C'est Noel, part 2
I realised earlier that I forgot something from my account of Monday. I forgot that we went on Star Tours that day too, which is the Star Wars inspired simulator ride. Again it was all in French but I explained the story (such as it is) to Mark. I liked it but he said that it made him feel a bit sick.
So on Tuesday morning we had to get up quite early because our slot for breakfast at the hotel was 7:15am - 8:15am. We got there about 7:45am and had some breakfast, they had a normal continental breakfast buffet thing with cereal, croissants, bread etc. And ham and cheese for those strange European types (who has a ham sandwich for breakfast?). Then we went back to our room and packed up our bags. We checked out and then left our rucksacks in the bagagerie which was free of charge and very useful.
There were no clouds in the sky and it was very bright and sunny, but also very cold. All the paths were icy and we had to walk everywhere very carefully. A few places had been gritted but by no means all. Everyone was very wrapped up in hats and scarves.
This is the hot air balloon in the Disney Village. It was on a tether and you could go in it and go up in the air. Behind it is Lake Disney which is a manmade lake with two of the larger hotels facing onto it.
We got to the park about 9:30am. The main gates were open but the entrances into the lands were roped off. I'd decided that we were going to resume our clockwise route, in Adventureland, and the best ride there was Indiana Jones et le Temple du Peril (that's not my Franglais, that's the name of the actual ride). We had to stand by the rope for about ten minutes before they opened it. Then we headed into Adventureland, very carefully so as not to slip. We got a bit lost looking for the ride as in the centre of Adventureland there is a large area called Adventure Island with caves and things and a big pirate boat, and both the rides we wanted to go on (Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean) were behind there. But we found the rollercoaster eventually.
And we walked straight onto it, it was great. Walking through the queueing system took about 5 minutes but that was all. Indiana Jones is a basically another runaway mine train ride and it is quite good, it's the first ride I ever went on with a loop (back in 1994, I've been on lots since then!). After we came off there we went over to Pirates.
Jen told me before we went away that she had heard there were going to be changes to the Pirates of the Caribbean rides to match the films but I didn't notice any (although I suppose I wouldn't as it's been nearly ten years since I was last at a Disney park). If they made some of the ride figures look more like the characters in the films then that would be good. Again the ride was deserted and we walked straight on. The boats in front of us and behind were empty.
We wanted to watch the Lion King show in Discoveryland and I had read up and found out that we needed to get (free) tickets from the station in Discoveryland at 11am. It was nearly 11am now so we walked over to Discoveryland. As we were walking across the central area in front of the castle Mark said 'Why are there tram lines when there aren't any trams?'. I couldn't answer him immediately as I had to pull him out of the way of an oncoming tram. I love you baby.
So we picked up our tickets for the show, which plays every hour, alternately in English and French. Our tickets were for the 12 noon show so we had about half an hour before then. We went on the Buzz Lightyear ride which is also in Discoveryland. This is a dark ride, through various cartoony outer space scenes, but the best fun part is that you have a laser gun and you get a score for shooting at various targets. Mark beat me soundly I'm ashamed to say (he got over 30,000, I got about 12,000). By then it has about 11:40am so we went over to the Videopolis building for Les Legendes de Roi Lion or whatever it was.
The Lion King show was half an hour long and was basically all the songs from the film run together. It was a bit odd because most of the characters wore costumes inspired more by the stage show, but Timon and Pumbaa were wearing normal Disney character costumes. It was good though. After that it was lunch time so we got some burgers and chips (therefore filling my fast food quota for, oh, the next year or so).
After lunch we decided that the ideal thing to do after eating was to go on Space Mountain. We had to wait about five minutes to go on that one. The ride was very good, the basic idea was that you were in a rocket being shot up into space from a huge cannon (Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris is a bit Jules Verne).
The cars move round to the bottom of the tube you can see on the picture above. You can see the track a little way ahead, then clear sky beyond it. Then you shoot upwards from a standing start, into a cloud of smoke. The track dips down into the building and you go round and round, in the dark, with stars and moons and meteors whizzing by. Top stuff. My only complaint about the ride was that it banged your head about quite a bit and we both had a bit of a headache when we came off the ride.
After Space Mountain we sat down and consulted the map. We found that we'd done all the rides that we really wanted to. I said I wanted to see Fantasyland by daylight so we went back through the castle. Fantasyland was quite crowded with people and pushchairs and some of the rides there had quite long queues (like the Flying Dumbos and the Carousel de Lancelot). We had a look around and went into Alice's Curious Labyrinth (I give up on the French names). It is very hard to get lost in a Disney maze though to be honest we didn't try. We went up into the Queen of Hearts Castle in the maze and looked all around.
The only other thing in Fantasyland I wanted to go on was the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups. We had to wait a few minutes for that and then we went round and round. After that we had another sit down and decided to go on Indiana Jones and Space Mountain again, which we did. After that it was still only about 3pm and we didn't have to leave the park to go home until 5pm. Mark suggested we go on the Disneyland Railroad which is the train that goes all the way around the edge of the park. So on we got and off we went. The main view from the train was trees but it did also go through the back of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and you can see the boats and a couple of the scenes. Which made me want to go on the Pirates ride again so after we had been all the way round on the train (it took about half an hour) we went to see the Pirates. This time we had to wait for 5-10 minutes and the boat was full. But I can't really complain.
We walked around and went in some of the shops. The 4pm parade was going round again so we watched it for a bit (we didn't have much choice, Main Street was completely blocked) and then decided to go, as we'd basically done everything. We stopped in the Disney Village and bought a crepe from a stall at the Christmas Market. I like with crepes how they make them right there in front of you. Also they are warm and we were quite cold. We went into the Disney Store as well and bought a little present for Mark's mum, as she was feeding Cam while we were away.
So then we picked up our bags at the hotel, and walked back to the station. We bought some sandwiches for our dinner. There was only one Eurostar train leaving that evening so it didn't take too long to get through security and passport control, then we got straight onto the train. Then it was three and a half hours to London Waterloo (we were a bit delayed, they didn't say why), the tube across to Kings Cross, and the Thameslink (sorry, First Capital Connect) up to Flitwick. A quick walk home in the cold and dark and then straight to bed (after five minutes of fuss for the cat, who looked quite bored and lonely).
And we didn't even get a lie-in the next day, because at 8am Aragon Windows arrived to do the new guttering/soffits. Which are all lovely now, but we had to get up early on Thursday too. And I had lots of work to do. I'm taking next week off though. Last night we went to Milton Keynes so that Mark could get a new razor as his has started eating his face. It was very foggy and we had to drive very slowly down the country roads.
I think that brings us up to date. Have a nice weekend everyone and merry Christmas!
So on Tuesday morning we had to get up quite early because our slot for breakfast at the hotel was 7:15am - 8:15am. We got there about 7:45am and had some breakfast, they had a normal continental breakfast buffet thing with cereal, croissants, bread etc. And ham and cheese for those strange European types (who has a ham sandwich for breakfast?). Then we went back to our room and packed up our bags. We checked out and then left our rucksacks in the bagagerie which was free of charge and very useful.
There were no clouds in the sky and it was very bright and sunny, but also very cold. All the paths were icy and we had to walk everywhere very carefully. A few places had been gritted but by no means all. Everyone was very wrapped up in hats and scarves.
This is the hot air balloon in the Disney Village. It was on a tether and you could go in it and go up in the air. Behind it is Lake Disney which is a manmade lake with two of the larger hotels facing onto it.
We got to the park about 9:30am. The main gates were open but the entrances into the lands were roped off. I'd decided that we were going to resume our clockwise route, in Adventureland, and the best ride there was Indiana Jones et le Temple du Peril (that's not my Franglais, that's the name of the actual ride). We had to stand by the rope for about ten minutes before they opened it. Then we headed into Adventureland, very carefully so as not to slip. We got a bit lost looking for the ride as in the centre of Adventureland there is a large area called Adventure Island with caves and things and a big pirate boat, and both the rides we wanted to go on (Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean) were behind there. But we found the rollercoaster eventually.
And we walked straight onto it, it was great. Walking through the queueing system took about 5 minutes but that was all. Indiana Jones is a basically another runaway mine train ride and it is quite good, it's the first ride I ever went on with a loop (back in 1994, I've been on lots since then!). After we came off there we went over to Pirates.
Jen told me before we went away that she had heard there were going to be changes to the Pirates of the Caribbean rides to match the films but I didn't notice any (although I suppose I wouldn't as it's been nearly ten years since I was last at a Disney park). If they made some of the ride figures look more like the characters in the films then that would be good. Again the ride was deserted and we walked straight on. The boats in front of us and behind were empty.
We wanted to watch the Lion King show in Discoveryland and I had read up and found out that we needed to get (free) tickets from the station in Discoveryland at 11am. It was nearly 11am now so we walked over to Discoveryland. As we were walking across the central area in front of the castle Mark said 'Why are there tram lines when there aren't any trams?'. I couldn't answer him immediately as I had to pull him out of the way of an oncoming tram. I love you baby.
So we picked up our tickets for the show, which plays every hour, alternately in English and French. Our tickets were for the 12 noon show so we had about half an hour before then. We went on the Buzz Lightyear ride which is also in Discoveryland. This is a dark ride, through various cartoony outer space scenes, but the best fun part is that you have a laser gun and you get a score for shooting at various targets. Mark beat me soundly I'm ashamed to say (he got over 30,000, I got about 12,000). By then it has about 11:40am so we went over to the Videopolis building for Les Legendes de Roi Lion or whatever it was.
The Lion King show was half an hour long and was basically all the songs from the film run together. It was a bit odd because most of the characters wore costumes inspired more by the stage show, but Timon and Pumbaa were wearing normal Disney character costumes. It was good though. After that it was lunch time so we got some burgers and chips (therefore filling my fast food quota for, oh, the next year or so).
After lunch we decided that the ideal thing to do after eating was to go on Space Mountain. We had to wait about five minutes to go on that one. The ride was very good, the basic idea was that you were in a rocket being shot up into space from a huge cannon (Discoveryland at Disneyland Paris is a bit Jules Verne).
The cars move round to the bottom of the tube you can see on the picture above. You can see the track a little way ahead, then clear sky beyond it. Then you shoot upwards from a standing start, into a cloud of smoke. The track dips down into the building and you go round and round, in the dark, with stars and moons and meteors whizzing by. Top stuff. My only complaint about the ride was that it banged your head about quite a bit and we both had a bit of a headache when we came off the ride.
After Space Mountain we sat down and consulted the map. We found that we'd done all the rides that we really wanted to. I said I wanted to see Fantasyland by daylight so we went back through the castle. Fantasyland was quite crowded with people and pushchairs and some of the rides there had quite long queues (like the Flying Dumbos and the Carousel de Lancelot). We had a look around and went into Alice's Curious Labyrinth (I give up on the French names). It is very hard to get lost in a Disney maze though to be honest we didn't try. We went up into the Queen of Hearts Castle in the maze and looked all around.
The only other thing in Fantasyland I wanted to go on was the Mad Hatter's Tea Cups. We had to wait a few minutes for that and then we went round and round. After that we had another sit down and decided to go on Indiana Jones and Space Mountain again, which we did. After that it was still only about 3pm and we didn't have to leave the park to go home until 5pm. Mark suggested we go on the Disneyland Railroad which is the train that goes all the way around the edge of the park. So on we got and off we went. The main view from the train was trees but it did also go through the back of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and you can see the boats and a couple of the scenes. Which made me want to go on the Pirates ride again so after we had been all the way round on the train (it took about half an hour) we went to see the Pirates. This time we had to wait for 5-10 minutes and the boat was full. But I can't really complain.
We walked around and went in some of the shops. The 4pm parade was going round again so we watched it for a bit (we didn't have much choice, Main Street was completely blocked) and then decided to go, as we'd basically done everything. We stopped in the Disney Village and bought a crepe from a stall at the Christmas Market. I like with crepes how they make them right there in front of you. Also they are warm and we were quite cold. We went into the Disney Store as well and bought a little present for Mark's mum, as she was feeding Cam while we were away.
So then we picked up our bags at the hotel, and walked back to the station. We bought some sandwiches for our dinner. There was only one Eurostar train leaving that evening so it didn't take too long to get through security and passport control, then we got straight onto the train. Then it was three and a half hours to London Waterloo (we were a bit delayed, they didn't say why), the tube across to Kings Cross, and the Thameslink (sorry, First Capital Connect) up to Flitwick. A quick walk home in the cold and dark and then straight to bed (after five minutes of fuss for the cat, who looked quite bored and lonely).
And we didn't even get a lie-in the next day, because at 8am Aragon Windows arrived to do the new guttering/soffits. Which are all lovely now, but we had to get up early on Thursday too. And I had lots of work to do. I'm taking next week off though. Last night we went to Milton Keynes so that Mark could get a new razor as his has started eating his face. It was very foggy and we had to drive very slowly down the country roads.
I think that brings us up to date. Have a nice weekend everyone and merry Christmas!
posted by Anna @ 5:47 pm
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