And we’re back from Disneyland Paris, boo! I’ve decided to do a little bit of a trip report on this holiday to set it out day-by-day – let me know if you like the style of it. As well as these trip reports, I’ve got a couple of review posts and some Disneyland Paris guides coming up, so keep your eyes peeled for those!
Our trip was from Tuesday to Friday, but we tried to book the best flights we could to make the most of each day we had. Unfortunately, the world was against us in this respect, so our plans to reach Disneyland Paris late afternoon, settle into our room and head into the parks to enjoy a short evening there were foiled by fog at Manchester airport. We ended up wandering the airport a lot (a la Ben showing off a tie in the airport!), ate lunch at Giraffe and I read a lot! I’d also insisted on us leaving with extra extra time to spare that morning (the roads to Manchester can get busy!) so we had a lot of time at the airport.
We flew from Manchester to Charles de Gaulle airport then took the TGV train to Marne La Vallee Chessy where Disneyland Paris is. We’d looked at getting the Magical Express, but the website was confusing and when we asked about it when we were returning, it turned out to cost pretty much exactly the same as the train but took almost an hour from our hotel whereas the train took 10 minutes. I would highly recommend getting the TGV train as it was quick and comfortable. You do need to then either walk or take a bus to your destination, but if you don’t have heavy bags and are staying on property, this is pretty easy. Make sure that you do get the TGV train rather than the RER though – the RER is more like a Metro or Tube and takes you into central Paris before going to Marne la Vallee, meaning it takes over an hour. Be careful of this!
Anyway, after our almost 3 hour flight delay, the rest of the journey went smoothly and we were soon checked into our room at the Newport Bay Club hotel. I stayed at this hotel in 2013 when I visited with friends and loved it, so when we saw the price was only slightly more expensive than Sequoia Lodge which is a 3 “Key” rating as opposed to Newport Bay’s 4 Key, we decided to go for Newport Bay. I’ll write up a proper review on how we found the hotel another day.
We dropped our bags, did a quick change then popped out to Disney Village for tea. The main park, Disneyland Parc, closed at 8.30pm while we were there so it was just starting the evening show as we walked over to Disney Village. It was a shame as we’d hoped to catch this, but never mind. Plus we were starving!
Rainforest Cafe was our choice for this evening. We almost headed into Annette’s Diner but decided at last minute to go with Rainforest Cafe as it’s somewhere we visit every trip in Florida and I’ve done it both times I’ve been to Paris before too – it’s a safe option but always fun, even if the food isn’t outstanding. I ate chicken fajitas, which came in an awesome tower stack, and Ben had a burger – nothing to write home about, but good enough to fill us up.
As we came out, we realised the queue was suddenly HUGE for Rainforest Cafe and Disney Village was super busy – it was park emptying time and everyone was coming to eat. We were lucky we missed that! We stopped in a few of the stores, including the ever iconic World of Disney, before heading back to the hotel.
And that was the end of our first day – see why I called it Day 0?! If we’d had the chance to go into the parks or spend more time in Disney Village, it might have been Day 1, but never mind. And don’t worry, we managed to pack PLENTY into the rest of the trip!