For Labor Day, we decided to take one last trip as a family before Cadence leaves on her mission to Mongolia. We let her pick our destination & it was no surprise when she chose Disneyland Paris (she's definitely my child). I was SUPER excited & so were all of the kids.
We packed up & left immediately after school/work on Thursday afternoon so we could get to the outskirts of Paris by 9pm. We stayed at the cutest little Air BnB literally 4 minutes from the parks. It was a little cottage with 3 bedrooms but enough beds for 8 people. There was 3 bathrooms, a living room, & a kitchen too. It was the cutest little place ever.
We went to bed early & woke up so that we could leave by 8:30am. We left & arrived at the parking garage at 8:35. We were CRAZY close to the parks. The kids liked tripping the motion sensors in the parking garage. We parked at the train station rather than the park because #1: it's way closer & #2: it was cheaper.
We arrived at the entrance to both parks at about 8:45 which was lovely. The parks didn't open until 9:30 so we found our way to guest services to purchase our tickets. For military members & their families, we were able to get 2 day tickets for the price of 1. With Disney Paris only being a 4 hour drive from our house, I like to go as often as we can.
We got in line at the entrance of Hollywood Studios around 9:00 & waited there until 9:30 when the gates opened. We grabbed the kids & ran straight to Crush's Coaster. It's usually the longest line in both parks so we wanted to hit it very first & we did. The wait was less than 5 minutes. It was amazing!! WE LOVE CRUSH'S COASTER!
This was the kids' first time riding it. It's similar to space mountain. . . a roller coaster in the dark, but you're in Crush's turtle shell & you're spinning as you race around the roller coaster track in the dark. It's SUPER FUN.
We showed the kids Toy Story land & rode the Ratatouille ride & then made our way towards The Hollywood Tower of Terror.
Surprisingly, the wait for Tower of Terror was only 10 minutes. Taya & Canyon opted to stay & shop in the shops. . . they don't do well with drops or scary things so it was probably better for them to shop than ride. But Tower of Terror is one of my favorites so I loved every minute of it.
After Tower of Terror we rode RC Racer. . . another 10 minute line. We LOVE this ride. It really gets your stomach as you ride back & forth around the track.
After exploring Hollywood Studios a bit, we made our way towards Avenger's Campus. This is a BRAND NEW area of Disneyland & none of us have ever experienced it. We were SO excited because we're HUGE Marvel fans.
As soon as we arrived, we found Okoye from Black Panther with her fellow Dora Milaje warriors. They did a fun little show training kids how to fight with spears like the Dora Milaje. The kids really enjoyed this. I absolutely love shows like this at Disney. They make everything magical.
After the show, we were trying to get around Avengers Campus & somehow wound up in a line. We had no idea what we were in line for, but we couldn't get out so we just went with it. I thought it might be a show, but it was a ride called Avengers Assemble Flight Force. We didn't know if it was for kids or teens or what it was, but Iron Man was SUPER cool.
The ride had something to do with Iron Man & Captain Marvel fighting Kree war ships. Most of the explaining was in French so I couldn't really tell what was going on, but it looked cool.
As we got closer to the front of the ride, we realized it was a full blown crazy roller coaster with several loop-de-loos & upside downs. Taya started to cry. The poor thing HATES roller coasters. So does Canyon. There was NO WAY OUT of that line so we went on the ride.
It was a really cool roller coaster. It was very similar to space mountain. It had about 5-6 upside down moments & the beginning they countdown & shoot you into movement SUPER fast. I liked all the cool effects/videos of Captain Marvel & Iron Man destroying the Kree ships while you whirl around & try to catch your breath. Taya & Canyon hated it, but they survived & were proud they tried it.
After riding the crazy roller coaster, we went back to the center of Avenger's Campus & rode the Spiderman ride. It was an amazing ride kind of like the Buzz Lightyear ride. You sit in a vehicle & roll around shooting spider bots using web slingers (laser lights) that come out of your wrists. It's pretty incredible technology. The kids LOVED it. There was a little shop after the ride that let us do bot wars with remote control spider bots.
We found the Hulkbuster in a restaurant there . . .
And then we happened upon an incredible show on the rooftops of Avengers Campus. It was a Black Widow, Taskmaster, Black Panther, Spiderman show & it was great. The kids loved watching all the cool fighting moves.
And everyone shouted & cheered when Spiderman came out. He's always the favorite.
We started getting hungry for some lunch, so we headed back out of Avengers Campus. . . but on our way out, we saw Ant Man & got to wave at him. The girls were totally fangirling.
We left Hollywood Studios for lunch at 5 Guys at Downtown Disney, but took a few pictures on our way out.
After a delicious lunch at 5 Guys, we headed towards Disneyland Park. It's the 30th anniversary of Disneyland Paris so there were TONS of beautiful decorations & celebrations to take part in.
As we entered the park we ran into Mary Poppins & Bert as well as Max (Goofy's son).
And like always, I cried when I saw the castle. It's always so magical.
Our first ride at Disneyland Park was Thunder Mountain Railroad. It's Trek's favorite ride. It's SO much better here than it is in the states. It's definitely a favorite for everyone in our family.
After Thunder Mountain, we roamed around Frontierland for a while & rode the Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion). I really don't like the Paris version at all. It's sad because The Haunted Mansion is my favorite ride at Disneyland in CA. This one is a little too creepy with zombies & skeletons & has a really weird western zombie section. I miss the fun loving "haunts" in the graveyard at Disneyland CA. I wish they did Nightmare Before Christmas here too. I guess that's what makes Disney CA even more special.
After that we explored the "fort" at the entrance to Frontierland.
It started to rain on us at this point, but we braved the rain & watched the 30th anniversary parade. They had to "adapt" the parade to rain so only a few characters were in it, but we still loved every minute of it.
After watching the parade, we explored the castle a little more.
including going down into the dungeon of the castle to visit the sleeping dragon. The boys loved the dragon.
After exploring the castle, we made our way to Tomorrowland where we immediately got in line for Hyperspace Mountain. The line was only 30 minutes long which is crazy!!! Usually this ride was well over an hour. It's my favorite ride in all of Disney Paris. I love the "in the dark roller coaster" mixed with Star Wars music, videos, & lasers. I also love that this one goes upside down 6 times. It's AMAZING. All 6 of the kids LOVED it even my roller coaster hating kids.
After Hyperspace Mountain we ran over to Star Tours & got right on the ride without a line at all.
The Buzz Lightyear ride also had a 10 minute line so we enjoyed shooting at Zurg & all his minions without having to wait at all. I was loving how short the lines were while we were there. It made Disneyland SO MUCH FUN.
After exploring Tomorrowland, we made our way to Fantasyland & got lost in Alice's Labyrinth. It was a blast walking around & getting stuck in the corners of shrubs. We all tried to race each other through the Labyrinth to the Queen of Heart's castle in the center.
The girls got silly & tried to carry Taya like the cards were carrying each other, but they couldn't do it & ended up dropping Taya on her face, poor thing.
From the top of the Queen of Heart's castle we had a beautiful view of Sleeping Beauty's castle & the rest of Disneyland.
After fun in the Labyrinth, we headed back to the castle to pull out King Arthur's sword & shop in the fun shops there.
And then it was time for Lorien's favorite ride:
Pirates of the Caribbean. We all love Pirates.
After Pirates, we crossed the big bridge toward Adventure Isle & ran into one of my piano students. It was hilarious that we just happened to bump into each other in Disneyland Paris. What are the chances?
We played in the Adventure Isle Caverns & just played around the pirate area for a while.
We explored a bit of Adventureland. The older kids rode Indiana Jones (which is a roller coaster here, but a very bumpy one that gives me a bad headache) while I shopped with Taya, Craiger, & Canyon, then we wandered around Aladdin's passage. Then we found ourselves in Fantasyland once again.
So, we made time to ride the teacups. . . the wait was a whole 5 minutes! I love the teacups.
We rode a few more rides like Snow White & the Storybook ride. It was getting late & though we really did want to stay until midnight to watch the drone show & illuminations, there were clouds in the sky so they cancelled the shows. It was only 9pm, but we decided to head home. We stopped by a few stores in Downtown Disney including the Lego Store where I ran into my friend from Alabama (what are the chances?). We were having fun, but we were tired. It was time to go home, rest, & do it all again tomorrow.
I still can't believe how lucky we were. It only rained for about 30 minutes the entire day when it was supposed to rain for several hours. The weather was perfect! The lines were super short, & we literally rode every ride we wanted to ride in both parks all in one day. It was amazing.
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