A very special trip to Disneyland Paris-February 2023

Hello everyone!

Earlier this month we went on a very special trip to DLP (Disneyland Paris). This trip was a gift from my mum, Jean, who we sadly lost to cancer last year. When Jon and I were sorting through all her things we came across an envelope with 'Disneyland Paris' written on it...

Rewind back to 2021 when mum was poorly. We had booked an epic trip to DLP to stay in the Disneyland Hotel!! Unfortunately, due to Covid, this trip never happened (we did go on one of the Magic at Sea staycations which totally made up for it!), but it appeared that mum had been saving for the cancelled Paris trip and had a little pot stashed away. So we decided that this was her way of saying 'book a trip to Disney'....so we did!

We used the money and booked a two night stay at Sequoia Lodge, and managed to keep it a secret until Christmas day when we revealed it to the kids. There were tears of joy and sadness, but we were so excited to take this trip and honour mum and her love for Disney.

This trip was also special as it was DLP's 30th anniversary, and our first ever trip had been for its 25th!

Originally, we had booked the Eurotunnel and planned to drive, but in typical fashion we had issues with the car and did a quick swap and booked flights with Easyjet from Manchester. We flew into CDG airport, and we booked Western Tours as our private transfer to our hotel.

Once we arrived we dumped all our things and headed for the parks. It was about 6pm so we had some time to ride Peter Pan, the Carousel, and Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, before getting a spot for the drone show and Illuminations fireworks. It was a great start to our trip and was great so see Illuminations before it switches over to Dreams. We then did a bit of shopping down Main Street and into Disney Village (my mum's favourite Disney pastime!), grabbed some Mickey pizza, and headed back to our room to get some rest for our full day.

The next day we were up nice and early for Early Magic hours. We headed to the park, met Stitch and Winnie the Pooh before our reservation at Plaza Gardens for a character breakfast.

We met Geppetto, Pinocchio, Tigger, Eeyore, Pluto and Minnie. The food was very standard but we enjoyed the experience and it was worth it for the interactions with the characters.

We spent the day going on all our favourite rides: Big Thunder Mountain,

Phantom Manor, and Hyperspace Mountain. Hayden went on Indiana Jones for the first time, and we got evacuated off Pirates of the Caribbean, which was an experience and we got to see backstage.

We watched the Dream and Shine Brighter parade, which is THE BEST 'show-rade' we have ever seen! We ate at Bella Notte. The kids had Mickey pizza and Jon and I shared a spaghetti and meatballs - just like Lady and the Tramp. This is one of our fav quick serves to eat at in Park.

Then we headed over to Studios, rode Crush's Coaster, and looked at the new Avengers Campus, but didn't ride anything as the queues were very long, and Estella really wanted to to go on WEB slingers, but had fallen asleep. We went back to park for a bit, and watched the drone show from the top of Main Street, then headed into Village for some shopping, Earl of Sandwich for tea, and back to the room to sleep for our last day.

Up early again for Early Magic! We dropped off our bags at luggage services at the front near reception, and headed for Studios. Jon went straight on Tower of Terror then I got a Premier Access to ride after, as the line got very long. While I was riding Tower of Terror, Jon and the kids rode Slinky Dog. We finally got to go on WEB slingers, which was so much fun, and then did Crush's Coaster and Ratatouille. After this, we went to spend our last few hours in Park. We ate at Toad Hall for the first time which was very nice, rode Peter Pan, Big Thunder Mountain, Phantom Manor, Indiana Jones, Casey Junior, and Dumbo. We stocked up on Mickey cookies and cake pops, did our traditional walk back up Main Street, and said see ya real soon to the castle. We headed through Village, and did our tax return at the Disney Fashion store (I will do a separate blog on how to do this), and went back to the hotel to collect our bags and wait for our transfer to the airport. The flight back was good and we arrived home safely, but tired... and with huge Disney blues!

We had the best time while in Disney, but no matter how much time we are there it never seems enough!

I will be doing some blogs on travel, the Priority Pass, and some restaurant reviews so do keep checking back!

Thank you for joining me and we will see ya real soon!

Disneyland Paris Studios Eye Spy Sheet

Disneyland Paris Park Eye Spy Sheet