Friday, September 24, 2010

Hello Mickey Mouse!

Paris 10 September 2010

Today was the day the boys were looking forward to after we finally decided to go to Disneyland Paris.

We got up early and went to the station to purchase return ticket to Disneyland with a change of train at Nation. We hopped on the wrong train at Nation because I did not notice which stations were lit up on the board. Oops! I asked a lady on the train which station to get off at and change trains for Disneyland, she was very helpful and gave me all the information I needed. We changed trains successfully and were on our way.

After 40 minutes on the train we came to Chessy station (Parc Disney). Of course there was a mad rush to get to the gates. (In Paris you line up and have your bags checked before entering most museums, galleries and theme parks, they confiscate food and drink and anything that is potentially dangerous). Yes don’t even bother packing lunch for Disneyland, the guards will end up eating it or throwing it in the bin.

Then we walked to the ticket office and spent about half and hour in line (Note. Buy tickets at any of the main metro stations, hotels or info boxes in Paris, it saves time). A girl came up to me and told me her friend was not coming so she sold me a childs ticket for 40euros (norm. 49euros). All up our entrance cost about 190euros.

You can get into Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios for a little extra it’s a 1 day/ 2 park pass. But seriously I do not think there is enough time to see 1 park in 1 day let alone 2.

Please take note and keep your map, this is seriously important for when you are looking for toilets and food.

Anyway we headed to Discoveryland first (buzz lightyear, star wars, Lilo & Stitch…) All rides here are great for everyone unless you want to go on Space Mountain and you are under 130cm. Poor Phoenix had to miss out. Phoenix and I ended up in Nautilus (from 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and I had to promise that Levi would miss out on seeing this. Because it was Levis’ fault that Phoenix is not tall enough for Space Mountain??? Phoenix and I then went to Star Wars store and purchased a small bucket of fairy floss and met Iain and Levi outside. Note also that rides that have a 45 minute queue normally only take 2 minutes to finish. :-(

To save time waiting in line there are FAST PASS stations in front of most rides. You simply swipe your entrance ticket and it spits out a ticket with a time for you to go on the ride. Note: do this first thing, the earlier the better, FAST PASS is 1 ride at a time, you ride then you can swipe the next one. It will save you time in queues, but don’t forget to swipe everyone elses tickets too, you must all have it swiped to skip the queue together.

So then we moved onto Frontierland and saw the Swiss Family Robinsons treehouse, Pirates of the Carribean and Mark Twains riverboat. We lunched at a Mexican restaurant and spent 40euros (you can’t avoid it unless you plan on starving and dying of thirst).

Fantasyland was next with Alice in Wonderlands maze, It’s a Small World Afterall, Dumbo and a bunch of pretty Princess things. I made the boys go on the Madhatter’s teacup ride with me, because I remembered going on it with my Mum at Disneyland California. :-)

At the end of the day we watched the Street Parade with the Lion King, Jungle Book, Princess Tiana, Mary Poppins, Little Mermaid, Aladdin & others.

We headed back to the Star Wars shop and let the boys spend 25euros each on souvenirs, they ended up with a stuffed Stitch and Leroy from Lilo and Stitch. I decided on a Disneyland Paris photo album for our many photo’s there and Iain picked a fridge magnet.

We stood on the train all the way back much to the boys disappointment.

It was a GREAT day for all of us!

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