It’s the time of your life,
You don’t wanna miss out,
On right here and now!
There’s so many reasons why,
You don’t wanna stop,
It’s your chance, live it up!
And everything you do,
CELEBRATE YOU!
WELCOME WELCOME WELCOME
I’m Katie
Welcome to my second trip report!
Some of you may know me from my first trip report, which can be found here:
Oh It's A Jolly Holiday With Katie!
Whether you commented through the last one, read along silently, or if we’re just meeting for the first time, I’m really glad you’re here!
Jamie and I just got back from a brand new adventure at Walt Disney World!
(This is what happens when you ask us to kiss for a photo..)
From September 22nd to October 6th we were at the most magical place on earth.
Due to a fabulous special offer, and our inability to exercise self-control, we spent our entire trip at…
Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort!!
…
Staying Club Level!!
…
In a theme park view room!!
PLUS, we were visiting during Epcot’s 20th Food and Wine Festival, and we also attended Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party!
But wait! There’s more!
As you may have gathered from the title, the second half of 2015 was a time to celebrate.
August 3rd marked my baby brother’s 18th birthday!
September 12th was the day I completed my Master’s degree!
And October 16th was my 24th birthday!
Well, when asked what he wanted for his 18th birthday, my brother (James) decided he wanted exactly what I’d had for MY 18th birthday….
(Left to right: Dad, James, my Step-Mum Hannah, and me.)
We stayed 5 days / 4 nights at the Disneyland Hotel!
This was very closely followed by a two-week trip to Orlando with my boyfriend Jamie to celebrate MY birthday, and the completion of my degree!
We all had so much to celebrate! How could we NOT go to Disney in the midst of it all?!
Here’s the plan:
September 14th – September 18th The Disneyland Hotel at Disneyland Paris with my family.
September 22nd – October 6th Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort at Walt Disney World with Jamie.
That’s a pretty perfect few weeks if you ask me!
So, before I start writing about Disney World, I’ll be writing a few posts about our trip to Disneyland Paris!
These won’t be as detailed as my Disney World posts (this is a WDW trip reports board after all), but I still think there’s some great stuff that the average Disney fan will like.
But please feel free to skip straight to the WDW report if you like!
I love everything Disney - particularly Walt Disney World, of course
I’ve grown up with trips to both WDW and Disneyland Paris, and I can’t wait for the day I finally get over to California!
I’m obsessed with the Disney resorts and all of their unique theming.
I also love looking at Disney food pictures and reading dining reviews and generally salivating all down myself.
Here are my favourites!
Favourite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favourite Magic Kingdom Ride: Splash Mountain
Favourite Epcot Ride: Soarin’
Favourite Hollywood Studios Ride: Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror
Favourite Animal Kingdom Ride: Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safari
Favourite Show: Main Street Trolley Show (fall edition), Dream Along With Mickey
Favourite Fireworks: Disney Dreams at Disneyland Paris!!! Also Wishes and HalloWishes Favourite Parade: Boo To You, Festival of Fantasy (Also Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade - RIP!!!)
Favourite Disney Movie: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Toy Story, Saving Mr. Banks, Enchanted, The Emperor’s New Groove Favourite Disney Character: Ray from The Princess and the Frog! And Prince Edward from Enchanted (“It appears this odd little box controls the magic mirror?!”)
This is Jamie:
If you’re ever in our town, you’ll find Jamie by listening out for completely random singing outbursts of Finding Nemo the Musical.
Jamie was already planning our next trip THE DAY we got home…
I’ve created a monster!!!
He is also quite competitive…
He MUST be Galactic Hero on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.
He MUST make the highest scoring car on Test Track.
His enthusiasm is frankly hilarious.
Here are his favourites!
Favourite Park: Animal Kingdom
Favourite Magic Kingdom Ride: Space Mountain
Favourite Epcot Ride: Test Track
Favourite Hollywood Studios Ride: Tower of Terror
Favourite Animal Kingdom Ride: Kilimanjaro Safari
Favourite Show: Festival of the Lion King
Favourite Fireworks: HalloWishes
Favourite Parade: The Main Street Electrical Parade, Boo To You
Favourite Disney Movie: The Lion King
Favourite Disney Character: Baymax
This is our third trip to Disney World together!
I don’t want to be repetitive, so you can read more about us in the introductory post to my last trip report! (Click here!)
Feel free to introduce yourself and leave me lots of comments!
I'm here. I can't wait to hear about the most amazing 3 weeks ever! 4 nights at Disneyland Paris and then 2 weeks at the Polynesian club level and theme park view. Talk about knowing how to celebrate! We all know that every disney fan must spend big milestones at some disney destination and you definitely got it right. Can't wait to read all about it!
I'm super excited that you're starting another TR!!!!! I can't wait to read all about your adventure! Disneyland Paris AND the Poly, sounds AH-MAZ-ING!!!
Degree status: Complete
Packing status: Getting there
Katie’s delirium status: Lost the freakin’ plot
The first two weeks of September were probably the busiest two weeks of my life.
I was in a constant state of exhaustion and anxiety due to the amount of work I had to do.
But yesterday I finally got my dissertation printed and bound!
Thankfully, Mother bear said she would drive to my university on Monday morning to hand it in for me.
I’m not an infant, I swear. I just had more important things to do.
I’M GOING TO DISNEY!
Due to being onboard the struggle bus all year working on my degree, my mind was not on Disney at all.
So when I finally finished up all my work, it felt like one of those Disney surprise videos…
“Hey Katie, guess what? We’re going to Disney… RIGHT NOW!”
I was so happy.
All of my stress was instantly gone.
It’s time to celebrate!
My alarm went off at 6:30am on Sunday morning.
The plan today was to drive down to Dover, hop on a ferry across the channel, and head to a small town called Arras in the north of France to spend the night so that we could get to Disneyland Paris bright and early the next day.
I finished up packing and downloaded some fresh Disney parks music to my iPod.
Then at 8am my Dad pulled up outside to pick me up, we packed my stuff into the car, and hit the road!
The drive was pretty uneventful. I pretty much slept the entire way.
We stopped at a service station for a cup of tea, because you know, we’re British.
And I was prompted to think about some of my Disney friends before we’d even reached the ferry.. You know who you are
We arrived in Dover at around 1pm, and our ferry was at 1:55pm.
When we were lining up to board, it was pouring rain!!
Uh oh!
The last time I got this ferry was December 2013 when I drove to Disneyland Paris with three of my friends, and BOY was the sea choppy. To the point where people were trying to walk around, but were just falling to the ground cartoon-style
Thankfully it wasn’t as bad this time around, and I was able to sleep on the huge, comfy bed-sofas the entire time.
The ferry only takes an hour, so we were back on the road in no time.
Bienvenue!!!
Welcome to France!
We arrived in Arras at about 5:45pm.
We parked up the car, checked into our hotel, and went straight to the bar (of course!)
I had two mini bottles of Chardonnay, which didn’t mix well with my tiredness. I felt quite merry.
We somehow got onto the topic of THE DRESS.
Yes, THAT dress.
Dad and I are on team white and gold.
Hannah and James are on team blue and black.
I know it’s totally old news, but I’m still SO mind-blown by it.
(ON WHAT PLANET IS IT BLUE AND BLACK???!!!)
After battling our cases for a while we went to get some food from the main square.
We found a little restaurant that was themed like a pirate ship.
Errrm, yes. We’re definitely eating here.
It was called Le Bateau Du Ch'ti, and the food was really good!
I had mussels and fries.
After dinner we strolled around the square. It looks pretty at night.
These pictures are taken right outside the restaurant. It’s in a great location!
(This is my brother James by the way!)
I love little french towns that are away from all the tourists.
I like to see how real french people live!
Plus, you can totally picture Belle strutting through Arras.
Soon we made our way back to the hotel, watched some TV together, and hit the hay at around 11pm.
Day 1 Monday 14th September 2015
Part 1 – Arrival and Main Street USA
Rise and shine!
It’s Disney day!!!!
We got up at 8am, packed up our stuff, grabbed some breakfast, and we were on the road by 9:15am!
Time to be movin’ along!
Parcs Disney, we’re coming for you!
Two hours later, we were arriving at Disneyland!!
We had to drive around a bit to find the entrance to our hotel.
Does this seem familiar to any of you WDW fans…?!
This isn’t where we were staying, but Disney’s Newport Bay Club hotel was designed by Robert A. M. Stern; the same architect who designed Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club!
We were heading around the corner to The Disneyland Hotel, which was developed by Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Goo; the same architecture firm that co-designed the Grand Floridian. So you might notice some similarities!
We’re here!
IT’S PINK.
We pulled up at the front of the hotel, and were greeted by a bell service CM called Stephane, who gathered our bags for us.
It was crazy though, because although Dad and Hannah travel to Italy every year, they never removed their previous Disneyland Hotel tags from their luggage.
Well, Stephane saw a signature on one of the tags from 2009, and in his adorable French accent, he excitedly exclaimed,
“HEY!!! THAT’S ME!!!”
Apparently Stephane had taken our bags 6 years ago!!!
And he was so excited about it.
It was so funny.
Soon enough, the valet took our car (how fancy) and it was time to go inside and check in!
Our room wouldn’t be ready yet but we wanted to go play in the parks as soon as possible!
Sadly my lobby photo turned out super blurry, so here’s one I took later on.
Those doors ahead are where we came in.
I’m stood up some stairs, and underneath that staircase is the exit, which takes you straight into Disneyland park!
Anyway, the woman we checked in with was really nice. She was “earning her ears” but she was already great. She was amused that I already knew everything about (paper) fastpasses, extra magic hours, etc.
Then, with tickets in hand, we went straight to the park!
Another cool thing about this hotel is that it’s actually built over the entrance to the park!
So folks from the other hotels and parking have to walk underneath the hotel to get into Disneyland park. See the tunnels?!
This map probably explains it better
Pretty cool!
WE’RE HERE. I'm already running off
Ohhh myyy goshhhh.
It’s Sleeping Beauty castle – take 2!
I managed to walk only a few yards into the park before I did my first run-walk of the trip. I’d turned around to take a photo of Town Square… But wait, what’s that in the distance on the left……??
Meeeeeeep!!
RUN!!!!
This was SO appropriate!
My last trip report was called “Oh It’s a Jolly Holiday with Katie” – and who do we spot a few steps into the park??
Mary Poppins and the penguins!!!!
Amazingness.
I took this as a sign that we were going to have another jolly holiday
Mary said hello to me with a huge smile, and then she turned straight to the camera…..
From that little “hello”, it appeared that Mary had been in France for too long… Because she had a bit of an accent…..
Which is probably why she doesn’t engage in conversations…..
I think she may have forgotten how to speak English….
I’m sure you all know what I’m saying
She was still practically perfect in every way.
And the penguins were adorbs.
One went in to hug me and almost pecked my eye out!!!
He styled it out and made a ‘kiss’ noise though.
Then James jumped in and got all three of them in a group hug!
It was presh.
What a great first encounter!
We said goodbye and continued on down Main Street.
It’s similar to Magic Kingdom’s Main Street, here’s the Emporium on its usual corner.
However, the castle is very different!
This is the only unique Disney castle, since the American ones both have Asian counterparts.
This is also known as Sleeping Beauty castle (or “Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant”), which is kinda weird since it’s so different from the Anaheim and Hong Kong Sleeping Beauty castles.
But I am officially in love with it.
It was now 12:30pm, and we realised we were all hungry, so we backtracked a bit and went to the Market House Deli on Main Street for some lunch.
Something Disneyland Paris needs to improve is their quick service food options.
The food is actually quite nice, but I’m pretty sure you will find the same 5 items pretty much throughout the entire resort.
Someone please chime in if I’m wrong..
But we looked at the menus of a few places over the 5 days we were there, and it was always these exact same things!
But still, it all tasted good. I was happy with my lunch.
I had a chicken Caesar wrap.
Dad and Hannah had the veggie flatbread, and James had croque monsieur.
After lunch I had to get a picture in front of the castle of course.
James also insisted on floating around in the background like a total odd bod.
I think this might be my favourite Disney castle.
Photo’s do not do it justice, I’m always amazed at how much taller it seems when you’re stood in front of it compared to in photos.
It is ginormous.
It’s pretty “out there”, but in my opinion it’s both whimsical and elegant.
Plus it’s built into a hill.
And built into that hill is a cave.
And living inside that cave is a REAL LIFE DRAGON.
But more on that later
Day 1
Monday 14th September 2015 Part 2 – Disneyland fun and our hotel room
Frontierland!
Since there’s no Splash Mountain here (probably due to the colder climate), Thunder Mountain was first on the agenda!
Sorry to all you American fans out there,
But Thunder Mountain is SO much better at Disneyland Paris!!
First of all, it’s on it’s own little island…
You board the train, and it takes you through an UNDERWATER TUNNEL to get to the mountain.
It’s also just faster, choppier, and all round more exciting than the one at the Magic Kingdom.
And I really like the one at MK.
But I LOVE this one.
We rode twice and the second time James and I were seated in the very back, so we turned around and looked out the back of the train.
It was so intense!
This video really cracks me up!
After Thunder Mountain we continued through to Adventureland (they’re the opposite way round to MK).
We went to play on Adventure Isle.
Yes, four adults, all 18+, went to play on Adventure Isle.
And it was a blast!
We found ourselves INSIDE Skull Rock from Peter Pan!
And who should we spot, through the eye of skull rock, all the way back on the main land……??
Of course!
How appropriate.
We headed back out into Adventureland and it was EMPTY.
Pirates of the Caribbean was down for the whole trip (apparently it was down in Florida AND California too!), which might be why it was so empty.
James and I had a craving to play Buzz (of course) so we headed across the park.
We walked straight through Fantasyland, but I did stop to take a photo for those of you who are still in mourning over the loss of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride…
Paris doesn’t exactly have the ride, but it has a Mr. Toad themed quick service restaurant called Toad Hall!
It’s really cute.
We carried on to find Buzz and soon enough we were arriving in Tomorrowla… err.. I mean…
DISCOVERYLAND.
Yep, Tomorrowland is known as Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris!
Although the attractions are fairly similar in nature, the general concept of Discoveryland is very different, and is based on the ideas of Jules Verne.
For example, here’s a shot of Discoveryland’s Orbitron (Astro Orbiter), with Space Mountain – Mission 2 in the background.
And, from another angle, Orbitron and Autopia (Tomorrowland Speedway).
I like it a lot.
However, Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland has a lot more attractions, so I can’t really say which one I prefer.
Probably Magic Kingdom.
But this theming is pretty cool!
We found Buzz and pretty much walked right on.
I thought I should get some practice in before I had to go up against Jamie at Disney World.
But don’t be fooled, because this version is completely different!!!
Probably the weirdest part is that the gun at Disneyland isn’t attached to the car, it’s handheld.
You would think this was an advantage….
But…
I did terrible! James beat me by loads!
Well, I was a little rusty. I’m sure I’ll do better next time
The best part of this ride was definitely Dad and Hannah’s ride photo!
LOL!
Next we went over to Space Mountain!
This is formally known as Space Mountain – Mission 2.
It’s actually similar to Rock n Roller Coaster, because it starts by counting down and shooting you off, it goes upside down a bunch of times, and music plays through speakers in the headrest!
It has loads of good “spacey” effects like asteroids and comets and things exploding in front of you.
Anyway, this is how long the line was..
It really is greatness.
And it was empty.
So we went on again!
And it was even more greatness.
After we disembarked we all felt really dizzy.
And what better way to cure dizziness than a ride on Star Tours…
THE OLD VERSION.
It was super empty!
It’s great still being able to ride this version, it’s so nostalgic.
But the new Star Tours is obviously much higher quality and generally better.
Maybe they’ll revamp the one at Disneyland Paris once the new Star Wars film is released.
After Star Tours it was 3pm on the dot, so we headed out of Discoveryland and back to the hotel to see our room.
We were briefly consumed by the overpowering smell of sugar on Main Street, and had to check out where it was coming from.
It was a pretty store!
We made it back to the hotel and headed over to the west wing (sorry Beast).
That’s where our room was, room 3115.
You can see where the CM marked our room, in the top corner of the west wing.
After getting slightly lost, we found our room:
It was cute!
This wallpaper and the general orange and green theme was a bit odd to me though.
The last room I had here a few years ago had beautiful pink damask wallpaper, and it felt super fancy.
I don’t know if they changed all the rooms to look like this one, or if there are different themes in different rooms around the hotel.
I do prefer the last room I had though.
This one seems more dated.
However, it was still nice and very spacious, and had some very cute elements, like the castle design on the headboard:
And the Disney characters on the wallpaper near the ceiling.
From left to right there’s Jaq and Gus, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Lady and the Tramp, Mowgli and Baloo, and two of the scat cats from The Aristocats.
Not to mention, the bathroom is beeeaaaauuuutiful!
It was my favourite thing about this room.
The mirror has Snow White and the seven dwarfs built into the frame.
And these are the tiles in the bath/shower area!
So cute!
The bathroom was huge too, I loved it.
I started to unpack my things, but I lay down to check my phone and I fell asleep right away!
At 4pm the fam woke me up to say they were going to get a drink at the hotel bar (Café Fantasia) before the parade started at 5:30pm.
I decided to get up and go too.
Day 1 Monday 14th September 2015 Part 3 – Disney Magic on Parade and Disney Dreams
We left the room and walked just around the corner to the Main Street Lounge to get a drink at Café Fantasia.
This lounge is above the tunnels you walk through to get into the park, the ones I mentioned earlier.
It’s a really nice place to sit and relax!
There are old photographs on the wall, I only recognised one of the photos of Walt’s parents, but I’m not sure who any of the other people are. I’m sure they’re all significant somehow though.
James ordered a rum and coke, and as you can see, the rum filled half the glass! It must’ve been so strong.
Something amusing we noticed in the lounge is the helium balloon graveyard they have.
Just look up….
After our drinks we headed back to the park to watch Disney Magic on Parade!
We walked back to the lobby and I took a picture of the wallpaper in the corridor.
Because it’s the greatest wallpaper ever.
I need this for my dream house!
Hello, welcome to my mansion.
I live here.
Here’s an interesting version of the sign we all know and love…
We grabbed a great spot for the parade, right on the corner in Town Square.
It’s no Festival of Fantasy, but it’s still a lot of fun!
Here’s some video footage I put together with the parade soundtrack.
(James saw the way the fairies glide rather than walk, and he said, “Are they on unicycles??!!” )
Rare character sighting: Merlin!
(And the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio on the same float, as seen in the above video.)
This float is SO weird!!!
Alice’s eyes move from side to side and it’s just plain creepy
Tink is hiding in a little nook at the back of the last float! She’s surprisingly easy to miss!
The parade was fun!
I guess everything looks a little dated once you’ve seen Festival of Fantasy, but it’s still fun.
I think that a good soundtrack is a really important component of a good parade, however this soundtrack is just that same song stuck on repeat. I would probably like the parade a lot more if the music changed up a bit when each float went by (like FoF and Celebrate a Dream Come True, etc).
Tonight the fireworks were starting at 9pm, so we went to get dinner at 6:15pm after the parade.
Something that was really weird to me, was that when I called to make some dinner reservations, the CM told me that, because it’s such a quiet time at Disneyland Paris, the table service restaurants in the park were only open for lunch…..
WEIRD?!
If it has to be either lunch or dinner, surely it should be dinner?!
Oh well, we went to the Disney Village (a smaller Downtown Disney) and found ourselves at the Rainforest Café.
Since this was my first day back on the trip reporting agenda, I totally forgot to take food pictures.
To start we got the Oriental Safari to share.
This consisted of yakitori chicken brochettes, vegetable tempura, chicken spring rolls, spicy vegetable rolls, curried chicken pastry rolls and prawn crackers.
It was good! I’m not usually a fan of these types of things, but I enjoyed it.
Then I got the Rainforest burger with mushrooms.
It was good, but not really good enough to justify the E19.50 price (around $21.50)
The burger was ok, but the fries weren’t nice.
But then again, I’m a bit picky with my fries.
(I also forgot to note what everyone else ate, and if they liked it, so unfortunately that’s the only review I can give!)
After we’d eaten we went back to the room briefly, and I put on jeans over the top of my leggings, and a sweater under my jacket – it was COLD!
Then we went back into Disneyland!
Here’s the railroad station.
We had a look in the Emporium, OMG, there’s so much good stuff. I wanted everything.
Also, it’s not even Halloween season at Disneyland Paris yet, but they already had all of the Christmas merchandise out!
It was only 8pm so we decided to ride Thunder Mountain before the fireworks.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Thunder Mountain is so much better in the dark!
After the ride we went over to the hub to get a spot for the fireworks.
This firework show is called Disney Dreams, and OMG, it is the greatest thing ever. I am absolutely IN LOVE with it.
It was designed by the same guy who did World of Color, and it involves fireworks, castle projections, water fountains, fire, lasers and mist screens.
The story is that Peter Pan’s shadow escapes and breaks the second star (at the top of the castle) so all the magic spills out. The shadow then goes through a bunch of Disney scenes, while Peter searches for it in order to fix the star… Or something like that.
The narration is split between English and French, but I’m fairly sure that’s what’s going on
You know those people who say “don’t film fireworks, you’ll never watch them again…”
Well those people haven’t seen Disney Dreams!!!!
We watched it on three out of our four nights, and I’m just going to post all of the videos right now (as well in their own updates). This was my first time seeing this show (last time they played a Christmas version), and I need you guys to understand my love at first sight!
Here we go!
I love you Quasi.
I found this clip funny so I decided to include it:
Here’s the finale of the show!
(Watch this video for the good of your health!!!!)
HNNNNG.
I cannot cope with how much I love this show.
It absolutely blew my mind!
It’s so so hard for me to pick a favourite between this and Wishes, because “The Second Star To The Right” and “When You Wish Upon A Star” are two of my favourite songs when it comes to summoning all the feels.
They both succeed at making me sufficiently emotional.
But Disney Dreams just seems to have SO much going on!!
And actually, Wishes used to be the nighttime show at Disneyland Paris, and Disney Dreams replaced it!
I don’t know, they’re probably equals for me, because Wishes is such a classic I guess.
But if you know me at all, you know that even comparing anything to Wishes is a BIG deal!
Let alone possibly topping it.
Seriously.
Book a trip to Paris JUST to see this.
Or, you know, just YouTube it.
You will not be disappointed!!!!
It’ll be one of the best things you see today.
Here’s a link to a good video of the whole show by DLP Guide if anyone is interested!
(If you watched my finale video and enjoyed it, I suggest watching it on this video too, it's much better quality, and an unobstructed view.)
(If you want to skip to your favourite movie, the order goes Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, Ratatouille, Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Lion King, Frozen, Tangled, The Princess and the Frog, Peter Pan)
Anyway, we were all really excited after the show; it didn’t feel right to head straight back to the hotel. So we had another browse of the Emporium.
As I said before, it’s not even Halloween season here yet, and THIS is all set up in the stores.
But I’m not complaining, they had some really great merchandise.
After scoping out some purchases that we all might buy at the end of the trip, we headed back to the hotel.
The hotel is so pretty at night.
That curved/circular area is actually the Main Street Lounge that we were sat in earlier.
On our way back to the room we stopped in the hotel shop.
I was super excited because I found the Disneyland Paris version of the Disney parks attractions poster set I’d bought from Disney World last year!
That was definitely on my “to buy” list!
After looking around the shop we went back to the room.
We were exhausted!
I took a shower and fell asleep at around 11:15pm.
I just finished your other trip report and really enjoyed it. I'm glad you have started another one. I will probably never make it to France, so I'll enjoy it vicariously through your trip report. Also, congratulations on your Master's and may I say you have an awesome birthday! Mine is also October 16, however, I have quite a few more years than you!
Oh my I'm soooo excited to read along! Now I'm going to want to visit Disneyland Paris sometime in my lifetime. Your fireworks videos are great. I can't wait to show the kids. The Christmas merchandise looks so festive. My DH spent some of his childhood, first grade through eight grade in Paris and Liverpool and he said that Halloween wasn't really celebrated. Maybe that's why you couldn't find any Halloween merchandise. I can't wait to read more.
Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.