I'm baaaa-aaack! But not really ;D This is a Trevor solo trip TR - Trevor's very first solo Disney trip!!
If you're new to my TRs, hello! I'm Tiffany, big Disney fan, and I'm married to Trevor who loves Star Wars and Marvel and who I've converted into becoming a Disney adult. Trevor has been working in Germany for the past few months, and when he realized that he'd be there when Disneyland Paris put up all their Halloween decorations he made some jokes about going to DLP by himself to see it. But then they announced the Un-Lucky Nugget and he was like yup, going. I told him I'd of course be doing a TR, so here it is!
The details:
who: just Trevor
when: Sat Oct 4th - Sun Oct 5th
where: Moxy Val D'Europe
So let's get this started! Honestly, it was a bit of a chaotic mess getting down there...but buckle up, I'll go into all the crazy details.
First off, Trevor had scouted out trains and such a few weeks ahead of time but there ended up being some uncertainties with work that made it so he didn't decided he was ready to book until Thursday night. To go on Saturday. Crazy. His plan was he'd catch the train down Saturday morning, and then stay all day, and catch an early train back Sunday. But when he looked at actually buying his train tickets on Thursday, everything coming back from Paris was sold out. So Friday I started looking too and that's what I was seeing. Apparently in either Germany or France (or both? we never were really sure) this weekend was a holiday, hence trains starting to sell out! But then, I did find a train ticket (with a connection) out of Paris that it let me book - yay! Oh wait, when the confirmation came it said that it was just the train ticket from the connecting city into Germany and not the ticket from Paris to the connecting city.
Why would you even sell that?! Geez. I immediately canceled that and got a refund, and kept looking. I wasn't finding anything and then I found (for reals this time) a spot on the train from Paris to Cologne and then from Cologne to where Trevor needed to go. The problem? It got in at like 1:30 am Monday morning, and Trevor had to be at work Monday morning...so I didn't buy it, but flagged for Trevor.
Trevor thought about it, and then decided to buy it. So he bought a round trip ticket on the Deustche Bahn website and while it immediately gave him the tickets for the return trip, it said there was a technical error and it couldn't give him the tickets for the outward-bound trip. Which was the next morning. At 10:45 am. We both were trying to add the trip to the app or the website to see if he could get the tickets but no dice. The error said to call or email, but the phone line didn't open til 10 am the next morning. So finally, Trevor just went to bed, planning to get to the train station a bit early the next morning so that the in-person folks could help him.
The next morning, Trevor got all packed up for his quick trip and headed to the train station. He found some information folks wandering around the station, but they couldn't find his reservation at all, so they sent him to the actual information booth. He waited in line there, and then the person helping him at the actual desk was like "nope, can't see your reservation either! Guess you'll have to call". Which was definitely weird cause like how can the in-person folks not see the reservation Trevor made on the rail company's website?! But he called (thankfully the phone line was open by then), waited on hold, and finally got someone on the line who was able to see his reservation! Yay! But the guy couldn't send Trevor his ticket (for some reason). After a few more minutes he said he could send Trevor the info to let Trevor print the ticket out at the machines. That's something, right?
So the email comes at 10:40. Trevor's train is at 10:45. He tries to print the ticket but it's not working ('cause of course it's not). So he rushes back over to the information booth and they rush him to the front of the line and YAY are able to print out the ticket!!! Just in time for him to see the train pull out of the station, right on time.
As a note - Trevor and I have taken the train to Paris two or three times by now and the other times, the train was always delayed by like 3 or 4 minutes. Today, when Trevor needed those 3 minutes? Right on time. Of course.
Thankfully the information booth people (that Trevor went back to, time #3) were able to put Trevor on the later train at 1 pm. That one he made it on board safely, with a ticket and everything.
This one was a double-decker!
Once he was safely on board and the train was off, he booked his hotel for the night (Moxy Val D'Europe), and then the Disney Paris tickets. He didn't want to tempt fate by booking them earlier, just in case he couldn't make it there! Which I don't blame him. But of course, it didn't go smoothly! It wasn't letting him book tickets and then his wifi was going in and out which meant it kept kicking him back all the way to the main home page. So I decided to help cause I was at home with a very stable wifi connection, but I also had troubles (as you'd expect the way this trip was going). It wouldn't let me buy a two day ticket for today and tomorrow, and I assumed that it was because Disney Paris just didn't like selling same-day tickets. They did have undated tickets and the online availability calendar showed availability for today so we ended up buying a dated one-day ticket for Sunday and then an undated ticket. Then when I went to reserve today, OF COURSE it wouldn't let me reserve it. The availability calendar still showed availability for today but it wouldn't let me reserve it. ARGH. Disney Paris, do better with your technology. At that point, the only thing to be done was for Trevor to try and ask at the Guest Services windows at the parks, so *shrugs*. At least he had a guaranteed ticket for Sunday, which was gonna be his big day anyways (he wasn't gonna arrive at Disney Paris until about 6:30 or 7 pm anyways). I figured talking with the folks he'd probably be able to get in since even if the parks were full (which I couldn't imagine) at that point in the evening folks would be heading out of the park so there'd be room.
The rest of Trevor's train ride was uneventful - made it to the train station, successfully transferred over to the RER line to get to Disney Paris with a short wait...smooth sailing. There were rumors of a strike and the Paris Metro app was showing that the RER line wouldn't be running but once he was there all was fine. Paris and tech man...not doing well with giving accurate information today!
But finally, at about 6:45, he made it!
So pretty.
He went to the ticket window to try and get in and, in the vein of this day....didn't get let in. The CM didn't seem to care and just repeated that the parks were full. Which may be true but is a funny thing to say when people were streaming out. Trevor did try and see if the bad technology would work in his favor by scanning his ticket (without a reservation for today) but no dice. He also tried over at the Disney Studios window but:
This CM was a bit more sympathetic but said that once the parks reach capacity, it doesn't matter how many people leave, the system won't let them make any more reservations. They also couldn't do a refund of the ticket (even on a gift card). Sadness.
Oh well. We tried, and at least he was there with a ticket for tomorrow. He went over to Disney Village and did some shopping (he may or may not have picked up some stuff for me - they had Belle's winter cloak that I wanted, and this awesome Sleeping Beauty book that looked like the jeweled book from the movie). He was thinking about staying to see the fireworks from Disney Village so he got dinner at Earl of Sandwich (no picture though 'cause he's not as good a trip reporter as I am ), and then decided to head into the Disneyland Hotel to see the fireworks from the bridge to the center wing. He could see the Panoramagique balloon from Earl of Sandwich - we both just like saying "Panoramagique!". He did think the view of the fireworks would be good from the balloon but it wasn't running anymore. And also no way Trevor would go up in the balloon anyways - he's afraid of heights.
Once done with his food, he headed over to the Disneyland Hotel. They had some cute Halloween decorations up:
But unfortunately the view wasn't very good if you're not inside the park - Trevor could only see the really high fireworks.
Probably better than from the plaza but still not great. I felt a bit bad about suggesting it since it wasn't a great view but it seems like there's no great view anywhere outside of the park. Oh well!
From here, he decided to head over to his hotel and get some rest for his long day tomorrow. The train was still running (despite the Paris Metro app saying it wouldn't be - trust CityMapper guys, it's never yet steered us wrong), and while he originally had been planning to check out the locker area (since he was planning to leave his bags there in the morning) but they close that area at 10 pm so no luck. Oh well - he'd just head there in the morning without checking it out ahead of time.
The train came pretty quickly and just a few minutes later, he was walking up to his hotel. It wasn't bad on space for a Moxy:
And even came with breakfast!
So while it ended up being WAY MORE of a stressful day than expected, at least he made it, had a comfy place to sleep, and a dedicated ticket for the next day. Halloween at Disney Paris, here Trevor comes!
Disneyland Paris Ghosties! - Sun Oct 5 2025 (part 1)
Trevor slept pretty well, and by 8:15, was enjoying the included breakfast.
The only thing Trevor didn't really like about the hotel was that there was only one elevator (and the stairs were emergency only) so it took him a few tries to get an elevator with space for him to get on. But other than that, not bad!
He hopped on the train and pretty quickly was at the train station, looking for the lockers to drop his bags.
The lockers took credit cards only (no cash), and had smalls and mediums. He was able to fit his backpack, and the 2 medium Disney bags with his purchases from last night with room to spare, for 5.50 euros. Not bad! There was security though to get into the area.
Then, time to head to the park!
Security took about 15 minutes.
And then off he went to Disneyland.
He got right into the park at about 9:20 am.
Not too bad! It was a little chilly but in the sun he was warm enough.
The Halloween decor was so cute!
I can't tell you how much I love the little Halloween ghosties - adorbs!
More Halloween decor -
Ghost Dapper Dans!!! I think these may be my favorites.
I don't remember seeing these window decorations before, of Big Thunder, Pirates, and Phantom Manor.
The Main Street vehicles were out and about.
Trevor's first stop though was the Boardwalk Candy palace to get the M&Ms treasure hunt map:
He wasn't planning to make it a huge priority, but figured it'd be a fun thing to look for as he had time. It's a scavenger hunt of doors and you put the corresponding door color on the map and can redeem it for a prize at the end.
Trevor was planning to do Big Thunder Mountain first, so he started heading that way. And found more ghosts on the way!
Seriously, adorable. I want these at Disney World.
I'm here! We'll be too early for Halloween time on our trip - with a choice of Halloween or my birthday, I will always choose my birthday However, I will be at HKDL for Halloween!
What an ordeal for Trevor to get there! It must have been crazy busy if the parks were sold out but it didn't look that chaotic on the Sunday
Interested to find out more about the M&Ms treasure hunt, although it will probably be gone by the time we get there.