Adventure Is Under Construction - April 2024: Travel Day

[Gill H]

<<Pre-Travel Days


Tuesday 30 April

Our alarm woke us at 3:45 after a decent, if short, night’s sleep. Apart from a slight problem with the shower refusing to drain properly, all went well and after a much-needed coffee we left the hotel at 4:40am.

We had to walk all the way round to the main Eurostar entrance, but as this was still only really a 10 minute walk from the hotel, it wasn’t a problem.

There was a short queue for the machines which read our tickets, and then a few stressful moments getting through security. My walking stick caused problems, and eventually I had to put it behind the conveyor belt while everything else went through. I was so frazzled getting everything out of the trays afterwards that I completely forgot my stick and had to go back and pester a surly member of staff until he deigned to notice me and pass it over.

This was followed by a queue for passport checks, during which we were further hassled by miserable staff. I guess nobody likes getting up at stupid o’clock. Our previous experiences getting the Eurostar have been much more pleasant – and much less busy!

We eventually managed to find some seats. The queue for Pret a Manger was crazy, so instead Peter managed to pop into the World Duty Free shop and get us a couple of bottles of soft drink.

As soon as the platform was announced there was a mad scramble for the travelators up to the platform, but soon we were settled on the train, which left promptly at 6.01 am.
As usual, once we were on our way I headed straight to the buffet car before there was an announcement, in order to beat the queue! I was still fourth in line, and the two girls in front of me took a full ten minutes asking what was this, how much was that, and deciding what to have! I kept it simple and got two breakfast deals – latte, croissant and juice – plus two pain au raisin. These were pretty nice and made a decent breakfast for us.

After such an early start, we slept most of the way, and it didn’t seem long before our train arrived at Gare du Nord, 10 minutes early at 9:10 am.

It took a while to find a ticket machine that would accept our card – I think several of them were not working properly as we ended up in the one with the biggest queue! But soon we were heading down to catch the Line B train one stop to Chatelet les Halles. As expected, it was very crowded but fortunately it was only a couple of minutes until we could get off and catch the Line A train from just across the platform.

This was pretty quiet and we headed upstairs, just because – well, when you have the option, why woudn’t you?

[Gill H]

About 40 minutes later we reached Val d’Europe station. The hotel is literally opposite the back entrance, but since there is no up escalator and no lift that end, we chose to use the opposite exit as it was easier with luggage. It was still less than a 10 minute walk to the Ibis hotel, and as usual we were greeted with a warm welcome. The staff here are always so lovely and helpful. Our room was ready and we were allowed to check in straight away, so we settled in and chilled for a while.

At 12:30 we went downstairs and arranged to put our valuables in the hotel safe. The Ibis doesn’t have safes in rooms but you can ask at reception and they will put your stuff in a sealed envelope and lock it away until you need it. This done, we went out to the station and bought a ‘carnet’ – a book of 10 Metro tickets for the price of 8. Apparently these are being phased out as people are being encouraged to buy the Navigo travel cards and load them up. Not sure how that will work for visitors, unless they also introduce contactless turnstiles as they have in London, so anyone can tap their bank card on the turnstile.

The train came along quickly and after just five minutes we were at Disneyland Paris – at last! Our previous visit was in 2022 and it had felt way too long away from our Parisian happy place. OK, so the hoardings in the Village were not the most welcoming sight to greet us, but goodness knows, the work there is seriously needed!

And the new entry gates are lovely!

There was a sign up to say the parks were full – something which in all our visits we had never seen before. Fortunately we had bought dated tickets so park reservations were included.

Once through security we headed for Studios. We had decided to make this our first park, as we usually do when we have a half day. The extensive work being done on the park meant that we couldn’t go through the usual Studio 1 entrance, as this is being transformed into a new concept.

So instead we followed the signs round the corner, past more hoardings. This was definitely going to be a theme of this trip – hence the ‘under construction’ title of my trippie!

[Gill H]

Once inside the park, it was time to grab some lunch. We had an early dinner booked at Pym Kitchen at 4:45, so we didn’t want to eat too much at this point, but still needed something to fill the gap! We had seen pictures of the pizza slices sold in Stark Factory and they looked pretty good, so we went to investigate. This meant walking through Avengers’ Campus for the first time.

OK, so it will look better once all the hoardings are removed, but it still felt very sterile – although a vast improvement on what was there previously.

Stark Factory used to be the Blockbuster Café, and was a useful option for a croque monsieur lunch in relative peace and quiet. The theming had changed a little, although to be honest it was always pretty minimal, but at least you now had an Iron Man suit to look at while you queued!

The pizzas were freshly made and completely unlike the standard DLP pizza sold elsewhere. These were rectangular in shape, with a pillowy dough and plenty of topping. We chose the Italian ham pizza to share, which was 14 Euros.

We also got a ‘sweet pizza’ dessert to share. This was made from the same dough, and all three options featured Nutella (as pretty much all desserts do in DLP) but you could have one with the addition of cranberries or kumquats also. We chose the cranberry one, which cost 6 Euros. We also got two cans of apple drink which were about 3 Euros each.

Also check out the futuristic cutlery and even a themed holder.

I have to say, we were pleasantly surprised at how good the pizza and the dessert were. Both tasted very fresh and full of flavour, and made for a nice light lunch between us. Studios is still very lacking in places to eat and this is definitely worth remembering.

[Gill H]

After lunch we checked the queue for the Spiderman W.E.B. Adventure.

W.E.B. stands for Worldwide Engineering Brigade and your vehicle is called a Slinger, hence we called it Webslingers the entire time – a much easier name! The queue was over 1 hour long, but Premier Access was available at 16 Euros. Despite not usually bothering to buy these, we decided to go for it today, in order to do a ride which was new to us.

We bought our passes on the app and booked the next available time slot, and then Peter went to try Avengers Flight Force, which had a single rider queue.

Meanwhile I spotted a crowd gathering nearby and realised that Thor and Loki were doing a show. Sadly I was too late to get a really good view, but it was easy to understand what was going on. The two superheroes were interacting with various audience members, trying to recruit volunteers for the Avengers Campus. Two children were selected to try and lift Thor’s hammer (which I am not worthy enough to even spell, never mind lift). If you’ve ever seen the ‘pulling the sword out of the stone’ activity in one of the castle parks, you have a good idea how this went.

Once the crowd had dispersed, Peter came out of the ride as the queue had got much longer than expected. Instead we had a quick look around the Webslinger shop, and then waved to Spiderman, before hopping into the Webslinger Premier Access queue.

We didn’t have much time to take in the queue theming but it was quite well done.

The pre-show was fun, and if I remember correctly they even included an explanation of why Peter could now speak French! As for the ride, it was superb. Unlike the Buzz Lightyear style rides, here you try to catch the escaped spider-bots by reaching out your hand rather than firing at them. It’s energetic and fun, and I was surprised to find that I actually beat Peter’s score, which normally never happens on these rides!

Next we decided to do the new Pixar show ‘Together’ which was in the old Cinemagique theatre. This turned out to be a fun little show, with a live band and characters. It’s notable for featuring the first use of the ‘Big Blue World’ song in DLP, to my knowledge. It’s based around various Pixar characters helping a girl find her missing sheet music in time for a concert, and enables the characters to visit various settings from Pixar films. This idea is familiar from many park shows, of course, but since this is specific to Pixar, the scenes chosen are not the usual rotation. An entertaining spectacle and well worth a watch.

[Gill H]

As we came out of the theatre we saw that Stitch Live was about to start in English, so went straight in. There was a good crowd, many of whom turned out to be from the Netherlands, including the man who was chosen to be the escapee from space prison! Since the last time we saw this show, it’s changed a little and Stitch now plays the ukulele. For us this is one of the hidden gems of Studios and one you should definitely try to see.

We had a little time before our restaurant booking so Peter went to do Tower of Terror, which had a single rider queue of five minutes. Meanwhile I went to sit at one of the tables in the sheltered little courtyard opposite. It’s a good thing I did, as the weather turned very windy and cold for a short while!

Once Peter came out of the ride we headed over to Pym Kitchen for our 4:45 booking.

As we waited to check in, we were concerned to see it disappear from the app, but once we reached the desk, a friendly cast member explained that it was now 4:46 so it had automatically cancelled! Not a problem as we were evidently there and had joined the queue on time, but worth remembering.

PYM Kitchen used to be Restaurant des Stars, a solidly reliable buffet. Since the refurb it had received some Marvel-style theming, particularly on the ceiling.

The main gimmick of the restaurant was that, in keeping with PYM Labs, some of the food had either been shrunk to tiny proportions, or grown to huge ones. We started by sharing the giant pretzel that is brought to your table.

Then we hit the buffet. The little eggs are actually quail eggs.

There were also tiny burgers, as well as a huge one you could have a slice of.

The snazzy test tube rack of condiments only seemed to be on tables for four, not two, so we took a pic of an empty table nearby.

We ended with various desserts.

All in all, not a bad meal, but I wish they had leaned into the big/small food idea a bit more.

[Gill H]

When we came out of the restaurant we noticed that Webslingers was showing 15 minutes for the single rider queue. It turned out to be more like 20 minutes but still didn’t take long. You miss the pre-show if you do single rider, so don’t do it on your first ride.

Peter and I were split up into different vehicles as expected. Still a great ride, but it’s not so much fun competing against strangers. I probably wouldn’t do single rider again.

Goodbye, Avengers Campus!

We walked over to Place de Remy, and the single rider queue was 5 minutes as it often is, so we hopped in. Interestingly, they have stopped the 3D elements of this ride and you now don’t need the glasses. For me, it’s improved the ride greatly and to be honest I hope they don’t bring the 3D back.

As always with this ride, there are so many little gags to catch – my favourite being when Remy says ‘The food is for them, not you!’ and Emile just has to steal that last grape. I noticed this time that he still has it in the next scene in the kitchen, and drops it on the floor.

As it had been a long day, we decided to browse a couple of shops and head for our hotel. We checked out the shop in the Front Lot, and found a fun Stitch pin themed to It’s a Small World.

Then it was out of the park for a quick browse round World of Disney, but we didn’t buy anything there today.
Battling the rain, we headed for the station and after a short train ride and a climb up the stairs, we were soon drying off in the hotel bar. We bought a diabolo menthe each – a classic French non-alcoholic drink made of mint syrup and lemonade. Then we headed for our room, and were in bed before 9pm.

Join us tomorrow for waffles, Walt’s and weather!

>>Day 1

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[dismamx2]

Great report, thank you.

It's been quite a few years since we've been to DLP and it seems a lot has changed/is changing. Thanks for the tip about not doing single rider first time on web slingers.

[Shutterbug]

Thanks for the report, we've just booked to go for the first time in November.