Welcome to Day 2 of our Disneyland Paris March 2020 trip report covering Tuesday 10 March.
We got up super early so that we could switch hotels and still make it to the parks for Extra Magic Hours.
We got an Uber from Campanile Val de France to Hotel Cheyenne (we were moving before the shuttle buses were running!) which only cost us around €6.00. Luckily, we were able to access our room straight away so we ditched our suitcase and headed straight to the parks.
Side Note: I don’t want to say too much about Hotel Cheyenne now. I’ll be posting a full review after my Trip Report series is finished!
We decided to have another full day in the Disneyland Park. At this stage we hadn’t met any characters yet and we wanted to change that as soon as possible.
Morning
When we got to the parks, we found out that due to COVID-19 – the Princess Pavilion would not be open and that face characters would no longer be available for meet and greets. Amy and I have never been to the Princess Pavilion as the queues are always huge, so that didn’t impact our trip too much. I was sad that the face characters wouldn’t be around to meet but, of course, health and safety first! My reunion with Aladdin will have to wait until next trip! We were later informed that a Princess Promenade would be taking place a few times per day in the place of the pavilion. But more about that later!
Our first stop in Extra Magic Hour was Big Thunder Mountain. We rode it once and then picked up a fast pass for later on in the morning. Then we went back to Main Street to join the queue for Donald Duck. Donald is always a fantastic meet – he never disappoints, so cheeky!
After our meet with Donald, we went back to Frontierland to queue for my favourite, Minnie Mouse, by Cowboy Cookout. Sadly just before her meet was due to begin, a Cast Member came out to explain that for safety reasons, the princesses were no longer attending the Princess Breakfast at Auberge De Cendrillon and that Minnie has had to go there instead. I was super disappointed, because if this was going to be the case all week, I might not be able to meet Minnie this trip.
Jessie from Toy Story came out to cover Minnie’s slot for the morning, so we stayed and ended up having a really nice meet with her anyway.
We then used our Big Thunder Mountain fast pass. While we were in the queue for Minnie/Jessie, we had managed to get a Lineberty reservation to see Amy’s favourite, Stitch, who was meeting by Phantom Manor. He was another fantastic meet – Amy always has great interaction with Stitch because she’s has a Stitch lanyard and Stitch pins!
Related Posts: Using Lineberty to Meet Characters at Disneyland Paris
Our next stop was Adventureland to meet even more characters.
Top Tip: There are a LOT of opportunities to meet characters in Adventureland between 10:00am – 1pm. If you’re into character meets, this is the place to be! Check your park programme for all the details!
The first character meet and greet that we went to was Rafiki from the Lion King. He was a new character for us. His meeting spot was right beside Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril – so we jumped on that straight afterwards.
Then we headed for Peter Pan and Wendy’s usual meeting spot. Of course, as Wendy and Peter are “face” characters – they were not meeting. BUT we did get to see two more new characters – Captain Hook and Mr Smee! They were meeting next to each other but not together, which was strange. I think it would’ve been even more fun if it was a joint meet as I’d love to see those two interacting with each other. Both were great fun, Captain Hook especially. He showed us his ship and let us join his crew, until Amy asked if he could hear a “tick tock”. He wasn’t too impressed with that and moved us along!
On our way to lunch, we hopped on the Pinocchio ride as it was over a year since we’d done it. It is a really sweet ride – although I think it goes far too fast and you can’t properly look at everything! If you’re reading this Disneyland Paris – please slow it down a little!
Lunchtime
For lunch we decided to try somewhere we’d never been before. We chose Pizzeria Bella Notte in Fantasyland – which is an Italian quick-service. If you know Disneyland Paris, you will know that quick service does not always mean quick. We were in a line for a very long time and there were only 2 out of 6 tills operating. With that being said, the food we got was worth waiting for.
Amy got a 4-cheese pizza with garlic bread, a drink and a Magnum ice-cream. I got a ham and cheese pizza with black olives with garlic bread, a drink and a Magnum. Both of these meals cost €15.99 each (€14.40 with Annual Pass discount).
It was a huge amount of food. We normally share a meal for lunch at the parks but we hadn’t eaten anything all day so we got one each. I would definitely eat at Bella Notte again.
Afternoon
After our massive feed, we saw that the White Rabbit was meeting round the corner and there was virtually no queue. Another new character!
Then we went to see my other favourite character, Mickey Mouse! After the disappointment of not seeing Minnie that morning – I knew he would lift my spirits. We had a really magical meet with Mickey – he always makes you feel like you’re the only guest he’s seeing that day. The photos we got on our PhotoPass from that meet are some of my all-time favourites.
We then had a quick ride on Pirates of the Caribbean (5 minute wait – what?!) and then squeezed in Hyperspace Mountain before the Frozen 2: An Enchanted Journey.
Now my expectations for this show were low. I had read all the reviews online about how disappointing it was considering it was meant to be “Frozen Season” in the Disneyland Park. It certainly wasn’t the Jungle Book Jive (incredible!) but we did enjoy it a lot. The music was a medley of all the Frozen 2 songs – I hope I’m able to find it online somewhere! If you have it, please let me know! It was also great to have another opportunity to see Anna and Elsa too, as unfortunately they don’t meet in the Paris parks at all.
Straight after An Enchanted Journey finished, it was time for the all-new Princess Promenade. Now THIS was beautiful. It went right along the usual Parade Route and the princesses performed a small show in Central Plaza. The promenade was just one float (the one previously used in the Pirates and Princesses season) and featured 8 princesses: Aurora, Merida, Rapunzel, Ariel, Belle, Tiana, Snow White and Cinderella. I was delighted that Merida was featured as I’m still bitter that she was left out of the Sparkling Winter Waltz in the Christmas season. But where was Jasmine? Come on Disneyland Paris!
In all fairness, the Princess Promenade was really great considering it had been pulled together in a matter of days. I really wish we had had the chance to see it more than once. I think overall it only ended up running for 2 days before all outdoor entertainment had to be pulled. But there will be more on that in the days 4 and 5 blog posts!
Our final ride of the day was Peter Pan’s Flight, which we had a fast pass for.
Evening
After leaving the parks, we went to the Disney Village to do a bit of shopping while it was still quiet. I always prefer going to World of Disney in the early evening before Illuminations. Once the parks close – it turns into complete chaos and it’s not the enjoyable shopping experience it should be!
Our final stop for the day was Cafe Fantasia at the Disneyland Hotel. We had planned to go to Illuminations after our drinks but the live music (a pianist and violinist) started playing and they were so amazing that we didn’t want to leave. They played the most beautiful version of At Last I See The Light from Tangled and I’m not gonna lie, I had a tear!
I’m really proud of us – this was our first and only visit to Cafe Fantasia this trip. We normally end up there at least twice and we always spend a fortune.
While we were at Cafe Fantasia – I met Janet ( @DisneyFamilyLifeUK on Instagram) and her lovely family. We bumped into them a few times throughout the trip which was really great. They did a fab Frozen family Disneybound one of the days! They also gave us these beautiful handmade Mickey bracelets which I’ve been wearing every day since! Thank you so much again!
Side Note: Meeting Disney friends from Instagram in Disneyland Paris is one my of my favourite things EVER. So if you’re in the parks and see me and Amy running about – please come and say hello!
That’s it for Day 2! Make sure you keep checking back for Day 3 – our full day in the Walt Disney Studios Park!