Disneyland Paris trip report - April 2018 Day 2

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Hi Guys,

If you haven't caught up with Day 1 yet you can catch up here, and if you have, then welcome back! Day 2 was a super busy day, so I'm just going to jump straight into what we got up to.

After an early night on our first day we were up fairly early and ready to catch some of Extra Magic Time in the main park, we decided for day 2 we'd support team princess, Lilo chose a Rapunzel dress which we picked up in Primark for £12, and I went for my Anna skater dress which was a gift, we decided to walk to the parks as the walk is so nice when the sun is out and is probably just as quick from the seqouia as the shuttle bus is once you've waited for one.



Unfortunately, the first part of our day didn't go quite as planned, we arrived at the gates at about 9am, and this is where I realised I'd managed to not bring the hotel easy pass with us! As an infinity pass holder I don't need anything other than my AP to get into the parks for EMT so I'm not used to checking I've picked it up in the mornings, as Lilo only had a standard 4 day park hopper we couldn't access EMT without this, as they open the gates to the park just after 9:30 anyway we decided to wait it out, but I know I won't be making that mistake again any time soon!

Once we got into the park our first stop was Pluto, he was meeting on the left-hand side of town square outside Minnie's house, the queue wasn't too long for him, but it would have been much shorter if we'd made it for EMT, so always worth using the extra hours if you have access! After Pluto, we had time to pop over to Small World for our 2nd voyage of the week before heading back to main street to get out first pirates and princesses spot of the day.



I cannot get over how good the interaction in this show is, especially if you manage to snag a spot near the dance spots. Today the first show was pirates coming from main street end, we got lots of hugs from Minnie, Jake and a few of the dancers and it really makes it so much more fun, I'm glad we got there early to get a good spot! After the show we went to fantasy land to get some rides in, Snow White and Pinocchio are favourites with Lilo, and we also did the carousel.



We met the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland before heading towards Bella Notte for lunch before watching the anniversary show on castle stage, unfortunately, the queue was out the door, so we decided just to pick up some snacks to have during the show instead. A quick costume change for Lilo and then it was time to get our place.



We love the anniversary show, truth be told I'm going to be really, really sad to see it go when the 25th stuff starts drawing to a close, but we weren't just there to enjoy the show! Since Lilo's first Disneyland Paris trip in 2016, her love for Stitch has grown into a bit of an obsession! So when I told her we were going back to Disneyland Paris she was set on meeting stitch straight away, unfortunately, our favourite Blue alien wasn't on the schedule, so we decided our best bet was to try and find him after the show.

Lilo's dress was made for her by Bel at Closet Geek, it came quickly, fitted perfectly and looks amazing, she was so excited to show stitch. We watched the show but sadly he didn't spot us and come over, so we made sure when his second show of the day finished, we were ready and waiting by the cast door he would be using to go from Fantasyland to backstage in the hope he'd spot us there. Luckily this worked out in our favour and lilo got the biggest hug and kiss from Stitch, sadly I didn't manage to get a photo, but I'm so glad we managed to make this happen!



After seeing stitch we rode Orbitron in Discovery land, the wait was a bit longer than I would usually do for a ride like this, but actually, I find it quite fun and it feels more thrilling that Dumbo or flying carpets even though it uses the same ride mechanics. We decided to do princess pavilion in the afternoon, which was quite exciting as it was something Lilo hadn't done before. My only frustration is that they keep changing the system in the pavilion and when we visited they were operating with the surprise princess model, where you can queue without any reservation, however you won't know which princess you are going to meet until you get in the room with them. We decided to chance it, the queue time was showing as 45 mins, I think it actually ended up being about 55 when it was our turn, so this wasn't bad at all and probably one of my quickest trips in there! We met Aurora, I was very happy with this as she is one of my favourite princesses, and despite having met her a few times I still didn't have a photo with her that I was happy with. Lilo seemed fairly happy about it too, I don't think she really minded who she met, she chatted away happily for a few mins and we got loads of pics separately and together on our photo pass.



We then rode Casey Jr, peter pans flight and Small World before finding our spot for stars on parade, we decided to watch from the Small World end as there was still a good amount of space at the rope and a little bit of shade while we waited. This was Lilo's first time watching stars on parade, and I'm pleased to say she really loved it. If you're travelling with little people in particular, I really would recommend sacrificing some of your ride time to get your parade spot early, we didn't have to wait too long but it made such a huge difference to be right at the front and be able to see everything easily. It also meant that the characters who were on foot were able to come over and interact with us which makes such a difference on parade. I was wearing my princess Anna dress still, so while we were waiting we changed Duffy into his Olaf costume, and I'm pleased to say Olaf spotted us during the parade and was really happy to see little Duffy dressed as him! It's such a small and easy thing to do, but little moments like that really stick with me, and they're often the things I look back on and remember best!



We headed back to the hotel shortly after the parade as we had a dinner reservation for Hunters grill at the hotel, having not stopped for a proper meal during the day and just had snacks we were more than ready for this! I covered this in more detail in my hotel review, but in short, I'm so glad I tried this restaurant. It's a buffet so has loads of choice and should suit fussier eaters and children, we ended up having probably 8 plates of main and desert between the two of us, so we obviously need and enjoyed it. It was also nice to have a break from the busy park and have a quiet sit down meal where we didn't feel rushed, especially if you have a little who gets distracted by absolutely everything!



We went back to the parks after dinner to do a last couple of rides and then catch the fireworks show, Illuminations. We got really lucky and where the weather had been nice and dry for a few days and it wasn't particularly cold that evening a lot of guests, us included, decided to stay sat down for the show. Now I know this won't always be possible, some people don't want to, or can't sit on the floor, and more often than not the weather means it isn't possible even if people were willing to stay sat down. But I can't explain just how much of a difference this makes, after a long day in the parks being able to take the weight off my feet and sit down is massively welcomed. Not only this but staying seated means so many more people get a good view of the show, which is so important for both younger and shorter guests. I can honestly say this is probably the best view I've had of Illuminations so far, and this was my 6th trip since it started.



After Illuminations, we made our way over to the train station to meet up with Sophie who was joining us for the rest of the trip and made our way back to the hotel to get some rest ready for a busy day 3.

Thanks for reading so far guys, I'll be back in a few days with the next part, but if you have any questions before then feel free to drop them in the comments!

Hoodsie xx

2 comments:

  1. […] in particular, please drop me a comment. If not, make sure you’re caught up on day 1 and day 2 and then we’re ready to get back to […]

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  2. […] If you’re not up to date, you might have a bit of reading to do, but here’s day 1, day 2, day 3 and day 4. Now that we’ve covered that, it’s time to jump right […]

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