Just back from DLP!

[disneymike]

Hi all, I’m kind of a long time lurker on this forum but thought I’d finally make my first (long!) post with a bit of a review as we’re just back from a trip to DLP for the first weekend they’ve been open again. I see others have already vlogged it but here’s my old fashioned text version! Hopefully useful info for anyone with a trip coming up or considering booking for the coming months

Getting in:

The security process is pretty much as normal except for the fact there is a lot more lanes open, and all of the tents. You must push your own bag all the way into the scanner to limit contact.

You show your reservation QR codes (if you have a non-dated ticket) just before the turnstiles where they are scanned, then you move onto the ticket turnstiles as usual. One time when entering Walt Disney Studios later in the day they didn’t check our QR codes. This was fine for us as we’d already been in the other park that day but be aware they warn if your reservation QR code is not scanned at all on the day they can cancel all remaining reservations for other days on the same ticket/annual pass!

There is still a designated annual pass holder line for Disneyland Park although at some points that line was full with no one in the other lines. I assume at the moment in the first week and with only one hotel open a lot more annual passholders are going than other guests. Walt Disney Studios did not appear to have the dedicated annual passholder line operating.

Rides/Attractions:

Wait times were universally low, even on the Saturday which I was concerned might be worse as its reservation allocation had sold out. Big Thunder Mountain/Space Mountain and other attractions that usually see fairly big waits were often walk-on. Some would occasionally reach 30 mins max but then quickly fall back down again as people flowed around the park. You are well spaced out from other parties on rides, usually with at least one row in-between or in your own vehicle.

The caves in Adventure Isle were closed the whole weekend, presumably because it would be extremely hard to social distance in the dark and narrow tunnels.

There are a lot of characters around! Mickey/Minnie and were dancing and waving up on the Main Street train station a lot and we spotted numerous other characters around the park, some ‘performing’ and some posing for selfies. There were noticeably more photopass cast members than usual around the park, more like is usual for WDW, so if you have a photopass this is a big plus.

Best part for us was the railroad was running after being down for so long. They are only running one train, so if you time it when it’s just left your wait can be a bit longer. Despite that, at most stations, enough people were getting off at each station that the majority of the waiting queue was able to board. Therefore, I don’t think anyone was ever waiting for longer than the ‘next-but-one’ train. Frontierland station is closed and the area of Frontierland it’s in seems to be under further maintenance.

Restaurants/Food:

Over the weekend, we ate in the park at Plaza Gardens, Casey’s Corner, Au Chalet de la Marionette and also at Yacht Club in the Newport Bay Club hotel. At Plaza Gardens, instead of the buffet, you were presented with a sheet of different ‘plates’ with various combinations of the food. As you finished one plate they’d take it away and you’d tell them the one you wanted. It’s sort of a slightly more regimented version of the ‘family-style’ buffets you get in Florida and we quite enjoyed it. You don’t need to wear your mask while seated but they do ask that you put it back on if you need to move around at all.

There was no inside seating allowed at Casey’s Corner but there was at Au Chalet de la Marionette presumably because it’s a bigger area.

We had flown from Edinburgh and we were staying offsite in Val d’Europe. In the past we’d used the TGV but this time due to Covid, the trains were expensive/infrequent so we hired a car. Our dinner at Yacht Club was late, a couple of hours after the park closed, so we had already left the main car park and returned to our hotel to rest. We went to see if they’d let us park at the Newport Bay fully expecting we might be turned away and have to go to the Village since it would be too late to go back to the main car park. Not sure the man controlling the barrier really understood what we were on about but surprisingly showing him the dining reservation confirmation on my phone was enough for him to let us in. I could be wrong but in normal times I don’t think this is generally something they would allow you to do but given the situation and how dead the car park was I don’t think he was too bothered. Your experience may vary!

Yacht Club itself was lovely. In the past we’d done California Grill in the Disneyland Hotel. Since that isn’t open yet I’d booked Yacht Club as a substitute but I think it’s every bit as good. Same thing as Plaza Gardens – masks not required while seated. They were encouraging use of the QR code menu. It was also my first time seeing inside the Newport Bay which is beautiful. Shame it’s usually a bit out of our price range even with the annual pass discount!

Other than meals, it seemed to us they’ve definitely upped the ‘snacks’ game and there are a few more WDW style snack things popping up around the place. At one snack counter in Adventureland there was a really nice Mango ice cream float that’s sort of reminiscent of a more ‘ice-creamy’ dole-whip. We also noticed some very WDW-esque mickey waffles from a food truck in Walt Disney Studios, which I’ve never noticed before in any previous visit.

Social distancing/Covid measures:

There is hand sanitizer literally everywhere in the parks – dispensers on the walls, on stands, pumps sitting on counters, and at every set of toilets. Only once or twice we encountered an empty one but then there is usually another metres away. Most are the push kind but some are touchless.

Ride queues are spaced out using stickers on the ground. You are supposed to leave a sticker between you and the next party, standing in the gaps between them. After our first couple of rides we noticed that while people for the most part were clearly making an effort to social distance, they were kind of doing it on their own terms rather than using these stickers. We realised that in English it clearly says ‘please do not stand here’ but in French it only says ‘distance a respecter’. If you weren’t particularly paying attention to the English text I can see why the intended system might not be immediately obvious to you so I’m not sure why they’ve done it that way. The sticker does also have a symbol of feet with a line through it but honestly it’s probably a case of people just having been conditioned to seeing a sticker and automatically assuming ‘that’s where I should stand’ rather than not stand!

They were periodically making announcements about the safety measures – the usual spiel like wear your mask, stay 1m from others etc. However we noticed that by Sunday, they had modified the announcement to include an extra bit saying not to stand on the stickers in the queues so I assume the issue has not gone unnoticed and the cast members are probably already sick of telling people to get off of them.

Regarding that…the enforcement of the measures is very good and I think French ‘directness’ come in quite handy here. The mask wearing is very strictly enforced. 3 or 4 times over the weekend I saw a cast member tell someone to put their mask back on or put it back over their nose. They are especially strict on the queue stickers wherever food is served, and there is a dedicated ‘queue control’ cast member continually making sure people are spaced out and spreading people between the different till points.

Having said all this, as can be expected there is the odd lapse where things just don’t work as well. One that was particularly evident was in the Pirates of the Caribbean/Captain Jack’s area where they often had Jack Sparrow out waving on the balcony. It’s a bit of a pinch point and the ride also exits into this area. People stood taking pictures/interacting with the character making it hard for people just passing through. The Autopia boarding process – the ‘island’ where you get in/out of the cars is narrow, and there’s no real other option than to pass by people. How close you are to people in the railroad carriages is another one.

An effort has been made but when it comes down to it there are some small spaces and people are people. If you’re the sort that is very very careful these things may freak you out a bit. I think you have to go with open eyes that you may well at some brief point over your time there feel you perhaps got a little closer to someone than you probably should have…hopefully the other measures including the masks are mitigating the risks of this.

There are lots of QR codes around with a link to an online survey about their measures and what you think can be improved and there are ‘guest experience’ cast members wandering the parks actively encouraging people to do this if they can.

Overall if anybody is on the fence about going over the next few months I’d say go for it as long as some potential momentary lapses in distancing is not going to ruin your trip. For us it sort of rivalled our first trip that convinced us to go for the annual passes in the first place!

[traceylou1972]

Thanks for your update, it sounds like you had an amazing time. Myself and DH are considering going for a couple of days. Could you tell me how you booked the restaurants please?

Tracey

[disneymike]

Someone helpfully posted on the annual pass fb group that if you change the language setting on your phone to French, then click the 'make a reservation' link in the Disneyland Paris app, it allows you to make reservations online instead of just linking you to the phone number. People seem to have mixed results with this but it works on my phone if you make French the primary language and delete English. You can then just add back English and switch it back after!

[traceylou1972]

Originally Posted by disneymike

Someone helpfully posted on the annual pass fb group that if you change the language setting on your phone to French, then click the 'make a reservation' link in the Disneyland Paris app, it allows you to make reservations online instead of just linking you to the phone number. People seem to have mixed results with this but it works on my phone if you make French the primary language and delete English. You can then just add back English and switch it back after!

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Thank you. Will give it ago.

[disneymike]

I forgot to add...if it looks like a particular restaurant is full on your date, try just selecting a different 'meal'. For example, when I booked Plaza Gardens, it showed dinner as full, but then if you selected lunch, it would give you times right up to 7.30pm, and it's all the same meal anyway!

[Lauz_87]

I go on Tuesday and looking forward to it!

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Thanks so much for taking the time to feedback, this all sounds very positive! We were due to be going in September but have now pushed back to December. I'm really excited, I appreciate it will be different from our previous trips but just getting a dose of Disney magic is enough for me!

[Rachv38]

What was the food like in plaza gardens? I was looking at the menu and it looked different from when we last ate there. Can you get chips and pizza?

[iheartwdw]

We are heading to DLP in 2 weeks, your overview is helpful and reassuring. I’m glad you had a fab time ☺️

Thanks for taking the tine to share.

Laura Xx

[disneymike]

Originally Posted by Rachv38

What was the food like in plaza gardens? I was looking at the menu and it looked different from when we last ate there. Can you get chips and pizza?

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Just had a look at the website and the menu they've got up at the moment pretty much is exactly the choice we had, so no didn't notice chips and pizza right now. I've never actually done the buffet there before so I didn't have much of a point of reference. The rotisserie plate and the steak based one were the best imo.