Disney Paris Vacation

Early fall we heard of a Disney Military deal that we just couldn’t pass up… even though it was in November… in Paris… in 45 degree weather.  Not exactly what you think of when you think of a Disney vacation.  Until this trip we’ve actually tried to make good weather-conscious decisions about our travels.  Head south in the late fall.  Head north in the Summer.    But straight West in what was turning out to be quite a chilly November… we knew we were taking our chances.  Luckily we had no rain.  It rained at night time so the ground always looked wet but we weren’t rained on… and that was great. 

Our terrific deal had us staying at one of the Disney hotels… Hotel Cheyenne, a little Western town.  Our rooms were in Doc Holliday, each building named after Western characters which Ryan recognized mostly from the game BANG.  We had two rooms attached with a door between the two.  Each had a double bed and a bunk bed and a bathroom.  It was rather perfect – and the free breakfast every morning was nice too.

 

The night before we had everything packed by 5:30pm and then Chris and I took off to see Skyfall with four other couples at the Mannheim theater (so fun) and got home at Midnight.  Chris had told everyone that we were leaving at 2am which I was not aware of until Dave asked me about it – but also didn’t surprise me too much.  Chris likes to drive while everyone sleeps and seems to function ok without any sleep.  But that did not happen, which didn’t surprise me too much either.  We woke up early and were out the door by 7:30 and into the Hotel Cheyenne parking lot by 12:00 with 6 VERY excited kids.  We took all our baggage in to the hotel and then took the free 3 minute shuttle to Disneyland.  So nice to be so close!

We were excited to see what Disney Paris looked like compared to the others.  It had been exactly 3 years and 1 month since we’d been to a Disney theme park.  Matthew was only 6 months old at the time so for Luke and Matt especially, it was quite the new experience.

Outside HOTEL DISNEY right between Disneyland and Disney Studios… the two theme parks right beside each other.

The first major difference… FRENCH.   All the friendly Disney ‘cast members’ were welcoming us with a ‘BONJOUR’!

     

We headed down Main Street, grabbed fast passes for Thunder Mountain, stayed to explore a bit, and then…

 

… turned into Adventureland.  

Within just a few minutes I spotted Jack Sparrow who had just barely appeared and was walking around looking inside bushes, counting and walking paces, looking in other bushes and finally made it to the platform where he was to stand and greet kids.  He was hysterical.  A group gathered around him and when he picked our kids to come up he immediately asked Ryan if he was Will Turner.  Then he gathered the kids in a big circle to share secrets, looking up and staring at all of us at times before he got back into the huddle.  My kids were so entertained.  After, the kids told us that he kept saying, “Go get the treasure and bring it back to me”.  He was pretty funny.  One of the highlights of the day for sure.

     

Jack Sparrow and the kids… Matthew had no interest in walking up to meet that odd looking pirate.

Then we got in line for Pirates of the Caribbean.  45 minutes we had to wait!  Wow.  It was our first ride of the day.  When the boat when down the little ‘waterfall’ Luke said, “Whoa.  I think my heart broke in half.”

  

After pirates, we went inside the pirate coves… a maze of interesting tunnels to wander through and then did the Swiss Family Robinson tree house… (which, unlike the Disneyland one, wasn’t turned into Tarzan)

 

Then we took off for Fantasyland.  We rode ‘It’s a Small World’ which is similar but I think different and I loved it.  Then over to the Mad Hatter’s Teacups.

 

The kids loved it but Matthew wasn’t too happy that he wasn’t allowed to ride unless he was with a parent.  

But then he got all silly and happy when Dad said he’d take him.  Chris gets sick on those kind of rides.

 

Then over to Frontier land to ride the Indiana Jones ride and Thunder Mountain Railroad -– which is completely different than at DisneyWorld. It’s a shaky upside down rollercoaster and it gave me a headache. I’m officially old. We did a parent swap so Ryan, Katie and Chris did it a second time. Emily and Megan were too short and they were ticked. Then over to FRONTIER LAND to ride Thunder Mountain Railroad. A great first day.  The park closed at 7:00 and then headed back to our hotel to watch a ONCE UPON A TIME episode with the kids.