With the arrival of G’s bestie, we thought this was probably a good enough reason to be brave and book a day at Disneyland Paris. Our kids are of course big fans of all things Disney. Monsieur and I are not such big fans of the Disneyland experience but as parents we have to do things for our kids. And well, I think the kids were very happy. After weeks of schlepping through museums, churches, castles and old towns we were about to enter the Happiest Place on Earth… well at least in Europe.

Have I mentioned how awesome the train system is in Paris? We walked for 12 minutes to the Auber metro station and hopped the RER train that took us to Gare de Chessy Marne-la-Vallée. Walking out of the station, we realized we were walking straight through the gates and into Disneyland. How easy was that? Pretty easy.

Again, the internet is amazing and we found the whole park entry experience very simple with our Disney App and e-tickets. We had been given the tip to use the Premier Access service, which for an additional fee per person gives you fast lane access to many of the more popular rides in the park. While this is a bit of a scam, if you budget it into your day you can maximize and see a lot. On a cool weekday in early May, the line-ups at the park were still long enough to make Premier Access worthwhile on most rides. Who wants to spend the day waiting in line when you can walk right on? Now, I could go on about how unfair this is of Disney but I’ll keep the post happy and not bitchy. And besides, it was awesome for the kids to cram in every ride (some twice) in our short day in the park.

The first thing to know about Disney in Europe is that it is EXACTLY the same as Disney in the US. The only difference that I noticed was that Snow White and the Seven Dwarves is Blanche Neige et Les Sept Nains AND next to the ice cream stand on Main Street USA was a Champagne cart. Soooo, you know… I do not ever remember there being alcohol so readily available at Disney in Anaheim, let alone CHAMPAGNE! For the record, it was Disney’s vintage and Monsieur and I guessed that it was a headache waiting to happen. I already paid to be nauseous after the Star Wars ride, I didn’t need to drop €20 for a migraine.

The last time we did Disney, the kids were 7 and 3 years old. Well, Disney with teens/ pre-teens is so much more fun for us than rolling through with a stroller and a diaper bag. After one or two roller coaster rides, we decided that we were much better suited to finding a perch at the exit of the rides and happily scroll on our phones while we waited for Les Enfants.

Since we were in France, I did expect the food to be better than it was. Industrial fast food is the same everywhere, pretty crappy. For dinner, we found our way to the Ratatouille Ride and Chez Remy’s restaurant. I don’t know which one made me more sick, the ride or the restaurant? The ride is a 3D video ride where you view life in the restaurant from the viewpoint of a rat avoiding capture. The restaurant is a lame attempt at mediocre french food, served by a very grumpy waiter who needs you to eat the 3 course meal in under 30 minutes. As I said to Monsieur, what did we expect? The chef is a rat! I can say that the ratatouille was good. But I mean, how hard can it be to get ratatouille right? Huh REMY? HUH????

By 9pm, we were all beat and decided that we were far more interested in hopping the train back to Paris than sticking around for the fireworks. The kids were happy with all that they accomplished at Disneyland that day and we were happy that they were happy. But we were all even more happy when we got back home and were able to tuck ourselves into bed for the night.