Disneyland Paris in the spring – a surprise trip

Can there be anything better than a surprise Disney trip and a chance to visit Disneyland Paris in the spring? We were at the beautiful St Pancras train station, packed with statues and cafes and definitely somewhere to linger if you have the time. However, we were in a rush. We were heading to the Eurostar terminal for our weekend away in Paris. Or so our children thought. We’ve been to Paris before and our children were looking forward to the trip in their usual taking-it-all-in-their-stride kind of way. They had no idea what was really happening.

Getting there – Surprise Disney trip – Disneyland Paris in the spring

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We paused at the beautiful ‘The Meeting Place’ statue at the front entrance to the train station and then hurried on to the terminal.

Once at check in the list of destinations for the trains were displayed and we stopped outside to pull out our passports and tickets.

Surprising the kids

“Where are we off to?” I said cheerfully.

“Paris!” everyone cheered.

“Where else do the trains go?”.

The children looked at the board, “Brussels!” our eldest exclaimed.

“Yes…anywhere else?”.

They looked again, a pause, and then, “Disneyland!!”.

We looked at them smiling and nodding and they looked back. “Wow, could we go?” asked my eight year old. “We are” we shouted, “we’re off to Disneyland right now!”.

Our children couldn’t believe it, they jumped up and down, tears in their eyes and threw their arms around us. The news sank in.

We were actually going to Disneyland, the place they have been asking to go to every time we see the adverts on television or watch a Disney film and see the castle at the start.

Taking the train to Disneyland Paris

We quickly checked in and within twenty minutes we were on the train and soon whizzing our way straight to Disneyland Paris.

The Eurostar to Disneyland is absolutely fantastic. Literally dropping you at the entrance to the park and so, less than three hours after they’d found out we were off to Disneyland, we were there surrounded by Micky Mouse ears and big smiles everywhere we looked.

Disneyland Paris in Spring is a great time to visit. The park is decked out with beautiful floral displays as the coloured flowers open and glow in the sunshine.

The crowds aren’t as full as in the summer. And while the weather may be more temperamental there are plenty of places to dive inside to explore when the weather starts to turn.

A day at Disneyland Paris in the spring – a surprise trip

We had the most wonderful day at Disneyland Paris. I know it’s a cliché but it really is a magical place and somewhere you can’t help but smile beams of happy smiles all day long.

Rides

We really packed our time full, heading first to Pinocchio for a dark ride through Stromboli’s Marionette show before heading to my favourite Disney ride, ’It’s a Small World’. Here we rode around the world spotting everywhere we have been while the little characters sang and danced. You can’t fail to love ‘It’s a Small World’.

We fought the Pirates of the Caribbean which was a brilliant, slightly scary boat ride through the pirate lands and was action-packed and great fun.

Phantom Manor

And we even dared to venture into the Phantom Manor.

We rode around the rooms of the haunted castle watching all the ghostly sights. My eight-year-old loved it, it was perfectly spooky enough for him.

Paddle boat

And while there the other three took off in Disney’s majestic 19th-century-style paddle boat and rode around the river. It turned out to be the ideal place for the three-year-old to take a 20-minute power nap.

Parades – Disneyland Paris in the spring – a surprise trip

We love the parades at Disney and paused for a while to sit on the side and watch Goofy’s Spring time parade.

Many of the characters came out to dance and hold out their hands to the crowd as the music played.

Our three-year-old flushed so red in the face with joy as he touched Tigger from Winne the pooh’s hand. It was such a special moment.

We really enjoyed all the colourful plants they carried with them and the characters dressed with flowers in their outfits. It was a great springtime feel-good show.

Our six-year-old was desperate to fly on Dumbo and this did take out a chunk of the afternoon as the queues were pretty long. But she loved it and that was all that mattered.

And we all walked around Alice’s Labrynth where water fountains jumped and played and the maze tricked us time and again.

And before we knew it the time had come to grab our places on the route of the main parade for the brilliant carnival of characters that work its way around the park.

I love this end-of-day parade in particular. It’s proper Disney feel-good and a chance to see all the characters, the princesses and loads of extras from the films.

The soldiers from Toy Story danced in front of us, “they even felt like toy soldiers” our eight-year-old exclaimed as he got to shake hands with one.

And we loved the floats driving past as the music played.

As our feet ached and we knew we could walk no more we admitted defeat and decided to head out of Disney and into Paris for the couple of days we had planned in the city.

“I love it here so much”, our eight-year-old said as we turned to head out and he gave me the biggest hug. “I do too”, I said, “I hope we’ll be back one day soon”.

Disneyland Paris to Paris

And with that our Disneyland Paris Springtime adventure was over.

Or was it?!

Our children thought it was, we had told them it was a one-day trip and that we were off to enjoy Paris for a couple of days and we did just that.

We spent a decadent couple of days at Le Royal Monceau Hotel where we ate macarons, wandered the streets of Paris in Springtime and marvelled at the Arch de Triomph.

Paris to Disneyland Paris

And then we headed for home, catching the metro back to the Eurostar terminal.

Here are our children heading home after a weekend of fun.

We got to the Disneyland Eurostar terminal.

Disneyland Paris in the spring – surprising the kids, again

“Bye, bye Disneyland, thank you for a lovely time” I called and we all waved. “Or….should we go in one last time?”

“WHAT?” the children gasped.

We had arrived back at Disneyland in the morning with our train home not leaving until early evening, we were back to Disneyland for another day of fun. And the children could not believe it.

We all skipped back into the park for yet another wonderful day, making memories and this time we visited the places we didn’t catch the first time.

Our three and six-year-olds wanted to spin round and round in the teacups so that was first on the list.

And we also tackled Evil Emperor Zurg with Buzz Lightyear and rode Peter Pan boats over Neverland.

We went on ‘It’s a Small world’ again – it has to be done, doesn’t it? And ate big tubs of popcorn as we wandered around Tom Sawyer’s Island and we had such a lovely day.

It was a short walk to the Eurostar for our train home and this time we really were going.

It was a weekend of making the best family memories and all coming together for a weekend of smiles.

I absolutely love Disney for its ability to deliver the most amazing experiences. Something you just can’t get in the same way anywhere else.

Find out more about Disneyland Paris and get your tickets here and don’t forget to check out our feature all about travelling to Disneyland Paris by Eurostar train.

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