Disneyland Paris 2018 Trip Report – Marvel Summer of Superheroes. Day One!

We’ve recently returned from a wonderful trip to Disneyland Paris. We went last year for four full days, and decided that we’d like to return again this year for longer.

Back in October 2017 we booked our 2018 holiday for six full days! Some people will say this is too long, but for us it was perfect! We were able to do so much more than last year.

We left on Saturday 9th June and flew from Cardiff airport. We spent the first night in Hotel Kyriad, but caught the free shuttle bus to Disneyland so that we could collect our tickets from the Disneyland Hotel in order for us to arrive first thing Sunday morning and spend the day there.

Sunday morning arrived and we booked a taxi from Hotel Kyriad to the Disneyland Hotel. Upon arrival, our suitcases were taken from us, and we were able to head straight into the parks to enjoy the day!

I love how magical Disneyland Paris is from the moment you walk through the gates. The sound of music playing, the sights and the view of the castle peeking through the bandstand is just magical!

When I booked our trip back in October 2017, I had no idea that we’d be arriving on the first day of the Marvel Summer of Superheroes, but I’m so glad we booked for this day!

Unlike last year, some meet and greets need to be pre-booked via an app on your mobile device called Lineberty. Now there has been a lot of controversy over this app. While some people (like me) love the idea of having to pre-book a time slot to meet particular characters because it frees up your time, meaning you don’t need to queue for in excess of two hours to meet one character, other people, however, would prefer to queue up because the time slots go pretty quickly – usually within 15 minutes, often quicker.

I downloaded the Lineberty app onto my phone and my husbands phone before we arrived in Disneyland. On our first day we managed to meet Goofy in the Disneyland Hotel outside Inventions and then we went outside, sat down on a bench in front of the Disney Castle and opened the app at 9.40am waiting for it to open at 9.45am. I managed to book a meet with Captain America in the morning on my phone, and a meet with the Incredibles on my husbands phone for the afternoon.

With our two main meets pre-booked we could now spend our time enjoying the parks instead of queuing up! The Lineberty app will send you a notification when it’s time to head over for your meet so you don’t need to keep checking your phone.

The app can be used to book a meet with Captain America, The Incredibles, Mickey & friends, and Buzz Lightyear and friends.

All other meet and greets continue as normal with people just queuing up to meet them.

The first thing we did was head over to the Disney Castle to make wands. I’d seen so many people talking about these wands in the Facebook group, Disneyland Paris for Brits, and I knew that I wanted our girls to make one each as it’s such a lovely keepsake. At 39 euros each they’re not cheap, but they really are lovely.

Made from glass, children can pick three different coloured beads to fill their glass wand with. Each colour bead has a different meaning such as friendship, bravery, honesty etc.

Our girls loved making their own wands, and I really like how different they are! With our wands made we were told to call back before 9pm to pick them up as they’d need to be closed up using a heating process with an open flame.

We then wandered around sleeping beauty’s castle, taking in the views and admiring the beautiful stain glass windows.

There were a few things I wanted to do this year that we didn’t get the chance to do last year, and one of those was meet Darth Vader in Discoveryland. Our daughter, R, dressed as Darth Vader and M dressed as Rey from Star Wars.

Luckily the queue was pretty short so we only waited around five minutes before it was our turn. Now Darth Vader is pretty intimidating in real life! He walks out and just stands in front of you, his presence towering above you!

M was petrified, especially when Darth Vader flicked his cape at her. As such only R had her photo taken with him!

Before lunch we met Captain America who immediately put a smile on M’s face as he told her he’d sort Darth Vader out for her!

Captain America was very well cast! Tall, handsome and with brilliantly, white, shiny teeth! Our meet with him was amazing. He spent so much time talking to our girls and posed for some great photos with them before signing their autograph books.

We then had lunch in Walts American Diner on Main Street, and then headed back to the hotel for a nap. Whilst the girls were having a nap, a member of staff knocked on our hotel room door and gave my husband and a toy each for the girls! This is what’s commonly known amongst Disney goers as ‘Pixiedust’. A random act of kindness! My husband and I were delighted and couldn’t wait to see the girls faces when they woke up to their new toys!

After waking up feeling refreshed, we headed back over to the Studios, which has been given a pretty awesome superhero makeover with statues of Black Panther, Hulk and Iron Man in the production courtyard.

Before long it was time to meet The Incredibles! The Lineberty App notified us it was our time and we waited less than five minutes to meet them. The interaction was brilliant, and again, they happily posed for photos and signed autographs.

One of the things that R had mentioned she really wanted to do this year was the drawing class. Luckily the place where you meet the Incredibles is Art of Animation which is also where the drawing class takes place. After our meet, the next class was about to start so we joined the queue and did the drawing class which was of Goofy. R and M loved drawing and their drawings are so lovely that I’m going to frame them and put them up on their bedroom wall!

The drawing class only lasted around 15 minutes, but it was such a fun, different thing to be able to do!

Our evening meal was in Buffalo Bills which is a firm favourite of ours. Our girls, my husband and I absolutely love this show!

The clowns also helped to keep us entertained by encouraging the audience to make lots of noise, bang cutlery on the tables and they even came over to give our girls a high five each!

After Buffalo Bills we went on some rides and stayed up to watch Illuminations which is a light show that’s projected onto the castle with fireworks and music. It’s very magical.

On our way out of the park Mickey Mouse was waving and wishing everyone a goodnight.

We had a very busy first day, but it was so enjoyable!

Stay tuned for day two!