For our last Christmas in the UK we decided to head back to Paris, where we spent our very first Christmas away from home four years ago! After spending the last 3 Christmases flying out of London on Christmas Eve to various European locations, we decided we'd had enough of airports at Christmas and thought how much nicer it would be to hop on a train and be there in much less time!
We'd wanted to visit Disneyland Paris for a while, having fallen in love with Disneyland after visiting the original Disneyland in Anaheim, but had been putting off a visit in case we were disappointed. Disneyland Paris is quite different to Disneyland in Anaheim, it's a lot smaller, the European's don't seem to understand the concept of queuing, and smoking is allowed in the park. However it does have the most beautiful Castle of all the Disneyland's so we figured it was worth a visit for that reason alone!
Christmas is Peak Time for Disneyland Paris, with some of the highest crowd levels of the year, but Christmas Day itself is a little less busy than the days before and after since French locals usually spend the morning with their family, leaving the park full of mostly tourists from Paris and guests of the nearby hotels.
We woke up super early, and hopped on the Metro from Nation Metro station, getting off at Marne la Vallee station about 45 minutes later. The station is right outside the Disneyland Gates, so it's super easy to get to and from Paris. The gates opened at 9.00 a.m. and we had hoped to be there for opening, but we got caught in the long lines for tickets and didn't get in to the actual park until about 9.30 a.m.
The ticketing process was frustrating, we purchased a ticket voucher online before we left the UK and had to exchange the voucher for actual tickets on the day. We expected there would be a separate line for this, but we had to line up with everyone else purchasing tickets on the day, so we lost a good half hour waiting in line. It would have been better to buy from a site that sends you the actual tickets, then we could have just walked through the gates.
There was already a lot of people milling around Main Street when we entered the park, so we took a shortcut through an arcade that we found on this great website and skipped the crowds of people on Main Street to come out into Frontierland. We headed straight for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, by far the most popular ride in the park, aside from perhaps Space Mountain and picked up Fast Passes. The line for the ride was already 30 minutes, which we discovered later in the day is an extremely low estimate. We found ride wait times that said 15 minutes were closer to 30, and 30 minutes was probably more like 45-60. So we grabbed our Fast Passes and headed over to Phantom Manor, where there was no line at all.
We loved Phantom Manor, and it seemed even creepier since everything was in French. We thought it was quite similar to the Haunted Mansion in Anaheim, but the outside didn't have the awesome gravestones that the one in Anaheim has. I think in general the park is a bit more run down that the Anaheim Disney. Everything in Anaheim seems to be freshly painted, whereas in Paris we saw a few things were a bit worn, chipped and needed repainting. The Cast Members were still great though, and super friendly, everyone we met definitely had the Disney spirit!
Our next stop was Adventureland, for Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean. The wait time's for both these rides was less than 5 minutes, so we pretty much strolled on with very little waiting.
The Indiana Jones ride is completely different to the Anaheim version. The Paris version is just a fast paced roller-coaster with lots of quick turns and a 360 loop. I have to say I much preferred the big car version at Anaheim, the Paris version didn't seem to have anything to do with Indiana Jones, aside from the scattered tents and objects in the queue.
After getting off I found I had to sit down for a few minutes, as the fast turns and spins seemed to affect my inner ear and I felt super dizzy like I had vertigo. Once I sat down for a while and had some water, we headed off to Pirates of the Caribbean.
The ride was almost empty, and there was only two other people in the boat with is. This ride is very similar to the Anaheim version, quite a nice ride through various stories on your boat. The slow pace was welcome after the Indiana Jones ride, and you can see how excited we were (or rather were not) in the photo below!
After Pirates of the Caribbean we headed back to Big Thunder Mountain to use our Fast Passes. It was now around 11.30 a.m. and the wait time was about 75 minutes. We breezed past everyone in line into the Fast Pass queue and were on the ride within ten minutes. There really is no better feeling than going straight to the front of the line! Definitely everyone should take advantage of as many Fast Passes as possible. You just put your ticket in the machine by the entrance and it gives you a time to come back when you can skip the line. Such a great idea.
Big Thunder Mountain was by far our favourite ride in the park, as soon as we got off we picked up another Fast Pass each because we definitely wanted another go!
So by lunchtime we'd already been on all the rides we wanted to go on, so we took the opportunity to slow down a bit and have stroll around Main Street and take in the lovely details in the shop windows, and all the Christmas Decorations. We've been to Disneyland Anaheim for Halloween and those decorations were amazing, but Christmas time just added another level which made it even more magical.
The only things we purchased were two Disneyland Pin's, which we promptly pinned to our coats and then religiously checked every few minutes to make sure they were still attached! I'm pleased to say they stayed pinned in place even after going on the rides.
The shops inside were so beautiful, full of cartoon prints of Disney characters, and some of the stores had stunning stained glass windows and ceilings.
Afterwards we headed up Main Street and got our first proper glimpse of the Castle. It's based on Sleeping Beauty's castle like the Anaheim Castle, and has amazing stained glass windows and a balcony you can go onto that overlooks Fantasyland.
Our next stop was Discoveryland, home to Space Mountain, Star Tours and captain EO, the latter being a 3D Science Fiction musical starring Michael Jackson. It is equal parts amazing and terribly 80's. I was forced to go against my better judgement but mostly enjoyed it at the end, the songs were really catchy!
We weren't interested in going on Space Mountain, not a fan of the super fast roller-coasters. I felt sick for ages after the Anaheim version, but the outside does look pretty amazing. We also skipped Star Tours, since the next Fast Pass slot was 8.00 p.m. and the current line was 75 minutes long.
After our trip back to the 80's with Captain EO we wandered back to Fantasyland to get a closer look at the Castle. The detail on the Castle is beautiful, and even more amazing up close. The pink and blue are so lovely together up close. We went inside the Castle where there are large stained glass windows showing scenes from Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent was my favorite.
We went outside onto the balcony which had great views out over Fantasyland, looking like a fairytale village with its cute turreted houses. This was after lunch, about 2.00 p.m. so the park was busy, but not unmanageable. The lines for the rides were getting quite long, even for the less popular rides, so we were content to just explore the park, stopping for rides that had the least amount of wait time.
We went on Peter Pans Adventure, which said it had a 15 minute wait time, which was more than 30 minutes in the end. Definitely not worth it, I'd say unless you have a Fast Pass or the line is less than 5 minutes, you can definitely skip this ride. It's not as good as the Anaheim version, and it's super jerky so overall not a great experience! An American couple were on the ride with us, and were super disappointed since it was their favourite ride at Disneyland Anaheim.
We walked right around the Castle to the other side, away from Fantasyland and the crowds were almost non-existent on this side. We took so many photos of the Castle, I think at the end of the day I had 700 photos just of Disneyland.
We were lucky with the weather for most of the day. It was cold, about 5 degrees, but not unbearable so. I had thermals and a couple of layers of merino, and it was fine. It was cold and grey in the morning, and beautiful and sunny around lunchtime and the early afternoon, though I did have to put on another jumper at about 4.00 p.m. once the sun started going down.
After Fantasyland we headed back to Frontierland for our second ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was just as great as the first time, and the line was even longer by now. I think it was up to 90 minutes wait time. The Fast Passes were already sold out for the day, so two times on the ride was it for us, definitely worth it to get as many Fast Passes for this ride as you can!
Afterwards we were walking from Frontierland to Fantasyland down a covered walkway and came across Aladdin and Jasmine just hanging out. There was only a couple of people waiting to have their photo taken, so we hopped in line and got our first and only photos with castmembers.
There were plenty of photo opportunities to be had with the cast members, but the lines for most were quite long, and we weren't too fussed. We couldn't turn down Aladdin and Jasmine though!
Afterwards we headed back to Fantasyland and lined up for the Carousel. Again the wait time said 15 minutes, but we waited for over 30 minutes before getting on. I love Carousels though so we didn't mind waiting. The horses were great, some of them so huge I'm not sure how children would even be able to get on!
Our next stop was the Teacups ride, where the line was almost non-existent. I think we waited around 5 minutes before we got on. This is where we got most annoyed with European queue's I have to say. Once we got to the front of the line, they put you in a separate gated area to say you're the next group on.
Instead of lining up behind the first people through, heaps of people pushed past and went straight to the front. They then ran out of the gate and into the teacups as if there wouldn't be enough for everyone. The ride was still super fun, but it did spoil the experience slightly.
The Teacup ride is beautiful, with lots of bright lanterns hanging from the ceiling. They look even better when the sun goes down and they all light up.
When we got off the Teacups we discovered it was absolutely bucketing down with rain. Rain wasn't forecast and we didn't have an umbrella, so we sheltered under the roof of the Teacups ride, and watched the park empty out. I imagine if you went to Disneyland on a rainy day, you'd find it almost empty. The rain only lasted about 25 minutes before clearing up again, but by then the park crowds had gone down by probably half.
They must have only gone as far as their hotels though, since as soon as the rain stopped the crowds came pouring back in. It was interesting to see the crowds increase as the day went on. If you're going on Christmas Day I'd advise going as early as possible, and getting in everything you want done before lunchtime. After lunch and in the late afternoon, the crowds started getting much heavier.
Our last ride of the day was It's a Small World, which looks beautiful all lit up at nighttime. It changes colours constantly, to pinks, blues and greens, so even though the line was quite long we didn't mind too much.
The ride is pretty much the same all over, with all the countries of the world represented in bright colours. England was right at the front, heavily represented by London. NZ was of course shown with Maori's and Kiwi's, and Australia with Kangaroos. I tried to take photos but the boat was going a bit too fast for my phone to get a good photo. I like the It's a Small World song, but it really does stay in your head for a LONG time afterwards.
It was fully nighttime when we came out, at about 5.30 p.m. in the afternoon. The Castle was all lit up in blue lights and looked even more beautiful than in the day time. By this time the temperature had dropped considerably, and the crowds were heaving.
Having done almost everything we planned, we decided it was probably time to head back to Paris before it got too cold. We slowly made our way from Fantasyland to Main Street, stopping in a few shops on the way to warm up.
Main Street was so lovely all lit up with the lights, it really looked like a small town in America, and even though the street was rammed with people, it was easy enough to escape into the shops to avoid the crowds.
We had such an amazing time, probably one of the best Christmas Day's we've had in years. Disneyland Paris is known for being expensive, but we didn't end up spending too much. We brought muesli bars and snacks with us, plus a water bottle, so we only had to buy lunch, though I think you can take your own picnic supplies into the park, plus there is the Disney Village just outside the park, which has lots of restaurants including McDonalds.
We had a wander around the Disney Village before hopping back on the train to Paris, most of the shops were the same as inside Disneyland and of course McDonalds was incredibly busy.
So we've ticked two Disneyland's off our list now, I think Walt Disney World in Florida might be next...
what a great way to spend Christmas day
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