Day 1
Up bright and early to go to the airport. The boys thought we were going to their great-grandmothers house for a few days but when we got to the airport and met the rest of the gang we gave them their certificates and told them we were off to
Disneyland! There was great excitement from them all. DS1 was very keen to tell his cousins all the rides that they could go on.
We got fast tracked through security and then a lovely lady gave us 5 big bars of chocolate as they wouldn't fit in her bag! I explained to Mam and my sister that this was pixie dust; a little bit of Disney Magic to start our trip.
We flew with Air France and were given a muffin and a drink on the flight. I had made up goody bags for the kids and they kept them entertained for the journey.
We arrived in half an hour early and I had a text from John from Ezyshuttle saying he noticed our flight was early and keeping me updated on the driver's location. Great service from them again; by the time we got through passport control and baggage collection she was there waiting for us.
We were unable to check in as we arrived at Hotel Adagio as it wasn't yet 3pm. So we decided to go to Val D'Europe for some lunch and shopping. We were pleasantly surprised to see how close it was to the hotel! Literally 1 minute! Although the Auchan supermarket was miles away down the opposite end of the centre. My sister and I got all our wine, I mean groceries, in Auchan. (Bottle of Beaujolais €3.50, Pinot Grigiot €5) Meanwhile, while my Mam brought the children for lunch. They had a lovely hot meal, drink and dessert for €3.95 each. Bargain!
We then checked in to our 2 bedroom apartment at the hotel. It was actually 3 bedrooms - one double and one twin upstairs, one set of bunkbeds downstairs and two sofa beds in the living area. Also two toilets, one shower and one bath/shower. The apartment was very clean and well equipped. Lots of crockery, cutlery, towels, pillows etc. And the all-important wine glasses. ;-)
We didn't hang around long as we were keen to get to the magic. We caught the 3:30pm Peps 50 bus
and met my forum friend Rachael at the entrance to the park to get sponsored for our APs.
It is such a wonderful feeling to catch your first glimpse of the castle. DS2 started jumping up and down! DN2's face was priceless too. More goosebumps and butterflies walking down Main Street. You really can't beat that feeling. Mam and my sister were overcome with it too. The details on the shopfronts, the music, just the general atmosphere are just fabulous.
We had to exchange our temporary APs for the real deal at the AP office. Thankfully this was fairly straightforward and 'Frozen' was on a television for the kids.
Once that was sorted we headed for the castle to have a look inside at Sleeping Beauty's story. Our favourite parts were the stained glass windows. The view of Fantasyland from the top is lovely too. After that we went to visit Maleficent's dragon under the castle. DS2 was a little scared; but braver than the last trip!
It was now time for our first ride. DN2 was dying to go on a 'Rollercoaster' but we started with a gentler option, It's a Small world. Only a 5 minute queue. We all enjoyed the ride. I then went to buy a Photopass + while the rest of the gang went to the Storybook boats. On my way back from Main St I got caught at the parade. There are worse places to be stuck! I was singing and bopping away like an eejit.
I found the others and we went to the Teacups as there was no queue (probably because of the parade). Again, DS2 was showing his maturity since the last trip (the teacups were too fast then!) and he really enjoyed it. As did we all. The teacups are great fun.
It was now time for our dinner reservation at Blue Lagoon. We saw other people without reservations being turned away. I asked for a table by the water but there was none available for a party of 7. We were so glad to sit down for a rest after a very long and busy day. Mam & sis both loved the theming of the restaurant. Me & sis had glowtinis and the kids had non-alcoholic cocktails with the souvineer cups and light-up tinkerbells. Our waiter found it very strange that the two boys wanted tinkerbell. He kept offering to change them even though I explained that they already had the Buzz Lightyear ones. He persuaded DS2 to change his :-/ but there was no way DS1 was parting with Tink! :-D
I had the I had prawns for starters, Caribbean Chicken Colombo for mains and Mango Delight for dessert. Everything was really yummy. We ordered 3 children's meals between the 4 of them; there was no problem doing this. They all had pasta and ate every bit of it. The kids went down to the water to wave at the boats going by.
The ride was very quiet at the end of our meal with most of the boats being empty. We decided not to do the ride as we wanted to try and get the 19:55 bus back to Adagio as Rachel had warned us that the 9pm bus would be very busy. Before we left, the waiter kindly gave us two extra cups (Cars ones) for the kids. We didn't make it to the bus. As we got to Central Plaza, Dreams was starting, so we stayed to watch it, just outside Casey's Corner. We didn't have a great view but it was still enjoyable. We left a few minutes before it finished so we wouldn't get caught in the crowds leaving. We promised the kids we'd watch it fully the next night at a better spot.
We decided to try getting the train back to our apartment. Big mistake. When we got off, we had no idea where we were and Google maps wouldn't work on my phone and it took us ages to find someone who knew the way to Adagio. And then it was a fairly long walk. We were glad to get back in the end. The kids were asleep before their heads hit the pillows and the adults enjoyed a glass of wine before retiring to bed.
The kids look so happy!!
And so nice to be near shopping - I love Auchan supermarkets - and a whole bottle of wine for the price of one glass elsewhere good grief!!!
It's so fun that they got a surprise, too! I'm sure they were thrilled. The hotel setup look great for all of you. 
I'm a nailpolish addict but unfortunately I only brought over two bottles from home so I can't do anything fun like that without buying more and it's SO much more expensive here than in the US it seems 
