Monday, September 17, 2012

Look Out France! Here I Come!--Part 9--Now It's Time To Say Goodbye

April 19, 2012

Disneyland Paris and the Journey Home

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.

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