Trip Report - First Trip to Disneyland Paris About This Page:

[BeachBabyBongo]

Trip Report - Disneyland Paris, Paris, Venice, Pisa and Rome: March 17-31, 2007

I took my 13 year old daughter to Disneyland Paris for 3 days and then 3 days sightseeing in Paris. We then met up my husband (who had been in Turkey on business) in Venice for 3 days, traveled to Pisa for the day, and then on to Rome for 4 days.

Looks like I'll have to do this in two parts:

PART 1 - Disneyland Paris: We arrived at Charles de Gaulle International Airport in Paris at 6:30 am. We went in search of the shuttle to Disneyland Paris and found out that it doesn’t start running until 8:30 am. We decided to get something to drink and found a little café not too far from where we were to catch the shuttle. We ordered two Cokes and at that moment I realized just how expensive the trip was really going to be. The Cokes were 4 euros each for a total of $10.80. Anyway, the shuttle finally arrived and we were on our way to DISNEYLAND PARIS!!

On the shuttle ride I was very surprised and saddened to see garbage all along the highway. It was in fields and stuck on fences pretty much the entire 40 minute ride to our hotel. But I was also surprised to see so many farm houses and grassy fields. We finally arrived at Disney’s Hotel Santa Fe.

I tried to check in (along with a hundred other people) and was told the room would not be ready until 3:00 pm. At this point it was about 10:00 am, the temperature outside was in the 30's, and it was raining. We of course, were still on Virginia time so it felt like 4 am to us. We just wanted to take a nap in a warm bed, but it was not to be. We received our tickets to the parks and decided to make the most of it and catch the shuttle to Disneyland. The shuttle was packed, and I mean packed!! We were compacted in a double length bus pushed up against whoever was standing closest to us. People were NOT nice about it either, they just pushed us out of the way. I was thinking...okay things are going to get better. Luckily the bus ride was short, but to my surprise again the park was packed, rain and all! We decided to find something to eat. Well, one thing I didn’t research was that the restaurants in Paris close between certain hours. There was no food to be found (that’s one thing I love about the US - you can almost always find an open restaurant). My poor daughter was cold, wet, and hungry and there was nothing I could do about it. We decided to go on Phantom Manor, which is pretty much the Haunted Mansion in French. This put us in a better mood and it was now almost 12:00 pm. The restaurants were just starting to open up again for lunch. We left the park and went to Disney Village (which is very small) and ate at Planet Hollywood. The food was REALLY GOOD (I’m usually not a big fan of Planet Hollywood), and we were now definitely ready for a warm bed.

My daughter wore canvas shoes (no socks) and sweat pants which by this time were completely soaked. So we caught the shuttle back to the hotel and waited for 2 hours for our room assignment. The lobby was full of people in the same situation, but most of them had several children most of whom were under the age of 7. The Santa Fe is really designed for families with young children. It was very chaotic with poor customer service, and the restaurant was really not like a restaurant at all. It was more like a food for all with croissants, fruit, cheese, jam and orange juice. And the cleanliness left something to be desired! If I ever go again, I will definitely pay for a moderate or deluxe. The next few days the weather stayed the same. We tried not to let it get us down. We went to the parks and rode all the rides at least once.. Most of the rides were not as good as the ones in DL or WDW, except for Space Mountain and Buzz Light Year. I like the French versions of those rides better. The only ride we went on in Disney Studios was Rockin’ Roller Coaster...which didn’t have the L.A. Signs, it was just some kind of lights. The parks were smaller than I expected, but overall pretty cool. I wish the weather had been better. At one point we were on the roller coaster Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril and it was snowing. Almost everyone spoke English and the CM’s were friendly and helpful.

One thing I noticed was that the weather didn't affect the rides at all. They just kept on going during rain, hail, and even snow.

Part II coming soon.