So, my kids have been all over Paris, seen some great works of art, some majestic buildings, and what do they spend their first 15 minutes in Disneyland gazing at in wonder? 
An adorable family of ducks, of course! 🙂 Nature triumphs over all.
We had a great day, with only one slight mishap. While we were waiting in line for the Pirates of the Caribbean, which originally had an estimated wait time of 5 minutes, woohoo, the ride broke down. We were pretty close to the front, and the line had gotten much longer after we came in, so we decided to wait it out. Plus, they kept running that announcement that the ride would be fixed “momentarily” and we believed them. ha!
We must have waited at least 20 minutes, which seems like an eternity, when you are standing around not moving. The kids were getting a bit antsy, until we learned a new game from another family further ahead in the line. “Carrot, bunny, gun” instead of “rock, paper, scissors” hahaha! We had so much fun with that, but were still relieved when the ride finally started back up again. Still, it was pretty much the only line we stood in all day. So we didn’t have much to complain about.
We were most happy to see that the Storybook Land Boats were up and running. The last two times we have gone, they have been closed. 🙁 It is one of my all time favorite rides. That, and It’s a Small World, and I was crushed not to be able to go on last time. 
All the kids had a fun time pointing out all the scenes from the stories they knew. Alexandra really got into it, which I was happy to see. She is the perfect age for a ride like this. And they added something new while it was closed down, Rapunzel’s tower!
We were excited to see our first characters of the day out and about, walking around. And Chris even took a picture of them with the kids. haha.
Don’t worry, they have Peter and Wendy’s autographs already from a previous trip. We were just happy to finally see some characters roaming free, like they used to. Perhaps this meant good things for later?
After we had gone on everything we wanted to in Disneyland, we headed over to Disney Studios to check out the new Toy Story rides. Mater is an old favorite, even Nick went on with us.
There was only one new ride the kids were interested in, the one with Slinky Dog chasing his tail. The others looked too scary. (They weren’t, at all, but my kids are kind of wimps.)
The best part of the day, though, was that we hit the mother lode of characters. We were standing near the gateway behind Fantasyland, right where they leave the Backstage area, and come out to the park, when one after the other came out. We were able to get autographs and pictures with them all before huge crowds formed. It was awesome. The kids were seriously running from one to the other, so excited! That is pure Disney magic!
And of course, we can’t forget the best, the most wonderful, Captain Jack himself!
By now, Chris and Nick were both reaching their limit. They wanted to get back to the hotel, relax and most importantly, be off their feet. 🙂 The rest of us were still going strong. So we walked back with them to the car, got a snack, dropped off what we didn’t need for the rest of the night, and then they drove off and we headed back into the park. On the way to the car, Alexandra decided her feet were tired, so Nick immediately offered to carry her. I love seeing my children perform these small, spontaneous acts of service. It doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, it just melts my heart. What a sweet big brother!
Before the boys had decided they were really going to leave, we had gotten fast passes to Buzz Lightyear for all of us. Only now we just needed 5 of the tickets. So we waited by the entrance for a minute until I spotted a couple with no kids about to get in the regular line. I stopped them, handed them our two extra fast passes, and said “Merry Christmas!” They were so surprised and happy. It’s fun to be able to do that kind of thing once in a while. 
There they are, just ahead of us in line. I think they were French, at least that is what their accents sounded like. Hope they have a slightly better opinion of American tourists now. 🙂
The kids and I were so excited to have this chance to stay at the park until it closed. We have never done that on any previous trips. At least one of them was always way too small, and Chris was always way too tired. But since we didn’t have to worry about any of that, it was perfect timing. And I tell you what, after dinner hour, in the park, during early Spring is the.best.time.to.be.there. The place was like a ghost town. Everyone with young kids was gone, just like we normally were, and we went on more rides in 1.5 hours than we ever thought possible. We even took time to watch a parade, and still had no lines. 
And yes, they are eating lollipops for dinner. Hey, it’s vacation! That’s what we do!
Right after the parade, we booked it over to Peter Pan. Got there just before the rush and were able to ride it a second time, without fast passes or a long wait. I don’t know who was having more fun, me or the kids!
We headed over to Dumbo next, which always has a line, right? Always! I think we stood in line for 5 minutes? Just enough time to take photos of these decorations provided by a no-doubt bored child earlier in the day.
Seriously, look at these empty walkways. We are doing this every trip, from now on.
The Carousel has always been a favorite of mine. I am so happy my kids like it just as much. The only hard part is deciding which animal to ride.
Noah was having so much fun, fighting dragons with his imaginary sword while on his awesome horse, it was tough to get a non-blurry photo of him. He was waving his arm and making fighting noises the whole time. 🙂
We wanted to be sure and get a good spot for the show, as that was the whole reason we were staying late, so we decided to go on one more ride. I talked the kids into going on Star Tours. heehee. Talk about a blast from the past! They were worried it was going to be scary, like I said, not the most adventurous types, but they ended up having a really good time. They couldn’t believe how much it felt felt like you were falling, when you were just sitting in a chair!
We did some important shopping, and then headed over to the castle to get a good spot to watch the show. Finally, we can sit down for a bit!
It was amazing. They were celebrating 20 years of Disneyland Paris, and they did a fantastic job. They projected all these lights and scenes right on to the castle. Made it look like it was underwater, had Quasimodo climbing it, Peter Pan flying all around it. Really fun stuff. 
I don’t know camera settings well enough to have gotten a good photo, but you get the idea. Trust me, it was awesome. They also had laser lights, and fireworks and set the whole thing to music, naturally.
After it was over, Noah said to me, “It just makes me proud of Disney somehow.” Yeah, we’ve converted another one. 🙂
Chris came and picked us up at the entrance, and the next day we drove back home. This trip was so great, and I am so thankful we were able to experience it together.