Disney and Paris on $4000 - Dreemport Challenge week 3

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So the #dreemportchallenge this week is to imagine 4 days away with 3 other people to do anything you want to do and see anything you want to see, provided you can do it for under $4000! Well, that's a lotta dough right there...and it has to be gluten-free dough now 'cos we are rocking a gluten-free life at the moment hee hee.

So, a couple of years ago my hubby and I took our boys on a surprise trip to Disneyland Paris in Marnee-La -Vallee just outside of Paris. It was amazeballs! We had a wonderful time as a family and the kids loved staying on-site in the Toy story themed hotel and meeting the different characters each day in the lobby. We promised them we would go again at some point so this is an imagining of how we'd do it the second time around. Covid has prevented us from living how we want to live but as soon as things improve, I am going to make this imagined getaway a reality.

So our 4-day trip lands us at Disneyland Paris.

We booked into our hotel in June and the weather was glorious: Les Villages Nature Paris at a cost of £1312.00 (that's $1754) for 3 nights and 4 days including 2 days park tickets and 1 day in the Hotel Waterpark.

It was a VIP apartment with 3 rooms and two bathrooms so we didn't have to fight with the kids for the shower and I may have sneaked in a couple of nice leisurely candlelit baths with a good reading session lol.

Meals at Disney are pricey! I kid you not! The half-board package for the 4 of us costs £504 ($674). We decided that we would eat one of our meals in the Disney Park each day at a further cost of $100 a day x 3 = $300. So accommodation, park tickets, and food are covered for $2728.

We spent two wonderful days split across the two parks: Disneyland and Disney Studio World. Our boys don't fancy the big rollercoasters much although our youngest, Jack loves the Tower of Terror which drops you in a ghostly horror lift from way up high! I just can't do it! That was hubby's penance lol. Thank goodness they love the rides like Star Wars 4d and Toy Story Blasters, Space Mountain, and meeting all the characters. I lost count of how many we queued up to see and get autographs and pictures of while we were there. We were also treated to a wonderful rendition of the Lion King show included in the park tickets. We enjoyed the daily parades and the wonderful musical interlude in the evening when the fairytale castle is lit up with fireworks and displays photos and video footage from the many wonderful Disney films. It is quite moving and emotional.

The highlight was meeting Mickey Mouse in our hotel one morning which the kids thoroughly enjoyed...and I might add, this Mom kinda enjoyed the magical moment too.

Before we left the park on day two we took the kids to the Disney store to buy some souvenirs and let them spend $100 each on sweatshirts and toys, as did I (hubby didn't want anything...bah humbug lol) taking our spend up to $3028. We also paid for the exorbitant snacks in the park each day at a cost of about $50 per day x 3 to cover drinks, ice creams, and mickey mouse shaped cookies.

Having spent $3178 between Disney and the Hotel we then spent the 3rd day of our stay in the Hotel Waterpark of swimming pools and slides and fountains. We had an incredible time cooling off and chilling after 2 long days in the sun walking 28000 steps per day each!

We wanted to take the boys to Paris on our last day in France and so we caught the train ($130 for 4 all-day travel passes including travel into Paris) to the Artist's quarter and walked up to the Sacre Coeur Church which is just breathtakingly beautiful. After that, we caught the trains and spent the day sightseeing from the Louvre Museum ($69) and seeing Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo amongst other famous artworks. We also went up the Eiffel tower ($192) for a spectacular 360-degree view of Paris.

We walked down the Champs Elysee and stopped to pay our respects at the tomb of the unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomphe and went across to Ile de la Cite and marveled at the Gothic architecture of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Having spent $3569, we had enough left for our 4th days' food and drinks bills and some French wine to take back with us when we left for home.

I have always loved traveling to Paris, the city of lights and the city of romance. It was the city that my husband and I got engaged in and I am so pleased that we got to take our two children there for a fun visit interspersed with some culture, history, and architectural delights.