Our first day was both eventful and magical - two words that seem to be summing up most of my Disney trips at the moment. We flew from Liverpool to Charles De Gaulle with Easy Jet and although it was a little bumpy when we took off, the flight was pretty smooth. It makes me really happy to say that I'm slowly getting over my fear of flying and airports. I made it through this adventure with no travel-related anxiety attacks and waltzed onto the plane (not literally) without a care in the world - are you proud of me?
When we touched down in Paris, we walked through the glass corridors, got through passport control and, with our hand luggage in tow, walked straight to the arrivals lounge. There's something so satisfying about walking past all the other passengers waiting for their luggage whilst you smugly walk to meet your transfer - no pushing, shoving or arguing to worry about. The minute we stepped foot in arrivals, Sara came running up to us and gave us all a really big hug. I'd heard so much about Sara and we'd been speaking online for while but it was so nice to put a face and a voice to the person. Sara was really lovely and we had such a fun trip. Within minutes, we were reunited with Marie who had kindly offered to collect us from the airport and take us to our hotel. I'm overwhelmed with Marie's kindness and selflessness every time I meet her - she's a credit to the company and to everyone who knows her. I'm honestly so blessed to have someone like Marie in my life.
I spent July and August working my little bum off to pay for this trip so when I finally saw the Disneyland Hotel, it felt like I was at home and I couldn't wait to get inside. However, first on the agenda was getting Charlotte an annual pass. This is where things started to go a little pear-shaped.
Before buying Charlotte her annual pass, I was sure to do my research as I was going to be sponsoring her and I wanted to make sure that we both had all the necessary documents. When I'd emailed Disneyland Paris asking for information on annual pass office times for the specific date that we were due to arrive, they told me that the office would be open until 8pm and that there would be no problem with us getting a pass when we arrived. We got to the park at around 6pm after checking in at our hotel and joined the queue at Guest Relations. However, when we go to the desk, the Cast Member told us that we would not be able to buy Charlotte her pass today as the office closed at 5pm. I explained that this was not the information I had been given, but understanding that there was nothing he could do about it, she paid for her annual pass, took a temporary park ticket which she would exchange for the pass the following morning and then headed into the park to catch the last Princess Waltz of the day.
Due to the minor trouble with the annual pass, we were forced to reschedule our character breakfast at Plaza Gardens which we had booked for the following morning. We explained our circumstances and the Cast Members were more than willing to change our booking for us. I'm thankful that everything worked out in the end. As we walked down Main Street for the first time, I emersed myself in the bubble of pixie dust that is Disneyland. I'd been waiting for this trip for so long - all those 8 hour days and terrible customers had paid for this and I was determined to make it the best yet. However, Charlotte and I had to keep an eye open as we had a little surprise up our sleeves for one of our very special friends, you'll find out more about that later on.
The Starlit Princess Waltz is beyond magical - it's what every young girls dream is made of and it's amazing that Disneyland Paris has been able to make it a reality. As we waited, we spoke to a Cast Member called Rafael about the musical masterpiece that is High School Musical and he blessed us with the 'All In This Together' dance which he had clearly memorized. Then, Rosie and Louie rushed onto the stage, the pixie dust was sprinkled over us all and I watched with tears in my eyes as the Royal couples waltzed gracefully around the stage. I know that Snow White will always be my favourite, but I can't help but find myself having a little soft spot for Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip. I've always loved them and I remember coming home from school making the very difficult decision between dressing up as Snow White or Sleeping Beuty, but I don't publicise my love for them as much as I should. It also made our day that Phillip blew us a kiss during the show - he was phenomenal and I've got so many adorable photos of my new favourite Disney couple.
Then it was time for Charlotte and I to surprise our very special friend.
If you follow me on social media, you may have noticed that I've not publicised this trip as much as I normally would - I haven't given out dates or written many planning blog posts. This is because Charlotte and I had arranged to surprise our friend Kathryn who was in Disneyland Paris at the same time as us. We'd been planning this surprise for months and with the help of Diane (Kat's Mum), we were able to pull it off without her suspecting a thing. When we'd finished watching the Waltz, Diane text me to tell me that they were waiting in the queue for Thunder Mountain (which had broken down, surprise, surprise) so we made our way over there to give her the surprise of her life.
If you follow me on social media, you may have noticed that I've not publicised this trip as much as I normally would - I haven't given out dates or written many planning blog posts. This is because Charlotte and I had arranged to surprise our friend Kathryn who was in Disneyland Paris at the same time as us. We'd been planning this surprise for months and with the help of Diane (Kat's Mum), we were able to pull it off without her suspecting a thing. When we'd finished watching the Waltz, Diane text me to tell me that they were waiting in the queue for Thunder Mountain (which had broken down, surprise, surprise) so we made our way over there to give her the surprise of her life.
I'd played out the surprise in my head a countless amount of times - what we were going to say, how we were going to react, how we'd approach her to say hello. But nothing could have prepared me for the complete joy I felt when we finally saw her. As our eyes scanned the queue for her sparkly ears, Charlotte spotted Diane stood on a ledge waving at us, then pointing at Kat who was stood with her back to us. We kept our distance at first and then tip-toed over, tapped her on the shoulder and said 'Oh my goodness, we love your ears!' to which she turned around and screamed the park down. Everyone in the queue was looking at us as Kat grabbed hold of us and we stayed in a tight hug for around five minutes. It was a feeling of joy, shock, and excitement all jumbled together - I'm smiling just writing about it. If you want to see the surprise, I vlogged the whole trip and the vlogs will be up on my YouTube Channel really soon, so make sure you're subscribed and ready because they're gonna be good. When we'd calmed down, Big Thunder Mountain was back up and running so Diane smuggled us in for the wildest ride in the wilderness.
Big Thunder Mountain was so much better than I remember - the special effects were more prominent, the thrills were bigger, the train was faster and we got a lot wetter (I am loving the water features that go off as you go down the big dip). When we'd finished on the ride, we walked over to Vapiano to meet Marie for some food. This was my first time trying Vapiano - which is just outside the Disney Village - and I was really impressed. It's very different to what I'm used to in terms of ordering. You're given a card when you walk in and whenever you buy anything, you scan the card. Then when you've finished at the restaurant, you take your card up to the desk, they scan it and you pay for whatever is on the card. It's a lot simpler than it seems and the system really worked - I'm surprised most places aren't following this system too!
After a lovely meal, we wandered around World of Disney and then joined in with the karaoke night that was taking place at Sports Bar. When I came in June, the girls didn't want to do anything like that so I missed out on a lot of the Disney nightlife and I can safely say that I will never be missing another Disney karaoke night ever again. It was one of the funniest, danciest, most hilarious nights I have ever had. Glowtini's in hand, we danced to the Spice Girls, sang along to Celine Dion and I almost knocked all the drinks over when they played Frank Sinatra. Sadly, karaoke night couldn't last forever and at 11pm, we called it a night ready for a day of Princess twirls and adventures.
Lots of Love,
Meg
Meg
xox
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