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Disneyland Paris - Fantasyland
by jazzypinkpuppet
Sorry I am still harping on about my time in Disneyland Paris, it was just such a fantastic holiday and I want to share some of my experienced.
Here is what I thought of Fantasy land.
Fantasy land really is the most magical of the five zones in Disneyland Paris. It is the most Disneyfied zone, full of princess wishes and ... happiness.
Fantasy land is the most suitable zone for young children, none of the rides have height restrictions and so are suitable for even very small kiddies - here is what it has to offer.
Sleeping Beauty castle - Fantasy land is home to the feature point of Disney - Sleeping beautys castle, the bubblegum pink palace can be seen wherever you are in the park and when you see it for the first time, your heart will skip a beat as you know you have arrived in Disney.
You can go to the top of the tower by climbing the spiral staircase, inside there is the story of Sleeping beauty set out step by step, with statues and beautiful stained glass windows. This is definitely worth a look, there is never a queue and will only take five minutes.
Snow whites adventure - This much to my five year olds amusement genuinely frightened me. You sit in a little car and it takes you through the story of Snow White, the first bit is fine with the seven dwarfs but then you go into a scary forest and loads of witches appear from no where cackling away. Your ride ends with the happy scene of Snow white and the prince. I would use caution if taking very small children on this ride, my little boy thought it was funny but it scared me so could scare little ones. Never a long queue for this most I saw was 15mins.
Adventures of Pinocchio - this is incredibly similar to the Snow white ride, except it tells the story of Pinocchio becoming a real boy. We thought this ride was a little bit boring and I would have been disappointed if I had queued for a long time.
The carousel - This is lovely, there are 86 beautiful horses to ride. A definite Disney must. It also has two carriages that enables people who can't climb the horses the opportunity to ride. This was the first carousel in all of Disneys parks around the world to offer this service. Queues can get really long for this, but it is really magical.
Peter Pans flight - One of my favourite rides, definitely one of my top three. You sit in a little pirate boat and fly out of the window, over London and then onto never land. You really feel like you are flying. This had the longest queues in the whole park at times it was 110 mins. It does have fast pass machines so use these or if you re staying in the hotel use the Extra Magic Hours for this, we went on it three times with no queue by doing this.
Dumbo flying elephants - Lovely ride where you can fly Dumbo, lets you go up and down by pushing a button. Great for small children.
Mad Hatters Tea cups - These are your traditional fairground Tea cup ride. You can make it spin as fast as you want by spinning the wheel.
Queues can get long, but there are 18 cups and four can fit in each so the line moves fairly quickly.
Alice's curious labyrinth - This is a maze that you make your own way round, full of cute little things like tiny doors and little birds, worth a look while you are there but for us not a main attraction.
Its a small world - The very essence of Disney with the catchiest most annoying song in the world. You take a boat ride through the world visiting many countries such as Russia, America, Ireland and Sweeden.
This is a lovely feel good ride, never a long queue as 24 people can fit in each boat. Another Disney must do.
There are two other rides that were not open when we were there, a story book boat ride and a little train.
In Fantasy land there are lots of stalls selling popcorn, drinks etc. There are also three fast food restaurants serving Pizza, Burgers, fish and chips and chicken. Plus the exclusive resturant Auberge de Cendrillon -this is where your little ones can meet all the princesses and princes whilst they eart their lunch. It is very expensive approx 50E per person. We didn't eat in any of the restaurants in Fantasy land so I can't comment on quality or service.
The true Disney zone.
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Rancho Texas Park (Lanzarote, Spain)
by littlemisshorner
I recently visited Rancho Texas Park in Lanzarote with my husband, my two young sons (2yrs & 5 months) and my parents - quite an age range! Whilst I felt the admission charge was somewhat extortionate at 15 Euros per adult and just slightly less for children over 2, costing us around £60 just to go in (not surprisingly this is not ... advertised anywhere outside the park, not even on the park website), I would still recommend a visit as it is a beautiful, well-kept park offering a fun day out for all.
To see all the animals, exhaust all the activities and watch all the shows you need to allow at least four hours, a little longer if you plan to eat there too. We were a little pushed for time when we visited and only spent about 3 hours in the park. Nonetheless during that time, amongst other things, we walked around the whole park, saw all the animals, watched three of the four shows and played in the kiddies' playparks.
If you only have time to see one show during your visit, the birds of prey display is an absolute must. The range of birds is impressive as is the display itself. Our most vivid memory of the show was my husband being hit on the head by the wing of a Griffon Vulture as it flew above us, spectacular! The sealion and parrot shows were nothing out of the ordinary (the usual tricks and routines) but still mesmerising for children. The other show is the cowboy show but this was the one show we did not manage to see.
The animal enclosures were very well maintained and the animals looked in very good health. Those on display included white tigers, skunks, armadillos, bison, cougar, crocodiles and pithons, to name but a few.
Likewise the children's playparks were in very good condition and had a good range of equipment.
For adults with an interest there was a lot of information displayed around the park about all the animals kept there, indians and the wild west, there was also a bucking bronco ride which looked great fun and an opportunity for canooing. The restaurant looked clean and inviting and the prices seemed reasonable. I cannot comment upon the quality of the food however as we did not have time to stay to eat.
Whilst I remained of the view that the entry charge was unnacceptably high even after having seen all that the park had to offer, we still had a wonderful time and could have easily stayed a few more hours.
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Disneyland Paris - Parades
by jazzypinkpuppet
I thought I would review one of my personal highlights of my recent Disneyland Paris holiday - The parades.
In the Disneyland park there are two parades the Minnies party train and the 'once upon a dream' parade. Here is what we thought of them.
Minnies party train - This is a fun and lively train full of loveable ... Disney characters, these can change each time so the characters you see one day may be different the next. It always has Minnie mouse and about 8-9 other characters such as Donald duck and captain hook, there are no princesses on the party train. It begins its journey next to the Discovery arcade which is right at the entrance of the park, it makes its way down main street USA, around the central plaza and back again, it is quite a short route and probably takes about ten-fifteen minutes to complete.
Minnies party train appears five times a day so there was never a crowd and you are bound to see it whilst you are there without even planning for it, We saw it about seven times during our four day stay.
The music is catchy and the train is colourful and full of energy. The characters wave and blow kisses. Great for small children who don't want to wait for a long time watching the parades.
Once upon a dream parade - this is every little (and big) girls dream, it is full of handsome princes, beautiful princesses and happy ever after endings. This parade appears at five o'clock every day, it starts on the same route as Minnies train but instead of coming back down Main street USA, it continues on into fantasy land. We watched this just before catching our train back home at half seven, it was a beautiful ending to a fabulous holiday.
There are about 10 different floats, the typical princess ones plus fabulous ones from toy story, the lion king and Minnie and Mickey in a hot air balloon.
You need to get there early to get a space, people started lining the route at about 4:15. So it is quite a long wait for little children especially in February and freezing temperatures, but once the parade starts your heart will warm up, this is definitely a must do in Disney item.
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