Trip Report 12 Parks in 12 Months.

Hi,

If you are here for a trip report about WDW, please check back in December. At the moment I'm in Disneyland Paris, the first of the 12 parks I'm planning to visit this year.

A little background about this trip,
This is me Mimi, today, half frozen.

I'm travelling with my sister and we have both taken a year off work to cross some things of our wish list.
Visiting all 12 Disney parks was very high on my list. My sister likes Disney and is happy to indulge my slight obsession.
We started our trip around the world about 3 weeks ago but this is our first Disney Park. The rules for 12 in 12, that I totally made up for myself, are that I have to stay on property and visit each park for 1 day minimum. I'm hoping I can make 1 long trip report about all the parks, if someone is interested I can add some of my other travel as well.

But let's start with Disneyland Paris, First Park, First Day.
We've already been in Paris for about a week so all we had to do was take the subway from were we were staying, change trains once and exit at Disneyland. I woke up before my alarm and we were ready to leave an hour ahead of schedule. In the first subway I opened my big mouth and said we'd probably make Magic Hour as we'd left so early. Literally 1 minute later the subway slowed down to a crawl and an announcement was made. There was an issue and there would be a delay.
Apparently there was a person on the track at the major station we had to change trains at, so no trains were allowed in. Luckily our train terminated at a station where we could get a Metro that took us to a station where we could get on the train to Disneyland.

The extra travel time swallowed up our Magic Hour but I wasn't too upset about it.
I've always wanted to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, as it's right at the entrance of Disneyland Paris, so for this trip that's were we are staying.
Our room wasn't ready when we got to the hotel at 9.30am so we dropped of our luggage and walked into Disneyland. It felt a bit strange to me, very familiar but different as well. I didn't take too many pictures today as I really wanted to just soak it in and get to know the park, also it rained A LOT today and I didn't want want my phone to get too wet. I did take a picture at the entrance.

We were happy to be there, despite the weather.
First stop was Phantom Manor, there was no line so we rode it twice in row. As much I love the Magic Kingdom version I like this one a bit better. I'm going to try and get some pictures/film it tomorrow or Wednesday so I can show you.
We finished our second ride at 10am and walked past a stand where they sold these,

A cappuccino and these churros where €7 I also bought a coke for €4.20. The churros were okay-ish but we enjoyed them as they were warm.
We walked over to the theatre after eating our snack to watch a Christmas Sing A Long.

We got there late so didn't get the best seats but we enjoyed the show, Mickey spoke French but Minnie spoke English. The only other character that spoke English was Goofy. I thought the show was well done and easy to follow for everyone.
When we left the show it wasn't raining so we hopped online for Star Tours, wait time was listed as 35 minutes but ,as we found out throughout the day, the wait times weren't very accurate. Our wait was nearly an hour.

My sister (P) and I really struggle taking nice pictures, we usually just stand there and take a picture. But we see all these, mostly much younger, people doing all these poses and expressions etc. So we decided to mix it up as well and try some new things.
Here's us "being serious" while waiting for the Star Tours doors to open.

When we walked outside afterwards it was still dry and we saw one of my sister's favourites with no line.

He was fun and very talkative.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I may be too late but I vote ears. Actually I vote ears and a pin.

 

[MickeyCB]

I'm probably too late but I would buy a pair of ears in each park and have them sent home (or to a relative to receive them), and you will have 12 wonderful packages to open someday and not have to lug them around.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

With some food in our bellies we ventured into the World Of Disney Disney. I genuinely had no plans to buy anything but a pin. But then I saw these.

I asked my trusted WDW friends for advise and you were all in favor of getting them. And I'm good at listening, even better now with extra ears.

I went back to buy them the next day.
Once we finished browsing in the shop we checked out the garden area in front of the Disneyland entrance.

I really want to know what Donald's Desk is...
As we had ridden all the rides in Hollywood Studios we decided to go see the parade in Disneyland. Christmas was over so it was a different parade than the day before.

There were 2 very enthusiastic little girls standing next to us when the parade began. As the parade came past they kept moving over and infront of us. It was lovely seeing how happy these little girls were and because they constantly shouted and waved, there was a lot of interaction with the characters right in front of me.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Once the parade was over we walked back to Hollywood Studios since they had a Dr. Strange show. We got there with time to spare so we got in the single rider line for Spiderman. It feels a bit like you are in the naughty corner while you wait in the Single Rider line.

Since this was my third time riding I got my highest score of the trip. I beat the German man sitting next to me and he complained to his wife and son. He was unhappy a stranger got to join them and ruin his score.
After helping Spiderman we found a spot to watch the show. The CM were efficient and told everyone where to stand for the best view.
Now, I would say that DLP shows are much better than WDW except for this one. This one was ridiculously bad, Disney should be ashamed for putting something like this on. It started with a portal opening on the side of the building and seeing Dr.Strange, only he didn't have a face, just blank black space where his face should be. Then Agatha appeared on the roof and talked a bit about recruiting us for evil magic. The Dr. shows up and waves his arms around a bit, then Wanda shows up and does the same. A few small flares are set of and some more hand waving.

This show was a waste of time and we regretted standing in the cold for it. As soon as it was finished we walked back to our hotel to make some hot chocolate in our room. Since there were no drones the night before we braved the cold one more time to watch the Electric Sky Parade with drones this time and boy was I glad we did.
This show is why I love Disney, I actually felt a bit emotional watching it.
I only took one picture because I just wanted to enjoy it.

I think I mostly just said wow. I'm hoping they have this show in some of the other parks as well.
Once the Electric Sky Parade was finished we went back to the hotel to have a nice hot shower and get some sleep.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

The next morning we woke up before our alarm again. We were sad we had to leave today, mostly because the weather was predicted to be very bad and we loved our hotel room so much. We wished we could have stayed another night so we could stay in bed longer and just go to the park for a few hours.We packed up the last of our things and rang reception to let them know we were ready to go. It was so easy to just leave the luggage in the room and head for the park. At 8.15am we were not quite first in line but there were only a few people in front of us. Everyone was dressed in their winter and rain gear. At 8.21am I scanned my magic card and walked into Disneyland. Yes the weather was awful but I was still on Main Street. I wanted to relax and enjoy it a bit. Unfortunately P just wanted to get to PP as quickly as possible. When I tried to stop and take some pictures, P got a bit annoyed so I just put the phone away.
I did take this picture from Fantasy Land.

It was a bit frustrating that when you get to PP you have to wait outside where the line starts. They didn't open the line until 8.31am and than they made everyone walk behind a CM. It was quite a long queue, most of it is covered but we all had to wait in the drizzle outside. No one got on the ride until 8.38am since we all had to follow the slow CM. I think the PP is very similar in DLP to MK although this one felt a bit rougher and it went very fast.
Most of my pictures came out blurry because of the speed we were flying.
I do like seeing Big Ben, little trivia for you, Big Ben is not the official name of this clock tower. It's the Elizabeth Tower.

The ride did look very well maintained.

I like the stars by the ship.

During Magic Hour in Disneyland there are only 2 rides that P and I want to do, PP and Buzz. We don't ride Hyperspace/Space Mountain nor do we want to go on Dumbo, as cute as that ride is.
So after PP we walked through the castle again and within minutes we were on Buzz. The DLP one is a bit different because the blasters are attached to a cord and you have more freedom of movement.

I love the Aliens.

We rode Buzz twice in a row because there was no line.

When we came outside for the second time the rain had really arrived.
It was still Magic Hour for a few more minutes so we decided to get in line for Pinocchio. Again we had to wait outside the queue area in the rain.
I did take a picture of this cute guy on the roof while we waited.

The loading here wasn't well organised, the girl in charge of loading just let everyone decide for themselves where to sit and didn't fill the carts at all. Most people want to sit up front and not share with others. So the majority of the carts had at least the last bench free but quite a few only had 2 people in them. There is room for 6! So the wait was much longer then it should have been first thing in the morning.
The ride was okay, we went very fast again so I didn't get any good pictures.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

After seeing Geppetto get his wish I finally had some time to explore the inside of the castle.

It's so pretty.
I love stained glass windows.

You can't really see it in this picture but these trees sparkle.

That little bird on the left doesn't look too friendly.

The view from the balustrade of the castle. As you can see it wasn't the best weather.

Every pillar outside had an owl.

Another nice thing about going inside the castle is the ability to see all the details on the roof.

After going all the way up we went down and around to

This dragon is great, it moves, growls and it's eyes light up.

Having the castle you can walk through is a big positive for DLP, in my opinion.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Since we were already in Fantasy Land and we wanted to get out of the rain we decided to go on IASW There was only a short wait and all of it was covered so it was a good choice.
I took some pictures of things that I think are different in DLP compared to MK. Feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken.

All in all we enjoyed our cruise and I liked that they had our language on the signs.

Not sure how I feel about my country being depicted like this

 

[Go.Nijntje]

After our cruise around the world, we went on a train journey around the land.
We didn't like the uniform this train conductor was wearing, looked very 1940ish Germany to us.

The train is divided in compartments and you are told where to sit when you board.

I took a picture of this space heater because I wanted one in the train with us. While the train get us dry it was still very cold.

After doing 2 loops around the park we excit exited in Frontierland to go see the Lion King Show at 12.15pm. I was exited to see this because I like the one in Florida but I think the one in Hong Kong Disney is much better. So now it was time to see how DLP compared.

Obviously just my opinion but I think this show was better than the AK version. This feels like a high end production while, the AK one feels a little dated.
As soon as the show finished we speed walked over to Hollywood Studios. We made it in from the Frontierland Theatre to the Studios Theatre in 13 minutes. Why the rush? We wanted to make the 13.35 show of Together.

Got these images of the Disney website.

The second time around the show was just as great. I especially loved that during the whole Nemo number there were bubbles being blown into the theatre.
Once the show was over we did a little shopping and then it was time to say goodbye to the parks.
We were cold and wet but I was happy with all we had seen and done.
We walked back to the hotel and picked up our bags to head to the airport.
The underground was in perfect working order and it was incredibly easy to get to the airport with public transportation.
We had a flight with AirFrance to Oslo to catch and we made it with plenty of time to spare.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

We had checked in for our flights online so with boarding passes on our phones we headed to security. As this is Paris' main airport and we were flying Airfrance the airline has it's own security area. As soon as we got to the line I knew we were in a bit of trouble. Everyone flying with Airfrance had to have their carry on weighted and measured. If you were over 12 kilo or if it didn't fit you got a red card and had to go to the check in desk. My suitcase and backpack together were 15 kilo so of I went to see how much this was going to cost me. My sister was over the weight limit as well but the man doing the weighing was nice and only gave us 1 red card so P could keep her luggage. I had to pay €75 to check in my little suitcase, which weighted less than 11 kilo. The rules are the rules and I did go over the limit so I just filed this under lesson learned. (Don't fly Airfrance again).
Our flight is delayed and when we finally get to Oslo it's nearly midnight.
Picture from the plane as we are coming in to land.

You want to guess what didn't make it to Oslo? You guessed it, the suitcase I paid €75 for to put in the hold.
This is annoying but it is also stressful since the only reason I am in Oslo is to start my Round The World Ticket. Which means that we fly out again the next day.
The luggage service desk is already closed so I have to file a report online. Luckily I booked a hotel attached to the airport for the night so it only took us a few minutes to walk there. I didn't sleep well, despite the hotel being comfortable as I kept remembering things that were in my suitcase.Normally I always carry a change of clothes and some toiletries in my carry on if I check a bag but as I hadn't planned on it, I had nothing useful in my backpack.
After only a few hours of restless sleep I got up again, showered and put on the same clothes as the day before.
The view from our room was literally cool.

After having some coffee in the room we made our way back to the airport.
We passed this funny guy on the way.

I talked to the luggage service lady at the airport, she was very nice but couldn't help as my suitcase wasn't there. She assured me my suitcase would be send to my hotel at my next stop. Nothing I can do but keep.
I was a bit stressed and tired but luckily P and I booked RTW tickets in business class so we were able to use Fast Track to go through security and than relax in the lounge before our first flight.
Here's the lounge

Champagne and snacks.

The bread was warm and the butter was a local organic one that was so good.

I tried the Villa soda and it tasted a bit like caramel.

Legal drinking age is 18 but no one was keeping an eye on it. It's not such a big deal here as it is in the States.

Beer and wine on tap.

I don't drink alcohol but I did enjoy the Pepsi Max and had some veggies with bread.
The chairs were comfy and the bathrooms clean and before we knew it it was time to board. Our first flight took us all the way... to London.
Felt like we were just flying back to Paris honestly. Now why would we fly this convoluted route? Money of course. For some strange reason it was €4000 cheaper to start our RWT in Oslo than it would have been in Paris, London or Amsterdam.
Even with the added cost of an extra flight and an airport hotel we still saved a lot.

Added bonus was this afternoon tea we were served on the flight to Heathrow. It was very tasty.

A quick change of planes in London and we were on our way to some place nice and warm.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I had promised to do a post about the Disneyland Hotel in Paris, a bit late now but here it is.

The orginal plan was to spend New Year's at Disneyland Paris. I quickly changed my mind once I saw how much that would cost and decided to go the week after. I am so happy I got to stay at this magnificent hotel as it really is a wonderful place in the best location.

(I'm trying different photo programs and editing tools for the insta and I liked how this collage came out.)

Our room was a standard room, very comfortable with lots of amenities like a robe and slippers, some toiletries, a Lavazza coffee machine , and a kettle. I loved the carpet as it had an apple, a genie lamp and a rose in the pattern.
The mini bar was complementary and had a few bottles of water, a bottle of juice and 3 jars of different snacks.

There were also very pretty sugar cubes to go with the coffee or tea. And some sachets of hot chocolate, which we enjoyed at night.

The coffee machine and kettle were hidden in this cabinet.

When you check in you receive the large booklet and every night with the turn down service you receive a little treat and a story card.

Another nice touch was the room ready text. I quite like being called Your Highness.

It was nice to see the characters that would randomly walk around.
We saw Ariel (I forgot to take a picture) and the real Royal Highnesses.

While the Disneyland Hotel is very expensive, I do feel you can see where your money is going. I don't regret spending my hard earned money on 2 nights here. For me it was a dream come true and it did not disappoint. In fact it surpassed my expectations and I'm hoping to stay here again in a few years time.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I'm probably too late but I would buy a pair of ears in each park and have them sent home (or to a relative to receive them), and you will have 12 wonderful packages to open someday and not have to lug them

You weren't too late and I did buy the ears, I just had to.
I won't buy ears in every park but I might just buy one in each country where there is a park.

I may be too late but I vote ears. Actually I vote ears and a pin.

I got the ears and P. bought a pin.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Our second flight took us to warm Johannesburg. It's summer here so the weather is much better.
Unfortunately I was still dressed for snow. We got an Uber from the airport and we were pleased that our room was ready at our hotel when we arrived at 8.30am. Despite the luxury of flat beds on the plane neither one of us had really slept. So the first thing we did was take a nap. We got up 2 hours later and I tried to get an update on my missing suitcase but still no luck. Just a message that it was on route.
Luckily my sister has a dress that's big on her, so I borrowed that to go to the nearest mall to buy some t-shirts and a pair of summer trousers.
Here's me in P.'s dress but with my socks and shoes.

I don't like to clothes shop so it was disappointing that my first day in S.A. I had to go shopping, luckily this mall is also a local and tourist attraction because of a giant Nelson Mandela statue, it's on Nelson Mandela square.

There was lovely art work displayed as well as a fountain and pretty lights.

I quickly bought a few things in a sports store in the biggest mall I've ever been in. It just went on and on and on. We realised we were hungry and because we were still a bit tired decided to be boring and we went to Nando's. I'm not sure if they have it in the States but it's a chicken restaurant. They had nice chips/fries.
After that we bought some cokes to take back to our hotel room and went to bed. Just after 10pm the phone rings and it's reception to say my suitcase has been dropped off. I was happy to have it back but on its journey back to me someone went through the suitcase and removed a beautiful diary I had been gifted to use as a journal for this trip. I hadn't started it yet so it was brand new. These things happen but are never nice.

The next morning I we had a slow start, it was nice after the early mornings at DLP. Once we were ready to go we Ubered to the Apartheid Museum. It's a beautifully done museum that explains the history of S.A. ,how Apartheid started and how it impacted black Africans. It was very moving and informative.

The land the museum is build on was developed by a casino and amusement park company. They were granted the rights to build because they promised to also build the museum. However it is strange to walk around a very serious and at times emotional exhibition and hear a rollercoaster in the background.
We spent nearly 5 hours in the museum and afterwards we just crossed the road to the casino entrance. You actually had to pay R10 ppl to get in. That's about $0.50 so not a lot of money but a bit unusual.
These antelope were in front of the casino. It was a popular spot for dressed up people to have their picture taken.

Inside the casino was very strange, you had a movie theatre, a bowling alley, an arcade and a daycare plus lots of restaurants all positioned around this large open floor casino. Lots of children and teenagers were walking around, whole families sitting in the food court while you can see and hear the slots machines and betting announcements.
This clock was in the movie theatre area.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

We visited the casino because we had dinner plans and not enough time to go back to the hotel before we were expected at the Yeoville Dinner Club. P found this dinner club online, it was started by a man who grew up in, what is considered a very bad part of Johannesburg. He wants to show the community spirit and beauty of his
neighbourhood by cooking african food and sharing it with people who would otherwise never set foot in that part of town.

There were a wide variety of dishes with several very yummy vegetarian options. He made cocktails for everyone and mocktails for me. Dessert was a plum cooked in juice in the oven with some spices as well. It was all very good and the company especially was wonderful.
I also drank Amasi for the first time, it's a fermented milk drink popular in South Africa.

After a long day we went to bed tired but happy.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

P. and I are giving away a business class amenities bag whenever we receive one on a long flight because we don't need 2. We might give away some other things as well if we receive them and can't take them with us. Should you be interested just dm me on insta and I'll add your name to the hat we will pull the winner out of. It's a treat from us to share a bit of the joy of our travels.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

This morning we had to wake up early again because we were meeting a local guide at 9.30am to show us Soweto.
We started in the poorest area.
There is a monument there that they call the 10 commandments, it asks for equal rights for everyone. Each commandment is a different right.
The monument is in a cone building and this is in the top of the cone.

It's not a cross but an X, to commemorate the right to vote.

This is a community centre that is used for education and sports for the local, mostly undocumented children and as a church on Sunday. We were very warmly welcomed by the preacher names Joshua, who asked if P. and I are twins. Not the first time this has happened this trip.

Our guide and P. and I in what is called a local taxi. It's a van that operates as a small bus. You pay the driver R15 when you get in and there are designated stops where you can get on and off. The problem for us is that you just have to know where these stops are, and there are lots of these local taxis driving around and all have different routes. A passenger uses handsignals to the driver to indicate where they want to go and if the taxi is going that way they will stop and pick up the passenger. Again you have to know these handsignals. Our guide showed us some so we could get the taxi to stop for us. It was fun to try but P and I will use Uber when we don't have a guide to help us.

These used to be coal burning electricity towers but now they are an entertainment area. It has a restaurant and bungy jumping, among other things.

As it was Sunday we heard gospel music everywhere. This city is noisy on any day but especially on Sunday.

While we were walking to Nelson Mandela's old house we passed these cute boys playing. I just had to take a picture of the boy in the home made cart and luckily I got permission. But then his friend in the red jumper came running, shouting me too, me too. It's my favourite picture of the day.

Both Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu lived on the same street, it's the only street in the world were 2 noble peace prize have lived.
Mr.Tutu was very short in stature as you can tell from this picture of his door.

 

[Bullseye1967]

Thank you, I'm happy to share what we get up to. It will be a nice record for myself as well. I'm leaning towards getting the ears...

Late to your TR., but I would love to see all your travels!

 

[Go.Nijntje]

On Sunday evening a friend from the Netherlands arrived to join us for a few weeks in SA. M likes to travel but her partner doesn't, so she was happy she could join us.
On Monday morning I was extremely excited and a little nervous to pick up this beauty.

We named her Lola. Lola is a Toyota Hilux double cab 4×4 with 2 roof tents, and she would our home and transportation for the next week.
I haven't had much opportunity to drive lately and I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoy it. Only M and I were on the insurance of the car so P was called Miss Daisy this trip.
I was "chosen" to drive us out of Johannesburg since I have the most experience driving on the left side of the road.

We drove nearly 4 hours to get to our first campsite, unfortunately while we were driving it had started to rain. When we got there it looked deserted. Like there was literally no one there, no other campers and no staff. I called the campsite out of hours number and luckily a nice man answered who explained everyone had gone home since there were no campers. They had forgotten we had a reservation. Someone arrived a few minutes later to check us in and pretty soon we were setting up camp for the first time. The ground was very muddy and everything was still wet. It also kept drizzling on and off. Perfect conditions for the 3 of us to set up our tents for the first time. Did I mention we were also tired and it was starting to get dark?

We managed to get it all done but not without some serious .
The tents were a great way to sleep but setting them up and packing them away was hard work every day.

We did get a lot quicker as the week progressed, here are some pics from other days.

I hadn't camped in nearly 20 years but I'm so happy I chose it for our safari. We had the best week.

You know how most of us take way too many pictures on Safari in AK? Well, I was on safari for 5 days in Kruger National Park. I'll try and narrow down my pictures to just a few of my favourites for the next post, but it won't be easy.

 

[Zipadeelady]

THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE COOLEST THING EVER!

I don't have a bucket list but I think I just started one!

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Kruger National Park is a huge nature reserve with a large population of wild life.
Our first night camping was a 2 hours drive away from the south gate of the park. We were all up early on Tuesday morning and luckily the weather had improved.
The view from our first campsite in the morning. Still a few puddles but much better than the night before.

This is the toll road to Kruger, the closer you get to Kruger the more expensive the toll gets.

A bridge we had to cross to get to our next campsite. The water way was called Crocodile Creek.

Once we got to our new camp we picked a spot by the fence. In Kruger it's the people that sleep in cages at night.
Each camp has an electric fence around it, spaces aren't assigned so we always arrived early to get a good spot by the fence. The camp gates close at 6.30pm and open at 4.30am. If you want to do a night drive you have to go with a ranger in a bus.

After staking our claim by setting up our chairs and table , we got some coffees at the gift shop and set of fon our first safari drive.
There are no set routes you have to drive, there are many roads and loops to pick from. There is one main road that is paved but most are dirt roads.
Your best change of seeing lots of animals is early morning so we were up and out the gate by 5am every day.
On our first drive we saw lots of

And

Also a ton of

These are impala, there are every where in Kruger. The first time we saw them we were very excited but by the end of the day it was more, please don't cross the road in front of us, impala.
Also a lot of zebras.

We were amazed at how many animals we saw.
Since it was our first night in the park we decided to do a night drive with a ranger.

You leave camp around 5pm and return around 8pm.
We saw a gorgeous sunset.

We were happy but exhausted by the time we got back to Lola and were asleep by 9pm.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

THIS HAS GOT TO BE THE COOLEST THING EVER!

I don't have a bucket list but I think I just started one!

Thanks, not gonna lie, I felt pretty cool driving Lola.