If you’re a follower of my blog, you’ll know that last year we decided to take that ‘once in a lifetime’ trip to Disneyland Paris for my daughters 2nd birthday! The reason it gets that name is because most people will save up for a long time and only go once. Most of the time it’s the dream to take your kids there and experience the magic during their childhood. But you’ll probably have gathered, i’m not most people. Going once isn’t enough for me. Of course, i’m incredibly lucky to be able to go more often but it doesn’t come without hard work, saving endlessly and really scrimping down on everyday living costs to travel the way we do – It’s doable, but it doesn’t come without sacrifices!

This was our once in a lifetime family trip because naiively, I genuinely thought we’d only take my daughter once. I’ve been to Disneyland Paris a couple of times in the past. Once in 2009 for NYE where it was freezing, everything was in French and it was way too busy. Then I went again in 2017 at Halloween for work and that was less enjoyable than I’d hoped. So I didn’t have high hopes for the visit because truth be told I wasn’t the biggest fan of Disneyland Paris. In my opinion, Disneyland Anaheim and Walt Disney World were far superior but I felt it was worth taking our little one whilst she got free entry and before we became restricted to those dredded school holiday prices. Little did I know my opinion of Disneyland Paris was about to rapidly change.

Of course, things never turn out the way you plan. We ended up having the most incredible holiday and it was a million times better than it had ever been before. Being with my husband and daughter changed the dynamic and there is nothing better than seeing a child’s face light up as they experience Disney for the first time. Alongside this, we stayed on-site in the most beautiful hotel (Sequoia Lodge) meeting characters (i’d never done this before) and enjoying a half board meal plan enabling us to try out restaurants (also new to me). It was like a whole new experience! On top of this, it was my first time visiting in Summer and there happened to be a heat wave. Whilst it was pretty unbearable without air con, the heat took me back to Florida and it felt like we were at Walt Disney World instead of Disneyland! It was amazing for our first time as a family.

You can read my Disney Diary about this trip here:

So fast forward to 2026 and her birthday was coming around again (as they always do). I actually felt a hint of sadness that we wouldn’t be going to Disney this time for it. So I asked myself – Why not? She’s still free entry until she turns 3…. Can we just go back again? The adverts for World of Frozen were all over TV and she’d just hit her Frozen era. But, I didn’t want to go back, have a mediocre time and taint the holiday by trying to recreate the last one. I was worried it wouldn’t be ‘as good’. So I hesitated for a while. I spoke to my husband and he didn’t say no. I should point out that he’s a secret Disney lover. What most people don’t know about him is he watches the animated movies more than I do! He just loves it. Haha. So when I floated the idea of going back, his exact words were… “Only if we stay at Sequoia Lodge”. Done. You don’t have to tell me twice!

The Plan

Having visited so recently left me with oodles of knowledge on what i’d do differently this time and things i’d change. I also had a long list of all the attractions and shows we didn’t get chance to do last time and I knew we’d have plenty to cram in to another visit.

First things first was travel. If you read my last diary you’ll know about the anxiety the journey to the airport caused. I knew there was a simple solution to fix this – Fly from a nearer airport! So shifting our preference from Manchester to Leeds-Bradford I started looking at flights. Flights from LBA to CDG are much less frequent and tend to come with a higher price tag. Unfortunately EasyJet don’t fly from Leeds to Paris either which means booking directly with Disney went out of the window. Disney do incredible packages for great value and just a deposit. They even allow cancellation right upto 7 days before! Sadly they only offer EasyJet flights most of the time (or other airlines from different airports) and I wasn’t a fan of the flight times that were coming up from MAN anyway. So I took my trusty flight hunting experience and headed out to find the best options.

Jet2 were offering a midday flight to CDG from Leeds and a late afternoon flight back too – Perfect! If you’re travelling without kids and visiting Disneyland I highly recommend a flight as early as you can get. I wouldn’t say no to a 6am flight. It increases your park time! But travelling with a 2 year old, getting up at 2am to head to the airport is probably going to end in disaster and whilst you think you’ll recover – For us, it would probably set us back and taint the rest of the trip. So our 1:10pm flight from Leeds was perfect. Coming back we were due to fly around 4:30pm and truthfully I would have preferred a later flight back but beggars can’t be choosers when it’s the only option!

So I booked my flights directly with Jet2.com taking advantage of their 20% off sale and booked the hotel, tickets and meal plan directly with the Walt Disney Company. In my opinion, the safest way to book, the closest thing you’re going to get to a package and with travel insurance you’ve got that peace of mind should anything go wrong.

The Journey

Booking in February meant we only had a few months to wait before our holiday came around and before we knew it, it was our time again! Going from Leeds this time meant we only had a 20 minute drive to the airport and I booked parking with PARK2TRAVEL including a very short (less than 5 minute) shuttle taking us directly to the airport. We left home at 10am for our 1:10pm and everything went smooth sailing. Dropping our car off was easy, we handed our keys over and the shuttle was waiting for us ready to go. I’d trade this experience any day over the kerfuffle you have at Manchester airport.

Once we jumped off our shuttle we headed in to Leeds-Bradford airport and straight for the Jet2 baggage drop. I very quickly realised we were in LBA but not as I knew it. Where were the toilets? Where was Jet2? Where has everything gone?? So after speaking with custodial we left the airport again and made our way around to a seperate part of the airport housing Jet2. I knew LBA was under refurbishment but I didn’t quire realise just how much!

We’d already checked-in online so knew we were seated together and just needed to drop off our very heavy, close to the weight limit, hold bag. Our daughter Hilda was sulking at this point so the Jet2 staff gave her a ‘Bear passport’ and she carried this around for most of the flight. A lot assumed because of her age it was her first flight, I didn’t want to sound like a snob and say it was her 7th so I just kept that part quiet – What can I say? -We love flying!

So after finally finding the toilets in the form of porta cabins ouside the airport we flew through security and headed for duty free. Hilda didn’t like being in here so after a quick obligatory spray of free expensive perfume we headed for Salts bar. This proved to be mission impossible as we very quickly realised we were no longer in LBA as we knew it. Are we in Manchester? Where have all the places i’ve known for 20+ years gone!? We found a corridor leading to some extra gates and more food places and this led us to more spaces we didn’t recognise. Honestly, after travelling from this airport for most of my life it was completely unrecognisable! I can’t believe the transformation of Leeds-Bradford Airport!

We had no luck finding Salts bar, I don’t think it even exists anymore. A quick glance of the screens taught us that our flight was delayed. This was no surprise as i’ve never been on a Jet2 flight that’s been on time – Honestly. So we stumbled upon a place called Tap & Brew. So new I couldn’t even tag in on Facebook! You can’t have a pint in an airport without tagging in right? We settled down at a table and looked at the menu, by this point we could see that boarding wasn’t until 13:50 which was inconvenient given the flight was due to depart at 13:10. So we contemplated whether to order food or not. It was so expensive that we settled for drinks instead. My husband got a (very expensive) pint, I took advantage of the incredible Baileys Coffee and Millies cookie for £5 deal (bargain!) and I ordered Hilda a little scoop of ice cream as a treat. 15 minutes into waiting for our drinks to arrive I noticed the details about our flight had changed! It was now on time. The 1 hour delay had suddenly disappeared without a trace. The table next to us who were also on our flight began to head off. It was incredibly frustrating given we’d just ordered – I’m thankful we didn’t waste money on food. After asking the bar staff for our drinks we enjoyed them slightly quicker than we’d have liked and half way in we noticed our flight began to board. A quick note to the kitchen to have Hilda’s ice cream put in a takeaway box and my hot drink transferred to a disposable cup – We were finally on our way! What’s an airport trip without a side of anxiety?

When it came to boarding we packed our pram up and dropped it at the bottom of the aeroplane steps. The whole process can be overwhelming when you first travel with a child but luckily we’ve got used to it and we have learnt tricks to make it easier for ourselves. We still travel with way too many items but that’s something I definitely need to work on!

The flight was only 90 minutes and we’d wrapped up a bunch of birthday presents to keep our daughter entertained on the flight. This worked a treat as she sat in the middle of us both opening one after the other. Her favourite was a Stitch sticker stamp that she insisted stamping all over everything until all 60 stickers had been used and it run out – oops. At least it lasted half an hour. We shared a mediocre cheese and ham toastie before touching down in Disneyland territory – Also known as Paris.

I’d read about the changes to entering EU countries when you’re not an EU citizen. Being from the UK this meant we were part of that crowd now. What I didn’t anticipate is them not prioritising parents with children. In fact, they actually had a separate line for us with only one person assisting. This meant that the time it took to get through was severely longer than anyone else on our flight! To say it was a nightmare would be an understatement. Hilda became really restless and between her and the other children they were taking it in turns to tantrum. It was a long wait for small children and made even more difficult by having to wait in line! I don’t look forward to doing this every time! The only saving grace was her enjoying handing out Frozen stickers to all the little girls and boys standing in the line. It was very cute watching her interact with them all.

By the time we finally grabbed our luggage and set to leave the airport it was on par with last years arrival time, despite us taking an earlier flight to give us extra park time! What I didn’t anticipate was the next steps.

After booking our flight from Jet2 i’d read separately that this flight flew into Terminal 3. Upon booking, this information isn’t easily provided so I was a little frustrated to learn the Magic Shuttle we’d booked to take us to our hotel doesn’t run from Terminal 3 at all. It runs from Terminal 1 and 2 of course! Luckily there was a free train between terminals we could catch but boy was this a lot of effort.

First we had to walk the long stretch that took us from Terminal 3 arrival hall to the airport train departures station. This probably took us 20 minutes alone with our luggage, pram and toddler. Thankfully Paris do free luggage trolleys – An absolute life saver we always take advantage of!

The train was quick and simple with only one stop between where we got on and off. A lovely French girl gave Hilda a chocolate pastry to enjoy. Whilst I don’t normally just take candy from a stranger.. It was wrapped and I didn’t feel threatened so I wasn’t about to say no.

When we got off the train we had to walk further across to where the Magic Shuttle departs. The airport is huge and the signage is terrible but we’d already learnt that last year. This year I came armed with shuttle times and directions and I was surprised to learn that we ended up on the 17:25 rather than the 16:30 we had planned to get. It really did take such a long time to transfer!

Lesson learnt from this trip? Revert back to EasyJet (who fly in to Terminal 2). The journey to the airport might be more painful in England but the journey from arrivals to Disney in France is worse. Or perhaps next time we’ll book a private transfer and save all of the hassle completely!

Once we finally made it to the Magic Shuttle, all luggage intact and toddler still wide awake, we boarded the half empty coach and relaxed for an hour. Hilda opened her little free pastry and enjoyed this whilst admiring the view of the French landscape. It felt good to be on the last leg of the journey! I also love how the Magic Shuttle takes you directly to your hotel. It’s about the same price as the train but the train takes 8 minutes and the shuttle takes a whole hour! We chose the shuttle because the idea of lugging us all onto a train and then walk to our hotel sounds like our idea of hell after a long tiring day of travelling.

On the coach as we got closer to Disney, we spotted the iconic Disney Village balloon. That’s how you know you are close! Hilda was fascinated by this and kept trying to see it from the window. It meant we were getting closer and the excitement was kicking in!

We stopped at Santa Fe then Cheyenne, the off-site resorts, Disneyland Hotel followed by Marvel then finally Sequoia! Last year we were the 3rd stop and this time the last but it was nice to see all the resorts and how close the off-site ones were. Good to know we could potentially do an off-site re-visit sometime and not be too far away! Although it’ll be hard to leave the Disney bubble we’ve gotten so used to..

Finally it was time to get off and we touched down on the familiar cobblestones that line the ground outside our favourite Disney’s Sequoia Lodge. Bags through security and no lines for Check-in. Just how we like our arrival.

When i headed to check-in Hllda came with me. The cast member asked if we would like to speak to Mickey Mouse on the phone to wish her a Happy Birthday. I said yes and Hilda was passed the phone. With a sceptical face she didn’t react to his message but I knew this was just the start of her interaction with the characters and I had no doubt by the end of the week she’d be best pals with Mickey and Minnie!

All checked-in we headed up to our room. Sequoia Lodge is currently undergoing refurbishment and during our last stay we were located in a lodge room. We absolutely loved this last time because it was out of the way and we really enjoyed the walk through the trees every morning to breakfast and the parks. This time it was all blocked off and I can’t wait to see what they do with the lodges for future! We were in a more expensive room this time because it was ‘close to facilities’ – With Disney you usually pay for location which has never been important for us. But with no choice we were left with this room and it was a nice change to be in the main building and so close to everything.

So heading upstairs it didn’t take long for us to be in our room and the first thing our daughter did was crawl into bed and say goodnight. One busy day of travelling down and we were just getting started..

Little did she know we weren’t retiring to bed that easily.. There was a whole new park to explore! To be continued..