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 4

So here we are on our penultimate day of our little trip - day 4.

Despite being up nice and early for breakfast in the hotel we decided to take the morning at a leisurely pace and rather than heading for the parks we had a wander around the Disney Village and took the opportunity to get some shopping done!

But boy was it cold this morning, here's a few photos that hopefully capture what a beautiful, but extremely cold day it was!

Frozen river

Stranded duck in the ice!

Warning sign!!!

Ever so slightly frosty!!

Heading to Disney Village on a crisp, beautiful morning.











We decided to head for the large World of Disney store where I was able to buy some earrings, tea towels and a pin for my fellow 'Disney Dream Girl' Michelle.  Molly also bought herself a pin and was desperate to buy a Sulley pillow but alas there was not one in the store.  So we thought we would try the Disney Store only to find that it hadn't yet opened for the day!

Our next stop was Disney Fashion, probably my favourite of all the shops as this stocked my style of merchandise.

I love all the Disney Couture range, and anything that is a little bit different from the norm; whether it's the fabric, the pattern or the cut of a garment I always make a beeline for items that are just that bit unusual. Hence why I left with a tinkerbell long sleeve top, a grey Mickey bling t-shirt, a long sleeve Mickey t-shirt and a pair of Mickey ears!

Some of our shopping haul from the trip

Well all this wandering about and shopping had made us hungry and there was only really one place for us to go...Earl of Sandwich...our 'go to' restaurant of choice for this trip. Beautiful food and great prices in a nice warm building with free wifi!! After lunch we headed back to the hotel to drop off our shopping bags before heading over to Disneyland Park.

After taking a stroll down Main Street USA we headed over into Frontierland and straight to Phantom Manor.

View from the front door of Phantom Manor looking towards Big Thunder Mountain

View from the front door of Phantom Manor, the 'Molly Brown' was in dock having some maintenance work completed

When we exited the ride we went left and took in the sights of Boot Hill; this is a small area themed as a cemetery and is well worth taking a look as it is beautifully done. It is all too easy to turn right when leaving Phantom Manor to get back to the hustle of the park but then you miss out on what is a little gem of an area.

Photos of just some of the gravestones scattered around Boot Hill...

After Phantom Manor we braved the 40 minute wait time to ride Big Thunder Mountain, probably our favourite ride. We then went back over to Main Street USA and decided it was treat time; so despite the cold we headed over to The Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlour. The ice-cream choices here are all standard Ben & Jerry's flavours although they do serve crepes...I opted for a crepe filled with Nutella and a dollop of vanilla ice-cream.

About to order

 As we were on Main Street we decided to have a wander of the shops in search of the Sulley pillow that Molly was after, and sure enough she found one!

Yay we've found one!!

Now shopping can build up an appetite and stomachs were beginning to rumble so we wandered over into Fantasyland looking for food. We had a look at Toad Hall Restaurant but none of us were particularly taken with the choice of offerings; fish & chips, chicken nuggets and the same salads that could be found in every Disney restaurant. I do like the theming though of this restaurant so here's just a couple of photos.

We decided to look elsewhere for food and ended up in Adventureland, but as we passed by Pirates of the Caribbean we just couldn't resist taking a ride...after all a 5 minute wait is not to be passed up!

The first restaurant we tried was Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost but despite it only being 5.00pm (or thereabouts) it was closed, the lights were on and the doors open but no-one was around and there was no sign of it being operational...strange! We knew that the other counter service restaurant in Adventureland, Restaurant Hakuna Matata, was also closed as today was it's scheduled day to be closed. This meant we had to try the next land which was Frontierland, which was fine because I quite fancied some Mexican food from Fuente del Oro Restaurante...but we were faced with the same situation again...doors open, lights on but very evidently no food was being served! So we back tracked on ourselves and thought we'd try Cowboy Cookout Barbecue but guess what? Yep, exactly the same scenario again!  To say we were all getting a little frustrated would be an understatement...never mind the hunger!

We now just wanted food quick, so decided that one place we could guarantee being open was Casey's Corner. As it turned out our timing here was pretty good as the parade was just about to go by, so by the time we got our food we sat outside (yes it still was very cold!!) munching on hot dogs, chicken nuggets and fries just as the parade passed by!

By now the night was beginning to draw in and we were drawn to the lovely neon lights of Discoveryland and the fun of Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast.

Entrance to Discoveryland

The kids then wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain...again. But there was a 40 minute wait...it was also very dark but more importantly freezing cold and I really didn't fancy getting even colder whizzing through the night-time air! The warmth of shops beckoned and a few more treats were bought; some cookies, chocolates for my team at work, a Phantom Manor t-shirt and some Nightmare Before Christmas PJ's!!

It was now time to go get our spot staked out for Disney Dreams! We headed towards the centre of the Central Plaza area and found a spot with the castle almost dead centre in front of us but more importantly we stood at some railings so that no-one else could stand in front of us and spoil our view - crafty!!

We had just over an hour to wait so the kids took their cash and went off in search of sweets. Simon and I needed something to keep us warm and hot chocolate seemed the ideal option. Now just a few yards from us was a cart selling drinks and crepes, but as we stood there we could see guests going up to the open window and getting turned away. It looked like they had stopped serving, which I thought was a bit strange as they had a massive captive audience all waiting for Disney Dreams to start. But I headed over there anyway and luckily for me they were still serving drinks but they had run out of crepes!! Knowing how good the service can be in the US parks I thought that this was really not acceptable...if they were running low more stock should have been brought in rather than just running out and having to turn people away! But hey that's just my opinion!

The kids returned and we munched on a few sweets, drank our hot chocolate and stood chatting to another British family who had joined our little viewing spot.  As it got closer to Disney Dreams starting the area around us began to get busy, but luckily our view was unimpeded as the spot we had picked prevented anyone from pushing in or standing in front of us. This meant that both Simon and Molly were in brilliant positions to get their respective video camera's out to film the whole show.

Our view ready for Disney Dreams to start

Now unfortunately despite grabbing this spot with over an hour to go we still found ourselves being pushed and jostled about by other guests. I have to say this is not something we have really come across in the US parks but this wasn't the first time it had happened to us in Paris. As we stood there enjoying the show a family pushed their way through and stood their two children on the narrow railing right next to Simon...they then began to push into Simon (almost spilling a drink over him) trying to move us out of our position. But we stood our ground and despite all their effort we didn't budge and still managed to get some fantastic video of the whole show.

The show itself is amazing, there is so much going on that it is definitely worth seeing more than once if you can. There are fireworks, and lasers, and projections, and water fountains and all set to a fantastic score. As much as I loved this show and was in awe of everything that was going on, and how long it went on for I still prefer Wishes over at Walt Disney World. There is something about Wishes that gets me every time, it brings about an emotional reaction in me that always makes me shed a tear or two which Disney Dreams just didn't manage to do.

By the time the show was over we were all extremely cold from having stood still for so long...in fact I have distinct memory of walking back to the hotel and not being able to feel my feet! Exiting the park took quite a while as Disney Dreams takes place at 'park closing' and so everyone is making for the exit at the same time. We thought we'd be crafty and walk down Discovery Arcade that runs parallel with Main Street which was easier to navigate but getting to an actual exit was hard work. The only turnstiles that were working as exits were to the far right, despite there being other turnstiles to the left and center...as no-one was coming into the park wouldn't it have been sensible to use all the turnstiles as exits and so speed up the process for all concerned...but hey that's just my thoughts!!

Finally we made it back to the hotel and warmth and to aid our defrosting we hit the hotel shop for beer, crisps and chocolate!

Just one more day to go...

Disneyland Paris February 2015 - Day One

Firstly many apologies for such a long time between blog posts, unfortunately lots of 'life' stuff has happened which has both restricted my time and my want to get on and type. But I'm back on it now and I shall continue with my adventures at Disneyland Paris from a few weeks back...so where were we?

Ah yes...we'd made it to Disneyland Paris...well the train station at least, so what did we do next?

Well, we made our way out of the station and had our first encounter with security at Disneyland Paris. As you leave the area surrounding the station and head to the parks and Disney Village you have to go through 'bag check', which will be familiar to anyone who visits Disney theme parks all over the world. At Paris they have 'bag checks' set up when you leave the train station area and also when you enter the Disney Village from the hotel area of the resort. The 'bag check' is very efficient as they use the same x-ray machines that are used in airports. Simply place your bags on a conveyor belt and collect them the other side of the x-ray machine - very simple, efficient and relatively quick.

Little green tent set up as 'bag check' area when leaving hotels and entering Disney Village

So once we were safely through bag check we decided that rather than head straight for the parks we needed food...and there was only one place to go...somewhere we all loved and hadn't been able to experience since our last trip to WDW back in August 2013...we are talking Earl of Sandwich of course!

Upstairs at Earl of Sandwich

The infamous gold brick!!

The kids enjoying their food :)

I opted for the healthy thai chicken salad option, which was lovely! Although I did have the amazing bread pudding as well!

So whilst we were in the warmth of the Earl of Sandwich I took five minutes to complete the hotel check-in card which we had been given when we dropped our luggage off at the Disney Express counter inside the train station - I figured completing it now would save us some time later on.

Me filling out forms!

Once the paperwork was completed, and now feeling re-energised after our food, we decided to have a wander around the shops of Disney Village. I fell in love with the Disney Fashion store and knew that I'd be back spending in there before our trip was done! I also loved The Disney Gallery shop as there were some lovely pieces of artwork to admire.

We then decided to head over to our hotel, the Sequoia Lodge, and get checked-in.

Arriving at the Sequoia Lodge.

We made our way to the hotel reception, which when you enter from the Disney Village side of the hotel is actually on the first floor, so you go up a set of stairs and walk around to the right of the main bar area in order to reach the check-in desks.

Check-in was relatively straight forward although the major difference between Paris and the US parks is the amount of paper you are given to carry around with you! First there are the park entry tickets - multi-park, multi-day paper tickets - then there is a piece of paper that is basically your hotel ID which gives you access to your hotel facilities like the swimming pool, spa, gym etc but also identifies you as a resort guest for the purposes of early park entry (Extra Magic Hours) and then if you'd like to be able to charge things back to your resort hotel there is a third piece of paper! 

Park ticket, hotel ID and charging card

We also had to pick what time we wanted to have breakfast over the stay of our vacation. The package we had booked meant that a standard breakfast was included for each day of our stay. In order to manage the large number of people in the hotel wanting breakfast they operate a time system, whereby you pick a time slot when you'd like to have your breakfast for each day of your stay. This time can vary each day as once a slot is 'full' you will only be able to pick slots with 'spaces'. For each day you are given yet another 'piece of paper' by way of a coloured card that is specific to the day of the week and the time chosen, and this is needed to access the restaurant at breakfast time. We were also told that at no extra charge we were able to take breakfast in the parks and were offered a slot for one of our days. This can feel a bit restrictive, having to pick times for the duration of your stay when you have no idea how you'll be feeling each day or what plans you may decide upon. But one thing to note is that the system is really only a guide as to when you take your breakfast, we were 'late' on a couple of occasions but this didn't stop us getting our breakfast!

Oh and of course we needed a key for our room, which was a separate plastic credit card sized room key! Once we had our room key and bits of paper we headed to the Left Luggage Office to collect our luggage which had been transported to the hotel from the train station. We then used our hotel map to find our way to our hotel room.

Hotel map

We were in a standard room which meant that we were in one of five lodges located in the grounds of the hotel, rather than in the main building. Our lodge was called Big Sur - the others are Monterey, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Sierra.

In our room, getting sorted and ready to head off out!! I think I shall devote a blog post at a later date to the hotel, the room and it's facilities.

So with dusk falling we headed off to the parks, well Disneyland Park to be precise.

We've made it! Outside the main entrance

Looking down Main Street, USA as dusk is falling

Once into the park there was only one thing the kids wanted to do and that was to ride Big Thunder Mountain...so off we went. We had a 40 minute wait but we were all happy with this as we knew that this was a ride well worth waiting for. Unlike it's US counterparts the main part of the ride is actually situated on an island in the middle of the Rivers of the Far West, whilst the boarding station is in Frontierland. This means that the first part of the ride is actually in a tunnel that goes under the water, which means that the start (and end) of the ride is surprisingly dark and especially so when riding it at the time of day we did; by the time we got on the train the evening had really drawn in and we had a great night time ride!

Whilst in Frontierland we hopped over to take a ride on Phantom Manor. This is a beautifully themed and presented attraction and has it's own unique story line. Although beware it is presented in French and so it's worth reading up on the back story before hand as it will help enhance your ride experience. Certain elements of the ride are similar to other versions around the world whilst there are sections that are particular to this version; the cemetery scene in particular is amazing!

By now it was quite dark, very cold and we were all feeling in the need for food and somewhere warm! So off we set to see what we could find, unfortunately most of the restaurants we encountered were closed which we put down to the time - it was around 7.00pm and the park was due to close at 8.00pm - so what to do?  Well we took a wander through the shops of Main Street, USA to try and get warmed up before leaving the park and heading into the Disney Village in search of food. Most of the restaurants in the Village either had long queues or were out of our budget and so we ended up back at Earl of Sandwich...not that any of us were complaining!

And therein completes day one of our trip to Disneyland Paris; a long and tiring day but very enjoyable too...suffice to say we were all asleep rather quickly!!