So, we've been back from Disneyland Paris for two weeks now - the time has flown by! I thought I'd share a trip report and some photo's with you so I can relive a little bit of the magic. It's a day by day account so you might not find it very interesting (sorry!) but, if you're into anything Disney or are planning a future trip, you might find it a little helpful :)
Cast - Me, Little Man (E) and my mother in law (L) on her first ever trip to the Paris parks
We travelled by Eurostar from Ashford International train station and stayed at the Disney Hotel Santa Fe (budget hotel).
We left home just after midday on Saturday 8th February and headed down to Ashford, we had a room booked at the Premier Inn at Eureka Park and have stayed here twice before so knew what to expect. We were checked in within minutes and headed to our room whilst hubby turned the car around and headed back home as he had decided not to join us on this trip - says he's 'Disney-d out', honestly how is that possible haha?!
Had a lovely meal in the Beefeater next door although E was getting a bit grumpy towards the end - we've both been really poorly leading up to this trip as you know and haven't had a lot of sleep but thankfully we were both feeling much better today so wanted to get back for an early night.
E is asleep by 7 so L and I just chat, read and watch tv until we decide to get some sleep too. At about 2.30am I hear some 'revellers' come back to their room but nothing major and I go back to sleep. At 4am they are right outside our room and are very drunk - not abusive at all but just that drunk way in which you have no idea of time & volume control lol. L wakes up and we have a little giggle at the grown man almost crying like a toddler at his friends because he's lost his socks and nobody likes him! Half an hour later they're still going and now E is awake so I'm not finding it quite so amusing - I stick my head out the door and ask them politely if they could move away a little bit as they've woken us all up. They were all very apologetic in their slurry way and decided that it might be a good idea to go back to their room. Nice and quiet again and E and L go back to sleep but I'm wide awake, grr. I decide to read until the others wake up at 7.30 and then we head down to breakfast, which was fab as always.
I'd asked the hotel to call a taxi for us to go to the train station and when we checked out they asked how our night had been - we had a little chuckle and told them about the drunk people but weren't complaining at all; it was a Saturday night in a Premier Inn after all, I imagine they see much worse things but they immediately said that they were going to refund the cost of our room - very impressed as hadn't even thought to mention it to them and was only a passing comment as they'd asked!
Anyway, taxi arrives and we have a hilarious driver - really sweet older man who gives us lots of tips about what to do at the station (didn't like to tell him we've done it several times before, bless him!) and asks E lots of questions about who he's going to see.
Straight through at the station and no other passengers at security so we're really early but get a drink and snack to pass the time. I decide to ask at the Disney Express desk if we can pay here for our luggage to be taken to the hotel or if we have to wait until we arrive - the staff member says that we have to pay on arrival but if we confirm that we want it he'd take our details and phone ahead to have our tickets and documents sent over to the station so we can go straight to the parks, I never knew this part of the service existed so we were very happy about that and gave our details over.
At this point it's obvious that E needs the loo (he's dancing on his toes, he's that desperate!) - now on our November trip to Disneyland he developed a complete phobia of the automatically flushing toilets in the park. Sadly, it's stayed with him and he is now terrified of public toilets. Not great at all. We have lots and lots of tears as he is desperate but wants to try and wait until we reach the hotel - obviously, not an option and by now I'm worrying that he's going to give himself an infection trying to hold it in! In the end I literally have to pick him up, take him into the disabled toilet (thought there'd be less stress with nobody else around) and stand and wait for him to go, whilst he fights me trying to get away - it was very, very stressful and I was almost in tears watching him be so scared. Thankfully he went and was then very proud of himself - I can't even imagine what everyone else in the departure lounge thought of us, him in tears and me walking him back and forth to the toilets trying to coax him into going in!!!
Not a great start to the trip but it's one hurdle over and done with so I think the day can't get any worse. Wrong. We head to the lift to get down to the platform and head to our carriage. We get all the luggage on the train, sit down and then there's an announcement to say that only one of the tunnels is operating so we can't leave Ashford until at least 11.45 - it's currently 11 o'clock :( Disappointed groans all round but we play games and chat to the very friendly people in front of us and then the train leaves at 11.45 - hooray!! Or not. The train manager announces that we're only going as far as the tunnel and then we have to wait again - for another half an hour :( Boo hiss. By this time, the lack of sleep and the stressful morning are starting to catch up with me. E and all the other kids in our carriage are behaving brilliantly, they really were stars. We finally get into the tunnel but there's speed restrictions so takes approx 35 minutes to go through (normally only about 20 minutes) and then we are finally on our way, We arrive at Marne La Vallee train station, which is just outside the park entrance, 95 minutes late but we're here!!
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| Bit of light reading to pass the boredom on a delayed train! |
We head upstairs to the Disney Express desk and it's chaos - everyone from our train is trying to leave their luggage whilst the people due to go home on the direct Eurostar service are trying to collect theirs and check in at the same time. Anyway, we find the right desk to collect our tickets and pay our fees to have the luggage taken to the hotel (16 euros per adult) and then escape the station.
We head to the main park and I'm expecting the parks to be heaving as it's a Sunday but it wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared. We go to see the castle and E just doesn't seem very excited to be here at all, which is really unlike him (it's his third trip). I ask him if he's ok and he starts to cry saying that he has earache and doesn't feel well :( We head to It's A Small World (IASW) to see if that will cheer him up as it's his favourite ride - it's a little boat ride that meanders along a river, through different countries of the world, with appropriate scenery - but he is very quiet and is crying again by the time the ride ends. It's dry but very windy in the park and the wind is bitterly cold so we decide we'll go to the hotel and write off today, only it's parade time and we can't get out easily through the crowds waiting to see it! We eventually find our way out though thankfully. By this time E is sobbing as his ear hurts so much . We head to the bus stop to get our hotel shuttle and wait for ten minutes, the crowds are huge and he's really, really upset so we give up and decide to walk instead - back through security we go! It feels like the longest walk ever with a poorly, crying boy but we eventually make it to the hotel and collect our key - we stayed at the Hotel Santa Fe, which is a budget Disney onsite hotel and has recently been refurbished in a Cars (the film) theme, so there's lots of little touches of that around like traffic cone lamps and Lightning McQueen pictures etc. After checking in, we go to get our luggage from the store room but the shuttle bus has just arrived and there's a huge queue so we decide to leave it and come back later. I had emailed the hotel the week before we left to see if we could have a room near reception and a kettle (so English haha!) - the hotel is set out in blocks, like an American style motel I think and we were in block 53, which is down by the river but we did have a kettle so were very happy about that! Poor E is cold and tired now so I pop him in a warm bath whilst L goes back to get the first lot of luggage - she can't carry / drag it all at once and E is being very clingy to me so I can't instead so she has to make two trips, this day is getting better and better lol.
Anyway, finally we have all the luggage and E is warm again and after cuddles he is feeling a bit better. We have a 7pm reservation at Chuck Wagon Cafe, at the Hotel Cheyenne next door (well, just across the river) so head over there. I've never been to the Cheyenne before and I just love the theming - it's a Wild West / Cowboy set up, great fun! Sadly, the food was awful :( The chicken was undercooked and still raw in the middle, potatoes were very dry, the bread stale but the chocolate dessert was fab - I think it was just the end of a very bad day and we gave up trying anything else so all just ate copious amounts of pudding!
I was exhausted and now felt really ill myself, we just all needed to get to sleep so back to the Hotel Santa Fe for more baths / showers and then early nights all round.
So that's the end of day 1 - I will post day 2 soon :)
AFUK x
