home > Disneyland Paris > Trip Reports > Fall 2015 Day 3
September 29, 2015 - Day 3 - Walt Disney Studios Park & Hotel New York

Slept in this morning till 7am.  Then went to breakfast in the Golden Forest Lounge and roamed around the hotel for a while.  Next we made our way next door to the Hotel New York for a look around then headed to the Walt Disney Studios Park for its 10am opening.  Wandered through the park and queued up for Ratatouille a few minutes before the park opened.   Waited about 15 minutes for a ride then walked through Toy Story Land and over to the Backlot Tour.   Took in a showing of Animagique then walked through the Animation Gallery and building and then went for a spin on the Cars Quatre Roues Rallye before heading to Remy’s for lunch.   After lunch caught the Motuers.. Action! Show and then Armageddon before taking in CineMagique.   After the show walked back to Ratatouille and used the single rider line.   Then roamed around the park a  bit before returning to Studio One.  It was around 5pm so headed for Disneyland since this park was closing at 6.  Hiked out to the BBQ Cookout and found out it closed at 5:00.  So returned to Main Street USA to catch the parade again then returned to Frontierland and ate dinner at the Lucky Nugget.  After dinner strolled to Fantasyland and went for a flight on Dumbo and paid Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs a visit.  Fantasyland was closing so returned to Main Street USA and finished up my photo set of the pumpkins then some attraction posters on the way out.   Made my way back to the room to call it an early evening and prepare for tomorrow. A full day of sightseeing lined up.

Thoughts & Observations
  • Today we were going to visit our last Disney Park.. the Walt Disney Studios Park.   It did not open till 10am so I could sleep in.  Which for me translated to 7am!   Then it was off to breakfast and since the sun was up and it was in the 50s this morning I roamed around the hotel grounds a bit.  Stopped by the pool and gym area.  It was a nice indoor pool.  The water slide was closed for renovation though.  I did not go in but the water looked warm.  As I walked I realized that if you were not in the main building you could have a good hike from your room to the lobby.  The hotel went quite a ways.
  • After Breakfast we still had time and stopped by Disney’s Hotel New York on the way to the park.   Roamed around the lobby and common guest areas on the first floor.  Overall I was not very impressed with it.  I actually thought the atmosphere at the Lodge was a lot more refined and relaxed.  The New York was much more noisy and busy, I guess just like New York.  From the outside the hotel was rather plain too.  Balconies appear not to be a thing here in France with almost all rooms not having one at any of the hotels.
  • We arrived at the Walt Disney Studios Park just before the 10am opening and they were letting guests in already.   So I entered my 11th and final Disney park.  Very happy to have completed my goal of visiting all 11.
  • I had set a very low bar for the Studios park after reading about it online.   On a first glance the park is not all bad.. it is just awkward and feels “cheap” in parts.     By awkward I mean the layout is different than most Disney parks.  The indoor Studio 1 entrance which is sort of the Main Street does not really feel like one and when you step into the main part of the park it feels small and disorganized to me.  By “cheap” I guess  I mean flat and lacking detail in many areas.  It had some of that Disney California Adventure 1.0 feel to it.   Hard to believe that within a year Disney opened DCA, this park and Disney Sea.. out of the three cousins DisneySea is lightyears ahead of the other two in terms of detail, immersion, and atmosphere.  DCA has been “fixed”.  Wonder when or if they will do a massive overhaul to this park? 
  • One area of the park that does feel more immersive and has more details than other is the new Ratatouille space.  This consists of the attraction, restaurant, restrooms, and gift shop and was my first destination this morning.  Since we were there right before opening we queued up for what we assumed would be a short wait.  It turned out to be a very slow moving 20 minute experience to get onto the attraction and we should have used our hotel FastPasses.
  • I was much more impressed with Ratatouille than I thought I was going to be.  The description and videos I had seen online really did not do it justice.  The integration of vehicle movement with the large format 3D film clips was really well done.  They pushed the trackless ride vehicles more than Mystic Manor did in terms of movement but I thought Mystic Manor utilized the variable paths better. I went on several times over the trip and with only slight variations in course it really felt like the same experience.  Whereas Mystic Manor you could see different things depending on the car.
  • Next up the Studio Tram Tour.  Much like its now closed cousin in Orlando this was disappointing. A lot of driving and not a lot to see or learn. 
  • Queued up for Animagique next.  This was a different Disney Character show experience utilizing black lights and characters.  Still not sure what I thought  of it beyond different.
  • There was no wait so I decided to go on the Cars Quatre Roues Rallye which is sort of a Lady Bug Boogie type of attraction but you sit in Cars instead.  It was an very tight fit and definitely geared toward smaller/younger guests. 
  • We at lunch at Bistrot Chez Remy.  We grabbed a reservation earlier in the morning before leaving the hotel and it was really not needed.   Again we were limited to the prix fix menu and no changes.  I ordered the beef which came with fries so I was ok.  The food was not bad.. it was not great and was expensive but it was lunch and filled me up.
  • After lunch headed for Moteurs… Action! To see how the original is compared to the one in Orlando.  It was just as slow moving and adding to this was the fact they had to do it in two languages.. English and French so everything took even longer.  There were some tweaks to the show in terms of stunts.  For example less jumps, more motorcylces, the burning suit is lit with a lighter vs sliding through fire, no watercraft, they used an adult instead of a child for the remote control car and no high fall all jumped out to me.
  • Armageddon: les Effets Speciaux was next since it was located near the show.   This felt extremely dated to me and in need of an update.  The fire effects were extremely well done and interesting but on the whole the show seemed slow and old to.
  • CineMagique features Martin Short in several classic Hollywood films.  I thought this was extremely well done and interesting. It ran a bit long but was entertaining.
  • Why do they not include restaurant hours and days of operations in the weekly time schedule?  It would save a lot of steps and be extremely helpful!   I thought the BBQ closed at 5:30pm so I headed back to Disneyland and out there for dinner only to find it closed at 5:00pm today!
  • Since I missed dinner while re-grouping I watched the Disney Magic on Parade again this time from Town Square.  Knowing the “rules” a little more I was more aggressive and held my ground better getting a decent spot for the parade.  Still ended up elbowing more guests than I would have liked to have had to and felt a little bad about it.
  • Was roaming through Frontierland noticed the Lucky Nugget was still open so decided to get dinner there.  Again loosing money on the voucher but I was hungry and there was no wait.  Turned out to be a great meal.  You order right when you walk in then are seated.  They bring your drink (free refills by the way.. one of the few places that offers this) and then your food.  Once done with the main meal they bring your dessert to you.  There was no entertainment going on but enjoying the atmosphere and decent food with no chaos was great!
  • Went for a spin on Dumbo since it had a 15 minute wait only.  That gave me some time to queue up posts for later.  So now I have been on Dumbo on three continents in 5 parks.  I can confirm the experience is more or less the same at each.  The dual Dumbos in Orlando are unique and Tokyo is still running an old version of the attraction.  The views from  Paris since it is elevated and sits further back in the land were the best.
  • Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) attraction features three rows of seats and again felt slightly longer than its counterparts around the world but was more or less the same attraction.
  • I headed back to the hotel just before 8pm this evening to call it an early night and prepare for the next few days.  We have two days of Paris sightseeing on the schedule and both will be busy and long.


Pedometer Stats
Miles 7.4
Steps 19,653
Moderate Steps 12,765
Moderate Steps/Time 114
   

Pictures
Day 1: Part I: Travel to Paris & 1st Look Around Part I: Disney's Sequoia Lodge & Hotel New York

Started off the morning walking the grounds of Lodge then paid a visit to the Hotel New York next door.

Day 1: Part II: Disneyland Paris - Fantasyland Part II: Walt Disney Studios Park - Morning

My 1st visit to this park includes a walk around and a trip on the Backstage Studio Tram Tour.

 

Day 1: Part III: Disneyland Paris Walk Around Part III: Walt Disney Studios Park - Afternoon

Lunch at Remy's then an afternoon roaming the park including Moteurs... Action!

 

Day 1: Part III: Disneyland Paris Walk Around

Part IV: Disney Magic on Parade!

A second look at Disney Magic on Parade! this time from Town Square.

 

Day 1: Part III: Disneyland Paris Walk Around

Part V: Lucky Nugget & Fantasyland

Dinner at the Lucky Nugget in Frontierland then some time as the sunsets enjoying Fantasyland.

Day 1: Part III: Disneyland Paris Walk Around

Part VI: Disneyland Park - Main Street Pumpkins

More Main Street pumpkins. today a look at the Frontierland/Adventureland side of the street.

Day 1: Part III: Disneyland Paris Walk Around

Part VII: Main Street / Attraction Posters

A look around Main Street including several attraction posters to wrap up the day.

Related Links From This Trip

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