disneyland paris parade

You can read Day One -Would You Take The Journey On Eurostar of our journey here

Disneyland Paris Trip starts by arriving at Gard Du Nord which is also called Paris du Nord just to confuse poor passengers, there is no passport control, it’ s all been completed in the UK as we left but we hadn’ t realised that and so we were able to walk straight through the station. Paris – here we come or not as the case may be.

With map in hand trying to work out where our hotel was.

Now this is not a good move as there are a range of people ‘working’ in Gard Du Nord and not the variety that you will want to associate with.

I had a strong feeling of unease immediately that they were sitting there targeting their next victims.

I was certain it was not going to be us.

So I stayed with the kids minding the bags whilst my friend did the scouting around to work out which direction our hotel was in.

We had opted to stay in the Gard du Nord district simply for ease and not wanting to have to board another train with a set of children and bags in tow.

But the Gard Du Nord district is not one of the best to stay in if I have to be honest. You certainly won’ t want to walk around with bags at night. And in the day time for that matter!

The younger children aged 6 and 7 years, point out a word that they can read it says ‘Sex Shop’ — they giggle and ask what it means. I tell them that you can go in choose whether you are a girl or a boy — okay so I bottled out – what would you tell them?

We stay at the very simple and basic, Hotel Fauborg.

Be prepared for the lift experience.

The lifts are completely closed in and you have to breathe in when you are entering the lift. There is space for two people with the bags so the rest of us start the climb up to the 6th Floor.

I am gasping by the time we arrive and vow to exercise just that much more but as I relax on the bed I start to think of the extra croissants that I can eat. So I figure it will be worth the climb up the stairs each day and this thought keeps me going.

Disneyland Paris – Tips When Going With The Kids

When planning your trip to Disneyland Paris, the first dilemma we faced was before we left on the trip.

The first question was

Do you buy your tickets before you leave or get them when you get to Disneyland Paris.’

Upon further research, the Disneyland Paris website (isn’ t the digital age wonderful) advises that you can get tickets at the gate on the day. What it fails to mention is that if you buy in advance on line it is much cheaper than if you pay on the day.

We opted for the one day ticket which allowed you the two parks option visit. This was in the end the same price as the one park visit so not sure why they try to sell it like this? But we decided on the extra option just in case we decided to visit both Disneyland Paris to get the full benefit of the cost of the tickets.

Can You Really Learn Anything On a Holiday?

If your children attend a UK school then you will have the misfortune that you are only ever able to travel during the school holiday. This is due to the inflexible way of thought whose archaic views are that learning is only completed in the classroom.

I believe this is totally untrue and when you ask for some time off during the school term, this is what you can tell the head about what your child will learn from a holiday break and day out at Disneyland Paris.

What did our children learn from this trip to Disneyland?

Patience

They learnt that to have fun, you have to stand in a long queue and wait your turn.

A useful skill that they will carry through to the rest of their lives.

Time

They will learn how to read Time as most of the waiting times for rises were 45 — 90 minutes. So they had to watch the clock and work out how many more minutes wait they had this involved subtractions, reading the time and were in the end able to answer their incessant question of ‘How much longer do we have to wait’ .

Using Special Offers

We had three fast passes which we used and which took the wait out on specified rides. They learnt how an offer works and why they needed to use it. This will help them in their day to day life. Just think of all the multitude of offers that are placed before you on a simple trip to the supermarket? Learning what is a good offer and what isn’ t and when to use it, is another life skill they don’ t really teach in the classroom.

Our children learnt that in life good things come to those that wait.

They learnt how to be patient whilst waiting.

They learnt how to amuse themselves, playing games with their hands which involved co-ordination.

They played memory games by observing the things around them.

They did hope to count the number of Disney Characters they saw and see if they could count into double figures but sadly for us there were no characters walking around the park during the day.

That’ s right we saw Zilch. None. Zero.

So we had to wait until the end of the day to see the Disneyland Parade in order that they could catch a glimpse of Mickey and Minnie — after all isn’ t that part of the fun seeing all the Disney Characters — no matter how old you are.

It is when you aren’ t maskophobic – my daughter has suffered from maskophobia from the age of about 2 years.

It came about when we took her to Disneyland aged about 2 years old with my older daughter of 7 years who took absolute delight in going to the characters and getting their autographs. My older daughter had no fear and loved meeting, talking and posing next to the characters.

My youngest daughter on the other hand went absolutely crazy at the mere sight, thought or even mention of a character. It was not what we expected and we tried to get her to overcome this by watching her older sister’ s happiness around the characters all to no avail.

As soon as a character came close to her, she screamed, kicked and would try to hit out at them.

They swiftly moved on thinking she was a wild child.

I’ m afraid that this fear has remained with her as she developed and she had a distinct fear of clowns growing up and now anyone dressed in any character outfit with the head covered will send her heart pumping and she will go to great lengths to avoid them.

As she grew up she knew that her maskophobia was a totally irrational fear.

She even knew that there was a person inside.

We even hired a costume at one stage, so that we could try it and show her and to encourage her to get into one but I’ m afraid she began kicking and screaming and she wasn’ t 2 years old then!

So I guess she is maskophobic for the time being and she was rather glad that we didn’ t meet any Disney characters in the park.

Where To View The Parade at Disneyland Paris?

The best viewing for the parade is high up.

I recommend the main railway station as a good point as you can stand and watch the Disneyland characters coming from a distance and then see the parade as it comes to an end.

Get there early as people start booking their spot very early on.

So what did they learn – that the early bird catches the worm.

They have learnt that you cannot just arrive at the time of an event but that you need to be there early and that you need to be prepared.

They learnt that you have to have a strategy and that you need to ensure that you see what you came to see.

It was a great experience but a Disneyland Paris review wouldn’ t be a review without some areas that could be improved upon.

Our main gripe about the park is that the food and drink costs are high.

The quality wasn’ t that great either.

The park has a policy that discourages you from bringing in food of your own so you have no choice but to purchase their expensive poor quality food.

Fastpass can only be used in one area at a time but is still great for cutting down on those wait times.

Unfortunately they don’ t work in the toilets and there is no choice but to queue there. (not really a gripe but just wanted to remind you not to wait until the last minute).

Walt Disney Studios has more of the faster rides and experiences so if you have older children, you may want to start off with this first.

Here’ s to living your digital life

Spreading the word about the Digital World

Because there is another way!

The Digital Mum

 

Check out tomorrows post for the last day of our Paris trip

 

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