Disneyland Paris launch new website - and we love it

For years we've been waiting for a new Disneyland Paris website that keeps up with modern website design patterns from recent years. This morning, Disneyland Paris have launched their new United Kingdom website with a brand new design promising 'a better and more responsive' design. Gone is the clunky flash, and instead we have a sleek design with large beautiful images.

It's important to note that the embedded YouTube video is on a slider, along with beautiful promotional shots of the resort. I'm a little disappointed that a YouTube video has been used at all here, but it can't be argued that video media is effective.
Moving onto the Parks and Activities tab, and we see a newly presented calendar and attraction closure offering a less overall view at a glace and a more personalised view. This is good for families who know when they are going, but for those yet to decide, there is now a lot of clicking involved to find your park hours. However, now a new page doesn't load to tell you the attraction closures, in that sense this saves a lot of time.

We were promised pages for each attraction, now I envisaged extremely detailed pages such as those found on DLRP Magic! - Regrettably that is not the case. However what we do find is a fantastic guide as to who can and can't ride the ride, as well as a brief synopsis as to what can be expected illustrated by fantastic, large images. This is a useful tool in trip planning and could really help families in deciding what is and isn't suitable for their party. Nevertheless, it would be great to see a sort of wait time estimation, nothing scientific but, like DLRP Magic, the words 'Long, Very Long' etc. could be used.

Obviously an important part of booking your stay in Disneyland Paris is the hotels, these pages too have received an overhaul, again with beautiful images and more at a glace information using symbols (such as those on the attraction pages). The sheer amount of information available on one hotel page is fantastic, from GPS Co-Ordinates, to reasons to pick the hotel, detailed information about the room you are booking as well as entire pages dedicated to the hotel restaurant and bars. Disneyland Paris have finally provided you with all the information you need to make an informed choice of hotel.

We also love the extended information pages on what to do once the parks are closed, thanks to extensive Disney Village information, and other attractions in the region. Disneyland Paris certainly has always done it's bit to provide information in the resort as to what other attractions are available to guests, but now the website has an extensive set of pages dedicated to it.

Choosing a place to eat in Disneyland Paris can be a difficult choice, especially with the lack of information avaliable online. Not anymore! Disneyland Paris now provides a page for each restaurant which can be sorted into location, type of service and price. On each page you are given the restaurant location, brief background text as well as information about special dietary requirements and booking information (which unfortunately, still cannot be done on the Internet, only over the phone).

The big new feature is the map. Now, this could sound rather unimpressive, however on the contrary. In the new Disneyland Paris website there is no more useful feature for trip planners. Each item, be it hotel or attraction, always shows a button on its page asking you to 'view on the map', click it and you'll be taken to its location on the resort map. It's the advanced search feature that will really help the planning.Not into big thrills? Remove them, don't want expensive food? Just take them away. What you are left with is a map that tailors to your requirements and budget.

If you have little ones, I know you'll be sorting via the minimum height requirements. Planning a trip between friends? Click an item and copy the URL and they will be taken to the exact location on the map. You can add favorites and much more. This is singly handedly the most useful feature on the website, and one planners across the world are going to enjoy and find incredibly useful.

Finally, the 'Trip Planning' tab is worth a look as there are all sorts of useful pieces of information and commonly asked questions answered. 

The new Disneyland Paris website offers useful tools to plan any trip, including a very impressive map function which I am sure will be used by many trip planners. This website will put a smile on every bodies face with the new sleek design, and well thought out features.
For the second time this week, Bravo Disneyland Paris!

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Debate: Celebrating national holidays at Disneyland Paris

Version en Français en bas.
For some years now, Disneyland Paris has put on extravagant celebrations for the national holidays of St. Davids and St. Patricks day, as well as for the annual bonfire night celebration. Compared to these holidays, the national holiday of France is the least well observed, passing with a simple five minute firework display.
St. Patricks day was marked by Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale in a Irish dress as well as short shows featuring traditional Irish dancing and music (despite the pipe band being from Scotland!). Disney Magic on Parade was extended with a pre-parade and the day ended with a spectacular firework show using Disney Dreams! projection technology and Disney music with a Irish touch. Disney Village also featured a few Irish themed shows in Billy Bobs.
St. Davids Day was marked by a Welsh market in Disney Village, whilst Disneyland Park featured similar events to its Irish cousin, such as the characters in Welsh dress, a pre-parade and fireworks.
We were particularly impressed by Bonfire Night in Disney Village, which was an impressive twenty minute firework display around Lake Disney directly following Disney Dreams! There is no doubt that Disneyland Paris celebrates these nationals holidays very well, most likely to attract these guests to the resort.

However, Bastille Day (14th July) is not particularly celebrated in Disneyland Paris. Bastille Day is essentially the French national holiday in celebration of the storming of the Bastille prison. For the last few years the only sign of it being celebrated in the park is the five minute firework display, without Dreams! projections set to traditional French music (Such as Boum! by Charles Trenet). In the United States, Disney World and Disneyland celebrate their national holiday with limited edition merchandise, a pre-parade, street decorations and an extraordinary firework spectacular! Would these Disney Parks get away with not celebrating Independence Day? American guests would not accept such an oversight by Disney parks management.

 

Video: Disney Central Plaza

So why was the 14th July not celebrated? Perhaps due to the parks already hitting capacity every year on the holiday and so Disney management has decided not to add more so as not to attract even more guests. Perhaps as Disneyland Paris is close to the major celebrations in Paris and the celebrations taking place in every town and village across the country (including those just 10km from the parks), management decided that putting on 'traditionally French' events was not worth the expense. What is certain is that a 14th July celebration could be done reasonably cheaply by involving the Disney Music Days program with local schools to perform on stages across the park. The local community would make the day feel more special, and Disneyland Paris betters its community relations. This scenario really is a win-win.

What is your opinions on national holidays in the Disneyland Paris parks? Perhaps you are reading from a country where you would like your national day celebrated? Tweet @dlptownsquare or comment below.

Thanks to @CafeFantasia @parcorama and @dedicatedtodlp who started this debate on twitter and inspired me to write this article. Go follow them, they tweet fantastic Disneyland Paris content each day!

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Français

Depuis plusieurs années, Disneyland Paris a observé des fêtes nationales de la Saint David, Saint Patrick, mais aussi Bonfire Night. Par rapport aux fêtes anglo-saxonnes, la fête nationale de la France est la moins observée, marqué par un feu d'artifice d'une duration de cinq minutes. La fête de la Saint Patrick était marqué par Mickey, Minnie, Tic et Tac avec ses déguisement Irlandais, les spectacles Irlandais comme la danse traditionnelle et musique traditionnelle (malgré les musiciens écossais). La magie Disney en Parade était prolongé avec une pre-parade Irlandais et la fin de cette journée magique était des feux extraordinaires avec la téchnologie de Disney Dream! et la musique Disney avec le 'Irish touch'. En plus Disney Village avait des animations Irelandais, nottament en Billy Bobs Country Western Saloon.

La fête de la Saint David était marqué par un marché gallois en Disney Village. Disneyland Park était similaire à sa cousine Irlandaise. Les personnages Disney était dans ses déguisement gallois, une pre-parade et des feux-artifices.
Nous étions impressionnés par les feux de "Bonfire Night'" en Disney Village après Disney Dream! Sans doute les fêtes nationales anglo-saxonnes sont très bien recu en Disneyland Paris, probablement d'attirer ses guests au resort.

La fête nationale du 14 juillet est célébrée avec très peu de choses. La seule animation de la fête est le feu d'artifice de cinq minutes sans projections de Disney Dream! avec des musiques classiques françaises (comme Boum! de Charles Trenet). Aux États-Unis, Disney World et Disneyland fêtent leur fête nationale avec des marchandises en édition limitée, un pre-parade, une main Street décorée par leur drapeau et des feux d'artifice extraordinaire! Et si les parcs américains ont laissé le 4 juillet sans animations? Les guests n'acceptèrent pas une telle omission par la direction.

Mais quelle est la raison pour la non-celebration du 14 juillet? Peut-être c'est parce que les parcs ont déjà aux capacités chaque année pour la fête nationale et la direction ont décidé de ne pas ajouté les animations pour ne pas attirer bien plus des guests aux parcs. Peut-être c'est parce que Disneyland Paris est pres des grands évenements de Paris et les celebrations qui ont lieu dans chaque ville en France (les villes au moins de 10 km au parc inclus!), la direction ont décidé que les spectacles "traditionnellement français" ne méritent pas la dépense.
Ce qui est certain est que le 14 juillet pourrait être pas si cher que la fête de la Saint Patrick et Saint David, par la participation de Disney Music Days avec les écoles locales en utilisant les scènes au parc. La collectivité locale pourrait bénéficier, et Disneyland Paris pourrait améliorer son rapport avec les collectivités locales. Il n'y a que des gagnants avec ce scénario.

Alors, qu'est que vous pensez? Quelles sont vos opinions des fêtes nationales aux parcs Disney? Peut-être vous voulez votre fête national celebret en Disneyland Paris? Envoyez-nous un tweet @dlptownsquare et lassez-nous un commentaire.

Merci d'avoir lu notre article en Français! Nous espérons qu'il n'y a pas trop des fautes grammaticales! On va faire des articles en français de temps-en-temps, ils seront signifiés sur notre page d'accueil.

Merci à @CafeFantasia @parcorama et @dedicatedtodlp qui ont commencé ce débat au twitter et on m'inspirait d'écrire cet article. Ne hésites pas à abonner à leurs tweets (en Anglais), leurs tweets de Disneyland Paris sont vraiment géniaux!

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Eurolines offer a new line to the Magic!

 The ways to get to Disneyland Paris have expanded once again. By car, by plane, by train and now by coach! Eurolines UK have launched a daily service to the heart of Disneyland Paris serving all Disneyland Hotels (except Davy Crockett Ranch) from London Victoria coach station.

The coach from London Victoria takes passengers direct to Charles-de-Gaulle airport from which you transfer to onto the VEA Shuttle to the heart of Disneyland Paris.

Departures are three times daily (two in the morning, 1 overnight). Adult prices start at £96 with coaches taking around 9 hours (including a 1 hour stop over in Charles-de-Gaulle airport for the VEA transfer).

This is great news for people looking for an alternative method of traveling to the resort in addition to all the current methods of travel.

Image: Copyright Eurolines (National Express Group)

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