We arrived at about 2pm on Thursday which gave us time to head into the park and to get dinner at Disney Village. Steve and Jacob headed for Space Mountain: Mission 2 and I took Katie and Cameron over to the Buzz Lightyear laser blast. Surprisingly, we had the longer wait for Buzz than the guys did for Space Mountain. So after spending almost 2 hours to go on one ride we headed to dinner with somewhat long faces. Rather than attempt another long line, we called it a night and decided to plan our attack for the next day.
Armed with a Disneyland Paris app on my iphone we were able to scan the map and select the attractions that were on our must see list. We could also plot times for the parades and locations of characters we might want to catch. Since we were on Disney property, we took advantage of the early admission and descended on the park by 8:15 in the morning. Still feeling like we were on UK time and having risen early the day before to catch a 10am train, we weren't moving fast. We were happy to get to the park before the crowd. Our plan was to hit Discoveryland first and brave Space Mountain. Katie and I had it on our list and Jacob wanted a second go. Since Cameron is still too short for a few of the rides, Steve opted to take him on the Autopia car ride. But wait! Space Mountain was not running yet due to technical difficulties. To kill time we went back to Buzz Lightyear where The kids were much better than I was (that includes Steve) at getting Zurg. Having killed the right amount of time, yet the park was still not open to the general public we were able to jump on the 10 minute Space Mountain line and they actually opened the Autopia ride a few minutes early due to the line forming. Success! Love it when a plan comes together! A trip on Star Tours after that left the 3 guys about to vomit from motion sickness so that was not going to be revisited.
Now, off to Frontierland. Cameron got to pick the next ride which was the Phantom Manor. A friend at school had talked it up. My app indicated the line would not be too long, so off we went. When we turned the corner toward the manor we were lucky to find that Mickey had just appeared for meet and greets! Barely a crowd and the kids were able to get one of the most elusive photos! Cameron is still hesitant about the characters so I was only able to convince Jacob and Katie that they needed this picture so they could prove to their kids that "Yes, I really did go to Disneyland as a kid!"
Rides on Phantom Manor followed by Big Thunder Mountain and then though Adventure Isle put Frontierland up high on the list of the best part of the park. Pizza and pasta for lunch kept smiles on faces as we filled out the afternoon with Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan's flight and It's a Small World. I convinced the kids that some rides are quintessentially Disney and although they don't seem like big thrills, you kinda have to go on them. OK, you know that those are the ones of my childhood and I couldn't think of missing them! For another character moment, we go a photo with Captain Jack! Honestly, I thought it would be really hard to get character photos but was pleasantly surprised...again.
On Big Thunder Mountain!
Adventure Isle
It's a Small World
Cap'n Jack
Parade WatchingWe finished our day in the park with the early (5pm) parade and then headed to Annette's Diner in Disney Village for some all American cuisine. Say what you want, but when we can get American food, we don't pass it up. It's a novelty for us, like pub food is for all of you. Back at the Ranch (literally), we made our plan for the next day. We also managed to get in an hour at the pool, where we met Mickey on our way in! Photo op number 2 with the Big Guy!
By the way, the Disney app, when in the park did give us wait times on rides so you would know before even walking over to it. It would find you on the map and then you could use it to guide you through. I did have some problems with it updating information, particularly on our second full day at Disney Studios, which may have been due to high usage. When it was working, it was awesome.
Our second full day was New Year's Eve. We spent the day in Disney Studios. Our first stop was the Tower of Terror. This kids were a bit freaked out by the Twilight Zone story line of the ride. They also really didn't like the freefalling bit of the ride. Steve and I loved it! Cameron was actually tall enough for all of the big thrill rides in the Studios, so we were able to all go on the Rockin' Rollercoaster, but a coaster in the dark scared him and he decided he wouldn't go on that one again. We went to the Armageddon Special Effects attraction. Here they dub everything into French and we have to read English subtitling. This is odd because you see Michael Clark Duncan talking to you, his mouth forming English words, but a deep French actor's voiceover. It gives you a bit of a headache trying to watch it. But we were in France.... We came across this again when we went to the Art of Animation attraction. Here we had headphones and you could select your language, but there was a host on the stage speaking in French and the video was all dubbed. We were hearing the actual actors and animators voices (since they are all Americans...) in our ears which actually matched the movement of the lips on the screen but the sound from the host and the voiceover was so loud in the theater that it was a bit annoying trying to hear the English. Really, voicing over Eddie Murphy. After that, we decided to skip anymore shows as it took too much effort when on vacation to understand what was going on. No problem because we still had a few more rides.
We waited for quite a while on the Toy Soldier's Parachute Drop. Katie, Jacob and I waited for about an hour for Crush's Coaster. Because it spins and goes backwards, Steve and Cameron opted out given that they have problems with motion sickness. Smart idea! We loved the ride and afterward, Cameron regretted his decision, but with no fast pass available on that ride and hour long waits prevailing throughout the day, we were unable to try again. Katie and I then braved the RC Racer and ended up with seats in the last row. I was happy when that one was over! We caught the parade through the park and even managed to get a photo with Sully. Knowing we had a late night ahead of us we went back to the Ranch to relax before 8pm dinner reservations.
From Toy Soldier Parchutes
We had made reservations at the restaurant at the Ranch. Because it was New Year's Eve, there was special pricing everywhere that we had to work around. I was happy to have a reasonable time. We hadn't been seated but a moment when Pluto entered the restaurant. This was the only character that Cameron would be photographed with. Then Mickey Mouse and Goofy joined him. I don't know if we just lucked out with our timing or if they came to the restaurant each hour, but we were thrilled to have the characters at dinner. Just note, photo #3 with the Big Guy, Mickey Mouse, for Katie!
After dinner we went straight back to the park. The kids had voted on seeing the fireworks over the castle in Disneyland Park, so that is where we headed. We had already been told that the exact same display would go off in Disneyland Park, Disney Studios and Disney Village. With time to kill before midnight, we agreed to head back to Big Thunder Mountain for a rollercoaser thrill - this was in hopes of making Cameron feel better after missing Crush's Coaster. We had even checked on the way back the the park and the line was still an hour for that ride. Even after a 30 minute wait for that ride we still had some time, so we wound our way up to the Pirates of the Caribean for an easy ride. Cameron had not been feeling well after the rollercoaster. As the ride came to an end, there were no people waiting! It was eerily quiet. When we made our way back outside it was apparent that all of the rides were closing and that the crowd was forming for the fireworks.
Madness! This is what we landed ourselves into when we made our way out of Frontierland and toward the castle. You just couldn't go any further so we stopped behind the crowd and tried our best to see. Thankfully fireworks are in the sky. Poor Cameron was at a distinct disadvantage and if you ask him, he will tell you it was terrible! The crowd was crazy. People kept trying to cut through to get closer and we would tell them that you couldn't go any further. Steve and I weren't even next to each other as people pushed forward between us. I had Jacob and he had the other two. I have been in Times Square for New Year's Eve and I think this was worse! A woman behind me, who did not speak English and smelled of alcohol, had her hand on my shoulder and kept pushing/leaning into me. My legs hurt from trying to stand upright and not push into the people in front of me. The fireworks were good and the castle looked great and we can say that we have "been there, done that." We celebrated midnight again when we got back to our cabin and it was 1:00am Paris time which would be 0:00 London time!
Sunday morning we had some time to kill before getting to the Chunnel train, so we loaded up the car, dropped off our key to the cabin and made one last stop in Disneyland Parc. A board right near the front indicated that there was only a 5 minute wait at Space Mountain. There seemed to be a lot of people as it was almost 11am, so I was surprised by the short wait. My theory is that as this is a big thrill ride for the older crowd, that the target market was too hung over to brave the rollercoaster. The 5 minutes was actually the time it took us to wind our way through the maze to get to the cars. We only had to wait for one group ahead of us to load before it was our turn! We were off before Steve and Cameron were able to even get in a car in Autopia!
Let's Drive Home!It was almost 11:45 and we had to leave by 12:15 to get to our train on time. We decided to grab McDonald's figuring that would be quick. We didn't remember that McD's is a great hangover cure and the line was crazy! We actually ran from the McDonald's to the car and still got on the road 15 minutes later than planned. Steve promised to make up the time as long as I promised not to comment on the spedometer.
With a stop for gas and toilets we still managed to get to the checkin gates at 3:15, more than one hour before our 4:20 train as they request. Unfortunately, there was a line. And the line wasn't moving. At 3:50 we were through the checkin gate, but now had customs. Here we had to swerve around rows of cars to get on the one lane which was for All Passports and not just Euro passports, but all of the lines were equally long. The French had no problem waving us through, but then there was BRITISH Passport Control! Another line! They load the train 25 minutes before departure. It was 4:00 and we were still on line. Finally, with passports stamped by the British, we headed for the train. All signs indicated that boarding for our train was CLOSED! Uggh! Steve ran into the waiting terminal to find out what we needed to do to change trains. He leapt back in the car and quickly got it in gear. What did we need to do?! We apparently just needed to head right to the boarding area and we would be put on the next train! Probably because the delays and lines were affecting everyone, they were working on the belief that there would be trains enough for all. We were just thrilled to be able to get on the next train which was only 30 minutes later than our scheduled train. By 6pm we were back home and by 6:30 I had laundry in the wash and dinner on the stove! What a vacation!
Happy New Year!
Now we are just waiting for our next adventure...when Rupert finally joins us on Thursday! Thanks for reading!
Sounds like a great trip! It's a Small World looks like it is a bit more updated than the one at Disney World in FL! Welcome back, and welcome to Rupert:)
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