What can I say about Disney? Disney is Disney isn't it? Lots of queuing - although this time we did take advantage of the fast pass on the Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast - by far the most fun ride we went on, especially the eight foot tall "animatronic" Buzz speaking French! We all enjoyed this ride, and even came back for more in the evening just before the closing "Candelabration" at 8pm.
We arrived at about 10.15am and took in Big Thunder Mountain, which our four-year-old daughter hated, Orbitron (a lot of queuing for little return, although our daughter loved it), Space Mountain (which our ten-year-old son declared the most uncomfortable and painful ride ever), Carousel de Lancelot (not as good as the carousels in Paris proper), Pinocchio, Pirates of the Caribbean (good fun and atmospheric sail and occasional minor splash), Dumbo (huge queue for very little but young children love it), Indiana Jones and Casey Junior (my personal favourite). We had lunch at Pizza Planet, which has got a soft play area, though this was closed on our trip, and we ate hotdogs at Casey's on Main Street for tea. (On this day I just surrendered to junk food. And mighty fun it was.)
Many of the Disney characters can be spotted walking round the park, which is great sport, especially the inevitable ensuing game of "find-your-kid" as they disappear into the throng of eager-to-be-photographed other kids. Personally I wanted to have my photograph taken with the Beast - those who know me and my hubby will understand why - and I did attempt to grab his attention as he stormed through the crowd. Unfortunately grabbing hold of his cape didn't go down too well and he shrugged me off.
One of my favourite things all day was the Parade at 5pm. It's really worth getting a good spot along the parade route to see all the floats and characters go by. Of course it is all very DISNEY, but Mickey Mouse is so cute and the costumes are ace. I got really into it, and I know the kids absolutely loved it.
Another surprising highlight of the day for me was leaving the park in the evening in a huge crowd of people, then peeling off the general throng headed to Disney Village and the carparks, to sneak into the train station. There were literally about six people doing this, including us! We went straight down the escalator to the platform and straight onto a Paris-bound train. Yee-haa! By the time we got back to our hotel we sank a well-earned beer in the bar then collapsed into our beds. A perfect day for all!
On our final morning in Paris we rewarded ourselves with a lie-in, though by 10am I was starving and peering jealously through the curtains at the cafe opposite our hotel. By 10.45 we were in there ordering breakfast - and extremely yummy it was too. (After a very dodgy evening meal experience in the hotel restaurant on the first night I had made a vow never to enter that amenity ever again. My family take these vows of mine very seriously.)
After breakfast we jumped onto the Metro as far as Champs Elysee, and continued our walk down towards Place de la Concorde and Tuileries gardens. At this point I began to realise that Paris truly is a very beautiful city, though the trees that are manicured squarely remind me of something out of Alice in Wonderland. I became aware of a real need within me to LIKE the place, to FEEL ROMANTIC there. So many other people have said hwo fabulously romantic it is, how beautiful, how mesmerising etc. Yes, I liked it, but I was far more aware of my own wish to be liking it even more. Weird.
The Tuileries were quite pleasant. A nice little cafe, with extortionate prices, an old-fashioned carousel, and a completely groovy playground for the kids to let off steam in, which had a stainless steel dome instead of a slide.
How cool is that? I was so taken by the simplicity and the safety of it. First of all you've got to climb up onto the thing, which is no small challenge in itself, and I found it hilarious watching kids smack against the side of it a la Tom and Jerry!After Tuileries we headed up to the Louvre, turned right towards the river once again and crossed onto Ile de la Cite via Pont Neuf. We were in search of Notre Dame - the place I really wanted to see before leaving Paris. I saw it, took a photo of it, and stood in front of it wishing we had time to go in it, before we had to rush off to find a place to eat. We had only 2 hours to go before we had to navigate our way back to Gare du Nord and our train home. Thankfully the Soleil d'Or cafe served us well, and we left the city feeling tired, full and happy with our Parisian adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment