It's A WONDERful 2015 - Feb Cruise, May WDW grand tour, and France/DLP! NEW 10/25 Nice & End!

[Imagineer5]

How exciting that you are going to Disneyland!! The Grand Californian looks amazing.

Your Versailles pictures are awesome. Everything looks like it's out of a fairy tale. I'm glad that Aria was a good sport even though she was bored. I can't imagine Rory doing as well in that situation. LOL'ing at the Ma$$hole comments.

Yay for the DL Paris part of the trip! I'm so excited to read about this part, in particular. The Hotel NY looks nice. And the foam pool toys look fun for Aria!

It really is a fairy tale, especially the Hamlet area. That is the sort of history I LOVE so these sort of visits were really great. Aria did well thankfully!

wow Versailles just looks enormous! Part of me wonders what would happen if the government in the US ever proposed to build something like that for its leaders. Obviously completely different set up and time period but just seems so excessive. Beautiful though!

Seems like that worked out well to go back to Paris for your souvenir Eiffel tower! Driving in Paris sounds like driving in NY City as well - just just have to adapt and drive more aggressively

Glad things worked out for dinner and the pool looks really cool! Sorry to hear about the shopping though and challenges getting the bathing suit

It's amazing what they did for the royalty hundreds of years ago. Now that wouldn't fly, probably because people are smarter and have more ambitions and can see how the rest of the world lives, so they wouldn't give in to that sort of taxation just to buy their king a palace. It was a hunting lodge first!

Yes NYC is similar as is Boston really. The only issue I was worried about is that we were in a rental car so if we should damage it, that would really suck.

 

[Dugette]

Okay, it is driving me nuts that I can see you have 4 tickers, but my browser is cutting off the bottom half of the last two and I can't tell what they are!

 

[Imagineer5]

Okay SO excited to write up about Disneyland Paris! We had 3 full days there before heading south, although our room came with 5-day tickets.

Our first park day, the park opened early at 8 for on-site guests (btw, we stayed on-site for two main reasons - 1) early park hours and 2) walkability), so we headed down to the included breakfast at 7. The early entry is 2 hours long, which makes it so much more worth it to stay on site IMO! (Who wants to enter a park at 10AM!?!?! LOL) There are a few restaurants in the Hotel New York, but I'd read that the breakfast was in the Park Side Diner (however, it turns out they host breakfast in all the restaurants it seems, so we moved around each morning haha). Upon check in we were given breakfast passes, so we handed these and were let inside, and taken to a table. It's buffet style though so you get your own drinks and food.

They had a really good selection, from pancakes, cereal, breads, fruits and cheeses etc

We finished up by 7:25 or so and made the 8 minute walk to the Disneyland gates. Much like the Disneyland Hotel at DL CA, we had to walk through Downtown Disney every time we headed to the parks (and bag check as we entered DTD). Soon we saw the gates -

There really wasn't much of a line to enter, and soon we were in the park

Aria saw Donald out meeting so we decided to hop in his line, which was maybe 10 people deep at that point.

While we were taking photos, a CM told me to go get a pregnancy pass because I wouldn't have to wait in line, even for characters, with that. While I knew about the pregnancy pass being good for a small number of rides (remember my issue with how many rides were supposed to be no-go's for pregnant women?). Well I didn't realize they also worked for character meets.

Apparently my loose top combined with the shawl like cardigan did not fool that CM, although I wasn't trying to fool her lol

So after that, we made a quick beeline to the City Hall where I was quickly able to get a pregnancy pass. I had a doctor's note with me just in case, but they didn't need. From there, Aria saw Minnie & Mickey out so we tested out the pass right then.

So cute to have them meet together.

We waited about 3 families and then were let in to meet them.

Then we made our way up Main Street towards the castle. Once there, we took our usual photo walking towards it!

We would check out this walk through later, but I had to take a photo of the inside of the castle! It's STUNNING

And we headed to Peter Pan, which was a walk-on this early (It was probably 8:20 at this point, still early entry). I used my sweater to cover my belly and picked up Aria, and was able to ride without a glance.

It was very similar to the DL / WDW versions but we enjoyed it. Then we headed over to Dumbo, Andrew sat this one out so Aria and I rode together. BTW, much like DL, during early entry only a few of the rides are open (mainly in FL).

Next up, Aria and Andrew rode the Tea Cups. I sat that out, while I probably would have been fine, I don't like the extra spinning that they enjoy anyway!

At this point there wasn't anything else open in Fantasyland (Pinocchio and Snow White were down for some reason, and Casey Jr trains and Storybookland boats don't open during EE), so we headed to Tomorrowland where a couple other attractions were open. On the way we decided to do the castle walk through and check out the details before the crowds.

We took the elevator down to the dungeon, where the dragon lives. Aria didn't like this part so much!

Then we bee lined it for Buzz! Thankfully it was a walk on too!

Aria rode with Andrew

Andrew then went on to go ride Space Mountain - which is a REALLY awesome roller coaster, way different from WDW or DL (height requirement is 52"!!)

Lucky!

The crowds were building so I used my pregnancy pass so we could ride the Orbitron ride with little wait.

It was a bit too spinny for me, tbh!

We were still waiting for Andrew (although he was out of the ride and waiting for us elsewhere, it's a lot harder to do Disney without cell phones!) so we headed to Star Tours to measure Aria for the 40" rides. She was just under, so I knew she'd need her cowboy boots :-D in the future.

At 10 the park opened fully, so we headed back to ride the Casey Jr train and then storybook boats.

I look forward to riding this with Aria & Maya at Disneyland. It's a cute ride!

There was a scene for the boy who cried wolf, and Aria asked about that story so we told her an abbreviated version during the ride. She has mentioned it a couple times since then, remembering that part of the ride.

Wizard of Oz - aria hasn't seen this either (I think it's a bit scary, but maybe that's just bc the story always scared me as a kid?! IDK why)

Continued in the next post!

 

[Imagineer5]

Okay, it is driving me nuts that I can see you have 4 tickers, but my browser is cutting off the bottom half of the last two and I can't tell what they are!

hahaha they are for Seattle and Holland/Italy. Not Disney related but they are the current 2017 trips we're planning (I'm sure Disney will make an appearance a couple times though, Lynda is already thinking about a May trip with her baby)

 

[Imagineer5]

continued! So after those rides, we decided to check out the Alice in Wonderland maze. This is something only at DLP, so super cool to see.

One thing to note, this was NOT a super quick maze! I loved that about it, but if you were short on time might want to skip it lol! We were in there for a good 40 minutes.

There are a number of photo ops along the way

the maze leads you to a little home with multiple levels, giving a nice view of Fantasyland once you climb to the top

Aria had a ball

I really wanted to do Pinocchio, so that was our next stop. I think I held Aria for the majority of the line (maybe 10 minute wait, not bad) to hide the belly. JUst an FYI in case you're rolling your eyes, I never rode anything I felt unsafe about for the safety of little baby Maya in my belly. I talked to a few women who were pregnant at DLP and did the same, and asked their opinions, and also knew that Andrew's belly (sorry, Andrew) would be protruding further than my own, I really wasn't worried.

Love this ride! Aria loved it too.

Snow White was still down, so we headed off for an adventure for Andrew & Aria -

A CM commented to Aria, nice boots

I waited in the shade at the exit to the ride.

Aria was iffy on the ride at first, I guess. Andrew wasn't really holding on to her so she bumped her head on the bar when it stopped, and she said parts were too dark. But then she said it was fun? She wanted to ride it later so I think she was just surprised at the speed. From there we headed to Phantom Manor!

What belly? (there was a CM at the entrance to the ride standing right off to the side lol)

Nice views

Aria was actually super silly on this ride (overtired, idk?) but she enjoyed it a lot.

From there, I had read about the Pocahontas Village which was supposed to be a play area, but it was closed, so I think my info was very old! Instead Andrew rode Indiana Jones (more of a roller coaster than DL's ride) and loved it, and we went to the pirate play area which was awesome.

Earlier, Andrew had picked up FP's for Big Thunder to ride again, and those were ready so after a while playing, Aria agreed to ride again. This time Andrew knew where to hold onto her and she loved it!

Finally it was lunch time! Lunch & dinner are later here, so the earliest lunch we could get was 1PM (which is typically Aria's nap time). On the way we stopped for a family photo

Then we headed to Auburge au Cendrillon - which is the princess meal in (well, next to) the castle much like CRT.

We were quickly seated, and had a back corner which was fine. It was a beautiful restaurant! Before we even ordered, Aurora came over

Then Snow White!

Here I did forewarn Andrew about the prices, but they are really steep. 67 euro adult, 37 euro for kids. Was it worth it? It was within our budget, we had a great time, and if we return I'd like to eat there again (I think Andrew might disagree, but my Disney inflated prices make things like this a non issue).

Anyway our meals came with a non-alcoholic cocktail each, an amuse bouche, bread, and then appetizer, entrée and dessert. I had a pumpkin and porcini soup served in a bread bowl which was delicious, Andrew started with a ham salad of sorts. Then Suzy came by

Aria's meal came with "fairy bites" which was a cute name for veggie bites and dip, and for her main dish she ordered the burger with potato cake. Perla came over and Aria showed her how much she had eaten.

I'm taking these photos from Facebook, because my pics on Photobucket are not accessible anymore, it's blocked at work because of that, all my food pics are not here as I didn't upload them to FB). For our main dishes, we had the chicken breast In a creamy truffle sauce and I don't know what Andrew had. I do know, that the food was delicious (I found it way better than CRT food).

After our meals, Cinderella and Prince Charming made their way over. Aria was very shy with the prince!

But he was great with her and soon got her to hold his hand for a photo

All the characters were great and not rushed at all. Desserts were delicious but soon after the last meet, we asked for the check and headed out, It was way past nap time and Aria was definitely tired.

Took this pic o nthe way out

They did have a carriage outside so we took a photo with it, then laid Aria down in the stroller.

At this point we decided to make our way out of the park for some relaxing time - we stopped in some shops on the way and I bought myself some PJs (my usual souvenier) then we went back and relaxed in the room, doing nothing really but just nice to lay down. Even pregnant, I'm not a napper generally. When Aria woke up, we headed to the pool to refresh for a bit, then took showers. Aria wore her Elsa costume back to the park as our evening was very Frozen related!

 

[Imagineer5]

On the walk back to the park, Aria pretended that I was Anna, Andrew was Kristoff, and she was elsa. She even found mist coming out of something and pretended it was her ice magic.

Then she hopped back into her "chariot" lol. As we got closer to the parks, we noticed streams of people pouring out! It was just after 6PM, and the Studios closed at 6, and the afternoon parade at DLP had just ended, so apparently we were in the minority to head into the park then! We were heading back into DLP though for the Frozen show!

It was half in English and half in French so we were able to follow along fine. everyone was singing and it was super fun, although I kept trying to video tape aria singing and she would give me evil looks lol.



Afterwards we went to get a spot for the final Frozen Welcome parade thing. Maybe the lack of people waiting should have been a sign, but oh well - Aria enjoyed waiting

And Andrew went to get food. He returned with a hot dog, chicken nuggets and French fries, so I was hAngry at this point (I don't eat hot dogs, and refuse to eat processed chicken nuggets, they gross me out so much) so my dinner was French fries. then finally the Frozen thing started and Anna and Elsa rode by in a carriage...

And that was it. hahahhaha.

It was 7:45 at this point, and Fantasyland was closing to prepare for the Disney Dreams show, so instead we decided to just go find a spot to wait along a fence. We noticed here a super lack of care as people had hopped the fence and were sitting on the grass, smoking etc. I couldn't stand the smell, so Aria and I went off while ANdrew held our places.

We decided to ride Buzz again, and this time the ride kept stopping so I was able to get more points

At 8:45 we went back to stand with Andrew, and they started a Frozen water show in front of the castle which was really cool and different, then at 9 Dreams started. It was a stunning show! A super tall guy put his daughter on his shoulders right in front of us, so we ended up leaving our coveted spot and standing with some others a little ways away with a fine view. We discovered waiting around was really unnecessary since we had to move from our seated spots anyway to see. Aria watched the whole show (with ear muffs) although the fireworks seemed much quieter than WDW for some reason.

We were back in the room by 9:40 and crashed, ready for another full day tomorrow!

 

[cindianne320]

I love seeing the parks that I haven't been to! The castle looks beautiful, and the dragons are a fun touch- albeit scary! Glad you were able to sneak on some rides, and whoa- the pregnancy pass sounds like such a cool idea!

The character meal sounds delicious- good thing since your dinner was much to be desired later on!

The frozen parade sounds silly- but glad you got to see it, and the night show looked nice- though I would have been chasing down a CM to complain about the smokers- though maybe in France you can smoke anywhere?!

 

[Imagineer5]

I love seeing the parks that I haven't been to! The castle looks beautiful, and the dragons are a fun touch- albeit scary! Glad you were able to sneak on some rides, and whoa- the pregnancy pass sounds like such a cool idea!

The character meal sounds delicious- good thing since your dinner was much to be desired later on!

The frozen parade sounds silly- but glad you got to see it, and the night show looked nice- though I would have been chasing down a CM to complain about the smokers- though maybe in France you can smoke anywhere?!

I'll get into the smoking ISSUE a little more on the next day - it was seriously an issue. There ARE designated smoking areas, but no one adheres to them and CM's don't enforce it. Being pregnant with a 3 year old (at the time) it was really bad. Europe in general has thankfully become a little less smoking friendly (used to you could smoke in restaurants and all that, now it really wasn't an issue anywhere BUT in DLP funny enough!).

Anyway yes, castle was gorgeous!! And Auberge was amazing. Wish I had food pics to post. Dinner was very unappetizing!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

that Castle really does look beautiful

Seems like a lot of similar attractions to the US parks but the unique ones look really neat. Their Space Mountain sounds really cool (I noticed the sign mentioned "mission 2"). Our recent trip Peter just hit 40" so was able to ride a lot of new rides, including Big Thunder and the first time he wasn't a big fan - i think the issue was that the bar hits be and then is a good foot gap to him so he was holding on to that bar for dear life. Future rides I held onto him a lot more and that helped quite a bit

The lunch sounds very nice and a good mix of characters. Not surprised the prices were high but sounds like you got good quality and quantity for it

glad you enjoyed Dreams - it sounds amazing!

 

[Dugette]

The early entry is 2 hours long, which makes it so much more worth it to stay on site IMO!

Oh, good to know! Very worthwhile.

While we were taking photos, a CM told me to go get a pregnancy pass because I wouldn't have to wait in line, even for characters, with that. While I knew about the pregnancy pass being good for a small number of rides (remember my issue with how many rides were supposed to be no-go's for pregnant women?). Well I didn't realize they also worked for character meets.

Wow, even character meets?! They must really consider pregnant women fragile and unable to stand. Really different than the US parks.

Apparently my loose top combined with the shawl like cardigan did not fool that CM, although I wasn't trying to fool her lol

You crack me up. On another note, though - that's got to be one heck of a difficult job. I mean, who wants to be the person guessing whether or not women are pregnant and confronting them about it?

Very nice. You must have quite a collection of these by now!

And we headed to Peter Pan, which was a walk-on this early (It was probably 8:20 at this point, still early entry). I used my sweater to cover my belly and picked up Aria, and was able to ride without a glance.

I just don't get why things like Peter Pan are off limits. I know (at least I think) it's something about the lap bar, but it seems silly that the baby could ride it OUTSIDE of your belly in a few months, but not while cushioned inside. Also, sounds like some of the spinning rides were okay, which really makes this one strange.

We took the elevator down to the dungeon, where the dragon lives. Aria didn't like this part so much!

Very cool. When we were in Disneyland, I briefly thought the dragon was there and mentioned it to Izzy. She was very scared of the castle for a short time until I realized I was thinking of DLP.

Andrew then went on to go ride Space Mountain - which is a REALLY awesome roller coaster, way different from WDW or DL (height requirement is 52"!!)

Sounds fun! And I'm glad I just squeezed over that height requirement by a foot!

We were still waiting for Andrew (although he was out of the ride and waiting for us elsewhere, it's a lot harder to do Disney without cell phones!)

Ugh, I hadn't thought about that at all. I guarantee we are going to have problems relating to losing each other without cell service.

hahaha they are for Seattle and Holland/Italy. Not Disney related but they are the current 2017 trips we're planning (I'm sure Disney will make an appearance a couple times though, Lynda is already thinking about a May trip with her baby)

Oh, okay. When is Seattle? That's great that Lynda is thinking of a trip...when is baby due again?

So after those rides, we decided to check out the Alice in Wonderland maze. This is something only at DLP, so super cool to see.

That sounds really neat! I had no idea it existed.

Cute dress!

A CM commented to Aria, nice boots

Well, they were thematically appropriate! I just found a Sheriff Callie dress on clearance for Izzy that she can maybe wear to meet Woody and Jessie or something at WDW, but you're making me realize she doesn't have any cowboy boots to go with it!

What belly? (there was a CM at the entrance to the ride standing right off to the side lol)

Instead Andrew rode Indiana Jones (more of a roller coaster than DL's ride) and loved it,

Ooooh, that sounds cool too.

Earlier, Andrew had picked up FP's for Big Thunder to ride again, and those were ready so after a while playing, Aria agreed to ride again. This time Andrew knew where to hold onto her and she loved it!

Glad she had a good ride!

I'm taking these photos from Facebook, because my pics on Photobucket are not accessible anymore, it's blocked at work because of that, all my food pics are not here as I didn't upload them to FB).

Well, that's a bummer. And surprising Photobucket would be blocked but not Facebook (or the DIS). Maybe you can send yourself the links from your phone or from home? If you have the links, you should be able to copy them into a post without actually accessing Photobucket.

They did have a carriage outside so we took a photo with it, then laid Aria down in the stroller.

Haha, for a second I thought you were going to say you laid her down in the carriage.

we stopped in some shops on the way and I bought myself some PJs (my usual souvenier)

You must have a ton of PJs with all these trips.

On the walk back to the park, Aria pretended that I was Anna, Andrew was Kristoff, and she was elsa. She even found mist coming out of something and pretended it was her ice magic.

Very cute! Reminds me of a little someone I know. Izzy made us play our Frozen roles all weekend once.

And that was it. hahahhaha.

We noticed here a super lack of care as people had hopped the fence and were sitting on the grass, smoking etc. I couldn't stand the smell, so Aria and I went off while ANdrew held our places.

Ugh, I hate smoke. Sounds like this will be obnoxious when/if we go.

 

[Imagineer5]

that Castle really does look beautiful

Seems like a lot of similar attractions to the US parks but the unique ones look really neat. Their Space Mountain sounds really cool (I noticed the sign mentioned "mission 2"). Our recent trip Peter just hit 40" so was able to ride a lot of new rides, including Big Thunder and the first time he wasn't a big fan - i think the issue was that the bar hits be and then is a good foot gap to him so he was holding on to that bar for dear life. Future rides I held onto him a lot more and that helped quite a bit

The lunch sounds very nice and a good mix of characters. Not surprised the prices were high but sounds like you got good quality and quantity for it

glad you enjoyed Dreams - it sounds amazing!

Yeah, that was the same reason as Aria, thankfully she was willing to go again and loved it, and proceeded to love it on trips ot WDW too. I haven't told her about the explosions on the DL one, bc I think she will not like that part, but maybe I should show her a youtube video of it to prep her.

Wow, even character meets?! They must really consider pregnant women fragile and unable to stand. Really different than the US parks.

I didn't realize that it was good for character meets either. Europe has a very different view of pregnant women apparently. They're okay with drinking during pregnancy, but you get 6 months or so off paid afterwards and you don't have to wait in long lines at DLP, lol. I'll take that European view any day but I did feel weird using it, and didn't really use it all that much.

You crack me up. On another note, though - that's got to be one heck of a difficult job. I mean, who wants to be the person guessing whether or not women are pregnant and confronting them about it?

Yeah, I totally made a CM feel awkward later in the trip...

I just don't get why things like Peter Pan are off limits. I know (at least I think) it's something about the lap bar, but it seems silly that the baby could ride it OUTSIDE of your belly in a few months, but not while cushioned inside. Also, sounds like some of the spinning rides were okay, which really makes this one strange.

Yeah it's bc of the lap bar, in case of sudden stops they don't want you to slam into it - because you know, Peter Pan moves So fast!

Very cool. When we were in Disneyland, I briefly thought the dragon was there and mentioned it to Izzy. She was very scared of the castle for a short time until I realized I was thinking of DLP.

Hahhaha oh no!

Ugh, I hadn't thought about that at all. I guarantee we are going to have problems relating to losing each other without cell service.

Yep, it was not too bad of an issue overall (Andrew did have his cell phone on him sometimes, and while we hadn't bought a plan for him, worst comes to worse it was $1 a minute to talk on it. I think we only did that once (when I was waiting an hour in Paris on him and wondering where he was!).

, okay. When is Seattle? That's great that Lynda is thinking of a trip...when is baby due again?

April 15-22, we have our AirBnB booked but no flights yet. Lynda is on board for a May/June WDW trip but we have nothing booked for that either. Her baby is due (I think) Nov 18th? Right around Maya's birthday!

You must have a ton of PJs with all these trips.

Yes, although I wear through them too hahaha. I generally change into PJs at 4pm when I get home from work :-D I have a drawer full of Disney PJ bottoms and another drawer full of tops.

Ugh, I hate smoke. Sounds like this will be obnoxious when/if we go.

It was by far the worst part of DLP.

 

[Imagineer5]

Thursday September 10th - today we were heading to the Studios! Also the night before I noticed something truly alarming. My camera batteries were not charging in the charger I brought! We had plans to stop in any camera shop on property that we could find, hoping we could get a Canon specific battery.

Today the Studios park opened at 10, but DLP opened for resort guests from 8-10 and I noted we could go to DLP for an hour beforehand - well that didn't happen and instead we went to breakfast around 8:45 (caught up on some sleep!). Food was exactly the same, but it was great. We made it to the Studios gates at 9:25, and they opened soon afterwards, but then we were held in the interior tunnel thing? It's an interesting entrance to the studios for sure - kind of a 50's Route 60 look with a couple shops and quick service restaurants, as the entryway to the Studios. At about 9:45 they then let us into the park, and 90% of the people were all heading to Ratatouille, us included. Everyone lined up for the ride and we were maybe the 20th people in line, so doing pretty good! We had to wait about 10 minutes though for them to truly open the park, and the group in front of us had a chain smoker that literally lit up 3 cigarettes while we waited. I coughed a couple times and said loudly how smelly it was :0D but that didn't deter them.

So instead I left Andrew to hold our place in line (we were outside, before the line enters the building) and took Aria to check out the little Ratatouille themed area.

The fastpass machines weren't working yet, so I didn't grab one right away, but they did open up right at 10, and since we didn't move immediately I was able to grab fastpasses for later too.

Check out the details on the fountain:

Note, I had planned out today's outfit to hide belly as much as possible, because Ratatouille was a must-do for me. Again with the lap bar thing I was technically not supposed to ride.

Soon we were let inside (maybe at 10:05) and we made a quick walk through the queue before boarding. Inside was so cute!

I attempted a couple photos but the ride was really cool. Almost Universal like in its use of the 3D screens along with the ride, but really cool. Before the ride, Aria asked me fearfully if the ride was taking us into an oven - I was caught off guard and didn't know where she got that from so I told her no! Well, apparently I hadn't been watching the youtube videos closely because there IS an oven part! Thankfully she enjoyed the ride though.

There aren't many rides at the Studios that I could ride, so we decided to go in search of low-wait things for Andrew & Aria. We tried the Cars road ralley, and it wasn't open yet. Then went to flying carpets of Aladdin (just like WDW) and it had a 20 minute wait already but the line was out the door and looked way longer.

So I thought maybe just going to the "Toy Story Playland" would be a fun thing for us to do, thinking it was a play area (I was envisioning a honey I shrunk your kids play area type place?). Well, there are three rides - one that was too big for Aria (like a pirate ship type ride that goes back and forth) the Slinky Dog Spin, and the Toy soldier Parachute drop which was closed for refurbishment. And no play area. Whoops. Well Andrew & Aria joined the semi long line for the Slinky Dog Spin

Aria really enjoyed this, although it just goes in a circle like a carnival ride - I am hoping that WDW's version is better?

There wasn't anything left to do here, so we decided to see if Aria would ride ToT. The wait was 20 minutes so they decided to go in, and from there I went to the bathroom and then checked out the gift shop - good thing I did because Andrew found me there after looking for me for a few minutes - I guess Aria got creeped out by the decorations and didn't want to ride.

At this point we were feeling like it was not a very successful morning. It's a small park and the crowds were getting to us, too. We went back to the Cars road ralley and the posted wait was 25 minutes so they hopped in line. Today we finally had some heat (it got up to about 80) and I stood in the hot sun waiting, and waiting...finally maybe 45 minutes had gone by and I saw them in line. I believe there were no FP's for this ride.

Aria had an absolute blast on it though - cracking up the whole time. So I guess it was worth the wait.

I noticed the next Animagique show was starting in just a couple minutes, so I thought it was worthwhile to see if we could squeeze in. No photography allowed but it was a cute show with costumed characters and puppets.

I took this photo before the no photography thing was announced haha

While they were in the Cars Road Ralley queue, our fastpass for Ratatoille had expired - but we had to head that way anyway for our lunch reservation at Chez Remy, so we thought we'd see if they would let us in, and they didn't even bat an eye! wahoo. So we got to ride again and then headed to lunch. This was one I was REALLY excited about!!

I mean just look at the theming!

We got a booth table in between two plates

Love the giant stringed lights

Had to get a photo of the bottle cap chair!

This restaurant was seriously SO cool. they even have their own wine (a white and a red, I think) and we bought two bottles of red so I could try them once Maya came along - I just realized they are still in our wine cellar!

This meal is another prix fix with a starter & entrée, or another option for a drink, starter, entrée, dessert. 30/40 euros. Much more reasonable and totally worth it, IMO!

Starter was a basic salad but it was actually really good. Aria stated that she didn't like Remy's cooking and thus didn't want to eat anything. I think she was overtired! LOL. She did get over it when her starter came out, which was an absolute favorite of hers - caprese with mini mozz balls and cherry tomatoes. She ate all of that, and her main dish was a skewer with meatballs, along with ratatouille and fries. She really enjoyed everything!

My main dish ended up being their casserole of tofu and white beans with a side of ratatouille, Andrew had a roast cod dish. I chose the meal with a dessert and Andrew did not, so we shared my Tiramisu along with Aria's chocolate and hazelnut éclair.

Lunch was fantastic, and again I would 100% return when we go back to DLP!

continued in next post!

 

[Imagineer5]

After lunch, Andrew went on a mission to find a camera battery. I guess we were through with the park! I put Aria down for a nap in the stroller while I did some shopping. I picked up a chef remy stuffed animal (it does have Disneyland Paris on the apron) for Aria's stocking, along with a photo album that I STILL need to make into her autograph book, and a DLP purse mirror which also went into her stocking.

Andrew spent the time going to the room and using the ipad to find electronics shops nearby, then went on his way in the car to visit them. At another shop, I bought Aria a Buzz lightyear light gun thing and three Tsum Tsums and then laid down in the room for a bit.

Andrew came back at 4 empty handed. Apparently the first store he visited was SO rude to him for not speaking French. He said he said "bonjour" then held up the battery and tried to ask if they had one nicely. The salesperson yelled "NON" and yelled at him to leave! Apparently a French customer was astounded at the rude service he was given that they translated for them and finally got the answer that they had none in stock and the closest one was in Paris central. He went to 3 other stores with no luck.

Once back in the room, he looked at the FNAC website - like a Best buy - and found the battery in Paris, and then another one in a city 32 miles away. I asked if he really wanted to go as he would miss the parade and likely dinner, but he said he was on a mission. However before leaving , he did go to concierge and asked them to call the shop to double check they had one in stock (in French), and they were very friendly and happy to help.

Aria and I headed over to DLP for the parade! Here the parade is at 5:30, but we were early hoping for good spots. I miraculously found a bench with open curb in front, and we parked there - I put the stroller along the curb and then sat on a bench, and not long after a British family sat next to us. They had a 3 year old girl too. I advised them to put their stroller along the curb to hold their spots because people were vfilling in, and not 5 minutes later people were literally sitting under our strollers along the curb! a cm came by saying everyone had to have their feet off the street, which they couldn't do so they all moved. Before it got too crazy though we moved from the bench to the ground to make sure no one moved our stuff. People were pretty rude though. Anyway, through all of this, Aria and the other girl Alice had a ball playing, and I gave Aria her new toys which she shared with Alice.

Aria was all dressed up, ready for dinner

The Buzz gun became a "sticker machine" and was giving invisible stickers hehe.

Finally the parade started and we had great seats to watch it

The parade was fantastic, reminded me a lot of Festival of Fantasy which I absolutely love. After the parade, I decided to use precious minutes and called Andrew to see how he was making out. HE had FINALLY gotten to the store after 1.5 hours of traffic and was on his way back, but said to eat without him, as we had Café Mickey reservations.

I felt so bad for him, but we did go straight over to dinner and were seated quickly. Our server was awesome and very friendly - I couldn't get over how every CM we met spoke at LEAST English, French and Spanish, sometimes Italian too along with other languages. Pretty amazing.

As soon as we sat down, we saw Minnie coming just a couple tables away but Aria said she had to go to the bathroom. Aria Is a camel, so when she says she has to go, it usually means it is IMPERATIVE To go ASAP haha, there is no playing around when it's been hours since she's gone! So we ran to the bathroom, then realized the autograph stuff was in the stroller, got that and made it back in time for Minnie, phew!

Minnie loved her dress, and Aria was laughing as she was telling Minnie about forgetting the autograph stuff. Not sure Minnie understood, but it was a really cute meet. Then we finally ordered!

I had a caprese saled (haha) and a vegetarian Gnocchi dish, and Aria had a vegetable soup then a chicken pasta dish.

The food was "pretty good". Not amazing but not bad either.

Aria was excited to show tigger her sticker shooter - he was a little confused but played along.

Pluto was next and that meet was pretty cute too

But then Mickey came by and Aria was so excited to show him her new Mickey tsum tsum

While we were finishing up, Minnie stopped by again which made Aria's night!

We finished dinner by 7:30PM and decided to head back to the room (which was SUPERclose to cafe mickey's btw!) to change for the pool! Andrew STILL wasn't back (OMG!) so I called him again and he was pulling into the Disney property, phew! (@Dugette, I guess we used the phones more than I said lol).

When he got back, we all went to the pool which was perfect for Andrew to spend some time relaxing.

Then we headed off for bed! Another full DLP day ahead of us!

 

[FoundNemoLostDori]

This looks like so much fun! Thanks for sharing with us!! Wish they had a Remy restaurant in DW........

 

[cindianne320]

Yikes- that smoking sounds awful. I HATE that smell, and being pregnant and dealing with it must have been awful!

That Remy ride sounds awesome! I think our Slinky Dog ride is going to be more of a coaster!

Lunch looked delicious! Aria was too funny saying she didn't like Remy's cooking! The parade looked fun- but I wouldn't have been happy with the rude people! Sorry DH missed dinner. Glad Aria enjoyed the characters! Can't wait to hear about another fun filled day!

 

[Dugette]

Yeah, I totally made a CM feel awkward later in the trip...

Yeah it's bc of the lap bar, in case of sudden stops they don't want you to slam into it - because you know, Peter Pan moves So fast!

So ridiculous.

April 15-22, we have our AirBnB booked but no flights yet. Lynda is on board for a May/June WDW trip but we have nothing booked for that either. Her baby is due (I think) Nov 18th? Right around Maya's birthday!

Very cool. That would be great if Lynda is up for taking her baby!

Yes, although I wear through them too hahaha. I generally change into PJs at 4pm when I get home from work :-D I have a drawer full of Disney PJ bottoms and another drawer full of tops.

Well, I am currently in my Tinkerbell PJ's (Izzy insists we be twins when she has her Tinkerbells on) and I've had them on since right after I got Izzy to bed. Pre-kid I used to put them on right after work too. I've never bought any at Disney, but I seem to have amassed a very large collection of Disney lounge pants from Target.

caught up on some sleep!

What, you sleeping in?!

We had to wait about 10 minutes though for them to truly open the park, and the group in front of us had a chain smoker that literally lit up 3 cigarettes while we waited. I coughed a couple times and said loudly how smelly it was :0D but that didn't deter them.

Ugh. Gross. But gives me an excuse to use this seldom-used smilie:

The fastpass machines weren't working yet, so I didn't grab one right away, but they did open up right at 10, and since we didn't move immediately I was able to grab fastpasses for later too.

Great timing!

Note, I had planned out today's outfit to hide belly as much as possible, because Ratatouille was a must-do for me. Again with the lap bar thing I was technically not supposed to ride.

I think you did a good job - can't tell a thing in that picture.

Before the ride, Aria asked me fearfully if the ride was taking us into an oven - I was caught off guard and didn't know where she got that from so I told her no! Well, apparently I hadn't been watching the youtube videos closely because there IS an oven part! Thankfully she enjoyed the ride though.

Glad she still enjoyed it.

Aria had an absolute blast on it though - cracking up the whole time. So I guess it was worth the wait.

Looks like it's the same ride system as Mater's Jamboree at DCA? We loved that one.

This restaurant was seriously SO cool.

Yeah, it really is! Love it!

Andrew came back at 4 empty handed. Apparently the first store he visited was SO rude to him for not speaking French. He said he said "bonjour" then held up the battery and tried to ask if they had one nicely. The salesperson yelled "NON" and yelled at him to leave! Apparently a French customer was astounded at the rude service he was given that they translated for them and finally got the answer that they had none in stock and the closest one was in Paris central. He went to 3 other stores with no luck.

Geez, poor Andrew. Glad someone helped him.

HE had FINALLY gotten to the store after 1.5 hours of traffic and was on his way back, but said to eat without him, as we had Café Mickey reservations.

Part of me wonders if he found driving around Paris preferable to character dining.

. Aria Is a camel, so when she says she has to go, it usually means it is IMPERATIVE To go ASAP haha, there is no playing around when it's been hours since she's gone!

Izzy's the same way...the kid can literally go from morning to night without visiting the bathroom (though we usually force her to eventually).

(@Dugette, I guess we used the phones more than I said lol).

I guess so! Racking up those minutes!

Seems like the pool isn't very popular - looks like you had it to yourselves. Nice!

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Super fun TR!! I love how all of your trips are on here, so I can just keep experiencing fun Disney vacations Your Paris time looks like a dream! You really planned a great rip-- can't wait to read more!

Oh, and I absolutely adore the clothes your daughter wears-- super cute!

 

[Imagineer5]

This looks like so much fun! Thanks for sharing with us!! Wish they had a Remy restaurant in DW........

Thank you!! Agreed - the area was so well themed, and the restaurant was so fun!

Yikes- that smoking sounds awful. I HATE that smell, and being pregnant and dealing with it must have been awful!

That Remy ride sounds awesome! I think our Slinky Dog ride is going to be more of a coaster!

Lunch looked delicious! Aria was too funny saying she didn't like Remy's cooking! The parade looked fun- but I wouldn't have been happy with the rude people! Sorry DH missed dinner. Glad Aria enjoyed the characters! Can't wait to hear about another fun filled day!

Yes it was really terrible. It's amazing how people think it's okay, and even more amazing how Disney doesn't enforce their rules (there ARE designated smoking areas in the parks, just no one uses them).

Glad to hear Slinky Dog should be more of a coaster.

Very cool. That would be great if Lynda is up for taking her baby!

Yes that's the plan! She'll probably get the 4-day military tickets again along with a 1-day universal ticket. I will probably end up going for longer, especially if I renew Aria's AP (expires in Jan)

Well, I am currently in my Tinkerbell PJ's (Izzy insists we be twins when she has her Tinkerbells on) and I've had them on since right after I got Izzy to bed. Pre-kid I used to put them on right after work too. I've never bought any at Disney, but I seem to have amassed a very large collection of Disney lounge pants from Target.

Hahhaa well that's a good way to do it. Of course the Disney ones are over priced but I still love them. I have a cute Cruise pj set that I wear all the time in the summer (shorts/tank) and I always think of the cruise when I pull them out.

Looks like it's the same ride system as Mater's Jamboree at DCA? We loved that one.

Yeah basically the same! It's fun - crazy long wait but there really wasn't THAT much to do there anyway.

Part of me wonders if he found driving around Paris preferable to character dining.

Bahahhahaha I think you hit the nail on the head with that comment.

I guess so! Racking up those minutes!

LOL it really wasn't too bad, I think our bill might have been like $5 more - for the rest of the trip we were generally always together.

Seems like the pool isn't very popular - looks like you had it to yourselves. Nice!

It was never packed! I never even saw the DLH pool, but we did really enjoy the HNY one for sure.

Super fun TR!! I love how all of your trips are on here, so I can just keep experiencing fun Disney vacations Your Paris time looks like a dream! You really planned a great rip-- can't wait to read more!

Oh, and I absolutely adore the clothes your daughter wears-- super cute!

Aww thank you!! I find it easier to do a one-year at a time big post hahaha. After this TR to France I'll probably start a new thread for 2016 since I still have to talk about our first trip with baby (she was 8 weeks old) to WDW in Jan/Feb, then my little trip in May with just Aria, plus this upcoming DL trip and WDW In December!

Thanks, the girl's closet is my hobby, I love finding/buying/selling cute kids clothes hahaha

 

[TheMaxRebo]

sorry to hear about the issues with the smoker - definitely a different culture but doesn't make it better, especially when you are pregnant

glad to hear that at least later on the CMs made those people move who squatted in front of you at the parade

Sorry about all the issues with Andrew getting the batteries - but I guess at least he got them in the end!

Glad to hear you enjoyed ratatouille and that you got on twice! If the rumors are to be believed similar technology (trackless ride system, etc.) will be used for the new Mickey attraction that is replacing the Great Movie Ride

The Toy Story Land looks exactly the same as what is in Hong Kong (exact same 3 rides) - the one coming to DHS will be very different.

The cars roadsters ride looks cute though!

Lunch looks really great and for Europe the price seems reasonable!

 

[Imagineer5]

sorry to hear about the issues with the smoker - definitely a different culture but doesn't make it better, especially when you are pregnant

glad to hear that at least later on the CMs made those people move who squatted in front of you at the parade

Sorry about all the issues with Andrew getting the batteries - but I guess at least he got them in the end!

Glad to hear you enjoyed ratatouille and that you got on twice! If the rumors are to be believed similar technology (trackless ride system, etc.) will be used for the new Mickey attraction that is replacing the Great Movie Ride

The Toy Story Land looks exactly the same as what is in Hong Kong (exact same 3 rides) - the one coming to DHS will be very different.

The cars roadsters ride looks cute though!

Lunch looks really great and for Europe the price seems reasonable!

I heard about the closure of the GMR - but had no idea there are rumors of a Mickey ride! I am going to look into that now, sounds awesome (although why can't they just build a new ride, keeping the iconic GMR?!)/

Yes definitely found lunch to be reasonable and delicious - half the price of the princess meal and while there were no characters, the atmosphere was SO cool.