Promise of Disney
I was told whenever you make a promise, you make good on it. So we promised our niece a while back that we would take her to Disneyland for the first time.
And as you might now, we almost never go there ;-). So there we were, with my inlaws and my niece driving for around 5-6 hours into France towards Paris once more.
As we mostly go with just the two of us, this also put a new perspective on it for us as well. We were going to experience the park through the eyes of a 7 year-old on her first visit.
The 1st time
It actually begins upon entering the security gates in front of the park. Already awestruck by the hotel, our niece went from one amazement into the other.
The fountains, colors, the flowers in the beautiful kept gardens and of course the majestic Disneyland Hotel, she was walking around with her eyes peeled and sounds of amazement.
And then, we went under the hotel towards the actual gate. It was like she exploded in amazement all over again. Walking a bit further, crossing under the train station, more amazement on the first central plaza of mainstreet.
And then the homerun was finally hit..
The Castle
“Woooooww…… It’s beautiful!” She didn’t shout, when I asked her about it. She almost whispered it. Clearly in awe of the castle in pretty pink on a blue sky blackdrop at the end of the main street.
Sure enough, she wanted to get there and see the dragon we talked to her about underneath the castle. But not before we took a picture on the back bordes of the castle and she spotted the first princess dresses.
I want one! Ahem sure.. but there’s so much more to see. Let’s explore and after today think about you would really want to take home, shall we?
Rest of the days
We spend the rest of the weekend riding some attractions like “It’s a small world”, “Pirates of the Caribbean” (twice), Start Tours (her favorite so far), climbing Davy Crockett’s Adventure Tree, playing in the Pirate’s Playground, walking through the Skull Cave and a lot of the Disney stores.
And offcourse, Ratatouille, which she adored! I’ve got to say, my niece is a real champ when it comes to listening, keeping a bit close to us and she was always cheerful. Such an easy kid, even in restaurants and just walking for a bit. Sure, you do have to entertain a bit, but I think the ambience helped as well 😉
For instance, we went down to the Rainforest Café and although there’s some waiting involved usually when ordering food, this restaurant has a jungle theme to it with animatronic animals both obvious and less obvious all around. So there’s always something going on which entertains the kids, which is nice.
But in a buffet restaurant, like Plaza Gardens on Main Street, she’s at home as well. And since she was such a good girl, we naturally had to reward that!
The gifts of Disney
So in the end, she got to pick some presents to take home with us. She picked a doll of Moana (from Vaiana) and a Sulley pillow. And of course she already had some mouse ears etc. 😉
We got some new tea mugs for ourselves and my father in law actually bought a nice, not so obvious Disney, hoodie.
Next time
While being back, plans are already being made inside the mind of my girlfriend to return alter this year, I’m positive 🙂 Well, I like it a lot too, but I would like to go on some of the rollercoasters next time, see if she likes that.
After all, she did enjoy Pirates & Star Tours a LOT and those are not the easiest attractions on a 7-year old. Well we all have subscriptions now, so we only need a hotel and to get there. Easy enough. I’ll leave you with the wonderful 25th anniversary fireworks show, which we naturally watched as well:
