Lauren and Bob's Disneyland Paris Anniversary Trip Report COMPLETED

Aww thank you guys. We really loved Paris and took so many photos. I'm glad you all like it! Day 6 and final day still to come later on. I still need to upload my Dreams photos because we took so many! x

We ate so well on holiday. I had worried we wouldn't be able to find tasty food but there's really a lot you can have if you look for it. I think you will eat well in Paris regardless of your diet! hehe thanks for saying we are a cute couple. I always think I look such a mess in theme parks because I don't spend a lot of time on my appearance when I'm there. x

Day 6: Disneyland Park, Studios, and Dreams
We got up super early to use our 7am breakfast vouchers. Unfortunately I had caught the Disney flu, and was very blocked up/sneezy, so Bob ran me a bath, as the shower in our room was a bit of a water splashing death trap. After a bath, we went to Chuck Wagon for breakfast. It was so much quieter at 7.15am than 8.30am, and we had a much more chilled meal - same breakfast as yesterday but much less manic! We finished breakfast quickly and got the bus to the parks in time for the beginning of EMH. We had planned on going to the Studios but of course we had forgotten that it wouldn't be open till 10am, so we popped into Disneyland Park for a couple of hours.


It was so quiet when we approached the park that we couldn't resist some silly photos in front of the DLH.

That's me jumping around in front of Mickey's face!

When we got onto Main Street, we immediately spotted a queue to meet Mickey and Minnie. It was the shortest we'd ever seen it so we joined the line without a minute's hesitation! It was freezing cold in the queue, and there was a really horrible woman with two children in front of us who kept shouting at her kids for just doing silly kid stuff. The wee boy was accidentally drawing on himself with the pen for his autograph book, and his mother threatened him to stop doing it 'before I slap you senseless'. It was really horrific and bordering on verbal abuse, so it really put a dampener on the morning. I had to seriously bite my tongue to avoid telling the woman she was a terrible mother and that her kids deserved to have a wonderful Disney holiday without being abused. I had a wee giggle to myself when Mickey and Minnie went in the back to swap over, and the woman told her kids, 'Oh they've just gone to swap because they've got different Mickeys and Minnies in there', and when they came back out, the little girl said, 'See Mum, it's the same Minnie and Mickey! I told you!' I loved that she'd been totally unable to shatter her children's faith in the magic of Disney, and it somewhat made up for her terrible comments. Anyway, after queuing in the cold for what felt like forever, it was our turn and we met Minnie and Mickey!



Minnie is an absolute hero to me, and she means more to me than I can explain in words, as you probably all know, so this was a pretty emotional moment. The characters were great with us, hugging us and being generally lovely. I was buzzing with happiness afterwards despite being really sniffly!

We were so cold after the character interaction that we decided to go on an indoor ride to warm up. As not a lot was open yet, we decided to go back on Peter Pan, which is fabulous no matter how many times you do it. We got a blue and white boat this time! One day I will get a pink and green one, damnit!

At this point Bob's camera totally stopped working and we had to switch to my iPhone, so most of the rest of the trip photos will be phone photos! At least they came out okay!

We'd been putting off going on the teacups because it was so cold but at this point we just decided to bite the bullet and do it. The metal bit in the middle was FREEZING and weirdly stiff, like it wouldn't turn easily, but at least we got a pink cup.

I posed quickly with the beanstalk pretending to be Jack.

And we wandered around taking photos for a bit.


We did some window shopping. I was eyeing up a Tiana figurine (as you can see!) but waiting to see how much money was left at the end of the holiday.

Hilarious Bob suggested I get one of these rather than the Tiana figurine. I was less than impressed but we did have a laugh at the skirt going around. By this time, it was almost 10am so we headed over to the Studios. We got in at about 9.50am and went straight for an espresso to warm up!


We drank a lot of espresso in Paris. We really like European coffee. You just don't get it as good in the UK. After coffee, Bob said he felt super-charged. I didn't even feel charged because I was ill (seriously, why do I always get ill in Disney?!) but I was at least a bit warmer, so we headed for Tower of Terror to check the wait time.

Everyone must have been queuing for Crush because we walked right on to ToT. The concierge on the ride was called Cedric and he had the wackiest accent we'd ever heard - like he was French and trying to sound American. His accent kept wandering but he was hilarious - a wee boy was playing on his phone and Cedric said, 'Switch it offfff' in this weird faux Southern drawl before adding, 'Have you no educatiuuuuun?' I wonder if he was an actor waiting for his big break or something. He clearly loved his job, which was nice to see. Is it just me or is Tower of Terror even scarier in Paris? Maybe it's all in my mind, or there's just more build-up, but the jumps felt bigger and more frequent. I was freaked out because I'm not good with plummeting rides, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Here are a few photos from the ride.


It was really spooky and atmospheric inside.

We headed straight to Rock 'n' Rollercoaster next, with Bob pausing briefly to take a photo of this Armageddon thingy.



This is one of my favourite rides but I don't think I enjoyed it as much as the Florida one. It just felt a bit different and less thrilling. This one was very twisty, but Bob joked that I didn't enjoy it as much because it didn't go backwards. I love rides that go backwards.

I loved this classic Snow White poster as it was the same as the cover I had on my childhood VHS of the film.

We arrived at Animagique just in time for the show. This was good fun, and most importantly, it kept us warm for twenty minutes or so!

Afterwards, we headed straight into Disney's Art of Animation (forgot to snap a photo of the sign unfortunately), which was pretty interesting, also warm, and I liked that they offered translations of the show for anyone who didn't speak French. We had some fun messing around with the activities after.


I coloured Iago hot pink.

By this point we were getting peckish, so we headed to Blockbuster Cafe for lunch. They offer a fantastic meal deal here, which consists of a sandwich, drink, salad or crisps, and a dessert. We each got the roasted vegetable sandwich with a cherry coke. Bob got crisps, I got salad and we split both, and we followed it up with a fruit salad. This was a really good deal as it gave us tons of food and filled us up for ages.


Close-up of the roasted veggie sandwich, which was yummy! At this point, it was about 12pm, so we headed to the production courtyard to see Stars and Cars in the rain.


A few characters came out, consisting of Lilo and Stitch, some Winnie the Pooh characters, Smee, Donald and Daisy. I was hoping to meet Remy but he wasn't there.


This gave us a chance to get a few good character shots.


Donald and Daisy were closest to the bit we were standing at, so we got a few good photos of them.


Daisy came right up to us but she skipped over me to get to the children, so I was a bit saddened by this. She looked fab though.



Donald was much friendlier and I got a hug! It was a lovely experience.

We popped over to the Lilo and Stitch bit to get some quick snaps of them. There was no chance of an interaction as it was too crowded but it was nice to get some photos.

I was still feeling a bit sad about not getting a photo with Daisy, so Bob announced that we were going to World of Disney to buy me something to help cheer me up. He is such a considerate husband and so sensitive to my wants!

We went slightly nuts in World of Disney. I started with a Disneyland Paris Minnie Mouse pin for my lanyard (I hadn't worn it as it'd been too cold to have on show but I was looking forward to displaying my Paris pin in Florida later in the year!). Bob got a Disneyland Paris fridge magnet because he collects fridge magnets from the places we visit, and we got the cat food bowl with all the Disney cats on it for Stella! Finally I chose a mini soft toy Remy dressed as a chef for myself. I'd originally wanted the bigger one but I realised the mini one was better because he was wearing a chef's outfit and it said 'Disneyland Paris' on his apron.

Happy with our purchases, our final stop was in Disney Fashion to get me a t-shirt. I spent ages in here trying to choose a t-shirt because I loved so many of them, and Bob was starting to get impatient with me when I finally picked a kind of Parisian looking polka dot Minnie one. At this point, we were cold, tired, and I was feeling really ill, so we got the bus back to the hotel, and popped into the Games room for a quick air hockey battle.


Then something wonderful happened. I BEAT BOB AT AIR HOCKEY, despite my illness. I am better at hitting things and he is better at shooting them, but I was pleased because on our last trip he managed to beat me at air hockey! This is me looking victorious. We went back to the room to chill out, and took a photo of our purchases.

I was exhausted so we had a little nap in the room, then headed back to Parc Disneyland when I was feeling more rested.

We dropped into the DLH to figure out where the bar was for later on, and took some photos inside.




When we came out into the park, Main Street was heaving with parade crowds despite the rain. We grabbed a sheltered spot next to the Gibson Girl ice cream parlour and took photos.


When the parade was about to start, we moved forward. The people around us were very pushy and I got pushed into a bin by a woman with children, which I was so annoyed at that I considered leaving. But Bob convinced me to stay and we caught the whole of Magic on Parade. We're glad we caught this as there were a lot of characters in it that you don't often see. We took a bajillion photos, naturally.











Rapunzel and Flynn are such a big deal to us; it's always exciting to see them as it reminds us of our wedding and honeymoon!

I found this float kinda freaky.








Sorry, this is a super image heavy post. I'll take a break after the parade before doing Dreams!









Bob's camera died about halfway through and we had to hurriedly switch to my phone, but I can't believe how many photos we took! This is an edited selection too! Anyway, I'm going to pause here and move on to Plaza Gardens, Dreams and DLH in the next post. Hope you're all enjoying the report so far! I'm almost done and then I'll do a summary about what we liked and disliked about Paris and DLP.

Thanks so much you guys. We had a blast. It's no WDW but it's certainly got its charm, and it got us really pumped up for our WDW trip later in the year. I'll post the Dreams photos tomorrow/Tuesday, as I'm wiped out, and then it's just our travel day after that. x

Ah, this explains a lot, pleased to hear it wasn't just in my head that ToT in Paris is better! I loved the look and feel of the parks but the rudeness really got to me. I think Paris is going to be a place we do for mini breaks every few years, because we love the city as a whole, but the WDW parks are definitely more friendly to grown-ups travelling without children. I'm glad we went and I would go back for a short break to DLP, but my heart still definitely belongs to WDW!

Aww thanks Allie. You should go for it! I would recommend doing a few European cities in the one break if you can, because Europe's incredible and I think you would love it. I find it so funny you saying you will have to save to come to Paris, as we need to save to get to WDW - Paris was our kind of mini Disney fix to keep us going till the next WDW trip because it's less expensive. The rudeness was especially bad in DLP, and I don't mean to generalise to any particular group, because we received excellent service from cast members, and we found the people in the city of Paris to be absolutely lovely, but there was something about DLP in particular that seemed to encourage entitled parents and their spoiled children to push past other paying customers, which really wound me up. We experienced it to a much lesser degree in Orlando, but maybe that was because we were on honeymoon and totally absorbed in the magic Disney bubble. Glad you're all enjoying the report! I was working till 8pm last night so didn't have a chance to do the end of Day 6/Day 7 yet, but I'm going to tackle that tonight.

It's definitely a strange experience being in DLP, because it feels like Disney, and it is Disney, but it's like a slightly different brand of Disney. We really liked the parks for what it's worth. They are exceptionally beautiful and unique.

Day 6 continued:
So, after the parade finished we headed directly for our reservation at Plaza Gardens, which was at 6pm.

There was a queue to get in but we got a table quite quickly. We loved the interior of this place. It reminded us a little of Tony's Town Square but more Parisian!


Here, we experienced a little bit of Disney magic. The restaurant was packed with people but a lovely male cast member, whose name I didn't catch, made our day by leading us right to the back of the restaurant on the conservatory. It was absolutely empty here, the sun had just reappeared and was shining in the window, and we were overjoyed with our table.



View of (the closed) Space Mountain from the window.

This buffet was fantastic - slightly tamer in style than Agrabah but huge and incredibly varied, and we had absolutely no trouble finding tasty food that we could eat. My only criticism is that the bread was hard! But everything else was great and we both had three platefuls. The salad bar was particularly appetising.


When it came to main courses, the only available vegan entree was pasta with tomato sauce. This was not a problem at all because there were enough vegetables and sides to make it interesting. I was so pleased when I saw broccoli and cauliflower, as we'd been missing our leafy greens!



We both finished up with some fruit salad and raspberry sauce.

As soon as we'd finished, we decided to run to Casey's Corner to utilise our tea time treat vouchers before the deadline of 7pm. There was a huge queue but I was freezing and wanted my free coffee to warm up. Eventually we got our free coffees from the super stressed out cast member. We also got sugar doughnuts with these but as we assumed they weren't vegan, we saved them and ended up giving them to a beggar on the RER train to the airport the following day as we couldn't let them go to waste. The young lady was exceedingly grateful and happy.

This is me trying to act like I'm not freezing cold and ill as we wait for Dreams. We scoped out an amazing spot on one side of the castle by the Adventureland entrance.

We took a bunch of stupid selfies in front of the castle while we were waiting for the show to start. They got more ridiculous as they went on.







The only problem with standing to one side is that you can only see one of Peter Pan and Wendy, rather than both. We didn't mind this as we had a great view of the rest of the show. The show was spectacular and the only problem was the utter rudeness of other visitors. One woman allowed her children to squeeze in front of us without asking permission, and by the end of the show she herself was in front of Bob. I felt a bit like saying, 'hey, I know your kids are little, but if you wanted a good spot you should have come early like us!' We weren't too annoyed by this woman because she at least apologised. Another woman REPEATEDLY RAN HER CHILD'S PRAM WHEELS OVER MY FEET TO GET ME TO MOVE OUT OF THE WAY SO HER LITTLE DARLING COULD BE AT THE FRONT. I was utterly horrified by this outright rudeness, but I didn't allow it to ruin my enjoyment of the show as we still had a great view. The show was amazing and we took a million photos on my iPhone. This isn't even all of them.




Peter Pan projected onto water! This is an immense effect, and Wendy was on the other side speaking in French but we couldn't see her.









Couldn't believe how real Remy looked! I wanted to take him home. <3








Yay! Lovely to see Quasimodo in the parks, as you so rarely see him!












Of course the highlight was them playing 'At Last I See the Light', because that was our wedding song, and it brought back the most wonderful memories of our honeymoon. I got a bit weepy and grabbed Bob's hand here.








After Dreams, the park closed and everyone started to make their way to the exit, so it got pretty manic.

But we did get a photo of Main Street lit up. Once we were out of the park, we ducked straight into Disneyland Hotel to have our last drink of the holiday. Cafe Fantasia is really beautiful so we got some photos.

This is the Minnie t-shirt I had bought in Disney Fashion.

Cafe Fantasia.

We splashed out because it was our last night. The drinks menu was much more expensive here than any of the other hotels, but we didn't mind as we had specifically saved money for the experience of having fancy cocktails in DLH. I ordered the Blue Glowtini, as I'd always wanted to order one but been waiting for the last night. Bob got a Crazy Kiwi. My Glowtini was really tasty, and quite big too! Bob's Crazy Kiwi was good but he preferred the Blue Flip he'd had the previous night. I thieved the glowing ice cube from the glass after I was done. I'd seen other people do it so assumed it was okay to do so.


When we'd paid for our drinks, I was exhausted and run-down from doing so much with the cold, so we got the bus back to the hotel and slept.

Day 7 (travel day) still to follow and then that's me done! Hope you are all still enjoying the report.

Oh wow, I'm so pleased you've enjoyed it! I think the best trip reports are the ones where they transport you to Disney, so I'm really glad that's come across here. And the food was fab - I'm so confused by people saying the food in DLP is terrible, because we ate really well! Maybe we were just lucky or picked the right restaurants, but the food was amazing generally in Paris, and I didn't come home feeling all full of junk like I sometimes do after a theme park trip. x

Day 7: Final DLP and travel day:
We got up early again and were at breakfast for about 7.30am. It was pretty busy because I think a lot of people were starting to arrive for the weekend. We had the same breakfast as usual but we swapped jams for the last day haha - Bob got strawberry and I got apricot - LIVING LIFE ON THE EDGE, WE ARE. There was some weird guy in a bike helmet at the toaster who had six slices of bread and was toasting them all over and over so no one could use the toaster for ages. After breakfast, we popped into the General Store so I could spend our remaining euros on a Tiana figurine. I ended up getting a beautiful one with a crystal ball, containing Prince Naveen as a frog. They brought out a new one that was all packaged up, so I didn't get a photo, but I will share one of her on our mantlepiece at the end of the report.

We headed back to the room and finished packing. It felt quite sad to see all our cases lined up ready to go. It was still really early and we didn't need to leave for our flight for a few hours, so Bob agreed we could go to the park for a couple of last minute rides - I was so excited about this!

Last day park picture! *tear*

I always leave the Carousel until the very last minute, as I think of it as a last day ride, so that was where we went as soon as we arrived in Fantasyland.


Bob got a photo of me on my carousel horse.

I got a pink one. This was a really lovely ride to do on the last day, as they were playing Colours of the Wind and it felt really relaxing.

Bob's horse was orange but you can't see it properly.

After the Carousel, we took some last minute photos in the park. This is me pretending to be Snow White.

We just had time for one last ride, so we headed over to Discoveryland, where we spotted Orbitron and decided to get on.



We squeezed into a single rocket and it was a tight squeeze. The entire experience on Orbitron was hilarious and terrifying. I had to operate the lever up front to move the rocket up, but I couldn't get it to work so we just flew in a circle. In addition to this, I was getting pushed to the side of the rocket for the entire ride, and was genuinely frightened I was going to fall out, so we both laughed hysterically for the whole time and I was shouting 'I'M GONNA FALL OUT BOB THE LEVER DOESN'T WORK AND I'M GOING TO FALL OUT', and he was all, 'you're not going to fall out love.' haha it was hilarious but I'm not sure I would ever do it again! After Orbitron, we waved our last goodbye to Disneyland Park, and popped over to the village to get some train food.

We went to Earl of Sandwich and ordered two Caprese sandwiches without mozzarella, and added avocado, just like before. The restaurant was quiet and we could see the cast member taking their time to put lots of yummy slices of avocado on this time, so these ones actually turned out better than the first ones!

We walked back to the Cheyenne via Hotel New York and I made a wish in the fountain with a coin.

I always wish for the same thing.

I took a picture of these pretty daffodils outside the Cheyenne. Yay Spring!

When I got back to the room I spent some time playing around with my glowing ice cube - I hadn't realised it changes colour!

We checked out of Cheyenne. Bob tried to queue at the arrivals bit by mistake and a funny CM joked that he must be wanting to stay. I said we wished we could, and after we had posted our keys in the postbox, the CM shouted, 'See you soon! We'll be waiting for you!', which was a really magical touch.

We got the bus to the train station in plenty of time, and got the first train to Paris that arrived.

We ate our sandwiches on the train. I got a close-up because they came with so much tasty avocado this time! We swapped onto our second train with no problems, though when we arrived at the airport, there was a slight issue with the ticket barrier as I couldn't get my ticket to work. Bob got through without me, and I stood for ages with some English couple stuck behind the barriers, before Bob went and got a member of staff to help me out! Panic over, we went to the bag drop and checked in. Once we were at the gate, we stopped for one last French espresso.

The flight was quick like before, though there was an annoying screaming child behind us. When we got in, we got a taxi home, and my kitty was so excited to see us!

There was a card from the cat sitter explaining that Stella had been fine when we were away, a bit scratchy for the first couple of visits but had then settled. We ordered a takeaway for dinner and fell asleep really early. Of course we'd had a magical trip, but it was good to be home again with my lovely cat in my lovely house, and we knew we'd be back in WDW later that year, which helped to soften the blow of leaving!

Lastly, as promised, here's a picture of my Tiana figurine on the mantlepiece. This one just really stood out to me from all the other princess figurines because it's so eye-catching. I really love it!

Thank you1 I'm so pleased it's been well received, because we didn't really know what to expect from DLP but it definitely made for an interesting trip. I did promise a summary of highs and lows, so here goes!

Summary/highs and lows:
We loved Paris as a city, and that was the big factor that made our trip so magical. We'd definitely go back, but we would never do DLP without going into Paris for at least a day, because it would be so crazy to be there and not go appreciate the city! Similarly, I don't think we'd do Paris without staying in DLP for a few days, as it'd be crazy to be in Paris and not see Disney. That said, the whole experience is very different from WDW and I think there are a lot of important factors to consider before visiting Paris, especially if travelling from outside Europe. Here is a short rundown of our highs and lows, and how these might affect other people when visiting Paris.

Paris Highs:
- Paris is absolutely mind-blowingly magical and romantic. I had a feeling that it might have been over-hyped somewhat through movies and books, and I guess there is an element of that, in that you don't automatically walk off the plane and feel like you're in a Woody Allen film, but if you spend any length of time exploring the arrondissements, I think you'd have to have a heart of steel not to feel the magic and buzz of the city.
- The food is incredible. We honestly thought we'd struggle because we're vegan, but a bit of research in advance made it extremely simple for us to find places we could eat and food we loved. If you're an omnivore or vegetarian, Parisian food will rock your world, because there are so many amazing looking dishes and desserts.
- Everything in Paris is commutable by Metro or train, so there's no need to worry about getting anywhere. We hopped on and off the Metro for the whole of our stay with no problems.
- There is so much to do in the city - you could stay in the city for a week and still not have done everything, so it's a really good holiday if you, like us, are an active person who loves culture.
- Just about everyone speaks English, so the language barrier shouldn't be a problem if you're staying in the centre. We speak a little basic French but we hardly used it for our trip. That said, I'm wanting to learn some more French before our next trip to increase my confidence.

Paris Lows:
- People on public transport can be very pushy and rude. We got used to this and learned to push back very quickly, but it is an important consideration.
- There are stairs EVERYWHERE in Paris. Even the Metro stations have multiple levels, which was fine for us, but may make the trip extremely difficult for anyone with mobility issues.
- It is pretty expensive to eat and drink in Paris, as you would expect. We had about 120euros a day for the entirety of our trip, and most days we spent all of that. That said, if you're used to staying in WDW, I don't think there's much of a difference in cost.

Yup, that's pretty much all the lows I can think of for Paris! I could babble forever about the highs but I don't want to go on at length, so onto DLP!

DLP Highs:
- We stayed in a value hotel and were very impressed with the services available. The Cheyenne and Santa Fe have indoor bars, games rooms, stores, and buffet style restaurants on property. The rooms are also very comfortable. We had a very positive experience at the Cheyenne and would stay here again!
- The parks themselves at DLP, in particular the larger Disneyland Park, are very aesthetically pleasing. While there are nowhere near as many attractions as at WDW, there is a great amount of attention to detail that means you can kill a lot of time without even going on any rides!
- One bus stop for both parks and the village! This is a big pro as it means you can hop between parks multiple times in one day without having to plan too much in advance. The value hotels are a couple of minutes by bus from the parks, or about a twenty minute walk. This makes for a generally more relaxed holiday than a WDW holiday.
- Some of the Paris versions of rides are arguably more fun and detailed than their WDW equivalent - we found this to be the case for ToT and BTM, and have heard extremely good things about Space Mountain and Phantom Manor, which were closed for the duration of our stay.
- Breakfast is included in the cost of your room if you stay on site, and while it's just a continental breakfast, it definitely fills you up till lunch! We also lucked out and got a free half board meal plan that meant we ate really well while we were at DLP.
- Dreams is spectacular and worth the trip for the show alone.

DLP Lows:
- Rudeness from other visitors is the biggest low, without a doubt. As long as you go with an open mind and try to stay calm when this happens, it shouldn't interfere with your trip too much.
- There obviously isn't as much to do in the parks as in WDW. This makes it ideal for a mini break (3-4 days), but would mean you'd run out of stuff to do if you stayed any longer. The ideal solution to this is to stay in Paris for a portion of your stay, or even visit Paris from your DLP hotel, which I honestly think you'd be crazy not to do.
- The weather is another downside. It was really really cold when we were there! And we're Scottish so we know what cold weather is like. Paris itself was okay but DLP, which is east of Paris, is much colder. I wish I'd packed more layers! We'd probably have done more in the parks if the weather had been nicer. Going in April/May would probably be a good solution to this problem.
- DLP doesn't have the same all-encapsulating 'World' quality as WDW. With the train station being right next to the parks, there's always an awareness that the Disney bubble has its limits. That said, if you go knowing that it WILL be a different experience from WDW, there's a lot to be said for the small scale which makes it easy to get around within DLP and explore it thoroughly in a few days.

I think that's probably most of the highs and lows covered. Please feel free to ask any more questions!

Aww it's really no problem, and I'm glad to share. I like writing reports and I guess it's nice for people to experience DLP who might not get to go there.

Those photos were all taken on my iPhone because Bob's camera wasn't working. I'm really pleased they came out so vividly.

You're welcome! Just saw this comment. I really recommend it for a once in a lifetime experience. It's no WDW but worth seeing at least once. x