Yes Miss This is France 🇫🇷! June 18-July 1, 2023 (Disneyland Paris and other parts of France)

[dizfan917]

I freakin' LOVED the arcades on Main Street and the path that you can take to Frontierland that keeps you covered from the elements till you're right in the middle of the action! (BTM was down until the morning AFTER we left. blah.)

Loving your report!! It helps that we were just there in late March. We stayed at Seqouia Lodge, too!

Your weather looks much nicer (and I'm assuming the streets of Paris weren't FILLED with trash - I haven't gotten that far, yet...). I hated Indiana Jones, too. The dragon IS pretty cool... (good cover, though!)

 

[marni1971]

I freakin' LOVED the arcades on Main Street and the path that you can take to Frontierland that keeps you covered from the elements till you're right in the middle of the action!

We met a CM friend who gave us an impromptu tour of the original route of the covered walkway system. The original intent was to get all the way to Discovery Mountain from the Disneyland Hotel without getting wet via Fantasyland, Central Plaza and of course Main Street. For several years you could still get as far as Auberge de Cendrillon the same way (and Sir Mickeys)

 

[nickys]

Thanks for the compliment on the photos. Hopefully my report will get you even more excited for your upcoming trip.

I am way behind but it is! And I have a question? Or for anyone else!
I was unimpressed with the appetizers listed at Remy (and Walt’s). Is there an option for just an entree and desert?

 

[nickys]

June 20

Another "painting" from Phantom Manor, this is the representation of the dueling ghosts from Haunted Mansion. I love the dueling ghosts.

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After Phantom we used our pass for Big Thunder, then we were headed over to get small world in before finding a spot for the night show, but by the time we got over to the walkway for Fantasyland by the closed Pirates attraction Fantasyland was closed to prepare for the show. So in the end we used all the attraction opportunities we could with the Premier Pass except small world and one other attraction. But none of us wanted to ride Indy again so that was no loss but we were all a little bummed about missing small world that day.

So we head to the hub and found a place to watch the drone show and Dreams. It was crowded. A wanted to get the special 30th anniversary champagne and T and I wanted it as well. So A and I travelled through the crowd to find the champagne cart while B and T held the spot. Getting to the cart wasn't too bad and the line was short for the champagne, just one person in front of us, but in that short time period the area to get back to our spot got immensely crowded. At one point I was unsure we would get back to the spot. But we eventually made it. T and I enjoyed the champagne a lot, A being a good girl has not had much alcohol so she didn't care for it much. In the end her mother and I drank most of A's champagne, but at least we all got the fun glass to take home.
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Castle is pretty at night!
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Then the drone show started. Oh my, this show made me a little angry at how poorly WDW's 50th anniversary offering were done. The drone show was fabulous. I got a few decent pictures (and a couple blurry ones). The song used for the drone show is great too and very catchy.
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Blurry selfie
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Must admit I’m a little bummed we’ll miss the 30th stuff. Those pictures are awesome. Are there any upcoming photo competitions that they would “fit”? You really should check.

 

[nickys]

B and I found the place that had the croque monsieur and got that and a Donald Duck bottom thing that had chocolate mousse

Oooh, I like both croque monsieurs and chocolate mouse. Can you remember where this was?

 

[Swissmiss]

Oooh, I like both croque monsieurs and chocolate mouse. Can you remember where this was?

Not sure about the chocolate mousse but they serve croque monsieurs in the Deli on Main Street.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

You can't ever go wrong with a recommendation from Rick Steve! (What caught my eye there was the brick street -- very nice.)

I ended up using a lot of information from Rick Steves, that guy knows what he is talking about.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I freakin' LOVED the arcades on Main Street and the path that you can take to Frontierland that keeps you covered from the elements till you're right in the middle of the action! (BTM was down until the morning AFTER we left. blah.)

Loving your report!! It helps that we were just there in late March. We stayed at Seqouia Lodge, too!

Your weather looks much nicer (and I'm assuming the streets of Paris weren't FILLED with trash - I haven't gotten that far, yet...). I hated Indiana Jones, too. The dragon IS pretty cool... (good cover, though!)

Yes the arcades at DLP are pretty awesome, we used the shortcut to Frontierland a lot. And the weather overall was better, but we had a few really hot days. The streets of Paris weren't filled with trash, or at least not any that wasn't fairly normal for a big city. I remember seeing news reports about all the trash due to strikes in the spring, that would not have been fun to experience.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I am way behind but it is! And I have a question? Or for anyone else!
I was unimpressed with the appetizers listed at Remy (and Walt’s). Is there an option for just an entree and desert?

I don't think there was a way to get just entree and dessert. I think it was all three or just the appetizer and entree, but I could be remembering wrong.

Must admit I’m a little bummed we’ll miss the 30th stuff. Those pictures are awesome. Are there any upcoming photo competitions that they would “fit”? You really should check.

I thought we were going to miss the 30th stuff and I think they extended it and that made me super happy. If we would have missed the drone show that would have been a bummer, I hope they do something else special like that during your stay. Thank you for compliment on the pictures. I will have to keep a closer eye on some of the competitions.

Oooh, I like both croque monsieurs and chocolate mouse. Can you remember where this was?

Not sure about the chocolate mousse but they serve croque monsieurs in the Deli on Main Street.

The croque and the Donald Duck mousse thing were both at the Market Street Deli on Main Street. Brad wanted to get potato chips with the croque and I convinced him the Donald Duck dessert would be better, I was correct! There were a lot of tables in the side street next to the deli which was nice.

 

[HauntedPirate]

Not sure about the chocolate mousse but they serve croque monsieurs in the Deli on Main Street.

The croque and the Donald Duck mousse thing were both at the Market Street Deli on Main Street. Brad wanted to get potato chips with the croque and I convinced him the Donald Duck dessert would be better, I was correct! There were a lot of tables in the side street next to the deli which was nice.

I have to ask: Is it a "real" croque monsieur, with cheese melted over the outside of the sandwich? I had a fantastic one in Paris when we were there in 2018, at the Cafe du Trocadero, and at the time I didn't see one at DLP (but perhaps I missed it?).

I'll throw my hat into the "the arcades are fantastic" ring. Someone around here knows my love for them.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I have to ask: Is it a "real" croque monsieur, with cheese melted over the outside of the sandwich? I had a fantastic one in Paris when we were there in 2018, at the Cafe du Trocadero, and at the time I didn't see one at DLP (but perhaps I missed it?).

I'll throw my hat into the "the arcades are fantastic" ring. Someone around here knows my love for them.

Well there was a béchamel inside the sandwich and I had some in Paris that had the cheese melted on the top as well. I figure since I had it in France and they called it a croque monsieur then that is what it was. The previous time I went to DLP I didn't see any croques so maybe it is a new food item for the Deli.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

June 22

Alright time to go up in the tower. So for today I was only able to get tickets (with the lift, no way were we walking up the stairs) to the 2nd level. I tried, I was on the computer the moment they went on sale which was 60 days in advance at midnight Paris time which was 5pm my time. I changed the time on my computer to thinking it was on France time. But boy those tickets sold out quicker than a Disney virtual queue! We were okay with the 2nd level because we had tickets and plans to go to the top another day.

I can't remember if there was so much netting the last time I was here but there was netting in places now mostly because they are repainting it gold for the Olympics next year. If you look close on the lower right of the tower in the picture above you can see the color difference.

It was 9pm and we got to see sunset. This is looking towards the Trocadero area.

The big bascillica looking thing on the hill in the distance is the Sacre Coeur catherdral in the Montmartre area. The glass domed building is the Grand Palais . It was kind of fun pointing out landmarks to my niece and sister. Although my sister was confused about why the Eiffel Tower was originally built "in the middle of nowhere" and far away from the landmarks and I had to explain it had been built for a world's fair in the late 1800's.

We could also see Notre Dame (the twin tower looking building). And somewhere down there is our apartment.

Once the sunset the Tower lights came on and the sparkling began from time to time.

Another view off the Tower toward the Champs de Mars park. Here you can see the equestrian event set up and the T shaped building behind it with the circles was where the big concert was going on. We could clearly hear the music from the concert.

There is a Pierre Hermes (fancy baker) store that sells macarons. So we got some to try. I was going to get some in the cute Eiffel Tower tin but I decided to wait until we went up to the top another day. The macarons were good and not dried out like the ones at DLP. Chocolate and Pistachio were and are my favorites. B likes chocolate and the salted caramel best.

It was getting darker and it was nice to get the daylight, sunset and night views of Paris. Typically I'm not a huge fan of going up to view the city of whatever town, but Paris is a little different. You can see the Arc de Triomphe illuminated north of the Seine.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

June 22

So even though we couldn't go to the top we did have access to the 1st floor but my niece was very enraptured with the views and staying on the 2nd level so we never went down to the 1st level. B and I didn't want to leave A behind (T was usually on a bench far away from the edges), but we thought that was fine and we would check out the 1st floor on the next visit....

So here are a few more views from the 2nd level and some once we left the Tower when it closed. After we left the Tower, we ended up walking to the Trocadero area to get some good views of the Tower all lit up.

The big wheel behind Brad is part of what moves the elevators I guess.

Then we headed to the Metro and I saw of big sign advertising one of my favorite beers and a teacher friend of mine loves it too. I introduced her to it during the Holiday alcohol exchange I organize at work. The metro was a bit crowded because the concert had gotten out but we had also lingered at the Trocadero area awhile so it wasn't too bad but we could still identify a lot of concert goers.

And that is the end of our first night in Paris and we were off to the apartment.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

June 23

First morning in Paris! We all slept ok. I had a tough time though, turns out our apartment is in a lively neighborhood. Which is great when I'm awake but not while I'm trying to sleep. After that first night I used the ear plugs that had been in the Delta sleep kit from the plane, thank you Delta. I will never travel without ear plugs in my travel kit again. I also had a tough time figuring out the shower and had a fairly cold shower, Brad showed me hot to use it later. But I had a thought that our hot water wouldn't be working.

Which reminds me, did I mention the disco shower at Sequoia? The water nozzle turned different colors while using it and I thought it was fun at first and I nicknamed it the disco party shower. Then I figured out it was to show good-bad-excessive water use. I was surprised at how fast the shower colored up to a lot of water use during my showers because my showers are pretty short. After I figured out it was to show water use I kind of felt bad about my water use, and a couple showers I tried limit my use, which I guess is the point.

Anyway, we all got ready and off to breakfast we went. Cafe de Flore and Les Deux Magots were the closets cafes to our apartment and A picked Cafe de Flore. She had seen it on tick tocks and it was on her to do list.

We all got croissants or chocolate croissants and B had an omelet. I also got a cafe creme. A got their famous hot chocolate (I don't have a picture of the omelet or hot chocolate). I tasted both and they were tasty.

I know from reading and watching Rick Steves that the outside tables are more expensive but really when one is in Paris it is a scenic (well not when a big truck is in my picture) place to be.

As Rick Steves says...always use the restroom at the cafe before heading out. So we all did and it was in the upstairs area of the cafe so I took a picture of the inside of the cafe.

And the outside.

Today was supposed to have a different plan. It was supposed to be our second Eiffel Tower day but about a week and a half before we left on our trip. Actually when B and I were driving back from Michigan for his nephew's graduation party and a first time visit to Canada where we got to stay with @amjt660 and his lovely wife Tricia, I got a text. The text was from the Eiffel Tower CANCELING our tickets for June 23!!!!! I almost lost my sh$t in the car.

I had been lucky enough to score summit tickets using the method I described in a previous post. I had been pleased to snag them and not have to go through a tour company like we had to on our last trip. So no reason was given, just that it wasn't going to open during that time (we had tickets right at opening) just that it was canceled and would be opening later. (I blame the equestrian event although I'm not sure.) There was no offer to move our tickets to later in the day....it was just canceled. Ugh. When planning the trip my niece had one major and only request of something to do in Paris and that was to go up in the Eiffel Tower once at night and once during the day and one time to the top. That was the only thing she asked for! So I was so happy to secure her request before we went and to have those tickets. So now, I'm traveling in the middle of Wisconsin on the freeway I have to scramble. Of course there are no tickets available for later in the day through the Tower website. And I start looking at tour companies and even their availability is limited because it is only a short time away. So I finally find something that will work with our schedule. Actually two dates that will work. B and I decide to go with the last day of our trip since I had left that day open and it would be a nice goodbye to Paris, right?! (Readers remember this story for later…)

Anyway no Eiffel Tower today . I moved our exploration of the Montmartre neighborhood to this morning. I had it originally planned for an afternoon but I read that mornings were the best time for this neighborhood for exploration so I was happy to have the change. Turns out the neighborhood is lovely. Although the steps up from the metro at this station were horrible. I guess there was an elevator but I didn’t see it but everyone informed me about once at the top. There were a zillion steps. Anyway we happened upon a nice little park and the love wall.

And from there we started on the Rick Steves walking tour from his book. I had copied the map and we were on our way. The tour is well detailed and his map is easy to follow(except for when we tried to find the Dali house and just gave up).

Instead of climbing more steps we took the funicular up to Sacre Coeur. There weren’t many tourists there yet and we got in the church after security right away. B and I had gone here before and it a pretty church. Last time there had been a service going on which was unique to observe as we toured no service at this time today though.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

Ah, Paris! My favorite city in all the world!

 

[amjt660]

Thanks for the shout out - too bad you lost the spot but I hope it worked out.....

nstead of climbing more steps we took the funicular up to Sacre Coeur. There weren’t many tourists there yet and we got in the church after security right away. B and I had gone here before and it a pretty church. Last time there had been a service going on which was unique to observe as we toured no service at this time today though.

Did you get there early enough to see Keanu?

if anyone has seen John Wick 4 they would appreciate the taking of the funicular - the steps are very dangerous.

Max

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Thanks for the shout out - too bad you lost the spot but I hope it worked out.....

Did you get there early enough to see Keanu?

if anyone has seen John Wick 4 they would appreciate the taking of the funicular - the steps are very dangerous.

Max

I have not seen John Wick 4, sorry. But I'm assuming something bad happens on the steps, besides if I had taken them I might have collapsed. Paris is beautiful but there are way to many stairs.

 

[PUSH]

I've always wanted to go to Paris since my high school French classes. One unit we did was study Paris, and the surrounding area. So I'm familiar with all of these landmarks, or at least recognize their names. I'm jealous reading this!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I've always wanted to go to Paris since my high school French classes. One unit we did was study Paris, and the surrounding area. So I'm familiar with all of these landmarks, or at least recognize their names. I'm jealous reading this!

I can totally understand Paris being a dream trip. I had two one was to go to Oahu Hawaii and when I got my master's degree that was my present to myself. After that I focused on making Paris a reality, it took quite a few years but then B and I took our first trip there. I think that might have inspired my niece to pick Paris as her graduation present. I keep getting Paris stuff on my Instagram feed and it makes me want to go back again...so I think I will start saving again.

 

[PUSH]

I can totally understand Paris being a dream trip. I had two one was to go to Oahu Hawaii and when I got my master's degree that was my present to myself. After that I focused on making Paris a reality, it took quite a few years but then B and I took our first trip there. I think that might have inspired my niece to pick Paris as her graduation present. I keep getting Paris stuff on my Instagram feed and it makes me want to go back again...so I think I will start saving again.

I read that last sentence as, "I keep getting Paris stuff on my Instagram feed and it makes me want to go back again...so I think I will start starving again."