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From: tad@Ingres.COM (Tom Drynda)
Date: 17 Jun 93 15:15:16 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.arts.disney
Subject: Finally, the EuroDisney Report (Long - 1350 lines)
EuroDisney Report
=================
Hi there. This is a fairly detailed report of our recent
trip to EuroDisney including a short excursion to Paris.
The report is in three parts :
Part One is a description in chronological order without
detailed descriptions of attractions (unless appropriate). I've
also included any problems we found with travel, etc. here.
Part Two contains the descriptions of the rides, restaurants, and
shops we visited separated into their separate lands.
Part Three contains miscellaneuos items and I've detailed
a few extra topics which I felt needed extra explanation such as
new rides under construction and guide books. A number of people
email'd me specific questions which I endeavoured to answer as
fully as possible. As well as answering these people directly
where possible and applicable, I've included these in Part Three
of the report.
We arranged the trip through the Air-Miles scheme. This
scheme only operates in the UK (I believe) and is a system
whereby you collect Air-Mile vouchers from various purchases and
use them as part or full payment against filghts and
accomodation.
We bought a number of guide books specifically about
EuroDisney (The Official one, and two 'Unofficial' ones). The
most useful one without a doubt was Bob Sehlinger's Unofficial
Guide.
Our trip started on Monday May 31st 1993.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Part One
========
Day 1
-----
Flight
We decided to take the early (0730) flight out of London
Heathrow with British Airways. The whole flight was uneventful
and we landed at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport ahead of
schedule thanks to a following wind.
Coach
The EuroDisney shuttle coach seemed to be the most
sensible way to get from the airport to the resort as it stopped
right outside our hotel. Problem was, we didn't know where to
catch it from. The directions in Sehlinger's guide are very vague
and incomplete. We asked at a tourist information booth in the
Airport and they gave us accurate directions. We also bought our
tickets at the tourist booth for FF75 each one-way which is FF10
more than mentioned in Sehlinger's guide.
The shuttle runs either every 30 minutes or every 45
minutes alternating every day. On Mon, Wed, Thu, Sat the shuttles
run at 30 minute intervals starting at 0730. On the other days,
the shuttles start at 0745. This is from memory, I could be
slightly wrong.
When we got to the shuttle-bus stop, we saw a queue of
about 40 people already waiting. Aparently the previous bus
hadn't turned up, but the next one was due in about 10 minutes,
so we took our place at the end of the queue and waited. And
waited.
The bus-stop at CdG airport is not a very pleasant area
at all. It is very inconvenient and is not really designed to be
a bus stop. It's difficult to describe. From the terminal you
have to cross a fairly quiet service road to get to it and when
you are on the right side of the road the vertical supports
holding up the rest of the airport make queuing difficult and
uncomfortable. Of course, it may have been better if the shuttles
were running on time.
So, finally, after nearly an hour's wait, two coaches
turned up. We were just about the last people to board the first
coach. Boarding took absolutely ages. These people could do with
some training from Disney on how to move people around (that goes
for most of non-Disney France that we visited actually).
You could consider catching the RER train to the
EuroDisney resort. The nearest hotels to the RER station are The
Hotel New York, and The Disneyland Hotel. They are within 4-5
min's walking distance but I wouldn't fancy doing that with a
bunch of heavy luggage on a hot day. The Sequoia Lodge (where we
stayed) is about 8-10 mins walk from the station, and The Newport
Bay Hotel would add another 5 minutes to that. Other hotels are
much further from the RER station. I was not aware of any shuttle
bus to the hotels specifically for passengers arriving via RER.
Hotel
After just under an an hour's coach ride from the
airport, we arrived at our hotel - The Sequoia Lodge.
The Sequioa Lodge is an enormous hotel (by my standards)
built (as the brochure says) in the style of the grand hotels
found in American national parks. Basically it's a seven storey
redwood and stone building with a green copper roof.
There was a small pre-check-in desk just outside the
hotel which we had to register with before officially checking in
at the front desk. Here they give you a small plan of the resort
area showing you the location of the hotels, station, etc. and an
A3 newspaper-style guide to the hotel, events, opening times,
etc..
Checking in turned out to be a real problem. We queued
and waited ... and waited .. and waited. We couldn't really see
what the problem was. It seemed to take ages to get people
checked in. Finally our turn came and we began to realise what
the problem was. The staff behind the desk were undergoing
training and were having a great deal of hassle getting around
the computer check-in system. We asked if we could get a room
upgrade since we were members of the Magic Kingdon Club and this
caused further problems. Fortunately a supervisor was near to
hand and helped solve our problems.
We left the check-in desk only to realise that not only
did we not know where our room was but that there was also no-one
to help with our luggage. This could be a bit of a bummer if you
are travelling alone or you're travelling with people who are not
fully mobile.
When we got to our top-floor room we were pleasantly
surprised to find that it offered a superb view of the lake (Lac
Buena Vista), Festival Disney (more about this later) and the
park in the distance. We could even see the castle !
Unfortunately, we ended up in a smoking room despite having
requested a non-smoking room originally. By this time we were too
exhausted to complain, but once the windows had been open a few
minutes, the room was pleasant and fresh.
The room itself was clean and tidy. The beds were wooden
and very high (my feet only just touched the ground and I'm 6ft).
There is an enormous and solid rocking chair in the room as well
as the usual gear (table, chair, chest of drawers with TV on top,
bedside table, etc.
The beds were very comfortable to sleep in, but after a
standard Disney day I could've slept on broken glass !
After unpacking a little, and resting a little, we
pondered on what to do next. We had thought that since it was now
just about 1pm and the park would be closing at 7pm, it would not
be worth actually going in to the park itself and we would just
have a relaxing wander around the general area to get a feel for
it and see what else there was to offer.
Festival Disney
We exited our hotel and headed for the lake through the
gardens of the hotel. The Sequoia Lodge gardens are well laid out
and peaceful. Mainly conifers and large rocks. Interestingly
enough, all of the tall/mature trees (and there are a significant
number of those throughout the resort) are supported by at least
3 steel cables. This is because the mature trees have been
transplanted here directly and therefore their roots have not
managed to get enough hold on the soil to fully support the tree.
I wonder how long it will take until they can support themselves ?
It's also interesting to note that there are places where the
trees have obviously 'failed to thrive' and are starting to die
or have already been removed. I didn't notice many of those
however.
We started to walk around the lake. The lake itself is
quite large and quite obviously man-made. With our backs to our
hotel, to the left of the lake you could see the marvellous
Newport Bay Hotel with it's miniature lighthouse. The Newport Bay
Hotel looks very ellegant and from it's looks alone I wouldn't
mind staying there next time. To the right of the lake is the
ugliest hotel - the Hotel New York. Blech. Monstrous outside.
Fairly monstrous inside - sepecially that nasty "Mets" logo on
the floor down one of the passages leading away fromn the lobby.
The lake is actually quite pleasant. Some details to look
out for are the maintenance panels on the street-lights and at
the Hotel New York end of the lake there are some Dumbo heads
spouting water into the lake. We passed the Hotel New York on the
way to the rest of the resort and noticed that the ice rink
outside was drained (well, it was approaching mid summer) and in
fairly bad condition - crumbling around the outside and the map
of New York which would be under the ice area was very tatty.
Festival Disney
We passed the Hotel New York, and approached Festival
Disney. This area is marked by the enormous silver and red
vertical columns apparently supporting nothing but a bunch of
wires. These wires are actually supporting small lights, but
during the day they're obviously not switched on. At night, they
look quite good, but the pattern they form is only obvious from
close-up. The enormous columns contain mainly small kiosks
and/or speakers which emit music constantly while Festival Disney
is open (0830 to 0200).
I imagine the idea of Festival Disney is to evoke a party
atmosphere in the way Pleasure Island does at Disney World. It
doesn't quite work out that way though. The architecture does
nothing to help this atmosphere and just emphasises the cold wide
open space.
Festival Disney consists of a number of nightclubs,
restaurants, shops, kiosks, and Buffalo Bills Wild West Show
(more about that later !).
The shops are your average Disney stores slightly themed
but with nothing spectacular inside. I saw nothing there that I
wanted and couldn't get cheaper at my local Disney Store.
Just before the exit to Festival Disney (the DisneyLand
end), to the left there is a large building which contains
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Just in front of this building is
a small corral area where we saw people riding horses around. To
the right is the fifties style cafe called Annette's Diner. This
place had some fifties/sixties cars parked outside. There was
one fifties (?) french car - a Renault I think - that was totally
ugly and out of place in terms of style and elegance (it had
none). We didn't have time to try out this place. It was probably
very expensive.
While at the Buffalo Bill building, we ordered two
tickets for the late show for the following day. With our Magic
Kingdom Club Gold Card, we qualified for an incredible 20%
discount on the total cost of the tickets.
On exiting Festival Disney, we passed the RER Station on
our right. This is in the final stages of completion (or maybe
that's just the way it looked). It's a clear glass and steel
structure with nothing really interesting about it.
Next we passed through a small arch into the gardens of
the DisneyLand Hotel (Fantasia Gardens) and the entrance to the
park. It's here that you'll find your first Hidden Mickey created
by the circular ponds. The Fantasia Gardens are very nicely
arranged and very pleasant to look at and walk through. There are
a number of peaceful areas here where you may want to rest tired
feet.
The DisneyLand Hotel is wonderful to look at and even
better inside (more about that later). It has a marvelous clock
tower - the clock being the biggest Mickey Mouse watch I have
ever seen ! Make sure you see the weather vanes too. We passed
under the hotel on our way to the entrance to the park to get our
3-day passes.
Bank Holiday
We did not intend to enter the park today because we were
under the impression that the park was only open from 0900 to
1900 until the middle of June. We were VERY pleasantly surprised
to find that this Monday was a Bank Holiday in France (as well as
England) and as a result, the park stayed open untl 2300 ! This
had the added advantage that the Main Street Electric Parade
would run and Fireworks would finish the evening. Normally those
two events are only performed at weekends or when the park is
open late.
We purchased three-day passes at FF508 each including our
10% discount for being members of the Magic Kingdom Club. There
are 1, 2, and 3 day, and a one-year passes available. The one-
year pass costs FF990. I really really wanted the one-year pass
but we were on a budget. Bummer. I'm not sure of the prices for
the other passes, but I've included some phone-numbers at the end
of this report that should be able to give you an up-to-date
price as well as a host of other information.
The Park
We entered the Park about 1400, ignoring Sehlinger's guide
(to our peril) and just followed our noses around the park. Of
course we ended up exhausting ourselves !
Rather than give the details of all the rides we visited
here, you can read about them below.
There was some excellent live entertainment in
Adventureland, quite close to the main entrance which itself was
beautiful. The entertainment consisted of a band of four African
musicians playing drums and bells with incredible rythmns and
volume. There was some incredibly embarrassing audience
participation which I really couldn't do justice to here ... you
just had to be there ! Of course it was only embarrassing for the
participants !
The parade at 1600 was very enjoyable. Follow Sehlinger's
instructions on where to watch this from (close to Small World).
We chose to have our evening meal at the Blue Lagoon
restaurant. This is the restaurant you pass when riding the
Pirates of the Carribean. The food was excellent. The fruit
cocktail we drank (obviously non-alcoholic) really hit the spot.
We couldn't face dessert - just couldn't fit it in anywhere ! The
meal was pricey, but with our fabulous Magic Kingdom Club Gold
Card we qualified for a 10% discount.
The Main Street Electric Parade took place at 2015. It
was ... well ... the Main Street Electrical Parade.
The fireworks at 2255 just about concluded our evening
and we wandered back to our hotel for a beer and a well deserved
rest (by this time we'd been awake about 20 hrs).
Day 2
-----
Sehlinger's Guide Saved Us Agony !
We got out early this morning in order to take advantage
of Sehlinger's guide. We decided to follow the Two-Day Touring
Plan A and it did us proud !
We took with us an expensive take-away continental
breakfast from the hotel (two bread rolls, a croissant, some jam,
some butter, and a small carton of orange juiice).
Without going in to too many details, Sehlinger's guide
got us through half the park and attractions with MINIMAL (i.e.
less than 10-15 minutes) standing in line. We finished the first
half of the touring plan by 1115 !
This was great. We decided just to wander slowly about
the park watching everybody else get irate and take in some of
the details that really make Disney more than just a fun-ride
park. We've never had much of an opportunity to do this at a
Disney park before and we really appreciated it this time !
We decided to eat lunch at the Explorer's Club. In all of
the guides it says this is a table-service restaurant. In
Sehlinger's guide it mentioned that due to lack of interest there
was a chance that it may be turned in to a fast food place. When
we got there, it was a fast-food place and it was virtually
empty. We ordered our adequate food and sat in a very nice place
by a waterfall. It was nice and relaxing, but the atmosphere was
totally non-existant. I would advise avoiding this place. It's
only really good point was the fact that it was almost deserted.
Of course, that may have been due to the fact that we ate there
at about 1430 - well past the rush.
Buffalo Bill
We continued wandering about the park, enjoying it
immensely until it closed at 1900. We then made our way towards
Buffalo Bill's Show. You don't get allocated seats until you
enter the building just before the show. I'd advise anyone going
to see this to start queing fairly early as the earlier you get
your seats, the closer to the action you are.
The tables aren't really tables as in a normal
restaurant, but just a bench that can hold about ten people with
a long table in front of you over which you see into the arena.
The tables all overlook the arena and so everyone has a good
view.
We were just about second in the queue, behind a large
family. We got in and were issued with our 'table number' and our
cowboy hats.
The 'table numbers' are coded by colour letter and
number. The lower the number, the closer you are to the action.
The letter defines the sector in your team area in which you will
sit, and the colour defines the team you will support during the
show. The team colours are representative of American ranches.
After being issued with that hats, we passed through to
the extremely large bar having our photo taken officially on the
way. The bar is truly enormous, but fills up quickly. Order a
beer as soon as you get there. You could order a beer in their
souvenier beer glass which is in the shape of a cowboy boot. I
did this (sucker for unique souveniers). You can also order
cocktails here.
If you want to order wine with your meal, you have to go
to a smaller bar that you pass on the way in before you get to
the main bar.
Pre-show entertainment and cowboy training takes place
before the arena is loaded. The entertainment we had was the band
currently appearing at Billy Bob's Country and Western Nightclub
(which is in Festival Disney). They played a number of country
and western songs and took us through "How a cowboy cheers"
(lifting your "chapeau" off your head, waving it in the air and
shouting YAAAAHOOOOOOOOOO at the top of your voice) and a host of
other fun-type things. This is good fun and really set us up for
the show.
The loading of the stadium takes place a colour at a
time. The colours are green, red, yellow, and blue. Our colour
(green) was the last to load. This is where our problem started.
The family in front of us had ordered tickets for all of the
adult members but not for the three children under three years
old. This is fine according to the rules, but when they came to
take their place at the table, the children all took up an adult
place each including cutlery etc.. This meant that we had to be
re-seated out of our prime seats ! The head waitress in our area
asked to see that families tickets, but the family claimed to
have "lost" the children's ones. Yeah sure. Oh well, we took it
calmly, hoped they'd choke on their food and/or get dirt kicked
up in their faces from the horses hooves and took our re-seated
seats right up at the highest point in the arena. As it turned
out, we did have an excellent view and weren't too far from the
action. We did however sit at a very boring table with people who
either didn't understand the languages (French, and English) or
just were too boring to join in the fun and games. It was just
the two of us wearing and waving our hats and whooping it up on a
table of about 12. We didn't care. We had a great time.
I don't really want to spoil the fun of Buffalo Bill's
Wild West Show, but just let me say the food was very good, the
beer was as much as you could drink (whenever the staff came
'round to your table with their pitchers) and the entertainment
was funny, exciting, and in short it was one of the best
evening's out I've had in a very long time. Do not miss this. DO
NOT MISS THIS ON ANY ACCOUNT !
I have never seen the Hoop De Doo Review, so I'm not sure
if it bears any resemblance to this show.
Day 3
-----
Paris
After that late evening at Buffalo Bill's, we decided not
to get up to early. This was the day we decided to go into Paris.
We read through a few guide books and it seemed easy
enough. Just to be sure we went to the Maison Tourisme in Fantasy
Disney. Here we were told which ticket to get (Formula1) and a
map of the metro and train lines.
Travelling in to Paris took about 50 minutes. We decided
to go to the west of Paris first and head East visiting the
Eiffel Tour first, followed by the Louvre, Pont Neuf and Notre-
Dame, the Pompidou Centre, the Bastille, and finally back to
EuroDisney.
Eiffel Tower
Our plans were scuppered by the fact that it took us
about two hours to get into the Eiffel Tower ! Only one ticket
booth was open and only one lift was working. Apparently, they
are modifying the ticketing operation at the moment. I suppose we
could've taken the stairs up to the top but that's not for the
faint-hearted or lazy ! I was glad we opted for the lift once I
saw how many stairs there were to climb ! The view from the top
was amazing and enabled us to get our bearings a bit better.
Mistake in Sehlinger's guide
There is a mistake in Sehlinger's guide which you should
know about if you intend to travel to the Eiffel Tower. The guide
says to take the RER A-Line to Porte Maillot. As far as we could
make out from the maps, Porte Maillot doesn't exist on the RER
A-Line and it would be a damned awkward way to get to the Eiffel
Tower if it did ! Far easier to take the RER A-Line to Ch. de
Gaulle-Etoille, and change there into the metro line 6 (green)
and head south to Bir Hakeim. Exit the station at the end where a
sign mentions the Eiffel Tower, and keeping the river to your
left walk for about 10 minutes until you come across the Eiffel
Tower You can't exactly miss it !
Because of the time it took to get up and down the tower,
we decided to cut out the Pompidou Centre, and the Bastille and
leave them for another day.
The Louvre
The Louvre was another place we spent a long time in. You
really need a couple of days to see it all. We ended up just
looking at the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and whatever else
took our fancy until our feet could stand it no more. The Louvre
is a very impressive place and the renovation is not yet
complete.
Notre-Dame
A welcome sight after a hard days walking. A very
impressive place. We approached Notre-Dame early evening, but it
was still light enough to see the architectural detail and enjoy
the stained glass windows inside.
Cost of Travel
We purchased the "Formule 1" travel tickets at the
Chessy-Marne le Vallee (EuroDisney) station. These tickets enable
you to travel anywhere within Paris and out to EuroDisney without
paying any extra. If I remember correctly, they cost FF85 each
(Sehlinger's guide says they cost FF75 each) for adults.
Day 4 - Our last day .. <sob>
-----------------------------
We spent the morning following Sehlinger's Two-Day Plan A
and again finished early and happy. This was the time to start
checking out all of the places we hadn't eaten at in a bit more
detail. We also wanted to take a longer look at Main Street and
check out some of those names in the upstairs windows. More
detail on those below.
Walt's
One restaurant we had been meaning to check out since the
first day (actually since first reading about it) was Walt's on
Main Street. This is described as having Disney Memorabilia
around the walls, etc.. OK, being serious Disneyphiles, we just
had to take a look around.
We talked to the woman at the front desk and asked her
about reservations. She said that they were not required and you
should turn up when you wanted to eat. We then asked if we could
just have a look around. She said we could and we entered.
The restaurant is L shaped with the entrance being on the
corner. One side of the restaurant runs along main street and the
other along a side-street. There are two floors in the restaurant
(ground and upstairs). The ground-floor rooms are just elegant
rooms surrounded by Disney memorabilia. The upstairs rooms have
separate themes linked to the different lands. Some rooms have
separate tables catering for couples or families. Other rooms
have just a single banqueting table clearly catering for large
parties (conference guests, VIP's, etc..).
When you enter the restaurant the whole feel of the place
seems to be that of a luxury appartment or hotel (or maybe even
restaurant !) in Paris at the turn of the century.
The entrance lobby is quite interesting, containing hand
carved wooden furniture and nice stained glass. To the left is
what I'd imagine is the Maitre d's desk which is interesting in
itself. It has one of those spring-loaded message-passing
systems. For the technical persons among you, this is the system
where you plonk the message in a box, yank a handle, and the box
containing the message whangs up through the ceiling to the
upstairs desk and vice-versa. The message-whanging system is very
ornate in heavy scrolled brass.
Incidentally, for Disneyphiles only, the address of the
restaurant his the same address of the workshops in Glendale,
California (1401 Flower Street). Flower Street is a side turning
off Main Street. According to the official guide book, the logo
with the initials W.D. appearing on the gas lamps, some
furniture, and windows was designed for the balcony of Walt's
appartment in Disneyland.
Ahead of you are the lift and the stairs. The lift is
what really gives the impression of a turn-of-the-century Paris
interior. It is constructed (or appears to be constructed) in
ornate black cast iron scroll work with multi-coloured
stained-glass windows. The lift is fully functional but we didn't
use it.
The upstairs rooms are themed, as mentioned before, to
coincide with the various lands in the park. The rooms have to be
seen to be believed. I will not describe them fully here as I
wouldn't be able to do them justice. However, they are as
follows :
- A gothic style room represents Fantasyland.
- An Edwardian style library represents Frontierland and
is supposed to be a library in a western mansion. A
number of indian/cowboy-on-a-horse sculptures can be
seen to enforce this.
- One corner of a large room is draped as though in a
fine Arabian tent and is clearly supposed to represent
Adventureland.
- Our favourite room (and probably the most detailed) was
Captain Nemo's room. See this. I cannot describe it.
This represents Discoveryland.
You get quite a good view of Main Street from upstairs at
Walt's.
We tried to check out all of the other restaurants but
didn't have time. Descriptions of the ones we saw are in Part
Two.
We also had a good long look at Main Street to try to
take in the detail in the upstairs windows, etc. An impossible
task to do completely. There were so many familiar names in the
windows that it would've taken precious time and expensive filem
to phtograph them all. Let's just say that ALL the names were
there with appropriate descriptions of their 'jobs'. We took some
time to listen to the strange noises that came out of some of
these windows too - particularly the dentists in the Town
Square.
Disneyland Hotel
Finally we left the park. Sad. Before making our way
home, we wandered through the Disneyland Hotel. Now this is how I
expected our hotel to be. Loads of staff to cater for your every
need ! The entrance lobby is elegant, spacious, and well kept.
Walk up the stairs to the Main Street Lounge for a great relaxing
view of Main Street (unfortunately, the area closest to the
windows was closed off). The Inventions Restaurant looks superb,
and the shops seem better stocked. This is where we want to stay
next time. Damned pricey though.
Coach
It was time to head back to the hotel, pick up our
luggage, and catch the coach to the airport. The coach was
reasonably on time (less than 5 minutes late). The journey back
to the airport was uneventful.
Flight Home
The flight home was smooth, but we landed with a heck of
a bump. Back to reality in more ways than one.
Conclusion
----------
EuroDisney has had it's bad press. It is certainly over
priced by a LONG way ! If you are staying on site and have no
transport then you are basically forced to eat and drink at the
resort. They've got you cornered. Having said that, I'd go back
at the drop of a hat. The park is excellent, and we found the
cast helpful and friendly.
We are not fluent French speakers, but language was
certainly not a problem. We found that if you tried to speak in
French to a cast member, they would assume you were French and
rattle off at ten to the dozen in French ! We got wise, and gave
up our attempts at advanced linguistics. Paris, of course, is
exactly the opposite in that respect.
There is a lot of construction still going on and we
counted three new rides scheduled to be opened this summer (more
on that in Part Three). The EuroDisney project is planned until
2017 and probably later. The park will be changing and growing
from year to year.
In my opinion, EuroDisney is a success, and will continue
to be quality entertainment for the forseeable future.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Part Two
========
Main Street, USA
Attractions
Main Street Station
Nothing special, but nice detail in the
EuroDisney Railroad logos.
EuroDisneyland Railroad
Very leisurely journey around the park.
Unfortunately crossing a number of
service roads and places where
construction is going on thus diminishing
some Disney magic for the sensitive
people in your party. Some interesting
views of behind-the-scenes Disney and
construction for the Disneyphiles in your
party.
Horse-Drawn Streetcar, and Main Street Vehicles
Leisurely journies up and down Man St..
Discovery Arcade and Liberty Arcade
Back entrance to shops and restaurants in
Main St.. Very pleasant turn of the
century style interiors with gas lamps
and lots of interesting displays of
inventions and curios of both American
and French (but mainly American) origin.
Main Street Motors
Nice old cars which you can apparently
actually buy (if you have your AmEx Gold
Card with you presumably). A number of
auto-oriented Disney/Mickey memorabilia
for sale.
Restaurants
The Ice Cream Co.
Didn't get a chance to try this place.
The Coffee Grinder
Didn't get a chance to try this place.
Market House Deli
Didn't get a chance to try this place.
Walt's - an American Restaurant
W O W ! ! !
Cable Car Bake Shop
Didn't get a chance to try this place.
Cookie Kitchen
Basic Cookie shop selling incredibly
over-priced cookies (FF9 each - that
makes it over a pound sterling for a
single biscuit !)
Casey's Corner
Didn't get a chance to try this place.
The Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlour
Didn't get a chance to try this place.
Victoria's Home-Style Cooking
Didn't get a chance to try this place.
While standing outside this place, you
should check out the noises apparently
emanating from an upstairs window !
Plaza Gardens Restaurant
Very nicely detailed and clean.
Apparently good food, but we didn't get a
chance to try it out.
Shops
Plaza West and East Boutiques
Basic Disney Merchandise.
The Storybook Store
Mainly childrens books. Also videos and
stationery items. Don't forget to look up
when you go into this shop - you're in
for a treat !
Ribbons and Bows Hat Shop
Hat shop. Also sells Mickey-ears and they
can sew your name into them too.
Town Square Photography/Silhouette Artist
Where to get all your photographic needs.
The silhouette artists were never busy.
Boardwalk Candy Palace
Interesting displays. Loads of stuff to
make the kids (and the adults) sick.
Emporium
Didn't get a chance to try this place.
Harmony Barber Shop
Didn't get a chance to try this place,
but no sign of any singing when we passed
by.
Disney Clothiers, Ltd.
Didn't get a chance to try this place.
Harrington's Fine China and Porcelains
Mainly figurines and usual Disney
merchandise.
Disnyana Collectibles
Some collectibles, but never much more
than you could get in a good Disney
Store. The only original collectibles I
saw were some ED badges each with one of
the lands on and some 1992 commemorative
items (I guess they made too many ?).
Disney & Co./Glass Fantasies
Usual small glass-blown items and
engravings.
Newsstand
Didn't get a chance to try this place.
Frontierland
Attractions
Rustler Roundup Shootin' Gallery
Fun shootin' ! Don't know if it's exactly
the same as in other Disney parks. It was
a fun relaxing thing to do when we'd
finished Sehlinger's tour and were in
"Explore Mode". All human exclamations
are in English.
Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing
The place to pick up the River Boat
(paddle boat). The commentary is mainly
in French with occasional English
translations. The commentary doesn't mix
too well with the taped English sections
which I think are probably generic to the
riverboat cruises in all parks.
Phantom Manor
A favourite of mine and it didn't let me
down. The cast really get into the
pre-show part early on in the day when
not busy (thankyou Sehlinger) and they do
a really good job of spooking the kids.
Later on in the day they are just
concerned with getting people through as
quickly as possible.
Hang back when you exit the 'lift' to
check the detail in the changing
pictures, etc..
All comentary is in French. All songs are
in English. Leslie Neilson still lives as
one of the Grim Grinning Ghosts.
At the end of the ride when you pass by
the mirrors, a ghoul peers over the top
of your buggy with its arms around the
buggy. I think that may be different to
the others. My memory of the American
parks is vague, but I seem to recall you
seeing yourself sitting next to another
ghoul, or see yourselves 'replaced' by
two ghouls.
Apart from that - it's very very similar
to the rides in the American parks. The
surrounding area has grave stones with
epitaphs in both French and English.
Interestingly enough, when the ride
stops, the message "... spooks have got
into the machinery..." is played in both
languages. Safety I suppose.
Grand Canyon Diorama
Yawn.
You pass through this on the Euro-
Disneyland Railroad.
Big Thunder Mountain
Yeeeehar ! This is probably the best ride
in the land (next to Star Tours) in my
opinion. It's mainly similar to the other
BTM's, but has a lot more black-out areas
than I remember in the others.
River Rogue Keelboats
Slow ride around the 'river'. The guides on
this ride are multilingual and will speak
in French, English, German and probably
others depending on the majority in the
boat.
Indian Canoes
A fairly interesting ride. You get to see
ducks and swans and all sorts. Not to
mention the Indian camps. Best of all,
you get to acually do the work (with your
team). The cast seemed to love this ride
and spent a lot of time just horsing
around and entertaining us. Commentary is
as in the River Rogue Keelboats.
Cottonwood Creek Ranch/Critter Corral
Here's a good place to relax out of the
way of the crowds. They have a number of
basic farm animals here which you can
peruse at your leisure. Right next to the
Frontierland Depot where we (and
Sehlinger) reccomend you catch the train
from rather than Main St. Station.
Frontierland Depot
THE place in the park to catch the train
from. Put it this way. We caught the
train here and were second in a queue of
about ten people. Compare this to when we
passed the Main St. Station. Well the
queue there was trailing down into the
town square. We just couldn't believe how
many people were willing to wast the best
part of an hour waiting for the train.
Heck ! I don't even do that on my way
home from work !
Restaurants
The Lucky Nugget Saloon
Great entertainment in the style of an
old western saloon. There is some
audience participation and the food is
substantial. The show is bi-lingual. Some
parts are in other languages too.
The Last Chance Cafe
Didn't get a chance to try this one.
Silver Spur Steakhouse
Didn't get a chance to try this one.
Fuente del Oro Restaurante
Didn't get a chance to try this one.
Cowboy Cookout Barbeque
There is live entertainment here in the
form of a Country and Western band who
play a number of times a day. It's a
fast-food restaurant and you can sit
inside the cavernous barn or outside. The
band played outside while we were there.
Shops
Thunder Mesa Mercantile Building
Tobias Norton & Sons Frontier Trading
Bonanza Outfitters
Eureka Mining Supplieas and Assay Office
Most of the above sell cowboy style
items. None were really unique.
Pueblo Trading Post
Sells mainly Whinnie the Pooh items.
Quite a few things I hadn't seen in our
local Disney Stores.
Woodcarvers Workshop
They sell your name in wood and other
small carvings.
Adventureland
Attractions
Adventure Isle
You really can get lost in the maze of
twisty little passages - all alike !
There's also a rope bridge, a barrel
bridge, and not a lot else. Fun though.
Set the kids loose here and go and relax.
La Cabane des Robinson
This is basically the same as in the
other parks. Be aware, however, of the
excellent views of the park and the
castle you can get from various places in
the tree. Signs are either in French, or
French and English.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Cool. We rode this countless times (about
8 actually). Rarely having to queue more
than 30 mins.. Usually queuing less than
15 mins.. An excellent ride - better than
at any of the other parks. The
animatronics are smooth and very life-
like. There is a significant difference
between this ride and the ride in other
parks too. It seems longer and more
detailed.
The walk down to the boats (normally the
queue !) is interesting and switches and
turns enough to confuse the heck out of
you.
All the songs are in English (American)
and all the dialogue between the pirates
is in French. All of the signs are also
in French.
Just before you disembark, the skull and
cross-bones above your head speaks in
several different languages telling you
to "stay in your boats me hearties" etc.
Restaurants
Explorers Club
One of the guides we read (not Sehlinger)
said that this was a really romantic and
quiet table service restaurant. Sehlinger
said that this was the case at the time
of publishing, but that it may shortly be
turned into a fast-food place. When we
got there it was a fast food place.
Fairly empty. Small portions. Pricey. A
bit of a disappointment really if it
weren't for the pleasant water-fall
setting.
Blue Lagoon Restaurant
A really nice place to eat in a quiet
romantic setting. Reminded me of the
Moroccan restaurant in Epcot. The Pirates
of the Caribbean boats float by as you
enjoy your meal under a deep blue 'sky'
and in tropical surroundings. Service was
excellent, food was good.
Aux Epices Enchantees Restaurant
We didn't try this one, but it looked
good - mud style huts and plenty of
out-door dining areas. Check out the
interior of the restaurant.
Cafe de la Brousse
Didn't have time to see this one.
Captain Hooks Galley
Didn't have time to see this one.
Shops
Adventureland Bazar
A nice place to wander around. Pricey
gifts. Fascinating interiors. Lots to
see.
La Giraffe Curieuse
A pretty dull shop with a giraffe's head
poking through the interior.
La Reine des Serpents
Les Tresors de Scheherazade
North African style gifts.
L'Echoppe d'Aladdin
Aladdin merchandise. Strange since
Aladdin hasn't been released in Europe at
the time of writing.
Le Chant des Tam-Tams
Average shop.
Trader Sam's Jungle Boutique
Average shop.
Le Coffre du Capitaine
Sells loads of pirate gear.
Fantasyland
Attractions
Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant
Excellent castle. We weren't sure whether
some of those tiles on the roof
constituted Hidden Mickeys. There is a
story inside which is well worth seeing
if only for the tapestries and stained
glass windows.
La Taniere du Dragon
No other Disney park has this. It's worth
seeing if only for the reactions of the
kids watching it. This is basically the
Dragin's lair. The dragon sleeps
peacefully next to his pool with the
occasional snort of smoke. Then his tail
twitches, more smoke and he begins to
awake... then you realise his chain is
broken ! Loved it.
Le Theatre du Chateau
Small shows are performed here. We saw
Mikey's Magic Book. Basically the Snow
White story. The Magic book is enormous
and as each stage of the story unfolds,
so do the pages of the book with
pop-up scenery.
Blanche-Neighe et leas sept Nains
Snow white's ride. Very fast. Too fast.
Over in a jiffy. Shame.
Les Voyages de Pinocchio
Pinnocchio's ride. Very fast. Too fast.
Over in a jiffy. Shame.
Le Carrousel de Lancelot
An enormous carousel. We didn't try this
one.
Excalibur
Sword in the stone.
It's a Small World
Small World. Seen it too many times.
After exiting the ride, try to avoid the
extra show afterwards which is something
to do with French television or
telecomm's. Tedious.
Fantasyland Station
A fairly normal station. Nothing
outstanding. It's above the Fantasy
Festival Stage.
Fantasy Festival Stage
Song and dance shows performed here.
Songs seem to be mainly in French, the
rest are in English. We saw an excellent
show here and it's a good place to meet
Mickey and the whoever else is in the
show (Donald, Cowboy-Goofy, Donald, Pluto
were some we saw) before the show because
the crowds seemed to be generally light.
Alice's Curious Labyrinth
A hedge maze. The hedge is filled with
tiny blue lights. The maze has become
fairly badly damaged over time. Some of
the surprises did not work (The Queen of
Hearts did not spring out and shout "Off
with her head" too well) and much of the
mechanics behind these surprises is
totally visible due to the hedge wearing
thin. An attraction for the younger ones
really. This is also the place where the
"jumping water fountains" are - where the
water appears to jump from place to
place. Good to watch and relax.
Mad Hatter's Tea Cups
This was a first for me. I enjoyed it but
wouldn't fight to go on it again. This
ride is covered by a large circus-tent
style roof unlike in the other parks.
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Didn't get time to try this one. Looks
pretty much the same as the Dumbo rides
in other parks.
Peter Pan's Flight
Same as usual. I suspect the galleons in
which you ride may have been different,
but memory fails me as to exactly where.
Restaurants
Au Chalet de la Marionnette Restaurant
Pinocchio's restaurant. Pleasant
interior. Note the Figaro character
leaning agains the "Exit" sign inside at
one of the entrance's/exit's. This is
fairly significant to serious
Disneyphile's !
Auberge de Cendrillon
A table service restaurant. We didn't try
this one, but had a good look around.
Spacious and apparently very high
quality. In the courtyard you can see the
wishing well and Cinderella's coach. The
courtyard here is an excellent quiet
place to sit and relax a while (so long
as nobody is eating there and the
restaurant is not busy). You can look
over the wishing well and onto the rear
of Le Theatre du Chateau and watch Mickey
in his Fantasia outfit and other
characters come out of the dressing room
just before apopearing on stage there.
Give him a shout and he'll wave at you
(well, he did for us !).
Pizzeria Bella Notte
Marvellously detailed interior containing
one Hidden Mickey. Order a Mickey Mouse
Pizza just for the hell of it. Don't
forget to look at the tray liner - it's
quite funny. Have a look at the outside
of the restaurant - specifically the mina
entrance. Is it level ?
Fantasia Gelati
Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. While the ice creams
are very nice, they are over priced at
FF20 (approx 2.50 pouinds sterling).
March Hare Refreshments
Sells drinks and Un-birthday cakes which
are slightly larger than cup-cakes and
look as sweet and sickly as heck !
The Old Mill
This was undergoing some sort of refit
when we were there. Basically a windmill
with 'buckets' at the rear in which you
can ride. Also sells french bread
sandwiches ("Sub's" to the Americans I
believe).
Toad Hall Restaurant
Another excellent interior matched with a
superb exterior. Check out the wall paper
among other things inside. Outside,
notice the detail in the chimneys and the
weather vanes. Sells fish and chips.
Shops
Merlin l'Enchanteur
A fascinating shop to browse through. You
can get through to the Dragon's lair from
here.
La Boutique du Chateau
The Christmas shop.
La Confiserie des Trois Fees
The sweet shop. Notice the three good
fairies behind the counter. How do they
do that ?!
La Chaumiere des Sept Nains
Sells mainly Seven Dwarf merchandise, and
some jewelery.
La Bottega di Gepetto
Lot's of nice cuckoo clocks, puppets and
hand carved toys around the shelves of
the shop but you can't buy these, and
there's not much else to buy there
really.
Le Brave Petit Tailleur
Didn't get time to see this one.
Sir Mickey's
Nice giant vegetable patch outside this
shop.
La Menagerie du Royaume
Furry animals and medieval style
characters.
La Petit maison des Jouets
Information and currency exchange.
Discoveryland
Attractions
Le Visionarium
Circle-Vision 360. A new film made
especially for EuroDisneyland. The
preshow is conducted in French, but there
are running subtitles in other languages.
The film is hosted by an android and in
the 360 theatre you can listen to the
show through headphones in four different
languages (English, Italian, German, and
something else). The film is quite
entertaining.
Videopolis
Large indoor stage showing Beuty and the
Beast in French. The show is filmed live
and replayed on large multi-screen video
monitors either side of the stage with
some video effects to enhance the
production.
The production is totally in French, but
we recognised the songs. There is a fast-
food restaurant in here (Cafe Hyperion)
as well. You can order your food and take
it with you to your table to watch the
show.
At the main entrance to the Videopolis
you can see the giant Hyperion air-ship.
Nice detail.
Orbitron
A carousel-type ride where you can "pilot
your own rocket ship" (i.e. make it go up
and down). We didn;t try this one.
Autopia
Yawn. We didn't try this one.
Star Tours
Yeehar ! If you've seen Star Tours before
then you're not in for much of a
surprise ... except for C3P0 speaking in
French ! R2D2 was mulitlingual. The
entrance to the ride was a little shabby.
It felt like you were just walking in to
a warehouse. Reality did not get
suspended for quite a while into the
pre-show. The other androids alternate
between French and English. The trevelog
narration also alternates between French
and English.
The video you are shown just before you
enter your Starspeeder 3000 is all in
French. You can see where they've spliced
in the French announcer - quite awkward
really.
The whole of the StarTours ride is
conducted in French.
I still didn't get to see the giant
microscope.
CineMagique
Captaine EO. Avoid (in my opinion).
Restaurants
Cafe des Visionnaires
Didn't get to see this one, though
apparently you can get excellent views of
the parades an Fantasyland.
Cafe Hyperion
A fast food restarant inside the
Videopolis.
Shops
Constellations
Interesting interior. Sells Star Wars
figures etc..
Star Traders
Has a big 'radar' dish on the top. The
roof of this was still being worked on
while we were there. We got a good view
of the construction as we passed by in
the EuroDisneyland Train.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Part Three
==========
Rides Under Contruction
-----------------------
We saw at least three rides being constructed, two of
which were going to be opened in the summer of 1993 :
Temple du Terror
- Looks like a really hot roller-coaster ride.
Never seen anything like this at the other
Disney parks before. Looks like it's based
around a ruined Aztec Temple. Perhaps based
around Jungle Book ?
Bonanza
- Just saw the sign saying Bonanza opening 1993.
No ideas at all what this one's about, but saw
plenty of evidence of heavy earth-moving, and
construction from the EuroDisneyland Train.
Unnamed
- Something in discovery land. Couldn't really
see much of this one. No notices anywhere.
Miscellaneous
-------------
I'll try to scan in the following items and deposit them
in alt.binaries.pictures.misc if I have time. Please don't email
me for these scans unless you really really REALLY can't get them
from there or anywhere else - I found it difficult enough to find
time to type in this report ! Hopefully, some kind soul may
transfer them to an archive site eventually.
- Passport Card
- Resort Map
- Figaro Picture with Exit Sign.
- Picture of the Castle
Guide Books
-----------
In England there are (at the time of this report) at
least six books claiming to give you the low-down on the resort.
I found that only two were really required, and if I had to make
the choice between those it would be Sehlinger's Unofficial
Guide. Sehlinger's guide proved worth it's weight in gold if only
for the touring plans and other travel advice.
EuroDisney Resort - Paris - The Guide
Harmsworth Magazines
ISBN 0-85144-671-X
The Official Guide. Useful but may be slightly
out of date. Plenty of useful phone numbers and travel
details. I'd reccomend this book for information
purposes.
The Unofficial Guide to Eurodisneyland
Bob Sehlinger
Prentice Hall Travel
ISBN 0-671-84759-7
The best guide by far. Save your legs and buy
this. I don't have shares in the company and I'm not
profiting from this in any way but I wish I did !
Questions Answered ... Probably !
---------------------------------
Brooks Haderlie (brh54@cas.org) asked :
- What language(s) is used on the signs, in the reading
material, etc.?
Mainly French. "Sortie" instead of "Exit" for
example. There are surprisingly few signs that
need translation. Menu's outside restaurants are
in French and English. All other reading material
(guide booklets, etc..) is available in many
many languages.
- Do they have videos in the gift shops in German,
French, Spanish, Italian, etc.?
Yes.
Lori McDowell (mcdowell@hope.cit.hope.edu) asked :
- I'd really like to hear a detailled account of what
Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion) is like at EuroDisney.
I've described the main differences above.
Someone asked :
- How does one get there from Paris?
The EuroDisney guide books (see above) describe
this far better than I could. It is very very
easy.
Jesse asked :
- What castle is there ?
Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant. Sleeping
Beuty's Castle. It's wonderful.
Robert R. Kessler (kessler@cons.cs.utah.edu) asked :
- We'll be staying at the Sequoia Lodge ... general
information required.
Bob, I hope the above report has been useful to
you. We actually stayed at the Sequoia Lodge (not
the Hotel New York as I mentioned in a post to
internet asking if anyone had questions about
ED). You WILL enjoy your stay ! That's an order !
-----------------------------------------------------------------
(c)1993 Tom Drynda.
_ _
(_)_(_) Tom Drynda - tad@ingres.com | Ingres (UK) Ltd.,
' ~~` DisneyWorld [Y] | 15-19 Britten Street,
(._.) DisneyLand [Y] ()_() | London, SW3 3TY
(_) EuroDisney [Y] (_) | England.
`---' Tokyo DisneyLand [N] | +44-71-416 7770 ext 411