Speaker 0 00:00:00 Hello and welcome to a Wonder Brother podcast. This is an additional episode because I was recently in Disneyland, Paris, and a lot of people got in touch to ask questions and to say that they would like to hear about how we booked it and what the experience was like with young kids. Obviously I am not a travel blogger and this is my first time trying to, I suppose, talk about a tripper journey that we have done. So bear with me, could be a little bit all over the place, but hopefully I'll give you all the information you need. And if not, do feel free to get in touch through my Instagram page at Wonder Ba hair. So, for all of you who normally tune in for healthcare advice, don't worry that we'll be back soon. Season three is actually launching in 10 days time and it will be focusing on all sorts of infectious diseases from everything from chickenpox to handful mouth disease to the winter vomiting book to conjunctivitis dis loads, lots to come, and there'll be week weekly episodes, which are starting back on the 1st of February. Speaker 0 00:01:08 Okay, so Disney <laugh>. Disney came about in a funny way for us because we have always wanted to go. Myself and my husband actually are joined children and went before we were married or had kids and you know, had had a great time and always wanted to see it through the eyes of our children. It wasn't possible for a number of reasons up until this stage. Obviously the pandemic hit the last couple of years and even before that, maybe financially we just mightn't have had the opportunity to do it and we probably still couldn't afford to do it now. But look, I am, myself and my husband both turned 40 within a couple of days each other of each other there just before Christmas. And he surprised me with the night away in a hotel with all of my family. And we had agreed no presents, no gifts, nothing. Speaker 0 00:02:06 And so all of a sudden I was like, oh no, he's organized <laugh> a family, get together for me. I'm gonna have to do something. So myself and the kids one day were in a cafe and we were kind of chatting, what are we gonna do for Daddy for his 40th? And anyway, it was their idea to go to Disney, which you know, initially sounded absolutely ridiculous and I shot it down and then look, I was like, Hmm, why not now, why not Now finances are probably always gonna be an issue. It'll probably never be justifiable to go and my kids are the perfect age. Like my eldest will be turning 11 in February, the other two are nine and seven. I have to think about that there for a minute. So I, I kind of wanted to go before anyone got too old or too cool <laugh> to come on all of the rides with me. Speaker 0 00:03:08 So we decided, okay, let's go for it and we'll keep it a secret from Daddy. So on his birthday then in December, we surprised him with the tickets because it was me booking it and I was very time poor in November, December. I didn't do maybe as much homework as I should have, but I actually think that it worked out amazingly. If I had spent a week shopping around and trying to figure out the most savvy way to do it, you know, I don't think I would've gotten much better a deal than what we got for the level of enjoyment and the ease of the journey that we got. So I basically got a quote from Cassidy Travel. I have no affiliation with Cassidy Travel. I don't even think I've ever traveled with them before. But they were really, really helpful. I mean because it was a surprise I had to ring from the pharmacy on my lunch break, which isn't very long, if at all. Speaker 0 00:04:10 So I didn't have a lot of time. So I literally was just saying to the girl on the phone like, this is what I want this five of us. I want to go over to Paris, I wanna spend a couple of days in Disney. I wanna spend a couple of days in or even one day in Paris itself and I wanna have a great time. I want the accommodation to be amazing. I want to have a joining rooms because I had this notion that you know, after the kids went to bed that myself and Alan might sit off and have a glass of wine and chill. That was a completely ridiculous notion because we were all so tired by nine o'clock at night we were all in bed and yeah, neither of us had any interest in talking to each other. So I think if I was doing it again, um, that might be a way to reduce cost a little, you know, a big family room would be just as useful as two adjoining rooms. Speaker 0 00:05:03 So I'll go through what we got and tell you the pros and cons, although I don't feel from that trip there was many cons. So for Cassidy Travel, they booked us really effectively and efficiently without any work from me, other than picking times flights with Air Lingus and two days in the Disney parks. So when you buy the tickets you have to go for two consecutive days and you also get access to the two parks. So there's Disney Parks and then there's the studios. So that was all fine. We booked lunchtime flights from Dublin to Charlottes Gal. So that was really good because you know, we didn't have a lot of medicine to do, like getting up ridiculously early in the morning or whatever. It was quite straightforward. And as it happened, when I was getting the quote from Cassidy Travel, I asked them to price the whole thing for four days. Speaker 0 00:05:57 That's what we were going for. And then I asked them to quote for five days just because I was getting excited at this point. And would you believe the five days worked out 300 euro cheaper than the four days? So it is always worth asking to price a day, maybe shorter and longer and just to see what works out most cost effective straight into the money really. I know that's what people, you know, that'll be a big deciding factor. So for us, for five people, it basically cost us for the flights, a private transfer from the airport, which was amazing. It was seven and it, the man met us as we arrived through in arrivals, which the children found very exciting seeing their name up on one of those boards. And he was lovely and he brought us straight from Charlottes Groll airport to our hotel, which was the Grand Magic Hotel. Speaker 0 00:06:51 I'll talk more about that in a minute. And the same on return. So they picked us up and from the hotel and brought us straight to the airport. So I really appreciated having the transfers organized. I think that was a huge benefit. Also included then was five nights in the Grand Magic Hotel, which is a hotel that is, I suppose it's not an official Disney hotel. There's about four hotels, I think there's the Explorers Hotel, the Grand Magic Hotel, uh, the Dream Castle or Princess Castle, I can't remember. Anyway, as I said, not very good at travel reviewing. There's a good few hotels to choose from and depending on what's most important to you, just choose between them. I think they're all four star hotels and I'll explain more about that in the sec. Also included in the price, were our two days in Disney Parks and studios. Speaker 0 00:07:44 So all of that for the five nights cost 496 Euro per person. So it is a lot of money, but considering you're getting your flights, your transfers, your hotels day and your park tickets for five people, you know, it works out at just over a hundred Euros. So about 120 Euro a day per person. Like we had a phenomenal time and made memories that will last forever depending on your family's eyes and your situation. Um, you know, you might decide it is or is not viable. Obviously we went in January, which was off peak and raining and <laugh> probably, you know, it would be nicer in the middle of summer. But there were pros and cons and we knew what we were going to and we had dressed appropriately. So it wasn't an issue for us actually really. Okay. So with the hotels, I know that the Explorers Hotel have much better pool and swimming set up for kids. Speaker 0 00:08:47 It's a lot. There's a lot more, you know, kind of slides and fun there in the Grand Magic Hotel, the pool is very basic, but obviously my children did not know what was off on offer in the Explorers Hotel. So they were quite happy that there was any pool at all and they only had time to go on it once for like 20 minutes and they had an absolute ball, they loved it. The other thing about the hotels, I think, you know, if the pool was really important to you explorers, they might have different room setups. So as I said, I was really insist insistent on having two adjoining rooms and the rooms were amazing I have to say. So in each room there was a queen size double bed and a bunk bed. So you know, you could sleep four people per room quite comfortably. Speaker 0 00:09:35 There were only five of us. So myself and my husband had one room in theory <laugh> and the kids shared the other room. So there was one of them in the double bed and then two of them in bunks. Now in reality, you know, because different people were arguing what different people or different people were tired and wanted to go to sleep before others, it ended up a bit of bed hopscotch really. So you know, there were various kids in our room in the bunk bed threats stay, but overall we were all going to sleep at the same time. So it really didn't make a difference. The hotel itself was amazing to arrive into. First of all, it smells amazing in the foyer. I think they're pumping strawberry something out into the air. But anyway, that was the first thing that hit us when we arrived in check-in was really straightforward and easy and the magic of walking past the reception and seeing the huge big hole with amazing digital screens everywhere, showing different pictures at different times of day took our birth away time and time again and it really did add a lot of magic to our stay. Speaker 0 00:10:47 So I suppose that was the wow factor for us with that hotel. The kids loved it. And you know, the whole, the hall was so big and quiet enough at certain times day that the kids were doing cartwheels round and just absolutely love in life, they thought it was great. The hotel itself is really well kept apart from I would say the corridors, um, upstairs at the bedrooms really badly need paint. Now I'm actually not a very fu person, but they really, really badly need to paint the corridors. The rooms themselves were immaculate, really clean housekeeping every day and yeah, absolutely perfect. I couldn't have looked for more. We had a kettle, we could make coffee in the morning, you know, we obviously had two bathrooms cuz we had two rooms. It was ideal, the beds were comfy and yeah it was really happy with that. Speaker 0 00:11:34 They also had kind of cool lights and stuff. The rooms were decorated in a very child-friendly way and the kids found it a treat. You know, it wasn't like staying in a plain hotel. There was definitely a touch of magic in the bedrooms as well between the lights, you know, and there was even a light in the shape of a balloon beside the mirror and those nice designs on the walls and yeah, it was definitely child friendly so that was great In terms of what was included in our hotel, hotel day, it was bed and breakfast. So this was actually brilliant because you didn't know where you were gonna be in the evening. So I don't think there'd be any point in having dinner included. The first night we arrived we did have dinner and we knew it was gonna be challenging for us particularly because we have a celiac child and I had heard that France in general is not particularly aware or helpful to Celiacs and I would like to say that yes I agree, I think that it is a real challenge if you have a celiac child and you go to Disneyland, but there are ways that you can get around it. Speaker 0 00:12:39 So Grand Magic Hotel, I was using Google Translate and I was remembering my <laugh> childhood French. And I think that helped as well by being able to explain to them that you know, this child was celiac and you know, we needed no gluten anywhere, not touching anything. There was a bit of talking to be done about that, but they did actually really get it and they really did make an effort. So the first night it was a buffet dinner and they said she could have absolutely nothing <laugh>. We were like what? So they decided they would make her rice and a chicken fill it. Um, which was actually fine. Like that particular child is used to being celiac obviously she's used to life being a bit difficult and she does know that there are times where she won't get to eat nuggets and chips when she's away or whatever and she will just oblige you and be really helpful and say yes, I'll eat the chicken, fill it and rice, that's fine. Speaker 0 00:13:34 But as I walked around the buffet like I could see that there was one section which was just completely salads and again that child is quite good so she was able to eat cucumbers, tomatoes, stuff like that. There was no gluten anywhere near it. I had no fear of cross-contamination. So look, overall it wasn't as bad as I think even the hotel thought themselves. They also in the morning, so breakfast was another big huge uh, buffet and we all ate solidly a huge breakfast and the celiac child was <laugh> feel fat calling her that, but she was given a little packet with two slices of white gluten free bread and they had bacon that was uncontaminated gluten. So we were able to make her a bacon sandwich for breakfast and she was delighted and the hotel were good enough to give us an extra packet so that we could make her lunch. Speaker 0 00:14:30 So we would make her say a ham and cheese sandwich or <laugh> a Nutella sandwich. They had Nutella there and you know she's gotta live a little. So we kind of packed a sandwich for her and knowing that Disney Park would be really restrictive for her to eat. And we had some snacks with us as well and you're not meant to lift fruit and food out of the restaurant but we did so look, it was very restrictive for her to eat. So we'd bring an apple and stuff from the buffet that we couldn't get access to anywhere else and yeah, I dunno did they just turn a blind eye? But yeah, in general you're not meant to do that. But yeah, that's how we fed our child lunch in Disney parks. So the hotel basically offers a free shuttle bus to the Disney Park and it takes less than 10 minutes. Speaker 0 00:15:22 It's really straightforward, it can get quite busy waiting for the shuttle bus but that's more of an issue on the way home in the evening than it is in the morning. So in the morning generally you'll have no problem hopping on a shuttle bus. They come every 10 minutes if you're up early and I mean the park doesn't open till half nine, I don't think we managed to leave the hotel till 10 o'clock any morning. So yeah it was plenty of time. So walked into the parks and you know, the cues weren't that bad getting in, it was kind of okay and we spent the first day just in the Disney Park. We didn't go to the studio at all the first day. It's worth noting that a lot of rides you need to be 1.2 meters fur. So our seven year old is relatively tall and we were lucky that he could go on all rides apart from one which is the Indiana Jones ride. Speaker 0 00:16:14 So you need to be 1.4 meters for that. Obviously we were a family of five and the seven year old basically did not leave my side for <laugh> the whole experience. So he was nervous going on different rides and things and he was the smallest of us and the girls were a little bit older and braver and so you know, he got dragged around and made go on all the scary rides and he ended up enjoying it. But yeah, I think that's a good cutoff age. I'd say kind of seven upwards, you know, for the scary rides. I think under that they might be a little bit too scared of some of them in terms of navigating your way around the Disney Park. And a useful tip is to make sure you have the Disney app downloaded and your tickets linked to the app. The map shows you then within the app the map shows you the wait times on each ride and that was really helpful cuz you could kind of navigate your and go, well okay the queue is small for Thunder Mountain now, so we'll do that and then we'll come back over and we'll do Hyperspace Mountain or Peter Pan or whatever it was. Speaker 0 00:17:23 So definitely download the app and use it and go into the maps to check the times that are there for the queues. Well rides wise then we all absolutely loved Hyperspace Mountain, the seven year old, you know, the first time he came off and early crying but as he said it was scared but with joy so he wanted to go back on it and he did another couple of times over the couple of days and he absolutely loved it. The buzz light year one is kind of good for any age really. Um, you're just sh sitting in a cart, it's not scary. You're shooting at lasers and it's quite fun. Peter Pan was really nice, that's very gentle. You're sitting in a a boat kind of uh, flying over London and whatnot and yeah definitely suitable for all age groups. And then another one that was very, very popular in our house was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride that um, has water elements to it but you don't actually get wet and there's an awful lot to look at and I'm telling you, I pretty much thought the Captain Jack Sparrow was real life like the, it was amazing. Speaker 0 00:18:27 You know, the show was really good and true to life and I think we did it again about three times purely because the kids became obsessed. Uh, thunder Mountain was really good. It's rollercoaster again. I think my seven year old was on the limit with that. He was okay with it but if you had a more nervous child they wouldn't be. The phantom manner was very good. We really enjoyed that. It was a little bit creepy at times but the girls absolutely just adored it. My eight year old, nine year old, very sorry, my nine year old girl, you know, insisted on going in a booth on her own, which was okay because there was five of us. So it was two, two and one a lot of the time. And for any of the scary rides my husband went on his own and the two girls were together and I would stay with the young fellas so it is worth kind of thinking that out if you need to divide into twos, you know, like our two girls who were 10 and nine were quite happy to support each other if they were scared on a ride. Speaker 0 00:19:25 But you know, if you had a child that definitely needed a parent with them, I think yeah just have that in your head that a lot of the rides are for or two people. We didn't do any of the meeting of the princesses or Mickey Mouse et cetera because the cues were like an hour long and my children didn't seem a bit interested so they were quite happy to not do that in the name of going and other kind of rides and things, there is a little maze thing, uh, called Alice's Curious Labyrinth and that was quite fun. We enjoyed just wandering around that. Another tip I would say is that the restaurants, you have to book them on the app months in advance if you want like a sit down proper restaurant. Other than fast food, we obviously had booked, I had booked a month before we went so we didn't go to any restaurants at all in their proper restaurants. Speaker 0 00:20:19 We did get um, go to the fast food places and get burgers and chips for those who could eat them and obviously as I said we had a different battle. There was a couple of places that the celiac could eat the chips because they weren't cooked in the same oil as things like the Nuggets and whatnot, but it was quite restrictive so yeah. Um, and also we were all quite sick of fast food by the end of it a restaurant might have been nice and the one that is near the parts of the Caribbean looked really cool cuz you get to see the ride going through it. So obviously we just looked up like hungry crazed people from the ride into the restaurant. But I'd say that's quite a cool place to eat clothes-wise, I have a lot of layers like both myself and my husband had backpacks on with hats, skirts, gloves and these were going on and off and on and off as we were going on and off rides. Speaker 0 00:21:07 But if you're going during winter you really do need to have kind of waterproof boots and waterproof jacket and once you have that and hat scarfing gloves, you're walking so much that you really don't notice the weather. We had rain, we had everything and it was freezing but it really did not negatively affect our trip. I'm sure it would be a different trip in the heat but you know, as I was saying to the kids, if it was 28 degrees and gorgeous we'd all be too hot and we'd have to be flu through with loads of sun cream and everything, which is another battle in itself. So I think there's pros and cons to any time of year you go there is a lot of walking to be done. So if your child is only a little bit out of a buggy, maybe revert to a buggy if you're going to Disneyland. Speaker 0 00:21:53 Uh, my husband checked his phone and one of the days, you know we walked 22 kilometers so I was quite shocked at that cuz if I thought I would bring my children on a 22 kilometer walk anywhere else, obviously it wouldn't happen. But they didn't seem to notice in Disney and nor did I, there was a couple of complaints of Tireds for our legs, um, but we tried to incorporate breaks where we could and you know, you're on the rides a lot of the times as well and overall there is just so much excitement and joy and want to do the next thing that they were happy to do the walking. Okay then the studios. So the studios are really, really worth doing. I feel like they either weren't there when I was there before I had kids or we just didn't bother but it was actually really worth doing with the kids. Speaker 0 00:22:43 There's a few rides in there that are really fun. The Slinky Dog is good for younger kids and older middle-aged kids. Uh, Ratha Tui was really good all my age group loved that. Um, and it was quite gentle. And then there's a couple that are a bit more intense. There was a Spider-Man one actually and that was quite good. The seven year old loved that he got to shoot Spiderwebs, you know, and try and help Spider-Man and I don't think any of us scored particularly well <laugh> in any of these rides. But we had fun and actually Spider-Man was outside in the studios. He was upstairs in a balcony over the ride at one point as we were walking by and you know, the seven year old got to have a full on like web fight. I don't know, he was shooting webs at Spider-Man and Spider-Man was interacting back with him and it was just, that was the magic of Disney. Speaker 0 00:23:40 There was these random bits where there was characters around the place and you know, know they'd go to every effort to make it amazing and the parks are just really amazingly well maintained. Like there isn't a leaf out of place, it really is. Everything's such a high beautiful standard over there. We also did the Hollywood Tower now the seven year old absolutely we terrified, I'm potentially traumatized from that but he was fine. But that was definitely one we weren't going on again, this big drops, you know that feeling where you lose your tummy but the girls loved it and then accidentally we all rocked up to the Avengers assemble Flight Force thinking that it was gonna be like Spider-Man just sit around and look at the characters and you know, maybe go in a little cart around the place. Well all I can say is <laugh>, we all came off completely shook. Speaker 0 00:24:32 We did not realize we were getting into quite an aggressive roller coaster. Like we all had migraine for a good two hours afterwards the young fella came off crying going, what just happened? And we were all as shocked as each other. So maybe do look at the <laugh> at the rides before you jump on them blindly because with that particular one you can't see what you're going into and yeah, no, I mean two of us absolutely loved it, me and one of the girls, but no one else wanted to go on it again. So yeah, in terms of shows in the studios we did two shows. Uh, one of them was very accidental. We were just walking past the place where the Disney Junior Dream Factory show was on and um, you know, my husband was like, oh I think they're a bit old for that. Speaker 0 00:25:19 And I said, well no, it's raining and I'm tired so we're gonna go in and sit down and watch it. And there was no cue. And we actually really enjoyed that one. It was really cute. It was just Mickey Mouse and all sorts of stuff, but they were blowing bubbles out into the audience and bubbles would like smoke in them and just cool stuff. Lots of bright lights, lots of easy, gentle entertainment and it was a nice place to sit for 20 minutes and be entertained. And actually all of the kids enjoyed it and I was kind of expecting the 10 year old to go, oh that's for babies and she didn't, she was like, that was great. I was like okay. So we all seemed to enjoy that. We did queue up for half an hour to go into the frozen show and like the kids enjoyed it and it, it was great. Speaker 0 00:26:05 It's very understandable that everything really is in French when you're in France so I'm not taken away from that. But the, I think the kids ended up laughing more at that than anything else. Definitely worth it if you have younger Disney fans, but just to make sure to explain to them that it is French Elsa and French Christoph and French Anna. But it was really good and weirdly for us the junior dream factory was more of a hit. Okay, so that is kind of the Disney Park review that I have. Obviously I'm happy to answer any more questions on that. But then just explain how we did Paris itself. We did this very lazily because we did a two after two days, um, of walking 20 k a day in the parks so the kids were wrecked. So we actually didn't get on the road till about 11 on the day to Paris, which was a Sunday. Speaker 0 00:27:00 And actually if you can plan it so that it's a Sunday, it is good because you don't have all the commuter traffic on the metros and train stations. And we found the whole train station experience like amazing, they have amazing public transport but we were completely like children lost in a big person's world. Like we had no idea what was going on, where to find our train or platform and everything was moving so quick that you really had to have your wits about you And I wouldn't like to be trying to do that on holiday mode when there are experienced commuters all around you. So you actually get the train. So if you're staying in one of the hotels, you just jump on the shuttle and you get yourself back to the Disney Park area because that is actually where the train station is. So the Disney train station is the last station in the stop and it goes into Paris. Speaker 0 00:27:50 The train takes about 45 minutes and it brings you straight to the arch to triumph, which was amazing. So definitely show kids the pictures of the Arch Archit Triumph and the Eiffel Tower before you go so that when they walk up from the underground and the Arctic Triumph is right in front of them, they're like wow, that's cool. Look where we are. We got on a train in Disney and now we're right bank smack in the middle of Paris. So they loved that. Another great thing about getting off at that stop is that there is a stop for the big bus tours right there. So we jumped on the big bus tour that was kind of expensive, um, but worth it for us. So I think it cost about 140 euro for the five of us. Um, we had to buy, it was like a 24 hour pass and we got the basic package and we, anyway we got on the bus and we stayed on until ERO and we got off there because um, someone in the hotel had told me that if you get off at ero, the view of the Eiffel Tower is amazing and you can just kind of stroll down to it. Speaker 0 00:28:57 And we absolutely really enjoyed doing that. I would say in that area they have to have your wits about you. I think pickpocketing is a big thing in Paris and there's a lot of pushy sales people going around selling, you know, souvenirs and mini Eiffel terrors and that kind of thing. Um, have your kids warn so that like they kept putting basically Eiffel little toy Eiffel terrors into my kids' hands and the girls had sense to say like pull their hands away and not take them but share the young fella. I thought he was being gifted everything and then people would be shouting 20 euro at us and we were like, no, give that back. You know, we weren't taking it. Um, and you have to kind of, yeah, have that game face on. Obviously if you want to go and buy loads of memory memorabilia from these people, that's fine. Speaker 0 00:29:46 I am really weird about this kind of thing. The kids were laughing at me, I'm such a retailer, I'm like, excuse me now if we're buying souvenirs, we're gonna buy them from someone who is paying rent and has staffed pay and <laugh> since I was like, I just, I'm like if I have to pay, you know, high rental costs in my business, I don't want someone coming and selling my stock right outside my door. I don't think that's fair. So I was like, kids were supporting somewhere that, you know, <laugh> pays all of the expenses that are required from a normal retail business. Anyway, that's a tangent and um, yeah very much my weirdness. But we walked down to the Eiffel Tower and the kids were very wowed by it, which was brilliant, just the sheer size of it. We wanted round and found a cafe, which probably wasn't a good idea to go to a cafe beside an Eiffel Tower cause like coffees were like eight euro or something. Speaker 0 00:30:45 Anyway, we had a little coffee and hot chocolate there and then we wandered back and got back on the bus. So we got back on at the Eiffel Terra stop and by staying on until the Louv stop we saw the hospital in Valli, the Grand and Patti p the PLA Concord and we got off at the Louv, there is earphones and all of the kids enjoyed listening to the uh, commentary as we were going around. So you know, they were able to relax and sit on the bus and see everything and hear what it was and hear funny stories about, well not very funny stories, but stories about who was Gil Guillotine wear and all of that kind of thing. And I suppose absorbed some of the culture and architecture, which is what I really wanted for them. But I knew I couldn't push them too far because they were absolutely exhausted. Speaker 0 00:31:34 So the bus was a really good way I felt for us to soak up the city. We got off at the Louv, not because we had any intention of going into the Louv. I've been there before and while it's lovely as an adult, I know that my children wouldn't enjoy it. So if I had more time I probably would've brought the kids in to Mus dors, um, because I think they would've enjoyed that more. But no, so we got off at the Louv cause like lunatics we, we were trying to search for gluten, gluten-free food. So we were literally on a rampage and we had seen that there was a place called Coffee Creps, which is very close by five, five minute walk from the stop at the Lou and they do gluten-free creps. And that is the only reason that we got off there. Speaker 0 00:32:19 And we went in and it was about like half three, four o'clock at this stage. We hadn't had lunch, we'd had snacks and we all ate a Cazillion CREs and everyone was absolutely delighted. Then we got back onto the bus and we <laugh>, I'm sorry, we sang like terrible Lazy Tourists. Then we got back onto the bus and we saw Notre Dame and PS P War born and we got, uh, drove back up the Chane and I obviously really enjoyed that seeing all the, you know, the major kind of um, retail outlets like Chanel and everything. I was just, if I was there on my own, I'd spent a lot longer on the Chane looking in the windows. But even the kids enjoyed kind of seeing, you know, the scale of it. And then we got back off the Chane and it took us about an hour to figure out um, how to get back on the train and then everyone needed the toilet and you know yourself like I think you can kind of make a trip to Paris really tricky and hard work or you can keep it simple. Speaker 0 00:33:25 Like the kids wanted to go to the aquarium, which was near the Eiffel Tower and I was like, there's a lovely aquarium in Bray. You have one day in Paris like you need to see Paris. You don't need to go and look in an aquarium. And I'm sure it's amazing and if I'd had two or three days, absolutely I would've done that. But for a one day trip, you know, the bus tour does all it says and I think of course you need to consider, are your kids gonna enjoy kind of looking around and seeing the sites or are they too young? Because if they're too young don't bother. Like there will be a time where they all enjoy it. And I can tell you at seven, nine and 10 they were the perfect age. Like the girls loved seeing the city. Um, my little fella loved seeing the Eiffel Tower. Speaker 0 00:34:14 He was happy to experience the whole thing. Uh, one other thing about the Eiffel Tower is keep, like we were trying to take photos of each other, acting the Egypt and everyone was having to turn, trying to hold the Eiffel Tower in the picture like mine on Instagram. And people, you know, some of the men selling things keep coming over trying to offer to take your phone and like quite physically grab it off you. So again, just have your wits about you like I'm sure a lot of it is just people trying to be helpful, but I think it's good to keep, I suppose a little cynical side of yourself open when you're down in that area because they just have so many tourists. Okay, when we were getting the train back, we decided to stop at the stop before the Disney stop. And the reason we did that was again food. Speaker 0 00:34:59 Are you seeing a theme here? <laugh>? So we got off at Val to Europe stop and we went to this pizzeria which was called Pizza DeRoma and it was a five minute walk from the stop and they did gluten-free pastan stuff and overall just a nice meal actually for anyone staying in the area. Really nice food. I had passed down, it was amazing. Mine obviously wasn't gluten free and had parma ham and cheese and it was just, it was really beautiful. And then we after that got a taxi, which did not cost a lot. Okay, I think it was around 10, 15 euro back to our hotel. And that was just a lovely way to finish our day because we knew from the day before that if we went back and got off at Disney Paris at kind of seven, eight o'clock, the, like the whole park starts to empty at that stage. Speaker 0 00:35:46 The fireworks are on at eight and people either leave after the parade kind of at five, half five or they leave after the fireworks at eight, half eight and the bus stop is chaos. Like we had a really bad experience the first night where people were literally shoving the kids outta the way. Like people turn into lunatics in that kind of environment cuz I suppose if they don't get in the bus, you're waiting another potentially 20 minutes to get on the next one. We did find that really tricky and you know, I think if you had a boogie with you, it was quite hard to get on. People were all out for themselves. It just, it just brought us into that kind of, ah, this isn't a happy part of our holidays so we try to avoid it after the first night. Um, so just kind of keep that in mind if you're le leaving the Disney parks, you know, avoid peak peak times because yeah it does get a little bit stressful. Speaker 0 00:36:43 Other than that, yeah, we were kind of done, the kids enjoyed the pool the next day and we kind of chilled a bit. I think it's amazing to do the parks and to know that you're gonna be exhausted and you're gonna go around. But seeing it through the kids' eyes was a really, really wonderful experience. But we, you know, if there was a ride that anyone was too small to go on, none of us went on it. We went obviously on everything together and it was hilarious. Like it was hilarious even when there were, even when we were traumatized it was just so much fun and it was just wonderful, wonderful family time. So if you can do the trip, absolutely do. I realize it's difficult and that's why we hadn't gone for so many years because we just were like, okay, it's too much money and you know, if the kids aren't the right age it's not worth it. Speaker 0 00:37:33 But yeah, if everyone's the right age and things align, absolutely do it. It's so much fun. So that is my review. I am sorry it went on for so long, but I'm assuming if you're listening it's because you hope to go soon and I hope that some of that information has been helpful. I wanna thank Cassidy Travel for just making it really easy. Obviously they had no idea that I would be doing a review or what line of work I was in and you know, like the fact that they didn't know that I'd be doing a public review just makes me like it more because the service was really great and they did make everything really straightforward. So yeah, high five to Cassidy Travel. If you know anyone going to Disney or hoping to go to Disney at any stage, please do, uh, share this podcast. And if you can follow and subscribe to keep up to date on everything related to family and children's health, I will be, as I said, starting season three on the 1st of February. I hope to hear from you then. Bye Mike.