Disneyland, Paris!

Whoop, whoop! This has been a long time in the planning and I'm not sure how we managed to keep it as a complete surprise for the kids but we did. They had no idea - even when we arrived at the hotel. As we were getting closer I asked Olivia if she'd like to wear her glasses (so she could see the signs) but she replied that she was fine as she could make out the numbers on the speed limit signs! When we were pulling into the car park of the hotel they saw a Disneyland shuttle bus and Dexter exclaimed: "It's not fair those people are going to Disneyland!" Olivia replied: "Dexter it's so expensive as it's about 50 euros a ticket!" (I've no idea where she'd heard that). When we went to the reception of the hotel Neil pointed out a picture of Mickey Mouse on the wall to which Olivia said: "What the heck has Mickey Mouse got to do with our Hotel?" Neil then showed Olivia the official booking document and she still seemed clueless. We had to spell it out to them that we had brought them to Disneyland and only then did we get the whoops of delight and celebratory dances and the 'you're the best Mummy and Daddy in the World!' accolades!

Even though we were early our room was ready so we went to check out our western style room which didn't disappoint. And then it was time for the big explore. Armed with maps and programmes we set off with much excitement. By complete chance we timed it that we got to the start of Main Street, U.S.A. just minutes before the start of Minnie's Little Spring Train parade (Le petit train du Printemps de Minnie). We had a great spot and it was lovely seeing the open mouthed expressions on the kids. However before we realised it Olivia had somehow managed to join the parade and was walking at the front of the crowd with the animateurs, just behind the characters! We joined her from a little distance and walked the entire length of Main Street waving to the crowds!
We managed to wrestle Olivia away from the parade in time to admire the Castle up close and decided to head into the cave under the castle to see La Taniere du Dragon which was actually a bit scary for them. This lead us into Fantasy Land where we embarked on the following rides:
* It's a small world.
* Le Pays des Contes de Fees which was a very tranquil boat ride through a land of fairytales (the kids weren't too impressed with this one!).
* Le Petit Train du Cirque - this was more like it, even though we did have to queue for over 40 minutes.
* From here we queued up for our afternoon snack at Toad Hall (which was part of our hotel/food deal) of ice-cream or doughnut. That's right feed the kids with sugar to keep them going!
Afterwards we headed into Alice's Curious Labyrinth which was fun before going for a wander and then back to our hotel to freshen up. We thought it would be fun to take Dexter to the Santa Fe (Home of Lightening McQueen) Hotel for a meal this evening. Both kids loved spotting the different cars on the signs and looking at the pictures on the walls and the food was great for them too.
Then it was back to our hotel to plan our day of attack for tomorrow!
A great first day.