143: We Took the Kids to Europe Instead of Summer Camp. Part 3 of 5: Disney Land Paris

Welcome And Europe Trip Setup

Jessica 0:00

Welcome to the Sugar Daddy Podcast, where we help you build a clear financial plan so you can feel confident and in control of your money. If you are an OG, welcome back. So glad to have you. And if you're new here, we're so glad that you chose today to listen to our podcast. This is going to be a special little mini series. We just got back from a month, almost a month in Europe. And we're going to tell you all about it. And we're going to tell you a little bit about how much we spent. We went to four different countries across four weeks as a family of four. So let's get into it.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Sugar Daddy Podcast, yo. Learn how to make them pockets grow. Financial freedoms where we go. Smart investments, money flow.

Jessica 0:45

Welcome to the Sugar Daddy Podcast, where we help you build a clear financial plan so you can feel confident and in control of your money.

Why We Booked Disney Paris

Jessica 0:54

We are here talking about our four-week European vacation that we just got back from. And we are now in Paris, Disneyland.

Brandon 1:03

Yes.

Jessica 1:04

I love how you start your conversation with yes.

Brandon 1:08

So this part of the trip was not for us.

Jessica 1:10

It was not.

Brandon 1:11

It was not this one.

Jessica 1:12

And you know what? I don't even know that it was for our kids. I'm going to be honest.

Brandon 1:15

It was so it was obviously planned as a surprise for the kids because we actually didn't tell them literally till we showed up there.

Jessica 1:22

In the lobby. And at one point, our daughter, who had a terrible attitude that morning, um was like, Are we at Disney World or something?

Brandon 1:30

We saw people with Disney World shirts and and then she saw the souvenir, you know, shop.

Jessica 1:35

And so she had like a sassy attitude and was like, Are we at Disney or something? And I was like, Yes. And then she she did perk up. But we are not Disney people. No, I don't think we are a Disney family.

Brandon 1:48

No, like we did the Disney Cruise, which was for what it was, was very well done and nice. We're not cruise people.

Jessica 1:54

I would do the Disney Cruise over Disney Paris.

Brandon 1:56

Oh, I 100% would.

Jessica 1:58

Okay.

Brandon 1:58

Yeah.

Jessica 1:58

We hadn't talked about that yet. So I wanted to.

Brandon 2:00

No, I would do that. I honestly like it was I it was good for the experience, you know, especially for the cost to get the Disney experience for the kids because the cruise is expensive. And so was worth it. Yeah. And so is Disneyland in Florida. Now, my overall take is that Disneyland, Florida trumps, I would use that word.

Jessica 2:21

God ruins everything.

Brandon 2:24

Disneyland in Florida. And Disney World and Florida is it's not even a comparison to Disneyland.

Jessica 2:31

I haven't been to Disney in Florida in decades. I mean, I have neither.

Brandon 2:35

Last time I went while I was 22.

Jessica 2:37

So I have no idea.

Brandon 2:38

But my ex my memory of being there at 22, like, this was it's way better than Disneyland Paris.

Surprise Reveal And First Impressions

Jessica 2:45

Okay. So let's get into the details. Because if you are, in my head, I was like, we're coming from Paris. It's going to be close. It's much less expensive than staying on property in Florida because we've priced that out and we were like, absolutely not. Um, and so I think for what it is, you can make it a great experience.

Brandon 3:04

Yes. Now, to be fair, we were there during the heat wave. So it was significantly hotter than what we were expecting. Yeah. And then you add on top, you know, walking around with tired kids.

Jessica 3:15

Yeah. It was a lot.

Brandon 3:16

It was it becomes a little bit more, which I'm glad we did it that way, though, because if we had if the kids had had the same reaction in Florida where we spent way more money.

Jessica 3:24

Three times as much.

Brandon 3:25

I would have been very upset.

Jessica 3:26

Yes. Yeah. No, I mean, I think if you talk to them, they would have been like, it's awesome. We love it. But honestly, I think they loved the pool on property more than anything.

The Roller Coaster Trust Break

Brandon 3:37

So we found out that our kids do not like roller coasters.

Jessica 3:40

They do not. We found out on Crush's Coaster.

Brandon 3:42

We will. I'm not sure if we've posted any. Well, we don't really post their faces on our social media, but like we have some pictures from the cameras of the rides. And you can see very much that they are not enjoying themselves.

Jessica 3:54

They both came off of Crush's Coaster screaming and in tears. Yeah. So we like I thought they were going to scare the other people still in line and like make them get out of line.

Brandon 4:04

So this is the first time of them really going on a roller coaster. And we were, we went, we took them on like this thing called Crush's roller coaster, which is Crush's the turtle from uh Finding Nemo and Dory and all that stuff. And we thought, okay, it would be fine for them. This would be a first one. Now, granted, it was a little bit. Not big thrills. It was something categorized for like kids.

Jessica 4:26

Yeah, yeah.

Brandon 4:26

And like I thought that, okay, this should be fine, but it was definitely more than what I thought it was going to be. Yes. And it was also a lot in the dark, which was not helpful for them. And like at one point, so I was sitting with Roman and uh just sitting with Aston. And at first, like the first like, you know, couple little whatever we were going over, Roman was like happy. And then we hit a different part and his attitude completely flipped. Like, I think he thought he was gonna fall out.

Jessica 4:59

Yes, I think he that's what he kept saying. I was gonna fall out. I was gonna fall.

Brandon 5:02

I was like, he wasn't he was I obviously he was strapped in perfectly fine. And I also had my arm across him to try to give him some comfort, but they were not having it. Like at the end of the ride, like they were like they've lost all trust in us as parents.

Jessica 5:14

Okay, I was gonna say they they literally questioned everything we did from that moment on. And they trust us. There was a new ride from Frozen that had just opened. Like we were there in June. I think it had just opened in March, maybe the beginning of April, and it was getting like rave reviews online. I will say I'm not a frozen person, um, but it was beautiful. Like that ride was beautiful, and the category was like family adventure. There was one tiny little drop.

Brandon 5:41

Because it was like it was like you're like on like a water ride. It's like a little water ride. Like a water ride.

Jessica 5:45

There was one little drop where you do get splashed. It was not anything, and they were like, You lied to us. That was a roller coaster.

Brandon 5:53

And that's the one where we have a picture of their faces just pure terror.

Jessica 5:57

Oh my gosh. And they were like, You told us it wasn't a roller coaster. I mean, mind you, I think there was like a three-year-old behind me. Yeah, no sign. Yeah, it was but after that, after Crush's coaster, PTSD. I think they loved the Dumbo ride the best.

Brandon 6:11

Yes. Or the uh Peter Pan.

Jessica 6:13

Oh, they like the Peter Pan one. Yeah. So for what they like, we did not need to be at Disney. No. Like we could have taken them to Carowinds and like Yeah. Yeah. Um, we did one of the like Lion King shows that was really nice. It was like a 30-minute, like, you're kind of in the dark, you're in the air conditioning, it's you get to sit down, like that was perfect.

Brandon 6:35

We did And it was nicely done. Yeah. For like

Total Cost And What’s Included

Brandon 6:38

a little show.

Jessica 6:38

So let's get into okay. So we spent for a family of four staying on property, which did not we did not do a meal plan. So this is literally just your accommodation. Um, and it does include your park tickets, which you can go to Adventureland, you can go to whatever they're called, you can go to all of them. It was $2,349.

Brandon 7:01

And we were there for three nights. Three nights, yeah.

Jessica 7:03

Four days, three nights. So what's nice about that is you can go to the parks the day you arrive, and you can go to the parks the day you leave. Yeah. Um, the other thing that I will call out that is I think very significantly important is that you get magic hour. Our kids kept calling it happy hour, which we're not even like big drinkers of any kind, but like they kept being like, Are we gonna go to happy hour today? And we were like, it's called magic hour. We're not alcoholics, stop saying that. So um magic hour is where you get to go into the park an hour before people that are not staying on property get to go in. So if you strategize correctly, which we did, you can get a lot done in an hour.

Brandon 7:48

Yeah, you can get like you can hit like five or six rides. Yes.

Jessica 7:51

The second day we did six rides, and that was the perfect time, right? Because we they we had already terrorized them with Crush's coaster. We knew we weren't gonna go back to that. Like with the big ones that have the longest lines, you can go during magic hour. And I think the longest line we've ever been in was like 15 minutes.

Brandon 8:10

I don't even think it was that long.

Jessica 8:11

I mean, maybe it felt like that because you're like, oh, I can see the beginning. But like magic hour is where it's at.

Brandon 8:17

Yeah, because especially like on the second day, once we kind of realized that like they have limitations to the rides that they're kind of want to go in to begin with. We were like basically we did magic hour and then maybe a half an hour past that, and then we were done. And it was nice because that day it was supposed to be like a hundred degrees.

Jessica 8:31

It was so hot. Oh my gosh. And it's just like the sun is beating down. I will say there was, and I don't know, I don't remember how this is in Florida, but there were definitely lines where you're just completely exposed to the sun. Yeah. You're you there's no shade, there's no covering, and you're just like standing there sweating, just miserable, and you're like, oh, I don't want this. I don't want to do this. Out of all the things we did, I would not need to do Disney Paris again.

Brandon 8:57

No, I'd never need to go back to Disney Paris.

Jessica 8:59

We never need to go back.

Brandon 9:00

Ironically, the only time that I encountered someone that I thought was rude in France was at Disneyland.

Jessica 9:07

Yeah, and he looked at me and he was like, I really thought that like this would have been a much more pleasant experience, but I don't know. Maybe the heat got to be.

Brandon 9:16

That one ride where they were supposed to tell us information on like which one to get into and they didn't. And I told the person, like, oh, you know, oh yeah, yeah. You didn't tell, like, well, they're supposed to. I was like, that's not my problem. They didn't, yeah, yeah. This is the you issue.

Magic Hour Strategy And Heat Survival

Jessica 9:28

I will say, like, magic hour was great. You can strategize, you have the app, you can figure out where you want to go, you know, obviously try to get to things that are clustered together. Um, and then our kids love a pool. So if there's a pool, they'll be happy. And so, like Brandon said on the second day where it was supposed to be so hot, we were there. Um they have like is it called Magic Village, where they have like McDonald's, Starbucks, a couple of like places where you can grab breakfast. So we did like a divide and conquer strategy. Brandon went and got in line with the kids um by like 7:30. And then I waited and I would get us like coffees and breakfast sandwiches and whatever else, and then I would bring them. And by the time the one thing that doesn't make sense is that a lot of the things in the Magic Village didn't open until 8 or 8:30.

Brandon 10:18

Yeah.

Jessica 10:18

Which feels late. Like half of us have already lived a whole life by then. Yeah, if you have kids, you know.

Brandon 10:23

Like obviously that could be like a cultural difference. But McDonald's. But like in the United States, those things would have been opened earlier.

Jessica 10:28

Starbucks opens at like 5 30.

Brandon 10:30

Yeah.

Jessica 10:31

Yeah. So the fact that like you could get in line for the park, but you couldn't have had breakfast yet is very strange to me. So we just did a divide and conquer, it worked out fine. We would basically be like eating our muffin or our pancakes or whatever and drinking our coffee while walking to our first ride. You made it work. It was fine. We made it work. Um, you know, they had pizza places, sandwich places. Um, inside the park, of course, there's plenty of food and stuff that you can choose from. So we didn't do the meal plan and we didn't eat at the restaurants except for one the last day that we were there, I think. And we ended up getting like a breakfast gift card or voucher. And so that worked out fine. But for us and the way we eat and the way our kids eat, buying the meal plan did not make sense. And a lot of the restaurants on site were either a designated like buffet, which like the kids were, I think, 35 euros and the parents were like 55.

Brandon 11:28

I think also our Disney planner had already said, like, it's not worth it.

Jessica 11:31

It's not worth it, the food isn't worth it. And so, yes, we had an amazing Disney planner planner, her name was Rachel Chapman, we'll drop her information. You do not pay to work with Rachel, she gets paid from Disney, and so you would be silly to do anything Disney related without a Disney planner. So we have a Disney planner for like the cruise that we've been on, and if we ever do parks in the future, we'll use Courtney for like the US based for the US based, and then Rachel highly recommended. She was absolutely amazing. Um, and what's nice is you stay on property, your tickets to everything are included. You have access to the pool, which our kids loved. It was an indoor-outdoor pool. And again, we were there during a heat wave, and so fine. If you want to spend the rest of the day at the pool, have fun. Yeah, you know.

Brandon 12:20

I mean, for what it was, it was fine. It's just like I said, once again, we're not Disney people to begin with. Like I'll say this and I don't mean to offend anybody. I don't understand adults that don't have any kids that go to Disney on a regular basis.

Jessica 12:33

Yeah, you're very judgy about that.

Brandon 12:34

I don't understand it. I just think and the especially in the United States for the what you're spending, there's so many other things that you could do that are so much better.

Jessica 12:40

We went on when we went on the cruise of the Disney cruise a few years ago, there was like several young couples that were newlyweds, and they were just so excited to be there. And listen, I'm not gonna yuck somebody else's yum. As long as you are enjoying your honeymoon, like you do you.

Brandon 12:55

Oh, I just couldn't imagine like choosing for my honeymoon to go on a Disney cruise with a bunch of other people's kids.

Jessica 13:02

I don't want to be around anybody's kids if my kids are not around.

Brandon 13:05

That sounds terrible.

Jessica 13:06

Yeah. So I okay, so just quick recap: $2,349 as a family of four. The room was nothing to write home about, the bathroom was nothing to write home about. It was warm. The, you know, you couldn't crank the air conditioner. We asked for a fan, we ended up getting a fan, which was good. But like, you know, as far as accommodations, convenience, yes. Convenience there was a shuttle, so you could have taken the shuttle, although the shuttle did not put you where you needed to be for magic hour. So we would just walk the 15, let's call it 15 minutes to where you needed to get to for magic hour. Um it was fine. I'm glad we didn't spend US prices. Yeah. And I'm glad we figured this out without spending an arm and a leg because our kids don't like roller coasters.

Brandon 13:54

Yeah, because as someone like I said, the last time I was in um Disney World in Florida was when I was 22. So, you know, 21 years ago now. Uh and I did stay on property that time because my mom was doing a conference there, so it was all free.

Jessica 14:08

Of course. And the accommodations the only way your mom would ever put you on property, let's be real.

Brandon 14:13

The accommodations were nicer. And this is you know, 20 plus years ago. Yeah. And the combinations were definitely nicer.

Jessica 14:19

I believe that. I mean, I I believe I mean Disney Cruise, great experience, would recommend I would do that again. Especially I would do another cruise where we go to multiple islands because their island experience is fantastic. We just unfortunately didn't have great weather the last time we went. Yada yada, that's not what this episode is about. But when the kids are older, I would be willing to do proper Disney parks in the U.S.

Brandon 14:44

Yeah, I think not right now. I think if you're already gonna be in Europe in the area and you're looking to try out a Disney experience for a lower cost point, 100% I would agree. Try that.

Our Verdict Plus Amsterdam Next

Jessica 14:56

Yeah. I will say I don't think we needed three nights.

Brandon 14:58

No.

Jessica 14:58

I think two would have been fine, especially because you're allowed to go the day you arrive and the day you leave.

Brandon 15:05

Yeah. Like I wouldn't, I wouldn't be, I wouldn't recommend like, hey, I live in the U.S., let me purposely book a trip to Paris to go to Disneyland. I would not do that. No. We were already in Paris, and that's why we booked it.

Jessica 15:16

Yeah. So no regrets. I'm glad we have the experience. I'm glad we have the memories. And now we get to tell you that you can skip it if you want.

Brandon 15:24

Yeah. Sorry.

Jessica 15:26

So from Paris.

Brandon 15:27

One thing that Florida does better.

Jessica 15:29

Oh, yeah. It's like the only thing.

Brandon 15:31

Yeah.

Jessica 15:32

Um, so from Disney Paris, we went to Amsterdam by train. And we're gonna tell you about that in the next episode. So stay tuned for Amsterdam. Don't forget, Benjamin Franklin said an investment in knowledge pays the best interest. You just got paid. Until next time.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Sugar Daddy Podcast Go. Learn how to make the pockets grow. Find into freedoms where we grow. Smart investments, money flow.

Jessica 16:01

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SPEAKER_01 16:30

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