So I didn't think I'd be returning to Disneyland Paris for a few years, but it turns out I will be going... on Friday..! 
We'd been planning to take a weekend trip to Europe for a while (we live in the UK so it's an easyish hop!) and then decided on going for my birthday weekend at the end of May. We then settled on Paris when we got a really good deal on the Eurostar (I live just outside of London so that makes the journey fairly seamless and quick!) along with the fact that I really love Paris!
I hadn't really thought about going to Disneyland whilst we were there, as the last time we visited 4 years ago, it was quite a disappointing trip. I grew up visiting DLP, but hadn't been since 2002 when we visited in 2011- and it was a definite contrast! It was very run down and quite the departure to what I had remembered it being. So I didn't think I would want to return. However, after reading of the improvements and re-investment recently (I know it is far from completed though) and hearing back from some family's recent experience- we thought well, why not?! Along with the fact that I’ve reeeealllly been hankering for a Disney fix, as it's been a year since we were last in Orlando- that pretty much sealed the deal! And now we are going!
We'll only be visiting for the day- the rest of the time we'll be visiting (and staying in the centre of) Paris. DLP's hotels are craaaazy expensive! But more so because we're wanting to actually stay in and visit the city of Paris. It's pretty easy to get to DLP by train from Paris anyway.
So, that's the story and the plan… now onto the who and the when! It will be me, Sam, and my other half Russ. This is us in Disney World last year (exactly a year ago now- we were in MK on my Birthday last year!)
When are we going? May 29th (my Birthday!
) until May 31st. We're leaving early on my birthday to have most of the day in Paris, we'll be visiting DLP on the 30th and then having most of the 31st back in Paris with a late train back.
I'll post a few photos from the Paris parts but I'll only post a trip report on the DLP bit, since this is a Disney site!
So... do we have any plans for the trip?
Disneyland Paris-wise, well of course we have some ideas! The parks open at 10am so we aim to get there for then. I’m thinking we should head to the Disney Studios Park first to try and get onto Ratatouille (or grab a fast pass- old school lol!) as I don’t think we’ll have much chance if we leave that till later in the day- it being the newest and most popular ride! I haven’t tried Crush’s coaster before since it kept breaking down when we were there last time, so that's on the list too. Then just enjoy exploring the rest of the park. I think I’ll give ToT a miss, as although it’s a clone, the last time I rode I remember something being missing and it wasn’t quite the same. I don’t think it has as many drops and it doesn’t have the dark ride “scenes” as the set up to the drop. ToT is one of my favourite rides so I think I’m going to leave it to the best version on a return to Orlando!
Onto Disneyland Park, I’m looking forward to walking up to the castle, but I know it’s going to be a bit disorientating at first as we’re so used to the Magic Kingdom! Even though I went to DLP more when growing up, WDW was always my favourite- and Russ and I have been to WDW 4 times in the four years since we last visited DLP. WDW has become our home from home, so getting used to going back and being in a park which is sort of MK, but isn’t… will be fun!
This happened when we went to Disneyland in Anaheim for the first time in Jan 2014- it was so strange as it was so familiar, but different- like when you dream you’re somewhere but it isn’t quite the same as the place in real life… but it sort of is…!
Unfortunately Space Mountain is down for refurb whilst we’re there, which is a shame as I really like Paris’ version. But there’s still plenty to do! I haven’t been on the fantasyland dark rides for at least 15 or more years I’d say! I didn’t go on the last trip and when I used to go with my family, they weren’t the best at waiting in long lines! I think I may have only ridden them a few times in my very early trips to DLP in the 90’s. I’ve been on Peter Pan in MK since- but I never went on Snow White in the MK (or in Disneyland on our trip to Anaheim) so I am looking forward to going on Snow White as well as Pinocchio and Peter Pan if we can get a fast pass.
I also want to ride DLP’s versions of Big Thunder Mountain and Pirates again and of course to ride the Indiana Jones rollercoaster! We plan on getting lunch in one of the parks depending which one we’re in at that time, and then taking a break for dinner in Disney Village to chill out a bit and have a look in some of the shops. We want to see the night time show and fireworks as that’s new for us, so plan to head back in for that, then maybe ride a few more rides (the park is open till 11pm the night we are there) before catching the train back into Paris. Luckily the last train is at 12.40am so we can stay till close if we want to!
Actual Paris-wise, we want to re-visit our favourite bits and do a few things one or both of us haven’t done yet. I’ve never been actually inside the Louvre, just visited the square it’s in and the outside, so I would quite like to actually go inside. I’d also like to go up the towers of Notre Dame if possible as I haven’t done that yet either, just seen it from the outside. There are a lot of steps though so it might take Russ some convincing ha ha!
We’ve both been up the Eiffel Tower before, but not together, so that’s something I’d like us to do- it’s quite a view! Then my plans mostly include food and atmosphere- walking along the Seine, eating fresh bread and pastries from a boulangerie, trying some good cheese and having a nice meal at a real French Bistro on my birthday. Oh, and trying to find and consume one of these!!
We found this from a patisserie near the Jardin des Tuileries last time we visited and it was… amazing!! It was chocolate filled pastry heaven and yes, those are gold flakes on top! This tart has actually entered our subconscious many a time and taunted us with it’s chocolately goodness the last 4 years so we are on the hunt to find it again this time!
And those are our plans! I’m pretty excited! Especially since this a birthday trip too!
I’ll post a few updates and photos when I am there, but I’ll probably leave writing up a proper report on our day in DLP until we get back. So, until then, I bid you au revoir!
We'd been planning to take a weekend trip to Europe for a while (we live in the UK so it's an easyish hop!) and then decided on going for my birthday weekend at the end of May. We then settled on Paris when we got a really good deal on the Eurostar (I live just outside of London so that makes the journey fairly seamless and quick!) along with the fact that I really love Paris!
I hadn't really thought about going to Disneyland whilst we were there, as the last time we visited 4 years ago, it was quite a disappointing trip. I grew up visiting DLP, but hadn't been since 2002 when we visited in 2011- and it was a definite contrast! It was very run down and quite the departure to what I had remembered it being. So I didn't think I would want to return. However, after reading of the improvements and re-investment recently (I know it is far from completed though) and hearing back from some family's recent experience- we thought well, why not?! Along with the fact that I’ve reeeealllly been hankering for a Disney fix, as it's been a year since we were last in Orlando- that pretty much sealed the deal! And now we are going!
We'll only be visiting for the day- the rest of the time we'll be visiting (and staying in the centre of) Paris. DLP's hotels are craaaazy expensive! But more so because we're wanting to actually stay in and visit the city of Paris. It's pretty easy to get to DLP by train from Paris anyway.
So, that's the story and the plan… now onto the who and the when! It will be me, Sam, and my other half Russ. This is us in Disney World last year (exactly a year ago now- we were in MK on my Birthday last year!)
When are we going? May 29th (my Birthday!
) until May 31st. We're leaving early on my birthday to have most of the day in Paris, we'll be visiting DLP on the 30th and then having most of the 31st back in Paris with a late train back.I'll post a few photos from the Paris parts but I'll only post a trip report on the DLP bit, since this is a Disney site!
So... do we have any plans for the trip?
Disneyland Paris-wise, well of course we have some ideas! The parks open at 10am so we aim to get there for then. I’m thinking we should head to the Disney Studios Park first to try and get onto Ratatouille (or grab a fast pass- old school lol!) as I don’t think we’ll have much chance if we leave that till later in the day- it being the newest and most popular ride! I haven’t tried Crush’s coaster before since it kept breaking down when we were there last time, so that's on the list too. Then just enjoy exploring the rest of the park. I think I’ll give ToT a miss, as although it’s a clone, the last time I rode I remember something being missing and it wasn’t quite the same. I don’t think it has as many drops and it doesn’t have the dark ride “scenes” as the set up to the drop. ToT is one of my favourite rides so I think I’m going to leave it to the best version on a return to Orlando!
Onto Disneyland Park, I’m looking forward to walking up to the castle, but I know it’s going to be a bit disorientating at first as we’re so used to the Magic Kingdom! Even though I went to DLP more when growing up, WDW was always my favourite- and Russ and I have been to WDW 4 times in the four years since we last visited DLP. WDW has become our home from home, so getting used to going back and being in a park which is sort of MK, but isn’t… will be fun!
This happened when we went to Disneyland in Anaheim for the first time in Jan 2014- it was so strange as it was so familiar, but different- like when you dream you’re somewhere but it isn’t quite the same as the place in real life… but it sort of is…!
Unfortunately Space Mountain is down for refurb whilst we’re there, which is a shame as I really like Paris’ version. But there’s still plenty to do! I haven’t been on the fantasyland dark rides for at least 15 or more years I’d say! I didn’t go on the last trip and when I used to go with my family, they weren’t the best at waiting in long lines! I think I may have only ridden them a few times in my very early trips to DLP in the 90’s. I’ve been on Peter Pan in MK since- but I never went on Snow White in the MK (or in Disneyland on our trip to Anaheim) so I am looking forward to going on Snow White as well as Pinocchio and Peter Pan if we can get a fast pass.
I also want to ride DLP’s versions of Big Thunder Mountain and Pirates again and of course to ride the Indiana Jones rollercoaster! We plan on getting lunch in one of the parks depending which one we’re in at that time, and then taking a break for dinner in Disney Village to chill out a bit and have a look in some of the shops. We want to see the night time show and fireworks as that’s new for us, so plan to head back in for that, then maybe ride a few more rides (the park is open till 11pm the night we are there) before catching the train back into Paris. Luckily the last train is at 12.40am so we can stay till close if we want to!
Actual Paris-wise, we want to re-visit our favourite bits and do a few things one or both of us haven’t done yet. I’ve never been actually inside the Louvre, just visited the square it’s in and the outside, so I would quite like to actually go inside. I’d also like to go up the towers of Notre Dame if possible as I haven’t done that yet either, just seen it from the outside. There are a lot of steps though so it might take Russ some convincing ha ha!
We’ve both been up the Eiffel Tower before, but not together, so that’s something I’d like us to do- it’s quite a view! Then my plans mostly include food and atmosphere- walking along the Seine, eating fresh bread and pastries from a boulangerie, trying some good cheese and having a nice meal at a real French Bistro on my birthday. Oh, and trying to find and consume one of these!!
We found this from a patisserie near the Jardin des Tuileries last time we visited and it was… amazing!! It was chocolate filled pastry heaven and yes, those are gold flakes on top! This tart has actually entered our subconscious many a time and taunted us with it’s chocolately goodness the last 4 years so we are on the hunt to find it again this time!
And those are our plans! I’m pretty excited! Especially since this a birthday trip too!
I’ll post a few updates and photos when I am there, but I’ll probably leave writing up a proper report on our day in DLP until we get back. So, until then, I bid you au revoir!
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) as well as hungry as we hadn't yet eaten. As we were in no hurry and we thought maybe the crowds might not be so hectic after the initial opening rush- we decided to head to Disney Village to grab some breakfast and coffee and to browse the shops. Now I have to say I'm still not impressed with Disney Village... It just looks so faded and tacky. It might be better at night with the lights and more atmosphere but it really isn't anywhere on par with Downtown Disney/Disney Springs. Again, I used to really enjoy it here when I was younger. But nothing seems to of actually been changed or painted much! And obviously it's a lot smaller than DtD/DS too. One other funny thing is they were playing Disney songs from movies- but in French with different singers- to hear Under the Sea and Hakuna Matata not in Sebastian and Timon and Pumba's voices was funny!