Disneyland Paris!

A bit of a hefty post here! This is kind of a review, photo diary & tips entry. Me and Eva spent most of the week with my mum in Disneyland Paris for 4 days. I’m not going to be all “it was soooo magical” while posing in a pair of Minnie mouse ears. Lets face it…it’s a theme park and it was half term!

Most importantly Eva had a great time and can’t stop talking about it. I went twice when I was younger and can’t remember it being so busy! I did expect it with half term, but not this much. You literally cannot walk into most of the restaurants without pre-booking. Queues for rides were horrendous (of course) and everyone was like sardines walking down Main street. I would seriously consider taking Eva out of school for a couple of days in term time if we wanted to take her again.

coat, ASOS – Bag, Mulberry – Jeans, Paige Denim* – Roll Neck, Mango – Hat, Dune

This reminded me of the front of a Chinese restaurant with the rabbits hanging in the window.

We stayed in the Disneyland hotel which was lovely (it smells beautiful). We had a corner room looking over the grounds which also had a balcony. We were able to watch the fireworks every night from our room. I liked the little touches such as the soap and shampoo bottles with Mickey Mouse ears. I did feel the room was a little dated though and if you go…make sure you take your own hairdryer!

There is no coffee making facilities in the rooms so I nipped to the restaurant to take one back while Eva & my mum were still getting ready. I literally had to argue with a waitress to give me a coffee to take back to my room (even though breakfast was included). She kept telling me to order room service. I insisted I didn’t want to sit in the restaurant and I don’t want to pay €10 for a coffee to be delivered. Eventually the manager came over and gave me a coffee to go away. Coffee and tea are basic facilities, sort it out Disney!

We went to Pizza planet which is like a cafeteria. You queue (again) to get in and pay per adult or child with added extras like coffee. You wouldn’t want to come in here if you don’t have children. To them it is amazing though with the toystory theme and play area. I would have expected it to be more like the Pizza Planet from the movie though. More of an arcade/restaurant.

We booked the Minnie Mouse princess boutique for Eva to dress up like Merida. It was just a beauty dressing table on the 1st floor hall of the hotel with a photographer to sell you photos after. Nowhere near the standard of the harrods bibbidi bobbidi boutique. If you are planning to visit London or live in or nearby save your money to go there instead for a princess experience.

I thought the lady made Eva look terrible with black eye shadow and pink lipstick. The braid was lovely though. I scrubbed the make-up off and we went to ‘hunt for Mor’du’ in the hotel grounds so I could get a couple of snaps.

The best part of our trip was the buffalo bill show! Eva was fixated the entire time. It is an absolute must see. This was the one thing that we pre-booked before we came. I did moan on twitter before the show started because of an incident….

Before you go into the seating guests stand around the Wild West bar ordering drinks to take in and watching music acts on the stage. I spotted Goofy and Mickey to the side of us with a crowd of people around. I said to Eva “look who it is” and we walked up to them. Eva went to hug goofy and a very snotty park worker said “this is for VIPs only”. She was British, so there wasn’t even the excuse of mistake in language. I replied “charming” and she turned to her co-worker and shrugged. Poor Eva turned and said to me “she wasn’t very kind”.

Disneyland Paris … 5 year olds do not know what a VIP is! If you are going to have private meet and greets, make sure it is out of view of the peasant guests. (Who have paid thousands to be there!).

I spotted Christmas decorations in the Disney world store in the village and just couldn’t hold myself back. Lets just say, our tree this year is going to be very Disneyfied. Once my tree is up I will do a post on all the baubles I got.

Eva was scared of the ghouls!

As you can see here, the Main Street is empty! Disney hotel guests have access to the park 2 hours before opening. Wonderful we thought! We can get on some of the busier rides and have some breakfast in an emptier park.

All of the lands are closed apart from fantasy land which only has a couple of rides open. Because there is only a couple of rides open, everyone is queuing at them.

Le sigh…very frustrating. Undeterred we went on the hunt for some breakfast and coffee. No food venders or restaurants were open apart from one which once again everyone was packed in because it was the only one open. Of course all the gift shops are open…which is really the only thing to do. Nice one Disneyland Paris…tell everyone to go in early and keep everything closed apart from the gift shops. Clever tactic. So top tip here…stay in bed.

We waited for the bakery shop/cafe on Main Street to open at 9:45. It is so sooo cute in there and I got all snap happy….

The Disney neighbourhood gangster, didn’t realise she had the bloody toy gun in the majority of her photos!

She found Goofy in the end!

I do realise I have moaned a bit in this post, but I think for the price it could be a hell of a lot better. It’s getting a bit run down now and the staff seem miserable.

Some more positives – The Disney studios has a more relaxed vibe to it and less busy. The new 3D ratatouille ride was incredible. My mum, me and Eva all enjoyed it. It’s the newest ride so expect long queues. We saved our fast passes for this ride and still queued for about 20 minutes.

Apart from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride breaking down and leaving everyone trapped in a queue with no fire escapes open for 30 minutes (Ok enough moaning already Kylie!!). It was just as good as I remembered it to be and Eva insisted on being a pirate for the rest of the day. We also booked and ate at the restaurant the next day for Lunch which was nice.

Last tip! If you are staying for a few days and have had enough of the park. A HUGE shopping center is nearby – Val d’europe. It also has a designer outlet village much the same as Bicester Village. Val d’europe is one stop on the train or €15 in a cab.

We had good times and there were some irritating points. More importantly it was nice for me, my mum and Eva to spend time together. It’s just so overcrowded in holidays which isn’t pleasant. Customer service deteriorates and prices shoot up! I really hope our government gets some sense soon and allows some sort of relaxation on holidays. A free week each year for children and teachers wouldn’t hurt.

We had lovely times at Disney when we were young. But we went during term time!