Disneyland Paris - Day 4

Yes, we flew 5,504 miles to go to Disneyland. In Paris! It was a must do for our Disney loving family. We got barely 6 hours of sleep last night and hobbled our the door at 8am today to get there when it opened at 9. We only had one day to visit both parks so we wanted to get the most out of it.

It was super cool to see the French take on Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, and the Tower of Terror (yes, it’s still called that here). Small World was pretty cool because the USA was included! It’s always interesting to see how others view America and here are the pictures to prove it!

So if we didn’t mention it before, it’s a little cold here. Like today was a high of 41. So we are wrapped up with scarves, some of us wear two pairs of pants daily, a few jackets, maybe a couple pairs of socks, hats, the whole nine yards essentially. We knew this would be the case when we booked this winter in Europe escapade, but I can’t say that knowing it was going to be cold, preparing for the cold, and actually liking the cold are the same thing. Hot beverages are always on request by our group. Here’s a picture with most of us covering up as much as possible.

This was taken at an attraction that isn’t a ride at all. It was a maze inspected by Alice in Wonderland. Lots of cute things along that path, like the queen and her guards. More photo opps!

Weird things about this Disneyland - people smoke everywhere and anywhere even though there are signs that say only to smoke is designated areas. And they’ll just drop their cigarettes on the ground as well. It’s France. Lots of people smoke. It’s just such a change from the US and California specifically where it’s been outlawed for most of my lifetime. Anaheim Disneyland has crowd control down to a tee. Here, people were a little less organized and there was often times the feeling that you were running into people who abruptly stopped for one reason or another. One of the things that caught my eye was the stained glass windows on Sleeping Beauty’s castle. Simply gorgeous.

And here is one of our resident photographers, Miss Emily. Buying a fancier camera a few months ago was such a great idea for our girls. They share (most of the time politely) and take turns taking photos for the family. Then they’re all uploaded to a google photos and shared with the family. It’s nice to see what they see from their perspective. And here’s my vantage point. I adore this girl.

 

You know when you’re tired and kinda goofy and then someone gets all that goofiness on camera? Well this occurred midway through the day and there’s now photographical evidence. 

So after trekking all over one park, we hopped to the other and checked out the Behind the Scrnes team that takes you through the “backlot” of Disney. We got to see how special effects are added to films, how characters or creatures are digitally enhanced, and how films were originally all shot in a studio until a courageous direction decided to being the camera outside. It was a cool “ride.”

At this point we had eaten, complained about the cold, tried to find comfort indoors, and talked about ditching this place and heading back to the house, but Grams just had to go on Small World (I was excited because I wanted to go too!) so we rode it, and that was the final ride of the night. The twins grabbed hot dogs and journied with me to bus 34 which drops us right in from of our AirB&B. 

 Arrivederci,  au revoir,  adios,  and later dudes.