PARIS, FRANCE + DISNEYLAND PARIS TRAVEL DIARY | 2 DAY ITINERARY AND TRAVEL TIPS FOR A YOUNG FAMILY

Hey Loves! Next stop on our Euro Trip 2019 after Germany was Paris, France. We only had two days here, and we had two big goals: we wanted to see the Eiffel Tower and spend a day at Disneyland Paris.

The first day we flew into Paris, and got to our hotel, the Hyatt Regency, which was one of the airport hotels. We had a bit of a hard time navigating to the shuttle pick up (it was a far walk and there wasn’t a lot of signage), and once we got there we waited a long time for the shuttle pick up. At the hotel, we also had to wait a little bit for our room to be ready, but once it was, we dropped off our bags, did a quick change, and hopped in a taxi to take us to the center of Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. The driver dropped us off in front of one of the carousels, so after we snapped a few pictures, we took the kids for a ride. Adam took one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip (it’s one of the new backgrounds on my phone) of Presley in her beret riding the carousel with the Eiffel Tower in the back.

Then we headed to dinner at Cafe Del’Homme. I’d made reservations in advance, and it was the most incredible view of the Eiffel Tower. The food was delicious, and you cannot beat the ambiance of the location. It was incredible. Adam got a truffle pasta that was amazing, and I got the filet mignon, and it was all so delicious! The kids were getting a little antsy at this point because they hadn’t napped, so after we ate, we walked around a little bit and Presley picked out a light up rose gold Eiffel Tower souvenir that she keeps in her room now. The entire taxi ride back to the hotel, Landon and Presley just kept passing it back and forth. It was very sweet how they were trying to share it.

If you haven’t followed before this post, we’re huge Disney freaks (we honeymooned there and have gone back with the kids at least once a year), so we had to tack on a day at Disneyland Paris, and the kids were over the moon. Honestly, they could not stop talking about it before we went, and we all wished we had at least one more day there, but we did get to do a lot in the short time we were there.

We left our hotel early, around 7 am, and we got an Uber to take us to the parks, and it was almost an hour ride. We got to the park an hour before opening, and the lines to get in were crazy. A lot of people are very unclear how different tickets work (there’s a lot of different options- park hoppers and multiple fast pass options), so there was a lot of confusion of even what line to get into and people asking a lot of questions. I’d recommend researching everything or calling them before you go, so you have your tickets in advance, and don’t have to waste any time in the morning when you get to the park. Also, their scanners didn’t seem to be working to scan phone tickets, so they had to manually enter in everyone’s numbers, and it just took a long time to get into the park.

However, once we were inside, it just felt like home. The Disneyland park is just like Magic Kingdom, and Sleeping Beauty’s castle here is beautiful! In my opinion, it’s the most beautiful castle of them all! And the grounds around it are so cool. Adam kept saying how he loved the squared off trees. And tip if you don’t want a ton of people in the background- go to the left of the castle, and you can get a great pic with the landscaping behind you, not a crowd of people. I know it might seem silly, but the one picture I want and I don’t care about a single one the rest of the time, is a family picture in front of the castle. Since we go often, I just like to be able to put those pictures next to each other and see how we’ve changed over the years. So it’s the one picture I always make sure we get in the morning because it’s special to me.

Our travel agent recommended getting the fast pass tickets where you get fast passes for 9 of the main attractions, which definitely helped us to get on a lot of rides. The rides all had pretty long lines since it was summer, and the park felt very crowded to me once the afternoon hit. We were able to park hop from Disneyland Paris to the Disney Studios park because you can easily walk over from one to the other. I’m so glad we got to see at least both parks. I feel like you could spend a full day at both, which next time (fingers crossed there will be) we will definitely plan more time for Disneyland Paris. The rides were all so much more thrilling than the ones in the states, especially their Thunder Mountain coaster. We did the parent swap, so Landon got to ride it twice, and it was so cute hearing him scream and see himself walk off feeling so cool that he went on such a big kid ride.

We park hopped in the afternoon to the Walt Disney Studios Park, which is very similar to Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, except there are some cool differences. There is a Toy Story Land here that has different rides than the Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios. There’s an army parachute drop ride, and the Slink Dog Coaster is more of a kiddie coaster, so Presley could actually ride. She went on that with Adam while Landon and I went on the Hollywood Tower of Terror. He was a little nervous (it is pretty spooky), but he loved the drops! It was fun! There is also a Parisan square with the Ratatouille ride that was so cute! I loved that there was a unique section to Paris. They also had a ton of food stands with cuisine from different European countries. It sort of seemed like the Epcot Food and Wine Festival vibes.

What I really liked about Disneyland Paris was some of the rides seems much more thrilling. Their haunted mansion had zombies that were a little more realistic, so it was a bit scarier. Their Thunder Mountain Coaster was so good! It was my favorite ride there that we went on. and I loved just seeing the differences in landscaping- everything was so pretty! And it felt like it was done a little extra, and there were a lot more water features. I really hope we can go back again someday- I loved getting to be in a Disney Park that feels like home, but see the new and different things they had!

The food at Disneyland Paris was also amazing! Presley picked out a lemon macaroon that had leopard print on it from Adventureland, and then we ate lunch at the Pirates of the Caribbean restaurant – Captain Jack’s, that is inside of the ride, and Jack Sparrow comes around to the tables. The food was a cajun creole style cuisine, and it was delicious! For dinner, we ate at Auberge de Cendrillon which was a Princess character dining with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Jasmine, Snow White, and the mice from Cinderella. Presley was so excited for this. From the moment we were seated and she saw the first princess, she kept asking “When is the princess coming? When is the princess coming?” and she was in awe getting to talk and interact with all of them. Landon always likes chatting with the characters too, and he would always introduce Presley it was so cute. One thing I didn’t realize, is that they encourage all the little girls to dress like princesses for this restaurant, so just know that if you decide to go! All the other little girls were dressed in Disney Princess outfits for the dinner. Also, all the menus were in French, but they did give us some versions that had English descriptions, and all the servers did speak English, so we were able to order no problem.

We got the kids their favorite- bubble makers after dinner. We went on a few more rides, and then, because it had been a very long day, we decided to get an Uber back to our hotel before the fireworks. I’m sad we didn’t get to see them, but we had the best day at Disneyland Paris. On the way out of the park, the kids helped me pick out an ornament with the Paris Sleeping Beauty Castle so, now we’ll get to hang that on our tree each year and remember what a fun time we had on this trip.

Next stop on our Euro Trip is Corfu, Greece! That blog post will be coming next. I hope you’ve enjoyed this travel diary, and let me know if you have any questions about our trip or traveling with toddlers, and I’ll be doing a blog post where I answer any questions that you have!

Love,

Brianna K

xoxo