Disneyland PARIS

After literally running from the car down the moving sidewalk, jumping up and down through the bag check lines, and then bursting through the ticket turnstile, our kids had arrived at the happiest place in Europe…..Disney Paris.  Finally, a trip with no hidden historical lesson, ruins to respect, or castle walls to admire.  Except one……a magical Disney castle.  Our kids were ready for some good ol’ fashion Disney fun!  We were debating this trip for awhile…..Paris Disney = not cheap.  With so many other things in Europe to see, should we really prioritize this?  Within 5 minutes Jared and I were looking at each other and saying ALREADY WORTH IT! 

We spent two days over the Memorial Day Weekend Holiday here.  Friday, and then Monday.  Because we stayed at a Disney Property (The Davy Crockett Ranch), we were able to enter the park two hours before other people.  It was amazing how few people were there when we first got there on Friday morning. 

We were constantly pointing out the similarities and differences between this Disneyland and the original in California.  The nice thing about Paris Disney is that it is only 20 years old.  They were able to build it with the hindsight of other Disney properties already built and were able to improve on a good thing.  They had a pretty big piece of land to work with so everything is laid out with room to spare.  It still has a lot of Disney charm however.  We quite enjoyed our visit! 

The castle sprawled on either side a ways and was taller and narrower, but oh soooo cute.   

 

A certain somebody in our family wanted to ride DUMBO for our very first ride this trip.  His every wish is usually granted….. such the baby of the family! 

How can you not spoil this boy???

 

Don’t you just love all the Disney details?  These chairs were adorable. 

Can you guess whose favorite ride was this one?  (Cole)

After checking out Tomorrow land and riding Space Mountain and Star Tours, we headed for Adventure Isle.  Space Mountain gave me the worst headache…..much faster and jerkier than California’s.  Star Tours was just the same.  Can you guess who rode Star Tour’s for the first time this trip?   (Josh)

This area was done so well.  While the big kids and Dad were riding the Indiana Jones Roller Coaster…..I got to hang out with the little guys exploring the ship and caves.  Indian Jones was nothing like the one in California.  Two thumbs way down was the report from the crew.  Hello, why mess with perfection?  I love the ride in California! 

  Pirates of the Caribbean=almost exactly the same, but was lacking Jack Sparrow

At this point we had tackled several things on our list, so we headed to Disney Studios, the other park comparable to California Disney.  Two thumbs way up on this one…..it is totally different from California’s, but well done and lots of fun. 

We ran into some characters we rarely see…..Mary Poppins and Gaston.  And of course the statue of Walt Disney.  This man’s creative genius is really something to be admired. 

     

CRUSH’s COASTER was awesome! 

Meeting some favorite friends:

       

Instead of Bug’s Land, they have Playland from Toy Story.  So dang cute and fun! 

 

I couldn’t resist buying this Mickey shirt for Cole….I absolutely fell in love with it.  I’m so picky so that rarely happens. 

This was someone else’s favorite ride in our family.  Can you guess who??  (Hanna and Jared)

Somebody is getting very sleepy……….

   

The kids and I were all dressed in bright colors….I tried to get a cute mommy picture, but the kids were not cooperating

The parade was so fun.  First all the Princess’ came out in their carriages with there Princes.  Then they had story book floats with one movie on one side and another on the back of it.  So well done. 

 

The Haunted House was called Phantom Manor.  And even though the outside was very different than the California one, it was almost exactly the same inside.  Two thumbs up!!

 

Thunder Mountain was awesome…..it goes under a bridge through the water and is twice as long as we are used to.  It sits on its very own island across from the Phantom Manor.  Carter, Hanna, Jake and I had a great time riding it together. 

 

At this point we were all feeling pooped out.  We got Josh’s souvenier (the YODA “Stitch”) and Cole the Pluto ears.  Its funny to see what the kids decide they have to have and fall in love with each trip.  We only buy one souvenier per trip and usually isn’t more than 10 dollars (or euro!)  All my boys feeling tired but very happy after a very successful first day at the park!