The week started in the best possible way at a Disney park. We intended to get up early and make the most of early park access, which is a benefit of staying onsite but decided on a sleep-in instead. Big mistake. The parks were so busy. Yeah, I know we booked for a bank holiday, but I’ve been in parks before on holidays and it was not this busy. The wait times for the rides were insane. We didn’t do as many as we had hoped, but we decided to take it a bit calmer due to feeling so sick.
I had a list in my head of things must-dos of what I wanted to do; we headed straight to the hub to watch the parades. The park was running a slimmed-down version of Dream and Shine Brighter, which I love and almost immediately after, they did the Halloween parade. This was so much fun. Disneyland Paris smashes it with their parades and shows. The actors, dancers and songs are all just brilliant. After this, we had a bit of a wander to look at the decorations. Pumpkins everywhere! I loved it. We squeezed in another must-do with a meet and greet with Minnie Mouse in her fiesta outfit. Such a good and fun interaction. We did a bit of park hopping after this and went to our dining reservation at Pym Kitchen. This is a recent addition to the Marvel area, with the idea that you have been shrunk down. It’s good fun; they serve ‘giant’ food and exciting food options like blue custard. Yes, actual blue-coloured custard, which was surprisingly tasty. After some more wandering around the parks and shops, we returned to the hotel to crash and get some energy for getting up early the next day.
We were outside in the queue about 20 minutes before opening, and thanks to some quick walking, we managed to be on the first train for Big Thunder Mountain. No wait. We both LOVE this ride. It’s easily the best BTM in all the Disney Parks. We squeezed in Space Mountain (where I almost passed out, did I mention how ill I was?) and then over for opening at Phantom Manor. By this point, most queues were over an hour wait, so we hopped over to Walt Studios Park for one of our favourite shows, Mickey and the Magician. Only to be topped by the Christmas show where Mickey plays the drums we saw a few years ago at Disneyland Paris.
By this point, it was lunchtime and we had another dining reservation. This time it was for Walt’s. We have wanted to eat here forever, but every other time we have been at the parks, it’s been closed for different reasons but not this time. The wait was worth it. Service, food, ambience, everything was faultless. I would not hesitate to go back again. It was another early night; we were still feeling really ill and knew we had a long travel day, so we wanted to try and rest.
On our final day, we watched some of the walk-around shows in the Marvel area, including Thor & Loki, Wakandan Warriors, Spiderman and a fight on the rooftops with Black Panther and Black Widow. You can easily spend hours in this area of the park just watching all the interactions without ever stepping foot on a ride. But that’s not us. So we begrudgingly bought a Lightning Lane pass for Spider-Man: Web Adventures which was expensive, but we both wanted to ride again, and neither of us could physically wait in the 70-minute long queue.
The journey back wasn’t too bad. Thankfully it was a direct train back to England, and we were right at the front, so one of the first through the passport checks. This meant we got to Paddington earlier than expected and got an earlier train home. It was still a late night but so thankful to be home. The next day after a LOT of sleep, I took my COVID test and sure enough, there was that double red line. This is the first time either of us has had COVID, which was awful. The rest of the week was a blur. I honestly couldn’t tell you what I did other than cough to the point of throwing up.
I’m incredibly frustrated at the fact we were so ill during our holiday, but it is what it is. I am so grateful for my vaccinations. I cannot imagine how sick I would have been without them.
