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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Coup de Cœur: Tower of Terror

Hollywood, 1939. Amidst the glitz and the glitter of bustling, young movie town at the height of it's golden age. The Hollywood Tower Hotel was a star in it's own right, a beacon for the show business elite. Now, something is about to happen that will change all that.

We enter a Hollywood boulevard, but perhaps not a Hollywood boulevard that you are familiar with, this is the Hollywood Boulevard of a bygone age, its golden age; the 1930s. Early department stores are ready, the recovery from the great depression is getting into swing and a great sense of optimism fills the street. Hotels, movie theatres are open and booming. Hollywood is announcing itself onto the world stage. As we walk down the street, the sounds of the movies greets us and the sense of both optimism and magic fills the air.  Just before we entered the street was a statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, one of the great Americans and a real symbol of the American dream. As we walk further down the street, there are even more little Disney hints for us to enjoy.

The El Capitan theatre located at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard opened to the public in 1926 by property developer Charles E. Toberman, and was a thriving theatre with performances of plays that people would flock to, helped in part by the lavish interior, the likes of which had never been seen before. In the 1930s, the art of motion pictures arrived in Hollywood and El Capitan needed to keep up. After the premiere of 'Citizen Kane' at the theatre, it closed for renovations and to become the movie theatre it is today. Now, the theatre is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company.

As we walk along this street, we turn towards 'La Terrasse', here the world takes a pause of a wide open Hollywood terrace, perhaps to enjoy a refreshing cool drink in the sun, but something looms behind in the background; The Hollywood Tower Hotel.

All does not seem to be well at this glitzy hotel, we heard some screaming coming from high up. Not to worry, we somehow managed to get a reservation (that's not easy for this hotel, you can be on the waiting list for a long time!). A friendly bellhop greets us outside 'Bonjour'. Before we enter the lobby, we take a little look around the grounds.

The grounds are littered with signs for things such as 'Valet Parking', 'Swimming Pool', 'Tennis Courts', everything you'd expect a hotel of this class would have, the hits of the day, songs such as Vera Lynn's 'We'll meet again', are being played through a loudspeaker adding to the almost majestic nature of the hotel. Could it really be as grand as it seems from the outside?

As we approach the doors into the lobby, we can't help notice the Hollywood Tower Hotel logo in the concrete outside the front, again adding to the grandness of the hotel, the doors are ahead of us. We take that final step. We're here, ready to check in! But wait... something seems very wrong. 

In front of us, a card game. Abandoned. Cobwebs growing on the lamp, a cup of tea left on the the table. Suddenly the music doesn't feel as fashionable and now seems to create a more creepy atmosphere. We look up, the lamps are covered by cobwebs, and the wall is cracked. Unsure what we should do, and to satisfy our curiosity, we continue to look around. 

We slowly move towards reception. This was no accident, something terrible must have happened here. Why else would there be abandoned suitcases? Looks like we're not checking in here today. But what is this? A bellhop invites us forward and directs us to our left, to the hotel library. We're told the lift is out of order, well this is evident, the doors are bulging out. What happened here? We'll be taking the service elevator to our rooms, apparently. 

 

Judging by what we've seen so far in the hotel, we're really not sure if we even want to take the service elevator. But our curiosity drags us in. Suddenly, lightening strikes, the doors close and the television turns on. 

Tonight's episode of the Twilight Zone is somewhat unique, and calls for a different kind of introduction. This, as you may recognise, is a maintenance service elevator still in operation, waiting for you. We invite you, if you dare, to step aboard, because in tonight's episode, you are the star. And this elevator travels directly to... The Twilight Zone'. 

The doors open, we step out of the library and into a sort of 'backstage' in the hotel, the service area.  Despite us, and our fellow guests, crowding the area, there is an eery feeling. It's dark, the lights are flickering. That must have been some lightning strike, the place just seems lifeless. 

We're greeted by a bellhop 'How many?'. We reply 'One'. 'Mwhahahaha'. The once proud, friendly bellhops have been replaced by creepy, possessed bellhops. We are assigned the far right hand side elevator. And now, we wait.

Hang on a moment, we suddenly notice that despite the 12 floors displayed on the dial above the elevator, that our elevator has somehow reached a 13th floor. How could this be? The nerves start to kick in, perhaps it was a mistake to keep exploring, perhaps we should have turned away as soon as we noticed something was wrong. But we just can't help ourselves. We wait for the elevator. Suddenly 'DING', the doors open slowly. A bellhop awaits, but screams as the door opens. He invites us on board. Everything seems normal, well aside from the fact that this elevator has seats. In fact, we take our seats and are quite content. We get a safety briefing. 'Any questions? Too late!' as we move backwards? Like everyone, we've taken many lifts in our lives, none of them have ever moved backwards. We ascend, in front of us a mirror, lightning strikes, the lift violently shakes as we descend a floor. We start to think all this has happened before as a family of five appear 'five people stepped through the door of an elevator and into a nightmare. That door is opening once again, and this time it's opening for you'. Uh-oh. History is repeating itself. The elevator drops suddenly and quickly, before re-ascending. Now we realise what the screaming was. The doors open in front of us, an impressive panorama presents itself. We admire the sight of Disney village, of the Disneyland Hotel and of Front Lot. However, there just isn't enough time to take it in. 

Our nightmare ends with the lift going forwards, the bellhop once again appears. Counts us in and we leave with a warning. 'The next time you make a reservation at an abandoned hotel on the dark side of Hollywood, make sure you know what kind of vacancy you're filling. Or you may find yourself a permanent resident of The Twilight Zone'. With that warning, we quickly leave the elevator and towards a guest area. 

We walk down the corridor, and back into the safety of a guest area, and a non-deserted guest area, as if nothing had happened.

But, as we leave we notice a big clue that not everything is as it seems. The hotel sign flashes 'Tower of Terror'. As we walk away down Hollywood Boulevard, we can't help but smile at the thrill we've just experienced.

This special Coup de Cœur was to celebrate Friday 13th, a superstitious day across the world. 
Coup de Cœur is a monthly feature celebrating what we love about Disneyland Paris. What do you love about Disneyland Paris? Leave a comment below or tweet us @dlptownsquare

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Envie de + 33: Light'Ears to be sold online and more!

At the turn of the season Disneyland Paris annual passholders receive a little package through their door from the park. We get this little magazine (totally in French) called Envie de +, this is essentially a promotional magazine for the parks, giving their passholders reasons to come back and spend some time in the parks (We need a reason?!). The summer edition is of course focused on making the most of the remainder of the 20th anniversary celebrations, and discovering the big new addition of the summer Disney's Light'Ears.

The magazine gives annual passholders hints and tips to make the most of a day in the parks (such as reminding them that they may also partake in the Extra Magic Hours). Most of the information is promotional, but we do occasionally learn something about the goings on in the resort. (The Halloween and Christmas editions are particularly good for this). So, let's get into the little discoveries.

Disney Store website to stock Light'Ears

Disney Light’Ears sont en vente à la boutique Emporium, dans une sélection de boutiques au prix public de 20€ (l'avantage permanent Passeport Annuels’applique) ainsi que sur DisneyStore.fr.

We already know that the Light'Ears are on sale on Main Street for €20, and annual pass reductions apply (10% for Francilien and Fantasy, 20% for Dream). But the big news is one that Disneyland Paris fans had hoped for, that Light'Ears will be made available online! The magazine being French based lists disneystore.fr but seeing as the stock on the European Disney Store websites are identical and are based out of a United Kingdom warehouse, we can assume that the Ears will make their way to Disneystore.co.uk and Disneystore.de ! Great news if you want to buy them in your own currency before you go and save some money for more holiday goodies!

Tasty food!

Whilst not exactly 'news' the magazine has a little bit of text about the 'Snow White Tempation' that we can experience in the California Grill restaurant in the Disneyland Hotel. The treat is an apple mousse with a chocolate centre, but no ordinary chocolate! We won't spoil the surprise for you, but why not give it a try next time you are at the parks?
The magazine also details a little bit about the new 'Hep Cat Corner' in Disney Studio 1 where we can buy delicious VitaminWater drinks. A Hep Cat was the name given to jazz fans in the 1940s and 50s, the new kiosk is named after the Club HepCat

Annual Passholder Offers!

The Disneyland Paris annual pass is THE way to save money in the resort. Since the magazine and all Annual Pass literature is in French, we've translated the summer offers for you.

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show with Mickey and Friends: Between the 1st July and the 8th September, a reduction of 50% is given in category 2 of the 21h30 show for the passholder and 5 guests. (€29.90 per adult instead of €59.90 and €23.40 per child instead of €46.90). Reservation at the ticket office or by telephone 01 60 45 71 00 (Don't forget to add the French calling code, which is +33).

Disney Hotels: -25% for Francilien and Fantasy passes. -35% for Dream passes off a room in a Disney Hotel. Reservations: 01 60 30 60 69 (Again, don't forget the French calling code +33)

Panoramagique: This summer discover Disneyland Paris from the Sky with upto 25% off!
-25% for Dream Annual Passport, so €9 per adult instead of €12 and €4.50 per child instead of €6.
-15% for Francilien, Fantasy, Découverte and Classic Annual Passport. €10.20 per adult instead of €12, and €5.10 for a child instead of €6.
Offer valid for the annual pass holder and up to 5 guests from the 1st July until the 30th July 2013. As usual, Panoramagique's opening is subject to weather conditions.

Boutiques: -10% for Francilien and Fantasy, -20% for Dream in all boutiques in Disneyland Paris.

Restaurants: -€0.50 from the VitaminWater drinks at the HepCat corner kiosk, this offer is valid all summer. €3.19 per bottle instead of €3.69.
-10% in all Disney park, Disney Hotel and a selection of restaurants in Disney Village.

Tickets: Why not bring 5 friends with you to the park? €21 for friends of Dream, Fantasy and Francilien passholders
€25 for friends of Découverte and Classic pass holders.

(5 friends per week, maximum of 20 friends during the offer period, a week is Monday-Sunday. Offer not valid the day of purchase of your annual passport.  Offer does not include the 13th July).

All the offers listed about are subject to terms and conditions which can be found in your copy of Envie de +, this is a English translated guide and does not substitute reading the offer conditions as distributed to all annual passholders and available on the Disneyland Paris website.

The Disneyland Paris summer has begun, all that's missing is you!

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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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