EXPLORING DISNEYLAND PARIS

I wanted to start this blog post off with how amazing our holiday was and all the incredible things that happened, but sadly I can’t. If you follow me on Instagram you will know the struggles we faced even getting to Disneyland Paris last Friday. Due to the extreme snow in the UK last week, our flights were cancelled and we had no alternative flights offered to us nor could we even get home.

I want to, first of all, thank Gemma & Erica at Southampton airport for being our guardian angels, they looked after us, called the train company up and ensured we had a hotel for the night. Being stranded in Southampton for two days was not ideal and as it stands currently we are trying to claim back all the extra money spent through Flybe – whether they will cover this I’m not sure.

We arrived a day later than planned to Disneyland Paris but heck at least we got there! We ended up having to catch a train to London and then catching the Eurostar. I’ll be honest with all this stress and extra expenses I did find it hard to just be grateful and enjoy the trip as the problems didn’t stop once we got there. We stayed at the Newport Bay Hotel which was set really close to the park and looked really picturesque. We booked our holiday through the Walt Disney Travel Company, now this is the company that comes up when you book through the Disneyland Paris website. Breakfast was not included, to our surprise and no meal plans were offered during the checkout process. The hotel and Disneyland Paris refused all association with this company yet it’s their company. The staff were really unhelpful resolving this issue in the hotel, even after they knew our situation some help and reassurance would have gone a long way. We tried calling The Walt Disney Travel Company from our mobiles as the hotel refused to let us use their phone. The number didn’t dial from our mobiles, so once again we were stuck. I’d luckily spoken to the Disneyland Paris press team a few months back as they kindly gifted us fast passes for our stay. I ended up having to contact the press office back in the UK who did manage to get a response from the Walt Disney Travel Company. The response was that we didn’t have breakfast included and that was that. No help, no solutions. So, in my opinion, I would avoid booking through them as you can’t reach them, breakfast was not an option when buying the holiday and the park avoids all acknowledgement of their existence. I just wish the hotel staff had been a little more understanding and accommodating knowing our situation and the fact we weren’t getting the night we missed due to no fault of our own refunded.

I hate writing negative blog posts and I really feel like this experience tainted our whole trip. So, in the end, we settled for breakfast in the park each day as we had already spent so much to even get there. Once we were in the park I was able to relax a little more and enjoy the experience. I enjoyed going on the rides, meeting the characters and having the full Disney experience. I pushed my boundaries and even went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride which to my shock I really enjoyed! We had originally planned to stay four nights and have four days in the park, but as we only had three due to the delay we found that actually, this was enough. Having been to Disneyland Paris three years ago this year, I did find there were lots of new rides to enjoy and new films they had incorporated into the park. With the new developments to the park announced this week for 2021, I’ll be really excited to go after this and explore all the new rides.

I’m not a massive lover of rides personally, but even though we didn’t go on all of the rides I equally enjoyed the food, magic and meeting the characters. I will advise wearing trainers though as you do rack up the steps walking around all day. Waiting in line for over an hour to meet the Princesses and characters was also tiring so be prepared! The Disneyland Paris app was really useful and saved us walking around trying to find the wait times for attractions. It gives you real-time waiting times, information, where the nearest toilets are, restaurants, shops and a great map of both parks. With your ticket, you also get entry to the Walt Disney Studios. I equally loved this park too as we got to meet Minnie Mouse and go on the tram ride. If you’re scared of water, fire or the tram moving from side to side I wouldn’t advise going on this ride!

All in all, after a bad start – we did thoroughly enjoy every moment in the parks. I also enjoyed the food especially dining at Planet Hollywood one night and of course the Disney cocktails! I hope you all enjoyed the snow last week at least and it didn’t cause disruption to your holidays like it did to ours. I’m currently submitting our case to Flybe, so please send your positive vibes that we can get all the extra expenses covered. This was my third visit to Disneyland Paris and I would certainly go again! Next time I will wait to go with my children so I can share the magic of Disney with them too (and not feel so weird queuing for seventy-five minutes to meet Cinderella). Once again a big thank you to press team at Disneyland Paris for kindly giving us fast passes to enjoy during our stay and helping us contact the travel company. The vlog will be up on my YouTube video on Tuesday so keep your eyes peeled for that. I hope you all have a fantastic week and as always let me know your Disney experiences in the comments below. Lots of Love xx