Well, we're back after what has to best the best holiday of my life! 
I've written about it on my blog where there are a few small pictures. But here it all is anyway.
The travellers were;
me, my husband (aka 'Gordon'), my 8yo daughter (aka 'Lady') and my very soon to be 5yo son (aka 'Thomas').
My 6yo autistic son 'Duncan' had chosen to stay at home with his grandparents. He didn't want to go on the aeroplane.
Monday
The big day arrived. I had time to pack and tidy and organise stuff that had to be organised, before Dad and G (my step-mum) arrived at 3. I'd written a story comic strip for Duncan to reassure him that we would be returning. He was ecstatic when he saw his grandparents. He knew they would be looking after him and he was obviously very happy and excited. We all kissed and hugged and said goodbye then Gordon, Lady, Thomas and me drove to the airport.
The journey was smooth. We'd each taken a small bag or case and carried them on-board. The flight left on time and the children enjoyed it. I'd booked a taxi to take us to Disneyland from Charles de Gaulle, and the driver was waiting in the terminal holding a placard with my name. About 30 minutes later, we were pulling up to the hotel.
The Sequoia Lodge hotel looked nice, lots of wood and stone. It's supposed to resemble a lodge from the great national parks of the USA. As I was checking in, the children spotted Minnie Mouse in the lobby. Some children were with her, but Lady and Thomas were too shy to approach her yet. A minute later my shoulder was tapped, and it was Minnie. It was obvious then that this was no ordinary hotel, this would be no ordinary holiday. The children then said hello to her, though Thomas was still uncertain about the big creature person.
We dropped our bags off in our room which was perfectly nice. I hadn't booked a room in the main building as that cost a bit more and I didn't see the benefits, but we'd been upgraded anyway...which was nice!
So, it was then just after 9 pm, but Extra Magic Hours meant guests of the Disney hotels could stay in the park for 2 hours after closing on a few days each week. So we headed to the park. It was a scenic and gentle walk round the lake, passing through an area called the Disney Village, which was a collection of shops and restaurants, then going under the pretty Disneyland Hotel to the park entrance. And wow, it really was something special. I know this is a big corporation, but man, they are good at creating magic. It was beautiful.
We scoffed a few hot dogs to stave off the hunger pangs and set off to try a few rides in the short time before closing. Thomas had always said he wanted to try the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride 1st, so we went there, and queued for only about 10 minutes. Straight afterwards we went to the Peter Pan's Flight and got onto our 'flying' ship right away! Both rides were so much fun, and the children talked about their favourite bits for ages afterwards,
We were all hungry for something more substantial then, so even though it was after 10 we went to the Rainforest Cafe. We just shared 2 large starters, and Gordon and I had a cocktail each. A short dander brought us back to our room, where the children instantly conked out.
Tuesday
I'd had to take an early slot for breakfast the following morning. At 7.30 (yikes) we were downstairs partaking of the breakfast buffet. This was lovely, I thought. There were piles of good croissants, plain and with chocolate, as well as the usual continental breakfast ingredients. Thomas and Lady were in heaven at the prospect of unlimited chocolate croissants! We filled our bellies then had a little walk around the hotel. A while later I took the children to the swimming pool while Gordon went to the gym. This wasn't such a success. The water was very cold and far too deep for the children. Thomas was shivering, so after braving it for a few more minutes we gave up and got out. Anyway, it was almost 10 o'clock and we had better things to be doing!
The first thing on our to do list, was the Buzz Lightyear ride, so I collected 4 fast pass tickets (meaning we could get on a while later and skip the queues) then we joined the line for the Orbitron (rocket like rides). It was about 25 minutes before we all got on the ride; this was the longest we ever stood in line at Disneyland. And though we all enjoyed the rockets, we decided that it wasn't worth our while to queue for ages for anything again.
We took our turn on the Buzz ride straight after, walking right through and onto our carriage where Lady and I helped defeat that evil Emperor Zurg and all the baddy aliens. Obviously, we were all thinking of Duncan so much then, and Gordon made a few films especially for him to see when we gt home.
We ate lunch in Cafe Hyperion, and I collected the free, instantly available tickets to see the Lion King show. I hadn't known what to expect of any of the shows we saw while we were there, but they were all excellent. The sets were wonderful, the music was, of course, terrific, and it was an unexpectedly great event to experience at such close range. It lasted only half an hour, just right for the attention span of younger children.
After that little break we were ready for more action. A wander round the park brought us into the path of a mini parade, the Casey Junior Character Express. This little train is (no surprises here) a big favourite of Duncan's, so we took a few snaps to show him later, though he turned out not to be very impressed since it wasn't the correct colour!
Lady was keen to see inside the castle, and Thomas wanted to explore the dungeon and see the dragon, so we did both. Next we visited the area known as Adventure Land, and went right to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We all thoroughly enjoyed this. There's nothing like a glimpse of plundering and pillaging, arson and death to brighten up a nice family day out!
The children had a bit of a play around the pirate ship and caves and tree houses. These areas are great when you want a break from rides and shows. There's so much to see as you wander round the parks too. There are a hundred or so shops and stalls, most of them selling the same stuff and the children were mightily interested in spending the money they'd each received from their Granda when we were leaving.
Next up, Frontier Land and for some reason we decided to visit Phantom Manor. After a not too bad queue, we entered the hall of the building, crowed beside a few too many other people. The room descended, plunged into darkness and Lady joined the other sensitive souls in a good old scream! The ride itself was in these creepy old looking black carts, and was nice old fashioned ghost ride, with new fashioned effects. Lady was creeped out and declared that she wouldn't be dong that again!
We dootered back to the castle area, where we were just in time to watch the 'Once Upon a Dream' parade, which was unbelievably well done. These Disney folk are very good at this sort of thing!
I'd booked a character tea party, and since Thomas is 5 in only a few days time, I'd arranged to make it into a birthday party for him. This was terrific. We had loads to eat, then the nice Disneyland people brought out a load of birthday cakes for all the children celebrating their birthdays, and we all sang Happy Birthday. The Disney characters started to arrive and circulate the tables. By the time they'd met Mr Smee, Tigger, Captain Hook, Pluto and Goofy, as well as some creature I didn't recognise, the children were a lot more comfortable with meeting and even hugging the characters. Thomas really enjoyed his tea party.
We just had time for a ride on It's a Small World (so sweet!) before going back to the hotel for dinner and a relatively early night.
I've written about it on my blog where there are a few small pictures. But here it all is anyway.
The travellers were;
me, my husband (aka 'Gordon'), my 8yo daughter (aka 'Lady') and my very soon to be 5yo son (aka 'Thomas').
My 6yo autistic son 'Duncan' had chosen to stay at home with his grandparents. He didn't want to go on the aeroplane.
Monday
The big day arrived. I had time to pack and tidy and organise stuff that had to be organised, before Dad and G (my step-mum) arrived at 3. I'd written a story comic strip for Duncan to reassure him that we would be returning. He was ecstatic when he saw his grandparents. He knew they would be looking after him and he was obviously very happy and excited. We all kissed and hugged and said goodbye then Gordon, Lady, Thomas and me drove to the airport.
The journey was smooth. We'd each taken a small bag or case and carried them on-board. The flight left on time and the children enjoyed it. I'd booked a taxi to take us to Disneyland from Charles de Gaulle, and the driver was waiting in the terminal holding a placard with my name. About 30 minutes later, we were pulling up to the hotel.
The Sequoia Lodge hotel looked nice, lots of wood and stone. It's supposed to resemble a lodge from the great national parks of the USA. As I was checking in, the children spotted Minnie Mouse in the lobby. Some children were with her, but Lady and Thomas were too shy to approach her yet. A minute later my shoulder was tapped, and it was Minnie. It was obvious then that this was no ordinary hotel, this would be no ordinary holiday. The children then said hello to her, though Thomas was still uncertain about the big creature person.
We dropped our bags off in our room which was perfectly nice. I hadn't booked a room in the main building as that cost a bit more and I didn't see the benefits, but we'd been upgraded anyway...which was nice!
So, it was then just after 9 pm, but Extra Magic Hours meant guests of the Disney hotels could stay in the park for 2 hours after closing on a few days each week. So we headed to the park. It was a scenic and gentle walk round the lake, passing through an area called the Disney Village, which was a collection of shops and restaurants, then going under the pretty Disneyland Hotel to the park entrance. And wow, it really was something special. I know this is a big corporation, but man, they are good at creating magic. It was beautiful.
We scoffed a few hot dogs to stave off the hunger pangs and set off to try a few rides in the short time before closing. Thomas had always said he wanted to try the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride 1st, so we went there, and queued for only about 10 minutes. Straight afterwards we went to the Peter Pan's Flight and got onto our 'flying' ship right away! Both rides were so much fun, and the children talked about their favourite bits for ages afterwards,
We were all hungry for something more substantial then, so even though it was after 10 we went to the Rainforest Cafe. We just shared 2 large starters, and Gordon and I had a cocktail each. A short dander brought us back to our room, where the children instantly conked out.
Tuesday
I'd had to take an early slot for breakfast the following morning. At 7.30 (yikes) we were downstairs partaking of the breakfast buffet. This was lovely, I thought. There were piles of good croissants, plain and with chocolate, as well as the usual continental breakfast ingredients. Thomas and Lady were in heaven at the prospect of unlimited chocolate croissants! We filled our bellies then had a little walk around the hotel. A while later I took the children to the swimming pool while Gordon went to the gym. This wasn't such a success. The water was very cold and far too deep for the children. Thomas was shivering, so after braving it for a few more minutes we gave up and got out. Anyway, it was almost 10 o'clock and we had better things to be doing!
The first thing on our to do list, was the Buzz Lightyear ride, so I collected 4 fast pass tickets (meaning we could get on a while later and skip the queues) then we joined the line for the Orbitron (rocket like rides). It was about 25 minutes before we all got on the ride; this was the longest we ever stood in line at Disneyland. And though we all enjoyed the rockets, we decided that it wasn't worth our while to queue for ages for anything again.
We took our turn on the Buzz ride straight after, walking right through and onto our carriage where Lady and I helped defeat that evil Emperor Zurg and all the baddy aliens. Obviously, we were all thinking of Duncan so much then, and Gordon made a few films especially for him to see when we gt home.
We ate lunch in Cafe Hyperion, and I collected the free, instantly available tickets to see the Lion King show. I hadn't known what to expect of any of the shows we saw while we were there, but they were all excellent. The sets were wonderful, the music was, of course, terrific, and it was an unexpectedly great event to experience at such close range. It lasted only half an hour, just right for the attention span of younger children.
After that little break we were ready for more action. A wander round the park brought us into the path of a mini parade, the Casey Junior Character Express. This little train is (no surprises here) a big favourite of Duncan's, so we took a few snaps to show him later, though he turned out not to be very impressed since it wasn't the correct colour!
Lady was keen to see inside the castle, and Thomas wanted to explore the dungeon and see the dragon, so we did both. Next we visited the area known as Adventure Land, and went right to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. We all thoroughly enjoyed this. There's nothing like a glimpse of plundering and pillaging, arson and death to brighten up a nice family day out!
The children had a bit of a play around the pirate ship and caves and tree houses. These areas are great when you want a break from rides and shows. There's so much to see as you wander round the parks too. There are a hundred or so shops and stalls, most of them selling the same stuff and the children were mightily interested in spending the money they'd each received from their Granda when we were leaving.
Next up, Frontier Land and for some reason we decided to visit Phantom Manor. After a not too bad queue, we entered the hall of the building, crowed beside a few too many other people. The room descended, plunged into darkness and Lady joined the other sensitive souls in a good old scream! The ride itself was in these creepy old looking black carts, and was nice old fashioned ghost ride, with new fashioned effects. Lady was creeped out and declared that she wouldn't be dong that again!
We dootered back to the castle area, where we were just in time to watch the 'Once Upon a Dream' parade, which was unbelievably well done. These Disney folk are very good at this sort of thing!
I'd booked a character tea party, and since Thomas is 5 in only a few days time, I'd arranged to make it into a birthday party for him. This was terrific. We had loads to eat, then the nice Disneyland people brought out a load of birthday cakes for all the children celebrating their birthdays, and we all sang Happy Birthday. The Disney characters started to arrive and circulate the tables. By the time they'd met Mr Smee, Tigger, Captain Hook, Pluto and Goofy, as well as some creature I didn't recognise, the children were a lot more comfortable with meeting and even hugging the characters. Thomas really enjoyed his tea party.
We just had time for a ride on It's a Small World (so sweet!) before going back to the hotel for dinner and a relatively early night.
Kids always know! 
looking forward to the rest. 
