Disney disaster

Today we spent 8 hours at Paris Disneyland.
4 of these hours we spent queueing. To get in, for fast pass tickets, to use the toilets, buy food, see characters, go on rides.
It was revolting. The happiest place in earth was more like a heart attack inducing nightmare.
We ate hotdogs for lunch that were encased in a plastic sweet roll with an absurdly long pink sausage, covered in some sort of orange plastic cheese with dried onion over the top. Edible mostly due to severe hunger.
We lined up for 20 minutes to use our 'fastpass' that enabled us to return in 90 minutes to line up again for 20 minutes to ride Thunder Mountain (awesome ride but FUCK! Too much waiting).

There were thousands of people there. Maybe 20000? Summer fucking holidays in Paris. We watched the Grand Parade with most of them, which was exciting for about 3 seconds when the kids actually spotted characters they knew, but otherwise a mosh like crush of tired families trying to squeeze joy out of all the money they spent getting into the place.
I tried hard to enjoy it. Josh & I went on Space Mountain which was super cool, we found an awesome Pocahontas play ground that the kids would have spent all day in if they could, we saw Elsa & Anna from Frozen but FUCK! So much money for so much time queueing. We actually could have gone to a playground & had just as much (more) fun. I wish we had of used our 5th day out of 6 in Paris doing something else. I thought it would be way more awesome than it was. The best part about it was that the kids uncle Nathan came with us and they just fully loved it. He has this wonderful calm & fun nature that especially Leo just lapped up. It was a pleasure to watch my children light up with him.
Next time they will be doing it at a doggone playground though & we will never visit a theme park during school holidays EVER again. Fucking disney .

singapore smugginess

Let's start with Singapore. Amazing skyline, complete efficiency, magnificent hotel room. We got upgraded as our booked room didn't have the kids beds made up : 2 rooms, huge spa bath, 21st floor. We felt like rich folk!

We had one day of sightseeing and delicious food eating, then spent a day at Universal Studios. It was brilliant. The crowds to enter were enormous /terrifying but once we were in the gate : no problems! We splashed out and got 'express' tickets which got us to the front of every queue. Expensive but totally worth it as we only had one day. Favourite rides were the Transformers and The Mummy, although the Madagascar boat ride is pretty cool too and one we could all enjoy. We also hired a stroller which was a fantastic investment considering how much less the 3 year old whinged once she was in it.

We only had 3 nights in Singapore and have agreed we will definitely go back. Such a great place to visit. We spent a few hours at the airport and that was remarkable, so orderly and comfortable. You can recharge your devices, shop & even have a foot massage. Loved it.

Then we got on our Singapore airlines flight. More excellence with our own individual screens, a plethora of movies, TV, music & games to choose from : I was in a state of euphoria. We each had an extra seat & the kids were quiet & happy most of the time. So I invested my time wisely & watched 4 movies! The Other Woman - it was OK but I'd hoped it would be funnier? Divergent - fairly true to the book but totally creepy that the brother & sister were the same actors who played lovers in The Fault In Our Stars. Gross. The Birders Guide to Everything which I absolutely loved! Funny, sad, simple - just a cool film to disappear in for 90minutes! Finally I watched Labor Day which starred Kate Winslet & Josh Brolin - I really liked this one as well, it surprised me and i'm glad I persevered with it.
Eventually we landed in London! But that's a whole nother  story I'll save for next time!