Monday, June 10, 2019

Disneyland Paris Family Europe Trip Part 3


"This is no ordinary apple, it is a magic 
wishing apple,"  said the Evil Queen to
tempt Snow White. 


Never fear, Snow White was awakened by 
love's kiss and went on to have a wonderful
and delicious day at the park!!

Welcome to Disneyland Paris, the third leg on
our Family Europe Trip.  


Visiting Disneyland Paris was big on 
everyone's list, old and young.  My middle 
son has now visited all the Disneylands
except Hong Kong - California, Florida, Shanghai,
Tokyo, and now Paris.

Paris is such a delight because it is how you 
wish Disneyland was - uncrowded and reasonable 
lines, especially if you go on a weekday, and
about a third cheaper than in the US.


We have stayed a couple of times 
in the iconic pink hotel 
that is literally the entrance to Disneyland Paris 
before, when it was just the two of us, but 
it carries a hefty pricetag for 5 rooms.  We wanted 
to get the Magic Hours since Disneyland Paris is 
often open only from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm and we 
only had one day here.  


So we chose to stay in Disney's Santa Fe Hotel 
which was under150 Euros a night.  It has an
adorable Cars theme.

If you have traveled to Europe much you know that 
family sized rooms are few and far between. Disney 
gets it - two doubles per room.


The bathroom follows the Cars theme in an 
clever way.  Everything was so fresh and fun 
and almost looked brand new.





The hotel consists of multiple buildings and you 
travel down Route 66 to get to your buildings.


We took the high speed train from Charles De Gaulle 
airport in Paris to Disneyland.  It gets you there in 10 
minutes.  We happened to arrive just as Disneyland 
was closing for the night - around 8:30 pm and 
people were crazy trying to get on the buses to 
their hotels. 

 I knew we would be tired and hungry 
so I had called Disneyland Paris and made reservations 
for the La Cantina buffet dinner at our hotel.
 They were so 
helpful and accommodating for our large group.


It was the perfect meal after our steady high 
carb diet of pizzas and gelatos in Rome.  The 
meats for fajitas and tacos were delicious.


They even had a chocolate fountain.










No sleeping in!!
To get the most of our Magic hour and a half, we 
were at the park by 8:00.

I gained an appreciation for those tour guides who 
didn't ever let you sleep in - too much to see and do!!

When hubby and I have gone by ourselves, it 
is a much more relaxed pace, but I didn't 
want the kids to miss anything.


Baby girl turned 5 months old on the trip, and she 
loved every bit of it and just kept up the pace.  She 
was amazing and so were her parents, 
getting a stroller on and off the subway
 and into taxis, buses and Uber cars.


Yes, you can still find the Tower of Terror in Paris. 


Although I love the theme of the new 
Guardians of the Galaxy ride,
I have said that it contains a lot wilder drops 
and is a longer ride - a few drops too many for 
my stomach - and sure enough, riding the old 
ride proves it. 


They have two parks, 
Disneyland Park and Disney Studio Park.
The Price for both parks is under $100 -
 so there's another 
reason I love Disneyland Paris.  

We headed straight to the Ratatouille Ride with our 
early hours and walked right in.  The crowd was 
rushing to Crush's Roller Coaster, but that was a 
spinning roller coaster and none of us felt like our 
stomachs could take that.  

I love how Disney parks around the world take a 
slightly different theme and you find new rides like 
Ratatouille.  For those who are familiar with the movie, 
you are the size of a rat and being chased in the 
kitchens by the chefs.  It is a fun and clever ride.


The castle is huge and spectacular and you are allowed 
to go up the grand staircase to the second floor 


where you see the story of Sleeping Beauty depicted in gorgeous 
stained glass and tapestries.



Then you can even walk outside on the parapet 
and see Fantasyland 


and the castle rooftop up close.  Then you descend a 
spiral staircase.


But that's not all - exit the castle to your left and for this and you enter the lair of the dragon, a life-sized dragon sits at the edge of the 
water and occasionally opens its eyes and lifts 
its head and lets out a roar.  



The kids preferred Hyperspace Mountain to California's
Space Mountain.

Phantom Manor has a different and fun theme in 
where you are following a ghostly lady.


Beware Indiana Jones is a rough riding roller coaster.


There are several fun walk through experiences besides 
the Dragon's Lair, like Alice in Wonderland, 


a pirate's ship,
and Skull Rock (photo from Disneywikia.com).


The food is a lot of fun, as you would expect.
Of course they serve crepes since we are in France,


and the most amazing Nutella stuffed donut puffs.


 By the way, that poison apple was delicious!


We chose to eat at Chez Remy's - part of the 
Paris and Ratatouille portion of the park.  


Reservations are required, but the wonderful lady 
on the reservations phone line had no problem fitting 
twelve of us in.  We had 
eaten there before and thought the family would 
love the theme.



Of course, it is as if you are shrunken to the size of 
a rat, so everywhere you look there are charming details.

These are stacks of plates that are booths and the 
forks are coat hangers.


Drink umbrellas become table umbrellas and Christmas
lights are hanging lights.


We all chose a steak or chicken dish, but it was 
the desserts that blew us away.



The parks were in their springtime glory.  They had the 
most impressive flower display of anywhere we went on the trip.


We were lucky and our schedule fit a night where 
they didn't close at 8:00 pm but stayed open until 
10:30 and had fireworks (my favorite)!

For Disney fans, old and young, it is well worth 
a day spent in Disneyland Paris, and yes you can do 
it all in a day.  My son says Tokyo's Disney Sea needs 
to be on my bucket list - we will see if that every happens, 
but I am glad I could introduce the family to
Disneyland Paris.

Top Reasons to go to Disneyland Paris
So uncrowded
Better price
Spectacular Castle
Hidden Dragon
Unique rides
Unique foods
So close to Paris
Disney Magic


The final installment will be Paris.  I guess I saved 
my favorite for last - but really it was cheaper and 
faster flying direct into London and direct home 
from Paris.














Jacqueline
Jacqueline

Chocolat - French for Chocolate. I adored chocolate from a young age when I had to sneak in the cupboard to find where my mother had hidden the Nestle's Chocolate Chips. Having read about the famous chocolat shoppes in Paris, when I finally got there I was determined to try a chocolate from every Paris shoppe. I invite you to share my adventures in creating, in travel, and in life.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for taking me to Disneyland Paris! How wonderful it is less crowded and has such fantastic sounding experiences! I can't get over the baby going along, wow what a trooper! I know you made a life time of memories for everyone, y'all are always having so much fabulous fun!
    Jenna

    ReplyDelete
  2. How special. Thanks for the tips on Disneyland Paris. Avoiding the long lines is awesome. Your family looks so happy on this wonderful family vacation. What a treat for them all. Memories to remind everyone of the grand time. The food looks fabulous. Thank you again for sharing this fun journey.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It was so fun seeing this thru your eyes!! The pics of you are adorable!! And those desserts - I drooled a bit on my computer!! What a fabulous family vacation!!!

    ReplyDelete

Your comments are the highlight of my day! Leave a comment and then I can come and visit your blog. Have a wonderful day! Unfortunately I have had to block anonymous comments, hope you understand.

Follow me on Instagram