Festive Fun at Disneyland Paris: Day 0 – Travel Day

[Stewboy]

Introduction

Here I am with a surprise Disneyland Paris trip report - my first from this resort. The one and only time we’ve been to Disneyland Paris previously was September 2012 when Isabella was 9 months old. On the way back from a wedding in France, we stayed two nights at Disney's Hotel Cheyenne and had one day park entry for free via Sky Rewards. This was actually our last Disney trip before we started trip reporting on the Dibb.

Our return trip to Disneyland Paris has been about three years in the making, in that time we’ve booked and canceled three previous trips for a variety of reasons including COVID lockdowns, pregnancy, and having a newborn baby.

We finally managed to go ahead this time and booked it to coincide with Isabella having INSET days at school and Jo and I celebrating our November birthdays.

We planned to do this trip as economically as possible. We knew we wanted to spend three days in the parks, so we booked tickets for those three days with two nights staying at Disney’s Hotel Santa Fe. We also added the meal plan as we thought it would save us money - which it did - considering where we were planning to eat.

Adding a room-only booking either side at Santa Fe was proving expensive, so instead we decided to book somewhere cheaper for the first and last night to make the most of those park tickets.

For the first night we booked the Hotel Dali Val D’Europe (with breakfast included) - it would literally be: arrive, sleep, eat, leave. For the last night we decided to stay on property at Disney's Davy Crockett Ranch.

In terms of travel arrangements, we originally planned to drive (via LeShuttle) but the thought of driving all that way with an almost 2 year old and a carsick 11 year old put us off! Instead we decided to use Avios points to book a flight from Heathrow to Charles de Gaulle, and then hire a car (via Alamo) from Charles de Gaulle to Disneyland because that turned out to be the most cost effective way to get there (except for the TGV which we didn't want to do due to luggage and children!). We also brought a car seat as that turned out to be cheaper than hiring one and we could use it for future trips.

So that’s our plan, now a quick summary of who we are in case you don’t know us:

• Stewart - 47. Design Director
• Jo - 38. Private Tutor
• Isabella - 11. Secondary School student
• Caleb - 23 months. Toddler. Mini-dictator

Friday 24th November 2023
The day began as usual at 5:30am, however this day was different - we were off to Disneyland Paris!

Jo woke at about 7:20am with tea and we relaxed together before Caleb woke up at 7:45am. I took him downstairs for some milk and a banana, and then we watched some TV in the living room while Jo went down to make breakfast for us all.

Once Isabella was awake at about 8:30am, we all ate a delicious breakfast together before the work of packing began!

I headed up into the loft to get down the suitcases while the children played together in Caleb’s room, and Jo started checking items of her packing list.




Breakfast




Packing


Playing


At about 11am I took Caleb to his ‘Tappy Toes’ toddler dance class, which Jo usually takes him to. As I had the day off we thought it would be a good opportunity for me to get him out of the house while Jo continued with the packing.

Caleb enjoyed the class and burned off some energy. On the way back we picked up some McDonald’s for lunch and we returned home to find that the packing was complete.




Tappy Toes


Lunch

After lunch I loaded up the car and it was time to hit the road! Jo would be driving to Heathrow while I sat in the back with Caleb - we hoped that he would sleep as it was his usual nap time but unfortunately he didn’t.

The drive wasn’t too bad and only took about 1 hr 5 mins; fortunately there was no traffic or significant delays on the M25.


Loaded


Caleb & friends


Let’s go!

We had prepaid for parking at the Terminal 5 Long Stay Parking but when we arrived the entry machine wasn't working properly and, after receiving no response from the ‘Press for Assistance’ button, we had to get a ticket - it appeared that we weren’t the only ones experiencing this problem, and it turned out to be an issue on leaving the car park in a few days time - more on that later in the trip report!

Parking spaces were difficult to find but eventually we got one close to a bus stop and started unloading. A bus came immediately but we weren’t able to get to it in time. Jo was absolutely fine about me not running to get it and we absolutely did not have our first verbal disagreement of the holiday…!

After a short ten minute wait (!) another bus arrived. Getting all the cases and children onto the bus was fairly stressful but eventually we were on our way - next stop Terminal 5!


Car park selfie


On the bus

We headed straight to the family bag drop where there was a short wait, and then headed through security. The tray with the changing bag got pulled aside (again) and Isabella and I waited for 10-15 minutes as they worked their way through a backlog of trays. While we did this, Jo took Caleb off in the pram to look around to keep him occupied and out of trouble!

Eventually the changing bag was returned after some additional checking of hand sanitisers and sprays, and we went off to find Jo and Caleb.


Airport selfie


Christmas tree selfie

Water bottles were refilled and nappies were changed, before we headed to Pret to get some food for the plane - Jo and I got the Christmas Turkey Sandwich, Isabella got Egg & Cress, and we got Caleb a croissant.

After browsing duty free for a while we eventually made our way to the gate where they had just begun calling for priority boarding guests - including those with young children. We had our boarding passes checked but then had to wait because our plane was running late and still needed to be cleaned having only just arrived.




Waiting to board

Eventually we could get on board - we dropped the pram off on the way and were among the first to be seated onboard.

It was a busy plane and they were requesting that people not bring large hand luggage items into the cabin and check them instead.


Airplane selfie

As Caleb was still under two he didn’t have a seat so Jo and I took turns with him on our laps. I had him while Jo enjoyed her sandwich and then we switched. He did some colouring in, watched Toy Story 3 on the iPad, and also ate some of his croissant.

Whilst he was sitting on Jo’s lap, the lady in front decided to recline her seat - despite it only being a 40 minute flight and there obviously being a baby seated directly behind her! Caleb was initially surprised and looked squashed but when she eventually put her seat back up at the end of the flight he wanted her to recline it again - it must have been quite cosy for him!


Cosy

It wasn’t long until we were arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport and as we were coming into land we could see the Eiffel Tower in the distance.We were off the plane and through passport control quickly and, while Jo and Isabella waited for the luggage, I changed Caleb’s nappy and we made our way to the oversized luggage to wait for the pram - which arrived at exactly the same time as us!

Jo and Isabella had the rest of the luggage loaded on a trolley and ready to go, so off we went to the Alamo car rental desk. Unfortunately there was nobody there and the exit to the parking garage was shuttered off due to construction work. Eventually we navigated our way to the Alamo car garage where we picked up our car for the next few days - it was a Peugeot and very similar to our Citroën at home.

We loaded up the car and then tried to work out how to install the car seat that we had recently purchased and brought with us. Unfortunately I had not taken the time to work out how to install the seat, despite this being my only job in preparation for this trip!

Eventually we got it installed and we were ready to go.

Now, I have driven rental cars in America many times - always automatic - and have driven my own (manual) car in France when we visited Disneyland Paris previously, but I have never driven a manual left hand drive car.

I hadn’t really considered how strange it would be to be changing gears with my right hand and this did actually cause me some issues - I was driving like a learner for most of the trip!

Anyway, despite the poor driving and the confusion of trying to exit the airport (think of the Griswolds in National Lampoon's European Vacation going round and round that roundabout!), we were eventually on our way to the Hotel Dali in Val D’Europe.

The drive was fairly straightforward, despite there having been an accident on the Autoroute just as we were about to exit - a lorry was literally in a ditch!

Eventually we arrived at the hotel and were directed to a parking space by a hotel employee. The hotel is home to a popular restaurant and the car park was busy as it was a Friday night.

We unpacked the car and headed inside to reception where we were assigned a room on the ground floor, a short walk from the reception. The hotel was very nice, as was the room. As the room wasn’t that big, and we had a travel cot to put up, I took the pram back to the car so that it didn’t take up much needed space.






Room for the night


When I returned to the room I set up the cot while Jo unpacked. Caleb was being annoying and trying to grab everything: the phone, the tv remote, clothes from the suitcase; so I gave him a wash, brushed his teeth and put him to bed. It’s very unusual for him not to nap but he still took ages to go to sleep - even though he was so tired.

While we waited for Caleb and Isabella to sleep, Jo and I hid in the bathroom and enjoyed some of my leftover birthday cake! Afterwards we both washed and got ready for bed and I wrote up my notes before we finally went to sleep at about 12am - 11pm UK time).

And that was our travel day - tomorrow we head to Disney's Hotel Santa Fe and Disneyland Park.


Bathroom birthday cake!

[Lisa_Lollipop]

Loved reading your experience of flying to France, we always drive so really surprised by how short that flight time was! Amazing!

Also love how you refer to Caleb as a mini dictator... we say the exact same thing about Cody!

[Stewboy]

Originally Posted by Lisa_Lollipop

Loved reading your experience of flying to France, we always drive so really surprised by how short that flight time was! Amazing!

Also love how you refer to Caleb as a mini dictator... we say the exact same thing about Cody!

See more...

Nice to know we're not alone!

Yes the flight was so quick and easy - definitely worth considering!

TFR

[Pumba75]

This is a lovely surprise. Loving the bathroom birthday cake!

M x

[Stewboy]

Originally Posted by Pumba75

This is a lovely surprise. Loving the bathroom birthday cake!

M x

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We loved it too!

TFR