Mickey - The World is Quite Big

Disneyland Paris (again)

Char joked about going back here. So we did. There were some changes this time, like we drove instead of flew, different hotel, not Christmas. Still just as magical though.

The Journey

We filled the car up. Suitcase each. Bag of food. Snacks for journey. Everything. We took much more than could have on a flight, especially food wise. One of the things with Disneyland is the food is well expensive! This is where savings can be made, and by shopping here before going over, can plan meals and snacks to take during the day.

Drove to Dover, P&O to Calais. Char got a bit sick, and blamed it on P&O, as the same thing happened last time on one! DFDS is ok, totally different motion. Drove down the motorway or whatever its called, and got to Disneyland. Cost about £20 in tolls. You can do it without tolls, but adds on about an hour and half. We were staying in Cheyenne Hotel this time. It’s one of the park’s hotels that are a short transfer bus away, or a walk. Bit cold for walking while we were there though!

Looked like a ghost town when we arrived!

We arrived on Thursday, and it was fairly quiet. It was term time, and the Christmas season had just finished, so we thought the park would be really quiet. It wasn’t. Not as busy as last time, but still quite full. Queues were no where near as long though, and most rides were a 10 to 30 minute wait.

This is on Char’s birthday. You can tell because she demanded to wear a birthday badge from reception!

The only difference to this was Saturday, as it got absolutely rammed!! We used an app to tell us how long queues were for rides and that. Saturday came and things were going up to 200 minutes queue time! We were so lucky having the two days of relative quietness, and we defo maximised all the things we wanted to do before the weekend.

A lot of it was seeing characters. These really do make the kids (and Char) happy, and really add to the excitement. In the hotel, each morning you’ll have Mickey, Goofy or Pluto, and then in the park they will have set times for all the characters. You’ll also just see them knocking around sometime, and these are normally the best times to catch them.

This happened with Jack Sparrow, who asked us if we wanted a picture with him, and not the other way round!

Star Wars

Another reason Saturday was so busy was that Disneyland were launching their Star Wars theme. Saturday was their grand opening, so more people were around. We got over there early, mainly to queue up to see Chewbaca! Stan loves Chewie, and Star Wars for some reason. We dressed him in a Chewbaca onesie to walk round in, which he loved. The queue took the mick, but, we did see a Stormtrooper March, and a show on a stage too, so wasn’t all bad.

His face! He kept trying to do a Chewie face. This was the most ‘normal’ looking one.

We also took a Goofy onesie. The day he wore it, to get a really good picture with Goofy, he wasn’t at the hotel. When we did see him in the park, he was wearing a blinking golf outfit! What a swizz!

Lineby App

Another thing we did this time was use the Lineby app. This is a queue position app, where you book a time slot to see a character. These were Mickey, Woody, Buzz Lightyear and Spiderman. I didn’t like the idea of it last time, but it actually worked really well! No standing in a queue for an hour. You get notified that your time is coming up, and then you just turn up and see the dude. Much easier.

Something I would defo recommend is Stitch Live show. I hate Lilo and Stitch, but this was really good. It’s like a live action cartoon, which is interactive. An actor runs it, and there’s loads of audience participation. Stan got involved and it was proper funny.

We did more rides and more seeing characters. It was quieter, queues were shorter. I’d defo go out of season again, rather than half terms and holiday times! If you can. Obviously, don’t take your kids out of school etc (or do). We asked for permission to take kids out of school, but was turned down. The letter also said ‘even though you can be fined, the school doesn’t let this happen’, which is nice. If it was exam times, or important bits etc, obvs we wouldn’t. This saved us a shed load, and was quieter, so everyone’s happy.

Amelia was big enough to do some of the bigger rides this time, like Tower of Terror. This was my favourite ride I think! I won’t spoil it, but you fall through a building. I was surprised she loved it so much! The staff running it was cool too. The staff are, without exception, the best thing about Disneyland. How they can motivate and ensure they all have a smile on their face 100% of the time is beyond me. Genuinely go out of their way to help you, and improve the whole experience.

Some of the workers took a selfie when we asked for a photo.

I even sent an email thanking the lady on the Tower of Terror. The second time we went on, it broke a bit, and Amelia got scared. Lady helped her off and was kind about it all, and even gave us a fast pass to come back on, beating the queues.

Fast Pass is pretty cool. You can use your normal ticket to bypass the queues once a day. Sometimes the fast pass has a queue, but much smaller than the regular queue. We did it on two of the days, on the Toy Story shooter ride, which is also very good.

Char’s genuine face when she wasn’t winning the shooting!

Don’t even think she knew I was taking pics!

Another part Stan loved was the Star Tours ride. I think I did it three times with him. Speaking of Star Wars, we stayed late one night to see the opening show for the season thing. It was alright. Not amazing. Mainly it was a lights and projection onto a building thing. There was a bit of character play, and then at the end, all of the characters came out, just to wave at the crowd pretty much! Would have been much better if it was more live action. Also saw what I assume to be France’s Big Brother winner doing some interviews for TV. Not a clue who it was.

Hotel

Accommodation was good. Cheyenne isn’t too far from the park. It’s a Western themed place, with Toy Story stuff in the room. It’s like a Travelodge room. The kids had a roll out sofa bed this time, which was decent. There was a weird smell outside though, like drains.

Food

Food wise we did buy a lot before going over for breakfasts and evening meals. Pasta pots and things, which some were quite nutritious! I know it isn’t ideal, but its only for a few days. We did take fruit and that too. A load of snacks. Lunch times we did the cheaper option of McDonalds and 5 Guys. They are just outside the park. It’s weird because we keep costs down, but then spend a fortune getting a character lunch! This was the Inventions lunch in the main hotel in the park.

Character Lunch

It’s good because you get to have some food while characters come to your table. Like reverse queuing. It’s normally a lucky dip, however, we had looked at Twitter and Instagram at the breakfast ones, and they were the same characters we had the year before! We got to see Minnie, which doesn’t happen too often apparently, so that was nice. Food wasn’t great, but I did have an endless supply of macarons, which is always a good thing.

Kids had saved up money from their Nan to spend in the shops. There was also a sale on, so win win! Got some teddies and that. Stan wanted to buy everything in the first shop we saw, and the next, and next.

Happy with his purchases. Frozzo and Bullseye.

One thing that I did miss from the Christmas visit was the lack of shows. These were the highlight for me last time, but there were none this time, apart from the Star Wars. The other negative thing was there was still some Christmas decorations up around the place. Every day more would come down, but was still a bit weird seeing them in mid January.

Another thing we didn’t take full advantage of, because sleep, is the extra park time in the morning. If you stay in the hotels, you get to go in at 0830, rather than the opening time of 1000. So if you want to get on a ride really quickly, or in a queue, it’s ideal. We did it once.

On the last day, we had sort of planned to go to the park for a couple of hours, leave early, and pop to Paris for a few hours on the way home. The kids were having that much fun we decided not to. Having the car was good, as I filled it up before leaving the room, then when we left the park, just headed back and drove off. Otherwise, you have to leave it all in the baggage storage facility, and that can get busy.

All in all was a great trip. The driving wasn’t too bad, apart from Stan downing a bottle of juice in the back of the car and needing to stop 4 times in an hour for wee breaks. Awesome.

There’ll probs be loads of photos under here. Oh look, there is.

Disneyland Paris

This went against everything we’d done so far. It was expensive. Like a lot more than we’d normally spend! Saying that, Char still got a bargain and paid less than we should have. It was a special treat ~~for her~~ for the kids. She always wanted to go there, the kids were old enough to enjoy and love it, and it was blinking Christmas. So, we went.

Not sure why they stuck their arms out! Excitement probs. — Not sure why they stuck their arms out. Excitement probs!

There are LOADS of blogs about Disneyland. When to go, how to maximise ride experiences, which packages to choose, which hotel to stay at to see Cinderella etc etc. Have a look at them for some hints and that if you want to go. There’s a great Facebook page too, where parents help others out. Can get a bit ‘Mumsnet’ at times though.

Flew over. Looked at other options, and got a bargain on the flights. One of the things we saved a bit on was the transfer. Companies are set up just to rake in money from tourists. Fact. They call their company‘Magical Disney Bus’ or something, and people see it as an easy option. We got an Uber. Was cheaper than train/official transfer/unofficial transfer. We weren’t shoehorned onto a coach or had to pay £30 per person.

This is the worst bit. I know it has to cost money to do stuff, but when a company charges £25 per person, and they have 50 seats, that’s a shed load of money they are making! Even the TGV prices are more expensive than an equivalent trip towards Paris or whatever. Trains can be confusing, Magical Bus can be easier, private taxi can be expensive, Uber can be cheapest. Have a look at your best options before going.

The other thing to decide, is where to stay. Disneyland has 5 or 6 hotels, ranging from mega expensive, to expensive, depending on how far out of the park you stay. The main one is in the park, then further you go out,the stars drop, and so does the price. We stayed in Santa Fe, which is a Cars themed hotel. Stan loved Cars, we love cheaper prices. There is one further out too. Rooms were Travelodge standard. Double and a bunk bed, bathroom, kettle etc etc. I think we had to ask for a kettle.

There are also other non-Disney hotels obvs, just a bit further on too. Or there’s AirBnB, but then it’s getting into the park everyday. You can camp as well, but not in the winter man! Well, you can, but you know.

To get to the park, there is a free shuttle bus that does about 80 million trips a day. This is manic. You have to queue up outside, and then barge your way on when the bendy bus comes. Chaos. Not very British with queuing! It can be quite intimidating, when trying to get kids on, with bags and pushchairs running over you and that. Worse in Winter when folk have coats and that on.

One tip we had was to get a pushchair if kids are likely to get tired. It is a big park with a lot of walking. Stan was out of pushchair by then, and didn’t actually have one, but a friendly person donated theirs when they left. We found out loads of families do this. There is the Facebook page where people say things like ‘we’re leaving a buggy by the main entrance’, or ‘does anyone need a pushchair, we’re going at 1600’ etc. These pushchairs may have been there longer than some of the staff have worked there, swapping between families! We obvs did the same when we left.

Bit of a walk from bus station to the park. Disneyland is split into two parks – Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios. Both are great. Park is bigger, and some say better, but both are really good. If going for three days, I’d say do park one day, studios the next, and then the park.

Bag searches upon entry, through a metal detector. Cold. Controlled chaos. Once in, it’s good. Defo get a map, and plan your day a bit. The things we most enjoyed was the production shows and meeting the characters. These are at set times during the day, so we planned around these. Big queues for character meets, and shows can fill up quickly, with queuing beforehand. The shows are amazing though. West End standards, really good fun. Magician, Big Band, and loads more highly recommended.

Did like a medley. My favourite show was The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Really good, so no pics!

A real princess! And Aerial. I’m sure they mess the lighting so that you buy the official pics they do, with a flash.

There’s rides too! These are quite good you know! Toy Story ones were good, especially the car where you shoot things. Peter Pan was good.I’ll have a look at a map in a bit to remind myself of others! Just looked.There’s loads. The Park is split into 5 zones, with different themes in each.Studios is smaller, but no less fun. It’s more about the movies and film making, but rides as well.

Dumbo. One of the more traditional rides.

After every ride, there is obviously the gift shop. The kids had a bit of money to spend, and obviously wanted everything they could see!

Next big cost is food. It’s like a wedding – Venue and food make up most the cost! We had planned ahead a bit. We had brought over some breakfast stuff and evening meals with us, to keep costs down. Pasta pots and porridge, fruit and that. We had a meal in the restaurant, and it cost about £10 each for effectively a McDonalds meal. Burger, chips and drink. We had a sandwich at the start of the day, and that was fairly expensive. I know it’s a treat and an expensive holiday, but we were still keen to keep costs down where we could.

On one of the days, we ate in a 5 Guys, which is just outside the park. We find these expensive in the UK, but here they were really good value for money!! You get a shed load of chips, and the burgers are bloody yummy! There is also a McDonalds there too, outside of the park. We went there. It’s not too far of a detour, especially if you come out of one park to go to the other.

It’s funny how we keep costs down some places, and then don’t in others. Like the Character Breakfast we had on the last day. This was good though. It’s a buffet style breakfast in the park. Set times, so I think there are 2 sittings in the morning, because that’s when breakfast happens. You get a table, and then go help yourself to pancakes, sausages, cereal, fruit, you know how breakfasts work. Then the characters come. It’s normally 6 of them. We had Mickey, Scrooge, Daisy, Tigger, Piglet, and Eyeore, they each come to your table, have a pic, sign their autograph and have a laugh. It doesn’t feel too rushed even though you know they have to get around to everyone. Really exciting for the kids, and a good way to meet the characters.

Another way to meet them is in the hotels in the mornings and afternoons. They have one in the reception at different times, and there isn’t a queue to see them as most folk are out and want to get to the park early doors. That was nice.

This is where the characters stand at the hotel.

Another amazing thing is the Parade. They have a couple of these a day I think, but at Xmas they obvs have an Xmas one. All the characters, all the fun, all the floats, really really good. Kids were so happy to see them and had the best time.

I said this wouldn’t be about tips and that, but it turns out it has been a bit. SO here are some more:

1. Buy Mickey ears etc before going. Primark have them for a couple of quid. Or spend £20 on them in Disneyland.

2. Same for autograph books. This is a thing that we saw on the Mumsnet page or whatever it was. The characters sign it, and the kids keep it as a momento, to make it that little bit more special. Buy these before you go too! I got ours off eBay, and they were personalised. Best bit about the autographs is seeing Mickey or Darth Vader using a pen in massive gloves, whilst trying to peer out a hole in their head to see where the page is!

3. It’s A Small World ride is absolutely bonkers.

That’s about it for now! Great tips.

I think with the park tickets, you get one day of ‘early entry’ where you can go in an hour before it properly opens. You can either get a couple of quick rides in, or get in a queue for one of the bigger rides. Some of the rides had wait times of over an hour, so can save some time. But then again, if you’re pre-queuing, surely that’s the same thing?

The other big queues were to meet the princess. Amelia and I queued for over an hour to see Aerial. It was indoors though, so win! Was cold that day. It was cold most days. Stan and Char went off to do other bits, and were lucky enough to meet Mary Poppins, who was just knocking around. She looked really good.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Sometimes we were really lucky with meeting the characters, right place right time. Like walking through one bit and seeing Mrs Incredible, or ending up first in line to see Jessie, or seeing Genie just as he was finishing, but he still saw us. Other times we were like ‘no chance are we queuing up to see Marie from The Aristocats! Or Chip and Dale’! Other times we weren’t so lucky. Like when Darth Vader made Stan cry, or the baddy from Aladdin made Amelia cry. Awks.

There were quite a few things we missed, and a few things we wouldn’t do next time, if there is a next time. The car stunt show was good, but quite long and boring, and cold. I did learn how they did fast reversing scenes though (they actually put the steering wheel and that in the back of the car, facing backwards, so they are actually driving forwards, just makes it look like they are reversing)!

This was a very good, I wouldn’t say holiday, or break, but whatever it is, it was great. Kids really enjoyed, Char enjoyed, I enjoyed. It was lovely going and seeing all the ‘magic’. Disney do really have you once you’re in there, but also do a lot to make your visit as amazing as it can be.

Arm thing again. I saw a pic on the facebook page of a family who waited and waited for everyone to leave and for them to be last so that they could get a pic of them and no crowds on this street. We’re not that dedicated.

Downsides are it can get very busy. Oh, I forgot the best bit – the main road when you go in is like a little street – it ‘snows’ all the time. Makes it look ace. Also, fireworks every night from the Castle. We only stayed once for these as it was mega busy and dark, making it harder to move and get out.

The cost does put people off. We did it for under £1000, which I know is A LOT of money, but we always save and budget correctly.

I think Char was already planning a return when we were there.