We (DH, DD 6 yrs, DD 1.5 yrs and me) just got back from a disney paris trip.
We arrived Monday 24 august and left today Thursday 27 august.
Hotel:
Since it was a last minute decision and practically all the rooms at the disney hotels were booked, we decided to try out the Explorers hotel, something I'd had my eye on since long actually. We booked the princess suite there at 1300 euro for 3 nights, breakfast included.
So, did we like it? Well, DD and I really loved it. The theming of the hotel is really fun (pirates), there's a fantastic thematic pool (just google it) with not too cold water, 3 slides (one through a dragon, one from a ship and one from a water play area), there's a lovely indoor playground and the room was super spacious (the suite actually sleeps 6; and to my surprise there were 2 bathroom and 2 toilets).
The food at the hotel was very mwehhhhh though. The buffet wasn't too bad, but the food at the a la carte restaurant was worse than the canteen food they serve at my office
It's clearly a 3 star hotel, so don't expect luxurious furniture. But kids would love this place. It's not a place I recommend for a romantic holiday though Kids are literally crawling and climbing all over the place
The parcs:
We only managed to do Disneyland, and not the Studio's. We had meant to do the Studio's today, but with the rain pouring, we decided to head home and come back another time in lower season.
On Tuesday and Wednesday the parc was busy like I never experienced before. We arrived the first day at 9.00, with people already lining up to make princess reservations, with first reservations only being distributed (!) at 10.30. Since I wasn't prepared to wait for (at least) 1.5 hours just to have DD see one random princess (no guarantees on who it will be), we headed for Dumbo. We managed to squeeze in Dumbo, Teacups, Casey, Thunder Mountain, the Frozen show and a ride over Main Street. Then we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed some pool and down time there. On Wednesday (arrival 8.15), we did Orbitron, Buzz, Star Tours, Space Mountain and Peter Pan. I guess we really didn't do many rides this trip around But with all the crowds, it just felt almost claustrophobic. Even the Nautilius had a long queu.
Characters:
We saw quite a lot of characters in passing, but again, long long lines. When Mickey meet and greet opened on Wednesday at 10.30, we showed up around 10.35 and the CM told me wait time was about 50 minutes already.
To surprise my DD's, I called reservations and managed to still book us a lunch buffet at Inventions with characters. Best decision ever Both girls loved seeing Mickey, Minnie and Chip and Dale. Great interaction with the chipmunks who played around with hubbie as well
Lessons learned:
I'd forgotten that you get fastpass access to Peter Pan, Snow White and Pinokkio if your kids are dressed up in that theme. Next time I need to squeeze the Tinker bell dress and Snow White dress into our luggage
While I always meticulously plan our trips to WDW in orlando, I should next time much better prepare for a trip to disney paris if it's high season. And while in the past I always though of eating at the Auberge as too expensive, I definitely want to try it next time.
We arrived Monday 24 august and left today Thursday 27 august.
Hotel:
Since it was a last minute decision and practically all the rooms at the disney hotels were booked, we decided to try out the Explorers hotel, something I'd had my eye on since long actually. We booked the princess suite there at 1300 euro for 3 nights, breakfast included.
So, did we like it? Well, DD and I really loved it. The theming of the hotel is really fun (pirates), there's a fantastic thematic pool (just google it) with not too cold water, 3 slides (one through a dragon, one from a ship and one from a water play area), there's a lovely indoor playground and the room was super spacious (the suite actually sleeps 6; and to my surprise there were 2 bathroom and 2 toilets).
The food at the hotel was very mwehhhhh though. The buffet wasn't too bad, but the food at the a la carte restaurant was worse than the canteen food they serve at my office
It's clearly a 3 star hotel, so don't expect luxurious furniture. But kids would love this place. It's not a place I recommend for a romantic holiday though
Kids are literally crawling and climbing all over the place The parcs:
We only managed to do Disneyland, and not the Studio's. We had meant to do the Studio's today, but with the rain pouring, we decided to head home and come back another time in lower season.
On Tuesday and Wednesday the parc was busy like I never experienced before. We arrived the first day at 9.00, with people already lining up to make princess reservations, with first reservations only being distributed (!) at 10.30. Since I wasn't prepared to wait for (at least) 1.5 hours just to have DD see one random princess (no guarantees on who it will be), we headed for Dumbo. We managed to squeeze in Dumbo, Teacups, Casey, Thunder Mountain, the Frozen show and a ride over Main Street. Then we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed some pool and down time there. On Wednesday (arrival 8.15), we did Orbitron, Buzz, Star Tours, Space Mountain and Peter Pan. I guess we really didn't do many rides this trip around
But with all the crowds, it just felt almost claustrophobic. Even the Nautilius had a long queu.Characters:
We saw quite a lot of characters in passing, but again, long long lines. When Mickey meet and greet opened on Wednesday at 10.30, we showed up around 10.35 and the CM told me wait time was about 50 minutes already.
To surprise my DD's, I called reservations and managed to still book us a lunch buffet at Inventions with characters. Best decision ever
Both girls loved seeing Mickey, Minnie and Chip and Dale. Great interaction with the chipmunks who played around with hubbie as well Lessons learned:
I'd forgotten that you get fastpass access to Peter Pan, Snow White and Pinokkio if your kids are dressed up in that theme. Next time I need to squeeze the Tinker bell dress and Snow White dress into our luggage
While I always meticulously plan our trips to WDW in orlando, I should next time much better prepare for a trip to disney paris if it's high season. And while in the past I always though of eating at the Auberge as too expensive, I definitely want to try it next time.
