We visited Disneyland Paris with our 5-year-old Kidsetter in tow. Staying at the Disney’s Newport Bay Club Hotel on site for a couple of nights made the daily logistics a little easier. Only a little though; upon entering the hotel we had to have our bags x-rayed before entering the building. Makes sense given France’s security issues of late.… however, the guard was very unhelpful and we had to complete this task ourselves from end to end.
We were staying in peak session (not very clever) so the check in queue was as long any popular Disney ride ! Finally, we checked in and thought as this isn’t the cheapest hotel, they would’ve offered concierge to bring your bags to your room, but alas, no. Normally this wouldn’t have been such a big deal except we did not realise this hotel is very long and it was a 1 kilometre walk to our hotel room from the check in desk with a Kidsetter in tow !
Naturally we dumped our bags in the room and hit the theme park. We had booked 2 months in advance a few of the extra special interactions with the Disney characters. One of them being a lunch with Mickey Mouse at Café Mickey. This was a great, casual dining experience where many of the famous Disney characters visited our table at different intervals. We carry key rings wherever we go to hand out to people we meet along our travels as a thank you for making our trip extra special. Our Kidsetter loved handing them out to the Disney characters and they were well received.
Next it was time to have a ride in The Peter Pan Flight ! Swooshing through the sky in a magic galleon over starlit London before sweeping through Never Land, where mermaids, Indians and pirates await. We had bought the Fast Pass to avoid queues.
We love our stage shows and just had to see the ‘Mickey and the Magician’. This is a dazzling stage show, where Mickey embarks on a quest to become a great magician. A fabulous high energy production which had our Kidsetters’ attention from start to finish.
We had pre-booked the Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show prior to arriving. A spectacular wild west live arena show, re-enacting fabled moments from the frontier through stunning, sensational stunts. Plus there were special appearances by Mickey and Friends to help you cheer on all the action. Dinner was also served as part of the ticket price, however it was a Tex-Mex cuisine and our Kidsetter didn’t eat it. Oh well, he didn’t realise what he was missing !
Disneyland Paris although enchanting is a difficult park to navigate due to the high volumes of visitors. Having said this, I am amazed at how much our Kidsetter enjoyed the entire experience. In our Kidsetters mind, when he thinks of Disneyland Paris and recalls all the exciting experiences he had, he lights up, not once mentioning the long queues – ‘what queues?’ It may not be the happiest place on earth sometimes for parents but it certainly is for all those smiling and laughing Kidsetters !
