After 7 nights in Chamonix it was time to make our way back to England so Paris seemed like a sensible place to stop for a few nights to break up the journey. We were staying in Val d’Europe as it is in a great location for going into the city and is within walking distance of Disney. We had stayed here last year although we were in a different apartment – one with an oven this time!

I had promised the kids Disney if they came into Paris so the first morning we took the train into the city. There is a direct train from Val d’Europe to Chatelet – Les Halles. From here we could walk to the Notre Dame (I didn’t fancy navigating the Paris Underground!)

I had originally planned to visit Sacre Coeur but both Tom and Izzy wanted to return to the Notre Dame after watching the fire on tv to see how the renovations were coming on.

^{Visiting the Notre Dame}

Next stop was the Pantheon – this is somewhere I had wanted to visit last year but we just ran out of time. It was only about a 15 minute walk away from Notre Dame. The building was impressive and inside was beautiful – the kids especially enjoyed going into the vaults underneath.

^{The Pantheon}

It was now pushing on for lunch time so we wandered back down to the Seine, found a cute little cafe for lunch and then trained it back to our apartment. After all – we now had a full on 2 1/2 days of Disney starting that evening!!!

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show

I had booked us tickets for the 6pm showing of the Wild West Show. We walked from our apartment which took about 20 minutes and were first in the line for seat allocations so ended up on the front row. We had taken the kids when they were younger (5 & 6) so I was quite excited to take them again.

They absolutely loved the show – you can’t go wrong with horses, cowboys and Micky Mouse. It was just really good fun and they just got really into the audience participation. A lot of people moan about the food that is served but actually I thought it was really good. Chilli, corn bread, chicken, sausages, potatoes, ice cream and beer! The only grumble I had was from Izzy who as she’s 11 was on a children’s ticket so had to have a kids meal!

^{Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show}

Disneyland Park and Disney Studios

I splashed out a bit on the Disney tickets and got us a Two Day Disney Experience which gave us some fast passes to rides but also front row VIP viewing for the fireworks (plus some discounts on food and drinks) .

We headed into the Park for opening and after learning from my mistakes of last year the first thing I did was book us somewhere for lunch. Then we headed off for some rides. We did Snow White, Pinocchios Journey, Phantom Manor (twice) and Buzz Lightyear (which is still their favourite ride). We had lunch at the Plaza Gardens Restaurant which is a buffet so the kids could just have whatever they wanted. They both especially liked the steak.

After lunch we headed into the Studios to watch the Cars Stunt show which was brilliant. It was also nice to sit down for an hour.

Our tickets gave us VIP viewing for the fireworks on the first night only and as it was summer the fireworks stated at 11pm. Therefore we headed home for a couple of hours to relax before going back into the park for the evening.

There was no queue for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and as it was closed last year when we visited the kids were keen to go on it. Think we went on it about 4 times – it was really cool.

^{Pirates of the Caribbean}

We then waited for the fireworks. We were lucky as we had our own area with plenty of space. It was the best decision I’d made to get those tickets as the kids were tired and they were just able to sit down and chill out. The fireworks were spectacular!!!

Our final day we were a little jaded due to the late night so went to the parks a little later. Izzy was desperate to go on Crushers Coaster – even though there was over an hours queue. I hadnt realised how fast a ride it was so had told Tom it was for kids……..well, when we got on and the safety bars went down I knew I’d made a mistake. My eyes remained closed the whole time, all I could hear was Tom saying he didn’t like it and Izzy loving it! Glad we did it though.

We also went on Ratatouille – The Adventure a few times. If you went as a single rider there was no wait time and each time we more or less ended up in the same cart.

After another long day we headed back to apartment to pack as we were leaving for the Chunnel first thing in the morning…….after a wine and sushi stop at Carrefours!