The main event of my parents trip out was our trip to Disneyland Paris for Reese’s third birthday. We’d been planning this trip for close to a year and we were very excited about finally getting to go. It’s about a four hour trip to Marne Le Vallee which is a half hour outside of Paris and the location of Disneyland Paris, but we made a short detour on the way there and stopped in Harville,France which is where my paternal grandmother’s family was from. It was a small little town but it was in the perfect location for us to get out and stretch our legs halfway through our trip. We took a photo of those with Harvill blood and those without :)
After our side trip it was straight through to Disneyland! We were staying at the Seqoia Lodge which was part of the Disney resort and it was a very nice hotel, especially by Paris standards. We couldn’t check in yet when we got there so we got on the train and headed into Paris for a day of sightseeing. We were hoping to have lunch at the new Chipotle in Paris but when we got to the location it wasn’t open yet (I was quite sad) so we had to settle for the McDonald’s next door.
After we refueled we headed off to the Louvre which wasn’t far from where we were. It was an extremely warm day outside so when we got there we took a break in the shade and let Reese run around and chase the birds, which she loves to do.
After she fed the birds some leftover french fries we headed towards the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. He doesn’t look like it’s all that far away from the Louvre mainly because you can see it from the Louvre, but once you start walking you realize it really is a long walk…especially when it’s super hot outside like it was.
We were going to continue on to the Eiffel Tower and then Notre Dame but by this point everyone was so hot and tired that we decided just to hit up the Eiffel Tower and then call it a day. I was really looking forward to taking some nice pictures of the kids at the Eiffel Tower but then Reese fell asleep on the walk there and I began to fear that my hopes would be dashed by a very grumpy child. Luckily we were able to lure her with the promise of a treat and I got my pictures plus some other cute ones of her running around in front of the tower.
After all those photos we stopped for crepes, because what would a trip to Paris be without crepes at the Eiffel Tower? When we were through with our treat we got back on the train, which could have ended up being a fiasco because Nate and I paid for round trip tickets but the woman had only given us one way tickets so when we went to get on it didn’t let us through but luckily the attendant believed us and let us on anyways. We got back to Disneyland a little late so we grabbed some quick sandwiches and got to bed because we were planning an early day at the park the following morning.
It was still off season for Disneyland so the park had shortened hours, but since we were resort hotel guests we received Magic Mornings everyday and could enter the park at 8 instead of 10. I think Nate would’ve preferred to enter at 10 but when you have an excited three year old ready to celebrate her birthday, you enter early. That first day was probably our best day at Disneyland, it was a Thursday and the park was really slow so we were able to walk on most of the rides without waiting. Nate and I’s favorite was Space Mountain Mission 2 which we both agreed was better than the regular Space Mountain at Disneyland. Reese had many favorites and if you ask her what they were she’ll tell you the carousel, dumbo, tea cups, buzz lightyear, and pirates. She’s so funny, she was so excited about all the rides and she was literally in heaven as we ran about the park following her instructions on what to ride next. Finn’s first Disney ride ever was Peter Pan, I’d like to say he enjoyed it but he was pretty indifferent as always. He also rode It’s a Small World that first day which was the only other ride he went on, he was content to sit in his stroller and people watch from the bench with his Papa. As a side note about it’s a Small World, we were all laughing because in the America section of it there was the cowboy, Hollywood, and a football and baseball fan with a flag and a thing of popcorn. One of my favorite photos is at the end of Reese with her ears on. We were getting ready to leave for the day and I asked her to put her ears on and take a picture and the first photo is typical Reese and then she finally decided to throw me a bone and give me a smile.
We left Disneyland a little early that day and went back to the hotel to go swimming since we’d been telling Reese that there was a pool. Unfortunately the pool was a little disappointing, not for any reason in particular but maybe because it was an indoor/outdoor pool so there was just this garage door like thing that was part way open and you could either be in or out and the water was not very warm. We were expecting a warm indoor pool, but Reese had fun playing in the little kid pool so that’s all that mattered. While we were getting ready after swimming, Nate and my dad headed down to Disney Village to get in line at Mickey’s Cafe for Reese’s birthday dinner. We ended up timing it perfectly because by the time the kids and I got ready and got down there we only had to wait about 20mins before we got a table. Reese loved dinner that night, the characters kept coming by the table and she was so in love. I think the photo of her with Mickey correctly sums up her feelings for the day. When it was someone’s birthday the characters would come over and dance so we were going to have them do that for Reese but it was quite expensive, luckily there were two other people in our area who had birthdays and Reese thought it was for her and got to dance with Mickey so she got the experience anyways.
The next day after we had our hotel breakfast which was super awesome, I’m addicted to european breakfast because there’s nothing better than hard rolls and salami to start the day, we started the day a little later and went to the second park there which is the Studio Park. We went on a flying carpet ride that Reese really liked and then a cars ride and slinky dog ride before Nate and I took a little break and did a roller coaster and the tower of terror. There were a lot of show there but we weren’t really in the mood so we just settled on taking Reese to the Playhouse Disney show which she was mesmerized by and by then everyone was ready for lunch. We had figured that there wouldn’t be a ton for Reese to do there and we were right, but it worked out perfectly because she was pretty cranky from all the late nights she’d been having so after lunch she and Nate went back to the hotel while Finn and I wandered around the resort area. They enjoyed their nap and I enjoyed wandering very slowly through all the shops and hotels with Finn, we even ran in to Launchpad McQuack from Ducktales so that was pretty random.
That evening we went back to Disneyland for a few hours and my parents took Reese and went on some of her rides again while Nate and I rode Space Mountain again and had some time to ourselves. After another run through her favorites i.e. Buzz Lightyear and Pirates of the Caribbean we headed out of the park and off to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. We figured Reese would enjoy the dinner there and we were right, she kept pointing all the animals out to us and commented every time a storm came through the restaurant. After dinner we went into the store and let her pick out something to buy with the money she’d been storing up in her piggy banks at home. She was so excited about spending her money and ended up settling on a Rex doll and a minnie purse while Nate and I got the kids their usual t-shirts and since they didn’t have any “disney paris piggy banks” we got them each an eiffel tower that was decorated like Mickey and Minnie.
Saturday was our final day at the park so we packed up our stuff, checked out of the hotel, and headed over for another early morning. Reese hit the carousel first like always and then I took the kids over to the sword in the stone to have them try and pull it out. Reese was hilarious because she was hardcore trying to pull that sword out, it was so cute. Then she wanted to do Dumbo and she picked my mom to ride with her and I’m so grateful she didn’t choose me because they ended up waiting in line for over an hour to get on that ride. It was a much busier day on Saturday but luckily she got to do all her favorites so she was happy. When we were walking to one ride we saw that Big Thunder was open for the first time and it was supposed to be closed for our entire vacation so we grabbed fast passes to use later and our time happened to be during the parade. Luckily it worked out because my parents went and rode it while we waited for the parade with Reese and then shortly after the parade had started they got there and took over with her while Nate and I went and rode it. The parade was the farewell of our trip, when it was over we made our way out of the park for good, Reese didn’t even make it out of the park before she crashed out in Nate’s arms. She was one tired little girl after that much Disneyland. 
We had figured we wouldn’t get home from Disneyland until extremely late, but we ended up getting home around 10 and it wasn’t as bad of a drive as we’d been expecting so that was nice. We had an awesome time at Disneyland Paris and I’m glad we got to do it before we left because it was one of the things that I’d been wanting to do for a really long time. I’m also glad we did it when we did because it worked out perfectly getting to celebrate Reese’s birthday there and getting to have my parents come along with us.
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