Paris Disneyland July 2022

DLP was my first ever park, I loved it so much, it sparked my Disney obsession. If this was your first park, or only park, you would love it. But my review is from someone who has been to most of the parks many times.

It’s small and charming, a lot of beautiful details. You can’t go to a Disney park and not have fun. It was lots of fun. But in a scale, it is arguably the worst Disney parks, no shade, it is what it is.

The food was terrible, especially for a GF ‘vegetarian’ (loosely, I strongly dislike most meat). It was fast food done badly. The quick service was awful, the restaurants weren’t that great, but the buffets had the most delicious vegetables, was missing them.

I love Disney merch, but there just wasn’t much, a lot of stock standard shopdisney stuff. Not a lot of park exclusives that you would want, a lot not in stock. I did get a beautiful Pride spirit jersey. But overall we barely bought anything.

The attitude of the park goers just wasn’t as pumped as I’m used to. I love people going all out in their ears and clothes, Disney bounding, just that community of Disney people. It wasn’t as friendly as the US parks. The cast members were all over it, was asked so many times where I got different accessories from, I love talking Disney anything with other Disney people. So that was nice!

There wasn’t much pin trading, mostly just on cast members lanyards.

Lots of malfunctioning attractions, going on several times in a row or in a few days, you really notice the difference. It’s wild.

Lion king show and Mickey the magician were must do, world class shows. So, so good. But you must be there an hour before, 30 mins with a disability pass.

If you want to meet a character they a rammed with people, you need to get there when it opens. If you have a disability pass you will be given a time to come back.

Fireworks and drone show was magical! Again you need to pick a spot 1-2 hours before. Maybe half hour before with the disability viewing area. We were there just ten minutes early, couldn’t stop going on Big Thunder Mountain (Marleys absolute favourite, she went on it 20 times! I went 19 ) and got a great spot. Don’t miss this!

We got our tax back with all receipts and passports at city hall or world of Disney, we had a letter to take to global blue at the airport, it took seconds and we got $80 back. Worth it!

Disability pass

Our stay was accommodated by this pass. It is so great that Disney has so many accommodations for Disabled people. It was wonderful, but I must add that even with accommodations, having a disability at Disney is still hard. We still had to work through transitions, people, crowds, food. It was a lot. So when I say that it was a perfect trip, it was as perfect as it gets for us.

You can enter at annual pass area or the disability entrance.

If you don’t have mobility issues it seems to alternate between disability and premier access for lines for attractions, you will need to feel that out at the time.

Character and parades still get there early/at the start of meets, you will be given a return time.

Extra magic hours, if you are staying onsite you should take advantage of the early hour that only hotel guests can go to the park, almost everything is a walk on.

Eats (from the perspective of people who enjoy vegetables, a vegan, a GF person) Fuente Del Orro - okay Videoplous - fast food done bad Casey corner - fine for hot dogs Starbucks - fine Vegan sandwich from WDS vegan cart - delicious Plaza gardens - amazing range of food and veggies, so good Annette’s breakfast -really good for 15e, we shared two between four of us Five guys - fast food done right Cape Cod buffet- another great choice of food, yum

I wouldn’t say don’t go, I would say to go early in your park experience, because it’s lovely. Just nowhere near as good in any way as the other Disney parks. You will have fun, it’s Disney, it is magical! But I won’t be going back…

 The hotel - Newport Bay
Despite this being a 4star hotel, it was a bit shambolic. I read the reviews, I knew what to expect, but it is very close to the parks and we like the aesthetic.
Luggage
There is no clear system for luggage/checking in. Usually at Disney resorts we just leave our luggage with the people at the drop off and they find their way to our room at check in. Not the case. We checked our luggage in outside, checked ourselves in inside, organised the disability pass, and went to the parks. at 3pm we got a text with our room number and went to grab the luggage, we are talking 3.5 weeks of travel for 4 people, a LOT of stuff. Mark asked if they take it to our room and the cast member fully turned up his nose at us and said no, then someone else said they could but we were put off, so we said no. and took our bags, no offer of a trolley. As we dragged those bags through check in, another cast member asked if we needed help, we were half way there by this point and just kept going.
Our room
On paper our room was lovely on paper, no fridge though. But we went to make a cup of tea and the cups had old tea/teabags in, Mark took them down to the front desk where they said thanks for letting us know, no sorry! Yikes. Definitely not the standard of customer service in the US or Asia parks.
The bed linen was stained, sheets and duvet cover. No top sheet so we were boiling hot through the night. No fresh towels over a 5 night stay, it was hot so we are talking morning and evening showers. No good.
Each person staying at the hotel gets 4 free hot drinks a day, on level 2 and 4, no one tells you about this but I uncovered it in my research. It was good, they are tiny cups, but the hot chocolate was yummy. Pool
Getting to the pool is convoluted, but once you get there it is a lovely big indoor space and a lovely outdoor space with lots of loungers, but no shade at all, so we only stayed an hour. They provide towels.

We have stayed at The Grand Californian in California, Aulani (three times) in Hawaii, The Toy Story Hotel in Shanghai, and Disney Explorers Lodge in Hong Kong (stayed off site in Tokyo) and we have never experienced the lack of professionalism displayed here. You can go, it is a great location, but for that price point, it is not good enough. Go with low expectations.