Traveling in Paris to visit and spend the day at Disneyland Paris with three children for an American family. Navigating the subway system to Disneyland Paris.

We woke early and my husband was already downstairs taking advantage of the free breakfast. Where ever there is free food is where you will find my husband. He didn't wait for any of us, nor wake any of us to join him. He came up and decided to come back down with us.

We all got on the small lift. My daughter has this crazy fear of elevators - but it is not unfounded. I swear every vacation we go on, we get stuck in an elevator. I assured her prior to even getting on the lift, that this would not occur here! My husband had the brilliant idea to jump and shake this (at least) 100-year-old lift - - just to pick on my daughter. After I had assured her - he did this! I was ready to strangle him. Guess what happened? Yep! The lift stopped halfway down. My daughter flipped out. I was ready to strangle my husband. Needless to say - we did not go in any more elevators in Europe!

When we joined him, he actually moved to another table so we would not disturb his reading. I helped all the children get their breakfast and let them settle in and eat before I grabbed a cup of coffee and a roll.

We were going to Disneyland Paris! We had pre-purchased tickets prior to leaving and could pick the day to visit. My husband wanted to go on our last day in Paris, but I knew the children needed a bit of fun after so much sight seeing. This was there vacation as well and they really wanted to go to Disneyland. If my husband and I would have been traveling to Paris by ourselves, Disneyland would not have been included. We are Americans after all and must include Disney!

We simply hopped on the train bright and early as headed out to Disneyland. We actually had to take two trains to get out there and it was an hour or so ride. Getting through security was not as easy as it is in the states and took quite a bit of time. The children were getting quite discouraged at the long wait time to actually get in the park. It didn't help that everyone in line was smoking either! We arrived right at the opening time of 10 am, but waited in line for 45 minutes.

NOTE: Arrive 30 minutes prior to the opening of the gates for future visits!

Disneyland Paris includes two parks, Disneyland Park Paris and Walt Disney Studio Parks. We had purchased tickets to visit both parks for the day, but all the kids wanted to head right to Disneyland Park first.

We were not prepared for how busy the park would be that day. I think we had assumed since it was still the spring and cold there would not be as many visitors. Boy, were we mistaken. The park was packed! The lines were as long as they normally are in the USA. Our game plan changed for the day and we split up to conquer and divide the park!

see how unhappy someone is we missed the Dee and Dum

Sadly, numerous rides were closed because it was March. Additionally, a lot of the food vendors were also closed for the season. I don't think we were able to fully experience all that Disneyland Paris has to offer because of all the closed stations. My parade photos are not that great as it was impossible to get in close. It was so crowded!

NOTE: In the future, if you want to view the parade, line up 1 hour prior. OR Take advantage of the crowd doing just that and go ride the rides.

After the parade we headed over to Walt Disney Studio. To our utter horror - - Walt Disney Studio was already closed for the day! We couldn't believe it! We were so disappointed. We didn't realize the park closed at 5 pm that day. We were assuming the park had the same hours as the parks in the states. My children were so disappointed. My husband's wallet was pissed! We felt very cheated as so many exhibits were closed and then the park closed at 6PM. It was a big disappointment for sure.

We were hoping for at least three more hours in the park and instead we were walking back to the train with our heads hanging low and our hearts sad and heavy in disappointment. We took the train ride back to our hotel and just settled in for the evening again in the room. The train ride was 1.5 hours this time around and took forever. The children were exhausted. Everyone slept well that evening.

However - - this little one had the time of her life! She later told me when we had arrived back home from our Europe vacation that they only fun she had was at Disneyland Paris!