Wednesday, June 7- Thursday, June 8th Disneyland Paris
When I found out there was a Disney in Paris, I just couldn't resist. I mean, we had to make the trifecta in one year: Disney World, Disneyland, and now, Disneyland Paris. I thought it would be a fun way to spend the last non-traveling day of our trip-especially for the kids. It indeed ended up being great fun! Before we left the states we got a package through Expedia. We had rooms in the New York Hotel which is within a short walk to both parks. The package also included breakfast and park passes to both parks for two days. Andy secured another car hire who picked us up super early from the Apartment in Paris and drove us direct to the hotel- it was wonderfully convenient and only a 20 minute drive. We got our rooms settled and headed to the park just after they opened for hotel guests. I think we all underestimated how cold it was going to be- we were all underdressed.
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| Entrance |
Our first stop was to meet Minnie Mouse, while we got some donuts, tea and coffee from the only place open that early in the morning. Disneyland Paris was more detail oriented than the other parks- it was a really fun difference. It was also neat to be there now because it has been gussied up for its 25th Celebration with special shows, merchandise, etc.
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L rocking her 25th anniversary Minnie ears
We walked down the promenade to the Sleeping Beauty's castle and were impressed with the size, unlike the OG Disneyland. We got an obligatory pic and then headed down underneath the castle because we had heard rumors there was a dragon underneath it. Sure enough we snuck up on a sleeping dragon. L was in heaven being next to such a scary creature and H was extremely nervous, especially when it snorted and puffed smoke in its sleep.
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Promenade leading to the castle |
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| The Whole Korb Gang |
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| Underneath the castle is a sleeping dragon (head on the left) - Khaleesi not included |
We then took advantage of the Magic Hours and hopped on a bunch of rides in Fantasy Land before the crowds hit (which, spoiler alert: never happened). Another point for DLP.
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| Only one Korb is pumped for the ride |
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| Getting excited for Peter Pan |
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| Everybody loves Dumbo- except me when its so cold |
We headed down to the Lucky Nugget Saloon for an early lunch and to escape the cold. We didn't know what we were getting into but it worked our spelindily. The restaurant was beautiful, made to look like an Old west saloon full of wood and western fixtures. We ordered our food at the front an they took us to a table right in front of a stage. We learned that they would actually be putting on a Marionette show with Mickey, Minnie and friends (including ghosts and skeletons to L's macabre obsessed, joy). It was a great way to spend lunch- the kids and Andy really loved it (see how he was picked out of the audience to join the hostess on the stage for a serenade).
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| She is enraptured |
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| A puppet Can-Can |
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| L's Favorite Part |
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| Even H Liked It, cuz unno food |
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| Pucker up - Andy hamming it up |
The clouds rolled out and the sun came out after lunch just in time for us to catch one of the 25th anniversary shows. It was really fun to hear the songs in both English and French.
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| 25th anniversary show |
Because we wanted to catch the fireworks show late at night we headed back to the hotel to get a 2 hour nap in. It was a good plan because we were all pretty tired from waking up early. The weather was so much better (and we were more appropriately dressed) when we got back up.
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| It turned into a beautiful day |
We spent the rest for the afternoon hitting the more adult rides like Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain, both are better than the ones at either Disney World or Disney land. Seriously, Thunder Mountain takes you underneath water to an island and gains so much more speed than ours. Hyper Space Mountain has a frigging loop in it! We did that one twice in a row and I felt like a kid! Also their version of the Haunted Mansion, known as Phantom Manor, is very different and far more scary with a story line about a dead bride and a phantom that is legitimately scary.
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| In ride for the Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion) |
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| Looking toward Thunder Mountain |
For dinner Susan worked hard to get us a reservation at the Agrabah Cafe which was a Mediterranean buffet. It was sooo amazing and so different from the typical park fare. I am drooling just thinking about all of the different choices.
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| There's water to play with! |
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| Yippee |
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| Such fun with SuSu |
We ended the night watching the AMAZING night time show-it's the best one we saw because it combines what's best at all the different parks. It has fireworks, it has projection on the castle and projection on the water. Plus we got to watch it with the Korb Grands! It was H's favorite part of the day because he got to see his "Boom Booms" (fireworks).
The next morning we walked over to the other Disney Park (more like Disney Hollywood Studious or California Adventure) after breakfast. We rode Ratatouille first which was one of the best rides Disney has ever produced. We got a few other rides in before we had to head back for our car pick up to the Paris Train Station.
We got on the train pretty smoothly (or as smoothly as possible with our traveling circus). Andy had booked us a direct train with reserved seats which was a heavenly. Unfortunately, the train had some kind of issue and so we were told we needed to get off the train onto another one about five minutes before we needed to do it. It was comical to say the least at how we got everything together off the train and on another train in a matter of minutes, of course not fun at the time. Needless to say we will be packing less bags next year.
Susan secured us two hotel rooms at the CitizenM hotel which specializes in funky hotels with a community feeling. It was awesome and had a delicious Indian buffet for dinner. The best part was it was only a short walk with all our bags to the Amsterdam airport terminal and our gates. Perfect for an early morning flight.
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Enjoying the hotel room
Our trip home was as easy as you could hope for. We had a killer five hour layover in Detroit, but we found a kids play area where we could bring food and drinks so we made the most out of it! The kids got home in just in time for dinner and bedtime, in the new time zone, and slept all the way through to the next morning.
We feel so fortunate that Pearce was able to go to school in the Netherlands. It was a wonderful bonding experience for our family and our kids did better than we could have ever imagined. It was a great reminder of how travel opens your mind to other ways of living this beautiful thing we call life. We can't wait to go back in the Spring/Summer of 2018.
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