Disneyland Paris

Over Thanksgiving break we decided to take advantage of the deals at Disneyland Paris during the off season. We have had a goal as a family for about 3 years to finish the Book of Mormon and we were so close. So on Wednesday we pulled the kids out of school and told them we were going somewhere and it was a surprise.  We finished the last chapter while were were driving, then told them where we were going. They were super excited! We checked in to Sequoia Lodge and finally got settled after some frustration. The deal that Disney had going on was that when you booked a room you got free tickets. Well, I saw the same deal on Expedia, and because the Disney website wasn't working when I booked I did it through expedia. Well when I checked out apparently my reservation got changed to 2 adults, instead of 2 adults and 2 kids. So the hotel said we could only get 2 tickets to Disney. We were so mad and they wouldn't help us at all.

The next morning we took full advantage of the hotel breakfast. They had meats, cheeses, breads, nutella, cereal, drinks, fruit and yogurt. We all ate a ton, to hold us over until lunch. Then we headed to the kids play area and I waited with the kids to get their faces painted while Blake talked to the manager  about the mix up. Again, no help. We ended up buying 3 more tickets for overe 100 euros and just going to Disney land.

In the park we had tons of fun. The kids could ride on most of the rides and loved them.

Remi after she got her face painted

getting ready to enter the park

Dad and Parker in front of the castle

Broden, Remi and Alissa in front of the castle

Broden riding in a rocket

Remi, Alissa and Broden on one of the rides

We took a picture of the picture they took of us

It was so nice being there in the off season. The longest we had to wait in line for a ride was maybe 15 minutes. It was a little chilly, but we only got cold when we stopped to eat. We were glad we packed our own food. As expected everything there was SOOOO expensive. We ate our meat, cheese and crackers for lunch and pb&J for dinner and survived just fine. We did have a little mix up though about who was bringing treats, I thought Blake was going to bring the Halloween candy that he hid and he thought I brought snacks. Nope, so we went for almost 4 days without any treats, ON VACATION. It was torture for Blake:)

That evening we stayed in the park for the show. It was amazing!!! Much more than just a fireworks show. Then we headed back to the hotel for some PB&J and swimming. The hot tub at the pool was broken and the pool was FREEZING. So I sat on the edge frozen, with a shivering Parker, then took turns taking Parker and Alissa in to the Sauna.

Friday morning we went to Disney Studios and saw a show and rode some more rides. After Parker, Alissa and Broden were miserable and frozen. It was raining and cold. So I took them all back to the hotel to warm up and Blake stayed and rode more rides with Remi. Then they came back to the hotel and Broden and I took our turn. It was fun to have 1 on 1 time with them. When we got back to the hotel Blake took Remi and Broden swimming and I put Alissa and Parker to bed and read my book. We had lots of fun at Disneyland, but I don't think we are "Disney" people. We don't get in to all the extras that the Disney parks offer, like the shops, decorations etc. We like the rides the most. So, when we head back to the stated we will probably do more of the amusement parks than the Disney thing.

I was shocked at the amount of money people spend there. If we would have eaten out for our meals and bought souvenirs for each of our kids it would have cost a ton MORE than we already spent. It would have been about 15 euros a plate, per person, per meal. So, 200 euros in food, plus about 50 euros per kid for some of the souvenirs. That is like another 500 dollars. CRAZY!!! I guess I'm just cheap and don't get thrills from spending money. It makes me sick more than anything. Blake and I had a hard time while we were there because it was so expensive. It was fun, but I think next time we will spend our money elsewhere.