Last week, John's dad and sister postponing their trip to France until July left us with the prospect of a 4-day weekend without any plans. We knew we had to take advantage of the long weekend but our idea to drive along the Loire and visit chateaus for a little wine-tasting didn't seem as enticing without John's family. On top of that, we thought that without Pop-pop and Auntie Lisa, the drive might just bore the girls. Last minute beach plans and rentals were out of the question as all of those would have been rented out months ago. We've learned that if a holiday is coming up in France, booking travel and hotel reservations in advance is a must. With all this in mind, we decided to take the plunge and check out Disneyland Paris, formerly known as Eurodisney.
Perhaps the hardest part of this Disney experience was navigating the website. After juggling problems with the English (UK version) and French sections of the site for half a day, I was finally able to order a relatively affordable 2 night/1 day package. Breakfast was included and Miia's hotel stay and park tickets were free. (This would never happen at any of the Disney parks in the States!) And, according to friends in Nantes, the TGV (bullet train) would take us from Nantes directly to Disneyland. After looking at the Disney map online, I saw that the train station for Disneyland (Marne-la-Vallee/Chessy) was indeed right between our hotel and Disneyland Parc. Seemingly, everything was within walking distance. Could it be so easy?
We left early Friday - around 7:30 AM - to catch a 9:10 train to Miia's heaven. We somehow got the girls awake and ready in time. Unsurprisingly, it was much easier to wake up Miia for Disney than for school. After a 10 minute walk to the tram stop and a short tram ride (3 stops) to the train station, we made it with plenty of time to spare. In just a little over 3 hours, we arrived at Disneyland and found out just how easy this travel experience would be. The train station was located within a 10-15 minute walk of our hotel as well as the main entrance of the park. C'est super!
After dropping off our bags at our hotel (Hotel New York) and getting the Disney rundown from the check-in people (tickets, meal plan explanation, breakfast info, id badges for the girls in case they got lost, schedule for character meetings, etc.), we took off to start our Disneyland Paris adventure. First and foremost was lunch. We knew we had a full day ahead of waiting in possibly obscenely long lines for rides and character greetings so fortifying ourselves was extremely important. We settled on Cafe Mickey right outside the hotel. And this, as they say in Disney parlance, was where the magic began.
When you go to Disneyland with a 5 year old and a 1 1/2 year old, it's not about the food, the quality of the hotel, or the extracurricular activities. Instead, it's all about the characters and maybe, maybe, some of the rides. Eating at Cafe Mickey, jumpstarted our day in more ways than one. As we walked to the cafe, Miia suddenly started hopping up and down, shouting, "Mickey!" Through the windows, she had zeroed in on Mickey Mouse who was actually walking around the restaurant, greeting all the diners and "chatting" (The characters don't talk because, as Miia says, "They're saving their voices for the shows and parades.") with the children as if he was circulating tables at a wedding. Then she caught a glimpse of Pluto and Chip n Dale and that was it. I knew that eating at Cafe Mickey would make her day, but would we be able to get in? I didn't make a reservation for lunch and at Disney in Orlando, trying to get a table anywhere, especially a restaurant that has characters walking around, at the last minute is impossible. In fact, they encourage you to make your reservation 180 days in advance. (Who plans that far ahead?) We walked up to the hostess and I apologized in French for not having a reservation. "Pas de probleme," she said. We were seated within minutes, ordered from the typically (unfortunately) overly expensive Disney menu, and prepared ourselves for our turn with Miia's favorite characters come to life.
She was a seasoned pro. Her pen and autograph book were ready for signatures - the book opened to an empty page; the pen ready to go. As she watched the characters walking around the room, she told us details about all of them. "Oh, that's not Donald. That's his uncle who was in that movie with Donald..."and on and on and on. As each one got closer to our table, we could see the anticipation and excitement in her face. I thought she would burst. And as each approached our table, she became a speechless blob.
Analea, on the other hand, wasn't sure about these giant, moving stuffed animals. Goofy was first and freaked her out. Mickey and Pluto fared better. By the time Chip came around, she had warmed up to the idea of the crazy characters coming up to her. Perhaps, seeing her Ate so nutso and comfortable with them helped. Somehow, Dale crossed some kind of baby line, causing Analea to cry a little. While she wanted to touch Chip's nose and give him head-bump kisses, Analea had no interest in dealing with Dale. Who can really tell the difference between the two? However, another glimpse of Mickey restored her comfort level. And by the end of lunch, she was pointing out the characters as they walked around, trying to give them her little autograph book to sign.
After lunch we headed to the Park, walking through Disney Village, cleverly located between the park and the hotel areas, funneling visitors through a sea of restaurants, clubs and Disney shops. The front area leading to the park was familiar - topiaries of Disney characters in beautifully manicured garden areas, banners with characters pictures declaring where we were, the Disney architecture of a fictional Main Street U.S.A. train station, etc. Fortunately, we had bought our tickets ahead of time because as we approached the main entrance, we encountered the first of many incredibly long lines. After going through a security check of our bags, we were in and it felt like we were back at Disney World a year ago. The Main Street area was exactly like the one in Orlando, except the voices around us were speaking in French. As we looked around us and Miia noticed and pointed out the similarities, we caught sight of the castle (possibly the coolest one of the Disney castles. You can actually walk inside different rooms and go upstairs. There's a dragon in the dungeon and other distractions throughout Sleeping Beauty's -as Miia informed us - castle.). And then suddenly we heard a Spanish voice talking at us. A family was leaving the park and, in Spanish, they told us they had rented a stroller for the day and wanted to give it to us for la nina (Miia) to ride in. They didn't want it to go to waste, it was already paid for for the entire day. They gave us the receipt in case there were any problems. And so began our Disneyland Park experience. Muchas gracias!
The stroller came in handy as there was a lot of walking and waiting to do. 75 minutes for Small World (Not doing that right now, Miia!), 65 minutes for Peter Pan (ditto); a fast-moving line at the Tea Cups (score! Let's go before the line grows.). And here's where the Disney Paris experience diverges from the Disney Orlando one.
Lines: In France, waiting in a line for something, anything is inevitable. In general, there is order and relative patience among those in line. However, here more than in Spain, ignoring the politesse of the line is a little more acceptable. Once the gate to the Tea Cups was opened, the order of the queue dispersed and a mad rush occurred as people scurried to dive into a tea cup. Because there aren't many Disney employees to control the crowd, it was a little chaotic. "What the...?" I thought as people jostled and pushed all around us. I couldn't believe it; it's not as if you're not going to get a tea cup because at least there's someone to control the amount of people that's allowed to run to the cups. Miia wanted a pink one, and I said, "No can do. Grab the first one available." And we did. I'm not one for spinning rides, but since John was feeling queasy from lunch and he had ridden the cups in Orlando, I thought I should take my turn at the Madhatter's ride. And so I did. Our 20 minute wait resulted in a 2 minute ride. C'est normale! I survived the ride...and then we had to exit and the mad rush to get on a cup was mirrored in the mad rush to get out of the cups. I witnessed some French cursing...the first of only a few that day.
So that was our afternoon - selecting rides with 15 minute wait times and waiting for the more popular lines to die down. It was relatively painless and we made up a fun exercise to figure out what rides were different and what were the same. And then dinner time arrived. For this meal, I made a reservation at the "Auberge de Cendrillon" (
At one point during the dinner, Miia made a comment that highlighted the whole weekend for me. As she realized that her favorite fairy tale characters (princesses and
And so Day 1 ended with a magical dinner with Cinderella and friends, followed by a long wait in a line for the Peter Pan ride (worth it) for Miia, and a spin on the Dumbo ride for Analea. After we headed back to the hotel for a much earned night of sleep, telling ourselve we would wake up early to take advantage of the 2 Magic hours (hours that the park is open before the normal opening time) available to hotel guests. Bon soir, Mickey! A demain!
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