We woke up around 8 and grabbed breakfast in the lounge. Chocolate croissants, cereal, yogurt, and fruit. What a delicious breakfast. Afterwards, we headed back to the room, packed everything up, and left for the terminal 3 RER station at 9:15, where we were meeting Mary at 9:45. When we arrived, I walked around the station, and Mary was already there. YAYAYAY!!!! It is so cool to see people you know in another country. We hopped on the CDGVAL and headed over to the TGV train station in Terminal 2. We arrived to find a long line for tickets, but fortunately we had almost an hour before our train ride. Somehow I became an English speaking tour guide and had multiple people from various countries asking me directions.
With Mary's help we got tickets for the 10:28 train and headed down to the platform. The train arrived right on time and we rushed on, because the TGV trains don't waste much time. We didn't realize that we had assigned seats, but fortunately no one needed the seats we were sitting in. After a quick 10 minute ride we arrived at Gare Marne La Valle Chessy, the train station within the Disneyland Resort. The train station is located right next to Downtown Disney and the bus stops for the hotels. Since we had several bags, we hopped on the bus, and about five minutes later, we were pulling up to our hotel, Disney's Newport Bay Club.
Newport Bay Club was designed by the same person that designed Yacht and Beach Club, and from the outside they look quite similar. From the inside they are very different. We headed into the lobby and found complete chaos. The lobby was way too small to handle the hotel and there was a huge line for the check-in desk. Fortunately we were staying on the Admirals Floor which had just a short wait for check-in. While waiting to check-in, Pluto walked by and high-fived Mary and I, gotta love Disney hotels. Adrien checked us in and was one of the nicest Disney employees we have encountered. He is hoping to work at Epcot in the France pavilion because he loves the United States. He gave us a fantastic room that was already available, room 5280. We headed upstairs to our room which was on the 5th floor and overlooking Lake Disney and Disney Village, beautiful view. The room, however, was a slightly different story. We were staying at the Disneyland Paris equivalent of a hotel like Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom, but if this hotel were at WDW, it would be an All Star. The British described the hotel well, cozy.
We dropped our stuff off in the room and then headed for Parc Disneyland. On the way, we got our first taste of the bizzaro-world Disney we found ourselves in. It all felt so familiar, and yet it was not at all familiar. Disney Village puzzled us, but I will get into more detail on this later. We arrived at the entrance to Parc Disneyland which is just incredible. The Disneyland Hotel sits right over the turnstiles, and in front of the hotel is a giant garden with flowers, a large pond, and a fountain. We had a little difficulty getting in, but finally got our tickets from guest services and made our way through the cast member entrance. After entering, you are standing between the train station and the Disneyland Hotel. Passing under the train station, we got our first view of Main Street and Sleeping Beauty's Castle.
While Main Street is extremely similar to the Magic Kingdom's Main Street, Sleeping Beauty Castle takes your breath away. It is sitting on a small hill surrounded by fountains and gardens. Absolutely incredible. Also, this Main Street still has cars and trolleys running up and down like the Magic Kingdom used to. After stopping to take several photos, we headed into Frontierland and rode Phantom Manor, followed by Big Thunder Mountain. Phantom Manor has an entirely different story line from the US parks, but I really enjoyed it. It was interesting to note that they didn't have a narrator during the attraction, in an attempt to make the park accessible to multiple languages. Big Thunder Mountain certainly packs a punch. I was just starting to think how it seemed so similar to ours, and then we plunged at high speed into the abyss. The Mountain is situated in the middle of the river, similar to the location of Tom Sawyer's Island at the US parks.
After riding Big Thunder, we stopped at Fuente del Oro, a mexican restaurant in Frontierland, for lunch. In keeping with the European way of dining, all of the Disneyland restaurants offer prix fixed lunch menus that include an entree, a side, a drink, and dessert. I had chicken fajitas, crispy fries, churros, and a coke light. With the cast member discount, the prices were actually better then in the US. Overall, a very impressive meal.
From lunch, we headed through Adventureland and over to Pirates of the Caribbean. The ride is inside a giant fort behind a dense Caribbean jungle. I have to say, the theming in this park is absolutely incredible. Everything is just perfect, and it is clear that lot of effort went into this park. The line for Pirates takes you through a fort and then through a palm tree filled seaside lagoon before boarding. Similar to California, the ride sails by the Blue Lagoon restaurant before its first drop. Also similar to California, the ride has many segments that the Orlando ride does not including a second drop. This was a really fun ride.
After Pirates we headed through Fantasyland and over to It's a Small World. Fantasyland is huge in this park, and has a ton of unique rides, gardens, and waterways. It's a Small World is similar to Disneyland on the outside and even has the train run through it. On the inside, it was almost identical to its US counterparts, aside from being the only It's a Small World to have a tribute to the United States. From It's a Small World, we headed over to the castle to look around inside and go up to the balcony. The castle is incredible both inside and out. It even has a dungeon underneath where you can go see the dragon.
After exploring the castle, we went to Discoveryland to ride Buzz Lightyear, which was really cool. You can actually pick up the guns and point them at the targets, way easier to aim. We decided to check out Parc Walt Disney Studios so we hopped on the train at the Discoveryland station and rode to Main Street. Then we headed across the esplanade and into the Studios. The main entrance, stores, and restaurant are inside of a giant sound stage ready for any Hollywood Director. It is a neat effect and also helps protect you from the French winter. In the central courtyard of the park, was the famous Partners statue with Mickey and Walt. We decided to do Cinemagique, so we got in line and were seated shortly after. Cinemagique is a tribute to the Magic of the Movies and is unlike any show I have seen before. Martin Short is the star along with a French cast putting the show in two languages. I won't give anything away, but the show is not to be missed.
We then checked out the Armageddon special effects spectacular, which was anything but spectacular. I highly recommend you avoid this at all costs. I'm still not sure what happened. There was a lot of shouting in French, smoke, water from the ceiling, random fire bursts, and then the entire floor dropped. Very odd. It was getting late, so Mary and I took a quick ride on Crush Coaster, which was unexpectedly intense, but awesome, and then we headed out.
We wanted to grab dinner to we headed through Disney Village looking for some place to eat. What an odd collection of stores and restaurants. There are the traditional things such as Rainforest Cafe, Starbucks, the Disney Store, Planet Hollywood, a Movie Theatre, and McDonalds. Then, there is King Ludwigs, Billy Bob's Country Buffet, Buffalo Bill's Wild West and I am not kidding, Steakhouse. All of this and several other places, were rapped into the oddest looking and bizzaro Disney buildings ever. It was like Downtown Disney West Side gone wrong. Very strange.
We stopped at New York Deli to grab food, and it turned out to be a great decision. They also had the prix fixed menu, and we were able to use the cast member discount. I had a ham and cheese sandwich, fries (these people sure love their fries), and an apple beignet. After dinner, we dropped Mary off at the train station and then headed back to the hotel. We took the long way around Lake Disney passing the Characters in Flight hot air balloon ride, Hotel New York, and Sequoia Lodge. Once back at the hotel, we collapsed into our surprisingly hard beds. What a great day at Disneyland.
Up Next Day 16: Paris, France
No comments:
Post a Comment