Well here we are sitting in the Paris airport. Our epic 30th anniversary trip is at an end. I'm eating my last French croissant before leaving
It feels a little sad, but we have made so many memories together and had so many fun experiences. Our final days in France were spent at Disneyland, Paris. If you know anything about Kevin and I, you’ll know that we enjoy doing Disney experiences together. In fact, when the children were little, we would go to Disney World in Orlando almost every summer. It was really a whole family vacation because everyone enjoyed it. Disney has enough entertainment for all different ages, taste, and personalities. Now that the kids are older and have their own busy lives, we no longer have our annual family Disney vacation. So now, kevin and I got the experience of going to a Disney park that we have never been to before: Disneyland, Paris!
The Journey to Disneyland Paris was a bit of a challenge. Due to the wildfires in France, the trains were delayed, canceled and just generally out of their normal routine. This meant that there was a four hour delay so that we arrived at the resort close to midnight. We had planned to arrive in the afternoon and hit one of the Disney parks on the same day. I had also made a dining reservation at a restaurant called Chez Remy for that day, which I had to cancel. However, we tried to keep our spirits up and not worry. It was easier said than done,. I was worried about the wildfires and if they would impact us in any way. I was also just very tired after the very long day of travel. When we finally arrived at the train station in front of Disney Paris, we didn’t know where to go because it was our first time. In Orlando, we are experts we know exactly where to walk and how everything is supposed to run. But here, we were novices, and that added to my stress on top of the fear of the wildfires and fatigue from the long day.
I just wanted to get to the hotel and fall into bed. Kevin, however, had the Disney magic and kept wanting to stop and take photos.
(I'm smiling on the outside but inside I'm screaming...let's just get to the hotel!)
Then, After going through some security on Disney property so we could walk to our hotel and then learning that there was alcohol in our bags which meant we were not allowed to walk to the hotel and therefore had to backtrack and take the Disney shuttle, I was giving off irritated vibes and curt words to Kevin.
The relationship tip here is to not let the small irritations turn into a big affair unnecessarily..
I’m happy to report we did finally get to the hotel, get to bed and were properly able to start our Disney adventure the next day
Some things were the same: arrive at the entrance gate early before the park opens, hot foot it to the most popular attractions and do as many as possible before the crowds grow.
What was different was that we didn’t know the layout of the park and I had heard there was a risk of rides closing early due to extreme heat. Plus our first day there was a national holiday so we were told to expect unprecedented crowds.
We also didn’t know (and found out late on the first day) that when you stay at a Disney hotel, you can hop between the two parks and the premiere access pass we had purchased to Fast track the lines would work at both parks on that day.
If you are Disney fans like us, you would understand that this knowledge would have been extremely helpful to know before entering the park however finding out on the same day (albeit late) was better than finding out the following day when we no longer had premiere access.
So, after running all around the Disneyland in the morning, getting all the key rides in and going back to take a nap to prepare for the evening light spectacular (special for the national holiday), we had to hop over to the Disney adventure world park and do the key attractions with our premiere pass. We had to maximize!!
Being able to maximize meant we had time to stop and meet some characters...like Mickey Mouse!
Being able to speak to disney characters in French was fun!
I will admit it took me a little bit to transition from quiet, tranquil Provence to go like crazy Disney vibe but once I adapted it was fine.
I will say it was a bit weird to have all the American references and theming.
I’m in France! I don’t want anyone to say yeehaw to me and I don’t want to eat at Billy bobs bbq restaurant!
I was fortunate to be able to nab another reservation at chez remy’s (Disney tip, keep checking for dining time slots as occasionally someone will cancel and you may be able to nab a spot for a popular restaurant)
We enjoyed a final sit down meal in France at this cute themed restaurant. The decor was made to make use feel like we were in Remy the mouse's restaurant.
Kevin enjoyed an amazing steak and I enjoyed paté, chicken and a cream puff dessert.
So that’s a wrap on this trip. We’ve heard there’s terrible wildfires in Canada as well so I hope the smoke won’t affect our plane landing in Toronto.
I’m sure it will be a bit of a chore to go back to work while adjusting to the time change but I’m so grateful for the opportunity to enjoy this second “honeymoon/annoversary” trip.
I'll be back in the craft cave soon! My hands are itchy to play with paper so I'm sure some new videos will be coming!
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