International Travel Archives - Page 2 of 17

May 11 2017

Hong Kong Revisited: Toddler jet lag, our experience, and some ideas for how to deal with it

Jet lag hits almost every human hard, but in my experience, toddler jet lag is the worst. 18 months – 3 year old kids possess the wonderful qualities of knowing what they want but not adequately expressing those needs. They also begin to assert their independence with little to no concept of what that actually entails. So toddler jet lag can be pretty brutal, especially when doing a 12 hour time change for 7 short days!

At this point in our family travel careers, we’ve handled toddler jet lag 5 or 6 times (2x to Asia, 4x to Europe or so, I lose track). I thought I’d share our latest experience in Hong Kong along with some thoughts on how to minimize jet lag’s deleterious effects on toddlers.

Both times we've taken our kid(s) to Asia, we've had to deal with some severe toddler jet lag. Here are some ideas for how to minimize the negative effects. — After London we prepared ourselves for some rough jet lag in Hong Kong

For the record, M (4 years old), absolutely killed it jet lag wise (unlike in London, above). She adjusted better than everyone in our family including her grandparents. I only have one personal datapoint, but from what I hear from my friends who take their kids back to Asia, post toddler stage they can handle it pretty well!

Disclosure: Links in this post may earn me a small commission on Amazon if you buy through the links. I only link products that we personally use, appreciate the support!

Our experience in Hong Kong

Like I said at the top, Hong Kong and Boston have a time difference of 12 hours. That means 6:00 PM = 6:00 AM, up is down, down is up! We compounded our jet lag issues with a flight that left Boston at 1:45 AM, an adventure unto itself.

So H, our 20 month old, experienced some severe toddler jet lag issues. When we travel we generally co-sleep, for the most part I handled this duty in Hong Kong. Let’s take a look at the play by play of what happened. Note, we couldn’t let him cry it out at any point (which we happily would have done) because my parents and M both were sleeping in (separate) adjacent rooms).

Night 1

We arrived in Hong Kong at 5:00 AM and had a full day. H had only slept about 9-10 hours total between home in Boston and the flight. That night he woke up 3 times, 1-1.5 hours each time. In an incredibly foul mood every time, often full blown crying. Jess ended up having to stay up with him from 4:30-9:30 AM, then H slept for like 3 hours.

Night 2

After a decent day (outside of eating, jet lag sapped my son’s appetite), H went to bed at 8 PM. Promising! But then he woke up at 10 PM for about an hour. After sleeping from 11-1 AM, H woke up AGAIN and at this point I had tired of carrying him around or what not. So I made the decision to take him for a walk in Causeway Bay at around 2 AM.

He seemed to enjoy it, and it was nice walking around the quiet city, but I was pretty exhausted. He also didn’t even bother falling asleep. The two of us crawled back into bed around 4 and slept from 430-630 AM, and then we got up and made our way to Hong Kong Disneyland. I’d definitely say this night hurt the most.

Nights 3 & 4

At this point, H finally started truly adjusting and I also had come up with some more techniques. Night 3 he woke up every 2-3 hours, but instead of holding him I just switched to using our Beco carrier (affiliate link). That saved a lot of frustration because even when he kicked and screamed he had nowhere to go and I had no way to drop him. I also caved and gave him milk, which at that point just had to be done for sanity’s sake.

On night 4 he only woke up twice and only stayed up for an hour each time and I managed to cut out the milk. And with that, he finally beat jet lag! Night 5 he had a regular night of sleep, just in time to go home three days later. 🙂

Tips for beating toddler jet lag

As you can see, toddler jet lag can be pretty brutal. We experienced similar difficulties in London and on our first trip to Taiwan. Some might ask whether it’s worth it to travel with kids that young. Personally, I believe it is. You also sometimes do not have a choice, especially if you need to go overseas to visit family. So here are some ideas based on what I’ve learned about how to deal with toddler jet lag.

Try to create a regular sleep schedule as soon as possible

All kids, but especially toddlers, thrive on routine. Our son likes doing things at home in the same order and same way every day. This comes down even to silly things like he gets frustrated if mom is the one giving him a bath or if dad is the one changing him afterwards (it must be the other way around). Travel helps break kids out of their routines in a good way, but when dealing with toddler jet lag you really want to create your road routine as soon as possible.

Thus, we try to create a regular sleep schedule as soon as we can. That might mean putting the kids down at 8 PM and then taking a relaxing midnight stroll, but it’s the 8 PM part that matters. Dinner, bath, bed: we rinsed and repeated every night, shooting for 8 PM, and that really helped to speed up getting over jet lag.

Be flexible with naptime (or even bedtime) until the child adjusts

While we try to create a solid routine for bedtime and morning, we try to be flexible with naps. Think of it this way: your kid uses naps to catch up on whatever sleep he missed at night. So we made sure that we left plenty of space for naps. Sometimes that would be an extra nap in the morning, delaying our day activities. Other times that meant a long stroller nap while we explored Hong Kong.

But I think the key thing here is don’t sweat it too much if your child misses his “regular” nap time. Jet lag throws everyone for a loop, so just let them sleep when they need to sleep and be flexible until the issue has mostly subsided. Really, you have to be more flexible about naps when on the road in general so this is just an extension of that.

Keep mealtimes regular

Keeping mealtimes regular will help both adults and kids adjust to jet lag faster. In the 80s, someone came up with this crazy fast/feast/eat a big breakfast idea that supposedly helps you beat jet lag (the Argonne anti-jet-lag diet). That’s completely unrealistic for little kids but the fact that your biological clock ties in to your eating habits makes perfect sense.

So I recommend that you try to keep mealtimes as regular as possible once you reach your destination. Snack to supplement as necessary (the kids will be grumpy after all) but try to make a routine out of your meals. This should help your kids to adjust mentally, if not physically. Like I said, H had a horrible appetite those first few days of jet lag, so we went heavy on the milk for calories. Gotta do what you gotta do.

Fill your day with activities, but not too many

I’m often tempted to just spend the entire first day in a new environment hanging out and taking it easy at home. You’d think just getting rest would help with the jet lag but nothing could be further from the truth.

For starters, you and your kids will go insane staying in the hotel or apartment all day. You need to get outside just to change things up and get them into new environments. Secondly, getting exposed to sunlight helps your body to adjust biologically.

Most importantly, you went to another country for a reason – get out there and go see some of it! I think one or two activities, or even just some scheduled walks, on the first day can really help to kick that jet lag. No need to create an action packed day, but definitely don’t just stay inside “resting” all day either.

Bring equipment to help you out

You know what works best for your kids, so be sure to come prepared. I know a long plane ride seems stressful but you need to be equally prepared for the first day or two of jet lag. Bring favorite toys, favorite stroller, baby carrier like our aforementioned Beco (affiliate link), whatever you need to keep your kids occupied.

For our kids, it’s most important to make sure we have food and snacks. They get extra cranky when tired and hungry, so we made sure to always have milk and crackers on hand. We also brought our last two Go-go Squeez pouches that I got from DisneySMMC, for true emergencies! Easy and mess free is the most stress free.

Meet your children where they are

My last bit of advice relates not only to toddler jet lag but parenting in general. You gotta know when to hold em’, know when to fold em’, as Kenny Rogers says. You can make all the plans, contingency plans, and emergency plans you can think of – sometimes your kids just won’t cooperate.

So even if you have the best plan to help them beat toddler jet lag, you have to meet them where they are. And if that means you have to go home early, you go home early. If that means you wake up late, you wake up late. If that means taking a walk at 2 AM, take a walk at 2 AM.

Meet your children where they are, both physically and emotionally, and that will really help decrease your stress and theirs. In turn, they can better adjust to the mental and physical toll jet lag can take so you can get on with your vacation!

Final Thoughts

Toddler jet lag can be pretty rough, because toddlers are rough! Still, I have loved traveling with my kids even at that age. So I do what I can to minimize the toddler jet lag, and these tips have worked for me.

How do you deal with toddler jet lag or jet lag in general? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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May 08 2017

Hong Kong Revisited: Random things to know about Hong Kong

Hong Kong blends a few unique cultures into a city that feels very accessible for US tourists. A British colony until 1997, Hong Kong residents speak a lot of English and have a lot of Western customs. The confluence of multiple cultures also creates some fascinating situations. As a former resident and semi-regular visitor, I’ve noticed a lot of random quirky things about Hong Kong on my trips. Here are some random Hong Kong travel tips to prepare you for what you might encounter!

These tips of course are borne out of my personal observations. They’re also fairly random, some of them are just idiosyncrasies about Hong Kong that I love (or hate!). Every visitor and/or resident has their own experiences and I’d love to hear yours, so let me know in the comments!

Get an Octopus card

If you do nothing else, please consider this Hong Kong travel tip. If you enjoy convenience, get an Octopus card. Octopus is Hong Kong’s ubiquitous contactless electronic payment system. You can grab one at any MTR station (counter) for a $50 HKD deposit (about $6 USD). It will make your visit to Hong Kong so much easier.

Hong Kong is a wonderful place for visitors but does have its quirks. Here are some random Hong Kong travel tips to prepare you! — Get this.

Many locations don’t accept credit cards or have credit card minimums (even Hong Kong Disneyland). I still find Hong Kong cash ridiculously over complicated and you’re going to end up with a ton of loose change when using cash. Loose change you’ll probably forget to use before you leave!

Almost every single store in Hong Kong has an Octopus card reader and you use it for your public transportation. You can conceivably spend your entire day in Hong Kong without opening your wallet – the tech is good enough to read through your wallet/purse in many cases. Almost all the locals in Hong Kong use their Octopus for almost everything and I’d strongly encourage you to do the same!

Bring an umbrella and watch your head

One of my favorite Hong Kong travel tips? Always carry an umbrella. The main reason to bring an umbrella stems from the hot and humid climate. Thunderstorms pop up frequently in the afternoons and if you’re visiting around typhoon season you can almost set your clock to it. Like many in Asia, you can also use the umbrella to shield yourself from the intense sun.

However you might want to pop an umbrella while walking the streets. Due to space restrictions, many apartments in Hong Kong tend to have individual air conditioning units – often the window variety (but built into the wall). That means condensation on the A/C units drips on your head constantly. It’s something I’ve only experienced in Hong Kong (and Chinatown), though I’m sure it happens elsewhere. So when you’re walking along the street, look up and make sure you don’t get dripped on!

Budget out extra time for riding elevators

A lot of people call Hong Kong home. Hong Kong also hosts what feels like a billion tourists on a daily basis. That means a lot of Hong Kong builds upwards and you visit a number of high rises.

Combining these two facts, Hong Kong elevators work a bit differently than what I’m used to. Separate elevators serve different floors, which in and of itself isn’t unique. What I find unique is that these elevator banks are located all over the place, not in one centralized location.

Thus you often need to take elevator from G to 2F, walk, then find the elevators that go to the floor you want. Or, in some cases, find the elevators that go to the floor with the elevators you want. It’s like the warp pipes in super Mario brothers! The MTR stations also require a bunch of navigation, so be sure to budget in extra time and don’t get too frustrated.

You may think I’m being silly, but it can get stressful when traveling with kids. Your destination on the 10th floor might require two elevator rides and if your kids are whiny and you don’t know which ones to take it can get frustrating. Remember, a lot of people speak English, so ask!

Two Hong Kong tips regarding elevators. It still seems that many Hong Kong residents will hit both the up and down buttons to call the elevator, regardless of their intended travel direction. And something I got a real kick out of: the “door close” button is not a placebo. It works immediately!

Escalators are kind of crazy too

Escalators are one of the most fun parts of Hong Kong for kids. It’s not uncommon to ride a three story escalator from place to place. You can also generally avoid the elevator confusion by taking the escalators (though sometimes those are placed in funny areas too!).

It’s common for escalators to not go to every floor, again for efficiency purposes. But at least you don’t have to wait to call the lift back if you take the wrong one. You still should have a general idea of where you’re going.

One note on travel with strollers: it’s still fairly common for people to take strollers with kids in them up escalators. While I saw this being discouraged at one MTR station, I still saw quite a few families doing it. It’s not ideal, but it saves a lot of time.

Parents, ditch the stroller if you can

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What IS ideal is ditching your stroller if you can. While Hong Kong seems to be making great strides in terms of increasing accessibility (unlike London), you still might have to take a pretty long detour if you’re confined to elevators. So build up those little kids’ stamina so they can walk to most destinations!

If you have a toddler you might want to consider bringing a baby carrier, even if they’re still too heavy. That way they can walk as much as they can and then you can throw them into the carrier when you need to. It makes a huge difference. If you don’t have a carrier yet or are in the market, we love our Beco Gemini (Amazon affiliate link). But whatever you use, it’ll usually beat dragging a stroller around.

Taxi colors and etiquette

Hong Kong taxis operate under a unique system. The color of the taxi determines what areas of Hong Kong it can serve. Red taxis serve Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, green taxis serve the New Territories, and blue taxis work Lantau Island. With the exceptions of the airport and Hong Kong Disneyland, you generally are restricted to using the correct taxi. If you’re taking the taxi from the airport, save time and make sure you line up for the correct color taxi.

You can hail taxis almost anywhere that doesn’t have double yellow lines by the curb. The easiest thing to do, though, is to find a taxi stand at the nearest hotel/mall/country club to your location. You almost never have to wait for a taxi in Hong Kong during good weather. But if it rains…good luck! Magically, all taxis will suddenly have guests.

Taxis in Hong Kong run much cheaper than in other big cities and can save a lot of time, so don’t ignore them in your travel plans.

Pack napkins and/or tissues

It can be ridiculously difficult to get napkins or tissues in Hong Kong. You usually get one and only one at restaurants – if you’re lucky. You’ll rarely find napkin dispensers like you see in the States (McDonalds being a notable exception). And if you have kids, you’ll have to wipe all sorts of things on your trip.

So buy a six pack of small tissue packets either in Hong Kong or before your trip. While it’s Parenting 101 to carry tissues or napkins around, it’s paramount in Hong Kong. You just can’t guarantee you’ll be able to find some when you need them. Oh, and bathrooms mostly use hand dryers too so you’ll have trouble finding paper towels there! Pack the napkins/tissues.

Be prepared for a late start

My final Hong Kong travel tip deals with Hong Kong residents and their time. In general, Hong Kong operates on a later schedule than most Americans. Stores don’t open until 11:00 AM, breakfast doesn’t even start until 6:00 AM in most places!

So be prepared for rush hour to be later than you might expect and plan accordingly. If you get out early, at like 8:00 AM, you can avoid most of the crowds but things you want to see might not be open yet. At the same time, if you’re taking an hour train ride to go to Tung Chung to see the giant Buddha or Hong Kong Disneyland, you probably will beat the majority of the crowds.

Use Hong Kong’s late start time to your advantage to get the most out of your vacation. And don’t forget you can keep shopping until 11:00 PM in most cases! 🙂

Miscellaneous tips

Here are some more tips that don’t warrant much explanation:

You might want to avoid speaking Mandarin so as not to be mistaken for a mainland Chinese person, Hong Kong residents aren’t the biggest fans at the moment
Recycling bins are ridiculously hard to find, unfortunately. I didn’t see my first one until Disney.
People walk and drive on the left side, like in the UK. Yet for some reason they stand on the right side of escalators to let people pass. Confusing!
Generally, 10% service charge is already added to your food bill and you don’t need to tip on top of that unless you felt service was exceptional. Even if you can’t read Chinese you should be able to figure it out from the bill (see below).

Final Thoughts

Hong Kong is a wonderful place to visit and a ton of fun for families. These Hong Kong travel tips are just my random observations over my last few trips, but like I said at the top I’m sure many of you have tips as well. Share in the comments and let me know what I missed!

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Apr 27 2017

Hong Kong Revisited: Surviving the 15 hour flight with two young kids

So we took M back to Asia before she turned two and figured we owed H the same. Coming to Hong Kong for only a week seemed like a great idea back in August, time will tell whether it was! But since H managed to get himself born in July going this summer before he turns two is impossible. The first and last steps of our journey: flights with two kids on Cathay Pacific BOS-HKG (and return) in business class.

My buddy Dan reviewed Cathay Pacific business class awhile back so I won’t bother too much with the details. Bottom line: super solid, comfortable product with good food and tons of entertainment. Truly an ideal way to fly to Hong Kong in business class as an adult. Also, one of the only reasons we managed to go to Hong Kong for such a short time (7 nights) with such young kids was being able to fly in business class. (The other? Grandparents.)

We took Cathay Pacific BOS-HKG in business class with our four year old and toddler. Here's how we managed to survive the 15 hour flight. — Hong Kong Airport – look at the camera, kid!

This post will focus on how the flight affected our kids. We spent 420,000 AA miles to fly in J so it’s fair to question whether it was worth it. Here are some things that stood out to me as a parent of a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old flying BOS-HKG on Cathay Pacific.

The lap infant fare cost much less than expected

You need to buy a lap infant ticket when flying internationally.Of course this ticket doesn’t cost a ton since it’s not full price – for most airlines, including AA, it costs 10% of the cash fare. This includes award tickets (though some awesome airlines like British Airways and Korean Air charge 10% of the miles. Aeroplan also has set cash costs which really save you money if you’re booking premium cabins). I wrote about my experience doing just that with United here. You technically need to get a lap infant ticket on domestic flights as well but those cost nothing.

Anyway, I prepared myself to pay 10% of the cash fare for our business class seats, around $800. Like with United, I decided to wait until the last week to call in for the lap infant. Business class fares don’t fluctuate too much so I didn’t think I risked much.

The AAgent surprised me by quoting me about $240 for the lap infant ticket. I’m not sure how she came up with that (coach fare, perhaps), but I took it and ran! So you never know…but be prepared to pay quite a bit. We have before.

Leaving at 1:45 AM is really tough on the kids (outbound)

As a parent, I always prefer direct flights. So when Cathay Pacific started the Boston to Hong Kong flight it was pretty exciting. The downside, however, is a 1:45 AM departure time on the outbound.

We decided to put the kids to bed at normal time (8 PM, I guess an hour early for M). We woke them up right around 11:30 PM and then left immediately. They were pretty groggy and then mostly delirious at the airport, not a great start to the trip.

Of course, we didn’t sleep at all so by the time we all boarded the plane we had kids with not enough sleep and parents with none. Jess boarded first with M and got her settled while H and I played in the empty terminal. By the time the boys got on the plane, it was time to go, so we settled in for the long haul.

The return flight leaves at a much more reasonable time, 6:10 PM Hong Kong time. Of course, it arrives at 10:10 PM Boston time, leading to a lot of jet lag, but I’ll leave that to another post.

15.5 hours is an incredibly long time

Our flight to Hong Kong took 15 and a half hours, the return took about 15. For the most part, the return was much easier – both kids slept about eight hours. The rest of the time M watched a ton of Doc McStuffins and other TV, while H…went nuts? I’d say 18-24 months is quite possibly the worst time to travel with your child.

A toddler that age knows what they want but can’t express it. They want to go places but don’t necessarily have the physical skills to do so consistently. Plus, H needs to move around much more than his sister did at that age.

One thing I’m not sure we made the right decision about, we got three seats in a row. That means to cross to the other side we had to go through the galley. That meant more room for H to walk, but I felt bad cutting through to help out. Eventually I just started climbing over the center console!

Entertaining the kids

Disclosure: Links in this paragraph earn me a small commission on Amazon if you buy through the links. I only linked products that we found useful, appreciate the support!

We bought a bunch of stuff to entertain the kids on the plane. Some things, like Wikki sticks and some car magnets, didn’t work out too well for our kids. But other stuff, like this Melissa and Doug Color Blast coloring book (with “magic pen”), provided great entertainment not only on the plane but throughout the trip.

Besides that coloring book, three other things we bought stood out. First, we bought more take and toss sippy cups. We find that our kids thermoses sort of explode due to changes in cabin pressure; these sippy cups provide a way to keep the kids hydrated without worrying about a mess. (Tip: if you do bring a thermos, keep the cap open to adjust for the pressure. Science!). They only cost $1.25 when I got the, $4 now but still worth it to me. Note they are add on items.

Secondly, Jess bought this huge Tsum Tsum sticker book which occupied M for a long time. She loves this sticker book and played with it a ton even after we arrived. Jess bought it at Target for $15 or something but you can grab it from Amazon for $10.

But da real MVP by far was this pill planner box Jess bought. I confess, I was completely skeptical about this. But I should have realized multi-purpose items reign supreme. We hid snacks, stickers, etc. in the pill planning box and both kids loved to pop each box open to get what was inside. This especially saved us with H, who probably used the box for over an hour throughout the course of each flight. Pill planning boxes – not just for the elderly!

Flying in business class helps, though I’m not sure how much

Like I said at the top, we couldn’t have done this trip without flying in business class. But that mostly is a function of how little time we were in Hong Kong. Now I know Trevor can do Hong Kong in 48 hours, but kids obviously are different. Not only do they get a ton of jetlag, but the parents get a lot less rest – so adrenaline runs out.

The best part of flying business was maximizing rest. When the kids slept, we could lay down fully, so even though I only grabbed three hours on each flight, I felt better than if I had stayed upright. Having food on demand also helped, but you can get cup noodles in economy so that mostly washed out.

I’d say the second benefit came from the attentive service. Since we had a much better flight attendant to passenger ratio, they helped out a big deal. Remember, on Cathay J, they expect you to ring the call button when you need something so don’t be afraid to do that. I’m always impressed by the quality of Cathay’s flight attendants and these flights were no exception.

Finally, and this sounds dumb, but the fact that there were so many buttons to push really helped to keep H occupied. Toddlers are silly, just give them stuff to push and they can stay happy for quite awhile!

Amenities are nice, but a longhaul flight is about survival

Despite the nice amenities of being in business class, we mostly arrived at both our destinations wrecked. A fifteen hour flight with two kids feels like a long war of attrition. It’s nice to lie fully down, but you can never fully rest because you keep one ear open for your kids.

We had no major meltdowns (greater than 5 minutes), but we had a couple minor ones to deal with. Come to think of it, we probably dealt with the same number as we’d deal with in a regular 15 hour day so that wasn’t too bad. No dirty looks either!

Cathay gave H an “amenity kit” with a couple of diapers and Mustela – nice stuff! I actually needed a new small bag for our passports so I’m using it now. I’m guessing they do this in economy too but I don’t know for sure. A nice little baby amenity. In terms of being lap infant friendly, Cathay was great.

The toughest part of flying with a lap infant on Cathay

To me the hardest part was using a seatbelt on H when taking off, landing, or in turbulence. In the States, on most carriers you just literally hold the lap infant in your lap. On Cathay and many other foreign carriers, they give you a seat belt to loop with your own. You then need to buckle that around the kid.

Both my kids unequivocably hate that thing. They don’t mind wearing a seat belt sitting alone, but they hate the lap + seat combination. So the most stressful time of the flight? Sitting in turbulence with a freaking out H on my (or Jess’) lap. Luckily our flights were pretty smooth so we didn’t need to worry about it too much!

Final Thoughts

I recognize plenty of our friends fly to Asia with their young kids in coach so I know how lucky we were to fly up front. I’m glad we got to do it, the whole purpose of this trip was to get H back before he turns two. Unfortunately, that meant we could only stay a week, but thankfully we had the miles to fly in J. That really helped minimize jet lag – though that still was pretty rough (to be continued).

Overall, Cathay Pacific J is a wonderful way to fly to Asia, if you’ve got the miles it’s a worthy redemption. A hefty redemption at 420,000 miles to be sure, but that’s why we play the game. Remember you can use AA or Alaska miles, the latter much cheaper! Stay tuned to read about my jetlag wars with H – fun times were had by none!

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Apr 26 2017

Is Disneyland Paris worth visiting?

Disneyland Paris is comprised of two parks situated about 19 miles east of Paris. It’s celebrating its 25^th anniversary this year so it’s theoretically a great time to visit. The park is quite a bit newer than Disneyland in Anaheim and the Magic Kingdom in Orlando. It gets generally high marks for attention to detail in its design and finish, but lower marks for the overall experience for a variety of reasons ranging from inexplicable closures to employees that don’t quite have the Disney spirit. So is Disneyland Paris worth visiting?

(Editor’s note: This is a guest post from @RobertDwyer, the most prolific Saverocity blogger to not have his own blog! Though you can find his lovely wine blog at Wellesley Wine Press.)

Disney fans tend to say a visit is worth it. Non-Disney fans I’ve talked to say they’d rather just visit the parks in the US.

Being a Disney fan myself I was very much interested in visiting my first international Disney park to see for myself what it was like. Overall it was a good experience that complements a visit to Paris quite nicely. I’d do it again.

Interested in other Disney Parks around the world? Check out our tips for Hong Kong Disneyland!

Pre-Arrival

The advisable amount of pre-planning you have to do for each Disney park varies wildly. Whereas Walt Disney World in Orlando virtually requires a heavy amount of detailed planning to ensure a good time, you can mostly get away with minimal planning for a trip Disneyland in Anaheim. Disneyland Paris is more like Disneyland in Anaheim in this regard.

Dining reservations for some of the more popular table service restaurants can be made up to two months ahead of time by calling an international number.

I was torn between reserving a table at The Blue Lagoon restaurant within the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction (since I love the Blue Bayou restaurant in Anaheim and there’s no such option at Walt Disney World in Orlando) and Bistro Chez Remy in the Ratatouille area within Walt Disney Studios Park. My decision was made for me when I was informed that The Blue Lagoon was going to be closed (closed!?) during our visit.

On the bright side, park tickets are much cheaper than US Disney Parks.

The price of admission each day varies based on a calendar Disney lays out for the year with tickets ranging from low, medium, high, and super-high. If you’re buying tickets ahead of time pay attention to this calendar to make sure you’re buying a ticket that’s valid on the day(s) you want to visit.

You also need to decide whether you want to visit both parks or just one. The Ratatouille stuff is in the smaller nearby 2nd park and the uplift for visiting both parks isn’t that bad in the grand scheme of things, so especially if you’re visiting just one day I’d recommend getting a 2-park ticket.

For the day we were going, a “Magic” ticket (the 2nd most affordable) was sufficient.

Tip: Buy your tickets from the “UK English” version of the site rather than “US English”

I poked around at buying discounted tickets through a third-party but that felt a little risky for me for a first visit. A 1-day 2-park ticket priced out at $90 on the US version of the site. On the UK version of the site it priced out at 60 GBP, which is about $77. So definitely buy your tickets through the UK version of the site by clicking your chosen country at the top of the page. Our tickets worked fine as US citizens. I’m not sure why they price it out this way.

But no matter how you slice it tickets are much cheaper than in the US. A one-day “medium” season Parkhopper for Walt Disney World is currently $161. Sure you can whittle down the per-day cost if you stay multiple days (and indeed Disney hopes you opt for multi-day options so you spend spend spend while you’re there) but I find I can actually get a ton of enjoyment out of a short visit to WDW especially with their outstanding Express Transportation Option.

Getting There

There are a few ways to plan a visit to Disneyland Paris. You either go “all in” and stay on-property at a Disney hotel or save on lodging by staying at a nearby non-Disney hotel. Or, option C, stay in central Paris and make a day trip out of it like we did.

If you’re staying in central Paris there are a few ways to get out there. Most common I’d say is taking the train. It cost our family of four 27 euros each way.

Taking the train was every bit as confusing as stressful as I thought it would be based on reading about it online. While trying to buy tickets a local tried to “help” me navigate the automated kiosk (by sticking some “discount” card in the machine and encouraging me to buy roundtrip rail tickets and park tickets which I’d already pre-purchased). He was shooed away by a guy who purported to be an official employee of the station – but who knows whether they were both in on some good cop/bad cop routine? Then my credit card and prepaid cards wouldn’t work due to lack of true chip & PIN support. The full service terminal had a long line. Luckily I had cash and the machine accepted it.

Once we got through that we had to find the right line, and the right train along that line. Then the train(s) to Disneyland were both running 30 minutes late. The ride out there is an hour by train so we made it there just in time for park opening.

But just like at the parks in the US, guests staying at the Disney hotels are admitted early. So although we arrived right around 10a the park was already quite crowded with guests who’d been there two hours.

Uber estimated around 70 euros one-way and would have taken 50 minutes to get there due to traffic in the morning.

I’m not sure there’s enough meat on the bone to justify a stay at a Disney hotel, but at the same time it sure would have been nice to have those morning hours to take in attractions before crowds developed. I’m honestly not sure how I’d play a future visit.

First Impressions

Upon getting off the train you’re nicely right at the park entrance. The approach to the entrance is unique and well done. You walk under the Disneyland Hotel through a beautifully landscaped area. That, combined with a distinct but very well done Main Street USA make for a full-on grand entrance to the park. It’s hard to find someone without a smile on their face just as they’re beginning a walk down a Main Street USA anywhere in the world and this one is no exception.

Many of the popular elements at the original Disneyland/Magic Kingdom are replicated here, perhaps surprisingly so. Casey’s Corner, the Ice Cream Parlor, a barber shop. It’s pure Americana with very little local influence.

Most everything is in English, French and other languages. I thought they did a great job making the park accessible to visitors from all over the world.

Unique Attractions

The main unique draw for us was the area of Walt Disney Studios Park with attractions from Ratatouille. It may seem strange to visit the real Paris only to go to a faux Paris at a theme park but the Paris as depicted in Ratatouille fits very well in this little pocket of the park. The area features a trackless ride called “Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquee de Remy” as well as a restaurant – Bistrot Chez Remy. For a Disney fan, doing the ride then eating at the restaurant could very well justify a visit all by itself since there’s no where else in the world you can do it.

The ride was well conceived but a little glitchy. It kind of broke down in the first scene we were in then limped along to the next scene which was sufficiently distracting as to break any chance of being immersed in the illusion of being shrunken down to the size of a rat. But it was cool nonetheless. I’d love to see them add this to the France Pavillion at Epcot World Showcase. It would be a no-brainer slam dunk.

The “Toon Studio” area of Walt Disney Studios offers a glimpse into what it would be like if Disney didn’t create ambitious lands like Cars Land in Anaheim (and I presume the forthcoming Stars Wars and Toy Story Lands). The renditions in Paris did indeed feature attractions based on popular Pixar movies, but they weren’t very good. The Cars Quatre Roues Rallye was like Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree in Anaheim’s cars land – a real dud. Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin was straight out of a carnival attraction with little in the way of theming – perhaps the zigzag was referring to the monotonous slow-moving queue?

Crush’s Coaster looked surprisingly high-octane compared to nearby rides. Kind of a kids version of Space mountain in a 4-person turtle shell ride vehicle. But the wait was 90 minutes with no Fastpasses remaining by the time we got around to it.

Tomorrowland is instead called Discoveryland here and themed in a Jules Verne/steampunk motif. I thought it worked quite well compared to the Tomorrowlands we’re familiar with (which always seem to be the most dated areas of the park).

The Haunted Mansion is referred to as Phantom Manor in Paris and its theming is bent to fit in surprisingly well in Frontierland. It’s a darker rendition than we’re familiar with since much of the comic relief has been removed. Still, a well done attraction.

Big Thunder Mountain looked terrific but again had too long of a wait for the time we had. It starts on land, goes through a tunnel beneath water, then races around what’s Tom Sawyer’s Island at US Disney Parks. I’d prioritize getting on that next time for sure.

Instead of Tom Sawyer’s Island there are play areas and islands back near Pirates and a unique Indiana Jones attraction. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril is a roller coaster with an inversion. Glad I didn’t tell my kids it was a Jeep ride that wasn’t too scary! I hear it’s not a particularly good attraction but didn’t get a chance to go on it.

There’s a dragon under the castle. You won’t see that at other Disney Parks.

Overall there’s quite a few unique things about the park. It’s very well laid out and a joy to walk around. You may not realize until later which of your favorite attractions were missing.

Closures

As part of their 25^th Anniversary they’re “making the park sparkle!”. I planned our visit before hearing about this but it made me look forward to a park that was in tip-top shape in spite of some prior reports of maintenance neglect I’d read about.

The overall park may indeed have been in better condition (it looked quite nice to me) but I was disappointed that 2 of the 3 attractions that were touted as being “new for their 25^th anniversary” were still closed for refurbishment. Pirates of the Caribbean (said to be better than even the excellent one in Anaheim) and Hyperspace Mountain were both closed. Evidently we arrived before their refurbs were completed.

This was quite disappointing because some of the other attractions we really like as a family at the US Parks like Jungle Cruise, Soarin’, and Toy Story Mania aren’t present in Paris so every attraction counts. Pirates in particular hurt.

Lines

The lines were surprisingly long. We visited the Thursday after Easter which is evidently a week-long holiday for most of Europe.

Popular attractions had waits between 50 and 90 minutes. Even the train around the park had a wait of an hour plus. I’m used to using the train as an enjoyable mode of transportation so waiting an hour for it was a deflating experience.

We probably could have done a better job with Fastpasses. They’re the kind where you go to a physical kiosk in front of the attraction (as opposed to the kind you book through an app/ahead of time). We were able to take advantage of one of these for Buzz Lightyear but by the time we got around to getting more all of the Fastpasses of the day were depleted.

Put all of this together and it makes me think it would be worth getting into the parks earlier by staying at Disney hotel. But if you’re in Paris for just a few nights it doesn’t really make sense to spend those nights out near the park. Tough call.

Bistrot Chez Remy

People say dining is a weak spot for Disneyland Paris. And they’re right: Compared to other Disney Parks – even Anaheim – it is not good.

But let’s start on a positive note: We had a very good experience at Bistrot Chez Remy. I can’t think of a movie better conceived as inspiration for a theme park restaurant than Ratatouille, and Bistrot Chez Remy is mostly well done. The theming is very well done and you really feel like you’re in the lobby of Gusteau’s when you’re in the waiting area.

The theming inside the restaurant is clever but ultimately the dining experience falls apart a bit from there. The set menu pricing is a little awkward to navigate. I’d rather pick and choose the items I want, especially for lunch. But I wanted to give the restaurant every chance to impress so I went with the most expensive option in the joint: The Menu Gusteau with wine for a scorching 74,99 euros.

Almost every menu option included the famous ratatouille dish featured in the movie. But unfortunately, the “standard” ratatouille is just chopped vegetables that look nothing like what you see in the movie. It was comical to hear kid after kid say “that’s not Ratatouille” when presented with plain-looking chopped vegetables.

Since I went with the Menu Gustaeu I got “premium” ratatouille which looks a bit more like what’s in the movie thanks to the chopped vegetables being wrapped up in thinly sliced zucchini.

I wouldn’t consider a single thing I had to be truly remarkable or memorable so overall it was a bit of a bust in terms of value.

Bistrot Chez Remy felt more like a Rainforest Cafe experience quality-wise, with pricing as high as some very good restaurants in Paris.

Still, the one-two punch of going on the Ratatouille ride followed by a visit to Bistrot Chez Remy is something I’m glad we did. And I’d probably do again on a return visit.

Snack Options

Like I said, I heard bad things about dining going in. But even with lowered expectations I was disappointed. How could it be that Disney knows how to offer interesting dining options in their parks but they choose not to in Paris?

I was expecting things like less popular restaurants to be closed since it wasn’t peak season. Well, actually it was peak season. The entirely of Europe has the week off, lines at attractions are a mile long and the park is quite crowded. Seemed like a great opportunity to sell some food to me.

What I wasn’t expecting for nearly every snack cart and quick service restaurant in the place to be closed. Since we had a big lunch at Bistrot Chez Remy we just wanted some snacks in the late afternoon. And we weren’t even looking for anything interesting. Maybe just some popcorn or ice cream. We must have walked by a half-dozen popcorn carts that were closed.

We couldn’t even find a cart selling Mickey Bars or any kind of ice cream. (Ed note: No Mickey Bars!?!?!?!?!?) Back in Fantasyland we saw a promising looking sign for a Gelato shop. Closed.

I told the kids we’d have to go back to Main Street USA to the ice cream parlor, but when we got there it was….closed. Can you believe that? We ended up getting a lousy pre-fabbed ice cream bar for my younger son after standing in long lines at Casey’s Corner. Huge disappointment, and unbelievable they don’t want to make money by selling snacks in the park.

So believe what you hear about the food at Disneyland Paris: Although some of the best food in the world is in France it’s definitely not at Disneyland Paris.

Bottom Line: Was it worth it?

Disneyland Paris is the most accessible international Disney Park and worthy of inclusion as part of a trip to Paris for families with Disney enthusiasm. Having a day there at towards the end of our time in France provided something for us all to look forward to that was familiar and enjoyable. After doing the typical touristy things in France like gawking at the Eiffel Tower, going to museums, and bus/boat tours – it’s a nice change of pace.

To enjoy it, you need to be interested in appreciating what’s unique about it vs other Disney Parks.

If you play your cards right it can be quite a bit more affordable than visiting Disney Parks in the US. Our day there was cheaper overall than a lot of other days in France.

So was it “worth it”? Absolutely – both in terms of cost and time spent. It’s not perfect (neither are the Disney Parks in the US) but I’m glad we went and I’d gladly return for a future visit.

At the end of the day we only remember how an experience made us feel. I’m left with good memories of discovering this new place with my family, curiosity about the differences in this park, and concern and sadness at the end of the day upon hearing about a shooting on the Champs-Elysees a couple of doors down from our hotel.

What do you think of Disneyland Paris?
Ping me on Twitter (@RobertDwyer) or leave a comment with your thoughts…

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Apr 18 2017

Quick hits: Always pay in the local currency!

I generally avoid posts like this but when two members of my immediate family make the same mistake something must be done! Traveling abroad always confuses even the most regular traveler. Which debit card to use? Do people use traveler’s checks? Etc. But here’s one simple rule to at least avoid some of the sting of unnecessary fees: always pay in the local currency!

When paying with a credit card overseas, you usually get to choose to pay in US dollars or the local currency. Here's why you always choose the latter! — Don’t give away these for free (Photo credit | Pixabay)

Reminder: I have no credit card affiliate links and get no compensation for any cards I mention here, I just genuinely like them.

Foreign Transaction Fees and how to avoid them

By now, most people know that credit cards charge foreign transaction fees. Most credit cards charge 3% on top of whatever you pay. So if you buy something that costs $100 USD after conversion it costs you $103.

In this day in age, you can mostly avoid foreign transaction fees when using credit cards abroad. In fact, while I poked around for this post I realized that one of the cards I recommended in my travel credit cards for beginners post have no foreign transaction fee and no annual fee. So if you like to keep things simple, go ahead and sign up for Discover It Miles. Another alternative, especially attractive if you qualify for Bank of America preferred client: BofA Travel Rewards. I probably should have recommended that card too, come to think of it…

Dynamic Currency Conversion costs you a ton of money

While everyone knows to avoid foreign transaction fees when possible, the perils of dynamic currency conversion often get overlooked. Dynamic currency conversion happens when you get the choice to pay in the local currency or US dollars with your credit card.

ALWAYS PAY IN THE LOCAL CURRENCY!

Banks ostensibly offer dynamic currency conversion to make life easier for you. Pay in dollars and don’t worry about converting in your head! But what you miss in the fine print is the over 4% fee the bank charges you to do this. It’s so well hidden that I couldn’t find the rate for the Chase Sapphire Reserve during a quick search here from Hong Kong. But Hong Kong Disneyland stated the rate clear as day on their receipt.

There are two prices on the receipt: one in HKD and one in USD. At the bottom of the receipt it says the exchange rate (7.45 HKD: 1 USD) factors in the 4.2% charged by the merchant service provider (aka Chase). Google says the current rate should be 7.77 HKD: 1 USD.

I did the math for you, you indeed pay about 4% more if you pay the number they give you in US Dollars. But if you pay in Hong Kong Dollars you pay the correct amount according to the exchange rate. So you basically pay 4.2% to avoid having to do mental math. A terrible deal!

Train yourself to always pay in the local currency. If you have to confirm verbally, insist they let you pay in local currency. If using a machine, it’s usually the #1 button (you get to choose the option).

Final Thoughts

You might lose a tiny bit of money here and there with differences in exchange rates between banks and card issuers, but you’ll lose BIG if you fall victim to dynamic currency conversion. Don’t be like my family: always pay in the local currency!

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