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.

 

[cgersic]

I'm just loving this report, seeing single women travel the world and getting to "see" it all is just so much fun! I wish my sisters were this adventurous!

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I'm just loving this report, seeing single women travel the world and getting to "see" it all is just so much fun! I wish my sisters were this adventurous!

Thank you, I think it's becoming more common now for women to make different choices in their lives. Not having kids or getting married isn't quite as strange as it was 20 years ago when P and I were young. The amount of patronising comments we got, even from total strangers, got really tiring.
Although we still laugh about a comment we got when we were doing a bike tour through the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, we would cycle from home stay to home stay, just P and I. At one of the homes we got a lesson in making rice paper egg rolls. The lady teaching us saw how badly P and I were rolling these things, having never made them before. She shook her head and with a deep sigh said 'Oh, now I see why no husbands'. We still say this to each other sometimes when we screw something up.

 

[the_rich]

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.

I feel like you need 2 days for dl and another for dca.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I feel like you need 2 days for dl and another for dca.

Thank you, I'm leaning towards 4 days as I want to take my time and just enjoy being there.

 

[MickeyCB]

When we got back to the hotel we decided to just book tours for the coming days and not venture out on our own for sightseeing.

I think it's a statement of some kind that you guys were willing to sleep with the bears lions, and not comfortable in a city.
I am loving following along and have such great admiration for you and your sisters fearlessness.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I think it's a statement of some kind that you guys were willing to sleep with the bears lions, and not comfortable in a city.
I am loving following along and have such great admiration for you and your sisters fearlessness.

Unfortunately other humans pose the biggest threat to travellers.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

WOW, that dress is amazing. And your photo of the chilies is fantastic.

Those two photos are the reason for the on that post. Sadly, I don't enjoy Indian food, I've tried a few times, and theres a flavor to it that just doesn't agree with me. It's not the heat, I can handle spicy, and I cook with cumin and coriander, so it's not those flavors but something else. Someday I will find out what it is, and leave it out!!

I think this may be my first post in your trip report, although you may have been able to tell I've been following along. Enjoying the "Disney+" style of your travels.

Looking forward to keeping up with the rest of your journey.

Thank you for liking my photos and following along.When I have time I try to experiment with my camera's settings but it I often forget what I didn't last time etc.

I'm struggling with the spiciness of the food here. I thought I liked Indian food but clearly I can't handle real Indian food.

I'll try and update soon but everything here is quite overwhelming and I'm exhausted at the end of most days.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

After 3 days in Delhi we joined a women's expedition organized by Intrepid. It's a 12 day trip around the golden triangle of India, with a focus on women's projects and the way of life for women in India. We met our lovely guide named Shristi and the other 3 ladies that make up our merry bunch.
To start there was a loooooong 19 hour train journey from Delhi to Jailsalmer.
I've done overnight trains in China and Vietnam and was expecting something similar. It was not.
First thing that hits you when boarding is the smell, and it's not the kind of smell that gets made into a candle.
Here's our little group just after boarding.

This was comforting to read while sitting on berth 15.

Dinner on the train, I skipped it...

Because these were my toilet options.

Since the train ride was 19 hours I had to use the western toilet once. My record for holding it stands at 14 hours, on the train in China as there was no western toilet.

I tried to sleep a bit but it's very difficult because there is only a smelly curtain separating us from the carriage and people are constantly walking around, mostly trying to sell snacks or drinks. But they come in our cubicle, and you're not sure if they want to sell you something or are looking for something to steal. So it's hard to relax.
Here's a picture of the corridor of our carriage.

P did dose a bit.

After 10 hours or so we were ready to get of the train, one way or another.

We boarded the train at 4.10am and arrived at 11.20pm.
I was exhausted but at least our hotel was nice, it used to be a palace for a local royal.

Our room had Princess Castle vibes.

 

[k8einwdw]

One last picture, Insta worthy I think, maybe I to can be an Insta Girlie, what do you think @k8einwdw?

Total Insta girlie!

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I forgot to mention that while we were chatting on the train the other ladies wanted a little photo shoot of me with my ears. Did I mention it was a 19 hour non stop journey?
Anyway here are 2 of the pics.

The purple scarf is to protect my precious.

The train had brought us to Jailsalmer, the golden city. Names so for its sandstone, not the metal.
We had a tour through the old city and the fort.

You really do see cows everywhere, smell them too.

It's wedding season in India and these are wedding announcements, it gives the who, where and when. If either the bride or grooms family gives you a handful of yellow rice, you are invited to the wedding and you check the wall for details.

Since there are so many cows in India, dairy is widely consumed. This is a milk delivery. Blue container is regular milk, red is butter milk.

After our tour we went back to the hotel for a little rest and a photo shoot that produced this gem.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

In the afternoon it was time to pack up and leave the hotel for our camping adventure.
We drove to the desert where a camp had been set up for us by the people that traditionally live in the desert as nomads.

Our camp for the night.

We hiked a bit further into the desert to watch the sunset.

P. having some chai while waiting for the sunset.

A bit cloudy but still pretty.

The moon was all ready up while the sun was setting so we took some Insta girly pictures.

Once it was dark we made a fire and the local tribe came to play music and show us their dance skills.

This lady kept all those water pots on her head while dancing.

We had our dinner prepared by the local men. For once it wasn't too spicy as our guide had asked for no spice at all, this baby spice was happy.

The best thing about the desert was the quiet. India is so noisy, but in the desert you just heard the wild peacocks and some dogs barking.
We managed to sleep for a few hours but it was strange to sleep out in the open.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

It was lovely starting the day in the desert, even if it meant not having coffee. There was chai and porridge for breakfast.
Here's our guide helping herself to some porridge.

The birds loved the sugar that was left out with the chai and would come and eat it every chance they got.

After breakfast we had to leave but not before getting our picture taken with the jeep that was our transport. We weren't allowed to drive it unfortunately but I think we managed to look cool anyway.

It was cold and dusty driving back into town. I look like the unabomber.

We had about 2 hours at the hotel to shower and get changed before it was time to hop back on the train. Slightly better/newer one this time.
I'm at the top which was not easy to get to.

We arrived at our hotel after dark. It had a lovely garden.

And our room was pleasant if not a bit unusual.

 

[cgersic]

Dang!! Those are some crazy amazing posts on this portion of the trip! Waking up in the desert in the middle of nowhere sounds like an absolute dream. I'm assuming you felt safe?

 

[Go.Nijntje]

Dang!! Those are some crazy amazing posts on this portion of the trip! Waking up in the desert in the middle of nowhere sounds like an absolute dream. I'm assuming you felt safe?

Yes, very safe and content. It was a wonderful experience.

 

[MickeyCB]

After 3 days in Delhi we joined a women's expedition organized by Intrepid. It's a 12 day trip around the golden triangle of India, with a focus on women's projects and the way of life for women in India. We met our lovely guide named Shristi and the other 3 ladies that make up our merry bunch.
To start there was a loooooong 19 hour train journey from Delhi to Jailsalmer.
I've done overnight trains in China and Vietnam and was expecting something similar. It was not.
First thing that hits you when boarding is the smell, and it's not the kind of smell that gets made into a candle.
Here's our little group just after boarding.
View attachment 844497

This was comforting to read while sitting on berth 15.
View attachment 844498

Dinner on the train, I skipped it...View attachment 844499

Because these were my toilet options.
View attachment 844503
View attachment 844504

Since the train ride was 19 hours I had to use the western toilet once. My record for holding it stands at 14 hours, on the train in China as there was no western toilet.

I tried to sleep a bit but it's very difficult because there is only a smelly curtain separating us from the carriage and people are constantly walking around, mostly trying to sell snacks or drinks. But they come in our cubicle, and you're not sure if they want to sell you something or are looking for something to steal. So it's hard to relax.
Here's a picture of the corridor of our carriage.
View attachment 844502

P did dose a bit.
View attachment 844501

After 10 hours or so we were ready to get of the train, one way or another.
View attachment 844500

We boarded the train at 4.10am and arrived at 11.20pm.
I was exhausted but at least our hotel was nice, it used to be a palace for a local royal.
View attachment 844506

Our room had Princess Castle vibes.
View attachment 844509

Our camp for the night.

This is all a big nopety nope nope. My admiration for you grows!

 

[Go.Nijntje]

This is all a big nopety nope nope. My admiration for you grows!

You don't know until you've tried it. You might surprise yourself.

 

[Swissmiss]

I have FINALLY found the time to start your TR - and so glad I did. I am really enjoying your travels and, like @MickeyCB, am very admirative of your "go with the flow" attitude - definitely not me

 

[Go.Nijntje]

I have FINALLY found the time to start your TR - and so glad I did. I am really enjoying your travels and, like @MickeyCB, am very admirative of your "go with the flow" attitude - definitely not me

I'm glad to have you along.
Not sure if I have the "go with the flow" attitude. I spent hours researching things and book most hotels, cars and Disney, months in advance. However when you travel things will go wrong or won't be as you imagined them, when that happens you have to adjust and accept things as they are. Some days I'm good at accepting, other days not so much.

 

[Go.Nijntje]

After a comfortable night in a bed we toured the city market in Jodhpur in the morning.

It always busy wherever you go.

This market had a delicious lassi shop. If you are not familiar, lassi is an Indian yoghurt drink. Here they put fresh curt on top. It tasted

After our tour of the market we walked around the old city, Jodhpurs is known as the blue city of India.

We also paid a visit the royal crematorium. It was a beautiful building made out of marble.

Here's our group of explorers on the stairs infront of the main building. Our guide was really into taking group pictures.

We
got to most places by riding in Tuk Tuks. You never knew if you would make it alive, Indian traffic is crazy and no seatbelts or airbags in a Tuk Tuk!

 

[Go.Nijntje]

The next morning we drove to a small village called Chandelao. There's an old estate that's now a hotel where we were staying.

Here's the manager checking us in.

No computers here.

Here's our room.

This used to be the kitchen. The hotel was started by the owner to try and create work opportunities in the area. Next door was a women's co-operative, started to give the local women a place to get together and earn money for their families.
We visited there and got to talk to the women and see them work. I didn't take pictures as it felt a bit rude.
When we were leaving the co-op, a van playing music pulled up, turns out that this is the local fruit and vegetables shop on wheels. Some women and children came out to see what was for sale.

Then a man with a camel and a cart also walked by and I took my favourite picture of the week.

In the afternoon we had a Rangoli lesson. Rangoli is the art of making colourfur designs with chalk powder to please the gods. I'm not sure our end result would be too pleasing to their deities.

After the Rangoli we all got henna paintings on our hands.

After another spicy dinner we heard drumming and when we walked to the gate we saw a wedding procession. The groom's party was on the way to the bride's house with gifts. It is customary for the groom to arrive on a horse.

The whole village was out either watching or taking part in the procession. It was so fun to see something like this in a small village.