First off, I apologise for it taking so long for this report to make it here!
So did we have a good trip? Of course!
To begin with, food. Dining at Disneyland Paris is always a different experience than the US Parks, and this trip it was made more interesting for the fact that, once again, the menus had been changed. I have never known a Disney Park to rotate it's food offerings so often. This has both advantages and disadvantages. The good side is that you are always guaranteed something new, but the down side is that if there is something you take a liking to, there is a good chance it won't be there the next time you visit!
Restaurants we ate or drank at this trip were:
Beaver Creek Tavern at the Sequoia Lodge (table service)
Cable Car Bake Shop
Cafe de la Brousse - YES! It was OPEN!!
Cafe Mickey at Disney Village (Character dining)
Cookie Kitchen
Fuente del Oro
Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlour
Restaurant Hakuna Matata
Market House Deli
Pizzeria Bella Notte
Toad Hall
and Victoria's Home Style Restaurant
It was nice to finally see the Castle back to it's former self, following years of being covered by some ugly monument or other.
There was a lot of new merchandise this trip too, for the New Generation Festival. A lot of it had Stitch on, which made me happy! They also had some new more generic merchandise which quite often featured Peter Pan, much to Jon's happiness! Strangely, for every item that say featured Stitch or Goofy, there would be an equivalent Peter item - but sometimes instead of Peter it would be Tink! So it was hit and miss, but overall cool to see more new stuff hitting the parks.
As for the New Gen Festival itself, overall it doesn't overpower every corner of the parks too much. Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen now attend limited meets on Main Street USA, sometimes accompanied by a jazz band, which is a nice touch from Disney. They also feature in the Parade now, and in a move that is a very positive one, they didn't just replace two of the existing princes and princesses, but added them alongside! In order to accommodate them on the float though, Beast has been transformed into Prince Adam. They also feature in the new Showtime Spectacular show, along with a host of other new characters for DLP - including much to our excitement, Angel! The show is also quite good, and features some of the more regular characters in some really cool outfits - Incredibles Chip and Dale?! Need I say more?!
The New Gen Festival also meant that the Character Express has now been given another new overlay, and is now the All Star Express. The usual fare of characters are still aboard, along with some newer ones such as the Incredibles, Remy and Emile. Remy and Emile also now feature in the Disney Stars and Cars event at Walt Disney Studios Park.
Attractions we managed were:
Big Thunder Mountain
Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
Le Carousel de Lancelot
Mad Hatter's Tea Cups
"it's a small world"
Peter Pan's Flight
Phantom Manor
Pirates of the Caribbean
Snow White's Adventures
Star Tours
Swiss Family Tree House
We also managed to see the following entertainment offerings:
Disney All Star Express
Once Upon a Dream Parade
Disney Showtime Spectacular
and the Magical Moment at the Disneyland Hotel
We are off to California and Tokyo in just days time, and so expect a mega report when we return!
Have a magical day,
Dan :)