Trip report: Disneyland Paris
March 7, 2005 at 1:22 PM
by Ashleigh
But, onto news about Disney and the Thalys :) We made a big mistake with the Thalys and booked in second class. We usually travel first class but there was a special offer with the kids going free if we booked second class and so I took the offer. It was very crowded and the facilities aren't as nice as first class - so next time we are prepared! The kids wanted to play on the computer and we couldn't plug it in because second class has no electrical sockets. Other than that it was ok. We changed in Brussels from one train to another and it was quite interesting ordering a snack there - the lady asked me in French what I wanted, I answered in Dutch, she answered in French and so on. Its a truly bilingual society. My French is very bad though so I was quite pleased to be able to speak Dutch ;) The station in Brussels is huge and so cold! We froze!
We arrived at Disney in the afternoon on Tuesday 1st and then had a look around Disney Village and went out to a restaurant called The Steakhouse for supper. It was nice, very expensive, but nice. I had a L-bone steak and Brad had the fillet and the kids had Menu Enfant with the ubiquitous chicken nuggets and chips. Afterwards Brad had a chocolate sundae brownie dessert and I had an apple gallette. It was spoiled a bit when Seb didn't make it to the toilet in time and had a rather unfortunate accident in the loo. Poor thing, I think he was just overwhelmed. Its a lot of stuff happening at once for a little kid. We quickly got him back to the hotel room and put both kids in the bath.
On Wednesday we went into the park and rode Pirates of the Carribbean, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan, the Riverboat, Its a Small World and saw the Dragon in the dungeons of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. We had lunch at Pinocchio's, in French Au Chalet de la Marionnette, and then came back to our hotel in the afternoon. The cold was quite extreme and we were all frozen. On the way back we saw the Jungle Book Carnival Parade. In the hotel we tried to have a swim, but the jacuzzi wasn't working nor was the steamroom and the air temperature in the pool was way too cold so we went back to our room. The kids finished watching Shark Tale on the computer and then for dinner we went to the Beaver Creek restaurant in our hotel, the Sequioa Lodge. The meal was ok. I know I had macaroni and the kids had a schnitzel type thing but I can't remember what Brad had.
On Thursday we headed off into the Park to finish the attractions which we didn't have time for the previous day and we went on the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups, Dumbo the Flying Elephant (which had a late start as it was covered in snow), Pinnochio's Fantastic Journey (very scary for little kids), Le Carousel de Lancelot and then made our way over to Discoveryland for Star Tours which Seb and Brad went on while I amused Joe. We had lunch at the Cafe Hyperion and then after lunch met a friend (our neighbours daughter was visiting Disney with her aunt and so they joined us for the afternoon). We watched Honey I Shrunk the Audience which was fantastic! My first 3D movie experience! It scared the kids a bit though so we visited Its a Small World again with the two little one's while Brad took Seb on Star Tours again and then we went on the Teacups again, watched the Disney Princesses parade (where Seb fell for Cinderella and was blowing kisses at her!) before going onto the Plaza Gardens for the birthday tea. It was fun for Seb! Loads of characters, a big chocolate cake and lots of sweets.
After that back to the hotel, then on Friday we just went around the few things we wanted to go on again (mostly Thunder Mountain and Star Tours for Brad and Seb) and Joe wanted Its a Small World again. We had lunch at the Blue Lagoon which is on the Pirates of the Carribbean ride (bit of a problem as Joe took a great dislike to the Pirates) and then at 3.42 our train left and the delays started! But it was all in all a nice break :)