Globetrotting: to Disneyland Paris and back with TCD

[jmaul 65]

I like the dual themed floats.

 

It looks like Big Thunder goes thru a tunnel under the water to get to the island. Hope it doesn't spring a leak.

[campingdawgs 4]

DLP looks very pretty! And it didn't seem crowded in your pictures. Did you find any crowds there?

I would have thought the Indiana Jones ride would be like the one at DL. Disappointing. I loved the one in DL (we went for one day 18 years ago!) and I always wished WDW would get that ride too.

I'm interested in how you and your DD liked Paris. I'd like to go there.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I like the dual themed floats.

 

It looks like Big Thunder goes thru a tunnel under the water to get to the island. Hope it doesn't spring a leak.

 

I meant to take a look at DLP's Big Thunder mountain on Google Maps.  Now I have, and I didn't see a bridge- so you're right -we must have gone under the water via a tunnel.  The odd thing is, I didn't notice this when it happened.

 

Here's a screen cap of a Bing Map Birdseye view of DLP's BTMRR:

 

 

When I was there, I assumed that it wasn't really an island, or that there was a bridge that we crossed over in the queue.  Now that I see the aerial view, it had to be a tunnel.  I should have appreciated that more.

 

DLP looks very pretty! And it didn't seem crowded in your pictures. Did you find any crowds there?

I would have thought the Indiana Jones ride would be like the one at DL. Disappointing. I loved the one in DL (we went for one day 18 years ago!) and I always wished WDW would get that ride too.

I'm interested in how you and your DD liked Paris. I'd like to go there.

 

We hit some slight crowds the next morning at Disney Studios, but otherwise, it was never busy.

 

The Indiana Jones roller coaster was OK, but I agree- the Disneyland California attraction is way, way better.  I also felt like there were deferred maintenance issues with the DLP ride, as it was very rough.

 

I have a ton of photos and thoughts to share about real Paris when we get there, so you will know exactly what I thought of it.  Short version- it's worth a visit, but there is a lot of room for improvement there.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Update time.

 

We left off with our ride on Big Thunder Mountain.

 

From Big Thunder, we had seen Phantom Manor, and that seemed like a good choice for our next ride.

 

I didn't know it at the time, but the placement and view of Phantom Manor from Big Thunder Mountain was intentional and carefully planned by the Imagineers who created Disneyland Paris.

 

I loved this view:

 

 

So much that I took a second photo of the same thing:

 

 

We had boarded and exited Big Thunder Mountain RR on dry land.  This is a view of the island from near the ride exit:

 

 

We headed over to Phantom Manor.  It sits high in a nicely landscaped area.  The queue entrance is through the archway you see straight ahead in this photo- we could see that the queue was empty, so we headed in:

 

 

There is a long outdoor part of the queue, but we walked straight through it without stopping, and soon we were right at the front porch of the house:

 

 

Check out that dude wearing Minnie ears.  I don't think he's French.

 

This is a view of the park from the front porch of the house- you can see how elevated we are here.  This also shows how many trees there are in the park- you can just see the top of the castle poking through there in the center:

 

 

We weren't sure what would happen from this point, as we had not had to wait at all.  But soon CM's inside opened the doors, and we entered a foyer-type room, just like the Haunted Mansions in WDW and DL. This one had a different feel to it- more like a regular old house than something haunted:

 

 

From there, we went into a stretching room, but the portraits on the walls were of all young women- not the portraits that we have in WDW.  I didn't understand it at the time, but the portraits were actually all of the same young woman.  There's a really elaborate story that goes with this ride.  The basic story is that this was the house of the man who owned Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and he had a daughter who was supposed to be married in it.  For a reason that I'm not sure is explained, a phantom showed up and caused the groom to hang himself.  And then the house became haunted.  Wikipedia has a really long and painfully detailed description about what we saw on this ride.  I missed about 90% of the details described here:

 

Guests board the carriages, each accommodating two to three persons, and then move upwards into a dark space, past a young Melanie bowing to passing guests while holding candelabra, singing the entire time.

A twitching suit of armor then comes into view, although this effect is not obvious and can be missed in the semi-darkness. Beside the armor is a seemingly Endless Hallway, with the vision of Melanie appearing and disappearing in the distance while the candelabra that she is holding remains in view.

On the left side of the Corridor is a Conservatory containing a piano. At first glance, it seems to be playing by itself, but one can notice a ghost pianist's shadow falling on the carpet (this effect is achieved by the use of mechanical keys). A large, red-eyed raven sits on a music stand next to the piano and squawks madly.

The carriages then travel through a corridor lined with doors. As guests pass each door, they hear pounding, knocking, or shouting behind it, and the knockers seem to move by themselves, as if their inhabitants are struggling to get out. When the last door is reached, guests can see two skeletal hands clutching at the top, trying to force their way through. The carriages pass a small hall containing a demonic grandfather clock, with a large "13" on its face (instead of the usual 12) and its hands spinning backward as it chimes.

The carriages then enter a round Séance Room, where a crystal ball sits on a central table. In it is Madame Leota’s disembodied head. As guests watch her, she summons ghosts and dark creatures to a mysterious ball in both English and French (translated in English below):

• Goblins and Ghoulies, creatures of fright, we summon you now, to dance through the night!
• Esprits et fantômes, sur vos fiers destriers, escortez dans la nuit la belle fiancée! (Spirits and ghosts, on your proud stallions, accompany the beautiful bride through the night!
• Warlocks and Witches, answer this call! Your presence is wanted at this ghostly ball!
• Des douze coups de minuit aux mâtines sonnantes, nous valserons ensemble, macabre débutante! (From the twelve knolls of midnight to the morning bells, we shall waltz together, gruesome debutante!
• Join now the Spirits in Nuptial Doom, a ravishing Bride, a vanishing Groom...

Guests leave the Séance Room and move along a balcony, looking down into the Ballroom where a ghostly wedding party takes place. Melanie stands on a staircase, singing and looking up at the Phantom who stands in an open window, laughing at her. Ghostly guests enter the room, bringing in wedding presents, then sitting around the dining table, where a moldy wedding cake is waiting for them. Drunken ghosts swing precariously from the chandelier above the table. Elegantly dressed pairs of ghostly dancers twirl around the Ballroom, as a spirit organist sits at a massive organ, playing a haunting waltz on it as wraiths fly out of its pipes. Apart from plot-related retheming, this scene is similar to the regular Haunted Mansions' ballrooms.

Leaving the Ballroom, the vehicles enter the Bride's Boudoir (which replaces the attic scene in the regular rides). Melanie, now an elderly lady, sits weeping in front of a mirror filled with the shape of an enormous skull, while a music box plays, as well as an old gramaphoneThe mirror with the skull is a reference to the legend of Bloody Mary. The clock displayed in the room has a blade pendulum, in reference to Edgar Allen Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum which was also the basis for a movie featuring Vincent Price.

The carriages leave the Bride's Boudoir through open double door, and glide across a terrace and then into a graveyard, past the Phantom (whose skeletal face is revealed) standing before an open grave, with an undead dog growling beside him. The carriages then travel underground, presumably Boot Hill, and see a series of coffins being opened by their skeletal residents. Four white marble busts then come into view, bearing the expressive faces of four Phantoms singing Grim Grinning Ghosts as the dead skeletons join them in a dance.

Through a hole, the carriages then enter Phantom Canyon, which is a twisted, supernatural version of Thunder Mesa. Great rifts in the earth surrounding the vehicles suggest that an earthquake has happened, which reenacts Thunder Mesa's turning point from a prosperous community to a ghost town. An eerie-looking animatronic figure stands before a ramshackle town hall where the mayor (who speaks clips of dialogue from Paul Frees, the original rides' Ghost Host) stands, inviting guests to be the Manor's 1000th ghost. As he tips his hat, his head comes with it. A shootout follows between a bank robber fleeing on a mule and a cowardly sheriff, with Big Thunder Mountain in the background. Guests see a pharmacy where a green-faced pharmacist drinks a potion of some-sort, followed by a saloon whose front wall has caved in. Inside it, there is a dancing showgirl, a bartender, and a man playing a honky-tonk piano. Every once in a while, a hand with a candelabra appears out of the piano. Four invisible gambler figures play poker nearby.

Much of Phantom Canyon was derived from a planned scene of a wild mining town called Dry Gulch in the Western River Expedition at the Magic Kingdom later retooled into their version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Phantom Canyon occupies a space that in the regular Haunted Mansions is used for the graveyard scene.

Another cackling figure of the Phantom, this time a revolting corpse in rags, leads guests into the exit of the ride. As they see the silhouette of the Manor ahead, they enter a dark passage, where Melanie's skeleton, floating and radiating a ghost-like glow is pointing to the way out. The vehicles enter a subterranean chamber lined with large, gilt-framed mirrors in which the ghostly image of the Phantom can be seen above the carriages along with a reflection of guests themselves. The Phantom then violently shakes the carriages before dissipating in a puff of smoke, but not before hearing one last laugh. Vehicles travel through a wine cellar where cast members await to help them disembark their carriages, and they walk toward the exit.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Manor

 

 

Wow.

 

There was a lot happening in that ride.  It had a lot of things totally different from the WDW version, but Madame Leota and the singing busts were still there.  We left there very confused at what we had just seen.  But, now that I've read the description on Wikipedia, I understand what they were trying to do.  I think they went unnecessarily overboard trying to make this ride something new and tying it in to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  But, I can't say they didn't try.

 

And, like everything else we've seen so far, the attraction looks good:

 

 

Here's a nice walkway, lamp, and landscaping on our way out of the area:

 

 

The sun was finally beginning to set, and was lighting up Phantom Manor:

 

 

Since everybody had apparently left, we decided to try our luck and ride Pirates.  We walked right on there too:

 

 

The ride seemed longer that WDW's, and we saw that they had a restaurant that overlooks the attraction like they have at Disneyland California.  And there seemed to be a lot more skeletons than there were pirates.  French people must like skeletons or something.

 

There were some fountains outside of Pirates here like there are at WDW.  This one was dry, though:

 

 

This is the entrance to the restaurant that overlooks the ride:

 

 

There's the ride entrance- these CM's were standing around hoping someone would show up to ride:

 

 

Next, we headed back over to Fantasyland.  We were going to ride Peter Pan, but the line was about 15 minutes long, and we were spoiled at this point.  Plus, we would be back in the morning.  So we kept on walking.

 

We came to this restaurant, which was closed.  It's a whole restaurant with a Mr. Toad theme:

 

 

Check out the funny seal.  It says "No Consumus Froglagus":

 

 

This big building is a meet and greet for Mickey.  It apparently had hours different from the rest of the park, as it was closed when we walked by at around 8:30:

 

 

There's a walk through labyrinth back here with an Alice in Wonderland theme:

 

 

With all the walking we had already done on this trip, that didn't sound like much fun, so we kept on going.

 

That building that looks like a castle there in the background is a princess meet and greet.  It was also closed:

 

 

This building was selling snacks.  I'm not sure what.  I never saw any turkey legs or popcorn in our travels around the park:

 

 

This building was also a snack location, but it was closed.  It's called the Old Mill- check out all the detail on it:

 

 

The entrance to the Story Book Boats and the Casey Junior Train were back there, but they were chained off.  We picked up on the fact that they apparently shut down the Fantasyland attractions before they do the rest of the park.

 

We saw that It's a Small World was open, and decided to check it out. Twin #2 had told us about how they have dolls representing America in there, and she thought it was funny.  They have a big globe displayed outside of the ride:

 

 

I guess this is a hint as to what they thing of North America- all that is represented is NYC, an natural arch in the west, and a pyramid in Mexico:

 

 

A boatful of stereotypes:

 

 

The area where you board the boats here is outside, like it is in California, but it's covered here:

 

 

Here we go:

 

 

The ride is not very different from what you would expect.  Maybe it's a bit more colorful:

 

 

They also have Disney characters incorporated into the ride. Like, here's Ariel (minus the seashells- this is France, after all) :

 

 

So here's what the French think America is like.  There's an African American Cowboy roasting a hot dog with his horse:

 

 

They sure have our number, don't they?

 

I need to stop here, as I'm at the photo limit.

 

But, I have a couple more Small World photos, including a Canada one, that I'll share before we move on.

 

TCD

[jmaul 65]

 

 

 

So here's what the French think America is like.  There's an African American Cowboy roasting a hot dog with his horse:

 

 

They sure have our number, don't they?

 

 

 

...and Cowboy Cacti to boot.

 

With the park looking a bit empty, was that the reason so many meat & greets and stands were closed?

[Family of Bears 98]

They nailed it. In fact, me and my horse were just grilling some hot dogs over the fire for lunch.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Great pictures!

 

So I'm feeling like DLP is a lot more like DL than MK.  Correct or not?

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

Here's what the French think America is like.  There's an African American Cowboy roasting a hot dog with his horse:

 

 

They sure have our number, don't they?

 

I need to stop here, as I'm at the photo limit.

 

But, I have a couple more Small World photos, including a Canada one, that I'll share before we move on.

 

TCD

 

Maybe they watched Blazing Saddles one too many times.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

[Dalspot ... Karen 21]

Oh look they even have that nice FL Disney swamp water there!

 

 

 

Here's a screen cap of a Bing Map Birdseye view of DLP's BTMRR:

 

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

 

 

Boy, you could be an Imagineer.   I guess Winnie the Pooh and his friends are also toys that came to life.

 

TCD

Wouldn't that be the life?  Working for the Mouse and getting paid to imagine stuff?  Ah well.

 

I loved the look of the Phantom manor.  It reminded me a bit of the house in Psycho - the way it was up on a hill and looked foreboding.  I never thought WDW's HM looked creepy.

[caveat lector 181]

More flowers:

 

 

TCD

Ok, am I the only one to see some not so hidden Mickeys?

[Beckers 1,136]

Ok, am I the only one to see some not so hidden Mickeys?

I thought the same thing!

[Beckers 1,136]

I'm surprised/confused that some signs are in English? I assumed all the ride signs would be in French.

Did you meet any face characters? If so, what language did they speak? Did they have guide maps in English (the pic on my phone is too small to see). What about menus?

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I love all the greenery. Some shade would be nice in FL, but I guess it also blocks the view. 

 

Weird that Belle isn't a big deal, but your reason is probably right.

 

Off to roast some hot dogs with my horse...

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

...and Cowboy Cacti to boot.

 

With the park looking a bit empty, was that the reason so many meat & greets and stands were closed?

 

About the cacti- they looked familiar to me.  Are there happy cacti in the MK IASW ride?  I think I've seen them before somewhere.

 

Yes, I think that there were things that were shut down because of attendance issues.  I also figured that they close down Fantasyland early to prepare for the fireworks.  There are parts of the area behind the castle that they close off at the MK every night for the same reason.

 

They nailed it. In fact, me and my horse were just grilling some hot dogs over the fire for lunch.

 

LOL.

 

Very funny.  You got an up arrow for that one.

 

Great pictures!

 

So I'm feeling like DLP is a lot more like DL than MK.  Correct or not?

 

Yes, it seems that DLP is more similar to DL than it is to MK.  Twin #2 mentioned this to me after we had visited Disneyland- she said how things were laid out in DLP made more sense to her after saw how they did things in Disneyland.

 

Maybe they watched Blazing Saddles one too many times.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

 

LOL.

 

You got an up arrow too.

 

Oh look they even have that nice FL Disney swamp water there!

 

That water does look very green in the Bing map photos.  But, in person, it wasn't green at all.

 

Wouldn't that be the life?  Working for the Mouse and getting paid to imagine stuff?  Ah well.

 

I loved the look of the Phantom manor.  It reminded me a bit of the house in Psycho - the way it was up on a hill and looked foreboding.  I never thought WDW's HM looked creepy.

 

Maybe you'll be an Imagineer some day.

 

I agree with you about Phantom Manor.  They really invested a lot of effort into making it something unique.  As I mentioned, though, I think they tried too hard and ended up with something that is very confusing.

 

 

Ok, am I the only one to see some not so hidden Mickeys?

 

Good job.  I see them now too.

 

You're talking about the flowers, right?

 

I'm surprised/confused that some signs are in English? I assumed all the ride signs would be in French.

Did you meet any face characters? If so, what language did they speak? Did they have guide maps in English (the pic on my phone is too small to see). What about menus?

 

Good point.  There was a lot more English used throughout the parks than I expected.  There were a few things that were exclusively in French- like the narration in the stretch room in the Phantom Manor, but otherwise, everything was in English.

 

We did not meet a single face character.  The princess meet and greet was not open the first night we visited, and was also not open for EMH the next morning.  After that, we figured there would be long lines, and it wasn't something that we felt it was worth the time to do.

 

Guide maps and park schedules were no problem- they had racks of them at the entrance, with several different languages available, just like at the WDW parks.  All the menus we saw were multilingual, so no problem there either.

 

I love all the greenery. Some shade would be nice in FL, but I guess it also blocks the view.

 

Weird that Belle isn't a big deal, but your reason is probably right.

 

Off to roast some hot dogs with my horse...

 

I always thought the grounds of WDW were nice, but the landscaping at DLP is nicer.  There are a lot less trees in the MK than there used to be.

 

Enjoy your lunch.  I should have an update for you and your horse when y'all are done.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We left off enjoying the accurate representation of American culture in DLP's Small World attraction.

 

Right across from America, they did a good job capturing the essence of Canada:

 

 

The did a good job there, too.

 

The only thing I see missing is a hockey player with some missing teeth.

 

They don't have the big room with all the white dolls in this ride.  Instead, they finish with this tribute to America:

 

 

I don't know about you, but I've always enjoyed the view of the Hollywood sign from the Golden Gate bridge.

 

It was just about 9 pm when we were done riding Small World.  We planned to stick around for the fireworks at 10:30, so we had another hour and a half to do stuff.  But, just about everything in Fantasyland was shut down, and we planned to check out Discoveryland in the morning during EMH.  So, we decided to head to Main Street and check out the shopping.  We had seen that the train was still running, and there was a train station back here, so we decided to take the train to the front of the park.

 

We walked past the deserted Mickey meet and greet on the way to the train station.  You can see that the clock says it was 8:57, and that it was still not dark yet:

 

 

I was surprised by how late the sun set in Dublin, then in London, and now, here outside of Paris, it was setting even later, it seemed.

 

When we arrived at the train station, we thought it was closed as there was not a single other guest there.  But, there was one CM, who told us that the train would be arriving in a few minutes, so we waited. Only one other group of guests showed up the whole time we waited for the train:

 

 

When the train showed up, it seemed like the engine was much smaller than the ones used at WDW:

 

 

The seating in the train cars was different.  Instead of forward facing rows, each car had several "U" shaped seating areas.  So some guests would be seated backwards, and some sideways.  Each seating area had a gate that had to be opened and closed by a CM at each stop:

 

 

As we left the station, we could see the roof of the princess meet and greet building:

 

 

Then we saw the castle:

 

 

We passed right past DLP's Space Mountain:

 

 

Sadly, that's the closest we ever got to it. DLP's Space Mountain had been shut down for months for a really long refurbishment, and was not open the entire time of our visit.  I think it has just recently reopened, but too late for us.

 

Another Discoveryland attraction based on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was also closed, which meant there really wasn't much of a reason for us to even visit that land.  You can see their Star Tours attraction in this photo, but they have the old, non-3-D version here:

 

 

Do you see that sign that says "Sortie?"  That means exit in French.  I didn't figure that out until I had seen it several places.  I don't think they had that exit symbol I had seen in Dublin and London here.

 

When we got to Main Street, it was near 9:30.  I wanted to see if people were camping out saving places for the fireworks, so we walked up to the hub area.  I stopped there to check out the tip board:

 

 

It was just 9:30 then, so the park was still open for another hour.  Look at the wait times!  Everything except Buzz was a walk-on.  Note that the Fantasyland attractions, including Small World, which we had ridden about 30 minutes prior are all listed as closed.  Looking at the left side of the board, we had already ridden all the "biggies" they have wait times posted for.

 

This is a good time to assess how we had done, and what he had left to do.

 

The map I posted a photo of earlier is one that I found on-line.  It wasn't the actual map that we had picked up that day.

 

Here's a photo of the cover of our actual map.  As you can see from the British flag, we had the English version:

 

 

Note that of all the princesses, it's Rapunzel who gets to be on the cover.  She wasn't just on the English version- she was on all of the maps.  Just her.  For some reason, she is more popular than the other princesses, including Belle, here.

 

Here's a shot of the section of the map that lists the Adventureland attractions:

 

 

Here's the part of the map that explains what the symbols used mean:

 

 

And here's the part of the map showing what's in Adventureland:

 

 

The "not to be missed" attractions are Indiana Jones and Pirates.  We had done those.  We thought we might like to check out the tree house, but otherwise, we had done all that we really wanted to do in Fantasyland.

 

Now, here's the attractions list from the map for Frontierland:

 

 

And here's the part of the map showing Frontierland:

 

 

Once again, we had done the "not to be missed attractions" in Frontierland.  Although they list the Chaparral Theater as an attraction, the "Programme" did not list any shows being performed there during our visit.  There wasn't anything else that we wanted to do in Frontierland.

 

We were here on Main Street, so I looked on the map to see what attractions they had listed for here:

 

 

I had never heard of the "Statue of Liberty Tableau" and decided that we should try and see that tonight while we shopped.

 

We checked out the hub area, and saw that there were people claiming spots for the fireworks:

 

 

Since it was pretty obvious that we would not have a problem finding a spot to watch the fireworks from, we decided to not camp out with these people, but to instead use this time to check out some of the shops.  We would find a place maybe at 10:15 or so.

 

There were some items that the twins had asked us to get them if we could find them. One of them wanted a stuffed "scrump" doll from Lilo and Stitch.  This thing stitch is holding is Scrump:

 

 

I took that particular stuffed animal up to a CM and asked if they had one that was just scrump, pointing to the thing in Stitch's hand.  The CM there could not understand what I was asking.  Or at least he pretended that he couldn't.

 

I thought this was something unique- a pink stitch-  but Twin #2 said it was from the TV show, and wasn't unique:

 

 

Sadly, we learned that there are very few unique things at DLP.  Most of the merchandise they sell here is the same stuff you can buy at WDW.  OK, truth be told, I wasn't sad about that at all- it saved me a bunch of money.

 

As we shopped, I studied my map, and tried to figure out where the Statue of Liberty Tableau was.  It turns out that is the name of a huge hallway that runs the entire length of Main Street, on the other side of the stores.  If they had this at the MK, it would run all the way from the Fire Station out to the area behind Casey's Corner.  I wish we had one- how nice would that be when Main Street is gridlocked?

 

Here's a sign telling us we were in the Grand Tableaux:

 

 

There's a little diorama in a small room that depicts the unveiling of the Stature of Liberty.  It was too dark in there to take photos, but this sign is right out front of it:

 

 

This is what the big hallway looks like, looking in either direction:

 

 

 

Another sign from that area:

 

 

At around 10:15, we went to find a spot to watch the fireworks.  It was still not completely dark:

 

 

We found a great spot right at the part of Main Street around where Casey's Corner is:

 

 

It is well documented that I stink at taking fireworks pictures, so I am only going to share one. It's an awful photo, but you can see some of the elements they use for this fireworks show:

 

 

The DLP fireworks are like a combination of Wishes, Remember the Magic,  Fantasmic, and World of Color from Disneyland.  They use projections, and fountains, and water screens, and fireworks all to tell a story.  The main narrator is Peter Pan, who speaks English.  For some reason, Wendy, who appears in several scenes speaks French.  I have no explanation for that. 

 

I really liked the fireworks show here.  To me, it's the best fireworks show at any of the Disney parks I've been to.  I liked it better than California Adventure's World of Color, and the use of projections, fountains and water screens made it better than Wishes to me.  That was a great way for us to end our first day here.

 

After the fireworks, we headed back to Davy Crockett's Ranch.  Even though we were leaving at closing, there was almost no traffic.  I guess most of the folks left in the park were staying at the other on-property hotels. 

 

When we got back to the ranch, we had some less than magical dealings with the front desk staff.  But I'll have to tell you about that in the next update, as we have reached the photo limit for this one.

 

TCD

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Wow, sounds like the place was empty. The fireworks show looks like something to see.

 

I've also read about where they went way over the top on constructing the original park, spent way too much money, built way too many hotels, and the crowds have not been what they anticipated ever since, and have been in trouble with money the whole time.

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

The photo of the castle with the sun setting behind it is beautiful.

[red...Susan 37]

It appears that Tokyo is completely different in the way it is run from DLP. It was very Disney and in good condition. Anything not operating was for upgrading.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

As always, you accomplished so much in one day!

[Seals 111]

This is all very interesting.  I think I thought Disney Paris would be more unique and European not just rides from Disneyland and WDW transported as "American" rides/attractions.  I don't know why. I know Walt was American and all. But it also may explain why, from the sound of it, French attendance is not what they thought it would be. Interesting also about how some ride names are in French and others in English with no apparent reason why. Why not Pirates Plage ? Isle d'Adventure? The Statue of Liberty hallway, which makes sense I guess, looks really neat. Reminds me of the exhibit areas under the (actual) Statue of Liberty.

[jmaul 65]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovin the burnt out bulbs.  So Six Flags-esque.

 

 

Glad you had a nice fireworks experience.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I looked at that nice long hallway and imagined how many families could huddle in there during the rain and how many people could sleep there during a 24-hour day.  

 

See?  I am practicing my imagining, just in case.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow, sounds like the place was empty. The fireworks show looks like something to see.

 

I've also read about where they went way over the top on constructing the original park, spent way too much money, built way too many hotels, and the crowds have not been what they anticipated ever since, and have been in trouble with money the whole time.

 

That first night we were there was a Sunday night, and we must have hit it just right to enjoy the low crowds.  It really was a pleasant surprise.

 

I have read similar things to what you have, and I think it's accurate that they spent a lot of money on the original park- probably too much.  It's beautiful, but there was also a lot of pretty obvious deferred maintenance.  The fireworks show was very good, and I imagine that it hasn't been around too long.  But as for the rest of the attractions, I don't know when the last time was that they added a new one to the Disneyland park side.  I think it's been a long. long, time.  They have spent some money recently at the studios side to build the new Ratatouille ride, and that part of the park is nice.  I'll share my thoughts about the rest of that park when we go there, which will be coming up soon.

 

The photo of the castle with the sun setting behind it is beautiful.

 

Thanks.  It was even more beautiful in person.

 

It appears that Tokyo is completely different in the way it is run from DLP. It was very Disney and in good condition. Anything not operating was for upgrading.

 

I haven't been to Tokyo yet, but everything I've heard supports what you're saying.  They have had much more financial success there, and they apparently have reinvested their profits into the parks rather than spent them cooking up schemes to make easy money (like MagicBands).

 

As always, you accomplished so much in one day!

 

We really did.  We stayed at DLP for two nights, and up to this point, we haven't even gone to sleep on the first night.

 

This is all very interesting.  I think I thought Disney Paris would be more unique and European not just rides from Disneyland and WDW transported as "American" rides/attractions.  I don't know why. I know Walt was American and all. But it also may explain why, from the sound of it, French attendance is not what they thought it would be. Interesting also about how some ride names are in French and others in English with no apparent reason why. Why not Pirates Plage ? Isle d'Adventure? The Statue of Liberty hallway, which makes sense I guess, looks really neat. Reminds me of the exhibit areas under the (actual) Statue of Liberty.

 

Good discussion, and very similar to my thoughts.  It seemed to me that they didn't have a clear vision about what this park was supposed to be and who their target audience was.  They spent a lot of money to make some things really different. but to me, it seemed that they did that more just for the sake of being different than to make the attraction more interesting to a European customer.  The feeling I got after the first day was that the target audience was more British people than it was the French.

 

Lovin the burnt out bulbs.  So Six Flags-esque.

 

 

Glad you had a nice fireworks experience.

 

I didn't notice the burnt out lightbulbs, but now I do.  Good observation.  It's been a long time since I've been to a Six Flags park (shout out to Great Adventure!), but I wouldn't say that DLP was that bad.  There were definitely things that were a bit worn and not up to Disney standards, though.

 

I looked at that nice long hallway and imagined how many families could huddle in there during the rain and how many people could sleep there during a 24-hour day.  

 

See?  I am practicing my imagining, just in case.

 

It occurred to me that the hallway was some type of storm shelter.  It sure seemed to be much bigger than necessary for the size of the park.  Something like that would be great at WDW.  They ought to enclose the new area they've been working on at the MK.  It would be nice if that area was enclosed and air conditioned.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Alright, this is going to be a short little update to bring us to the end of Sunday, May 17.  We had left London early that morning, taken the train to Disneyland Paris, and had checked in to our cabin, took a quick look around, and then headed to the park.

 

It was just a bit past 11 when we arrived back at Davy Crockett Ranch.  We got past the mean construction worker at the guard shack, and stopped by the reception area, as DD needed a hairdryer and there wasn't one in the cabin.  I had read a few on-line reviews from people complaining that they had to leave a deposit in order to have a hair dryer or clothes iron in their cabin.  And that's what we had to do.  I had to give them 30 euros so we could borrow one of their crappy hair dryers.  The CM who helped us was nice, though.

 

Another reason we wanted to stop by the reception building on the way in was to use the Wi-Fi.  There is no Wi-Fi in the cabins, but the website said they had Wi-Fi in the public spaces, and I thought this would be one of them.  There is no Wi-Fi in the parks.  For this trip, I had prepaid for a data plan for DD to use, as she was and is in the midst of a big job search, and needed access to her phone.  I figured I could get by with just Wi-Fi, and up to this point in the trip, it had worked fine.  Our hotels in Dublin and London had free Wi-Fi, and I was able to take care of everything I needed to do with that.  While we were in the reception area, we could pick up a couple of locked signals, so we asked the CM which one we could use and what the password was.  She told us there was no Wi-Fi for guests here in the reception, and that we would have to go to the village (where Crockett's Tavern was) to get Wi-Fi.  Oh well, we had a car, so that wasn't too big a deal.

 

In the reception area, DD pointed out this coonskin hat to me, and said I needed to read the inscription:

 

 

Let me zoom in on it and see if you can read it:

 

 

It says that "This fourth 'Coonskin' award is given to Camp Davy Crockett to commemorate its opening on August 1, 1991 from the staff of Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground, Walt Disney World, Florida."

 

Note that the plaque says Camp Davy Crockett opened on August 1, 1991.  That plaque we looked at earlier tells us that DLP didn't open until April 12, 1992:

 

 

I wonder what the first campers at Camp Davy Crockett did when the park hadn't opened yet.

 

The young male CM who had checked me in earlier that day was standing about 5 feet from that coonskin hat when I told him about Fort Wilderness and he told me that he had never heard of it.

 

Note that the original name was Camp Davy Crockett.  Somewhere along the line, they changed the name to Davy Crockett Ranch.  I don't know when or why, as there is nothing in the resort that resembles a ranch.

 

We left the office and headed down to the village area so we could connect to the outside world.  Same deal there, we could only pick up locked signals. There were four of them, so we figured one might be for guests.  The door to Crockett's Tavern was unlocked, so I went in there, and found a table where five or six CM's were sitting around enjoying that their shift was over.  One of them jumped up and asked what the hell I thought I was doing.  Just kidding.  She didn't say that- she just looked like she was going to say it.  I asked her if she could help me with the Wi-Fi.  She told me sorry, but the antenna had been knocked down a while ago because of the construction, and there was no guest Wi-Fi anywhere in the village area. That did not meet my expectations.  I was a bit ticked about it.  The CM up front sent me back here, and apparently, there was no Wi-Fi guests could use anywhere in the entire resort.  I told DD that I was going to go back to the front and ask them to remedy that.

 

She asked me to drop her off at the cabin.

 

So I did.

 

And then I went back to the front.  I don't know where they came from, but there were a dozen people now in line waiting to be helped.  Some of them were checking in.  it was past midnight by now.  Odd.

 

After all of those guests got helped, it was finally my turn.

 

I told the CM that I needed access to Wi-Fi, and that their website said they had it in public places, and I would like to use it S'il vous plaît.  Toot Sweet!  She said sure, go down to the village.  I told her what the CM there told me.  She said she didn't know that.  I told her the CM there had said it was like that for days.  She said something like "they're down there and we're up here."  And that was that.  Next.  I told her she needed to get a manager out here.  She said hold on.  She went in the back for a while. And then came out and told me that the manager couldn't come out, and there was nothing they could do.  I was welcome to go and visit one of their other resorts, or there was free Wi-Fi throughout the Disney Village area next to the parks.   I couldn't believe that the manager wouldn't come out, or that there was nothing they could do.  But that was her final answer.  I thought for a minute about telling her that I wanted to be moved to another resort.  But, it was late, and I just wanted to go to my cabin and get some sleep.  So, that was that.

 

At this point, I was still hoping that I would find a Musket Mickey image somewhere on display, but this is what they used on the display case in the reception area:

 

 

My visit to the office wasn't a total waste of time, though.  When the CM was in the back trying to convince the manager to come out and manage, I got to watch the TV they had behind the counter, and I learned that DLP has a "Stacy."  Here she's called Sophie, and here she is:

 

 

I was happy to find that she was playing non-stop on one of the channels back in the cabin.

 

I wondered if she had made it to Youtube, and it turns out she has:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAynEA0UlpU

 

Check her out and let me know what you think.

 

She did get on my nerves after a while.

 

She's no Stacy, but she's not bad.

 

It's interesting to me that she's obviously a Brit.  More support for my theory that the target customers for DLP are the British.

 

I watched Sophie until I forgot that I was mad about the Wi-Fi, and then I crashed.

 

It was nice and quiet in the cabin, and I got a great night's sleep.

 

Since we were apparently somewhere near the arctic circle, the sun was up very early in the morning.

 

So I got up for a nice walking tour of the grounds before breakfast.

 

You will see what I saw on my early morning stroll next.

 

TCD