Disneyland Paris

Are you prepared?  This is going to be a very long post.  I've included several pictures here, but I will be sure to post all of my pictures on Shutterfly when I have them uploaded.  So, we decided to make Disneyland Paris one of our first big destinations.  Just a few days prior to the weekend, I booked the hotel and tickets, and we left Saturday morning anticipating a wonderful weekend.  It didn't start off quite as expected.  The address I googled wouldn't work in the GPS, some people got rather irritated (my significant other), I made the irritated individual turn the car around (we were less than a half mile from home), so I could print out the directions (I'm old fashioned) and find a new address for the GPS.  Thank goodness we did, or never would have made it there.  After leaving one hour behind schedule, we were finally on our way.  It was very foggy, so we didn't get to enjoy the sights of France, but we arrived safely just before noon.  We checked in at Newport Bay Club and headed to Disneyland.

Here is the entrance to Disneyland with the Disneyland Hotel in the background.  This particular hotel was not in our budget.  You couldn't have your picture right in front of the Mickey bushes (like Orlando) because it was under construction.  Since it was January, it seemed like Disney thought this was a good time to do several updates.

Here is where the excitement is just about to kill me.  Have I mentioned how much I love Disney?! :)

 It seems I have left off the first picture of the kids on Main Street, but since most of you are on FB.  You've seen it.  It probably doesn't need to be said, but I cried when we walked in and saw the castle.  I'm such a sap!

Lunch at Casey's...We eat there on every trip, and we knew it was food that would make all of us happy.

That is one big hot dog!  We haven't been brave enough to buy the hot dogs at the grocery store, so we certainly enjoyed these! 

Here's the castle!  It's much smaller than Cinderella's castle in Disney World, but it is still lovely.  I think I took more pictures of the castle than I did of my kids.

I loved some different features that this park offered.  Here is Skull Rock, and next to it they were constructing Captain Hook's ship.  This was all located next to Pirates of the Carribean.  Pirates of the Carribean was quite a bit longer than the American version, but Captain Jack Sparrow wasn't added to it.  Thomas was bummed!

Here's Pirates!

Even though Jack Sparrow wasn't in the ride, we did get to meet him when the ride was over.  The kids were so excited.  He was really funny too and pulled Allison's hat down over her eyes.  

My boy...waiting to ride Buzz Lightyear!

She's quite the sharp shooter....well, not really...she couldn't get over 2,000 points on the Buzz Lightyear ride.  She does appreciate my love of pictures though, and often creates fun things for me to shoot.  What a great sport!

Here is Phantom Manor...we know it as The Haunted Mansion.  This was a great ride, but it was one that I felt wasn't quite as good as Disney World in Orlando.  Most of the other rides were actually a little better.  It was like they created these great rides in the US, and then found ways to make them even better when they built Disneyland Paris 20 years ago.  Space Mountain goes upside down!!!  That was a surprise when we loaded the ride.  The kids didn't care.  They loved it!!!

The parade was awesome!  This is one parade we haven't seen at Disney.

I was holding this waffle during the parade.  The Mad Hatter came up to me and eyed it while rubbing his belly.  I told him it was really good, and he said he thought it must be, but he had to watch his figure.  Then one of the dancers came by and rubbed her tummy.  We were laughing that two characters commented on it.  And then, one of Captain Hook's pirates walked up...raised his eyebrows, licked his lips, grabbed the fork, and TOOK A BITE!!!  LOL!!!  Everyone around me was cracking up!  I tossed the fork and ate the rest. :)

Acting out Rapunzel.  She even took her hat off and fixed her hair.  She's a crack up!

Thomas told me I had to write, "They never get my nose right!"

The castle at night....so pretty!

Here's our hotel.  It was very nice, but not quite up to the standards of the Disney hotels in the US.  But, it was for one night only.  We had plenty of room and a breakfast that was included.

We went to magic hours on Sunday morning, and for about an hour, we had the park to ourselves.  Here are the kids enjoying all the space on Main Street.

The castle at sunrise and my girl with her sunny disposition!

This is my favorite castle picture.

See the sunrise peeking through the castle.  It stays dark here until almost 8:30.  I'm looking forward to days with more sunlight.

We got to meet Mickey!  This was one of the few character areas that was roped off, so there was some sort of order in meeting him.  If there were no ropes, then it was complete and total madness.  Folks...they are Disney characters...not Robert Pattinson.  Chill out!!!

Only one more character shot...with Buzz.  We knew Sophie and Sawyer would like this one!

All you gotta do is rub that lamp!

What was even more fun than eating the cotton candy was watching them make it.  They thought that was pretty neat!

Disney is only a little over three hours from our house.  This is how they spent part of the way home.  I think they are in a Disney coma.

Overall, the weekend got two thumbs up.  We successfully navigated to France and back with no major issues (our headlight did go out.)  The kids were great, and nothing makes me happier than being at Disney.  

On another note...we have an owl in our chimney that was staring at us through the glass this morning.  More on that in another post.

Until next time,

Wendy