Getting closer...

Well it's getting closer to our next visit to a Disney resort...in fact we're now in single digit countdown!

In a couple of days we shall be heading our way over to Disneyland Paris for a much needed dose of Disney.

It is almost 4 and a half years since we were at Disneyland Paris as a family and 6 years since we last visited Walt Disney World so we are very ready for Disney!

These last few years have been tough both financially and personally and this makes this trip all the more wanted.

So I am all ready? Well...err...maybe! I don't really feel like I've done any 'prep' work or research and to be honest I think I did most of that when we were deciding when to go and where to stay. It's not quite the same as visiting Walt Disney World when you have to think about booking fastpasses and dining reservations and perhaps scheduling all the different parks in to make sure you get to experience all that you want to. Paris is a much more compact resort in comparison and most of my 'research' has been done online or is something that I already know. So while there are things that are different to our last visit we shall all just be happy to experience some 'Disneyness'.

To get us in the mood myself and Molly had a little home pampering...we have matching toe nails that took inspiration from The Lion King & Jungle Festival currently happening at Disneyland Paris...

...and then we decided on a more classic, sophisticated look for our fingers!

Mine done by Molly!

Molly's done by me...although I had to ask Simon to complete the Mickey as my numerous attempts were not good!!

So what will we be doing over the next few days? Well, we will be getting there by Eurostar which will take us direct to Disneyland Paris where we will take advantage of their Disney Express service; this means that we will get our tickets and hotel information on the train and then leave our luggage at the station where it will be moved to our hotel leaving us free to go off and explore!

We will be staying at Hotel Cheyenne which will be a walk down memory lane as this was the hotel we stayed in on our first ever visit to Disneyland Paris way back in 1999. So it may be fun to try and recreate some of our photos from our first visit...although I'm not sure my eldest will be willing to join in the fun as a lot of the photos involve him being either in a pushchair or being held!!

So are there any must-do's for us on this trip? I think there are only a couple of attractions that we haven't actually rode in the past; one is the Tower of Terror which none of us have a strong desire to ride (love the themeing just not the mechanism) but the other is Crush's Coaster. Now last time we visited we tried a number of times to ride Crush's Coaster but were thwarted by either breakdowns or ridiculously long wait times so this is a definite rope drop/extra magic time objective!

Otherwise we are really looking forward to experiencing the newly refurbished Phantom Manor; Big Thunder Mountain is a big definite (this is probably my favourite version); Star Tours will just have to be done as will Hyperspace Mountain (although not by me!); the castle here is just stunning and made all the more special by a visit to its guest underneath at La Taniere du Dragon and it goes without saying (if you know me at all) that It's A Small World will be ridden...a lot!

So packing is done, euros have been bought, passports are at the ready and now it's time to have some Disney fun!

Disneyland Paris - February 2015 - Day 3

Here we are Day 3 of our short vacation to Disneyland Paris, and after a good nights sleep we headed straight into Disneyland Park and Plaza Gardens restaurant for our 'breakfast in the park'.

The day was still very cold but much brighter with clear blue skies and shining sun.

A much brighter but still freezing cold day

We arrived at Plaza Gardens at 8.45am, exactly the right time for our booked time slot.

Now the breakfast inside Plaza Gardens was pretty much the same as what we got at the Sequoia Lodge...there were some different breads to choose from but everything else was the same. Although there was a panic moment when I couldn't find the Nutella chocolate spread, thankfully Ethan managed to track it down and so a crisis was averted!

Inside Plaza Gardens Restaurant

Tucking into breakfast to keep us going for awhile!!

Before heading off into the cold we took advantage of the warmth and coffee refills to look at the park map and decide what we wanted to do first.

Checking the map!

Molly however had plans...she was determined that our first ride of the day be Autopia as we hadn't managed to ride it the day before. So despite it not being one of my favourite rides we agreed to head over that way to 'get it over and done with'!!

But there was a problem...the ride didn't become operational until midday and it was only around 10.00am so we had to find something else to do. Now one ride that I can never remember riding at any of the parks is Orbitron (or Astro Orbiter as it's called in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World). Or as I like to call it Dumbo with a space theme!! It's just one of those rides that has never appealed plus it always seems to have long queues and is known to be a 'slow loader', but on this bright sunny morning we decided to give it a go!

Hey let's do this!!

Beautiful but very cold day

Ride queue selfie! Well it's gotta be done!

We had such a laugh on this ride if only watching the kids trying to get in one rocket together! Now Simon and I managed to get in our rocket perfectly fine but the kids were a little squashed...and I have to admit we just sat there and laughed at, and with, them. Suffice to say we all had a great time and I was pleasantly surprised by the ride itself, so much so that I think next time we are in the US this will be on my list of 'must do's'.

As we still had time to kill before Autopia we jumped on Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast before heading over towards Sleeping Beauty Castle to explore La Galerie de la Belle au Bois Dormant. This is a walk through attraction located on the first floor of the castle which tells the story of Sleeping Beauty through stained glass windows, tapestries and illustrated books. It is a truly magical experience that has been done with the highest levels of detail and is one of the highlights of Disneyland Paris.  Here are a few photos to whet your interest but I shall save more for a future blog piece.

Stained glass window

One of a number of 'books' re-telling the story

Beautiful, detailed tapestry

Gallery ceiling is just...wow!

And then when you exit you find yourself on the castle battlements overlooking Fantasyland to the rear...

Amazing views over Fantasyland, gives you a new appreciation for the way this land has been constructed

Busy taking lots of photos!

...and Discoveryland to the front of the castle...

But that's not all the castle has to offer...oh no! Because we then paid a visit to it's resident who lives in the dungeon...La Taniere du Dragon...

Me and a dragon!

I shall have many more photos of this amazing and unique attraction to share with you in another blog post...promise!

To finish off the first half of our day we took a stroll through Le Passage Enchante d'Aladdin in Adventureland. This is another walk through attraction which depicts scenes from the film Aladdin and whilst it's nicely presented it's not a patch on the castle walk through! Hence no photos to share!

We then had a meander around Adventure Isle culminating in a visit to La Cabane des Robinson, otherwise known as Swiss Family Robinson; A Treehouse with a View! Adventure Isle is a great place to explore especially if you have younger children but with two teenagers who couldn't see the point to it plus the extreme cold it simply wasn't appealing enough to do in detail this trip. The treehouse was very similar to those stateside and whist nicely done we were now beginning to feel the cold or should that be unable to feel our fingers and toes and were desperate for some warmth.

So off we went in search of a sit down in a warm place with a nice hot drink; we walked through Frontierland but the offerings were slim so we ended up at Casey's Corner for coffees and hot chocolates before we decided what to do next.

Sizing up Casey's Corner

Feeling rather cold and trying to get warm

And then Molly reminded us that Autopia would be open and that we had promised to ride it...so that's where we headed next!

Even though it had not long opened the queue was already at a 25 minute wait!

About half way through the queue

We decided that the girls would go in one car and the boys in another. Us girls got in the car behind the boys, saw them drive off and then we were told to stay still...we waited for what seemed like an eternity before we were given the all clear to go. This meant that the boys were long gone and any chance we had of 'chasing' them was lost...wasn't quite the fun ride it could have been if we'd been 'after' the boys. In fact it was almost at the end of the track before we caught them up...

It was now approaching lunchtime and we decided that a change of park was in order, so we took a stroll down Liberty Arcade, which runs parallel with Main Street USA, and set off in the direction of Walt Disney Studios.

I think this would be a good place to stop and save the rest of the day for my next post :)

Disneyland Paris - February 2015 - Day 2 continued

So where had I got to? Ah yes we were off to Discoveryland...or in other words Tomorrowland.

In Disneyland Paris Discoveryland incorporates all the aspects of what you'd expect to see in Tomorrowland in the other Disney parks but does so with a Jules Verne/Victoriana/Steampunk style themeing.

Entry to Discoveryland

However at the time of our visit there was an awful lot of refurbishment work going on. Space Mountain: Mission 2 along with it's neighbouring attraction Les Mysteres du Nautilus were both closed along with Cafe Hyperion which also houses the Videopolis theatre.  It did make the whole of Discoveryland feel like a construction site as there was the infamous boarding up everywhere.

But we took ourselves over to Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast which we always love playing...I never get the highest score but we normally have a good laugh playing it.  In this version, like the Disneyland version, you can remove the laser blasters from their mounts to help improve your accuracy...supposedly!!

We then headed in the direction of Star Tours another of our family favourites but this version was the 'old skool' version! And whilst it was fun to ride it really does make you realise just how awesome the new and improved versions are in Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios, but it was fun to take a trip down memory lane.

At this point Molly was desperate to ride Autopia but the rest of us were desperate to get warm, so as she was out voted three to one we headed off in the direction of Main Street USA in search of hot drinks and inside seating. So we popped into Cable Car Bake Shop and ordered hot chocolates, muffins and chocolate cake, but there was no where to sit! However, we'd noticed that Victoria's Home Style Restaurant at the top of Main Street USA, although not serving food, was actually open with plenty of seating...so we took our drinks and food and went and found a table in there.  I think this had been left open in error because not long after we sat down (and we weren't the only ones in there) a cast member appeared and although she was clearing tables as people left we got the distinct impression her mission was to close up shop as soon as she could.  Why, therefore, it had been left open in the first place I do not know. As it was because the number of restaurants open was limited it actually made sense to leave the door open to provide more seating for when other places became full!

So warmed and recharged we headed off into the cold once more and headed over to Fantasyland where we were able to ride It's A Small World, Peter Pan's Flight, Mad Hatter's Tea Cups and Dumbo the Flying Elephant.

Letting the kids get dizzy on Mad Hatter's Tea Cups!

We also took a wander around the shops of Fantasyland partly to look at merchandise and partly to get warm!

I wonder if they do it in my size?!!

We then took a wander underneath the castle to visit La Teniere du Dragon; this is an attraction completely unique to Disneyland Paris and is a fully audio-animatronic dragon living captive in it's lair underneath the castle. It is a breath taking attraction and worth spending a good deal of time there taking in all the details, we made sure we visited on numerous occasions over the duration of our stay.

By now we were getting hungry...again...so we headed into Frontierland to see what food options were there but found that the first two we tried were closed. This meant a walk round into Adventureland and a visit to Restaurant Hakuna Matata which had the yummy Hakuna Fries!!

By now it was getting close to park closing so we did a little more 'shopping' down Main Street USA and then just a few minutes before the night-time show 'Disney Dreams' was to begin we made our way out onto Main Street itself and took up position.

Main Street selfie just before 'Disney Dream's'

'Disney Dreams' is an amazing show; a combination of music, animation, lights, fireworks, lasers, water and projections and seems to never end. This is a 'must-do' for anyone visiting Paris and if visiting like we were for a number of days has to be seen more than once. Having seen it today we knew that we would make the time to see it again and to pick a spot closer to the castle to get the full effect of the projections.

We made our way out of the park taking our time going through the Disney Village by wandering through the World of Disney shop and the Disney Store. We had plans to pop into Earl of Sandwich to pick up something sweet to have back at the hotel but the queue was way too long so we headed straight to the hotel. We decided to stop in the Redwood Bar for a drink before having a look in the hotel gift shop - Northwest Passage. We had hoped on picking up something to eat from here and although there were some food items to buy there was not a lot to choose from and were mainly confectionary - not the same as stopping in the hotel shops in Walt Disney World!

Another day done, and all four of us well and truly worn out!

10 days and counting...

Well it's not long to go now until we head off for Disneyland Paris and to say that me and the rest of the family are ready for this small vacation would be an understatement!

Especially as the last few weeks have been a testing time with sudden family illness, broken cars, work demands...you name it and it seems to have fallen our way.  But everything is now looking much better and we are getting ourselves back on track ready for some Disney time :)

So in getting ready for this trip I thought I ought to be prepared for the cold weather...I've already got my snow boots and this week my new hat arrived...

Hat selfie!!

We're already to go with cameras as we treated ourselves to a new video camera at Christmas and my daughter has a 'Go-Pro' camera which should mean we can get some brilliant footage on rides.

I'm just about to order some Euros to go spending with and then I think we'll be all set bar the packing!

One of my Disney community friends (Jenni) has just spent a few days in Disneyland Paris celebrating her birthday so I was able to find out from first hand experience about something that I had resigned myself to not seeing - Disney Dreams.  I had presumed that because we are visiting in the low season and we won't even be there over a weekend that the show wouldn't be happening, but guess what I was wrong!  Jenni confirmed that Disney Dreams (or to give it it's full title A Night Time Spectacular Show: Disney Dreams!) runs every night at park closing come rain or shine!!  I am now one happy person.  I have heard so much about this show and about how good it is that I was pretty gutted when I thought we might not see it but now I can't wait to see it...and I've been told I'll want to see it again and again.  The show is a mix of fireworks, lasers, projections onto Sleeping Beauty's castle and water fountains and sounds amazing.  I have resisted the urge to look at videos on the internet and am looking forward to experiencing it for myself with no preconceptions just the hope that I will be blown away by it all.  I love the Wishes Night Time Spectacular at Walt Disney World and it always brings me to tears so it will be interesting to see what the effect of Disney Dreams will be!

The more pre-trip reading I do the more I am remembering things from our previous trips and the more I am looking forward to going.  I am really looking forward to experiencing those attractions that are unique to Paris like La Taniere du Dragon (a dragon underneath the castle!) as well as being able to compare and contrast the classics like Pirates of the Caribbean.  And having children that are that much older with us this time I am hoping that we will be able to experience the whole resort with fresh eyes.

10 days to go....