The One with Disneyland Paris 2

Let me preface this by saying we LOVE Disneyland! We went to Disney World on our honeymoon and when we lived in Los Angeles we had season passes and went to Disneyland in Anaheim 80 times in the four years we lived there - about twice a month. We're huge Disney fans and wish we lived closer to one. Crazy that the last time we went Fox was 3.5 and now he's 5!

Last week Chris was at a dental conference down in Garmisch, so I decided to take the kids to Disneyland Paris. Probably a little crazy of me to attempt this solo (it's an 8 hour drive there without traffic), but, I did it, and it was worth it. Although, I did come home an entire day early.

In my efforts to streamline the process and put the least amount of unneeded stress on myself as possible, and to lighten my backpack load, I decided not to bring a nice camera. All of the following were taken with my cell phone.

The kids were really really good on the drive. They each had an iPad full of videos and games to keep them occupied. I only planned to stop once for gas about halfway, but we ended up stopping three times. Once so I could go potty (driving on the autobahn makes me so nervous!), once for gas, and once more cuz Fox said he needed to go potty. The GPS originally said we'd arrive at 2pm.

At 3:05pm, we arrived!!!! Let's get this party started! We checked into our hotel (on the second floor, I might add, which, with a stroller, was a little tricky) at the Cheyenne, quickly washed up, and then headed out to dinner. We didn't stop for lunch, so we were all famished.  For dinner we went to the Rain Forest Cafe. The waitress sat us down across from big animatronic elephants and Jane absolutely had a cow, she was terrified of the elephants, so I asked if we could change tables. Fox was really scared of the "storm" when it got all dark and there was "lightning" and "thunder", but I consoled him and told him it wasn't real, and he must have gotten over it because we ate there again the third day of our trip.

No time like the present, after dinner we ran straight to Disneyland!

Some day we will stay in this hotel!

It was all decorated for Halloween - my favorite! Not to mention all of the leaves on the trees were such bright colors, swoon. A parade was just about to start so there wasn't any room for me and the stroller on the sidewalks, so I just jaunted straight down the middle and no one tried to stop me! PINK Sleeping Beauty castle! First thing's first: we went on the Haunted Mansion which we went on I think 5 or 6 times total. The King Arthur Carousel was Janey's favorite. I promised Fox we'd stop in the Lego store and we ooohed and ahhhed over the amazing lego creations.
Legos can totally be art! I was astounded by this mural created from single square lego pieces.

So detailed and ornate! I totally want one.

We walked back to the hotel (while it was still light outside, to calm Chris' troubled heart about traveling alone) and quickly went to bed after baths. Fox slept on the top bunk and Jane on the bottom. I watched the beginning of 27 Dresses to help me fall asleep. I was awoken at midnight by super duper loud next door people and the smell of cigarette smoke (even though there are signs everywhere that say no smoking inside). So, I laid awake for a few hours from 12am-3am. Anyway. I shouldn't even write these things down.

The next morning, bright and early (though, it was still pitch black so I shouldn't say "bright" lol), we got ready for the day and headed to our scheduled breakfast time of 7am. It was so empty compared to when we came in March of 2014! We could actually find a table and pick our food without getting stampeded. So nice.

I had two bowls of cereal, Jane had some bread, and Fox ate a couple bites of meat. My kids are the pickiest eaters on the planet I tell ya!

Walking to the park. Midnight or 7:30am?!

Disney Village.  Foggy morning. We had the place practically to ourselves at 8am!

The early bird gets the worm :) We went on Peter Pan first since that ride always has a long line (I'm talking 2 hours +). No pictures. Then we went on Dumbo.

One of the only family selfies I got!

Then we went on the Tea Cups. I love how pleasing to the eye this ride is. I'm not a huge fan of spinning rides though. Put me on a roller coaster that goes upside down and backwards and really really fast and I'm a happy girl! But spinning? Not so much. Still, it was totally worth it to capture the prettiness. Definitely some Parisian charm going on at Disneyland Paris! Then we went on the carousel.  Jane loved this ride.

Next stop: Buzz Lightyear! The kids were really into Toy Story this trip. 

By this time we'd already gone on like 6 rides, and done everything we could that was open during the early hours for park hotel guests (8am-10am), so we walked around the halls and window shopped. Christmas! Yay!

At 10am I wanted to go on Pirates, but Fox downright refused, so we went up and through the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. I bribed him with something or another and he consented to go on Pirates, but never again after that haha. I loved it. I hope he loves it again someday too, he loved it when he was a baby.

Then we went on the Haunted Mansion again and then got some lunch. The kids ate chicken nuggets and fries and I got a suuuuuper yummy pulled pork burrito. Man I could go for one of those again right about now! Across the way we could see people lining up to meet Jack Skellington. Being the Halloween fans that we are, we totally had to jump on that opportunity.

An hour later, we met Jack! Fox gets so funny when he's nervous/excited. Lots of photo opportunities all around! I loved when Fox would voluntarily ask me to take his picture with all of the Halloween stuff. My pleasure!!

Teehee!

We walked back to the hotel so we could nap. And when I say we, I mean me, because the kids just played.

Bright red leaves on the trees!

Before dinner we walked back to Disneyland. It's about a 15 minute walk from the hotel to the park, nice and easy and beautiful scenery all around.

The kids didn't nap in the hotel, but they did fall asleep within minutes of walking back to the park. What to do with myself? I tried to buy a sugar waffle, but the machine was broken, so after waiting 20 minutes I just got my money back. At this point the kids had been sleeping for about 45 minutes, and we still had so much to see and do! So I woke them up and we got in line for the Storybook Boats. Such a cute and fun ride!

They were setting up for another parade (we're not huge parade people), so we ran into an Italian place to get some dinner. Fox was SO PROUD of himself for eating his entire pizza. We walked back to the hotel after that to go to bed. I was awoken once again in the middle of the night by the neighbors. I should have asked to change rooms, but I hate being confrontational.
The next morning the fog had lifted and the sunrise was epic! Good morning Disneyland Paris!

Buzz Lightyear once more!

Fox actually did really good and got to level 3! Jane even got to level 2! Fox and Jane at Tomorrowland.

There were a few more rides in Fantasyland I wanted to go on that didn't open until 10am, so once again we meandered around the park, ogling at the cuteness and charm.

These halls though! We walked up and around and through Sleeping Beauty's castle.

Inside the hallway under the castle. At 10am we rode on Snow White and then jumped over to Pinocchio.

Next we wandered through Alice's Labyrinth. The view of Fantasyland from the top of the labyrinth.

A quick jaunt on the Casey Jr. Train.

The kids sat in the front seat and I sat in the back. Once more on the Storybook Boat rides per the kids' request. Then we walked over to Adventureland to see some pirate caves. Here's looking out the "mouth of the skull" cave.

Fox was fascinated with this poster of the guy stabbed in the back.... | Adventure Isle. Then we rode on the Haunted Mansion. I'm such a proud mama. Ghosts, witches, skeletons, zombies, goblins? The spookier the better! Bring it on! The view of Adventureland from the Haunted Mansion hill. Lovely day!

I let the kids play for a bit at the Pocahontas village.

We walked through the Aladdin place and saw a miniature version of the story. Loving the Moroccan details.

We went back to Adventure Isle to walk across this suspension bridge. Fox loved it. I had to carry Jane.

This other bridge was sketchy! I was even a little scared walking across it! | The Swiss Family treehouse. I couldn't take the kids on Autopia even though they're tall enough because only two people can fit in a car at a time.

Malificent!

Jane was asleep and somehow slept through a parade. Then we watched a "bad guys" show. Before walking over to the Walt Disney Studios park, I got me a sugar waffle. Mmmmm. Diet? What diet? Poser :) Walt Disney Studios!

Walking through the cafes to reach the attractions.

Hi Walt! Hi Mickey!

I got this Minnie hat to cover up my greasy hair (just being honest!) and because it was really cold.

Oh, and I got a cold sore from stress the first night, so just don't look too carefully pretty please :)

We waited an hour to go on the tram. Longest we had to wait for a ride. Worth it though, Fox can't stop talking about this one.

There was an entirely new part of WDS, something to do with Ratatouille. It looked like a really fun roller coaster! But, not for small kids, so it's on the "next time" list.

Love the bright and happy colors of the Toy Story area. There were a lot of things I wanted to ride and shows I wanted to see, but I was quickly running out of energy (we didn't go back to the hotel to nap today!). But I did have enough steam to go on Haunted Mansion one more time. Walking back to our hotel, we stopped to take more pictures and I love the "witch" lamps. That night, of course I watched Back to the Future 2 to celebrate October 21st 2015! At midnight I was once again awoken by the smell of cigarettes and loud neighbors. I actually got up the courage to knock on their door and tell them to stop smoking. I was so tired and ready to be home that the next morning, we packed up and left, even though we had paid for a whole other day. Sometimes ya just gotta do what you just gotta do :) It was a super fun trip, the kids were well behaved 95% of the time, and we made it home in 7.5 hours with only 2 stops!
Can't wait to go back, hopefully next time with Chris!