We woke up early on our last day in France so we could spend
a few hours at Disneyland before leaving for the airport. Our package included
breakfast, so we headed down to the ground floor to get our breakfast. There
were two restaurants set up for breakfast, and we were told both of them had
the exact same offerings. The buffet featured rolls, croissants, cheese, meat,
yogurt, and cereal. There was also a drink station where you could get coffee,
tea, hot chocolate, and juice. Though the food was plentiful, the quality of
the food was just OK. It was enough to satisfy hunger, but nothing was
particularly good.
After breakfast, we ran back up to our room to do some last
minute packing, and brush our teeth. We dropped our bags at bell services,
checked out of the hotel, and made our way over to Disneyland for Early Entry.
Disneyland opens two hours early for resort guests. some of
the attractions in Fantasyland and Discoveryland are open, but not enough to
keep you busy for two hours unless you want to repeat attractions. Since we
already did everything we wanted to do in Discoveryland, and had no desire to
repeat any of it, we headed straight back to Fantasyland. We got in line for
Peter Pan’s Flight, and waited for about 20 minutes to get on the ride. It was the
same basic ride as the Peter Pan rides at the other parks.
We then went to the second level of the castle, and looked at the
beautiful stained glass windows that featured scenes from Sleeping Beauty. The
windows were absolutely stunning, and not to be missed.
After getting back on the ground level, I decided to walk
back into the castle so Linda could take a picture of me standing on the
balcony. Like my new digs?
We then took a ride on the Voyage of Pinocchio. This is my
favorite dark ride in Disneyland in California, so I was very happy to see they
had one in Disneyland Paris as well.
We also took a walk through Alice’s Curious Labyrinth. I
really enjoyed the twist and turns in this little hedge maze. The scenery was
beautiful, and we even had a run in with the queen. We climbed up the small
tower and looked out over Fantasyland from above.
We then hopped on the train. We were planning to do the full
ride around the route, and then leaving the park. The train was so slow loading
and unloading people, we wound up getting off the train after sitting at Main
Street for several minutes, and walked up Main Street U.S.A. We stopped and got
a snack at the bakery, and walked through the arcades that run behind Main
Street, browsing at the shopping carts and exhibits.
It was then time to head back to the Sequoia Lodge so we
could luggage and head for the train station. We got on a bus pretty quickly,
and arrived at the train station in plenty of time to catch our train to the
airport.
I highly recommend taking the high speed train to the
airport instead of the bus. Though it costs about $5 more than the bus, it was
well worth it because the ride is only 10 minutes, and you don’t have to worry
about traffic like you do on the bus.
We arrived at the airport early, and checked in for our
flight back to Boston. My luggage was a bit heavier, but I just made the weight
limit. We wandered around the terminal for a bit, and grabbed some lunch at one
of the takeout places.
We were soon on our flight home to Boston after a fabulous
trip to France! It had been a wonderful trip with lots of great experiences and
memories. Truly a dream trip.
Today was the day! We were heading to spend the final night
of our trip at Disneyland Paris. Though it meant that the trip was just about
over, it was also the part that I was most looking forward to. I would finally
be visiting one of the Disney parks in another country!
After a quick breakfast at the hotel and packing up the last
of our stuff, we made our way to the hotel lobby to check out. Since our hotel
wasn’t near the subway line that goes to Disneyland Paris, we decided to take a
taxi to a station that was on the line. It made a lot more sense than
schlepping our heavy suitcases up and down stairs at the subway station where
we could make the transfer, especially since we didn’t know how many steps
there would be or if there were elevators or escalators.
When our taxi arrived, I asked the driver to take us to
Auber Gare. We had a bit of a communication problem because I wasn’t
pronouncing it the way they do in France. I was saying au-burr, and I tried to
spell it. Finally the driver said, “Au-bear.” I said “Oui” and we were on our
way.
We purchased our train tickets to go to Disneyland, and made
our way to the platform. The train ride from Paris to Disneyland was about 35
minutes long, and it was very easy. We had to stand the first few stops until
the train was outside of the heart of Paris, but once the workers were off the
train in Paris, we were able to get seats. The train was fast, clean, and
efficient.
When we arrived at Disneyland station, I was surprised to
see how close the station was to the parks. It would only take a few minutes to
walk there.But we couldn’t just walk
right to the park. We had to go to our hotel, the Sequoia Lodge, to check in and
drop off our suitcases.
We made our way to the bus stop, where I had my first
indication that I wasn’t at Disney World. We were standing at the bus stop, and
when the bus arrived, about 20 or 30 people barged onto the bus ahead of us and
other guests of the park waiting for the bus. Even without understanding French, I could tell by
the way they were dressed and talking to each other that they were Disney cast
members, and it turned out that they were the housekeepers at the New York
Hotel and the Sequoia Lodge. They aggressively barreled onto the buses and took
all the seats before the guests like us who had been patiently lined up and
waiting to get on the bus. That wouldn’t happen at Disney World.
We were soon at the Sequoia Lodge. The main building was
huge, but wasn’t nearly as impressive looking as the other Disney lodges--the
Wilderness Lodge, the Grand Californian, or the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It
definitely had more of a hotel feel than a resort feel.
Our room wasn’t ready, so we checked our bags with bell
services, and then walked through Downtown Disney to head to Disneyland. The
view of the Disneyland Hotel at the park entrance was just beautiful. The
grounds at the park entrance were the most beautiful I have ever seen at any
Disney park. The familiar Mickey head made out of flowers was even more
spectacular with the Disneyland Hotel as a backdrop. Though I had always hoped
to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, I just couldn’t justify spending about $700 a
night to stay there.
As I walked down Main Street U.S.A., I really felt that the
park was both the same and different from what I was used to at the other
Disney parks. It was basically the same, but everything was just a little bit
different. The layout of the park and the rides were basically the same, but
everything seemed just a little bit different. I had been a bit concerned about
the language barrier in the parks, but most things were written in English, and
many of the attractions had their soundtracks half in French and half in
English so that you could get the idea of what was going on.
Since we only had a day and a quarter to spend in the parks,
my main goal was to visit the attractions that I knew were different from their
U.S. counterparts or not available in the U.S. parks. I had a list of must dos,
and everything else would be a bonus.
Unfortunately, this turned out to be a gray and gloomy day.
Though the temperatures had been a bit on the chilly side throughout the trip,
this was the only day we had a mostly rainy day, and of course it had to be our
one full day at Disneyland. But, we were here, and we were going to make the
best of it.
Sleeping Beauty's Castle was very stunning. Though it is shorter in height than Cinderella's castle at Walt Disney World, it seemed to be a bit more elaborate, with scenic hills at it's base.
Our first stop was Space Mountain, which I heard was one of
the best Space Mountains at a Disney park. I’m not so sure I agree with that.
While it was fast and thrilling, it was one of those roller coasters that
causes your ears to slam into the headrest. So, people who think this is the
best Space Mountain must like having their ears repeatedly slammed into their
heads. So, while I enjoyed the track of the ride, I wouldn’t go on it again
because I just don’t like roller coasters that cause you to slam your head into
the head rest repeatedly.
After Space Mountain, we headed over to Star Tours. The Star
Tours at Disneyland Paris has not been updated yet, so it was kind of fun to
see the old version again after seeing the new version on my last couple of
Disney World trips. It really makes you realize just how much they needed to
upgrade that attraction.
We then went over to the Phantom Manor, Disneyland Paris’
version of the Haunted Mansion. The building itself was so tiny and quaint
compared to the Haunted Mansions in the U.S. parks. The ride itself was
shorter, and not as fun as it’s U.S. counterparts, but still worth seeing.
We then headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean. I really
loved the building for the attraction. It just had a really authentic feel to
it, and it was fun to see a huge Skull Rock in the water in front. I enjoyed
the ride as much as I do at the other Disney parks.
After a ride on Thunder Mountain, we headed over to the
Indiana Jones Roller Coaster. This was another painful experience, though not
as painful as Space Mountain. The roller coaster was much too short, but on
second thought, perhaps it was just right because it hurt so much.
We then headed to the Hypernion Café to grab some lunch. We
both got the 20th anniversary meal, which was a cheeseburger, fries,
and a chocolate cookie. The cheeseburger was pretty nasty, one of the worst
I’ve ever tasted. The chocolate cookie was heavy and rich kind of like fudge,
but it wasn’t very good.
After lunch, we walked over to Disney Studios. It looked
like it was going to rain pretty heavily, so we figured we’d go over there to
see some of the shows. The parked seemed very small, and there were only a few things that we were planning to check out here. It almost had a feel like it was just thrown together without much planning just so it would take some of the congestion away from Disneyland.
We had a bit of time before the shows, so we wound up heading over to the Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster. There was only a five minute wait, so we decided to take a ride on it. They had the same preshow with Aerosmith, and when we got into our limo, the track seemed to be basically the same, but the lighting was different. They didn’t have the Hollywood and Street signs like they do in Florida. They just had different colored lights. I liked the lighting a lot.
We headed towards the theatre to see Animagique. When we walked
by Tower of Terror, there was a five minute wait, so we decided to squeeze that
in before the show. The tower of terror was a lot smaller than the U.S. Towers
of Terror, and the elevator didn’t move forward like the others. It wasn’t
nearly as impressive or fun as the one in Florida.
We then headed over to AniMagique. This show was really
cute. It kind of reminded me of a live action version of Mickey’s Philharmagic.
In Anamagique, Donald steals they key to Mickey’s animation vault, and winds up
falling into scenes from “The Jungle Book,” “The Lion King,” and “The Little
Mermaid.” The show was performed half in English and half in French so it was easy
to follow the storyline.
We then headed over to see CineMagique, a film starring
Martin Short and Julie Delphy. Martin portrays a guy named George, who is
sucked into the movie screen after disturbing a love scene between a prince and
a princess when he is at a movie theatre. The princess (played by Julie Delphy) falls in love with George and
tries to catch up with him as he travels through different movie scenes as he
tries to get back to reality. George finds himself in everything from Pinnochio
and Mary Poppins to Tombstone and Star Wars.I won’t say much more about the plot because I don’t want to spoil it
for people who may be going, but if you are curious to read more, there is a
good description of the show on Wikipedia.
The tour books I read all raved about CineMagique. I thought
it was good, but a bit long and slow moving. I am surprised that they never
brought this movie over to the U.S. parks. While I understand the need to have
unique shows and attractions in the parks, this show would have been a great
fit in Disney Hollywood Studios.
When CineMagique ended, we were planning to head back over
to Disneyland to go to the parade, but the sky looked threatening so we decided
to head back towards the hotel instead. The rain started pouring down pretty
quickly, so we wound up going in a couple of shops in the Disney Village. We
also stopped to get an ice cream sundae at Annette’s Diner.
When we finished our ice cream, they sky seemed brighter, so
we walked back to Disneyland to try to catch the parade instead of going to the
hotel. The parade was just coming to Main Street as we were arrived, so we
found a spot under an awning and watched the parade. The parade was
good--really your typical Disney parade, lots of characters and some
interesting floats.
After the parade, we walked to the Sequoia Lodge to check
out our room and take a break. Our room was located on the 6th floor
of the main lodge building not far from the elevators. When I walked into the
room, I was once again shocked by the size of our room. It was by far the
largest room we stayed in on our trip, and I’ll even say it was probably the
largest hotel room I have ever stayed in. It was almost big enough to be two
rooms, or perhaps a junior suite. Though we had requested a room with two beds,
the room only had one king sized bed. We decided that it wasn’t worth the
hassle of changing rooms since we would only be there for one night.
The room was OK, but not worth the price we paid for it. I
would say the quality of the room (not counting the size of the room) is about
what you’d get at a moderate resort at Disney World, but the room was priced at
a deluxe rate. The furnishings were decent, but not the best quality, and the
room had an odd odor when we first entered. It overlooked the receiving dock
and dumpsters.
The bathroom was huge, and clean. It was just a basic
bathroom, though.Nothing special. The
towels were the thinnest towels I’ve ever had at any hotel.
After our break, we headed to the Earl of Sandwich to get
some dinner. I ordered the Hawaiian barbecue chicken sandwich, which was just
OK. This is one of my favorite sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich, and it just
seemed different in France.
After dinner, we walked over to Disney World. Once again,
the skies looked threatening, which was a bit concerning because we were
planning to stay to see the fireworks extravaganza, Disney Dreams.
Since we had some time before the fireworks, we headed over
to everyone’s favorite Disney ride--it’s a small world. I can’t go to a Disney
park without going on it’s a small world.Everyone sing along now:
it’s a small world after all
it’s a small world after all it’s a small world after all it’s a small small world
I really liked it’s a small world in Disneyland Paris. It
was fun to see America prominently featured with the statue of liberty,
cowboys, and kids dressed in sports uniforms.
After it’s a small world, we wandered for a bit, and then
made our way to the front of the castle to find a spot to watch Disney Dreams.
By this time, the rain was coming down hard and steady. It figured that the one
night we were at Disneyland it had to pour. But we stayed in the rain as it
would be the only opportunity to see Disney Dreams.
And I’m glad we stayed through the rain because Disney
Dreams was amazing--the best nighttime extravaganza at any Disney park ever,
even in the rain! It was like Wishes, the World of Color, Fantasmic, and the
Magic, the Memories, and You rolled into one big show. Though the fireworks
weren’t as big and elaborate as they are at Disney World, they more than made
up for it with the other elements. They projected scenes from different Disney films on mist
screens and the castle. Some of the projections on the castle actually made it
look like the castle was moving. The soundtrack of the show included songs form
Aladdin, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, and other
Disney favorites. I wished we had a second night at Disneyland Paris just so we
could see Disney Dreams again!
Though I didn't tape it, there are some great copies of the show on YouTube. Here's one of them:
After the fireworks ended, we soggily made our way back to
the Sequoia Lodge, and got ready for bed.It had been a great day at Disneyland, but it also meant that our trip
would soon be over.
After having breakfast in the hotel breakfast room, Linda
and I walked to the Rodin Museum. Although neither of us are into sculptures, I
wanted to see the Thinker, and the Rodin Museum was on our Museum pass, so we
wouldn’t have to pay extra for admission.
We arrived at the museum at the time that it was supposed to
open according to the museum website, our museum pass, and the book I had, but
found out the museum now opened 30 minutes later. We wound up going into a café
across the street to get something to drink while we waited.
As it got close to opening time for the museum, we made our
way back to the museum, and a line of about 50 people had formed, including a
group of teenage students. We got in the line, and it took forever to get in
the museum. It took at least 15 minutes for us to make it through the line.
We soon made our way out to the garden and saw the Thinker.
We took some pictures, and walked around checking the Thinker out. It was
really neat seeing such a famous sculpture in person.
We then walked into the old mansion that housed the
collection of Rodin’s sculptures. The building itself was old, but had a lot of
character. We also walked around more of the gardens.
We then headed out of the Rodin Museum to go to the D’Orsay
Museum. When we arrived, there was a huge line of hundreds of people waiting to
get in. I left Linda in line and went to find out if there was a line for
people with the museum pass, which thankfully there was a much shorter line, so
we got in that line, and were in the museum in less than 10 minutes.
The museum was very crowded. Some of the rooms were so
crowded that you could barely walk through. It was really too crowded to enjoy
the museum, and truly appreciate the artwork, especially in the area where they
had most of the Rembrandts.
I realized our mistake after the fact. We went to the
D’Orsay on a day when the Louvre was closed, and I bet a lot of other people
went here on this day because some of the other museums were closed as well. The
D’Orsay just can’t handle the crowds it gets when the Louvre is closed.
The inside of the D’Orsay is beautiful, though. The building
is an old train station, so the ceilings above the main floor that houses most
of the sculptures is at least five or six stories tall, giving the museum a
light and airy feel. I was actually more impressed by the building then I was
by the artwork.
When we had our fill of the museum, we went to find some
place to have lunch. The cafes closest to the museum were crowded, of course,
so we wound up walking back to the Café Mucha since we had enjoyed it so much
the first time we went there. Linda wound up getting the omlette complete
again, and I decided to get the lasagna, which was served with salad. The
lasagna was excellent with a very tasty sauce.
We went back to the hotel for a break, and then wound up
heading over to the Pantheon. This was something neither of us had on our must
do list--we just didn’t think we’d have time to do everything we really wanted
to do, so it was a pleasant surprise to be able to fit this in.
The Pantheon building is very impressive. There were massive
doors into the building that were at least six stories high. The inside
featured some beautiful murals and statues. There was a massive pendulum in the
middle of the room.
The highlight of a visit to the Pantheon is a visit to the
crypts, where you can pay your respects to the famous French men and women who
were laid to rest here. There were many hallways off that lead to the crypts,
and there were signs outside each hallway so you would know who was there.
Amongst the people who were laid to rest here are Rousseau, Voltaire, Louis
Braille, Madame Curry, Alexander Dumas, and Victor Hugo.
Rousseau
Voltaire
Madame Currie
Victor Hugo
After leaving the crypts, we went for what I like to call a
train adventure. I wanted to check out the train station where we would be
going in the morning to catch our train to Disneyland so I could get a sense of
what it was like before we were dragging suitcases with us. We found our way to
the Auber Gare and I was happy to see lots of escalators and elevators so we
wouldn't have to lug our heavy suitcases down the stairs.
We wound up going out of the stations to see if we could
find someplace to have dinner. We were right at the Paris Opera house. The
massive building had some beautiful gold sculptures on top.
We walked back in the direction of our hotel, and didn’t
really see anyplace we felt like eating. We wound up hopping back to the
subway, and went back to our hotel. We decided to give the Café Solferino
another chance. Once again the service was slow even though the restaurant was
empty. Linda got French onion soup, which she enjoyed. Even though I had
lasagna for lunch, I decided to get lasagna for dinner as well. Every time we
walked by the Café Solferino, there were people eating the lasagna, so I
figured it must be pretty good. A family of four at a nearby table all were
eating it as well.
Well, I learned an important lesson that night. Just because
everyone is ordering something, it doesn’t mean that it’s good. The lasagna was
very bland, and it must have been frozen because though the sides were piping
hot, the middle of it was iced cold. I think I was served frozen microwave
lasagna. It was pretty bad, and I didn’t even feel like sending it back, so I
ate enough so I wouldn't be hungry.
We headed back to our hotel to pack, as we were heading to
Disneyland Paris in the morning. It had been a fun few days in Paris--we saw
more than I thought I would, and I loved every minute of it.
