in this park. We only saw Donald Duck, by chance and a Rapunzel-ish character. I say "ish" because she was dressed like Rapunzel, but hot dang, she looked like she was from India. Beautiful dark complexion, big brown eyes. Gorgeous woman, but looked nothing like Rapunzel, except for the dress and wig.
I am sure I missed a few of the things that this park lacks, but all in all, this park is actually pretty small, yet pleasantly quaint. You can walk from the entrance to the backside of Fantasyland in less than 3 minutes (if there aren't crowds). I know this much is true, because I did it!
I wasn't severely bummed about the shortage of rides, however, I WAS majorly disappointed with the quality of a few of them. For example, in It's a Small World, the NY skyline still has the Twin Towers and the ceiling is illuminated a bit too much, revealing messy paint splatters on the tops of a wall and the ceiling (see my cell photo below). There are office like ceiling tiles, and air vents exposed. It just looked super sloppy, and kind of takes away from the magic of the ride. I really do not ever remember seeing or noticing this when at the Disneyland in CA.
The same 'ride quality' is partially true for Pirates of the Caribbean. Again, not dark enough to hide the junky ceiling tiles and air vents. It almost makes you feel as if you are riding a boat through a warehouse instead of a cavern or what not. The animatronic pirates glitched somewhat more than I remember, and some weren't moving at all when you know that they were supposed to. You also won't find Jack Sparrow anywhere on this ride, but I could care less. He wasn't always an original pirate in the Disneyland CA ride, anyway. This ride also doesn't leave you as damp as the one in CA does/can.
What I did appreciate was that outside of the Pirates ride, you can wandered through a neato area called Spyglass Hill, complete with caverns and cove mazes on foot beneath the hill. You can additionally visit the inside of Skull Rock, and peer out of its eyes and mouth! There's also a beach area where smaller kids can play (like a playground setting, but pirate themed).
We rode every major ride that this Disneyland has to offer (we did skip Le Carrousel de Lancelot or "Lancelot's carousel"), only rode halfway around the park on the Disney Railroad, and opted to miss the Riverboat) , all in one day, and without a single fastpass!
I was surprised, but then again, there aren't as many rides as the Disneyland in California, and like I mentioned, the park is smaller.
I love that most everything is worded in French at this park, which makes the park feel a bit more magical; like a far, far away land. It was decently clean when we visited as well, which is always nice.
One thing people will hate are smokers. They are EVERYWHERE. There are designated smoking areas, but apparently the French locals are above the rule. I even saw one lady halfway through her cig while hopping on to the Dumbo ride. I wish I were lying. She puffed away while soaring! All I could do was shake my head and laugh.
People smoke in line, people smoke next to entry ways, and I did encounter a bathroom smoker too. The employees seem to pass a blind eye, and don't say shit about it when they see someone smoking where they shouldn't. In my opinion, this is sad. This park has more children than adults wandering around, and it's unfair to kids. Except for the kids that smoke...There was a group of 10-12 year old looking girls (without parents present) wearing a shit ton of makeup, while puffing away on their cigs.
Another difference is the theme park's hours. Don't expect to stay until midnight because, well, they aren't open until midnight! On Christmas day, they closed at 10pm. But most days in winter it closes at 8pm. I think the hours vary. The official website says that the general park hours are from 09:30-22:00 (with the exception of "Extra Magic hours", or an earlier opening for guests with special hotel accommodations), but looking at today's hours, it states it closes at 8pm (or 20:00) for general ticket holders (I am writing this on December 30th, 2014). Weird.
A personal let down for me was the Mexican Cuisine restaurant next to Big Thunder Mountain. I saw it AFTER we finished a large lunch at a pizza place between Adventureland and Frontierland. My husband and I noted that we'd come back for dinner, plus we wanted to see if Big Thunder Mountain would be operating later.
Another difference is the theme park's hours. Don't expect to stay until midnight because, well, they aren't open until midnight! On Christmas day, they closed at 10pm. But most days in winter it closes at 8pm. I think the hours vary. The official website says that the general park hours are from 09:30-22:00 (with the exception of "Extra Magic hours", or an earlier opening for guests with special hotel accommodations), but looking at today's hours, it states it closes at 8pm (or 20:00) for general ticket holders (I am writing this on December 30th, 2014). Weird.
A personal let down for me was the Mexican Cuisine restaurant next to Big Thunder Mountain. I saw it AFTER we finished a large lunch at a pizza place between Adventureland and Frontierland. My husband and I noted that we'd come back for dinner, plus we wanted to see if Big Thunder Mountain would be operating later.
Dinner came around 5:30pm for us, we wandered back to the Mexican restaurant, opened the doors and found them cleaning. One man hollered "Ferme", which means "closed" in French. I was a little sad. But for some unknown reason, EVERY OTHER restaurant we saw was still open. What the French, toast? We settled with some place called Hakuna Matata around the corner. The husband and I ordered the Kebab sandwich meals which cost €15 per meal (we've become accustom to Kebab/Doner sandwiches while living in Germany). The sandwiches were pretty good and the potato wedge fries on the side were AMAZING. The kids had chicken tender meals for about €8.50 each and slices of chocolate cake for €3 each, and they seemed satisfied enough. No complaints.
This park, in my opinion, is beautifully decorated. Sleeping Beauty's Castle alone has a certain 'je ne sais quoi' that the others do not, although I can't put my finger on what it is. I just feel this castle is a touch prettier than the others.
It was getting dark by the time we rode our two last rides: Big Thunder Mountain, and Phantom Manor. Big Thunder Mountain was probably my favorite of the day. It seemed like a longer ride than the rest, and once again, we had a very short wait. It was especially sweet to ride at night and get views of the park lit up against the dark sky.
Phantom Manor had a hiccup while we rode it. It paused halfway for about a minute before a voice came on saying that the ride was experiencing "technical difficulties". I for sure thought the lights would come on, but they didn't and our ride continued.
There were a lot of differences from the Disney CA Haunted Mansion. This mansion looks more like Hitchcock's Psycho house, rather than a beautiful French-Colonial mansion. I did not note a spooky carriage on the grounds. You do start off in a room with a large chandelier like the CA mansion, and then you are guided into that famous elevator room where the paintings stretch on the walls. The hallway after is mostly similar, too.
Once you are seated for the ride part and move on, you'll find that the fortune teller's head doesn't float, but instead, it sits in a glass ball on the table. The dining hall/ballroom is very similar, except during our ride, some of the hologram ghosts weren't functioning properly. One was just plain stuck. Once out of the "house", you do not go through a graveyard type of setting, but rather a (spooky) wild west setting (similar to Pirates animatronics, but imagine the wild west. Cowboys instead of pirates). At the end of our ride, I purposely scooted over so that my kid sitting next to me could see the ghost between us. There wasn't a ghost between us! Instead it appeared at the top of everyone's ride cart , or what Disney calls a "Doom buggie", and each ghost was identical to the buggie beside to them. Slightly disappointed about that. All in all, this ride was different, but held the same execution and general concept as the original. I personally prefer the original.
After Riding our last two rides, we wandered slowly down Main Street toward the exit. We dipped into a few last souvenir shops, and were on our way back to the apartment.
I know I noted a number of differences between Disneyland Paris & California in this post, but we really did have an amazing time. This experience was one of my favorites out of all of my Disneyland trips in my life thus far. I don't think it was because it was Disneyland Paris, I really do believe that I enjoyed it more so because of how seamless our day went. I never once waited in line for a toilet. Waited for only a few minutes for food, or gift shop check out. Especially didn't kill precious time queuing for a ride attraction. That makes a hell of a difference for any theme park trip, I would imagine!
I know I noted a number of differences between Disneyland Paris & California in this post, but we really did have an amazing time. This experience was one of my favorites out of all of my Disneyland trips in my life thus far. I don't think it was because it was Disneyland Paris, I really do believe that I enjoyed it more so because of how seamless our day went. I never once waited in line for a toilet. Waited for only a few minutes for food, or gift shop check out. Especially didn't kill precious time queuing for a ride attraction. That makes a hell of a difference for any theme park trip, I would imagine!
The husband and I also decided not to bring anything into the park to lug around, except for my DLSR camera. No purse, no food, no backpacks, which also helps one feel lighter when walking around all day. If it didn't fit into our pockets, we didn't bring it. The weather was amazing for a European winter's day. Sunny, yet cloudy in a delightful way. Our overall cost wasn't too terrible either. Including advanced purchased tickets, lunch, dinner, water, snacks, souvenirs, etc, our total cost was about $1,200 USD for the day with six people. It could have been worse...
Would I go back? Not necessarily. If we need a day to kill in the vicinity of Paris again, I may visit Disney Studios Park, but otherwise I have no future plans to return to the Disneyland park itself. Do I regret it? Absolutely not :-)
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