Hey Skwad!
While I'm not a travel blogger by any means, I had such a lovely trip with @gemmathowie, it was too special not to post! In case anyone's wondering, the links to the dresses I'm wearing can be found in my vintage reproduction clothes haul, although I will note I did get the red Collectif Brina Swing Dress tailored to be high-waisted instead of a drop-waist.
Planning
Like literally everything else in my life, it all began with the plan! While I keep a personal record of everything I do on Notion, we mostly used Google Docs that we could both add to, such as booking references for accommodation and transport (we were actually able to get a package deal for this which also included breakfast which was nice!), a list of things to pack as well as a rough itinerary for the trip, including other things to do around London before we left for Paris and around Paris itself on the two half-days we had when we wouldn't be in EuroDisney in order from nearest to the hotel to furthest away. I also made note of all the rides in EuroDisney we wanted to visit, which 'zones' they could be found in as well as places to eat in said 'zones' should we get hungry at any point in the day and just want to make a quick stop. I did try my hardest not to over-plan, both out of fear of disappointment if we couldn't do everything and also fear of stressing us both out and subsequently ruining the trip.
Day 1: Traveling, a day trip to Windsor, London & the West End
Day 1 of the trip began with first travelling from University to London. We stopped off at Gemma's on the way dumping our stuff, before spending the morning near Windsor Castle. Typically, we *just* missed the King's procession, but on the plus side, we got lots of free fudge samples. After lunch, we then headed to the capital in search of some Mickey ears. While we were unsuccessful, we had a nice mooch in Primark and I got some matching Disney socks instead as well as a nice navy sweater vest with red and white piping to wear over blouses as we get further into the autumn months. Although granted, right then and there it was scorching in London, so much so that whilst in Primark I nipped into the fitting rooms to change out of my blouse and tights, which was a shame as I had planned my outfit to be reminiscent of the West End show we were about to go see, Heathers: the Musical!
Despite getting the cheap seats, I'd actually argue we had the best seats in the house. We were at a perfect angle to see everything on stage, but not too far away where we couldn't see the actor's more subtle and nuanced expressions. Since Heathers first appeared on the West End back in 2018, they've changed a few of the songs and even some of the ways that the story plays out, even if the same plot points and character beats are hit. So it was interesting to discuss that with Gemma who had never seen the show before! At intermission, we treated ourselves to some merch, opting for some well-deserved big bags of sweets as well as some more practical themed scrunchies, myself choosing Heather Chandler's red seeing as it would get a lot more wear matching the rest of my wardrobe, whereas Gemma went for Veronica Sawyer's blue for similar reasons. By the time we got in for the night, it was quite late and after some long midnight sleepover gossiping, it was time for a quick nap just in time for the early start the following day.
Day 2: Even more travelling & exploring Paris (a la ~tourist~ mode)
We caught the Eurostar at 7 am and arrived in Paris by 10:20 am. We couldn't check in to our hotel straight away, but thankfully the receptionist did let us drop our bags and coats. To kick off the morning, we made a beeline for the Opéra Garnier before heading down the 2nd Arrondissement past the ballet boutiques (which in hindsight, I realised was Repetto, whose cherry red ballet flats I ABSOLUTELY J'ADORE!) and Tiffany's & Co (oh to be a Tiffany's girl!) down to Colonne Vendôme on the 1st Arrondissement, where the courtyard was lined with Chanel, Dior and Louis Vuitton. It was at this point that Gemma suggested I legally change my name to 'Twirl-a' as I span my way to Jardin des Tuileries, where a whole host of barely covered statues laced in marble were waiting for us. By this point, we were ready to grab a bite to eat, so, in accordance with our new surroundings, went for caramel crêpes (you will notice this becomes a bit of a reoccurring theme going forward, but hey, when in France...)!
After that, we strolled past the Luxor Obelisk and the Fontaines de la Concorde, the Arc de Triomphe glinting subtly in the background. Cutting through the 8th Arrondissement and Jardin Clemenceau we found ourselves at the Grand and Petit Palais, which, as its name suggests, had the fanciest, grandest gold door in existence which made me feel like Alice struggling to get through the door into Wonderland (although to be fair, maybe I'm just tiny).
Whilst walking through the shops, we made a quick detour to the free Stranger Things experience. While I've never seen the Netflix show, the effort gone into the decoration and paraphernalia was next-level and I could easily understand how any die-hard fans or just those with an inclination for an 80's aesthetic would be like a kid at Christmas in the 3-storey experience. Gemma and I battled it out on Pacman and Space Invaders and personally, I was very persuaded by the roller disco room! We then headed to the Disney Shop again in a bid to find a pair of Mickey ears, but amongst other things (like this terrifying life-sized version of Ariel), all we could find were the Halloween-themed ears, and seeing as it's only September, it was a bit early for that.
After that, we headed to the nearest boulangerie to grab snacks, and with some time to spare we visited the Arc de Triomphe properly after it flirted with us in the distance. In all honesty, by this point, it was about 3 pm and on top of the early start and all the travelling we were completely shattered so we went back to the hotel for a kip. Post-nap, we got ready to head out for dinner and uncharacteristically for me, it was a really good hair and makeup evening for me! Unfortunately, the late-night rain had other plans, but hey! At least the caramel crème Brûlée was neat!
Day 3: Disneyland & le Eiffel Tower @ midnight feat. even more caramel crêpes!
Our only full day in Paris was ~natually~ comprised of a very late start. By the time we'd on the train, it was gone 9 am and whilst it was very nice getting to see areas of the city we hadn't explored and watch its citizens go about their daily lives on the train, Disneyland had already been open for several hours. So, if there were crowds, we weren't getting in. Thankfully, either due to the time of year, the milder weather or both, it was the perfect day to go to an amusement park. I realise this is a very trivial thing, but I was worried that poor weather might mean that we wouldn't get to wear the matching Mickey & Minnie Mouse Disneybound outfits we'd planned and that I was personally very excited to wear. The whole campus is so well-kept and beautiful that, I'll be honest, we were getting pictures before we'd even entered the park.
After walking, or should I say twirling?, down Main Street, USA, we made a bee-line for Frontierland, thinking most other park attendees would head straight to Sleeping Beauty's castle. Post-parkouring on things we probably shouldn't have been, we were in the graveyard on our way to Phantom Manor (or as it's known in the American parks, the Haunted Manson). One thing I was beyond grateful for was how quickly we got through the queues on every ride we went on. I don't think we ever waited for more than 20 minutes, and even then the queue was constantly moving, we weren't ever stuck in a queue where we just stood still for hours on end, just waiting to move a few meters. After Phantom Manor, we legged it over to Big Thunder Mountain, which we ended up coming back to a few times by the end of the day and proved to be a favourite ride of ours.
By this point, it was just before lunchtime, so we found ourselves drifting into Adventureland and a whole high-five from Baloo the Bear from The Jungle Book, we were eating Mickey-shaped pizzas in Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost. While we weren't quick enough to grab photographic evidence of this, it really did make my day as Disney has slowly been decreasing casual wandering character interactions and replacing them with long queues to meet characters (see the Princess Pavillion or the Meet Mickey Mouse exhibit in Fantasyland). Since we'd had lunch early we managed to skip the queues for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which we both thought the way in which they trick your brain into thinking it is in fact nighttime in the Caribbean when in fact you are just below the ground in France in the middle of the day (via the use the slow transitioning in lighting, smells, textures of floors, walls and ceiling, the way the cast and crew are dressed) was incredible and we absolutely fell for it. I also thought it was really cool to see how they attached a restaurant to the ride, as a ride-goer, I felt restaurant attendees were at a pirate tavern and a part of the experience and reciprocally, how for restaurant attendees, ride-goers' screams add to their dining experience.
Wandering past Skull Rock and Adventure Isle and a wonderous labyrinth, curiouser and curiouser, we followed a white rabbit and landed ourselves in a magical Fantasyland. We wished a very merry unbirthday to the Dormouse, March Hare and Mad Hatter at his tea party (although ironically, I was actually using this trip as a way of celebrating my own upcoming 21st birthday) on our way to the Princess Pavillion. Unlike my last trip to EuroDisney in 2005 the Princesses, among other characters, no longer roam around their sections of the parks and you now have to queue to meet one Princess. I mean, you could re-queue if you wanted to, but you are only going to see the same Princess, as they have one English-speaking Princess, one French-speaking Princess, one Spanish-speaking Princess, etc each day.
This was the longest queue we were in all day, which was an hour. But honestly, with all the cool artefacts to look at and Gemma and I being excellent conversationalists, googling questions to ask the Princesses and debating which Princess we'd have the honour of meeting, it really wasn't an issue for us. The Princess we were greeted with turned out to be the O.G., most quintessential of Disney classics, Snow White. We asked about how her latest Gooseberry pie had turned out and ways to get Grumpy to be well, less Grumpy, having both professional and ~amateur~ pictures taken. Her royal highness complimented me on my dress and suggested I pop my collar to match her own dress. Once in the Snow White-y mood, we headed to experience Snow White's Scary Adventures, before heading to Pinocchio's Daring Journey and Lancelot's Carousel whilst in the area.
Coming back down to the centre of the Park, on the way finding Cinderella's wishing well and also that I could still reasonably fit into a child's princess costume which I found quite comical, we found ourselves strolling through the back entrance of Sleeping Beauty's castle. After a quick tour of the palace, including the first and second floors and the balcony, we headed down to the dungeons for a surprise, which was a roaring success (see what I did there?)! It was around then that we were informed that Disney Stars on Parade would be beginning, so we strolled down to the Discoveryland entrance to get a good spot to view both the parade, but also quick and easy access into the last territory we hadn't yet entered.
By the time the parade had ended it was 5:30 pm, so we popped over to Café Hyperion for a bite to eat and some quality Mickey Mouse cartoons. After eating, we didn't particularly want to ride something too violent, so we grabbed a FastPass for Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast and spun and shot to our heart's content. Not-so-little-known-secret, I never lose and could do this with my eyes closed, winning 27,500 points to 23,600 (sorry Gemma!). Also, I noticed in the queue for the ride that Star Command has its map of the 'Planets of the Galactic Alliance', including Earth, which can be found in 'Sector 4', is cuboid and named "Antreeeeeebuh", proving that Minecraft was right and we are living in nothing more than a simulation(!).
By this point, it had started getting dark so we legged it back on over to Frontierland as the last calls for rides came to a close to hop on a quick last (favourite) ride for the evening, Big Thunder Mountain (seriously, if we were any further down in the queue we wouldn't have made it)! This was extra thrilling at night as we watched ominous green fog float from Phantom Manor and fireworks going off in the distance above the castle (whilst being hurled on a roller-coaster at lightning speed). When then nipped back up to the castle, to see Disney D-Light and Disney Illuminations.
We weren't about to head home, however much the janitors were trying to sweep us out. As the rain started pouring down, my favourite memory of the entire trip was just messing about on Main Street, USA (which is so pretty at nighttime, with all the lights and the faint ragtime music in the background), being spontaneous and goofy twenty-something and just having a lot of fun. I regret to inform you we were both completely sober and yes, we were both wearing shorts underneath our dresses. Unfortunately, we were eventually kicked out at 10:30 pm.
Despite it being gone 11 pm by the time we were on the train, the evening for far from over. After a long train ride back, we decided to head back to the Eiffel Tower in an attempt to see if we could catch the Tower sparkling at midnight as it would be our only opportunity to see it. Did we get distracted and end up buying even more caramel crêpes? Yes. Yes, we did. Did we also make it in time to see the Tower glimmer? Yes. Yes, we did.
So as we sat by the la Seine river, on the 16th Arrondissement, a twinkling tower in the background, crêpe in hand, contemplating life and thinking about the perfect day we had just had (seriously, we got a lie-in in bed and still got to do everything we wanted to do) we also met a lovely couple from Ireland and got chatting to them, which was nice, before finally heading back to the hotel. A perfect end to a perfect day (and unfortunately one I'll never be able to relive, but am so thankful for it nonetheless).
Day 4: Marketplaces, cinnamon crêpes (for a change!), Notre Dame & The Louvre
Our final day in Paris felt as if it had a backing track of Taylor Swift's Begin Again (on a side note, I've always adored her blue pussy bow blouse in this video). My attempt at classic French girl makeup and the fact I had also somewhat Disneybounded Belle's peasant outfit from Beauty and the Beast only added to the feminine, princess-y vibes. The weather had brightened up, making it the perfect temperature for a leisurely stroll through the other side of Paris, sightseeing and shopping.
We started by heading to the 6th Arrondissement, past Fontaine Saint-Michel and the quaintest French marketplace to the cutest little café for cinnamon crêpes (ha, bet you didn't see that coming! Except, y'know, for the subtitle telling you that this was coming). Then over Pont Saint-Michel towards Notre Dame, which was unfortunately closed for restoration, so we went through île de la Cité into Place Louis Lépine for the sweetest flowers and souvenirs made by local artisans, before going past the Palais de Justice and onto the 1st Arrondissement past Pont des Arts on our way to Palais du Louvre. Whilst we didn't have time to go inside The Louvre itself, we got to see the stunning exteriors of Pavillion de Flore and Pavillion de l'Horloge, before booting it to get the Eurostar home.
I realise this is a very different and much longer post than what I usually write, but this trip was so special and perfect to me that I couldn't *not* keep a record of it somewhere, especially as I enter my final year of university, starting a whole new chapter of my life (also, if I'm being 100% honest I simply do not have the storage for all the photos taken).
But no matter what the new season brings, we’ll always have Paris. Bisou bisou. ~ Gossip Girl
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