A Magical October Trip to Disneyland Paris!

On October 8th 2013 Twice Upon A Blonde set off on an adventure to Disneyland Paris with Pascal, our trusty mascot and Fiona, Orla's sister who would be celebrating her 24th birthday whilst there!

This was my 5th trip to Disneyland Paris but Fiona & Orla's first experience of a Disney holiday. This was a slight first for

me too, as I've never been during Halloween before! 

Orla and Pascal chillin' en route!

We were booked on to a Eurostar that was due to leave at 6.50am (who's bright idea was that!) so we were up at 4.00am to be ready for our taxi that was due at 5.00am! As we're sure you can imagine, this left us feeling quite dead by about midday! At least we could sleep on the train though, right? WRONG! Excitement kicked in as soon as we set foot on the train and by the time we started to hit a wall of tiredness, it was time to catch our connection. The poor businessman who was sat on the table with us looked extremely relieved to bid us farewell! Three excitable girls en route to Disneyland Paris was certainly not what he had bargained for! 

Showing Pascal the love he deserves.
He wasn't impressed with the 4am wake up either!

So, an hour stop over in Lille, complete with a little bit of filming for YouTube and we were on our way again! This time on a double decker train straight to the magic. It was just over an hour before we arrived at 11.50am. 

We were staying in the Wild West themed hotel, Cheyenne. It's recently been refurbished and is such a fun place to stay! Orla was totally absorbed by the decor, exactly like I was the first time I stayed there. Every little detail is considered and it really makes you feel like you're part of the storytelling that Disney parks allow you to be a part of, even before you get to the gates!

We had a quick costume change out of the clothes we had been wearing to travel in and headed straight out to the parks! We decided to go to Disney Studios as it's the smaller park of the two and as this was Fiona and Orla's first time in a Disney park, we thought it would be better for them to see the castle and main park after a good nights sleep, when they could fully appreciate it! 

Once we were through the gates we headed straight for Toy Story Playland. This is a slightly newer section of the park and makes you feel like a toy with everything around you being oversized. So, I should probably explain at this point that I'm not a great lover of rides.....Orla and Fiona on the other hand, really are. I'm ok with most things, but heights and sudden drops are not on my list of favourite things. You can imagine my delight when the first thing they wanted to go on was the parachuting soldiers! I've done this before and absolutely hated it, mostly because it incorporates my two least favourite things. I did it anyway and the girls enjoyed it, Orla was VERY surprised at how high it actually was (yep, told you)!.....rather helpfully once at the top, Fiona told me I didn't have to go on any rides I'd they scared me.....information that would have been helpful 20 minutes earlier! It actually wasn't so bad, I have been on much worse! 

Fiona and Orla headed off to the RC ride. I very happily stayed behind to film their terror/delight. I knew I'd made the right choice when I saw a boyfriend encourage his girlfriend to get on the ride. She clearly didn't want to but she did it anyway. As soon as it started she pulled her hair and scarf over her eyes and sobbed. A sure fire way to ensure you're not spoken to for a few hours. They did not walk away looking happy! The girls came off looking delighted though, and both agreed that the ride would have been my idea of hell.....it certainly looked that way! 

We did some of the smaller rides afterwards which were a lot of fun. Whilst still being taken in by the theming, it's hard not to be! We did the backstage tour and Stitch Live which was fab as ever. Mid week in October is clearly a good time to go, the longest queue time was no more that 25 minutes! 

Just before we called it a day on day 1 of our adventure, Orla spotted Crushes Coaster. This is a Finding Nemo themed roller coaster that is in the dark. The information you read before you get on the ride highlights that it's a fast, spinning,coaster with sudden turns and drops. I've always refused to do this ride in the past, but thought I'd have a crack at being brave and go on. As we got into the ride, I repeatedly told Orla that I was unsure about why I was doing this and then off we went. Too late to turn back. The beginning of the ride was great. A few small drops and a nice little journey through the reef. Beautiful. No sooner had Orla opened her mouth and uttered the words, we haven't done any spinning yet, did we start being flung around and spun in the dark, not knowing which way we were going. Orla was screaming with delight and I was squeezing her hand so tightly (she actually told me she didn't want to be there if I ever needed support during labour....sorry about the hand)! When I get really scared, I tend to go silent on a ride. Orla was quite concerned that I'd passed out due to how quiet I went. To be honest, the whole second half of the ride was a blur and I had my eyes closed. I was quite sure that I didn't hate it though......a good sign at least. 

With that, it was time to leave the park and head over to Annette's Diner for some dinner before hitting the hay. 

All in all a very successful and fun 1st day in Disneyland Paris. All three of us were in bed with lights out by 8pm.....we are that rock and roll! 

Keep an eye out for the second installment of our Disneyland Paris blog! We can't wait to share what happened when we went to the main park!

Please check out these other fun ways to connect with us -Twitter - @TwiceUponBlonde, Instagram - TwiceuponBlonde & YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKztQ7sRCbFQZeGXdQOMEOw