The Smoly Adventures

Living 4000+ miles and an ocean away from our family back in the US, we decided to step out of our typical routines for Thanksgiving this past year.  Back in September, we jumped on incredible package deal (tip: constantly watch the park's website for these deals as they rotate throughout the year) and surprised the boys when we pulled into Disneyland Paris.

We stayed in the resort's Sequoia Lodge, which is a fairly good representation of the great national park lodges & hotels in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming & Montana. The staff were attired in NPS ranger clothes (which I think was lost on most guests) and most everyone spoke multiple languages. The Sequoia is located on the resort's lake along with 2 of the 5 other hotels that are within a 20 minute walk to the parks--yes, just like Orlando and California, there are multiple parks; but more about this a little later on.

After getting settled into our room following the 4.5 hour drive into Chessy, France, we set off for our 15 minute walk to the Disneyland Park. We passed through the Disney Village (which has a Starbucks and a Five Guys!) and walked right into the park. The boys were in awe of the Christmas decorations that lined seemingly every square inch of usable space. Disney has always done a spectacular job in setting the scene during Christmas and the European influences were immediately apparent. Our first few hours in the park were low key.  We rode the Orbitron ride in Discoveryland (Tomorowland, but with a heavy dose of Jules Verne), took in the 25th Anniversary Parade during dinner on Main Street, and closed out our evening riding It's a Small World. 

Thanksgiving Day marked our second day at Disneyland, but first full day to experience the park(s).  Like the day prior, we limited ourselves to the main park, but would be a full day of character meets, rides, parades, and shows.  Many of the rides are carbon copies of their US counterparts so describing them isn't necessary. The Christmas Parade was one that Will thoroughly enjoyed: the decorations, characters costumed to match the season and of course Santa.  The first show that we took in was Mickey's Big Band Christmas in the theater over in Discoveryland.  At nearly 35 minutes long, it was filled with 40s era musical influences, singers, dancers and of course Mickey and friends. The second show was the main street square tree lighting and the end-of-the-day light/firework show projected on the castle. Without question, the highlight of the day was the three character meets: Mickey, Pluto and Chip and Dale.

 
Friday started off similarly to the day prior with character meets which would also come to our guiding quest when not enjoying the rides.  Donald, Santa Goofy, Eeyore, and Geppetto. Friday also saw us starting out in the main Disneyland park, but finally took us over to the Walt Disney Studios (WDS) park as well. WDS is a very close analog to the original MGM Studios in Orlando. The boys loved the Cars ride as well as the Aladdin flying carpets (think the Dumbo Ride)--though Will was a little bummed that he couldn't ride the Nemo-themed rollercoaster. While Janet and the boys got in line to meet Eeyore and Geppetto, I headed off and walked right onto the Rock&Roller Coaster and made it back to them in time for photos.

Saturday led off with dropping our belonging into the car before jumping in line for the boys to meet Mickey in our hotel lobby.  Each day, a different character was present and Sam was super-excited that it was Mickey. After dropping our room keys off at the front desk, we set off one last time for the Disneyland Park. Unsurprisingly, the size of the crowds in the parks increased each day, and while it wasn't quite up to summertime numbers, it was enough to convince us that any future visits will be from Monday through Thursday during the low seasons. So prior to our trip, a colleague of mine had visited and said I needed to go on "Hyperspace Mountain," a remake of the classic Space Mountain with you guessed it, Star Wars theme elements... eh, it was okay... more loops and barrel-rolls, with a couple of projections showing space battle sequences. I'll skip it next time. While I was waiting for a ridiculously long time Janet and the boys took in four more rides and we met up again on Main Street for some final shopping. 

Overall, it was a fantastic trip.  We definitely learned a lot that we'll apply on a future trip (likely prior to the conclusion of our assignment to Germany 30 months from now).






Trip Stats