I am writing to you from Disneyland Resort Paris, and boy, what an experience it has been so far. We actually stayed in the Champagne region of France Tuesday night, and so there were still 150 Kilometers to drive Wednesday morning before we got to Disneyland. What with that, a late bedtime the night before causing us all to sleep in a bit, and getting lost 3 times trying to find a grocery store, and the correct freeway to get to Paris after the grocery store, we didn't actually walk through the gates of Disneyland until 2 in the afternoon. But there was still plenty of time to see and do enough to make us bone tired that night.
I was surprised at the flood of tears that came streaming down my face when we first walked down Main Street, USA. Although it is only called Main Street, here. It has been 16 years since I last went to Disneyland, and it is so tied to lots of memories from childhood that it just overwhelmed me. Here I was sharing with my kids what my parents always shared with us, every summer, no matter what. Plus I am just sentimental to a fault, anyway. The kids just shook their heads at Mom crying again, and I calmed myself down as quickly as I could. We took our time strolling down Main Street, looking at all the shops, admiring all the fun features like American flags flying and all the funny names of the stores. We went in a few as well, but just to look. We told the kids we wouldn't be buying anything until the last day, so they could see everything and then make up their minds what they wanted to buy. They have been earning tokens for each job they do at home, and these were redeemed at an eight to one euro ratio before we left home. So they all have some spending money for souvenirs. And man, is there some fun stuff to choose from. The folks at Disney totally ace marketing, that is for sure.
As we were strolling along the street, we were told to please step to the side a parade was starting. We waited about 1 minute and there came a large train full of Disney characters. Talk about perfect timing. We saw Eeyore, Tigger, Goofy, Pluto, Gepetto and a few others. Later, Sarah and I got Tigger's autograph, and got a hug from Eeyore. Meeting the characters is the thing she is most excited about. We hope to see a Princess or two while we are here as well.
The first thing we saw was Sleeping Beauty's castle. It isn't like the castle in California that I remember. This one has stairs leading up the inside, where beautiful tapestries and stained glass windows tell the story of Sleeping Beauty. Then there is a door where you can walk out on to the balcony and wave to the adoring masses below. Too cool, as long as you can overlook the three meltdowns we suffered along the way, two from Noah, one constant one from Sophie. Yeah, they were overtired and over excited. But they got better the longer we were there, until the end of course, when they were total basketcases. At least you only have to read about it, we had to experience it.
The lines were rather short so we decided to go on Snow White first. haha, big mistake. Yeah, when Disney says the ride may be scary for young children, they mean it. Even though all the kids have seen the movie several times, the ride was something totally different. They screamed in sheer terror through the entire thing. I did my best to cover their eyes and reassure them that it was all pretend, and no one could hurt them, but it didn't do much good. In fact, their mantra has become,"Well, at least it wasn't as scary as Snow White."
After that trauma, we definitely needed a feel good ride, so we hopped on the carousel. Ah, much better. Noah picked out a "cool horse with diamonds" and Sophie sat next to us. Sarah rode behind, while NIck, Papa, and Lexi waved from the sidelines. This ride was deemed too childish by Nick, so he opted out. From the carousel the girls spotted Dumbo, and they decided that looked pretty cool, so we headed over there.
Again, Nick decided this ride was too childish, but we convinced him to come along by pointing out all the older-than-he-was kids standing in line as well. They all had big smiles after it was over, although the girls took quite a while to show up at the exit. Sarah said, "I loved it so much I didn't want to get off!" But eventually they figured out how to undo the seatbelt and got off anyway.
There were big signs stating that picknicking was not allowed in the parks, and they even checked our bags as we entered. But the older gentleman who peeked in my backpack smiled and rubbed his tummy when he saw the French yogurts I had brought as snacks for the kids and waved us on through. So we took a potty and snack break next. At first we had trouble finding useable potties and the ones by Pinocchio were literally overflowing, but around the corner were some in better working order, thank heavens. Noah had seen Alice's Labryinth from Dumbo, but unfortunately, it was closed as it was starting to get dark. So then he decided he wanted to go to the "candy castle".
We finally figured out he meant "It's a Small World" and hightailed it over there. Again, a very short wait and we were on the ride of our lives. I had told the kids while we were waiting in what little line there was how this was my favorite ride as a kid and my mom and dad would always make sure I got to go on it. I mostly remember my mom taking me, but do remember at least one time with just my dad. Well, it seems I passed that gene on to my kids because all of them declared it their favorite ride ever, and wanted to immediately go on it again. But we said we would save it for another day as Nick was tiring of Fantasyland and wanted to go somewhere different. We chose Adventureland and boy, we were glad we did.
Yes, another short line for Pirates of the Caribbean, about 20 minutes tops and we were sailing away to Captain Jack's world. Sarah, Sophie and Noah all started crying while we were in line, of all places, because they were convinced the ride was going to be scary. Yeah, the darkened mood lighting was a little too dark for their tastes. Sarah was also convinced that it had gotten to be night very quickly, and wouldn't believe us when we explained it was just because we were inside. The trees, stars and crickets were just too realistic for her. The ride itself turned out to be rather entertaining, although there were a couple of times when they asked us "Are they real?", and were happy to hear that no, they were really just robot people. As we exited, Nick said "I am glad we came to Adventureland."
It was now getting pretty late so we walked through Aladdin's passage where they had dioaramas showing scenes of the movie on display, which the kids really liked studying, and then we headed for the exit. One day down, three more to go.