We thought that the Christmas season would be tough this year as it was our first year away from family, so we looked to book a fun trip right after Christmas. We talked about Barcelona, Sweden, Northern Poland and then Disneyland Paris was thrown into the mix. Andy instantly was sold and wanted to book that afternoon. I needed a couple days to think about it as we were just there two years ago for Christmas (Beckett was 2 and Reese was 7 months) and I planned for months for that trip - I only had a couple weeks to plan for this trip! After many discussions and blog searching for others who had gone to Disneyland Paris in the middle of winter, we knew we wanted something that would be fun for the kids and booked the trip!
Unfortunately I screwed up the flights - it was my first time booking an international flight, through a travel site and I naively thought that they would keep the airport that I selected, all while booking it on my laptop as the kids were bathing. We had to fly out of the budget airport, Modlin, here in Warsaw to the budget airport, Beauvais Tillé, outside of Paris. The Modlin airport was about an extra 30 minute drive for us from our home and the Beauvais Tillé airport was 1.5 hours outside of Disneyland. Oops! Lesson learned! We flew Ryanair, which we liked, but holy cow, the options you can pick on these budget airlines had our heads spinning!
We got up early the day after Christmas and headed out!
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| Let the craziness begin! |
When we arrived in France, we jumped in the shuttle that we had booked and let the kids nap! I passed the time by looking at the beautiful sky! There were little pockets of rainbows within the clouds - I have never seen anything like it. The pictures don't do it justice.
We stayed at the Sequoia Lodge Hotel on Disney property. It was nice, nothing to write home about, but we really only ate breakfast, showered and slept there, so it worked for us!
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| The crazies running through the roped lines! |
Monday, December 26 - First Night at Disneyland
- Early on in our relocation, many Americans told us to gobble up American food when you find it as the cuisine is so different over here and the American restaurants here are not the same, so off to the Rainforest Cafe we went for dinner!
- We then explored Disney Village and did some shopping!
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| Cute little Christmas markets in Disney Village! |
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| Bedtime story shenanigans |
Tuesday, December 27 - First day at the parks!
- We ate breakfast at our hotel and headed off to Disneyland Parks to take advantage of our early entrance before the park opened up to the public.
- First ride - Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast! As we entered the ride as a family, we scanned our tickets for fast passes to be able to jump back on it for a second time. We had a little time to kill between, so we went on It's a Small World which brought back memories from my childhood Disney trips! Reese was not interested in going on the Buzz trip again, so Reese and I walked a bit while the boys headed back to Buzz and then went on the Obitron.
- We then found a spot and watched the Frozen Royal Welcome (Elsa and Anna in carriage) and then the Disney's Christmas Parade. The parade song was blasted along the route and snowflakes (bubbles) were shot into the air! Magical!
- Waffles with nutella for lunch and then back to the hotel for naps!
- The Steakhouse for dinner and then off to the pool! B LOVES to swim, but Reese prefers to sit in a chair, in her towel and watch her brother.
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| Bundled up and ready to go! |
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| Someone's excited! |
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| We love the Christmas decorations! |
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| Admiring the castle |
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| Andy had to document his score! |
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| It's a Small World ride |
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| Snacktime! |
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| Obitron with Dad! |
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| An hour in to our first day and he is already over lines! |
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| Wall-E and Eva - reminded us of the cousins! |
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| Back together and excited to watch the Frozen Royal Welcome and the Disney's Christmas Parade! |
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| The Frozen Royal Welcome |
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| The Disney's Christmas Parade |
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| Santa was even there! |
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| Waving to Santa! |
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| Waffles with Nutella for lunch! |
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| Our kids ended up on the ground after most photo shoots! |
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| Buzz Lightyear's Sword - Beckett was pumped! |
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| Skating rink outside the New York New York hotel |
Wednesday, December 28
- Breakfast with Mickey and Friends at the Café Mickey - Beckett again LOVED it, while Reese hid under the table! Ha!
- The Walt Disney Studios park did NOT open two hours early so we heading into Disneyland and checked out Sleeping Beauty's Castle and walked around a bit.
- We then headed over to Walt Disney Studios to Moteurs Action! Stunt Show Spectacular! It was a great live show that talked about film production, stunts, camera shots and the behind the scenes work. The kids loved it!
- Off to Annette's Diner for lunch - milk shakes, hamburgers, salads and waiters on roller skates!
- Naps at the hotel and then back into Disneyland for dinner at the Blue Lagoon restaurant - yummy food with a Caribbean feel.
- One last stop at the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups before heading back to the hotel for the night!
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| Watching from under the table! |
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| The closest that Mickey got to Reese! |
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| Sleeping Beauty Castle |
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| The upstairs of the castle told the story of Sleeping Beauty! |
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| View from the castle |
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| Sword in the Stone - Beckett's effort was admirable! |
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| Heading into Walt Disney Studios |
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| Moteurs Action! Stunt Show Spectacular |
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| Lightening McQueen even made an appearance! |
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| No doubt in our mind that our kids could fill the scream tank! |
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| Annette's Diner for lunch! Our server was even on skates! |
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| Heading back into Disneyland after naps! |
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| Blue Lagoon Restaurant for dinner |
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| Mad Hatter's Tea Cups |
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| The Dragon's Cave (below Sleeping Beauty's Castle) |
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| How we roll! |
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| The pack and plays in Europe are HUGE and Reese still fits comfortably inside! |
Thursday, December 29
- Bundled up and headed back to Disneyland Park and went on a lot of the smaller rides - Dumbo, a small rollercoaster, Peter Pan, a small village cruise and road the Disney Railroad train!
- We got in early at the Plaza Gardens Restaurant so that we could make the Royal Christmas Wishes show on the Royal Castle Stage. Everyone lines up at least a half hour or more to each event, so if you aren't there early, you won't get a good seat. It was a great way to see all of the princesses and princes at one time!
- After naps, we headed back to the park to see the larger parade - the Disney Magic on Parade! At the end of the parade, Tinkerbell waved to us and blew Beckett a kiss. Boy did he feel special!! Blushing and all!
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| Breakfast at the hotel - fueling up for a day at the parks! |
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| Anything to keep them entertained while in line! |
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| Dumbo the Flying Elephant |
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| Heading into Peter Pan's Flight |
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| Le Carrousel de Lancelot |
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Le Pays des Contes de Fées -
cruise through miniature scenes from favorite fairytales |
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| Our fastest ride - Casey Jr. - le Petit Train du Cirque - small rollercoaster! |
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| Waiting for the Disneyland Railroad train |
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| These lacing activities saved us while we waited 20 mins! |
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| Warming up inside for a bit! |
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| Buffet Lunch at Plaza Gardens Restaurant |
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| Watching the parade from our table! |
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| Waiting for the Les Væux Royaux de Noël (Royal Christmas Wishes) to start! |
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| Most of the princesses and princes came out to dance! |
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| Reese riding on the wild side - swinging out to the side while holding on to the carabiner. |
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| Ready for the Disney Magic Parade to start! |
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| We had a pile like this at every meal! |
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I bought these cute pjs for Reese for the trip, but she wanted nothing to do with it!
Beckett was a trooper! I wish they made one in my size! |
Friday, December 30 - Our last full day at Disney!
- Beckett was adamant that he had to ride Buzz Lightyear again, so that is where we started! Then we headed to a Snow White ride, that actually broke down half way through. We had to exit the ride and walk out, which was a fun experience!
- We then headed to Adventureland and Frontierland and found some fun adventures!
- The highlight of the day was our lunch with the Disney princesses! We saw Perla and Suzy, Rapunzel and Flynn, Cinderella and Ariel!
- Dinner in the New York New York hotel at the Manhattan! Made us a miss home a bit.
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| Super foggy our last day there! |
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| Blanche-Neige et les Sept Nains (Snow White) |
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| Reese was scared, so she pulled her hat down! |
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| Walking out of the broken down ride. |
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| Adventureland |
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| Rubbing the Genie's lamp |
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| La Cabane des Robinson - Swiss Family Robinson house |
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| Princess lunch - she was all smiles after putting her Elsa dress on! |
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| Suzy (Cinderella's mouse friend) was our first visitor! |
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| Check out Reese's face - ha! |
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| And then under the table she went! |
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| Perla and Beckett |
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| Beckett asking Flynn if he had the crown in his satchel still. So cute! |
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| Rapunzel and Flynn saying hi to Reese under the table! |
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| Cinderella and Reese - still under the table! |
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| Beckett wanted to write a letter for Ariel with all of the Disney characters he could think of! |
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| Reese checking out Ariel |
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| Notice that Reese is back at the table! Ariel is her favorite! |
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| SO cute watching them interact! |
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| Finally a picture with both kids! |
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| Dinner out at the Manhattan restaurant - getting in a little US taxi ride! |
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| And then the night ended like this! Poor baby! |
Saturday, December 31 - Day of Departure
- After a night with a sick child, we were exhausted! She was up every 30 minutes and it continued until an hour before our shuttle picked us up at 11:30. Beckett and Andy went swimming, while I stayed back with Reese.
- The rest of our day was filled with a lot of naps - in the lobby, in the shuttle, at the airport, on the plane and on our drive home!
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| After sleeping on the couch for an hour when we got home, we transferred her to bed and she was out! |
It was an incredible, fun-filled week with the kids at Disney! We could have easily stayed one more day and squeezed in a couple of shows that we missed, but we were also ready to go home. At one point on the trip, Andy said that he could take this trip at Christmastime each year! I am hoping for somewhere a bit warmer next year! :)
Tips for Disney:
- Take advantage of the 2 hour early start for those that stay on Disney property! I think this is an advantage at all Disney themed parks. The crowd was noticeably heavier by 10:15.
- We received a free Half Board with our stay - free lunch or dinner - and it was essential to book out the reservations the first night we arrived (or even before you leave). The only change we would have made is that we would have booked our dinners at 7 instead of 6/6:30 as it limited our time between nap time and eating. We were often rushing to dinner after a parade or ride.
- Plan out your week - have about 2-3 must haves for the day and once those are done, enjoy all of the other rides, shops, stands.
- Bring a blanket - it was great for sitting on for the parades and shows and also kept the kids warm in the stroller.
- Bring outside food! We stocked up on almonds, protein bars, dried fruit, apples/oranges from breakfast, meat sticks, chocolate covered rice cakes, suckers, pez. It was a great distraction for the kids when they were bored or waiting in line AND it saved us a lot of money!
- Bring a stroller! We had a glider board on the back of our stroller that was great too! We could have easily brought our double stroller too as there were many fights on who was going to sit in the stroller. Thankfully Reese enjoyed the glider board and rode on it the most.
- Snowpants were essential for the kids in the winter! Thank goodness that their school has broken them in to wearing them every day as there was no complaining about getting bundled up!
- Bring your own water bottles! Lots of places to fill up throughout the park.
- We printed off an autograph book from Pinterest before we left instead of paying $10 for one there. It allowed us to pick the characters that we thought we would see and cared about and the kids loved looking at it on the the plane ride to Paris.
- Book character breakfasts/lunches/dinners as it is a great way for your kids to meet some of the characters and not waste any time standing in line to see them. Well worth the money!
Things I wish we had brought:
- Leg warmers!!! I wore leggings with tennis shoes most days, and even though my long jacket brought a lot of warmth to my legs, leg warmers would have been the perfect solution for the cold mornings.
- Double stroller would have been nice at time and would have reduced some of the whining/fighting!
