Disneyland Paris

On July 12, we had a long travel day. We began the day in Eastbourne, on the coast of England. We hustled across Eastbourne to the train station because we left the hotel late, but made it to the train with plenty of time. We rode 1.5 hours to London and arrived at the Victoria station. Just before we got into London, a school group of elementary kids got on our train. It was so fun to hear their excitement and conversations. It made me miss the kids from my class at school. 

We spent a few hours in the London train station after transferring to St. Pancras. The line was long to get through security for the Eurostar to Paris, but we made it to our seats and it was an easy trip through the Chunnel to Lille. We had to transfer there, before boarding the train to Chessy, which is the Disneyland stop. We walked through security at Disneyland on the way to our hotel, which only built the anticipation for the next day. 

On Wednesday, July 13, we barely made it to Disneyland before noon. Maybe it's from going to Disney World as Passholders, or maybe we were just tired, but it was hard to wake up that morning! There are 2 parks at the Disneyland Paris resort-Walt Disney Studios Park and Disneyland Park. We chose to do Studios first, because we had heard it was less exciting and Disneyland was open later.

If I had to describe Studios in a few words, it would be Hollywood Studios knockoff. There are some very cool parts of it, but overall, the park felt a little bare. We also picked a strange time to go, because a week after we were there, they opened a whole new section to the park, themed around Marvel movies. 

We were able to ride Tower of Terror (well...Brennan rode. I didn't.), Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, and a Cars train ride, which felt like a backlot tour. This ride made me laugh because there were signs for Thomasville, Georgia all over it, which is where Brennan's parents live. What a weird connection in the middle of France!

After exploring all we wanted to see in the Studios park, we walked the quick 5 minute path to the Disneyland Park. The park has a magical, enchanted theme and feels very similar to Magic Kingdom. The castle was beautiful and it was fun to see all the detail Disney is so famous for.

It was SO hot while we were at the parks. Thankfully, we were able to ride Big Thunder Mountain (which was much better than Disney World!!) and the Indiana Jones ride without standing in too long of lines. Unfortunately, the line for Pirates of the Caribbean was where our luck ran out. We made it almost to the front and then the ride broke and we had to get out of line. Thankfully, the building had air, so we were able to cool off while we waited, even if we didn't get to do the ride.

We ate burritos and margaritas for lunch, made it onto the Pirates ride (also better than Disney World!), and walked through the castle. The Castle had lots of stained glass windows that told the story of Sleeping Beauty, and a balcony that looked out into the park. But, the best part was under the castle. There is a large animatronic dragon that moves around and breathes smoke. It was so cool!

Because of the weather, we decided to go back to the hotel and cool off for awhile before fireworks and evening at the park. Thankfully, it was easy to do this because our hotel was a short 15 minute walk away. After a short rest in the AC, we felt ready to head back and finish up the rest of the rides and see some fireworks!

We fit a lot in during the evening! We rode Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Star Tours, Phantom Manor (similar to Haunted Mansion), Hyperspace Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear. My favorite was Hyperspace Mountain, which was all Star Wars themed and had loops, screens and the music from the movies. It took the concept of Space Mountain and amped it up a lot.

By far, the best part of the day was at the end. Disneyland Paris is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the parks this year. Because of this, they have a nightly drone show, complete with light up drones, fountains, and lights on the castle. This 5-10 minute show happens all before the fireworks even begin! The technology was incredible and seeing the images they created with the lit up drones was amazing.

After that, there were fireworks. I love fireworks and was thrilled to see another Disney production. They have projections on the castle, fountains and lights timed with the music, and huge fireworks going all at the same time. There was a family in front of us as we watched and one of the girls was belting out "Let It Go" in French along with the music. Disney music really is universal! 

Surprisingly, the crowd and walk back to the hotel was not difficult. It was crowed, but we got a surprise as we walked back! There was a rave going on in an arena close to the parks and we were able to hear the music and see the lights the whole way back to the hotel. It was a funny thing, but kind of a nice distraction to wonder what was going on as we walked back to our hotel. 

We were very tired when we got back to our hotel and went right to sleep. On Thursday, we woke up early to go see my birthday present!