I’m the first person to express my utter love for Disneyland Paris and I do really believe it’s the happiest place on earth for sure. I always find visiting the place some kind of therapeutic with letting yourself loose and free with the magic. However, I’m not entirely blindsided by the magic aspect to not have a few things which rather bug me to say the least that the park do which confuse me.
PSA – These are all minor & insignificant factors that were my hot take prior to the current strike movement. I do address this at the end of the blog too. Please take all of these minor bugs with a pinch of salt as I am aware there is bigger fish to fry at the minute.
Lack of Meet & Greets:
It’s beyond me how we can see the likes of Joy, Judy & Nick all in Dream & Shine yet you can’t meet them? It’s very odd I think. The last time we visited Disneyland Paris it was impossible to meet Minnie Mouse, it’s rather strange. When you visit a Disney park you almost expect to be able to meet the basic characters like Mickey, Minnie, Chip & Dale etc. I know now Minnie has more meet & greets but shouldn’t that be consistent even during low season? There’s a serious lack of advertisement on meet & greets as well. So, we saw Donald & Daisy in Discoveryland but it weren’t advertised. I get the spontaneous vibe of it but still it’s not all that great if you don’t know where to look. There is probably a reasonable excuse for this but to me I can’t make sense of why.
Scattered Themed Rides:
There’s an Aladdin themed area in Main Park yet Flying Carpets are over in Studios. Then you got the Cars Studio Tram Tours towards the back end of Toy Story Playland but then another cars ride in front of that area. It doesn’t make sense to me how same themed rides can be so distinctively scattered across the parks. I’m not entirely sure if I’m used to how our UK parks do it by putting all the same themed rides within one area dedicated to that said story/theme. Maybe there’s a logical explanation for this? If so, please let me know as it bugs me!
Stitch Everywhere But Not In Any Shows:
Disneyland Paris LOVE Stitch so much. Yet you don’t get to see him part of the shows like Stars on Parade, Disney Dreams or Dream & Shine. It’s so odd. I know more recently he appeared in the Pride parade which is a good sign but I’m not entirely sure we need one more Stitch item of merchandise. I love him but he’s rather overused at the parks in my opinion.
Merchandise:
I swear the first time visiting as an adult the shops were heaven. But since going back more recently the merchandise lines have become somewhat disappointing. When you look at what the US stores stock to the Paris ones it’s really confusing how they are both Disney related. The 30th anniversary line except perhaps two items was straight up nasty in my opinion. I’m not here for glitter and shimmery ranges and perhaps that’s a me issue rather than overall. I just think they could better. Why don’t we have some Disney Park ranges for Loungeflys? Wider variety of Mickey Ears? I don’t know. Maybe it’s my taste. Let me know if you find the same issues?
No Refillable Drink Option:
A massive thing I think the park should offer like other parks do is a refillable cup option. Similar to Freestyle it would make them money but also solve the issue of guests having to pay at least €4 for each drink you need (perhaps that’s why). Yeah, they’ve got refillable water stations for free but they aren’t exactly the cleanest of things for sure the amount of people I’ve seen with their mouths around the ends of them.
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A recent thing which bugs me is how unhappy the cast members, the heart of the magic are too. I really hope they win their protest and strikes to get the best treatment they deserve. Without them what magic is there to be had? We see you, we appreciate you & we hope you get exactly what you deserve and always have deserved. Disney do better.
Thank you so much for reading!
