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.

 

[littleroo]

Love! Love! Love all of this! Keep it coming!! I also love the girl power!

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Love! Love! Love all of this! Keep it coming!! I also love the girl power!

Thank you. We got a lot of double looks and a few comments from men. One even asked us why our husbands allowed us to go camping alone. ALLOWED US. So I put together a little reel on Insta for men like that.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

The next morning around 3.30am we were woken up by the roaring of lions and the whooping of hyenas. We decided to get dressed and pack up. We were out of the gate by 4.40am. At 4.55am we saw a hyena walking on the road.

After I took this picture, the hyena turned around and started walking towards us. I soon saw why the hyena decided to change direction.

There was a group of 5 female lions and 1 male lions. They walked on front and behind Lola to get to the field. It was hard to get good pictures as I was beyond happy to see lions in the wild.

We watched the lions for over 30 minutes. They roared a few times and walked around a lot.
The male and one of the female even had a "cuddle" right next to us.

I did get the whole "cuddle" on camera.
Around 5.30am other cars started to arrive so we moved on to the hippo pool.

It's a part of the river the hippos like to stay in. There were so many there. They were quite active as well, I couldn't get a good picture but there were several hippos either fighting or playing. We can't tell the difference but they had their mouths wide open and it looked as if they were trying to bite each other. Again we just sat and watched them for awhile. The hippo pool is on a very bumpy dirt road so a lot of cars can't get there but with Lola it was a breeze.
After the hippos we also saw lots of and .

I've reached the maximum for pictures so I'll end here for now.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

After getting up so early and driving around for several hours, we were hungry. There is a viewing point where you can get out of your car. The viewing point also has a small shop, bathroom, cafe and a picknick are.

We ordered coffees and breakfast to share. The coffee and food were prepared in an outdoor
kitchen.

We got a bush breakfast and a traditional breakfast, which is mais pap( a kind of stoggy porridge) with a fried egg and boerewors (south african sausage) and tomato chutney.

The bush breakfast is the yellow plate, the traditional is on the green. I tried the sausage but didn't like it, it's a beef sausage with clove. Quite dry and the clove was very strong. I did like the pap and tomato chutney, the chutney was a bit spicy and the pap a bit bland, so it worked well together.

It was after 9am by the time we had our breakfast but we'd been up so long it felt more like lunch.
When we got back to Lola we saw this.

A monkey was hiding right near the wheel.
It ran away as soon as we approached the car but it was cute to see.
Early afternoon we made it to our next campsite and set up.
We saw this sign on the fence.

We were getting dinner ready when an actual hyena walked right past our table and chairs on the other side of the fence. Unfortunately I haven't got @fractal's talent for photography so this was the best shot I got of the hyena. It actually walked past twice that evening.

A jackhal had managed to get into the campsite, they reminded me of London foxes. It didn't approach but if you left your food unattended it would sneak up and steal it.

This horn bill (I think) was also very cheeky and would try and steal food.

All the trash cans were baboon proof at the campsites.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I'm just going to share the highlights from the rest of our time in Kruger. Not really a highlight but I managed to punch myself in the face. How, you ask. Well, every morning I had to put the green cover on the tent and secure it with rachets. One morning the cover was damp from the dew and I was pulling it quite forcefully to get it to go over the tent and my hand slipt and flew backwards. Not only did I punch myself I broke the skin on my cheek. You can vaguely see the broken skin and a bit of swelling in this picture. As much as I like sleeping in the roof tents, I was covered in bruises by the end of the week. We even started playing bruise or dirt? As we were also quite dirty after setting up or breaking down camp.

The dirt and the bruises were totally worth it as we made so many good memories. One night an elephant spend over an hour just on the other side of the fence from our tent, just sniffing the ground and eating whatever grass/leaves it found. It was way too dark to take pictures, I only know it was an elephant because someone had a spotlight that the shone on it. It was just too cool to lay in my tent with an elephant so close by you could hear it.
Here's a cute picture of an elephant from another day.

One of our campsites had a fantastic restaurant right on the river. It had been a brutally hot day and after setting up camp in 38C/100F we walked over and parked ourselves on the terrace. We slowly saw storm clouds roll in. It was beautiful, the wind picked up and it finally started to cool down. We had some food and drinks and just sat there and watched the storm.

I drove past these dung beetles, it was impressive to see them roll this ball across the road into the grass. Reminded me of It's tough to be a bug.

I like this picture of a wildebeest with the sky and him looking at me. We saw quite a few wildebeest but there aren't as many as there are impalas.

I like this picture of me, if you follow me on Insta you probably already saw it but I wanted to post it here as well. I could hear hippos snorting in the water close to me but the hippos were hard to spot. We camped next to to river one night and we could hear the hippos snorting at each other most of the night.

I think this is a Kopi, I love it's horns. It was nice to just park somewhere and wait/watch the animals.

A monkey jumped on Lola while we were parked.

We saw such beautiful sunsets and sunrises, I really wished I had a better camera than my 2 year old Samsung phone.

It truly was a week to remember for ever, I would very happily go back since we only visited the south part of the national park. Perhaps next time I'll visit during a different season as well.
Kruger was unbelievably beautiful, the rangers so friendly and helpful, the campsites were all very well managed and toilets/showers always clean. Except when an iguana managed to get into the abolution building, (that's what the bathroom block is called in SA.)
I'll post the video of that on Insta. I was not brave and used the men's, the iguana could keep the women's side.

 

[Bullseye1967]

I'm just going to share the highlights from the rest of our time in Kruger. Not really a highlight but I managed to punch myself in the face. How, you ask. Well, every morning I had to put the green cover on the tent and secure it with rachets. One morning the cover was damp from the dew and I was pulling it quite forcefully to get it to go over the tent and my hand slipt and flew backwards. Not only did I punch myself I broke the skin on my cheek. You can vaguely see the broken skin and a bit of swelling in this picture. As much as I like sleeping in the roof tents, I was covered in bruises by the end of the week. We even started playing bruise or dirt? As we were also quite dirty after setting up or breaking down camp.View attachment 839885
The dirt and the bruises were totally worth it as we made so many good memories. One night an elephant spend over an hour just on the other side of the fence from our tent, just sniffing the ground and eating whatever grass/leaves it found. It was way too dark to take pictures, I only know it was an elephant because someone had a spotlight that the shone on it. It was just too cool to lay in my tent with an elephant so close by you could hear it.
Here's a cute picture of an elephant from another day.
View attachment 839889
One of our campsites had a fantastic restaurant right on the river. It had been a brutally hot day and after setting up camp in 38C/100F we walked over and parked ourselves on the terrace. We slowly saw storm clouds roll in. It was beautiful, the wind picked up and it finally started to cool down. We had some food and drinks and just sat there and watched the storm.
View attachment 839886


I drove past these dung beetles, it was impressive to see them roll this ball across the road into the grass. Reminded me of It's tough to be a bug.
View attachment 839888

I like this picture of a wildebeest with the sky and him looking at me. We saw quite a few wildebeest but there aren't as many as there are impalas.
View attachment 839892

I like this picture of me, if you follow me on Insta you probably already saw it but I wanted to post it here as well. I could hear hippos snorting in the water close to me but the hippos were hard to spot. We camped next to to river one night and we could hear the hippos snorting at each other most of the night.
View attachment 839891

I think this is a Kopi, I love it's horns. It was nice to just park somewhere and wait/watch the animals.
View attachment 839896

A monkey jumped on Lola while we were parked.
View attachment 839898

We saw such beautiful sunsets and sunrises, I really wished I had a better camera than my 2 year old Samsung phone.
View attachment 839893
It truly was a week to remember for ever, I would very happily go back since we only visited the south part of the national park. Perhaps next time I'll visit during a different season as well.
Kruger was unbelievably beautiful, the rangers so friendly and helpful, the campsites were all very well managed and toilets/showers always clean. Except when an iguana managed to get into the abolution building, (that's what the bathroom block is called in SA.)
I'll post the video of that on Insta. I was not brave and used the men's, the iguana could keep the women's side.

Incredible pic of the lightning!

 

[MickeyCB]

After I took this picture, the hyena turned around and started walking towards us. I soon saw why the hyena decided to change direction.

There was a group of 5 female lions and 1 male lions. They walked on front and behind Lola to get to the field. It was hard to get good pictures as I was beyond happy to see lions in the wild.

I'm still reading this section, but had to interrupt myself to post and say to you, your sister and your friend. You are all Bad Alien Swirling Saucers!!!

And to further that thought, if you need to baboon proof something INSIDE the fence!!!

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Incredible pic of the lightning!

Thank you, I was very happy with that one.

I'm still reading this section, but had to interrupt myself to post and say to you, your sister and your friend. You are all Bad Alien Swirling Saucers!!!

And to further that thought, if you need to baboon proof something INSIDE the fence!!!

Thanks, camping is the best way to see the animals and experience Kruger, in my opinion. And there were so many monkeys and baboons! A fence doesn't stop them. You can't leave anything out or open because they will steal it or go inside.
We encountered a large troop of baboons one day. They can be very vicious and have very large teeth.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I forgot to include a picture of the baobab tree I saw in Kruger. Remind you of another tree perhaps?

I had to be some distance away to take this picture as the tree is very wide. Here's a picture of the trunk. No animals in the tree, carved or otherwise.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I could use a little planning help. First, we will visit Disneyland in June, I haven't been in 30 years so could do with some tips.
Then end of November we arrive in WDW, P mentioned she wants to stay somewhere new, preferably on the Skyliner route, so I was thinking boardwalk or beach club. They seem very similar to me. It will be a split stay with AKL. Any advice?

 

[Tuvalu]

Boardwalk and Beach Club are not Skyliner resorts. The Skyliner station is at the International Gateway outside Epcot. As a Boardwalk or Beach Club guest, you can walk or boat to Epcot, and transport to DHS is by boat or the walking path. Anyone can ride the Skyliner but if staying at one of those resorts it would be counterintuitive to use it to get to DHS.

The Skyliner resorts are POP, AOA, Caribbean Beach and Riviera - two value resorts, a moderate and a deluxe villa (DVC resort.)

Caribbean Beach has the central station. From there are direct lines to DHS and Epcot. Riviera is direct to Epcot but guests must transfer at CBR for DHS.

POP, AOA - Skyliner from shared station to CBR and transfer to DHS or Epcot line.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Boardwalk and Beach Club are not Skyliner resorts. The Skyliner station is at the International Gateway outside Epcot. As a Boardwalk or Beach Club guest, you can walk or boat to Epcot, and transport to DHS is by boat or the walking path. Anyone can ride the Skyliner but if staying at one of those resorts it would be counterintuitive to use it to get to DHS.

The Skyliner resorts are POP, AOA, Caribbean Beach and Riviera - two value resorts, a moderate and a deluxe villa (DVC resort.)

Caribbean Beach has the central station. From there are direct lines to DHS and Epcot. Riviera is direct to Epcot but guests must transfer at CBR for DHS.

POP, AOA - Skyliner from shared station to CBR and transfer to DHS or Epcot line.

Thanks Tuvalu . I knew we wouldn't take the Skyliner to the parks from Boardwalk or Beach Club but was hoping we could see them from the hotels. I don't really want to stay at a Skyliner hotel this trip but P. is intrigued so I am trying to compromise. I suggested the Polly as our first hotel stay but that got a .

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I could use a little planning help. First, we will visit Disneyland in June, I haven't been in 30 years so could do with some tips.
Then end of November we arrive in WDW, P mentioned she wants to stay somewhere new, preferably on the Skyliner route, so I was thinking boardwalk or beach club. They seem very similar to me. It will be a split stay with AKL. Any advice?

Let me know of any specific questions you have about Disneyland, I have been a regular there in the last few years. I usually stay off property at hotels on Harbor since they are cheaper and closer to the main gate. You'll be there during the 70th so you will get to see the Paint the Night parade at Disneyland and a new World of Color show at DCA. I always recommend doing the dessert part for World of Color at California Adventure, it is pricey and the desserts aren't that great but it is so nice to have a reserved spot to sit and watch the show at the end of a long day at the park.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Let me know of any specific questions you have about Disneyland, I have been a regular there in the last few years. I usually stay off property at hotels on Harbor since they are cheaper and closer to the main gate. You'll be there during the 70th so you will get to see the Paint the Night parade at Disneyland and a new World of Color show at DCA. I always recommend doing the dessert part for World of Color at California Adventure, it is pricey and the desserts aren't that great but it is so nice to have a reserved spot to sit and watch the show at the end of a long day at the park.

Thank you, I'll look into the dessert party. I was thinking of renting DVC points to stay on property. Is 2 nights/3 days a good amount of time to see and ride most things? I don't want to rush and I would like the opportunity to repeat some things. I have time to stay longer so could make it 3 nights, if you think that's better. Thanks for your help.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Thank you, I'll look into the dessert party. I was thinking of renting DVC points to stay on property. Is 2 nights/3 days a good amount of time to see and ride most things? I don't want to rush and I would like the opportunity to repeat some things. I have time to stay longer so could make it 3 nights, if you think that's better. Thanks for your help.

Personally I would go for 3 nights if you have the time but you could do 2 nights/3 days if that's all you have time for. Lightning Lane at Disneyland is much better at Disneyland than at WDW, I think I am able to use it for a lot more attractions and it also includes Photopass at Disneyland.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

We left Kruger National Park and headed back to Johannesubrg. We stopped for the night a few hours outside Jburg. We stayed at beautiful campsite right beside a lake. It got dark very soon after we arrived and I managed to take this picture of the night sky. It was breathtaking, no light pollution and a clear night meant you could see an incredible amount of stars. This picture doesn't do it justice at all.

I loved seeing all the stars, what I didn't love was the cold and the humidity. I didn't know that cold air could also be wet but soon found out. Very quickly we all decided to go to bed because even with the fire we build we were shivering.
I had a very uncomfortable night, despite zipping up my tent the damp got in and it was impossible to get warm. I was wearing my merino wool base layers( there also my PJ's) my clothes that I had worn that day, 2 pairs of socks and my jacket. I'd also zipped up my sleeping bag and pulled the hood over my face but I was still cold, so so cold. I didn't fall asleep until around 1.30am. I woke up again at 4am because it tuned out there was a railway track right next to our campground and a massively long freight train was passing through.

It scared the bejezus out of me and there was no way I could get back to sleep after that. I did lay in my little cocoon another 2 hours, just enjoying being warm.
I finally decided to brave the cold and make a run for the shower block to wash of the campfire smell and get ready for the day. Only when I get there, there is no water, not even cold water to brush my teeth and wash my face. No way to get clean, and I was stinky.

I was, perhaps, at this point also a little bit cranky.

I was cold, tired and needed a shower.
But none of those things could be helped. We packed up Lola for the last time and got back on the road. We got back to Johannesburg and said a sad goodbye to Lola.
She had been perfect for us.
We got to the airport and flew to Capetown without any issues.
We picked up Baby Lola at the airport. Baby Lola is a Kia something, she's okay but we miss big Lola.

We got quite a safety briefing from the car rental guys, 3 women on their own was not something they had seen before. They meant well so I didn't mind, I did my homework about road safety and general safety in SA so they didn't tell me anything new, but appreciated them taking the time. As soon as we got on the road, we hadn't even left the airport area, a policeman was running infront of our car with his gun drawn. He was clearly chasing someone but I didn't stick around to find out what was going on.
Any kind of trouble or danger and I

The first mile or so from the airport was certainly something else. I understood the rental guys a bit better after driving there. The side of the highway was full of mostly young men. I think their aim is to make you slow down or stop so they can try and open your doors or jump in front of the car so you hit them etc. Probably just to steal your stuff or get some money for their injury but it was a bit intimidating. I definitely don't want to hit anybody with the car but I also wasn't slowing down. Pretty soon we left the craziness behind us and we were on our way to the waterfront in Capetown.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Personally I would go for 3 nights if you have the time but you could do 2 nights/3 days if that's all you have time for. Lightning Lane at Disneyland is much better at Disneyland than at WDW, I think I am able to use it for a lot more attractions and it also includes Photopass at Disneyland.

I think we will do 3 nights as I don't want to rush. I don't think we will buy any LL, P already things I spend too much on Disney.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I'd found a guesthouse close to the waterfront in Capetown that included free parking and had good reviews. We had a large triple room and even a little kitchenette with a table a chairs.It also had a hot running water and fluffy towels.I felt and smelt a lot better after long shower.
We had a quick dinner at a restaurant close by and went to sleep early between fresh clean sheets in a real bed. It was heaven.
The next day I woke up extra happy as it was my birthday. I was the first one up and dressed so decided to treat us to coffees from the cafe around the corner. (I could have made coffee in the room.) We sat outside in the sunshine on the terrace and checked the weather in the Netherlands. When we were ready we set off for Cape of Good Hope. It's a nice route from Capetown to the Cape, you pass some cute towns and beaches.
We'd been driving for an hour or so when I passed a sign that said

Obviously I had to stop and see these penguins.
It was a bit of walk as it was part of nature reserve. But I LOVE penguins so I didn't mind.

I could smell them before I saw them.
Some were nesting close to the path.

These penguins make holes in the ground as nests. Most are very well hidden, their habitat is protected, so you can only walk on a raised wooden pathway.

Besides penguins there were also a few rock hydraxes.

I had a staring contest with this one. It was not amused.
I googled the hydrax and surprisingly it is closely related to the elephant and the manetee.

A bit further up the road we saw a sign for a nursery/koffie house. I was intrigued as koffie is Dutch for coffee, so we stopped. It turned out it was a Dutch cafe inside a plant nursery. They had a great courtyard to sit in and they had Bitter ballen! Bitter ballen are a Dutch deep fried snack, that I really like. I'd been working in the Middle East before starting our trip so I haven't had any Dutch food in over 6 months. So guess who had bitter ballen for brunch on her birthday? They are usually eaten at the end of the afternoon or at dinner time but the cafe made them special for me when I asked.

With a very happy and full tummy we finally made it to the Cape.
Cape of Good Hope is also a nature reserve, it's huge and beautiful. And because of its location, very very very windy. Just incase you are not familiar I put the map here. While it is not the official place where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet it's pretty close.

It was so windy I almost got knocked over walking to the famous sign.

We got to the Cape around 1pm and it was busy. It's one of those places everyone visits but you just wait your turn to take your picture by the sign. We also stopped at a education centre, mostly to use the bathroom. Everywhere you looked had an amazing view.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

After our visit to the Cape we went back to our guesthouse, without stops its about a 90 minute drive. A big box was sitting on the table when I walked in.

Inside, was this beauty .

I love sugary things , I love elaborate cakes and I love flowers, so I was over the moon with this one. It was a delicious carrot cake that tasted as good as it looked. My brother and sister had organised it as a surprise for my birthday. I was very happy.
I also picked out a new hat for my birthday a few days later that my sister and brother paid for.

 

[littleroo]

Happy Belated Birthday!!! Still loving all this! Keep it coming!