Today I was able to spend 13 magical hours at Disneyland Paris. Getting there was a little bit of an adventure. We had to walk to a bus stop, get off at the RER station. Take an RER train to one location then transfer to a different line to take the RER to Disneyland. In America where everyone speaks my native language and where I have the safety net of my cell phone if I need to call for help that would be a big deal. Doing it in France with no way of communication and hoping if I had a problem someone could speak English made the whole thing a big adventure. Luckily, Katie and I made it the Disney by 9:45 ( 15 min before it opened.) We were sooo excited to be there. I had to choke back my tears of joy and excitement. We were like two 5 year olds going to disney for the first time. Skipping and hopping and giggling all the way into the park. We started off the day at Hollywood studios. We got a fast pass for Tower of Terror and the rode Rocking Roller coasters. It was pretty cool but they didn't play any music which seemed kind of ridiculous since it is called ROCKIN' roller coaster. Lol. We walked past this one ride called Armageddon so we decided to check that out. It was interesting as most of it was in French but it was like a studio stunt thing. Anyways, we wanted to go ride Crushin coaster which is a roller coaster for Crush the sea turtle from finding Nemo but when we got there we found out it was closed! Lame. So we made our way into Toy Story land and waited 45 min to ride this parachute ride. After we finished the ride we were eligible for another fast pass so we went over to Disneyland to get one for the Indiana Jones ride. Entering Disneyland was soo exciting. They were actually filming something on Main Street USA. It was in English and it mentioned 40 years of something so I think it was for something in the states but it was cool to see all the equipment and such. They also had a ton of confetti that we may have used to take pictures with, then stuff in our purse to take pictures with it in front of the castle. After we spent an ample amount of time taking pictures we went to get our fast pass. Then we saw that the Indiana Jones ride was also CLOSED, talk about bad luck. So we trekked to the other side of the park to get a fast pass for space mountain. Then it was time for lunch. I was shocked at how expensive all the food was. We had seen a sign for what looked like a good chicken sandwich back at Hollywood studios and since our fast pass for tower of terror was almost ready we headed over there. Luckily the parks were very close to one another and about an 8 min walk. The line was super long for food but the lady in front of us in line was a really nice French lady who spent the who time chatting with us. For lunch I got what they called "menu 2" and it came with a cheeseburger, French fries, drink and yogurt and it was €13!!! That's like $17, that's outrageous! Katie got a chicken sandwich and it was €8 or $11. So our total meal was almost $30!!! After we scarfed down our food we ran to the tower of terror. We were surprised that it was in English. It was a little different than the one at Disney World and I think I liked it more, at least the drop sequence seemed longer. Riding it was a lot of fun but afterwords my stomach was really upset. I just don't do rides like I use to, dang it old age! After our ride on TT we decided to get another fastpass for Rockin Roller Coaster. Then we went back to Disneyland and road Pirates of the Caribbean (which was way cooler than in Fl,) space mountain (also cooler than fl,) and Snow Whites Scary Adventure which was exactly the same. Then we got some Barba Papa (cotton candy) which was twice the size of my head. Then we made our way back to hollywood studio and road RRC again AND TT which was pretty sweet. When we rode TT the second time it was in French, I was curious about how that worked. Since Hollywood studios was closed for the day we headed back to Disney to conquer the rest of the rides. We started in Fantasy land since it closed earlier than the rest of the park. We rode Pinocchio, it's a small world, ventured under the castle to see Melefesent in Dragoon form, Peter Pan, walked throw the Alice in Wonderland Labyrinth. After that we went to Frontie land for the Haunted Mansion (which isn't very scary when in a different language) and waited in line for 40 min to ride Thunder Mountain which was way cooler there. By that time it was 10:15 and we still needed to find a bathroom, food and a souvenir. We had dinner at Casey's corner on Main Street. It was one of the only places open. They start closing everything down really early there. Tons of people were already in their spots waiting for the night show. Since we had to take public transportation back late at night I was really nervous about how things would turn out. All public transport stops working a little before or after 1am. It took us 1.5 hours to get there so if we sat for the night show and enjoyed it, then fought the crowds to get out I knew we would be pushing it. So we rushed to get a t-shirt before the show then stood and watched from Main Street. We had to start walking a little before it was over because I didn't wait to fight the crowds. The show its self was fantastic! A lot of it was in english which made it that much more enjoyable for me. I almost got a little teary eyed but I think I was to stressed about getting home to allow myself to fully enjoy it.
Luckily the ride home went smoothly. I had paid enough attention on the way there to get us back fairly easily. I think we caught on of the last buses back to Mandy's. A kind stranger held the bus door open for us as we ran from the train station to catch it. Walking back to Mandy's from the bus station in the dark was a little scary though. A guy got off at the stop with us and then went the same way as us until, we realized we were going to wrong way. Then another guy on a moped popped out from behind the buses and scared the heck out of us. So we basically speed walk/ran to Mandy's. it was such a relief to walk through the doors to her place. She and my mom had waited up for us. Amelie had decorated the house for my birthday which was so sweet. I was so happy to sit down and relax. I was EXHAUSTED. A day at the parks can wear you out. But it was a great way to spend my almost birthday!
As a side note I was surprised at the lack of personal space I was given when at the park as well as a total disregard or consciousness of others. Several times we waited to take. Picture while others just walked up and hopped in the picture before us. One time after I had been waiting for 5 min I finally went up to take my turn. A couple who had just gotten there sent their son up at the same time that I went up then had the nerve to tell me to move. This happened several times and I wanted to scream. I am not impressed with the disregard of manors and common curtesy some Europeans have. I do understand to some point that it may in me cases just be the nature of the person and not the culture as a whole but I m not impressed. It made me glad to live in a place that encourages (for the most part) awareness of others and respect. That said I have met or seen several kind people. I have seen a lot of seats be given to others on a crowded metro, people holding doors for us, helping us with our luggage and other various acts of kindness so maybe it was just the tension of the parks. Either way I'm still glad i got to go enjoy Euro Disney!
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