Disneyland / Paris / 2025

For the last 3 years now, I have been pestered and prodded on a nearly daily basis, "take me to Disney or I'll find someone who will", only half jokingly of course, or at least I hope so, "we'll go one day" I always reply. Nevertheless, I finally cave to the demand. I start looking at flights and hotels, park tickets, drinks on the river Seine. This isn't going to be a cheap few days away. It's all worth it however; I tell her we're going to Disney and the happy tears start flooding down her face. It's somewhere she has wanted to go all her life but not thought possible due to a very working class upbringing. It's a childhood dream about to come true.

MCR -> CDG

An hour is all it takes to go from Manchester airport to Charles de Gaulle, and not much more time to dart through passport control and into the taxi rank. Prepare to be approached somewhat aggressively by taxi drivers, insisting you take your journey with them. We refused. Instead opting for a Bolt; in hindsight I think Uber would have been cheaper but I read that Bolt was the preferred taxi service beforehand so we went with that. Another hour later we arrive at our hotel, the Grand Magic, located a little outside of the Disney campus, around a 25 minute walk. Incidentally this is the hotel I stayed at with school when we came to Disney on a trip, around 18 years earlier. I have no real memory of the hotel from back then but now what I can say is that it's very adequate for a short stay, whether a couple or family; the lobby and bar area is nicely decorated and clean, and also carries a magical Disney feeling with TV screens dotted around the place, displaying different Disney characters on them. The downside to this hotel which we learned was the shuttle to and from Disneyland itself. They are every 30 minutes or so but boy do they get packed, be prepared to fight for a place on these, literally. It's even worse when coming home back from your day at the park, the bus stop is a full on melee to get a space on the bus, which absolutely takes the magic out of an otherwise amazing day at Disney, so bare that in mind, especially if you're considering staying here with young children.

Disneyland

Upon entering the Disney grounds, before going through security and into the park itself, you are greeted with wonderfully laid out gardens, depicting the faces of Mickey or Minnie depending on when you have visited, and the pastel pink Disney hotel towering above it all. Seeing this was enough to bring my partner to tears; apparently the Disney hotel is a big deal, I had no idea. It's only £1500 a night so I'm wondering why we didn't stay there instead...

Once through security, after a brief walk you step straight onto "Main Street", which is an old American styled street full with shops and a couple places to grab something to eat. We easily spent a couple hours just browsing through each of these shops and taking in the atmosphere of the area, it is a really nicely designed space. Another thing I didn't get the memo about were Disney ears. Almost everybody had a pair of these and each shop had an area dedicated to selling different designs of these. We couldn't find glittery Minnie ones which is what my partner wanted so she settled for glitter-less ones instead and thus, our journey through the park can begin.

Now, I don't want to bore on about every detail of our 2 day stay in Disneyland, instead I am going to list my 5 favourite things that we did in the park and talk a little bit about those. There really is a lot to do and see at Disneyland, if you are debating whether or not you will need the 2 day pass rather than 1 day, I would definitely recommend the 2 day, especially since queue times can take up a good chunk of your day at the park. Nevertheless, whether you are there for rides, characters or just there because your family wants to go, I can almost guarantee that you will have a great, memorable time whilst you are there. So, in no particular order;

1. Meeting Winnie the Pooh (and other characters).

This was unexpected. Immediately after exiting a shop on main street, Winnie was stationed in a corner with a big line of people, ready to get pictures with them. As you progress through the park you will notice various characters dotted around in their different areas, but with this being the start of our journey, and the surprise nature of it made it a really cool start to our adventure. Plus I'm pretty sure Winnie was trying to steal me from my girlfriend which was very funny.

2. Tower of Terror.

Unbelievably terrifying but absolutely brilliant. The staff on this ride are brilliant, adding to the atmosphere with their quirky characters and mannerisms really trying to unsettle you before you're even seated for the ride. After watching the introduction to the ride, a short video detailing the need to use a service elevator for some reason or another, you are lead to the aforementioned elevator and seated with just the bar over your lap; it can't be that scary I thought. I was wrong. After about 10 lifts and drops, the feeling of my stomach leaving my backside, the ride pauses at the top, giving you a lovely view of the park, before dropping you a few more times for good measure. As scary as it was, I could not stop smiling when I got off.

3. Ratatouille ride.

Like the Tower of terror, this ride is situated in the Walt Disney Studios park, rather than the main park and although not a big thrill like the former, the whole experience of this one was so unexpected, it made it all the more fun. You feel as though you are Remy, running through the kitchen, smelling the fresh fruit and food cooking away before being whirled through the seating area desperately trying to avoid being seen. A 10/10 experience and only wish we could have gone on it again, alas we were too late as the park was closing for the day.

4. Lady & the Tramp restaurant.

The reason that I have picked this restaurant is not because of the amazing quality of food (it was nice but nothing to write home about), but because of it's location. What I mean by this is if you have a seat by the window or outside, you will see so many different Disney characters walking by, it seems to be a hotspot or common route for them to take. We saw the likes of Captain Hook, the Queen of Hearts and Mirabelle among others. A word of warning though, it does get busy, I was queueing for around 45 minutes before getting served but I think that would be the case in other places too unless you have a reservation.

5. "DISNEY Tales of Magic" show.

At around 9:00 in the evening, every day, everybody gathers around the Disney castle on main street to watch the Tales of Magic show. It is absolutely a phenomenal show, my partner was in floods of tears through the whole thing and I myself did feel a tad emotional. It's a perfect way to round up the day in Disney, try not to miss it. Also, a little tip; be sure to pay the £15 or so beforehand to get a better view, you won't regret it.