valeria out loud

Hey WordPressers! I hope this post is finding you living your best day. Someone needs to be living it up right now. I hope it is you guys.

It’s Tuesday, which means it’s your favorite day of the week, as I post on my blog on Tuesdays! Yay….😉

Today’s post is on our ninth day in France where we spent one full day at Disneyland Paris! Woo! Our day at the Disneyland Paris parks was squeezed into our itinerary between Paris to the South; two very different cultural experiences. But let’s first talk Disneyland Paris. We had planned one full day, split between the two parks.

So let’s get into it! (Itsa long one!)

July 13- day 9- Disneyland Paris

We woke up fairly early for breakfast. Our hotel, the Dali Hotel, had an excellent breakfast buffet, top notch. We enjoyed being in the dining room eating with all of the other families near our table who were also heading to Disney that day. So many nationalities, and languages filled the air. We were the only Americans in there at that time, and it just felt like from that moment this Disney park was going to be very different. And it was.

We grabbed an Uber from our hotel to the parks. It was about an eight minute drive or so. Super close. I noticed eight away how hidden Disney is from the neighborhoods we drove through. Could not tell there was anything Disney nearby. Not a very commercially built up place like in the States.

From the moment we stepped through the Welcome to Disneyland Paris sign the air was filled with laughter. We decided beforehand to visit Walt Disney Studios first. We wanted to guarantee a few experiences at this park first and end the day at Magic Kingdom for sunsets and fireworks.

This park’s entrance is set up uniquely, where your first encounter is to walk immediately through a studio to get inside the park. The studio building is where they had food and stores set up like a movie backlot. So cute!

Our adventure began, however, with a mad dash to Paris to ride Ratatouille! We haven’t been to Disney in FL to ride this just yet, we have been hotting Disney in CA more recently, so Ratatouille was a first here, folks! 🐀

This ride ‘shrank us down’ to the size of a rat, the vehicles we were in. We were whisked all through Gusteau’s restaurant. It was a whirlwind fun, leaving us all smiles.

• The rides throughout the parks are half in French and half in English, so it is easy to understand.

Next up was Crush’s Coaster. Guys, I am not a super fan of intense rollercoasters but I promised my daughters I’d go, and I keep my promises. Stupidly. 🙄.

Crush’s Coaster took us on an aquatic journey, spinning and twirling as if riding the currents of Australia with Crush himself. 🐢 The ride’s vehicle is a four seater turtle shell, where a pair is facing forward and a pair facing backwards. A great experience if you love crazy twirly coaster rides. It was a brain scrambler for sure but I was happy to ride the coaster at least once, for the experience. Once.

Then we ran to Toy Story Land to ride Slinky Dog. Which is a simple coaster in the round. Sweet, but we could’ve skipped it.

We were all pretty hungry at this point and we all agreed that we should make our way back to the food section in Paris, where it was all Ratatouille themed. What a beautiful part of the park and it had the best food and drinks! Namely because there was amazing wine selections and ciders, and crepes, too. I was happy. Maybe too happy heh.

Then we made our ways to Radiator Springs.

So. Like I need to say that the “lands” are not big at this park. Not like in the States. They’re more..just neighborhood sized character themed spaces. I liked this park a lot but it is the terribly big.

We made our way to ‘carsland’, like I said, where there is the Cars Road Trip ride. I didn’t do much research on this ride so I was really happy when I saw the familiar sights of the Studio BackLot Tour from Florida. It was beautifully reinvented here. The nostalgia and innovation combined seamlessly in Radiator Springs Racers. It’s amazing to see how they’ve breathed new life into the old setup.

Then we got our butts over to Marvel Avengers Campus. This is when we split up for a bit, my husband and oldest went on Avengers Flight Force, which they said wasn’t all that great. We had already ridden WEB in California-and we only had one day- so we forewent that ride. My daughter and I watched a minute of Marvel live action above us and shopped.

Then it was snack time! We grabbed Magnum Bars and a Mickey Bar for our walk over to Magic Kingdom.

---

Midday we made our way over to Magic Kingdom.

The transition from the studios lot to the enchanting world of fairy tales was seamless.

As we walked through the grand entrance, we were greeted by the iconic Sleeping Beauty Castle, a symbol of the park’s charm. The colorful Main Street U.S.A. welcomed us home with charming shops. The park’s magical atmosphere made entering Disneyland Paris a truly unforgettable feeling.

So here’s something… The DLP castle may be the best one out of all the parks I have been to.

I know, right? Lemme explain- so. You can walk inside the castle, like all over it. The first floor has quaint shops on both sides. Then you can go upstairs where there’s a floor of art displays- woven rugs, character books, all the stained glass-and then there’s a balcony you can go on that is overlooking Fantasyland …like legit a balcony above the land. Then in the basement, which can be accessed from the stores, or the exterior, you can see the big dragon sleeping in its cave.. It was an interactive experience all over the castle.

Great work, Paris!

After the castle experience, we walked the park a bit. Making a stop at the cute labyrinth, all Alice in Wonderland themed. It was actually a lot of fun. Way better than I thought. We got separated and ended up in different areas at the end!

We were starving at this point, because no one ate anything for an hour! Hah. We grabbed fish n chips at Mr Toad’s. It was so funny to be in a restaurant and not a ride with this theme. But. It was really nice and well done. My daughters loved it!

And The Haunted Mansion, oh, what an eerie delight! My favorite Disney ride overall. This park’s version was a feast for the eyes. Its intricate details and immersive comprehensive storytelling made it the best haunted mansion I’ve ever experienced.

The girls took us by the hand and brought us to Big Thunder Mountain -which welcomed us with open arms, our favorite ride, with its twists and turns delivering a rush of adrenaline. The ride in this park was pretty thrilling compared to the two at home. I think the girls rode it over four times in a row before we made our way to Buzz Lightyear for a challenging game.

The park itself felt like a cozy haven, actually, reminiscent of our beloved California parks that I like so much. The meticulous attention to detail in every corner transported us to different lands and times. It was as if the magic of Disney transcended borders and oceans to find a home here in Paris. I’m so glad we had this chance.

As the day grew into night, the park lit up with lights. It was beautiful. But what truly made this night fun was the impending celebration of Disneyland’s Thirtieth anniversary show. Every corner of the park whispered tales of the past three decades. Drones lit up the sky, painting it with brilliant colors, as we joined in the festivities with fellow Disney enthusiasts from around the world. I could hear so many languages being spoken around us…

It was truly magical.

Then fireworks danced behind and around the castle soon after the drone show ended. Main Street USA was filled with happy faces which were lit up from the fireworks in the sky. Which was pretty spectacular!

I couldn’t help from feeling emotional ..just so grateful in that moment. It sounds cheesy but I did feel overwhelmingly lucky- and started to tear up. I was just in Paris with my family, now we were standing in Disneyland, and about to take off for the South of France. Like it was a dream come true type of vacation – especially, after what my family went through this year -it felt impossible. But there we were. 😊

---

Well I am getting this out pretty late again. Work kept getting in my way. 😜

Hope you guys have a great rest of your week! Thanks for stopping by to catch up. Talk to you on the other side.

till next post xo