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Monday, 7 July 2014

Vacation: Disneyland Paris


I just came back from a great vacation and I decided to share it with you. I'll write 3 posts about it and let me start with our first stop: Paris & Disneyland. We left home on Tuesday, 24th of June, and typically for my family we didn't have everything packed till the very last minute. We had a plan to go right after lunch, but we arrived to my grandparents to leave our dog Medi to them at 3pm. I can say that this usually happens, because we're not the most organised, so I wasn't really surprised.

We left Medi with instructions and worried faces, even though he's always fine while we're gone. After an hour of driving we remembered that we forgot something and returned back home. At home we of course found many more things, that we didn't take in first place. :P My mum figured out that we won't be able to come to our hotel in time for check-in, so she cancelled the reservation and reserved a pension (pension Futterknecht), one hour from Munich and closer to us. We already stayed there before and I guess we were really lucky that they had a room left for us. There was no time to stop for dinner, so I ate some chicken frankfurters and a whole-wheat roll that I brought with me just in case, so tip for you guys: If you're not completely sure about food on your trip, always take some with you, just in case. ;)

We arrived to the pension at 11pm and I probably fell asleep at about 12pm. Next day I woke up at 7am as usual, cause as you can see, I'm an early bird. We went on a breakfast and you must know, that they have a yummy breakfast and so much to choose! I ate chicken meat ball, grilled red pepper, scrambled eggs and a whole-wheat toast that I brought with me and butter. So, here's tip #2: Take your whole-wheat toast with you if you can, it's much easier. :)

After we ate we returned to our room, collected our things and headed to Paris. At around 1pm we started looking for a place to eat lunch. In Germany for example, you have Serways and they have a lot of different cooked food, so it's really not a problem for me. But in France everything they had were sandwiches. Since we didn't find anything, we left the highway and visited a french village near by. We looked for a nice restaurant, but all we found was a pub and a bakery which was still closed. It was already more then 2pm then and we weren't really happy to spend more then half an hour in the village without any success. But the houses were so cute and I think it was great to see French country as well.

After some time we finally found a petrol pump with food and I ended up with some baked ham and salad. Luckily I still had one of my rolls. Lunch was not great, but like I say: You have to adjust in cases like this,
so tip #3: Sometimes you have to just adjust and eat something that you don't really like if there's no other option.

We arrived to our hotel at around 6pm, after some searching for it, because we didn't trust our GPS which was in the end of course right, haha... The hotel was beside a golf course and apartment was really big, with kitchen in mansion style which I loved. There're the pictures of it on the side. We also had a free wi-fi, you know how important it that. ;) Next day after breakfast (hard-boiled eggs) we left the hotel and I found out, that we were going to stay in Disney's hotel Davy Crockett Ranch and I was so excited (don't judge!). We already stayed there twice and I always absolutely loved it. The best part is, that you can come to Disneyland 2 hours earlier than other visitors (at 8am) and go on rides without long lines and waiting and you also get food vouchers, so you can eat in some more expensive restaurants with other food than fast food too.
Anyways, before we went to the hotel, we visited Val d'Europe's pharmacy to pick up my needles for insulin and thank them for sending them to us from France.You see, personally shorter needles  hurt me less and they don't have the shortest possible in Slovenia where I live. When we visited Paris 2 years ago, we found those shorter needles and since then we ordered them there.
After that we went to Davy Crockett Ranch to pick up our tickets for parks. We decided to visit Hollywood Studios that day and Disney dreams in the evening, which is a nighttime spectacular at 11pm that you must not miss if you're in Disneyland Paris. So we came to Hollywood Studios and the first thing I did was that  I ran to get a fast pass for Tower of terror. Just so you know, I like roller coasters and things like that. :) There was a long line for them and when It was finally my turn I had some problems with tickets. There were people bumping into me all the time so I quickly collected all tickets and fast passes (what I thought) and quickly went back to my family. Apparently I forgot one ticket on the machine, so I had to go back to find it and of course I wasn't that lucky. I was really sad & ashamed, cause I wasn't sure if we'll get another ticket. We went to ticket office and after we explained and showed our hotel reservation and passports they gave us a new ticket and I could breath again.
For lunch we ate in McDonald's and yes, it was unusual and yes, I ate there after a long, long time. The thing was, that we tried to make a reservation for lunch in a restaurant in Hollywood Studios, but they didn't have any table left until 5pm and when we asked for Disneyland we got the same answer. So tip #4: Always make a reservation for a restaurant in Disney at least one day before.
We tried to find at least roasted chicken but they told us that they don't have it anywhere in the park, so we went to look for it in Disney Village.  It was quiet expensive there and they alsohad it just in two restaurants: Planet Hollywood and Rainforest Cafe which are table service and probably full too. So when we came to the end of Disney Village we saw McDonald's and decided to eat there. It was really crowded but after half an hour we got our food. I ordered McNuggets and luckily they were easy to peel, so I ate only the meat. After lunch we went back to Hollywood and even though it was really crowded had lots of fun. For dinner we returned to Davy Crockett Ranch and used vouchers to eat there. They had grill and a buffet, so I had a lot to choose from and I even ate some potato gratin, cause I knew that we'd walk a lot after it, cause we went back to Disneyland for Disney Dreams. So tip #5: If you walk or exercise a lot on your vacation, try to eat some food that you really like, but you wouldn't eat on a regular day. Trust me, I didn't have any problems with blood sugar after it, cause you walk really a lot in parks. :)
In my opinion is better to go to Disneyland in the evening, first because it's less crowded and also cooler in the summer. We went on even Big Thunder Mountain (it was gorgeous, because they already turned on the lights beside the lake) and Indiana Jones and The Temple of Peril and waited only 3o & 15 minutes. At around 10:40pm we went to the castle and got a quiet good standing spot and the only thing distracting me while waiting for the show to start was smoking. I wish that they would forbid it like in WDW.
The show started at 11pm and I must say that I was really amazing! They even changed it since we saw it the last time 2 years ago, so it was really great. After it we had to make our way through the crowd and back to our cabin. I was really tired, but I knew I'd have to wake up early next morning to I set my phone for 7am.
Next morning my dad went for breakfast a bit early, so he'd be there at exactly 7:30am when they start serving it. Since they don't have anything OK for people with diabetes, I just made myself scrambled eggs in the little kitchen that cabins have. We got ready quiet quickly and arrived to Disneyland soon enough. We went on all attractions that you usually wait the longest and we practically took a ride of all attractions till afternoon. We made a reservation for Plaza Gardens the other day, so we had lunch there and it was delish! But I must say that they don't have any sugar-free desserts and their staff speaks English very poorly.
After we left the park we did some shopping and returned to the cabin. I was honestly really tired from all the driving and lack of sleeping, so I just read a bit (Meg Cabot's Airhead, I love her books!) and went to bed. Next day was the last day in Paris and we wanted to come to Hollywood Studios before the opening. There was of course already a long line in front of the entrance when we finally came. But me & my brother


still ran to Crush's coaster and stood in the line for it. When our parents came too, I quickly went to get fast passes for Rock n' roll coaster. It was raining so I had to be careful not to slip. When I got the fast passes I rushed back to my family, because they already opened the attraction and the line moved inside the building. So at the end we enjoyed both rides without waiting and left Disneyland happy.

So guys, this is my 1/3 of my vacation posts. I hoped you enjoyed it and let me know what you think or if you have any questions down in the comments! Thanks! :)

                                                               xoxo