Thursday, May 30, 2013

Disneyland Paris Day 2



The second day of DLP, we drove because we were going to be leaving to head home after our time at the park. We again arrived early so we could grab breakfast and then get in line for Crush's Coaster at Walt Disney Studios (the DHS of Paris). This coaster is so popular that everyone starts lining up before rope drop and it was totally worth the wait. You are basically riding a turtle shell through the EAC so you need to "Rip it, roll it and punch it" (not really, I just love that quote). The downside to this ride is, there are no Fast Passes. If you go, this needs to be one of the first rides you hit.
After hanging down under, we grabbed Fast Passes for Tower of Terror and then rode Rock n Roller Coaster. Unlike Disney World, Rock n Roller Coaster did not have a story behind it. It was a coaster that was in the dark with lights flashing like a concert and again Aerosmith music. Orlando's is better. Tower of Terror hasn't been updated yet so it's just the three drops. Again, Orlando's is better. So, after all this, we decided it was lunchtime. We tried out Cafe des Stars. This was pretty fun because there is a life size Remy that comes out under a waiter's tray and he can bust a move! <3

We meandered around, met some characters including Gaston, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumm, Remy and Emile. We then caught Lights, Motors, Action. I was a little disappointed because the videos I've seen made it seem more action packed. But it was interesting and good to get off our feet for a bit. We then caught the Stars and Cars parade.
Toy Story Car

Mary Poppins's Car
The Villain Car
After the parade, we had decided that it was time to make our way home. I think for our next trip, we will just ride Crush's Coaster and then spend the rest of the day at Disneyland Park. It was a wonderful birthday trip :)

If anyone has questions about Disneyland Paris, let me know. It was difficult to plan what to do when there is not a lot of information available.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Disneyland Paris Day 1

For my birthday, my husband took me to Disneyland Paris for the weekend!!
Too excited to keep my eyes open

Couple things to note: Fast Passes are only for 30 minute windows, there are no Mickey Ice Cream Bars or Dole Whips and ear hats are not as big of a thing. :(

Disney always makes me happy (who can't be happy at Disney) but visiting a new park just added that much more excitement. We attempted to plan our trip but there wasn't a lot of information available. So we did the best we could. Prior to our trip, Brian had made reservations at Cafe Mickey with a cake for my birthday so we had one meal set. We stayed off property because it was way too expensive to stay on property and then just took the RER, a Paris commuter train, to the park. We didn't sleep well the night before so we were up early and ready to go. We caught an earlier train and wandered Disney Village (DLP's Downtown Disney). They had a Starbucks, McDonald's, Earl of Sandwich, Rain Forest Cafe and several Disney shops and other Disney themed restaurants, including Cafe Mickey.

We grabbed some coffee and continued our exploration. We also saw a lot of people entering the Parks so we tried our luck at it.


We made it in and only got as far as the bridge to Discoveryland (Tomorrowland) before we were stopped. While waiting, we worked on our game plan. The plan was for me to take the tickets and sprint to Space Mountain for Fast Passes. Brian would come along at a normal pace and take pictures. We would then get in line for Star Tours. This was not everyone's idea as I was the first and only person at the Fast Pass distribution. Everyone else was running for the main line. We rode Star Tours (which has not been redesigned) and the took on Space Mountain, which is a real roller coaster. WOW! I loved it and yes, we rode it again.

Phantom Manor
We also took on Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion), which tried to be more spooky than fun and Indiana Jones et le Temple du Peril (I wouldn't recommend it without a Fast Pass). By then it was lunch time. It had been so long since we've had a normal hot dog. We live in Germany, there are no hot dogs here, they'll all brats. With that in mind, we decided to eat at Casey's Corner. Not as good as the Orlando one but still hit the spot.

We then took to Fantasyland and It's a Small World. The teacups broke down just before we were able to ride as did the train. We decided to do Space Mountain again and ran into some interesting characters (literally!) like the White Rabbit, Frollo and Abu.
 

We also caught a ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which is more popular because it the only kid friendly coaster.

We then made our way out of the park to Cafe Mickey for dinner!
Dole Whip shirt and wine
Cafe Mickey is character dining so we had fun being kids again. 

Dinner was good and Mickey presented me with my cake. 





We then went back to the park to watch the fireworks :)