A Disney Anniversary, Disneyland Paris
What better place to celebrate 8 years with my favourite human, than surrounded by magic at Disneyland, Paris! The less said about the trip to and from London, the better as all 3 journeys we have done together result in cancelled, delayed and over crowed strains left standing for the journey (made better if you have cocktails in a can and a bag of Haribo), but here’s a quick peak into our weekend and some of my favourites 🏰🐭🪄
Travel
To make the most of our trip we stayed overnight in London the evening before, taking the first Eurostar to Paris from St. Pancras International and a late one returning. I’ve only ever had one delay using the Eurostar, and unfortunately it was this trip home due to delays at border control in Paris, but otherwise it’s reliable, easy, comfortable, quick with a 2 and half hour journey…and cheaper than a train ticket to London.
Getting to Disneyland from Gare du Nord is so easy, and just an hour a way. We went straight down to the Metro in Gare du Nord and bought tickets to Marne-la-Vallée (the station in Disneyland) for €5.
Take the RER B line to Châtelet Les Halles,
then walk across the platform and get on the RER A line to Marne-la-Vallée (the final stop)
You’ll come out of the station entrance and have Disney parks on your right and the shopping village and hotels on your left.
OUr HOTEL
We like convenience when we are abroad and so Disney was no different, but as we were there for only 2 days, we opted for the cheapest option of the Disney official hotels.
Disney have offsite partner hotels which are a 30 minute shuttle bus away or their onsite official ones where your park tickets are included and you get an hour of Extra Magic Time (or as Rich calls it, “Happy Hour”).
We stayed at Santa Fe and went straight to parks on arriving as the tickets are now digital (you get a card when you check in but if you download the Disneyland App, it’s available digitally). The cars themed hotel had a restaurant & bar, gift shop and Starbucks on site (we made use of an early morning Starbucks).
DAY 1
We did both parks but first stop, Casey’s, to inhale a nacho’s hot dog & fries because it was way past lunch time and we didn’t eat breaky! Then onto Autopia to chauffer Rich around the track (accidently stepped on the pedal getting out of the car - whoops!), our first castle pics and saw our first parade - A Million Splashes of Colour. I’m not a fan of ‘big’ rides….if it spins or is fast - it’s big 😂 - so we did all the nice things including It’s a Small World, Teacups, Queen of Hearts walkthrough, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast for me and Indian Jones Temple Du Peril, Starwars Hyperspace Mountain for him. Of course there were snacks and shops, before heading to the hotel for a 5 minute check in and head back out for dinner at Annette’s.
After dinner we headed over to Disney Studios for Remy’s Ratatouille where you sit in a giant mouse…yes I’m excited about that, yes I panicked when the car spun around….yes we did it a second time! It was great. We stayed for the evening lightshows: Disney Electrical Sky Parade & Disney Dreams, which were incredible against the castle with drones and animation…but my legs were dead! The walk back to the hotel was not a pleasant one for my feet - turns we did enough laps around the park to cover off over 20 miles according to my step counter.
Day 2
Those staying in the Disney hotels get an extra hour of magic time before the parks open at 9:30am, so it was a swift stop at Starbucks before heading to the park for a people free photo at the castle 💙 Mission accomplished! Then a mad dash to the Studios for some rides with longer wait times, to try and beat the queues. Crush’s Rollercoaster was his first stop and it was already an hours wait time, his luck came in as he got in the single ride queue whilst I enjoyed the park - it is cute though, you sit in a turtle! Then my luck came in with another kid’s ride and no wait time on Cars Rallye (think tea cups but cars)! We spent some time here and did Remy’s Ratatouille again, single rider queue shaved off 50 minute waiting time, then over to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror for Rich which was another majorly popular ride with over an hours wait, so we splurged on a fast pass and he was done in what felt like 15 minutes. Back over to Disneyland park for lunch at Pizzeria Bella Notte and more rides like Pirates of the Caribbean (may have screamed…maybe twice - would do again), other pootly boat rides, my first time on the steam train, Indian Jones Temple Du Peril again for Rich as it was a 5 minute wait due to the rain and my first rollercoaster: Casey Jr le Petit Train du Cirque. Google it if you want a laugh, I’m still having it.
We finished our trip with anniversary shopping, snacks and setting off back to Gare du Nord, Paris.
Safe to say I woke wanting to go back again (without the delays home next time though)!
If you’re planning a trip or thinking about it - here’s a few tips/suggestions/recommendations to help:
Download the Disneyland Paris App: It’s got everything on it from park maps and ride waiting times, your hotel & restaurant reservations to what attractions and places are closed, fast passes and your digital park tickets. You can even buy fast passes and reservations on the go.
Hotel Luggage Rooms: We didn’t need them for this trip, but each hotel has a luggage room where you can check your luggage in before your room is available and then head back to the park stress free.
Restaurant Reservations - Book Early: The only restaurant we wanted was Walt’s and it was closed for refurbishment, but some reservations are open a year in advance, so take a look when you book and do it early. Bistrot Chez Rémy looked lovely, was incredibly busy and was viewable as part of the Ratatouille ride, the same for Captain Jack's - Restaurant des Pirates - we would look to book these if we went back.
Single Rider Queues: If you can go on rides alone/aren’t bothered about being sat with your group - these are amazing! Some are better than others depending on general busyness of the ride but Rich was plucked from the line and we shaved a good bit of time off using this. They also offer something similar for parents, when you’re both wanting to ride - not sure if this is a different queue or not, you’d have to ask the attendants.
Fast Passes: These are no longer free :( They range in price per ride and season and you can only use it once. So I would recommend choosing your ride/s carefully - single rider saves lots of time and keeping an eye on the map helps too as you can make it through the park quite quick without children. Rich did it for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and it was definitely worth it as the queue times for that where the same constantly from opening to closing.
Princesses - Get your comfy shoes on!: If you’re wanting to do anything princess related, expect a wait! These where the most popular characters from what we saw with 2 hours wait time some times - it is indoors and I believe you get see Belle and any other princess, but you have to wait it out. The other option, if you can afford it, would be to try and book a Princess Character breakfast.
Feet Care: I’m buying Skechers if I go again. You don’t realise how much you’re walking and standing, get comfortable shoes with varying thickness socks. Take a good moisturising cream and soak them at the end of the day (if the plug plugs😂 )
Budget: Disney is as pricey as you make it. If you’re going on the Eurostar there aren’t any liquid limits, so you can always take large bottled water with you and snacks, there’s a newsagents in the train station near the entrance/exit, and Val d'Europe is just 5 minutes away by train (it’s the stop before Disney) and is shopping village built by Disney & the French State with eatery’s and shops. You can always nip into Paris when getting off the Eurostar for a supermarket, before going down into the metro.
Prioritise: If you’re not staying for a long period of time or have a few in your party who want to do different things - plan! Take 10 minutes on the evening or morning to decide your must do’s and then things you’ll do if you’re free - this includes character meets. You can then prioritise where you’re going with your extra magic hour, which rides to keep an eye on queue times etc.
Meal Times: The crows move quick! We did all of our sit down meals outside of the standard eating times - we did an early dinner, late lunch etc and managed to avoid long queue times and waits.
BONUS | Characters: They’re everywhere if you look! Mickey & The Princesses will always be in their purpose built attractions in the park. But other characters are all over, usually in corners or door ways so keep your eyes peeled and see who you can find.
