Disneyland Paris Family Adventure
We arrived into Marne-Le-Vallee 3pm local time, and having pre-booked Disney Express Check-In, were able to drop our luggage at the counter in the station and collect our park tickets without having to check-in to our hotel first.
We headed straight for the Disneyland Park, on entering Main Street, got our first glimpse of Sleeping Beauty’s castle. Both kids were in absolute awe, and our son found a burst of energy and excitement he had previously lacked following the long journey!
Now, what to do first? It was the last week of January, so it was cold, and the sun was already beginning to go down. We decided to stick to Fantasyland and let our little boy explore. He was a little nervous about going on any rides so was just happy to watch all that was going on around him. After a bit of exploration, we ventured onto ‘It’s a Small World’ boat ride, perfect for little ones, where 300 dolls from around the world sing about peace in their native languages. Both kids loved it, and we decided to head to our hotel on a high!
The Santa Fe Hotel was a 20-minute walk through Disney Village from the Parks. On arrival, we collected our room key and our luggage which had been delivered from the station. The room was great, Disney Pixar’s Cars themed with 2 double beds and a cot set up for the baby. We booked our trip with a complimentary half board upgrade, so we headed down to 'La Cantina’ restaurant, located inside the Hotel Santa Fe for some dinner. This is a self-service buffet style restaurant, plenty of choice for kids and the food was pretty good.
The following morning, we were up early to take advantage of Disney Extra Magic Time, an hour where the park isn't open to the public, exclusive to guests staying in Disney hotels. The ideal time to visit the most popular attractions which will have the longest queues later in the day.
The breakfast included was available as counter service in the park, a breakfast roll, pastry, hot drink and juice, so we stocked up and headed to Walt Disney Studios.
This park has a different feel to Disneyland, the fairy-tale magic replaced with a more modern feel, almost like you're behind the scenes of a movie. Needless to say, there is a huge amount to do, including catching numerous shows, the one I recommend is the Moteurs…action! Stunt show. A great show demonstrating how car and motorbike stunts are filmed.
Now, onto explore the Studios, and to Toy Story Playground where you can meet Buzz, ride Slinky Dog and even join Toy soldiers on a Parachute Drop. I challenge anyone, young or old not to have a fab time here!
Further on, we turned up in a Parisian square, the home of Ratatouille: The Adventure. A 4D experience, putting you in the footsteps of Remy as you are chased by the chef through Gusteau’s. Great fun for myself and my husband, our 1-year old daughter wasn’t phased by it as she couldn’t keep the glasses on, but a little frightening for our son – just a warning if you are travelling with little ones!
Late in the afternoon, we returned to Disneyland Park and caught the afternoon parade, which was lovely, my little girl enjoyed the colourful floats and singing and dancing.
We then decided to explore the other areas of the park, and soon ended up in Adventureland, here the music from the Pirates of the Caribbean films enticed us onto the ride, I was assured by the ride attendant this was a family ride, so off we went. It started as a gentle cruise through 17th Century pirate territory Caribbean, but soon enough we were sent plummeting down a flume, which took us all a little by surprise.
We left Adventureland and made our way to Frontierland, home of Big Thunder Mountain, our 3-year-old wasn’t big enough to ride this but enjoyed watching the ‘Runaway Train’ make its way around the mountain.
In the evening we made our way back to the castle for Disney Illuminations show, and all I can say is ‘wow’! Projections on the castle, a water show and flames all made this a highlight of the trip. After a long day in the parks it is so easy to go back to your hotel and rest your aching feet, but this is something that can’t be missed, I can’t even put into words how spectacular it was.
Up bright and early again for our final day. We checked out of our hotel and left our luggage in the storage room to be transported back to the station and jumped on the shuttle bus to make the most of the parks.
We let our son decide what he wanted to do, so we spent the morning on all the rides in Fantasyland – Dumbo, Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups and countless goes on It’s a Small World which we couldn’t walk past without our daughter trying to climb out of the pram!
Finally, we let the kids loose in the shops! They have everything – food, clothes, toys, home accessories, there is even a barber shop on Main Street.
After trying to reign our son in (mostly unsuccessfully), we paid for our purchases and made our way back to Marne-Le-Vallee station for our journey home. With a delay on the train to Lille, we made our Eurostar back to London by the skin of our teeth. After a long 3 days and an exhausting journey home, we were one very tired family, but what an amazing time and unforgettable memories we made.
My Top Recommendations for a family trip to Disneyland
•If you get the Eurostar, try to book the direct train from UK to Marne-Le-Vallee, we found the most stressful part was on the connecting trains in France. •Stay in a Disney Hotel, the benefits of extra magic time, being on-site and some of the meal upgrades are worth their weight in gold. •If travelling by Eurostar and staying in a Disney Hotel, pre-book the Disney Express check in service. You can drop your bags at the counter in the station, pick up park tickets and head straight to the magic, which is invaluable if you are on a tight schedule. •Organise where you might like to eat before you go and pre-book any restaurants you are keen on eating in (this can be done up to 2 months before travel)