Taking a big leap…..
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Sorry I’ve been MIA for a while. I did a LOT of traveling this year and I just got back from a cruise where I picked up an upper respiratory infection. ugh! I figured I should give y’all a mini trip report for my Paris trip. So here weee gooooo!!!!
My best friend Deana and I woke up early and made our way from our little boutique hotel in the 11th arrondissement to the Oberkampf metro. We were so glad to see that our one week navigo pass would be all we needed to get to Disneyland Paris. No extra ticket required even though Disneyland is way out in the country about 30 minutes outside of Paris, at the very laaast stop. We got to see the real areas of France and not just the charming city center. I was actually pretty disappointed with the outskirts. The houses and condos were not charming or quaint in any shape or form. If you would have told me I was looking at a suburb in Moscow I would have believed you. No Beauty and the Beast looking villages, just boxy, dirty, buildings. I guess that train doesn’t go by the cute places. lol
It was super cold that day and it only seemed to get colder the further we traveled into the country. The train dropped us off right at the gates of the Happiest place on Earth and I can’t explain to you how surreal it was to be getting ready to see how the French do Disney. The park wasn’t open yet so in order to keep from freezing, we went into the Disneyland hotel to look around. It had a big gingerbread house in the middle of one of the smallest lobby’s I’ve seen for a Disney resort. It looked like their version of the Grand Floridian and I can’t say that it was very impressive. It was a bit run down compared to WDW and needed some paint and tlc. The gingerbread house had smoke coming out of the chimney and gave off a strange smell. It wasn’t a good gingerbread smell, and I think it was supposed to be, but it almost smelled bad.
The parks finally opened and we filtered in. Their castle was amazing and I think it’s become my favorite one. I like how they landscaped around it to make it look like it’s on a hill. The landscaping in the entire park was beautiful and reminded me more of Disneyland CA. It had a more lush look with grown trees and such and not just a slab of concrete like WDW. That’s my biggest complaint about WDW is that they seemed to put absolutely NO love into the landscaping in that park. I love the storybook feel that DLC and Paris have.
We ended up having to find me an extra shirt to buy because I was far too cold. I ended up getting the pink long sleeved T with Disneyland Paris written across the back shoulders that is so popular now. We only had one day so we decided to not waste our time doing a lot of the stuff we always do at WDW and try to hit the stuff that we don’t have….with the exception of the major rides like Pirates and Small world because I wanted to see the differences. We started off with Pinocchio and then strolled around to see the rest of the park. I loved how their haunted mansion aka: Phantom Manor looked but was so disappointed to find it closed for refurb. We rode Pirates and I really liked their version. Not extremely different but I enjoyed the changes. It was so weird to do things that are so familiar and have it be in French. The line for Pirates was much more themed as well.
At this point I think we decided to run over to the Studios to see what it was like and grab lunch. I really wanted to eat at Remy’s but they were booked solid for the day. We did ride the ride and that was really neat and I loved the free roaming cars. We could see the restaurant when we exited and it was super cute. The seats were bottle caps and there were giant forks and spoons etc. You were supposed to be shrunk down to rat size. We ended up eating at a buffet restaurant and I don’t remember what it was called but it was okay. Pretty basic food and decor. We tried Rock n rollercoaster and TOT and found them to be basically the same. Our favorite ride of the entire day ended up being the Crush Coaster! I can’t believe they haven’t brought this ride to the states because it’s probably one the best Disney rides I’ve ever been on. You should look it up on youtube!
After Crush we just walked around for a bit and I got to see their version of Toy Story Land. It was very cute and they had tons of Christmas themed food kiosks with things like roasted chestnuts for sale. I’m shocked that I didn’t try anything. The prices in the parks here were much more reasonable than back home. I didn’t feel like I was going to have to sell a kidney. After lunch we walked back over to the MK side and did Space Mountain and Small world. Space Mountain was really good and Small World was nice as well. We saw Philharmagic and it was half in English and half French. Super cool! At the end of the night we enjoyed snow on main street and the fireworks and projection show on the castle. It was wild to hear everyone singing “Let it Go” in French at the top of their lungs. One thing I did notice was that the people don’t have much consideration for others there and everyone had their kids up on their shoulders with no concern for anyone else’s view.
We left the park and went over to the Disney Springs area and looked around a bit before heading back to the train. The area was much bigger than it initially appears, and it just seems to go on and on. Now the prices of the food here was pretty pricey so we decided to just grab something when we got back to our hotel. All in all, I would tell any Disney fan that Disneyland Paris is a must do if you ever get the chance!
Awesome!! Paris is easy to get around…. we stayed near the Eiffel Tower and just walk to everywhere except when we went to DLP and to Montmartre, where Sacre Cour is.
London is just as easy with their Underground (subway) Awesome!! Paris is easy to get around…. we stayed near the Eiffel Tower and just walk to everywhere except when we went to DLP and to Montmartre, where Sacre Cour is.
London is just as easy with their Underground (subway)
For some reason we found London a lot more daunting. I think it was the pure size of the place and the underground was like an airport. Now we were there when they turned on the Christmas lights and apparently that is similar to our New Years Eve in Times Square!
I heard it brings in over 1 MILLION people!!! Had zero idea about that when booking my trip. Montmartre was a beast! We walked up from the back side I guess it was, and it was a hill where you could just about put your hands on the ground to help you like an ape. 
We stayed in the 11th Arrondissment (sp?) right smack across the street from where the ISIS attack in the night club was! Didn’t know about that one either until we got home 
We wanted a more local neighborhood vibe, like we lived there. (I wish there was a monopoly guy emoji to go here LOL) Can’t remember if I mentioned that Trump was there while we were there so security was high. We saw a parade of police vehicles just going round and round near our neighborhood on our first day and I couldn’t believe that their cops look like our SWAT teams. They were in military type gear carrying machine guns and they were build like marines! Very intimidating but I wish our police were more like that! My biggest disappointment was how much graffiti was all over those beautiful buildings. As far as an a**hole could reach was spray paint on EVERYTHING!!! Seems like with all those machine guns around one would be scared to step out of line. I would be! 
So what were your must do’s? We were winging it so we didn’t really do much other than just walk around looking at everything and eating our way through Paris. Heck that was enough. 
Wow ! I would love to go to DLP, I’m excited for you !!
You really should look into it! I just booked my second trip through Hotwire for 8 days, flight AND hotel for $845 per person! In the end, with train ticket and 2 days in London it will end up being around $1300 each. Last time, for 9 days I took 600 Euros and ended up cashing in 200 of that to bring home!
Food was cheap. You don’t tip there and no tax so each meal ended up from 12 to 17 euros and we’d grab beautiful artisan baguettes made into pizzas at the plethora of bakeries for a buck 90! Breakfast and lunch for us would end up a cool $3 each! Our park hopper ticket for one day was around $80 american! I mean seriously! You can’t afford NOT to go! 
It really is an affordable vacation compared to WDW. Grab your passport and go! You won’t regret marking that one off your bucket list! Believe me, I was scared to death that going to Europe was getting in way over my head financially. I thought it would be super expensive but boy was I shocked! If I can do it…and I’m a hairstylist, living alone with no other income to help out, anyone can afford it! Do what I did…just for laughs, go to Hotwire, type in your destination under “bundles” or “packages” flight and hotel (fall and winter are the cheapest) hit the sort by price button and shock yourself at how affordable it is! I’m willing to bet that you end up booking it! 
They’re called the Gendarmerie and they a lot closer to the Army than the police, they actually report to the Ministry of Defence
They do also have normal police too They’re called the Gendarmerie and they a lot closer to the Army than the police, they actually report to the Ministry of Defence
They do also have normal police too I just Googled it because the Ministry of Defense is equivalent to our (U.S.) Department of Defense and I thought that would make them military. Turns out that’s right, they are considered military. The Gendarmarie that is, not the Police Municipale
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