Saturday, June 17
Uh-Oh!
Remember those people who sneezed all over me at the Louvre? I blame them for the sore throat that woke me in the early hours of Saturday morning. I was so glad that we used our Premier Access Ultimate Pass on Friday because that took the pressure off the rest of the weekend, enabling me to sleep in both mornings. I was a bit anxious at first because in the very beginning, the flu, covid, and a cold can all feel similar. Thankfully, it was just a cold, and by the grace of God no one else got sick. For the most part, I was able to power through the weekend. Sometimes I even forgot I was sick!
Jump ahead to:
On Saturday morning, while Christina and I slept in, Doug and Jacquelyn went to the parks. Knowing that we would be out very late because of the Disney Pride event that night, I was in no rush to start the day. Pirates, one of my favorite rides, was closed for refurbishments. The area surrounding the ride, though, is WAY cooler than it is in the US parks.
Walt’s Restaurant
Sometime in the early afternoon, we headed back to the parks for our 2:30 p.m. reservations at Walt’s Restaurant. Walt’s is one of the most highly rated dining experiences in the park, not only for the food, but also because it is essentially a museum.
Unlike in the rest of France, restaurants at Disney don’t close for the afternoon. Yay! However, the European custom of not eating at this time still prevails. In fact, PRO-TIP: we found that the parks EMPTIED out every afternoon. And by emptied out, I mean we would be walking into the park and people would be POURING out and heading back to their hotels. As a result, many attractions had substantially shorter waits after 2:00 p.m.
The light afternoon crowds made for a relaxing dining experience at Walt’s. While waiting for our table, we enjoyed exploring the first floor exhibits. Then we were brought upstairs to the Tomorrowland Room which looks out directly onto Main St. We practically had the room to ourselves, and were even able to view the parade from the windows near our table. Actually, we were there so long, we saw more than one parade!
The wait staff, seeing our enthusiasm, encouraged us to walk around and view all the rooms. This worked out well because the restaurant was only about half full. I’m not sure if we would have been able to do so at a busier time.
We didn’t take many pictures of the other rooms because people in France are a lot less welcoming to strangers taking their photos. There are even some laws against it! If you’d like to see some good photos and read a more thorough review of the restaurant, you can visit Disney Tourist Blog‘s review.
The prix fixe menu features some of Walt’s favorite recipes, with several selections for starters, the main course, and dessert. There are various gluten-free and vegetarian options, and many things can be modified for other food allergies. This was the restaurant I mentioned in my last post where, because of my various allergies, they tried to offer me a pre-packaged frozen meal. Not only did they look rather pathetic, almost all of them included some form of corn! So I simply told them that wouldn’t work and politely encouraged them to accommodate me in their kitchen. Which they did!
I wasn’t planning to write elaborate restaurant reviews so I didn’t make a point of photographing all of our food. Sorry about that! Here’s what I remember:
We all ordered Walt’s Waldorf Salad with modifications as necessary and we all enjoyed it.
I had the Roast Chicken with Sweet Potatoes, and while I did eat a lot of roast chicken in France, I am not complaining, because let me tell you something: the French know how to roast a chicken!
Finding a gluten-free, corn-free dessert was nearly impossible and the wait staff tried to give up on me, but having paid €55.00 for a three course meal, I was damn well going to get all three courses! So after a little convincing, they agreed to bring me a bowl of fresh berries, which were delicious.
Walt’s was also selling anniversary pins (and we are collectors!) so we all bought one of those as well.
Between lunch and the Pride event at Walt Disney Studios Park we spent a couple hours exploring Disneyland Park. You can see our reviews of those experiences and more further below.
Disneyland Paris Pride
At some point in our vacation planning, we realized that Disneyland Paris Pride was happening the same weekend we were going to be there. Once we discovered this, and that “the focus was set on peaceful get-togethers, celebrating equality and diversity,” the question became not so much “Should we go?” but “How can we not go?” So we bought the tickets as one of Jacquelyn’s 30th birthday presents! (Yes, as with all Disney events, there was an additional charge on top of park admission for the day.)
A Brief Review of DLP Pride
Overall, we enjoyed Disneyland Paris Pride and definitely recommend it for anyone who’s interested!!!
The Good: Like all things Disney, it’s fun, light-hearted, and family-friendly. Because it’s a special ticketed event, crowds are light and wait times for rides are super short. They also have themed food items, drinks, merch, and interactive sponsor exhibits like photo ops and a blind temporary tattoo station. We also had the opportunity to meet Disney Characters decked out in rainbow colors! The only reason the positive part of my review is so much shorter than the negative parts is because all the good stuff is below in detail and with photos!
The Neutral: There were several live music acts that the locals seemed very excited about; however, they were all European artists so we didn’t recognize any of their songs.
The Bad: If you read my previous posts, you know that communication is desperately lacking all over France. Sadly, this is also true for Disneyland Paris. Without the guys at coupleofmen.com we would have been completely in the dark. Somehow, and I’m not kidding, they had more event information than the DLP official website. Go figure. (On Sunday, we bumped into Karl and Daan, the men behind the site, at the Hotel New York gift shop! We were so excited to meet them and thank them in person. They were as nice in real life as they seem on their blog.)
The Ugly: The lack of communication, organization, and efficiency (We are SO American!) were especially problematic as first-timers because we had no way of knowing how the event works. For example: We did not know that even though we could get into the park at 4:00 p.m. with our event tickets, they make everyone leave the park and get back in line for reentry at 8:00 p.m. This is not how ticketed events work in Disney World!
First, this was a HUGE time-waster! Second, had we known this in advance we would have made a point to re-line up sooner because…
We also did not know that upon entry, everyone immediately races to stake out a spot for the parade. Nor did we know that the Mickey & Minnie stage show happens before the parade.
Another point of confusion: They had different lines for people based on whether you had a park ticket with hotel package or just an event ticket. A cast member mistakenly gave me the wrong wristband, and then another cast member wanted me to leave my family (because they had different wristbands) and go to the back of the other line which was going to the very same place anyway, all because of THEIR mistake! Well I just absolutely refused and they eventually gave in, LOL.
Our Night
So the evening began with most people lining the parade path and/or waiting for the opening show which took place on the main stage in the Production Courtyard. Unfortunately, the majority of people along the parade path could not actually view the stage show.
However, this all worked out perfectly fine for Jacquelyn and Christina. The show started just as they were walking by the stage on the way to meet us (after buying their merch), and they were able to get right up front to watch. Mickey, Minnie & Friends put on quite a show!
I’m just going to say it: we’re not big parade people. The only Disney parades we’ve ever intentionally watched are the Electric Parade and the Halloween Parade, because they’re actually interesting. But most parades are boring. None of us are interested in waiting an hour (or more) to watch lame choreography set to cheesy music. The DLP Colorful Pride parade, however, isn’t just passing entertainment; it’s a central feature of the event.
By the time we figured this out, there weren’t really any great spots left to be had. Thankfully, none of us cared all that much, and as far as parades go, this one was not very interesting. The parade consisted of Disney staff dancing, some with fans and ribbons, others not, while wearing brightly colored t-shirts and white pants, followed by a small motorcade of Mickey and Minnie, the event’s musical guests, plus a few Disney characters on foot. Also, all the camera operators were kind of annoying (see below).
What I did love was the energy of the parade participants, who were all LGBTQ+ staff members of Disneyland Paris Parks. Colorfully dressed, smiling and exuberant, some were great dancers and others weren’t but it was clear that everyone was welcome, accepted, and celebrated. I had fun watching them have fun. For some great photos of the parade, visit acoupleofmen.com
Throughout the night we rode various rides with almost no wait time, snagged some festive snacks, and visited the interactive sponsor exhibits where we took photos, got free merch, and Jacquelyn and Christina got blind temporary tattoos. (“Blind” meant that putting your arm through a hole in the tent and someone on the other side gave you a tattoo of their own choosing.)
We also ordered special drinks, soaked up the beauty of the park drenched in color, and most importantly: We met Rainbow Stitch!
Stitch is a family favorite for many reasons: First, because OHANA!!!!!
“Ohana means family, and family means nobody get’s left behind or forgotten”
But also because Stitch is also known as Experiment 626 and Doug and I were married on 6.26! Also, meeting plain old non-rainbow Stitch in DLP can be quite a challenge, so this was a real privilege. But apparently, one we’d have to earn…
When we got in line to meet Stitch at around 9:30 p.m., we were told that we would have a 60-90 minute wait. Well, when we finally made it to the front of the line, it was midnight. Yes, we actually waited two and a half hours to meet Rainbow Stitch.
Now, to be fair, it wasn’t quite as bad as it sounds because we each took turns holding our place in line so others could go on rides, shop, get food, etc. Also, about half way through our wait, we discovered the reason for the delay: Stitch spent time with each person who came through – playing, dancing, causing mischief and mayhem. But the bottom line was that Jacquelyn really wanted to meet him and this night was her birthday present after all!
They met:
They had a dance party:
They played and let the family join in:
Again, I can’t post video here, so if you want to see the fun interactions we – mostly Jacquelyn – had with Stitch, you’ll have to watch on Facebook. But we sure did have a great time!
After meeting Stitch we explored the park a bit more, taking in the ambiance and doing some last minute shopping. The event lasted until 2:00 a.m. but we did not make it that long! Let’s not forget that I was somehow doing all this while fighting a cold. (Don’t worry. I was very careful not to sneeze on anyone.) It was interesting walking back to our hotel room at 1:00 a.m. with almost everything in Disney Village closed up for the night.
There was very little that I could eat at the event and I was famished. So we stopped at McDonald’s and waited for a special order cheese burger with no bun, only to find, once we got back to the hotel room, that alas, they included a bun. I might of whined and nearly cried a little but I was sick and tired so that only seems fair!
But overall, the day was a success!!!
Additional Ride & Attraction Reviews
For anyone here for the scoop on attractions, here are those we visited for the first time on Saturday. (We did ride more than this on Saturday, but they have already been reviewed in my previous post!) I don’t give any walk-throughs attractions more than seven stars because they aren’t even rides!
Swiss Family Robinson Tree House | 6★
Toured by: Doug
Attraction Type: Walk-Through
Basically identical to the version in the Florida. Doug says it’s great for anyone who likes to reminisce about those childhood years climbing trees, loves Swiss Family Robinson, or would like unique views of the park. We sometimes skip it because we’ve done it before and it’s just more walking, including stairs!
Sleeping Beauty’s Castle Gallery | 6★
Toured by: All
Attraction Type: Walk-Through
A unique and beautiful story-telling exhibit, it’s worth the few minutes it takes to see it. In the past, this also had a dragon hidden below the castle but it appears to be closed indefinitely.
Alice’s Curious Labyrinth | 5★
Toured by: All
Attraction Type: Walk-Through
If you love all things Alice then you must venture through this maze! It’s also a great place for kids who need a little freedom to just run and play.
Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop | 7★
Ridden by: Doug, Jacquelyn
Ride Type: Open-air Drop
This ride does not exist in the US Disney Parks. Doug and Jacquelyn enjoyed this ride, which they rode after dark. Jacquelyn said it felt a bit more like a child’s ride than she expected. The open-air heights offer great views of the park and beyond. Christina and I abstained for the same reason we didn’t ride Tower of Terror!
(Next up: Our last day including a visit to Hotel New York, the Skyline Bar, and dinner at The Manhattan)
Lightning Bug 
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