Our European Vacation (Part III)

Disneyland Paris

On Thursday morning, we packed up our Parisian hotel room and checked out because it was the day the kids had been waiting for--Disneyland Paris! A driver picked us up right at 9am and the hotel and took about 45 minutes to get to our Disney hotel, where we checked in, got our tickets, and stored luggage. The hotel--Newport Bay Club--was gorgeous and felt like we were on a Disney cruise ship. We were lucky enough to be in the Compass Club (only area with rooms big enough for our family), so check in was easy and they had a separate lounge where we picked up snacks and cold drinks. 

After eating and cooling off, we walked to the parks, which were about a 15 minute stroll away. Disneyland Paris (DLP) has two parks--Walt Disney Studios Park (the equivalent of Hollywood Studios) and Disneyland Park (equivalent to Magic Kingdom). The walk to them takes you through Disney Village, which is like Disney Springs.

By 10:30am, we were in the Studios Park, and it all was beautiful and so fun. Our room came with one Fast Pass (FP) per day per person (the FP system at DLP is much different and more cumbersome than at WDW, and only a few rides take FPs). We used our FPs for the Ratatouille ride, which was awesome, especially because the same ride doesn't exist (yet) at WDW. After riding that, we rode the Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin, Aladdin's Flying Carpets, Eric and Piper rode the RC Racer while the boys and I got ice cream, and we watched Mickey and the Magician (good but not as amazing as some reviews said it would be) and the Stitch Live show (which is like Turtle Talk with Crush, but with Stitch).

While this park was great, there were many rides closed due to construction, so much of the park was fenced off. And, there were very few places to eat. The only large counter service restaurant was at the front of the park, and had huge lines and VERY mediocre food. It did have, however, several good shops and the kids loved exploring them while I waited in line for food and Eric held down a table for us (they were all in the same building).

We stayed at the Studios Park until about 430pm and then walked back to the hotel. Unfortunately, we had trouble finding food again because the hotel only has two expensive sit-down restaurants on site. We finally gave in, and Eric walked back to Disney Village around 6pm to get McDonald's for the kids for dinner since they had barely eaten anything besides ice cream all day, while Eric and I got delicious salads from Earl of Sandwich. After dinner, it was off to bed to rest up for our full day at Disney. 

On Friday, we were up early to eat breakfast at the Compass Club lounge. I thought it would be just a typical contintental breakfast, but it turned out to be a full, delicious breakfast buffet, including some of the most delicious waffles I have ever had. (BTW, Disney, what do you do to your waffles to make them so good at the parks and on the cruise ships!?!) After breakfast, we walked to Disneyland Park (right next to Walt Disney Studios Park) to arrive in time for Early Magic Hours for hotel guests.

Once we got into the park, the castle was so beautiful and Main Street was almost identical to WDW (almost eerily similar). We quickly got our bearings and headed to Discoveryland, where we walked onto Buzz Lightyear Blast with no wait and then got FPs for Hyperspace Mountain (for Eric and Piper). We had wanted to ride Star Tours but we quickly discovered that only a few rides are open during Early Magic Hours, which was partially a bummer but also took off some pressure to do ALL THE RIDES before they opened the gates to the general public.

We walked from Discoveryland to Fantasyland, and rode Dumbo (I just love that ride). After that, it was time for Eric and Piper's FP for Space Mountain, so they ran back there while the boys and I made our way through some stores. As it turns out, they didn't even need their FP because the wait was only 15 minutes...amazing for Space Mountain. After they finished (which they declared incredible!), I took the big kids on Star Tours, which is a favorite of mine. I just love the theming in the waiting area and then the ride itself is so cool. 

By then, we had covered most of Discoveryland, so we went back to Fantasyland, and did It's a  Small World (another favorite, and even better than the one at WDW), Alice's Curious Labyrinth (fun but we all got separated in the maze, which freaked me out and then Deke tripped and I started to panic that he hurt himself and we couldn't get out--thankfully he was fine), Peter Pan (we used our FP on this and still had a 30 minute wait), and the Storybook Land Canal boats, stopping for ice cream treats for lunch because we didn't want a repeat of the day before's expensive, mediocre lunch.

By about 3pm, the kids were getting antsy and it was warm outside (although nothing like warm by WDW in August standards). We attempted to ride Pirates of the Caribbean but the line was too long and they didn't take FPs. So, we decided to quit while we were ahead. The nice thing about having been to WDW in the past and on the cruises earlier this year is we felt zero pressure to do character meet and greets or any guilt about missing most some rides since many of them are similar to WDW. 

On the way out of the park, we stopped to see the dragon under the castle. It was SO cool, although Deke was completely terrified. We then made the 20-minute or so walk back to the hotel, which was basically us dragging the kids. We were glad that we hadn't stayed in the parks any longer because we were heading toward meltdown mode. Along the way, we stopped to buy way more souvenirs then we need but I can't resist how much the kids love their various light sabers and stuffed animals from Disney...they truly are the toys that get played with the most at home.

Back at the hotel, we rested for a bit, and then we all went down to the indoor/outdoor pool. All four kids had so much fun splashing around, playing with all the beach balls and water floats, trying our hand at ping pong and badminton, etc. It was a lovely time. In general, some of our best times on the vacation were the simplest--the playgrounds in London and Paris and the time at the pool in Disney. After exhausting ourselves at the pool, we got dinner and ate in the room and all snuggled in after a fun, long day.

Saturday was our final, sad day of vacation. Thankfully, our plane wasn't until 5:30pm so we had until 2:30pm to have fun. After breakfast, we headed back to Disneyland Park and since now we knew the lay of the land, we had a strategy for the Early Magic Hours. First stop was Pirates of the Caribbean. This version was good, with less of a drop/getting wet part than at WDW. However, Fletch and Deke didn't much like it and Piper declared it boring after the excitement the previous day on Space Mountain.

Our next stop was Peter Pan--except after walking onto the ride, the ride broke halfway through, which completely freaked the kids out and wasted much of our Early Magic Hours time. (For our trouble, they did give us a FP for Dumbo.). We then left Peter Pan and headed back to Discoveryland. Eric, Piper, and Deacon walked onto Space Mountain and got to ride it twice, while Fletch, Jasper, and I walked onto Buzz Lightyear. Then we all rode Buzz together and did a little shopping.

Time was ticking away, and we had a few rides that we wanted to tackle--we did Dumbo and then as our final ride did Small World together as a family. There were several rides we didn't get to do and never really got to explore Frontierland or all of Adventureland, but we had so much fun and were all really sad to leave. 

Overall, we loved DLP--it was nice to have so many rides in a small area, the castle was so pretty, and the kids had a blast. But, it doesn't really compare to WDW in terms of the customer service from cast members (I was tsk tsk'd for letting Jasper get a few feet away from me at the hotel whereas in WDW, it would have been much different), so much smoking, lack of food options, and the old-fashion FP system (and no magic bands, which meant keeping track of 5 cards). But, I'm so glad we went and made time for it on our trip.

After finishing our time at the park, we walked back to the hotel and hung out until our ride picked us up for the airport. Getting through CDG was relatively easy.  The first flight from CDG was a bit rough because Jasper cried for most of the 3 hours. We easily made our connection at KEF and the second flight, which took off at 10:30pm Paris time was an easy 6 hours because we all slept. By 10:30pm EST, we were all back in DC, sad to end our vacation, but so grateful for so many memories and such awesome time together.

Our European Vacation (Part II)

Paris 

Tuesday was our first full day in Paris, and while fun, it had its moments that reminded you that traveling with 4 kids isn't always easy. We all woke up around 8am and had to be out the door by 9:00am to get breakfast and walk to the Eiffel Tower by our 10:30am ticket time. We made a few wrong turns and had trouble finding an open bakery for breakfast but eventually found one and bought croissants, which we ate in front of the tower in the sunshine, even though by that point, Piper and Deke were already cranky.

After eating, we went through security at the tower (which yay! had a special line for strollers), and rode the elevator to the second floor. The kids loved it although Deke was quickly over it. We had tickets to go all the way to the very top but the line for the elevator had a 1-hour wait, plus a wait to get back down, and we knew the kids wouldn't make it.

We rode back down to the ground and ate ice cream, and the kids watched the ducks and coy in the ponds, and chased pigeons, all right under the tower, in the amazing Parisian weather. We played there for about 90 minutes, and then left and walked along the Champs de Mars. We stopped at a cafe for lunch, although t was hard finding food the kids would eat other than bread. But, eating outside was fun and so French.

After lunch, we attempted to walk to Les Invalides to see where Napoleon was buried. We got there but it was 12 euros per person to go inside and the kids were DONE, DONE, DONE. Piper was so tired of walking that she was nearly in tears.

We were only about a mile from the hotel, but I took a taxi back with the big kids (we all couldn't fit in one taxi), and Eric walked back while Jasper slept in the stroller. At the hotel, we had some downtime, napping and hanging out at the hotel until about 5:30pm, and then went to a little playground across the street. One of the highlights of the vacation was seeing Fletch, who speaks no French, make buddies with some kids and join a soccer (football) game with them. 

Around 6:30pm, the kids were hungry so we walked to the Monoprix grocery store and picked up food for dinner (and made a pit stop at a toy store). At the hotel, we just ate dinner and Jasper went to bed early, while the big kids watched a movie and stayed up to see the 10pm Eiffel Tower light show, which Deke, be still my heart, declared the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. I'll never forget snuggling with them on the bed and just watching the lights and see it all through their eyes. Amazing.

Wednesday was our second and last full day in Paris and one of the most magical days of the entire vacation. We all got up around 8am, ate chocolate croissants in the hotel room overlooking the Eiffel Tower, and then were out the door by 915am. We found two taxis and took them to the Louvre, got there right around 10am for our ticket time.

There was a HUGE line to get in...HUGE, even with our tickets. I walked up to a guard to make sure we were getting in the right line, and they saw our stroller, opened up the rope, and took us right to the front through security. We didn't wait a single second. Then, we followed the crowd to the Mona Lisa room, which recently was placed in a much smaller space because it's typical area is under renovation. There was also a huge line there. However, miraculously, as soon as they saw the stroller, the guard opened up the rope and let us go not just ahead of the line but in front of the entire crowd of hundreds of people taking pictures, and right up to the painting. Everyone else had had to stand a good 15 feet away. We didn't see them let anyone else do this. It was 100% amazing. They let people take one picture and then whisk you to the side, but they let us hang out and take lots of pics. I have no idea how we got so lucky.

After that, we walked around the museum for about 2 hours, at times dragging the kids, and other times they were really interested, especially Fletch. He wanted to read the signs on every painting. We saw all the things we wanted--Vermeer paintings (Eric's favorite), Winged Victory statue, Botticelli paintings, Venus de Milo, etc. By about 1230pm, they kids had enough so we stopped at one of the museum cafes for ice cream and lunch, and then left.

The museum exits right onto the Jardin Tuileries, which I had read was good for kids. The kids ran around and looked at the statues, we did the sticks and sailboats for a half hour, found a playground for them to run around (where Fletch joined another soccer game), looked at ducks, and did the trampolines. All that time, the weather was so gorgeous, warm but not hot.

We left the park around 3:30pm, determined to walk back the 2.5 miles to the hotel, along the river. We coaxed the kids with more ice cream, and took it slow and made it around 5pm, stopping for ice cream, to watch people fish in the river, and a few other places along the way. The last half mile was practically dragging Deke but we made it.

We got back to the hotel, and relaxed, and then I went to the Monoprix to buy food for dinner and breakfast. The kids ate, and then the big kids took showers. Everyone got in their jammies and hung out until it was time for the magical light show again.

We all had so much fun together. There were a few rough patches, but I was really proud of the kids for toughing it out and enjoying it. Jasper was terrific all day, and without him, we would have spent a long time waiting in lines.

Deke's favorite painting.

Our European Vacation (Part 1)

Summer vacation 2019 is in the books. We just got back from 10 days in Iceland, London, Paris, and Disneyland Paris. Here's the recap of our crazy adventures.

Departure and Iceland

We flew out of Dulles airport on Wednesday night without any issue, didn't leave bags at security like the last time we flew out of there, and didn't have to rush for the plane. In fact, we had extra time and hung out in the airline lounge, enjoying snacks and wi-fi before our 11:50pm flight to Iceland. The kids did great on the 5-hour flight, sleeping for most of it. 

When we arrived in Iceland at 8am, getting through the airport was easy, and a very stern driver picked us up to take us to our hotel in Reykjavik. The weather was beautiful when we arrived, in the 50s and sunny, so we stopped at the Viking Museum near the airport to explore. It was a small, but cute museum and cafe, right on the water, and a perfect way to start our trip. After spending about 90 minutes there, we headed to our apart-hotel in downtown Reykjavik. It was sort of like a cross between a hotel and an AirBNB, and had two bedrooms, and plenty of space for us to stretch out. We basically just dropped our luggage and then walked out to find some lunch and do some more exploring. 

The main shopping and tourist area was about a 5-minute walk away, so we stopped at a few stores and found a cute pizza cafe/restaurant for lunch. However, by the time lunch was over, it was raining--a cold, icy rain that we weren't prepared for. We attempted to stay out in the weather for a bit to see more, but it was too cold, especially for little Jasper, so we made the wet walk back to the hotel.

Back at the apartment, we dried off and basically just relaxed the rest of the evening (and watched Icelandic TV, which is strangely stuck in the 80s--lots of episodes of Highway to Heaven, Matlock, and Murder She Wrote), except for Eric going out to find us some food for dinner. 

We knew that we had to get to bed early because we had a 4:30am transfer back to the airport. The transfer was easy, and getting through the airport was no problem even though it was extremely busy as this began our VIP treatment because we had a baby with us. The ticketing area had a special line for families with young children, security had an express line for families with strollers, and when we arrived at the gate, the worker took one look at our stroller and kids and escorted us to the very front of the line to get on the plane first. It was all amazing.

The flight from KEF to London Gatwick was only about 2.5 hours and uneventful, as was passing through Customs and all that (thanks again to special lines for families). The only challenge was fine but finding the hidden elevator to the train platform to take the Gatwick Express took forever and then we accidentally got into a first class car on the Gatwick Express. They told us we had to move or pay the difference so we paid the extra $20 because we weren't moving a million pieces of luggage and four kids on a moving choo-choo.

We got to Victoria Station and found a cab that could fit us all and came to the hotel (Citadines Trafalgar Square). It was nice enough and in an amazing location. We settled in and then walked out and got lunch and explored Covent Garden. In total, we did about 4.5 miles. The kids loved Convent Garden, eating ice cream, looking at all the shopping stalls, listening to music, etc.

Around 4pm, the kids started falling apart so we stopped at a grocery store and then went back to the hotel. They had a small kids area in the lobby so we relaxed there a bit and then went to our room. That evening, Eric went and got us all pizza and salad for dinner. We all ate while watching TV and then crashed, after a long, but such fun day.

On Saturday, we had the most amazing day, with perfect weather. I woke up early and got coffee and sat outside of the hotel and enjoyed the weather. Eric and the kids didn't wake up until about 9:15am, and then we ate breakfast at the hotel and took the Tube (just a 2-minute walk from our hotel) to Tottenham Court Road and walked to the British Museum. The kids loved the museum, especially Fletch with all of the Egyptian and Greek and Roman exhibits, as he has been into all of those things for months. I also loved the museum, much more so than I remembered--the atrium was so beautiful and it was just a lovely time.

We walked around from about 11am-2pm and then ate lunch in the pizzeria in the musuem. After lunch, we went to the gift shop, and everyone got souvenirs. We left the museum around 3pm and walked a very roundabout way to Leicester Square, stopping at the official Harry Potter store (House of Spells) and then the world's largest Lego store, and M&M World. At the Lego store, Fletch found some lego kits that are totally discontinued but he's been wanting for years. He was almost in tears, he was so excited. 

We walked back toward the hotel after that, stopping to climb on the statues at Trafalgar Square. The kids couldn't get enough of the statues and monkeying around on them. On the way back to the hotel, we left Eric at a restaurant to order dinner for us, and bring back to the room. We had another night of dinner and crashing into bed.

On Sunday, we had tickets to the Tower of London, and we had another amazing, awesome day. We all slept until about 730am, and then got dressed, had breakfast, and headed out. We walked to the Tube station, and rode to the Tower of London. It was pouring when we got there but cleared up within 30 minutes and then was gorgeous out. We walked all around the Tower, and the kids loved it. It was a little tough going up and down all the narrow stairs with Jasper and the folded stroller, but we survived. The big kids couldn't get enough of it. Fletch especially loved the ravens, and was so sad when they were sold out of raven stuffed animals at the gift shops. 

We stayed there until about 12:30pm and then walked along the Thames, took pics by Tower Bridge, and ate lunch at a cafe outside in the sunshine. Around 2pm, we rode the Tube to St. James Park, where the kids loved all the swans, ducks, and geese. We got ice cream in the park and played at the playground and just enjoyed being outside.

Around 4:30pm, we left the playground, which was right by Buckingham Palace, so we walked there and then walked along the Mall next to St. James Park and made our way back to Trafalgar Square because Piper and Deke wanted to climb the statues again.

We stayed there about 30 minutes, and then Eric, Fletch, and Jasper went back to the hotel, and I took Piper and Deacon to a souvenir store. Then we came back to the hotel around 6pm to do laundry, showers, and bedtime.

Monday was our final day in London. Eric went to an Orangetheory in Aldgate at 615am and the rest of us got up when he got back around 730am. We got dressed and had breakfast, and then packed up the room. We then checked out of the hotel and walked to Westminister Abbey, passing by 10 Downing Street and the Queen's cavalry. 

The abbey was really cool; I know I've been before but didn't remember much. The kids were only mildly entertained and slightly creeped out. We left there around 1pm and ate lunch, and then went back to the hotel for our luggage.

We took a taxi across town to St. Pancras train station, and got on the Chunnel train. It was all really easy. The 2-hour train ride was relaxing, and as soon as we got to the train station in Paris, our driver was waiting.

The driver took us to our hotel (Aparthotel Adagio Tour Eiffel) where we realized that I forgot cash for the driver so he took Eric to the ATM while I checked us all in. We all got into the room, and the view of the Eiffel Tower was beyond gorgeous from the living room and bedroom. The kids were in complete awe.

By that time, it was 930pm and we hadn't eaten dinner yet so Eric went to the grocery store up the street and got us delicious bread, cheese, ham, salad, etc., and we all ate looking at the tower, watching the gorgeous light show, excited about the next stop on our adventure.