Did You know there are HUGE DISCOUNTS this year at Most Theme Parks..
Including Disney !
Disneyland Paris especially have big discounts for UK customers.
This is of course due to the recession but it might be worth a day trip on the ferry if the deal looks good enough.

As far as I can gather the deal includes park admission,discount hotels and free entrance for kids.
The deals in the USA however mostly seem to be for state residents of Florida and California.

Disneyland Paris has a new advertising campaign with offers of
discounts on hotels, Park tickets and other promotions for
families who are travelling to Disneyland Paris on the Eurostar train from England to Paris. There are details on UK TV and on the MSN website too
Its MICKEYS PARTY TIME !

Disney Paris have also revamped Space Mountain to mark its 10th anniversary .
It will be called Space Mountain Mission 2 and will also offer
guests a zero-gravity experience !
The ride starts off in a Jules Verne style rocket complete with smoke and steam !

A Bluetooth-based system at Disneyland Paris also gives visitors
details of waiting times for rides and other attraction information.

I Found pluto pin for you

 

FantasyLand

Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty Castle)
Kids love Sleeping Beauty Castle and sometime you get to meet other characters here.
The Castle was of course based on Neuschwantein Castle in Germany
But that Castle did not have a DRAGON in a cave below it like
the one in Sleeping Beauty Castle.

 
La Galerie de la Belle au Bois Dormant
In the Gallery inside the Castle are lovely Stained Glass Windows

 

 and a great display about Sleeping Beauty with llustrationsfrom the Book of Hours.
The shop below has lovely things with lots of crystal and other goodies.

I think its the best gift shop in Disneyland Paris.

Le Théâtre du Château
An Outdoor stage show with Mickey Mouse and the Sleeping Beauty Story.

 A small world 

 ride around theWorld with singing dolls - great for very young children.

Peter Pan Flight
A flight over Neverland in a pirate ship. Use Fastpass here it is VERY popular

Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains
Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs - a dark ride with the Snow White legend as a theme.

Les Voyages de Pinocchio
A nice Dark Ride with Pinocchio and Gepetto

Watch Pinnochio - his nose grows and grows ..

Dumbo the Flying Elephant
Gentle Carousel Ride with Flying Elephants.Fairground-style ride .

Le Carrousel de Lancelot
A Carrousel with lovely fairground horses

Mad Hatter's Tea Cups
Whirling ride in oversized teacups. Avoid if you have just eaten..
 
Alice's Curious Labyrinth
A Maze with a castle at the centre (good views over Disneyland)

Casey Jr. -

 Le Petit Train du Cirque
Small rollercoaster Ride
 
Le Pays des Contes de Fées
A Storybookland cruise in small boats.

Disneyland Railroad Fantasyland Station
DiscoveryLand
(DiscoveryLand used to be TomorrowLand as time passed on Tomorrow was eventually today !)

Space Mountain Mission 2
Basically a Rollercoaster ride this is a little smaller than similar rides at other Disney Theme Parks.
You ride in a Rocket (part of a train) and this ride has lots of ideas from Jules Verne (so its a bit of a retro feeling space-wise)
Its faster than other Space Mountains and is the only one to include inversions.
The ride is themed as the Journey from Earth to the Moon.
Its exciting but may scare small children as there is a free-fall section and part of the ride is in the dark.

Orbitron -Astro Orbiter - a Rocket Ride with rockets spinning around a Huge Rocket.

Autopia - a Car Diving experience where you drive a car on an enclosed track - great for kids who want to drive.

Star Tours You are a Space Tourist in this Star Wars Simulation on the way to Endor
Its good fun with audio-animatronic character talking to you on the way in.
When in your seat, the Droid Pilot starts off (and I think he had too much WD-40 or heavy grade oil)
Anyway the ride gets pretty exciting and there are lots of Star Wars scenes and moment - great for any Star Wars fan !

L'Astroport Services Interstellaires
Attraction with a whole collection of high end video games for you to play.
(a lot more advanced than your local video arcade..)

 
Chérie, j'ai rétréci le public
Honey I shrunk the audience !-

Hilarious simulation of shrinking with fun characters and participants...

Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast (formerly Le Visionarium)
This is a combination of a Dark Ride and a shoting Gallery - good fun and its based on Toy Story 2 with Buzz Lightyear.
Les Mystères du Nautilus (The Mysteries Of The Nautilus)
This is a short walk-through attraction where you can marvel at the Jules Verne submarine  and
peer through the portholes at undersea fish and seaweed - and a GIANT SQUID.

Arcade Alpha, Arcade Bêta
Video games you can play.

Disneyland Railroad Discoveryland Station 

 another stop on the Disneyland Railroad.

Three are many restaurants and fast food kiosks/restaurants around the Park - and water fountains too.

To get  the best out of the park take regular rests .

Eat a hearty breakfast before entering the park and you will not need so many snacks and drinks .(They are a little expensive)
Since opening some major improvements have been made - Covered Walkways
and 35 fireplaces in hotels and restaurants .

Disneyland Paris

The first thing you see when you enter Disneyland is Sleeping Beautys Castle

e.

 

In French this is Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant.

 

 

 

You are now standing in Main Street with shops on either side.

 

 
The first thing to do is to get each member of your party a FastPass
(A FastPass is used so you do not have to queue to get on rides - you slide it into a machine by the ride
and you get a notice of the time you can go on that ride. Its an excellent system.)
Disneyland Paris has 49 different Attractions.
There is a Railway that runs all around the Park.This is the Disney Railroad.
There are 5 Lands in Disneyland each with a different theme :
Main Street USA
In Main Street you will find cars and horse drawn carriages to drive you up to Sleeping Beautys Castle.
There are also Two Arcades, an Old Fahioned Barber Shop,City Hall and the Main Street Train Station.
Hint - get the train early in the day - it can get crowded.

FrontierLand
Frontierland was originally a Wild West Land and still has many of those attractions.
A recent addition is the Phantom Manor Dark Ride Ghost train which is great fun . You will see lots of Ghosts,Ghouls and remember - this IS Disney (they are not too scary)
Big Thunder Mountain is an exciting mine railroad/rollercoaster ride mostly underground
Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing where you can join a real Riverboat.
Legends of The Wild West continues the Western Theme with a Western Fort and great views from the top..
Pocohontas Indian Village is a nice Disney Indian Village re-creation.
Rustler Roundup Shooting Gallery gives you a chance to show your rifle skills.
Chaparral Theater has regular Wild West Shows which last about 1/2 hour..
River Rogue Keel Boats are now a static Display and there are no rides on them.
Woodys Roundup Village is a Toystory 2 Photo Location for you to take pictures.

AdventureLand

Pirates of the Caribbean - great underground ride with lots of piratical fun fun and frolics in a great boat ride.

                                     .

 Captain Jack and his scruffy crew welcome you! A fun ride

Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom  Action Stage Show - exciting !

Dont miss the beginning - its great ...
La Cabane des Robinson

(Swiss Family Treehouse) Climb through the trees and up ladders into the World above.
Le Passage Enchanté d'Aladdin A Walk-through Cave and Dioramas from the film.
Adventure Isle explore Skull Rock,caverns and Caves and a Pirate Ship.
Pirates Beach where you can meet Captain Jack near the Jolly Roger
There are restaurants and snack bars here too.
Captain Hooks Pirate Ship See where Peter Pan Fought Captain Hook and saved Wendy !

 

For the other half of the Disneyland Paris tour go here

The Phantom Manor is a similar Dark ride to the Haunted House in other Disneylands...

You get to peek in (and down at) A Seance,
You'll see The Ghostly Bride, The Phantom Ball and the Ghost Choir while the gravediggers do their ghoulish work.Lots more ghosts and thrills.
All in all a fairly scary ride - took me ages to get rid of my personal ghost !
Why not visit - They are Dying to Meet YOU !

Brave enough to enter The Twilight ZONE ?

In 1938 it is said that 5 people entered the elvator - it was their last trip.

This scary ride takes place in The Haunted Hollywood Tower Hotel

It is the elevator that travels to the Twilight Zone..

It *** IS ***   very Scary

This video is of the Paris Disneyland Tower of Terror
scary.. you Bet !

Where is the best place to meet Mickey Mouse ?
Here are some of the best spots in Disneyland to meet your favourite Disney Character

How to Meet Mickey Mouse

Everyone who visits Disneyland wants to meet (and be photographed with ) Mickey.
Mickey is the great Disney Character that we all love.

The Best Places to meet Mickey vary from Disneyland to Disneyland.

Here are some spots where you will nearly ALWAYS see Mickey and even get to be photographed with him
 and Minnie and maybe Donald and Pluto too..

 Character Breakfasts are the most certain spots to go to meet your favourite Disney Character.
You have to reserve these in advance and they are great fun.
(Good breakfast too !)

But maybe a little on the expensive side ..
But you DO get to meet lots and lots of Disney Characters.

You will really enjoy the Disney Charcter Breakfast (but eat it while its hot !)
How about some FREE places to meet Disney Characters ? That would be nice too.

As you enter the Town Square look to your RIGHT across the gardens - there is nearly ALWAYS a small group
of Disney Characters in the corner of the Square.
Most people just dash through the square and miss out on the characters.

 

Here you get to meet many of the Disney Characters and I have always found that getting there early almost always guarantees meeting Mickey  (As soon as the Park Gates open)

He does visit there regularly throughout the day.
Stay at  a Disney Resort Hotel then you will be able to get early admission to Disneyland and there may well be many Disney characters getting all excited at the prospect of meeting YOU !
 

Outside the Castle there is usually a spectacular show hosted by - MICKEY !
Its a good show (but only on in high season - check with the information counter in the Town Hall.)
At the end of the show he usually meets guests but be warned many people want to meet Mickey and he does not stay there very long
 It gets pretty crowded there too so maybe if you have very
 young children you might like to try a different location.
He can also be found in many other parts of the park and will always be pleased to see you there.

If you miss seeing Mickey then head over to the Town Hall information Desk and they will tell you  the next best possible spot to see Mickey.

You are bound to see Mickey in the Parade after lunch but he will be up on a float waving to you.

This article formerly apeared in out article section.

Disneyland Paris

The Disneyland Resort Paris (to give its proper title !) was built at Marne-la-Vallée which is a little over 30 Kilometres(about 20 Miles) East of Paris in the area just outside of the suburbs.

I originally went just after it opened (it was then called Euro Disney Resort) and there were some teething problems.
 
The main problem was that the survey for the site was made in exceptionally good weather and the resort was built acordingly.
Northeastern France is not always as good from a weather point of view and Disney had to build  covered bus shelters and queue shelters because it rains a little

 (A pacamac may still be a good idea for a visit here !)

There are now Two Theme Parks at Disneyland Resort Paris - the original Disneyland Park  and the Walt Disney Studios Park. These will be covered in further articles to help you get the best out of the resort.

It is very easy to get to Disneyland Resort Paris by either Rail or Road .
There is a Eurostar Link from London England which travels to Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy
(maybe they should have renamed it cheesey - wouldnt that have been great - Mickey Mouse at Cheesey ?)

Anyway you can also arrive there using the RER Network from Paris - a fairly fast train link  or the new LGV Est service from Strasbourg .

There are free shuttle buses to most of the Disney owned hotels from Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy railway station.
(If you are travelling from Paris by RER you can pay the automatic machines by choosing Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy
If you get as confused as I do by automatic machines the manned ticket window  staff mostly speak good English and they all understand Disneyland Paris please ...

Driving to Disneyland Paris Resort from Paris is easy.
The A4 motorway takes you straight to Disneyland and
is well signposted - but remember that motorways in France have tolls and you will need Euros in cash to pay the tolls.

 

There is also a bus service from both Paris Airports and the one-way fare is around 17 Euro per person.
Although Disneyland Paris resort has a distinctly American feel, the currency in use is the Euro.

First of all check into your hotel.(reservations are important and will often get you a discount for a stay of several days.)
The Disney Owned Properties are best but may be a litttle more expensive.
These are the Disney Owned Hotels and surround Lake Disney :
 Hotel New York, Newport Bay Club and  Sequoia Lodge. Hotel Cheyenne and  Hotel Santa Fe
Disney also own the Davy Crockett Ranch but this is much further away.
List Prices per night :(at 20th Feb 2009) see Disneyland site for current prices.
These prices are usually heavily discounted through travel Agent or special offers. Remember these prices INCLUDE admission to the theme park.
Disneyland Hotel  £ 212  per adult sharing
Hotel New York    £ 140  per adult sharing
Newport Bay Club  £ 129  per adult sharing
Sequoia Lodge     £ 113  per adult sharing
Hotel Cheyenne     £ 94  per adult sharing
Hotel Santa Fe     £ 88  per adult sharing
Davy Crockett Ranch £ 98 per adult sharing
All the above are based on Disney prices and include accomodation,1 night stay,breakfast and entrance to park

For Full Hotel Details please visit : http://hotels.disneylandparis.co.uk/index.xhtml
Associated Hotels are good but a litle further away and shuttle buses get crowded in high season.

These are not operated by Disney but are affiliated with them.:
Marriotts Village de lle-de-France, Radisson SAS Hotel, a Holiday Inn Hotel, Vienna International Dream Castle Hotel, MyTravels Explorers Hotel and a Kyriad Hotel.

There are other smaller hotels further still and these can be good value but fill up quickly.
I do NOT recommend turning up without a reservation in High Season as you may have a problem finding a room.

Your hotel may give you vouchers for breakfast and will certainly have a Disneyland Paris Resort Map for you.
All the Hotels above are of a good to excellent standard.
If you have a car then it may be much cheaper to eat at an outside restaurant.

Disneyland Paris Resort restaurants are a little expensive especially the Character Breakfasts (very popular with kids !)
My advice is to find an all-you can eat buffet for breakfast and fill yourselves up before visiting the theme park itself.
Remember that PARKING at Disneyland is not free and you will need Euros to pay the parking fee.
Take a PEN and Paper and write down your parking area and parking row details or you will have problems finding your car.
You are not allowed to take food or drink into Disneyland Resort Paris so make sure you have money available for snacks throughout the day.
Drinks are expensive too - but water fountains are free.
You can now drink wine with meals in restaurants inside the theme park itself.
For a fun evening out there is also the Wild West Dinner Show which also includes entertainment.
This is in the Disney Village and is easy to find - reservations needed.

There are sports facilities near the major hotels (including Golf)