The Secret Surprise
I am genuinely terrible at keeping secrets. If I buy a gift, I've usually hinted at it within 48 hours. If I plan something fun, the anticipation of telling someone almost always wins. So the fact that we kept Disneyland Paris a complete surprise from the girls until the morning it happened felt like a personal victory on par with the trip itself.
We'd never done a Disney trip as a family. Part of that was intentional — the Florida version always felt like it required its own separate vacation just to plan the vacation. Fast passes, dining reservations booked months out, color-coded park maps, rope-drop strategies… I've watched friends do it beautifully and I have nothing but respect for them. It's just never been my thing.
But one day at Disneyland Paris, tucked inside a trip to France? That felt exactly right. Manageable, special, and completely ours to do however we wanted.
The morning of, I borrowed a shirt from my sister — a Disney fanatic who owns a shirt that says "I'm done adulting, I'm going to Disney" — and wore it down to breakfast while Greg filmed the girls waking up. Audrey stared at it for a solid few seconds, genuinely confused, before it clicked. Their faces when it did? Worth every second of keeping that secret.
First Croissants and Zero Expectations
We grabbed what would become the first of many croissants on our walk to the train station and headed to Disneyland Paris — the girls' first Disney experience ever, and the first time Greg or I had been since we were roughly their age. We went in with zero expectations, no plan, and absolutely no idea what we were doing.
We arrived just as a parade was wrapping up and jumped right in — watching characters dance and sing, wandering wherever looked interesting, saying yes to whatever came next. It was probably the most unprepared we've ever been for a full day out. It was also one of the most fun.
The Highlights (As They Actually Happened)
Our first stop was the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse, which hit me somewhere deep in my childhood memories. By lunchtime I was so hungry and so overstimulated that the only photo I managed to take was of the dessert buffet. No regrets.
The Minnie ears were acquired — obviously, non-negotiable — and we kept moving. It's a Small World was exactly what you'd expect: charming, classic, and the kind of song that lives in your head for three days afterward. But the unexpected star of the day for me was the Buzz Lightyear ride, specifically because Buzz was shouting instructions at us in French and I found that genuinely delightful.
The girls drove us around in the little cars. Reese and I — the designated thrill-ride pair in this family — snuck in a roller coaster while Greg and Audrey took the pirate boat. Audrey was briefly devastated that Woody's pullstring didn't make him speak French. We caught part of the evening show, looked at the crowd already funneling toward the train station, and made the very smart decision to leave before the chaos.
On Not Having a Plan
I've spent years feeling vaguely guilty about never taking the girls to Disney. But watching them experience it for the first time — with no comparison point, no expectations, nothing to measure it against — was actually kind of perfect. Everything was new. Everything was enough.
Disneyland Paris turned out to be exactly the right place to try the no-plan approach. We didn't maximize anything. We didn't rush. We just wandered our way through the day at a pace that felt, honestly, very French. We saw what we saw and loved what we loved and left when we were ready.
No spreadsheet required.
The Best Accidental Discovery
One of the reasons we chose our Airbnb was that we could walk home from the train after a long day — and that decision paid off in a way we didn't expect. On the walk back, we stumbled onto a pedestrian street filled with painted games and activities for kids. Reese named it "activity road" on the spot, and it became one of those unplanned moments the girls talked about for the rest of the trip.
The best discoveries usually are.
A Few Tips If You're Considering Disneyland Paris
These aren't rules — just what made the day feel easy and fun for us:
Download the app. It's the only planning tool we used and it was genuinely all we needed — ride closures, wait times, done.
One day is enough. It lets you be relaxed about what you do and don't get to, which changes everything.
The train drops you at the entrance. Shockingly simple.
Leave before the final show ends. Getting on the train before the crowd rush is a gift to your future self.
Bring a small bag for the things your kids will absolutely not carry themselves — including, in our case, the drawstring backpack we bought specifically to carry the Minnie ears they also insisted on buying.
