The best part of my trip here, without a doubt. It has been absolutely wonderful to get to travel to all these different places that I have been too, but Disney holds a special place in my heart. And getting to travel to Disneyland Paris will surely trump all the other trips.
Maddie and I left by train on Friday afternoon and arrived in Paris around 11pm, then took the subway to our hostel about 15 minutes outside of the park. I hopped in the shower, thinking I would get to sleep in longer the next morning before a long day at the park, but I didn't sleep very well that night anyway. I WAS TOO EXCITED!!! Disneyland Paris?! How awesome!!!
The next morning Maddie and I got ready and heading downstairs to grab some breakfast before zooming out to the park! We got on the subway and couldn't be more excited. I was like a child at this point, giddy with anticipation! Once we stepped out of the subway station and saw the gates to the park I couldn't control myself...DISNEYLAND PARIS!!! My third Disney park on my quest to visit all five of them (soon to be six). I immediately started snapping away with my camera, and was literally jumping up and down with excitement.
As soon as passed through the turnstiles I wasn't able to stop smiling the rest of the day! The first thing we did was head over to wait in line for pictures with Mickey Mouse. Seeing all of the little kids so excited to see him just melts my heart every time. I hope my kids will be that excited one day!
I then bought some Minnie Mouse ears, because I usually go for the Disney Princess crowns, so I thought I would change it up this time. Plus, I can just add them to my ever growing collection of Disney park head gear :) We headed over Phantom Manor (Disneyland's Haunted Mansion) and were ready for our first ride. The exterior of the ride was so pretty, I loved it! And the ride itself was pretty similar to Haunted Mansion, just a little darker (in terms of scariness, not amount of light).
After we got off the ride we headed to one of my personal favorites, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This version was really neat because the roller coaster itself was situated in the middle of the river. So the queue line was on the main part of Frontierland, then after the cars took off from the platform they went underground to the island! It was awesome. We also discovered the roller coasters are way more intense at Disneyland Paris then at Disneyland! Which was a fun change.
We were hungry afterwards so we headed to get some lunch, and we stopped at this mexican restaurant (finally!) and got chicken fajitas. They were just fast food quality, but it was still mexican food! And still delicious. They we headed over to Discoveryland (Disneyland's Tomorrowland) to get Fast Passes for Space Mountain! First we stopped at Buzz Lightyear's Laser Blast (Disneyland's Astro Blasters) and got Fast Passes for that ride, then saw that there was only a 25 minute wait for Space Mountain! So we decided to wait in line instead of getting Fast Passes. So worth the wait. Seriously, this is the best Space Mountain I've ever been on! It shoots you up this ramp that you think you are going to be cranked up (much like California Screamin') and then the ride does corkscrews and goes up side down many times! It was seriously a blast. I absolutely loved it.
The tickets that we bought online were discounted "Magic Tickets" that allowed us to go to both Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios for a couple doors more than the price of a one day, one park ticket. We thought this was a good purchase because who knows if we'd get to come back to Disneyland Paris ever again. So we went to explore the park. The premise seemed a lot like California Adventure, lots to see, not as much to do. But we sure enjoyed it! We saw the "Stitch Live!" show and the end of a parade. My favorite part was the brand new Toy Story Land!!! Everything was sized to make it seem like you were a little toy with the rest of the toys. It was brilliant!
Some other cool rides that were in Walt Disney Studios were Aladdin's Magic Carpets, Crush's Coaster, and Tower of Terror. Overall the park was really cool, but we wanted to see it more than ride any rides. That was sort of our premise for the whole trip there, we weren't upset that we didn't ride as many rides as we normally would, we were just loving seeing all the differences and just getting to be there.
We headed back to Disneyland Paris and walked around the different lands. We first stopped at Sleeping Beauty's Castle to take some pictures.
Then we explored Fantasyland and Adventureland. Sadly, Maddie's favorite ride (and one of my own personal favorites) was not in operation while we were there, Pirates of the Caribbean. But we passed by it just to see what they were doing and it looked like routine construction.
We eventually headed back to Discoveryland to use our Fast Passes on Buzz Lightyear's Laser Blasts, which is always such a fun ride. It's so interactive. I love seeing what the Imagineers at Disney can create! After the ride we headed to Main Street USA and Central Plaza for the parade! The streets were PACKED with people, but we found some great spots on a little grassy hill, that way we didn't have to look over anyone's shoulder!
We decided that we wanted to do a Character Dinner that night, so we went to "City Hall" to see if we could make reservations anywhere. Luckily the lady was very helpful and we got reservations at Cafe Mickey! The restaurant was in the Disney Village and we got to enjoy a nice meal while getting our pictures taken with Disney characters! What a treat :)
We headed back to the park after dinner and jumped on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril, which only had a 5 minute wait! Unheard of at Disneyland. This ride was SO drastically different than Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye at Disneyland. This was strictly a roller coaster, no story line or interactive car and scenery, purely a thrill ride. And it was great! It went upside down too! So much fun.
We then went back to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad because we knew the line wouldn't be long, only about 20 minutes. It was our last ride on our Disneyland Paris adventure and it was so much fun! After grabbing some ice cream at the Gibson Girl we had to leave :(
The next morning we decided to head back to the Disney Village to eat breakfast at the same place we ate dinner, Cafe Mickey. It was buffet style so we got to eat as much as we wanted, and again, take pictures with characters!
Overall the trip was amazing. I had such a blast! I'm so happy I can cross it off my bucket list! But I definitely would love to go back there again if I ever get the chance!
Oh one last thing, that I think is a fun tid bit. I bought a Mickey Mouse ring at this shop in Sleeping Beauty's Castle that sells lots of jewelry and glass pieces. I wear it on the same finger that I used to wear the little plastic ring that Josh gave me. But not as a replacement ring to fill the void of Josh. But to remind myself every time I reach to play with the ring that I don't need a guy in my life to make me happy all the time. The ring reminds me of the things in my life that I love and cherish the most, Disney obviously being one of them.
As always, there are many more pictures on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=336544&id=672975663&l=896160e356
-Love-
My heart warms to hear and see you healing. You are cherished and loved by so many people and YOU make a lot of people happy Mal! One Love!
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