Efterling v Disney Land Paris

[MyUserName]

This is really only of interest if you have young children and you are taking them on holiday.

Summary:
Disney Land Paris is expensive and tulipe.
The Efteling is awesome.

Analysis:

Disneyland

The characters do not walk around and interact with you (even though the adverts show this and they sell autograph books for it). The queues are simply massive and there is nothing to do whilst queuing so the kids get bored.

Tip - take a portable potty or you will have to keep leaving the queue to take your child to the toilet.

Tip2 - learn basic French or staff will probably refuse to help you.

The staff are frequently rude and unhelpful. The offsite lodge has no Disney theme and is quite grubby. Overall, it felt like now they had our money they didn't give a monkey's whether we enjoyed.

There are a couple of quite good roller coasters which will entertain adults.

Efteling

It is about a third of the price of Disney Land. There are queues but there are also lots of attractions (like the fairy tale forest) where the entire thing is a themed forest so there are no queues there. Everything is themed, the lodges have characters like the Sand Man wandering around and telling the children stories. The merchandise is cheap and plentiful and the hotel and lodges have freebies for the children.

All of the staff are happy to speak English and are very helpful. It is also a shorter drive from my house!

There are not as many 'grown up' roller coasters though.

How does this play out in the real world - we have been to the Efteling twice and are going back in October, we have been to Disneyland once and never intend returning.

[SimonMac]

Which ones has Elsa and Olaf?

Any other variable is irrelevant to a parent of a small child these days

[MyUserName]

Which ones has Elsa and Olaf?

Any other variable is irrelevant to a parent of a small child these days

Disney Land :-(

We queued for two hours for my son and daughter to meet a princess. The idiot who was manning the gate asked "Who's your favorite?" and my daughter shouted "Elsa!" and he paused and said "Oh, we don't have her. We only have Cinderella and *another one*".

Luckily my daughter also likes Cinderella and my son likes pretty much everything and is always happy.

We caught a glimpse of her in the (to be fair quite impressive) parade but that was it.

[TheFaQQer]

Sounds like Disney has gone downhill a lot in the last two years then.

We would get in early for the meet and greet - lots of photos with the characters over the years. Most of the characters would try to go out of the way for photos even if they were leaving - on a number of occasions they went out of their way to make sure the disabled children got their pictures done.

Most of the queue areas had some degree of theme to them (eg. Buzz Lightyear) which helped pass the time.

Nearly all the staff were fluent in English and French (quite a few of the ride operators I spoke to were English anyway) - always polite, with the exception of one person who was working on the train and sent it off even though it was half empty and there was a long queue there. Occasionally (particularly when you are in first thing) some of the ride attendants aren't as fluent in English as others, but that was rare.

We probably had an average of eight days a year there for four or five years - started when the youngest was under 2 so free, and we stopped two years ago. Tried other places since, but if they haven't got the things / characters the children want to see then it's a false economy.

[Paddy]

I was told by the Efterlingers that Efterling was created before Disney.

PS had a good part there.

[oracleslave]

Family and I will spend 3 days staying just outside Disneyland Paris next month. Hopefully wife and kids will be sufficiently entertained at the Park to allow me to try and walk again in peace after attempting the Paris Marathon on 12-April.

[MyUserName]

Sounds like Disney has gone downhill a lot in the last two years then.

We would get in early for the meet and greet - lots of photos with the characters over the years. Most of the characters would try to go out of the way for photos even if they were leaving - on a number of occasions they went out of their way to make sure the disabled children got their pictures done.

Most of the queue areas had some degree of theme to them (eg. Buzz Lightyear) which helped pass the time.

Nearly all the staff were fluent in English and French (quite a few of the ride operators I spoke to were English anyway) - always polite, with the exception of one person who was working on the train and sent it off even though it was half empty and there was a long queue there. Occasionally (particularly when you are in first thing) some of the ride attendants aren't as fluent in English as others, but that was rare.

We probably had an average of eight days a year there for four or five years - started when the youngest was under 2 so free, and we stopped two years ago. Tried other places since, but if they haven't got the things / characters the children want to see then it's a false economy.

That is what we were expecting :-(

Apparently they have stopped their characters doing walk arounds because they kept getting mobbed.

Luckily we raised our children with (children's versions of) European fairy tales so they could relate to the Efteling almost as easily as Disney.

[MyUserName]

Family and I will spend 3 days staying just outside Disneyland Paris next month. Hopefully wife and kids will be sufficiently entertained at the Park to allow me to try and walk again in peace after attempting the Paris Marathon on 12-April.

Hope your experience is better than mine was!

[TykeMerc]

Disneyland Paris was ok last time I went, but that was 20 years ago, I suspect it's had a fair bit of wear and tear since

[Eirikur]

It is Efteling
Efteling - Theme Park, Hotel, Village - Fairytales exist - Efteling
Went their well over 40 years ago, all I remember is going around in a little train and a waste bin that said thank you when you throw in waste