Day 4.
Paris -> Eurodisney
I literally had trouble getting to sleep the previous night because I was so excited about coming to Disneyland for the first time in my life. I've dreamed it since I was a child and it only took me 19 years... Good thing I still have a childlike imagination! Whoopee!
So we checked out of our hostel, took the metro to the train and took the train to the bus - the bus that never came. Back to the train and then to DISNEYLAND! We were pretty mad that the bus didn't show because we wanted to leave our bags at the hostel so we rang them (no the pay phones did not take coins - seriously) waiting for them to say "no you can't check in later" but they said "oui oui!" Hooray! Things were going our way.
We scooted inside the gates and dumped our bags in a locker and I entered - the Magic Kingdom. I think I need a moment to remember the warm fuzzy feeling that I had. Aaaand I'm good. There it is! The castle! Cue "hallelujah". Oh it was really awesome. Enough of that. On to rides! Miranda knew the layout of this place like the back of her hand - given that it is basically the same as the one in America which she has been to many many times.
First up was Frontier Land which is a Western style land (what it's doing in France I'll never know... Guess they're not too creative or inventive... Maybe it should have been Wine Land? Cigarette Land?). We started the day – getting our adrenaline pumping – by going on Thunder Mountain – which is like an old style train which rockets about a fake mountain – pretty darn fun. Throughout the ride Miranda and I were screaming with excitement and it was so funny because Miranda would give me a running commentary of the park whilst screaming. So it went like this “Ahhhhhhh! There’s Phantom Manor! Ahhhhhh! There’s a cactus! I’m home! Ha ha! AHhhhhhh!” It was great – the ride was too.
Because Miranda knew the park we zipped around the rides with the greatest of ease and not having to wait in really long queues.
Next ride was Phantom Manor which they have in Disneyland in America. The whole ride was in French but because Miranda knew it she could relay what the heck was going on. So there was this couple and they were engaged and the girl had to go back home to visit her family before she got married. Meanwhile, the boy would build her a beautiful mansion for them to live in on her return. The only problem was he built it on a graveyard (or something) and thus an evil ghosty phantom appeared and killed everyone including the groom-to-be. Girl returns and is forced to marry the Phantom. Grim times – Happiest place on Earth? Hmm... It was really cool. The ride is basically where you get in little cars and see all the various scenes and Miranda said it’s much scarier than the one in America which has friendly looking ghosts whereas the French just want to scare everyone. Miranda would literally jump every time when the Phantom showed up – he would appear right next to the carriage (skeleton – with a top hat) and be laughing. It was a pretty awesome ride – a lot of animatronics and what not.
That being said the ride – without fail – would break down – all the time! Apparently, it does this in both Disneys in America which is interesting. Luckily, we never broke down near the Phantom.
We then shuffled off to Adventure Land which is where the Indiana Jones ride was. It was just a normal rollercoaster that the stuck Aztec statues and little tents about and called it Indiana. Oh well. It was pretty cool. The was a pretty amazing and ground breaking moment for me because I have never EVER been on a rollercoaster that goes a) really fast and b) upside down. This had both. And it was AWESOME. I felt so proud of myself! I barely even noticed we went upside down.
Continuing in this land we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride – the ride which started the whole Pirates movie series. Miranda said the one in America had been changed to go with the movie more but this one was like the original which was good to see. Once again animatronics doing their thing... It was pretty neat. The whole movie was based on this one brief display in the ride that Miranda pointed out – a skeleton on the boat steering wheel in the moonlight. That was the inspiration.
It was cool. Also the ride had these unexpected slopes in the dark so Miranda and I panicked a bit thinking it would be a big drop (it wasn’t) but the photo they took was priceless. We look terrified. Next time round we were ready and had our pirate faces on.
Moving onto Fantasy Land we went on the Peter Pan ride which is Miranda’s favourite. It’s a really sweet ride where you are in little boats that fly all over the story of Peter Pan. The room that was dark but with all twinkling lights with the sky was my favourite bit. It was kind of lame that the queue was the longest we’d been in and the shortest ride – ah well. It was cute. After that was a similar ride but with Snow White or rather “Blanc Neige et les Sept Nains” awww LANGUAGE BARRIER!
We were going to then go on the Pinocchio one but given that we both feel that Pinocchio was lame – we didn’t.
Sleeping Beauty’s castle was next which is THE castle of Disneyland. You can go inside this one but you can no longer go in the one in America which is weird. It was really pretty and had stain glass windows of the scenes in the film. Down in the gift shop was this... souvenir which – probably won’t seem funny to anyone reading this but it still gets Miranda and I into hysterics and I’m laughing right now, typing this, just thinking about it. I found this little plastic container that had little plush toys of various dogs that were in Disney movies so I showed Miranda this “bucket of dogs” I had found. She then put on a really Southern accent and said “A bucket o’ dawgs?” and thus hilarious history was made. Now we use the term “bucket of dogs” for pretty much everything. It can be used in any context given that the delivery indicates the meaning. For example, I ride could be “as good as a bucket o’ dawgs” or “it was no bucket o’ dawgs”. Use this wisely. I will and already am. Featured are the various faces you are permitted to make when saying "bucket o' dawgs"...
Then we were walking to the other side of the park when one of the shows started. “Are you ready to party with Mickey?” “Erm... sure” Then all these dancers come on and Mickey pops out in a glitzy silver sequin ensemble and starts squeaking away in French! There is nothing funnier than a French Mickey. Throughout our two days at Disney we witnessed this show every time we walked down main street – so at least eight times. Every time we would hear “Do you want to party with Mickey?” “NO! Dear God NO!”
We had lunch and then went to Discovery Land which is like a futuristic land and decided to go on the Space Mountain ride which Miranda said the one in America was pretty tame – didn’t go upside down, wasn’t fast – Oh boy. We got in the queue and got on the ride pretty quick. Sat down and the ride shot us, really fast, into this cannon thing which looked like it went up. We thought nothing of it – or the countdown in French from five until it shot us at full blast up this slope and down, down into the (supposed) dark abyss of space. Holy smokes this ride was intense. Miranda and I were screaming for all we were worth given that neither of us knew what was going on and if we were the right way up because I’m pretty sure we did a series of loop-the-loops and corkscrews. Wow. The ride stopped and we just turned to look at each other – pause – “That was NOT the same as in America... let’s do it again!”. So we did and it was awesome. Though after the second time we had to sit down for a bit.
We then went on “It’s a Small World” because I just had to. It’s a must see. Terrifying little children sing the song at you from various parts of the world. Big cardboard cut-outs of the various scenery appear and Miranda and I enjoyed pointing at all the places we were going and had been. I enjoyed seeing the tiny little spot they reserved for Australia consisting of someone wearing khaki, an indigenous Australian and a kangaroo. Yep... they got it right on!
Then the parade started! I got to see all the princesses and it was so lovely... so magical seeing them come to life... I really want to work at Disneyland. Esmeralda also randomly turned up and we got a photo with her. We told her that we had seen Quasimodo at Notre Dame and she looked at us like “How old are you?” Good times. There was this other parade that we saw twice which was supposed to Minnie Mouse's train parade or something - despite the obvious problem that Minnie wasn't even present! We dubbed this train the "lame train" which featured Disney's lesser characters like Tigger, Eeyore, Smee, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. "All aboard the lame train!"
Then we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride where you get a ray gun and have to shoot targets to get points. Miranda whooped my ass but I had more fun lasering the lady in front of me’s head. I did manage to get to level four though..
By this time we had pretty much done all the rides we set out to do so we had a roam about the park enjoying the details and having a squiz at all the merchandise. The great thing about Disneyland is that everything, down to the smallest detail, is beautiful and decorated. Even the lampposts had little Tinkerbells on them.
Overall, it was an awesome day and the weather was too. We took a train back to our hostel which turned out to be a hotel and was SO GOOD. Private room with twin beds and an en suite as well a television! I haven’t seen television is ages so I didn’t care that it was in French. Plus – this is one my highlights of the trip – they did a Michael Jackson top ten countdown so we had an excellent time bogeying down to all the hits... It was a really great day. I love Disneyland.
Paris -> Eurodisney
I literally had trouble getting to sleep the previous night because I was so excited about coming to Disneyland for the first time in my life. I've dreamed it since I was a child and it only took me 19 years... Good thing I still have a childlike imagination! Whoopee!So we checked out of our hostel, took the metro to the train and took the train to the bus - the bus that never came. Back to the train and then to DISNEYLAND! We were pretty mad that the bus didn't show because we wanted to leave our bags at the hostel so we rang them (no the pay phones did not take coins - seriously) waiting for them to say "no you can't check in later" but they said "oui oui!" Hooray! Things were going our way.
We scooted inside the gates and dumped our bags in a locker and I entered - the Magic Kingdom. I think I need a moment to remember the warm fuzzy feeling that I had. Aaaand I'm good. There it is! The castle! Cue "hallelujah". Oh it was really awesome. Enough of that. On to rides! Miranda knew the layout of this place like the back of her hand - given that it is basically the same as the one in America which she has been to many many times.First up was Frontier Land which is a Western style land (what it's doing in France I'll never know... Guess they're not too creative or inventive... Maybe it should have been Wine Land? Cigarette Land?). We started the day – getting our adrenaline pumping – by going on Thunder Mountain – which is like an old style train which rockets about a fake mountain – pretty darn fun. Throughout the ride Miranda and I were screaming with excitement and it was so funny because Miranda would give me a running commentary of the park whilst screaming. So it went like this “Ahhhhhhh! There’s Phantom Manor! Ahhhhhh! There’s a cactus! I’m home! Ha ha! AHhhhhhh!” It was great – the ride was too.
Because Miranda knew the park we zipped around the rides with the greatest of ease and not having to wait in really long queues.Next ride was Phantom Manor which they have in Disneyland in America. The whole ride was in French but because Miranda knew it she could relay what the heck was going on. So there was this couple and they were engaged and the girl had to go back home to visit her family before she got married. Meanwhile, the boy would build her a beautiful mansion for them to live in on her return. The only problem was he built it on a graveyard (or something) and thus an evil ghosty phantom appeared and killed everyone including the groom-to-be. Girl returns and is forced to marry the Phantom. Grim times – Happiest place on Earth? Hmm... It was really cool. The ride is basically where you get in little cars and see all the various scenes and Miranda said it’s much scarier than the one in America which has friendly looking ghosts whereas the French just want to scare everyone. Miranda would literally jump every time when the Phantom showed up – he would appear right next to the carriage (skeleton – with a top hat) and be laughing. It was a pretty awesome ride – a lot of animatronics and what not.
That being said the ride – without fail – would break down – all the time! Apparently, it does this in both Disneys in America which is interesting. Luckily, we never broke down near the Phantom.We then shuffled off to Adventure Land which is where the Indiana Jones ride was. It was just a normal rollercoaster that the stuck Aztec statues and little tents about and called it Indiana. Oh well. It was pretty cool. The was a pretty amazing and ground breaking moment for me because I have never EVER been on a rollercoaster that goes a) really fast and b) upside down. This had both. And it was AWESOME. I felt so proud of myself! I barely even noticed we went upside down.
Continuing in this land we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride – the ride which started the whole Pirates movie series. Miranda said the one in America had been changed to go with the movie more but this one was like the original which was good to see. Once again animatronics doing their thing... It was pretty neat. The whole movie was based on this one brief display in the ride that Miranda pointed out – a skeleton on the boat steering wheel in the moonlight. That was the inspiration.
It was cool. Also the ride had these unexpected slopes in the dark so Miranda and I panicked a bit thinking it would be a big drop (it wasn’t) but the photo they took was priceless. We look terrified. Next time round we were ready and had our pirate faces on.Moving onto Fantasy Land we went on the Peter Pan ride which is Miranda’s favourite. It’s a really sweet ride where you are in little boats that fly all over the story of Peter Pan. The room that was dark but with all twinkling lights with the sky was my favourite bit. It was kind of lame that the queue was the longest we’d been in and the shortest ride – ah well. It was cute. After that was a similar ride but with Snow White or rather “Blanc Neige et les Sept Nains” awww LANGUAGE BARRIER!
We were going to then go on the Pinocchio one but given that we both feel that Pinocchio was lame – we didn’t.Sleeping Beauty’s castle was next which is THE castle of Disneyland. You can go inside this one but you can no longer go in the one in America which is weird. It was really pretty and had stain glass windows of the scenes in the film. Down in the gift shop was this... souvenir which – probably won’t seem funny to anyone reading this but it still gets Miranda and I into hysterics and I’m laughing right now, typing this, just thinking about it. I found this little plastic container that had little plush toys of various dogs that were in Disney movies so I showed Miranda this “bucket of dogs” I had found. She then put on a really Southern accent and said “A bucket o’ dawgs?” and thus hilarious history was made. Now we use the term “bucket of dogs” for pretty much everything. It can be used in any context given that the delivery indicates the meaning. For example, I ride could be “as good as a bucket o’ dawgs” or “it was no bucket o’ dawgs”. Use this wisely. I will and already am. Featured are the various faces you are permitted to make when saying "bucket o' dawgs"...
Then we were walking to the other side of the park when one of the shows started. “Are you ready to party with Mickey?” “Erm... sure” Then all these dancers come on and Mickey pops out in a glitzy silver sequin ensemble and starts squeaking away in French! There is nothing funnier than a French Mickey. Throughout our two days at Disney we witnessed this show every time we walked down main street – so at least eight times. Every time we would hear “Do you want to party with Mickey?” “NO! Dear God NO!”
We had lunch and then went to Discovery Land which is like a futuristic land and decided to go on the Space Mountain ride which Miranda said the one in America was pretty tame – didn’t go upside down, wasn’t fast – Oh boy. We got in the queue and got on the ride pretty quick. Sat down and the ride shot us, really fast, into this cannon thing which looked like it went up. We thought nothing of it – or the countdown in French from five until it shot us at full blast up this slope and down, down into the (supposed) dark abyss of space. Holy smokes this ride was intense. Miranda and I were screaming for all we were worth given that neither of us knew what was going on and if we were the right way up because I’m pretty sure we did a series of loop-the-loops and corkscrews. Wow. The ride stopped and we just turned to look at each other – pause – “That was NOT the same as in America... let’s do it again!”. So we did and it was awesome. Though after the second time we had to sit down for a bit.
We then went on “It’s a Small World” because I just had to. It’s a must see. Terrifying little children sing the song at you from various parts of the world. Big cardboard cut-outs of the various scenery appear and Miranda and I enjoyed pointing at all the places we were going and had been. I enjoyed seeing the tiny little spot they reserved for Australia consisting of someone wearing khaki, an indigenous Australian and a kangaroo. Yep... they got it right on!Then the parade started! I got to see all the princesses and it was so lovely... so magical seeing them come to life... I really want to work at Disneyland. Esmeralda also randomly turned up and we got a photo with her. We told her that we had seen Quasimodo at Notre Dame and she looked at us like “How old are you?” Good times. There was this other parade that we saw twice which was supposed to Minnie Mouse's train parade or something - despite the obvious problem that Minnie wasn't even present! We dubbed this train the "lame train" which featured Disney's lesser characters like Tigger, Eeyore, Smee, Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. "All aboard the lame train!"
Then we went on the Buzz Lightyear ride where you get a ray gun and have to shoot targets to get points. Miranda whooped my ass but I had more fun lasering the lady in front of me’s head. I did manage to get to level four though..By this time we had pretty much done all the rides we set out to do so we had a roam about the park enjoying the details and having a squiz at all the merchandise. The great thing about Disneyland is that everything, down to the smallest detail, is beautiful and decorated. Even the lampposts had little Tinkerbells on them.
Overall, it was an awesome day and the weather was too. We took a train back to our hostel which turned out to be a hotel and was SO GOOD. Private room with twin beds and an en suite as well a television! I haven’t seen television is ages so I didn’t care that it was in French. Plus – this is one my highlights of the trip – they did a Michael Jackson top ten countdown so we had an excellent time bogeying down to all the hits... It was a really great day. I love Disneyland.
How fun to read about your Disney experience!! Priceless!
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how excited Miranda was to see Disney through YOUR eyes! You two have had such a memorable time... SOOOO happy for you both!