Paris, France

Today is the second most anticipated day of the trip, only beaten when I found out we could see The Cure in Portugal.

We left early this morning and caught two metro trains to Nation, then another train to Marne-la-Vallee Chessy to go to DISNEYLAND PARIS!  For all the great churches, palaces, museums and beaches we'd seen, we thought it was time for a change.

We arrived at 10.30am on a day when it looked like it may rain at any moment, to walk right in (no queues again). With map in hand and a photograph of the entrance taken, Australia’s two biggest kids were on their way.

Me, Disneyland, Paris, France

We started off in Fantasyland, its theme being Disney’s stories. Its entrance is Le Chateau (covered by the very distinct European scaffolding – as found everywhere). It contains stained-glass windows, one of a million souvenir stalls, and the story of Sleeping Beauty. On to our first ride. Snow White & The Seven Dwarves, and then Pinocchio, were sit down rides which took you through the stories of both. Roberta went on the carousel, before we both got on the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups. Next up was It’s A Small World – a boat ride through thousands of dolls representing each country – even your typical Aussie with an akubra hat, a koala, and a kangaroo were there. The other canal ride took us through Storybook Land with scenes from about 15 Disney stories (this was the lamest of the rides). Alice’s Curious Labyrinth was next. This hedged maze took a bit of getting through even with so many people going around. We skipped the Casey Jr train ride and Dumbo The Flying Elephant, but went on Peter Pan’s Flight – a flight in the same vein as the first 2 rides – before going into Adventureland.

We started off on the Pirates of The Caribbean – a long cruise through many swashbuckling adventures. This ride is indoors and from it you can see the Blue Lagoon Restaurant. It looked great and we were going to go there for lunch, until we saw the prices. I don’t think even Bill Gates could afford to eat there. We then walked through Adventure Island and The Swiss Family Robinson’s tree top home until we got to Le Temple du Peril – a roller coaster that we waited 45 minutes for (and were only on it for two) just to keep the heart pumping. We had lunch at Colonel Hathi’s Pizza Outpost and I rang home to tell them where we were. The last stop in Adventureland was La Passage Enchante d’Alladin, which was scenes from the movie Aladdin (Dud! I thought it was going to be a ride).

Next was Discoveryland – the high-tech section of the park. We walked through Arcade de Jeux Video – a pinball parlor like any at The Entrance – until we got to Space Mountain. This was easily the ride of the day. This is an indoor roller coaster completely in the dark where the only things you can see are the props i.e., moon, planets, stars, etc. Unfortunately, you couldn’t see the complete loop, the two corkscrews or any of the other twists and turns. This ride gave me enough adrenalin to last a lifetime. After this, we went on the Startours ride, which is a simulation ride from a scene in Star Wars. Another good ride – but would’ve been better (for me) had all the characters been talking in English. As we got out of this ride it finally started to pour. We headed over to Le Visionarium to watch a short film about time travel. The film was in this huge room with a 3600-view, giving you the feeling that you were experiencing everything that was happening. When we got out, the rain had stopped and the sun was blazing away for the first time since we’d been in Paris.

Me, Star Tours, Disneyland, Paris, France

With only an hour before closing time, we headed over to suss out Frontierland. There were only two attractions that we went on here. First was Big Thunder Mountain – the meekest of the park’s three roller coasters, but still enough to keep you alert. Secondly was Phantom Manor – a haunted house that told the story of a ghostly bride, with scary skeletons and holograms throughout. The scariest part was the guy at the front door who jumped out and frightened Roberta to death. We gave the river cruise, kid’s playground and animal farm a miss.

Big Thunder Mountain, Disneyland, Paris, France

We headed back to Main Street, USA and had a look through the Disneyland Boutiques (lucky I have some control, as I could have spent a fortune here) before leaving. We had our photo taken out the front of the park before heading back to the train station home. I wanted to go to Disney Village, across the way, where the shops and restaurants were, but another downpour put a stop to that idea.

Roberta & I, Disneyland, Paris, France

The train trip took us an hour and a half, but it was definitely worth it, as we both had a great day.

When we got back to the hotel, we thought we’d go to the Aloha hostel, where Roberta had left some shoes when we stayed back at the beginning of Eurobus. The half an hour walk bought no luck as the shoes weren’t there, but we were told to try with other staff tomorrow.

On the way home we stopped at a Chinese / Vietnamese restaurant for dinner. The food was delicious, and cheap, and a great way to end a great day, as afterwards we went back to the hotel for a well-earned sleep.