Let me just say, for purely educational purposes, that buying your tickets online for Disneyland Paris and printing them out on your computer at home does NOT save you any time once you get to the park. It may save you a few Euros, but you pay dearly in precious ride time. First, you have to wait in line to go through the entrance turnstiles, only to discover that, naturally your tickets don't work in their automated machine. Then they direct you to Guest Services, where you have to wait in another line for them to exchange your tickets for their tickets. Then you have to go back and wait to go through the turnstiles again. Gah! But if you don't wait until the last minute like we did, they would probably send you real tickets in the mail in the first place and save you all that hassle AND Euros. 🙂
After the fun Nick had last year going on his very first roller coaster, I decided it was time for the other kids to take the plunge as well. I talked it up for several weeks before hand; how fun it is, how it's totally safe, how the ones we would go on aren't scary, etc. My main tool to convince them they were ready for this next stage in their development was that little Mia rode Crush's Coaster last year, when she was only 5! If she could do it, so could they. So, first thing Tuesday morning, as soon as we (finally) got into the park, we headed over to Crush's Coaster before the line got too long.
Sophie, Nick and Noah were game to try it out, but Sarah opted to hang out with Alexandra and Papa while we were in line. The posted wait time for the ride was 50 minutes, but Nick timed it on his watch, and it was actually only 30! It ended up being a good idea that Sarah didn't come with, as the little turtle shells only hold 4 people at a time and someone would have had to ride by themselves. It was a super fun ride for me and Nick, but Sophie was not happy at me when we got to the exit. And as for Noah? Well, he started scream crying about 10 seconds into the ride, and didn't stop for about 10 minutes. And yes, the ride only lasted about 90 seconds. Poor thing was so traumatized after that, he didn't want to go on any more rides for a good long while.
Sarah was, of course, extremely relieved that she had opted out of all the "fun" upon seeing the state of her siblings. While the two middle kids had been subjected to abject terror, she had been happily shopping and meeting tons of Characters. There was Prince John, the Queen of Hearts, Friar Tuck and the Sheriff of Nottingham just out there strolling around. Seeing such immediate results of good choices only solidified her resolve to "never' go on a roller coaster with me. And then of course there was Sophie's little nugget of wisdom. "You can't tell us 'oh, so and so went on that ride and they were fine'. We aren't like other kids, Mom!" Well, that's for sure.
After everyone had gotten calmed down again, we were happy to discover that several more characters were out and about, with hardly any crowds around them. And most noteworthy of all, there were princesses! Snow White, Mulan, and Jasmine were all hanging out ready to sign autograph books. I think all total we got autographs from 10 different characters in like, 45 minutes. Insane, but awesome. Of course, the very first day, we hardly took any photos. We were all too excited to get into the park to think about mundane boring things like taking the camera out of the car and putting it in the stroller. I got a couple shots with my phone camera, but now don't know how to get them off there and onto my computer, so I may or may not be updating this post with those photos in the future. ha!
I knew that Noah had been shaken up by Crush's Coaster, but I didn't realize how bad it was until we were on our next ride, "Flying Carpets over Agrabah". If you've never been on it, it's basically the Dumbo ride but you sit in giant plastic carpet, rather than a giant plastic elephant. We were all sitting in our seats, strapped in and ready to take off, when all of a sudden Noah started freaking out. Not just a little bit either. No, he was acting completely certifiable; clawing at the outside of the carpet, trying to stand up even though the seatbelt was strapped on, screaming at the top of his lungs "I gotta get out of here!" over and over again. I was trying to keep in the car, because he was actually trying to climb out the wrong side. Meaning, if he had escaped, he would have fallen down inside the ride. I was talking calmly and softly, asking him what was wrong, but he just kept screaming louder. Finally, I unstrapped the seatbelt, preparing to get off the ride with him, when a Cast member came over and helped me out. She took his hand, and helped him out of the ride, then told me he could stay with her while I stayed on the ride with Sarah. Then they both walked over to the exit area and the ride started. He was sad for a bit, but as we continued to wave and call out his name, he eventually smiled and started waving back.
When we got off the ride, I gave him a big hug, and thanked the Cast member for being so kind. In talking to him about what happened, I think he just got a flashback to Crush's Coaster and did not want a chance of that happening again. He knew the ride went up in the air, and that was just too much for him to handle after such a traumatic experience. He ended up going on no rides that went in the air for the rest of the trip, but did have fun on the Carousel, the playgrounds, and the other tamer rides. I hope he is over it by the time we go again next year, poor guy.
We stayed in the Studios park until mid-afternoon, then headed over to the "regular" park. We already knew that the Casey Jr. Train ride and the Storybook Boats were both closed for renovations. They were closed a year ago as well, which was very frustrating, as we all really loved the miniature little houses and plants that you can see on them. I can only hope that when it finally reopens it will be super amazing, but maybe they aren't in any rush since it's not that popular with most people? Tough to say.
We basically employed the "divide and conquer" method of trying to fulfill everyone's wishes. Chris went on some rides with certain kids, or looked in shops with others, while I went on rides with certain kids. And sometimes two groups were in line for two different rides at the same time. But it seemed to work out that everyone had a good time, got to ride on everything they wanted to, and we still spent lots of time together as a whole family.
We left the park around 7 that night. It only stayed open until 8 anyway, and we felt like we had gotten a good full day in. We didn't want to get to bed so late that we were all cranky and tired the next morning. That doesn't make for a good vacation. Ever. We picked up some delicious pizza on the way back to the hotel, and ate it while recounting our favorites moments of the day. The pizza place was even kind to make a pizza with just sauce on it, no cheese, just for Sarah. She loved it.
Chris thought I was a bit crazy, but I insisted all the kids needs a shower before they went to bed. They had been playing/walking outside all day in the sun, and were just sweaty and dirty. Plus, I thought they would sleep better if they felt all nice and clean. So I hosed them all down one after another, and Chris helped them dry off and get into pajamas. I think it did help, as they went to sleep almost immediatel
y, without much chatter. Since the girls had gotten to sleep in the bunks beds the last time we came to Paris, the boys got to sleep in them this time. Alexandra wasn't sure where she wanted to sleep and wandered around to different beds for a while, before I finally laid down with her on her sofa-that-turns-into-a-bed, and she fell fast asleep. Then Chris and I watched a couple tv shows on his laptop before settling down as well.
My nephew's fellows has a turtle once… Unattractive little bugger