A few disclaimers so you better understand this post.
I was one of the weird kids in my cercle who liked Little Prince. When I grew up the vinyl player was the thing to own and we had one and we also had a record with Little Prince in Romanian and let me tell you it was boooooring, compared to other records with stories, of course. That was until I could read and I've read the book. From that moment on the Little Prince became my friend and my favorite book. To put it in context, I was a Momo by Michael Ende and a Hobbit by J.R. Tolkien kind of girl.
Fast forward a few years when cable became popular in Romania and Cartoon Network had Disney movies on and when I must have been 12 or 13 years old when I've heard the news that Disneyland had opened in Paris. I wanted to go so badly, but it was never a priority and even if the communist times have ended for a few years at that point, visiting feely Europe was not something that common people of Romania would do.
Fast forward to 10 years ago when I came to this region and Europe opened up for me. I've lived in Ireland prior to that and if you ever lived on an island before, you know traveling can be, at times, expensive, even with Ryanair and all. Also, my priorities have changed a bit and Disneyland in Paris was not on top of things I wanted to visit in Europe. But, as I've said, we moved to this area and I finally got to go to Disneyland. Let's just say that visiting it at 30 can be a bit disappointing and even if I've cried meeting Minnie, it was the little girl inside me crying, as I was already tired of queuing for some 5 minute attraction and of expensive merchandise.
Also with Europe opened I got to go out of Strasbourg, I've visited a few times before, and into Alsace and discovered the Little Prince Parc. I knew I wanted to go, but I've felt that Ecomusee d'Alsace, just around the corner was more appropriate to my age and my interests at that time.
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The actual post starts here; thank you if you made it this far!
I don't know if we went to the Little Prince Park for Ilinca, my daughter, or for me, but I know we both had a great time. Yes it is the version of what I imagine a 90's adventure park would look like, but we all had fun and we found a lot of things to do with a 2 years old toddler.
We left Luna at a sitter, if you go on the Park's webpage you will find a recommendation for a dog sitter. It was 11 euros for a day and Luna was happy. Although I don't see why they would not allow dogs inside, I can understand that dogs can sometime not like children and noise and the hassle ... although if they live with said children ... anyway.
To me, the main attraction is the "hot air" balloon which is very close to the entrance or the exit. It is suited for younger children, and my daughter liked it, but know that if the wind is blowing the balloon will not fly. On the day we visited it stopped at around 12 a.m..
On the website you will find the attractions appropriate for each age, we did all of them for Ilinca and some for older kids. She liked the Boa Snake most and we could not get her to visit other things after she found it.
She also liked the Aerousel and went twice and liked the playground with Leapfrog.
We went on the little train and did the labyrinth and she liked the Citadelle playground and the airplane. We had ice-cream and looked at the people splashing while on the South Atlantic watercoaster and we ate a burger, we fed and petted the sheep and the goats and all in all we spent the whole day at the parc.
Impressions:
I did not like the place where there was the Fox. She looked so strange in that roundabout where kids were screamed at her or him, I felt so sad. I find keeping wild animals in parks pointless and inhumane.
I would have liked that there were more options for healthier food. The chicken burger I had, I hope had seen a chicken in its life. It was good and I (we) had no problems after. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people feeding Ilinca only bio, eco, coco, pupu food, but would have appreciated the diversity.
There were people who probably lived in the area and knew the system, but we did not get to any of the attritions such as Methamorphosis, The Volcano or Southern Mail because we were always one minute late or it was full or I don't know what. I've felt like at Disneyland when I did not quite mastered the fast pass system yet.
Also, if you go on a sunny day, wear a hat and an SPF50 cream. Sadly they don't sell cream at the shop and as it was raining for a couple of days before we went I left it at the hotel. Stupid, I know. Also, buy water and have it with you. Yes there are places from where to buy water, but whenever we needed one it was never around.
Compared to other attraction parks in this area, this parc needs a bit of updating, maybe imagine other attractions, maybe ... I don't know. I've liked it because I knew the book, we all liked it in a different way, but we were all left with that feeling that is is not an amusement parc, but just a big playground. And maybe it is best this way. I don't know. You have to visit it and make up your own mind.
As usual I'm more active on Instagram @mademoiselle.ralu
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