Trying to feel proud for Disability Pride Month

July is Disability Pride Month – a month for Disabled people to share our lived experiences and also raise awareness of the obstacles our community faces. Disability Pride Month was born in 1990 as a day of celebration when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. That year, Boston held the very first Disability Pride Day, and the first official celebration of Disability Pride Month was held in July 2015, marking the 25^th anniversary of the ADA. This has gradually spread, and now many countries across the world celebrate Disability Pride Month by holding parades and other festivities. We even have our own flag, which was designed by Ann Magill – it has a grey background and then different stripes in different colours to recognise different types of Disability and the solidarity between us.

 

But you’ll be forgiven for not knowing much about Disability Pride Month. I only found out about it a few years ago, and sadly it’s still very underrepresented. Very few brands and companies do anything to mark it, and the only real reason I found out about it was because I follow other Disabled creators on social media. There’s so much I could write about Disability Pride Month, but today I wanted to explore what feeling pride in my Disability means to me in the hope it might help others in a similar situation.

Ever since I found out about Disability Pride Month, I’ve been keen to join in with the awareness raising. I’ve posted on social media for the last few years about it, contacted numerous companies to ask them what they’re doing to mark it (and make their company more accessible) and spoken about it in general conversation with friends and family. But one thing that’s always troubled me is that I’ve never really been able to fully identify with feeling proud to be Disabled, and that felt like a pretty big issue!

 

I’m Disabled through chronic illness, and the illnesses that I have can be extremely debilitating. They leave me feeling, often, incredibly unwell, mean I spend a lot of time in hospital having invasive tests and treatments, have resulted in me missing out on huge parts of my life and stop me being able to do a lot of the ‘normal’ things that my peers are able to do. So, I think it’s understandable that I don’t feel particularly proud about being Disabled. I often feel angry, upset, frustrated – I spend so much time grieving the things I’ve lost – and most of the time, I find myself wishing I wasn’t Disabled. So, I’ve often felt like a bit of a hypocrite when I’ve spoken about Disability Pride and have worried that it’s yet another space that I don’t belong in.

 

But the more I’ve read about Disability Pride Month, and the more I’ve listened to other Disabled people talking about their experiences, the more I’ve realised that I do belong in this community and that my experiences are valid. Disability is such a complex thing, and no two Disabled people are going to have the same experiences or feelings. I think it’s so important to remember this and to make space for the stories of Disabled people from all backgrounds. I’ve gradually come to learn that it’s absolutely OK to have mixed feelings on your Disability, and that actually it’s pretty normal! I don’t think I follow one Disabled person that hasn’t, at some point, been frustrated by some element of their Disability. 

 

So, I’ve been trying to look at my place in Disability Pride Month a bit differently this year. I’m reassuring myself that I don’t have to be overwhelmingly positive about being Disabled if that’s not how I feel now. But there are still plenty of things related to my Disability that I can feel proud about. I can feel proud about taking up space wherever I am and remind myself that, as a Disabled person, I deserve to be able to access the world just as non-Disabled people can. I can stop apologising every time I ask for my needs to be met. I can stop feeling embarrassed every time I have to ask a shop to clear furniture and cleaning equipment out of their Disabled toilet or changing room just so I can use it. I can stop saying sorry for ‘getting in the way’ in my wheelchair. I can just be unapologetically me – Disability and all. 

 

This month is going to bring up a lot of different feelings for Disabled people and that’s OK. The whole point of this month is to amplify Disabled voices from all backgrounds so we can share our experiences, the struggles we face, our triumphs and what the world can do to make life more accessible for us. So please don’t feel like I felt, that if you’re not completely positive about being Disabled that you don’t belong in this community. Because every single Disabled person has a place in the Disabled community, and your thoughts and feelings around Disability Pride Month matter just as much as the next Disabled persons’ do. So, whether you use this month to shout about Disabled joy, talk about the struggles you face as a Disabled person or just sit quietly with your Disability and show yourself some TLC – there’s no right or wrong way to mark Disability Pride Month.

 

Have you heard of Disability Pride Month before? How do you like to mark it?

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Life Update - An Operation - Derotational Femoral Osteotomy

I want to start today’s blog post with two apologies. Firstly, to apologise for the lack of content in recent months – it’s safe to say I’ve been slacking a bit (OK, so actually my health has been rubbish and so I haven’t been able to write so much). But that’s in the past and there’s not much I can do to change that. And secondly, I need to apologise for the fact there probably won’t be much content going up for the next few weeks at least. Not the greatest place to start a blog post! But I wanted to use this post to give you a bit of a life update and let you know why I won’t be around much over the next few weeks, so at least you know I haven’t completely forgotten my blog!

In short, I’m going into hospital to have quite a big operation – a derotational femoral osteotomy (I’ll explain more in a minute!) It was meant to be happening on Thursday 7^th November, but I had a phone call last week to say it had been postponed. So it is now (hopefully!) happening on Tuesday 12^th November instead. As well as wanting to update you in this post, I also thought it would be useful for others, and myself, to document my journey through the operation and recovery. When I found out I would be having this surgery, I started searching online for information about the procedure. But I found it really difficult to find anything relatable. I did manage to find a couple of people on Instagram, who I have found talking to invaluable. But apart from that, all I found was a lot of medical information, mainly relating to children having the procedure, but nothing written first-hand by adults who have gone through it.

I guess I should probably start by explaining what the operation actually is! In layman’s terms, the surgeon will be making an incision into my right thigh, breaking my femur (thigh bone), rotating it to the correct position and holding it in place with a metal rod. I asked on Instagram if anyone had any questions they would like answering when I made a video and wrote a blog post about this, and one of the main questions people had was ‘why are you having this operation?’ 

It all started a few years ago, when I went to my GP because I was getting a lot of pain in my hips. I have always had problematic hips – when I was born, I had congenital hip dysplasia, which meant my hips dislocated very easily and I had to be fitted with a Pavlik Harness to allow the hip sockets to grow properly around the ball of the hip joints. Thankfully, this corrected the hip dysplasia, but I have still experienced instability, subluxations and constant pain in both my hips. A lot of this was eventually put down to me having Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), but as the pain got worse, my GP decided to refer me to my local hospital to see an Orthopaedic Hip Surgeon. After seeing him and having some general x-rays taken, he could find no obvious problem with the hip joints and so the increasing pain was just put down to my EDS. 

But my GP had also made a referral for me to be seen by an Orthopaedic Hip Specialist at University College London Hospital (UCLH) at the same time. This obviously took longer to come through, and when I received the appointment I did contemplate cancelling it, as the local consultant had already told me that there was nothing wrong. But I decided to go ahead with the appointment ‘just in case’ and so, a couple of years ago, I went up to London to see the specialist. After a thorough examination, he sent me to have some more x-rays and a CT scan of the whole of my upper legs. When I went back to see him again, he told me that both of my thighbones were rotated too far inwards, at quite a high angle. This means that the hip joints aren’t sitting properly and so, are moving around in an unusual way, which could be causing some of the pain. It also means that the rest of my leg is wonky too – my knees face inwards, rather than pointing straight out, and when I walk, my feet tend to turn in and I walk on the outer part of them to try and compensate. All in all, nothing really lines up!

To begin with, we decided not to do anything drastic, so I was sent away for six months to see how my symptoms progressed. Unfortunately though, the pain and instability just seem to be getting worse, so we eventually decided that surgery would be the best option to try and rotate the femur back into the correct position. They can only do one leg at a time (because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to walk at all!) and the recovery period is pretty long, so it’s not going to be a quick fix. One issue is, we’re not sure how much of the pain is caused by the deformity in my femurs and how much pain comes from my EDS. So it could be that, we could do this operation and my pain and instability don’t get a whole lot better. On the other hand, it could give me some significant improvement in the long run.

There are risks, as with any operation, although having EDS does make things a bit more complicated as my bones and joints are more likely to move around. I’m likely to be in hospital for at least three days, possibly longer – it depends on when we can get my pain under control, how I recover from the general anaesthetic and what my mobility is like. I will be on crutches for quite a while, as I won’t be able to put my full weight on my leg while the bones fuse back together again. As my mobility is already pretty limited, it’s likely I will have to use my wheelchair a lot more, as I think I’m going to struggle on crutches. We have also had a stair lift installed, which is going to be beyond helpful for getting me up and down stairs when I get home. 

As I mentioned already, the recovery time is pretty long. I’ve read that it can take your femur up to six months to completely heal, and obviously there will be lots of physiotherapy needed to try and get my muscles and joints working properly again after surgery. I won’t be able to drive for at least a month to six weeks, and after then, it will just depend how I’m feeling and whether I could perform an emergency stop. So there’s going to be a lot of hobbling around (well, more-so than usual!) and I think I’m just going to have to take things a day at a time, certainly for the first few weeks.

I think this is the most nervous I’ve felt about any operation or procedure I’ve had, but then this is probably the biggest surgery I’ve had to date. I’m quite anxious about the operation itself and whether everything will go to plan. But I’m also not looking forward to being up in London away from my family while I’m in hospital. Usually, when I’m in my local hospital, my family are able to visit most days. But that isn’t going to be possible while I’m in London, so I need to make sure I take lots of things to keep me occupied while I’m recovering. 

I’m probably most anxious though, about the recovery period once I’m home. It feels strange to me, putting myself through something that I know will make me a lot worse to begin with. Any independence I currently have is going to be gone, and I’m going to be essentially starting from scratch again. I’m going to have to re-learn how to walk and will have to learn to ask for and accept help from the people around me a lot more than I currently do. I am a bit worried about how my mental health will fare, as I know it’s going to be a tough few months getting used to a new normal. But I hope that, once I’m feeling a bit better from the initial operation, I will be able to get out and about a bit with the help of my family, and go and see some of the Christmassy things nearby. 

As both of my femurs are wonky, once I’ve completely healed from this operation, we will have to look at me having the same operation but on my left leg. And my surgeon has also said that this operation can make my lower leg look/feel quite wonky, so it may be that I will need an osteotomy on both lower legs at some point as well. But I’m trying not to even think about those things at the moment and just concentrate on getting through this surgery first!

I think that pretty much describes everything that’s going to happen and I hope it explains why I may not update my blog for a little while. But if you do have any other questions that I haven’t answered, please do feel free to ask, either in the comments or on my social media. As I said earlier, I do hope to try and document this process as much as I possibly can, so I will try and take photos and videos while I’m in hospital so that I can keep you up-to-date with my progress both on here and on my YouTube channel. And if you want to keep up with how things are going on a more day-to-day basis, please follow me on Instagram and Twitter, as I hope to keep them both updated while I’m in hospital. I will also need to be kept distracted while I’m recovering, so I would really appreciate any messages you fancy sending my way!

I’m hoping that, once I’m on the mend, I can start updating my blog more regularly, as I have lots of ideas for posts I want to share! So please don’t forget me while I’m away – hopefully I’ll be back posting again very soon!

Have you had a femoral osteotomy? Or do you have any questions you would like to ask about my experiences of it?

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My Experience of Train Travel with a Disability

I can’t remember the last time I made a journey by train and didn’t have some sort of accessibility problem. It’s happened so much now that I just can’t ever imagine being able to take a train somewhere on my own. With every journey I make, I live in constant anxiety about what’s going to go wrong next. And it really shouldn’t be like this for anyone. Train travel should be accessible to all. 

One of my biggest bugbears about taking a train in the UK as a disabled person is that there is very little opportunity to be spontaneous. As an able person you can pretty much turn up to any station without prior warning, buy a ticket and hop on a train to anywhere you fancy. But if you’re going to need assistance getting on and off the train, you’re expected to have made arrangements at least 48 hours beforehand. OK, so most train companies say that they ‘recommend’ you book assistance before you travel, but in reality, you often get a lot of stick if you don’t follow that recommendation. 

I travel up to London quite a lot for medical appointments, which means needing to use both mainline and London Underground/Overground services. Medical appointments in themselves will often create higher levels of anxiety, so add into that needing to travel long distances and you’re already starting the day feeling more vulnerable than usual. For the majority of my outward journeys, I tend to ring up ahead of the day and let the train company know that I will need a ramp to get on and off the train. That’s usually the easy part. I give them my details, tell them I’m in a wheelchair and let them know which trains I am planning to use to get to my destination. 

So far so good, right? Well, apart from the fact that this then ties me down to having to catch an exact train, as well as having to make sure I am quick enough to make any connections, it wouldn’t be so bad if it actually worked! But, ninety nine per cent of the time, I will arrive at my local station, wait patiently on the platform for my train to arrive and then when it does, no one will have any knowledge of me needing assistance. Sometimes the guard will spot me on the platform, ask if I’ve booked assistance and when I say that I have, will say that they hadn’t been told. But at least then, they will usually find a ramp and get me on the train. But a lot of the time, the person I’m travelling with (or fellow passengers) end up running up and down the platform trying to find the guard before the doors close and the train leaves the station. So I end up wondering – is there actually any point in booking assistance in the first place?!

My experience when I’ve supposedly booked assistance isn’t particularly dissimilar to my journey home again when I haven’t. It’s impossible to book assistance in advance for my train home from hospital (or any other trip to be honest!) If it’s a hospital appointment, I have no idea whether I’ll be seen on time, how long I will end up waiting, how long my appointment will last and whether I will need to do anything else after that appointment. And if it’s not a trip for a medical appointment (like, on the odd occasion, I do actually like to try and do something fun!) then I don’t really want to feel like I’m constantly working to a time limit – it just adds constant pressure to my day and takes away any enjoyment. So I don’t ring 48 hours in advance to book assistance for a particular train. 

And like my journey out, I reach the station and am usually asked by station staff whether I’ve booked assistance. So many times, when I answer ‘no’ to this question, I am made to feel like I’ve done something wrong and that I’m an inconvenience. Even when I give my reasons for not booking (which I really shouldn’t have to do) I’m still told that I really should have booked if I wanted help. I’ve effectively been ‘told off’ by station staff before for not doing things ‘properly’ – way to make a disabled person feel completely humiliated! I just can’t comprehend why train companies can’t understand that disabled people just want to be able to travel in the same way as everybody else! How would they cope if someone told them that they had to plan the exact trains they needed to get every single time they needed to go out somewhere? 

One of my worst train experiences happened fairly recently after a hospital appointment in London. I came back to the first station of my journey to find absolutely no station staff anywhere. The ticket barriers were up, the ticket office was closed and there was nobody on the platform. Sitting in my chair on the platform, I hoped that the train would have a guard who could at least help me. But when it turned up, there was no guard on this particular train (and this is one of the reasons why I completely support the need for guards on trains!) Other passengers got on and off, and all I could do was sit by the door, hoping that someone might notice that I was stuck, while my Dad ran up and down the platform trying to find someone. 

Another passenger noticed that I couldn’t get on and asked if there was anything she could do. I use an electric wheelchair that weighs around 100kg, so short of learning how to levitate there’s unfortunately not a lot anyone can help with. She was absolutely lovely though and ended up running down to the driver to tell him that I needed to get on. This situation began to draw the attention of other passengers, who were either staring at me, or watching this lady attempt to talk to the driver. There was quite a commotion happening as we watched the driver throwing his hands in the air at this lady. As she walked back down the platform towards me, she told us that the driver had simply shouted at her for causing a problem and told her to go away. So, she then decided to simply stand in the doorway so the doors couldn’t close and therefore the train couldn’t leave. The driver eventually had to come down himself and get the ramp for me, much to his protests and anger. I understand it wasn’t really his job, but again, it’s not nice to be on the receiving end of someone’s anger for something I can’t do anything about!

Whilst I massively appreciate the passenger standing up for me (I would probably still be stuck on the platform if it wasn’t for her!) it is hugely embarrassing to have everyone’s eyes on you because you simply can’t access public transport. It didn’t help that the train driver then made an announcement to the whole train that the reason for the delay was that there were no platform staff to help me! I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. So whilst of course I appreciate other passengers looking out for me and standing up for my rights, I would much rather that they didn’t have to at all. I don’t want to make a big scene when I use public transport. I just want to get on and off like everyone else does! On this occasion, I was so close to crying because I felt completely humiliated and embarrassed about the whole situation. This isn’t accessibility or equality!

There are so many other things that have gone wrong when I’ve travelled by train in my wheelchair. Whether it’s lifts not working (and being shipped off on different trains all over the place), people using the wheelchair spaces for luggage and refusing to move, not being able to get off a train and ending up stuck going to completely the wrong place or not being able to access the toilets on a train journey and therefore having an accident. 

Yes, there are staff that try their best to make train travel accessible to those with disabilities and I will be forever grateful to the ones that do. But I think this problem goes higher than individual station/train staff. Why, in 2019, are our railways still so inaccessible to people with disabilities? I know so many people who simply don’t or can’t travel because the accessibility just isn’t good enough. People, who could, if disabled access was given more thought, actually go out on their own, be independent or leave their town for the first time in years. But instead, they end up trapped in a small bubble – unable to access medical appointments, unable to go to work and unable to go out and have fun. Simply because disabled access doesn’t seem to be a priority. 

I want to be spontaneous. I want to be able to get on a train without drawing unnecessary attention. I don’t want to arrive at a station and feel absolutely terrified that I’m going to be told off, left on a platform or end up trapped on a train because there’s no way off. I want to be able to access the world, to enjoy myself, to get to my medical appointments on time. And I don’t think that that’s too much to ask.

If you’re disabled, what are your experiences of travelling by train? And if you’re not disabled, what are your thoughts on disabled access on trains?

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Day Two at Disneyland Paris - Seeing the Castle, Meeting Characters and the Parade

A couple of weeks ago, I shared what we got up to on our first day at Disneyland Paris, and today I’m back to tell you all about Day Two! If you haven’t seen my first post, my family and I went to Disneyland Paris back in September 2018 to kick off my 30^th Birthday celebrations. We took the Eurostar from St Pancras on the Monday and managed to fit in a delicious meal and a bit of sightseeing on our first afternoon. 

On Tuesday morning, we were all pretty exhausted after an early start the day before, so we didn’t get up particularly early. We started off by heading down to the Park Side Diner at our hotel (Hotel New York) for a buffet breakfast and filled ourselves up with croissants, pancakes, porridge, bacon, eggs and so much more! With full tummies, we came out of the diner and bumped straight into Goofy in the hotel lobby! As we were on the later side, there was barely any queue to meet him (in the Disney Hotels, you are able to meet a different character each morning, which is worth doing before you head to the parks) so we made the most of not having to wait around and had our photos taken with him. We had decided to buy a Photo Pass and I’m so glad we did because we got some brilliant character and ride photos throughout our holiday. 

I then popped into the hotel shop so I could pick up some of the gorgeous rose gold sequin ears to wear around the parks. I also decided to get myself a lanyard to keep my Magic Pass and other bits in, and as I had a birthday badge on, the Cast Member working in the shop kindly gave me a present! So I was presented with a couple of cute key rings and an autograph book, which put a massive smile on my face. Pixie Dust (which is another name for kind magical gestures from Cast Members) is something that I saw happening around the parks throughout my time at Disney, and it really does make your stay that bit more magical. 

Then it was time to make our way to the Disneyland Park. Going through the entrance and walking down Main Street, you see the Castle for the first time, and it truly is magical. I couldn’t help but smile and feel excited at finally being back in Disneyland – you’re surrounded by excited children (and adults!), upbeat music playing wherever you go and the sight of the pastel pink Sleeping Beauty Castle in the distance. I just felt like I was home! When we went, Disneyland Paris was just coming to the end of their 25^th Anniversary celebrations, so there were lots of beautiful blue and silver decorations everywhere, which I’m really glad we got to see. The last time we went, they were celebrating their 15^th Anniversary, so it was quite fun seeing things ten years on! I only hope I can make it back sooner next time, and don’t have to wait another ten years!

If you’ve never been to Disneyland Paris before, there are two parks (Disneyland and the Studios) plus the Disney Village. Then within the Disneyland Park, there are five areas to explore (including Main Street). We decided to start with Frontierland, as my Dad wanted to go on the Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing. I think I would probably call this an attraction rather than a ride, but you can get on board an old paddle steamer and enjoy a leisurely riverboat ride around the best of the Old West. There are two 19^th Century-style paddleboats, Mark Twain and Molly Brown (we were on the latter). As we made our way around Wilderness Island (where Big Thunder Mountain is) we saw smugglers caves, waterfalls and even a man sitting on the porch of his house with his dog. Getting on and off the boat in my wheelchair was incredibly simple – we were given priority boarding as we had a Green Pass and there were no issues with steps between the boat and the land.

After leaving the boat, we looked around Frontierland a bit more and walked past the Fuente Del Oro Restaurant, which serves Mexican specialities and is themed around the movie Coco. It looks so pretty and colourful outside with bunting and decorated guitar cut outs. We didn’t get a chance to go inside or try any food from there, but the theming certainly looked authentic from the outside.

My two sisters had gone off to do their own thing, but as lunchtime was approaching we met back up with them at Casey’s Corner at the bottom of Main Street. Like I said in my last post, I won’t go into food too much in these posts because I think I will do a separate food-related blog post, but Casey’s Corner is a counter service American diner serving mainly hot dogs. Although it was pretty busy, we managed to find a great table outside, right next to where Donald Duck was meeting people and with a lovely view of the Castle. 

As we were right next to Donald, once we’d finished our lunch, my Mum and I decided to queue up to get a photo with him. If you have a Green Pass, you can book a time slot to meet some characters so you don’t have to queue, but we found by lunchtime all the time slots had been booked already. It was quite a long queue to meet Donald, but thankfully it didn’t take too long to get to the front and the interaction was definitely worth it. I would say Donald is one of the funniest characters to meet (he is very competitive with Mickey and friends!) and I was so pleased with the photos we got together. While we were queuing for Donald, my Dad went off for a walk and caught the end of a show on the Castle Stage. It’s one of the things I wish we had found time for while we were there, as I’d heard good things about the show.

Now that our lunch had gone down, it was time to do a few proper rides. The first one we were all desperate to do (well, myself, Rosiie and Bekkah anyway!) was Big Thunder Mountain, and we managed to get my Dad on it as well. Big Thunder Mountain is one of my favourite rides at Disney, although my Dad wasn’t quite so enthusiastic when we got off! For some reason, he hadn’t realised it was a proper rollercoaster – I did question how he hadn’t realised when you can clearly see the ride from the outside! But anyway, Rosiie, Bekkah and I absolutely loved it, and we got a great photo to remind us of our ride!

We then made our way across the park to Discoveryland to ride another favourite of ours – Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast. This is one that the whole family could enjoy. As Junior Space Rangers; we were transported into space where we had to fire lasers to stop Zurg and score points. We all got quite competitive on this one and were obviously very focussed, which showed when we got our photos at the end! 

As we were in Discoveryland, we thought it would be a good idea to do Star Tours: The Adventures Continue. I remembered going on it ten years ago and thinking it was really good, so we were quite excited to ride it again. It’s a simulator loaded with state-of-the-art technology – you wear 3D glasses and are taken on a voyage through space, war-torn worlds and even make it onto the Death Star. However, what we failed to notice was the warning that it wasn’t suitable for people who suffer from motion sickness. I’m pretty sure it’s been changed quite a lot since I last rode it, as this time all three of us (my Dad, Bekkah and I) felt incredibly ill during the ride. I remember looking over to my Dad, who had his eyes shut, head down and was looking decidedly green! It couldn’t be over quick enough, and we were all very relived when we could get out and be back on stable land! I’m sure it’s a brilliant ride for those who can cope with the movement and visuals, but unfortunately it wasn’t for us.

We all needed some time to recover, so we went back towards the castle to find a space to watch the parade. With my Green Pass, myself and two others could go in the disabled area – if you’re going to be using this, I would recommend getting there early, as we got there about half an hour before the parade and it was already filling up. Thankfully I was able to get my wheelchair quite close to the front, but those further back, especially in wheelchairs, would have had difficulty seeing everything. I decided to film the parade this time, although my Dad took a few photos from further back. But I would say it’s well worth watching the parade at least once during your stay. As it was a Tuesday, they have a guest star come out before the main parade starts, and we were lucky enough to see Bolt, which I was quite excited about. The rest of the parade was brilliant – the music, dancing, costumes and special effects were just amazing and the audience were really getting into it. If you’d like to see photos from the parade, I took some later on in the week, so keep your eyes peeled for that blog post.

By this point we were all feeling pretty exhausted, so we decided to head back to our hotel room for a bit of a rest before dinner. On our way back, we popped into the Disneyland Hotel for a quick look around the lobby – oh my goodness, it is such a beautiful hotel (and it smells amazing too!) It’s definitely on my bucket list to stay there one day, as it really is spectacular. 

After a bit of down time in our hotel room, it was time for dinner. We had booked to eat in Cape Cod, which is the restaurant in the Newport Bay Hotel, so we headed past the lake to the hotel opposite ours. You could see the big balloon reflecting on the water as the sun set and considering you are in a huge theme park, down by the lake it is really peaceful – a perfect place to relax if you need a bit of a break from the hustle and bustle of the parks. Cape Cod is a buffet with an International menu and there really is something for everyone. We were a bit worried, as we aren’t all the most adventurous eaters, but there was plenty to choose from to suit everyone’s tastes. 

By the time we’d finished eating it was dark, and as we made our way outside we could hear the fireworks by the Castle. The others decided to go back to the hotel, but my Mum and I thought it would be a good time to go and have a look around the World of Disney shop while everyone was watching the fireworks. Unfortunately, we were slightly later than we’d realised, so just as we entered the Disney Village, the fireworks had finished and everyone was coming through the Village to either shop, eat or go back to their hotels. World of Disney ended up being extremely crowded, so I would highly recommend looking in shops either when the parade or fireworks have just started. But we still had a good look around and managed to spend a bit of money! 

We were both absolutely shattered at this point, so it was time to go back to our hotel room and crash out for the night, ready for another busy day in the parks the next day.

Check back again soon to find out what we did on Day Three of our Disneyland Paris holiday! And don’t forget, you can also check out my vlogs from our trip on my YouTube channel.

Have you been to Disneyland Paris or are you planning a Disney holiday soon? I’d love to hear your favourite things about Disney!

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