Disneyland Paris

Bear with me people, this might be a long one! I have friends who love Disney and they want every.single.detail. Can you blame them? It's Disney after all, and once you fall in love...

A little while ago I got hooked in with a bunch of Disney fanatics - I had been friends with a couple of them online for years. Since 2007? That's a LONG time when we are talking about the webz! And some of those girls are the ones the talked me in to the Princess Half girls trip we are planning on doing in February. When we all found out that I was going to Paris, DisneyLand Paris was instantly on my radar. It wasn't so much on Matthew's... but we were going to Paris, PARIS, so it would be fine if we didn't get to it... right?

Well, not to spoil a surprise or anything but we got to it! Matthew is so sweet and he knew I wanted to go have the Disney experience with just us, without the kids, so I could soak it all in and not be stressed about all the kid details. Selfish? Maybe... we will get to them, we will! Maybe... no we will I promise! We bought tickets online and scoped out the hows and the time and it was all set, I'm going to DisneyLand Paris!

The first and last time I went to DisneyLand I was 17, with my little sister who was three and my grandma who was in a wheelchair (and didn't want to miss a thing!) so I wasn't able to enjoy it like I normally would. I remember a little, it was the year that Indiana Jones opened and we got in early to wait in the line for it. I remember it was worth the wait... but that's about all I remember about DisneyLand... it was over half my lifetime ago.

We got up early, we were riding the subway all the way to the end of the line where there was cute mouse ears and a tiny Disneyland on the subway sign. There are two subway systems in Paris and this was the one that we weren't familiar with. We had stopped at the front desk for instructions on where to pick up the nearest train and the attendant at the desk said "Say hello to Mikey for me!" (So cute, we laughed!)  We actually got on and off a couple trains that were on the right Disneyland line but they were express ones that didn't have all the stops, no Disney stop. It's really only about a 40 minute ride to get there, and if you get on the right train, it wouldn't be as eventful!

As soon as you walk out of the doors of the train station, there it is. DisneyLand!

I. Have. Arrived!

I just wanted to soak it all in, just as much for you as for me! I wanted to take all the pictures and do everything there was to do! We opted for just Disneyland but we would have been able to do Walt Disney Studios as well (in hind sight, we should have...). I read online there wasn't time for both, but that wasn't in off season... in the rain. When there was no one in the park and no waiting lines!

Mikey! (Intentional misspelling for our friendly hotelier!)

We walked through the gates and an enormous Christmas tree and Christmas music greeted me! There were lights and ribbons, garlands and fake snow! Presents! Bells! Mickey! Weeee!

Still Main Street USA, even in France!

We started off on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which we did three times in a row, there was barely a line so we just ran right on. The last time we decided that was it, nothing like freezing rain smacking you in the face. It happened to rain on and off all day but it was fine, perfect actually. We loved that there was hardly anyone in the park and we especially loved being able to ride the big rides over and over again. We did the same thing with Indiana Jones, over and over. That ride is a short coaster, not the experience it is in DisneyLand. Fun though, short, but fun.

On Pirates of the Caribbean was a legit wait, it said 15 minutes but I think it was more like 20-25. Someone on the front of our boat missed the "no flash" announcement and they were taking pictures (with the flash) just as fast as their camera could reset. Really? Fortunately they stopped a few minutes in.

Why no, we do not know how to work our camera, why do you ask?

One of the things I was the most excited for was Michael Jackson's Captain EO! (Silly, I know, but I love Michael...) They brought it back a few years ago and I was really looking forward to it! Yay! We went to the part of the part where the theater was and it looked all closed up... it's only running Sat-Tuesdays and we were there on a Thursday! Broken. Heart. Matthew felt terrible! "We can come back on Saturday if you want!" I told him no, that would be just silly! So bummed... He felt terrible.

Captain EO!!

Wah waaaaahhhh...

Jack Skellington in his Santa suit was out quite a bit and I got my picture taken with him and Sally. He frightens me. The real guy, he is so freaky looking I can't even stand it but I muscled through it. He told me, in a French accent (did you know he was multi-lingual?) that I had a nice smile. And then he said "We don't have many of those around here!" Obviously being sarcastic since we were in DisneyLand but I was like "uh huh thanks" and in my mind thinking 'please, let's hurry up with this because I am SO FREAKED OUT right now.' I could barely look him in his big black eyes.

The other cast members we met were Minnie and Daisy but just because we happened to be in the right place at the right time. We saw them coming up the hill from where the closed Dumbo ride was and I thought there were going somewhere and I didn't want to be like a three year old and bug them on their way (well, I did, but I was exercising some self-control...) but then they came through the rope and waved us over! I was like weeehooo! A two-fer!

I mentioned before that everyone smokes in Paris, that statistic drops only slightly at DisneyLand Paris because the kids skew the data. There were a LOT of smokers there. We were so grateful that Minnie waved away the parents who just wanted to keep on puffing right through their cast member photos. Minnie was like, sorry, no smoking by me! Minnie, can you be my escort the rest of the day? "Sorry, I am with the mouse, no smoking by the mouse!"

I didn't want to wait the hour wait to see the Princess at the Princess Pavilion. My guess was that it was Cinderella in there since during a sudden wind and rain outburst we saw her running very daintily through the park headed in that direction. It was actually very amusing seeing her run like that! With one hand she was holding up her dress and the other kept going to her mouth and waving the rain away as she ran. I LOVED it. More than any adult should actually... it was adorable.

There was sunshine... once. 

During that CRAZY storm we ducked in to It's a Small World - It might have been the longest line of the park, and I don't think it was the pull of the ride, I think it was the push of the rain! That said, it was adorable! All the little people - And there was a bit of Christmas thrown in too! My kind of It's a Small World!

Because it was raining on and off, my boots started to fill with water. My socks were eventually soaked and every time I stepped, they squished. It's all good though, I am in DisneyLand right?! They were wet suit shoes, when I was still or on a ride they warmed up but when we walked out it was a whole new wave of cold water I needed to warm up! Matthew started really worrying about it so when we came to a lull in things to do he went on a hunt. We chose some cool (Ian inspired) Buzz Lightyear socks and some new Jack Skellington Converse! (Hey, I like him, a lot actually. Just not in person!) My feet felt like they were the warmest they have ever been in my entire life. I made a poor clothing choice for the visit, but hey, it scored me come new kicks!

You can have these cute shoes if you make poor choices too! 

We went to find a restaurant and knowing YOU would want to know about the food we chose to find a $$$ dollar restaurant (which puts the pricing pretty much on par with down town Paris, so no sticker shock at all there.) We went to Walt's first where we were turned away, they were full for the full day. Matthew said they probably just hate American's, there was no one in the park! So we went to the next on the list, a steak place. Did you miss my "meat outside of America" commentary? Well, that commentary was largely driven by this meal. The bread was delish, the Caesar salad was anchovy-ey but fine. Matthew got the Shrimp cocktail and was faced with a full shrimp staring at him, it ruined his shrimp appetite and had none.

What are you looking at?

Finally the main course! Give me my meat! (Vegetarians, stop reading here and skip to the next paragraph...) I tried to cut it and the steak fought back. I finally navigated to a bite I thought would be fine and I popped it in my mouth. It crunched. I, very daintily (just kidding, nothing about me is dainty), spit it right back out on to my plate. Then I went "Oh, I forgot a picture!" and took one for you, but I will save you, it was the ugliest meal you have ever seen.

In fact, let's move on to dessert shall we? Because this (almost) made up for it! I got the cheesecake and it was glorious! The raspberry sauce was so yummy!

As I am savoring every bite of my cheesecake all of a sudden something happened! Pop rocks! In my mouth! I had pop rocks popping in my teeth! I was like "Matthew! Pop rocks! I have pop rocks!" As he was looking at me like I was insane a waiter who just happened to be walking by said "Oh... fizzzzay sugggah!" Huh? "fizzy sugar!" It was the specks of chocolate! They are chocolate covered pop rocks! Look what this darling waiter brought us! A shot glass full of fizzy sugar! We found a plastic bag in our back pack and poured it in to have our family and friends try at home. It was so interesting! And it was good chocolate! Imagine being surprised with pop rocks! How fun! Oh you Disney! It's the little things!

I have pop rocks! In my mouth!

A shot glass full of happiness

We saw both parades that they had that day, the floats were huge and so pretty! I absolutely loved that all of the cast members were singing the songs with the parade. Even the ones blocking the streets. It was quite the addicting song... It was amazing and I think it would have been even more amazing for the kids. 

One thing we wish we would have gotten a picture of is the dragon that lived under Snow White's castle. You walk down around the back and under the castle and there is a little grotto with a full on dragon. He was resting but then he would wake up, look around and move a little. Steam puffed through his nostrils and his long fingers and nails were tap tap tapping in the water. His tail was swooshing over the rock flapping the water slightly. Matthew and I both really liked him. There are videos on YouTube but they really don't do him justice. 

Photocred: http://disneyandmore.blogspot.com/

I love these story windows for Alladin, they were so well done! They would be so much fun to create. 

The Dream show didn't start until 7:00 which was when the park closed. It wasn't enough time to hit the other park but we had covered nearly every inch of this one. So, we propped ourselves right by the rope in front of Snow White's castle and prepared for the show, with the best seats in the house! We held our ground as it got more and more crowded. They do a little teaser at a quarter to the hour and we continued to wait. Matthew noticed a couple of little British kids behind us and he let them move in front of us! I am short, but they are shorter! And it was fun to listen to them talk!

The show began and it was Christmas themed flash of color, lasers, lights and fireworks! Narrated primarily by the little Frozen snowman, several Disney characters made an appearance. While the castle was the main canvas, they made a spray of water in the front ponds where they could project another character or two. It was cute... super cute. They made the castle candy, and ginger bread, and made of presents! Some singing, some talking, some lights, I was mesmerized and as such, I have no idea what the story was and what happened! Lots of amazing things, that's what!

Waiting...

Because we were at the very front, when it was all over and every one turned around, we were now at the very back. Herding cattle ya'all. We stopped in a little shop on Main Street for a wedge of fudge and two hot chocolates (it was a very busy store...) and we were off. It was over (for now). Time to get on the train and go back to the hotel.

One final shot on the way out!

Oh Disney, I will see you again my friend!


PS: Later that night in our hotel room I watched Michael Jackson's Captain EO on YouTube without the bells and whistles. It was terrible. Really, truly, awful.

Catacombs, Eiffel, Arc de Triomphe, Oh my!

This was probably our busiest day in Paris. Yes, all of these things in one day. We were like regular tourists or something! This also is the day I figured selfies were the way to go, so, yea... lots of those coming.

Previous Paris posts, post #1, post #2, post #3, post 4.

The Catacombs opened for tours at 10? I think? So we were ready! We knew we wanted to make a day of it because this location wasn't downtown where we were staying. We got on the subway to get there. Matthew was a natural after spending so much time in Japan - It's not too complicated anyway but the signs can be overwhelming if it's something you aren't used to.

After a short ride, we got of and... had no clue where we were compared to where we needed to be. So we walked... and basically somehow ran right into it. Nice! It was small and barely noticeable.

We got the audio tour - seeing a trend? We like them, we are information junkies!

I tell you one thing, there are a lot of bones down there. It's dark and drippy (ewwwwe!) and creepy! No flashes allowed! It dumps you off on an entirely different place in Paris because you walk so much.

Over all, it was neat, enough, but it wasn't long enough I think. The history was good. They took the stones out of the ground for the ancient buildings (like Notre Dame) and when it was done it was closed off and forgotten about, until building started caving in and falling into the earth! They went in to restructure it so it wouldn't happen anymore. They got concerned about disease from the cemeteries and decided to put all the bones in this unused space. Mostly what you see are skulls and femurs which make the outside wall of the bones and it looked like everything else was piled behind this wall. There were patterns made with the skulls crosses, hearts, monument looking things. Keeping the work interesting for the people who moved the bones!

I do wish I had gotten pictures of how it occasionally opened up way up high and there were pillars and reinforcements. We also wished we would have gotten pictures of a cool carving that is down there. Apparently a guy spend all his breaks and lunches carving a replica of a building. He had been imprisoned in another country and spent his time looking out the window at this building. Once it was completed he started building stairs down to the place it was located so other people could see and appreciate his work and he was killed when there was a cave in.

What next? What to do, what to do? Well, let's hoof it across town to the Eiffel Tower! When we got there, man, it's huge, we tried to figure out where to get tickets which was interesting. There were a bunch of people doing the same thing. They have the ticket booth on the far right and left legs, so when you get the front ones you think you have arrived but alas, you haven't. And it's BIG, did I mention that?

We should have known to follow the lines! One side was for Elevator only, the other for Stairs only. The elevator like was loooong, and we heard a worker say it was about a 45 minute wait. So, we opted for stairs, figuring that even if we were slow and out of shape, we would likely get to the goal destination within 45 minutes right?

You could choose the first, second or third floor and the costs depended on what you chose. We went all the way baby. After 703 steps we arrived at the second floor (info junkie) and, even though there are stairs to go all the way up, at this point they throw you a bone and let you ride from the second to the third floor.

It was high. For real. Make me a little queasy high! We looked at France from above and then went on our way. We didn't spend too much time up there actually, I am old, and apparently nervous. From way up high it looked like we could easily find the Arc De Triomphe walking so we set out sights on the path.

Going down the stairs was much easier than going up them. As we would pass people I would tell Matthew that I kept wanting to tell people they were almost there (it's kind of hard to tell) but I didn't know what language they would speak so I couldn't! I felt for them though!

We crossed over the Seine walked past the Museum of Modern Art and contemplated going in, I think this is where the Water Lilies are. Ultimately we decided not to and just to keep going.

We saw the Arc de Triomphe but kept going to grab some lunch at what looked like a little cafe but it went WAY back and there was an upstairs and a downstairs. Matthew joked that it was probably a French Chili's. I had some sort of meat selections (should have learned a lesson at this point, I probably ate 50% of it) but dang, there are some mean French Fried in France! They were the real deal. I don't even think fries are from France originally but perhaps after given that name they chose to perfect them? Because yummmmmy. I had forgotten to mention this in my general observation post!

After that we walked to the circle around the Arc De Triomphe, it's a very busy turnabout! To get to the middle of the circle, you go down stairs into a hallway that goes under the busy street and pops up right by the ADT. You can buy tickets to go up to the top of it but we had had enough of heights for the day. After all, we had just gotten off the Eiffel Tower. I am pretty sure it can't compare. Alas, we will never know. (I am okay with that!) Instead we walked around outside and under the Arc and it was gorgeous. A true work of art. Every inch of it.

Who knows what we did after that, I have no idea. Ate more cheese? Had some chocolate mousse? Maybe a macaroon?

Me and 6 million dead people...

My niece Afton told me it looks white in the pictures and it does! It's just the lighting somehow, it's dark brown. 

Notre Dame & the Archeological Crypts

Day number two - After sleeping 16 hours. No, I am not kidding. I slept 16 hours. Matthew said he woke up a couple times and knew it was that late but obviously I needed the sleep so he just went back to bed. I slept 16 hours! All of that catch up on sleep went right out the window this week though since I had to single-mom it for four days until Matthew came home. I just couldn't seem to get back on schedule. Jet-lag much? Thank you to 44 oz Diet Mt. Dew. We are tight yo.

Previous Paris posts, post #1, post #2, post #3.

We set off on foot to Notre Dame which is a little bit of a walk, not too bad though. It was on this adventure that we took so many pictures of the Seine River that I posted the other day. We walked along it quite a bit since Notre Dame sits on an island in the middle of it. We could see the building from quite far away, it's pretty tall.

It was another, just amazing building! They are celebrating their 850 year anniversary so there was a platform set up in front of it and much ado. Apparently there was a concert that night. We went in and back out again because we were going to go up the towers first. We climbed the spiral staircase up and up and up. It was tight, and the stone was worn down into slight bowls on the stairs which I though was very cool. So many feet have stepped on those stairs! To wear it down like that? Wow.

The gargoyles were cool and the view of foggy/rainy Paris was beautiful. I kind of like that kind of weather, though I would prefer it warmer. We marveled at the cool gargoyles. walked across the bridge in between the towers and came down the other tower.

From there we went back inside and started walking toward the front but heard over the intercom that there would be an English tour in 15 minutes, meet at the back of the chapel. YES! The tour was awesome! There was all kinds of information about the building, it's construction, the materials, the reasoning behind the stained glass and not so stained glass. (Natural lighting!)

Very first we went out in the rain to talk about the front of the building. It tells a story that neither Matthew nor I even noticed the first two times by it! Back in history people visiting the building were often poor and couldn't read so the front facade told bible stories.

In this picture from the nets there was Jesus in the center. He is resurrected and holding his palms out to show the nail marks. Under his right foot people going to heaven and under the left (left is apparently bad!) people being lead by the devil with a chain. Though, it was a loose chain, indicating that it was not against their will but a choice. On the left arch from the top to the bottom people are being pulled to demons, on the right people going to angels.

On the bottoms and sides, all the apostles are presented in statues as well as saints and many other people from the bible. Nothing was here without a purpose and meaning to the story. Fascinating.

There are a few, uhmm... tokens? Religeous... what's the word? I can't recall! One is the crown of thorns. They don't know if it's the actual crown of thorns and don't stand by that but it was brought to the church in the 1300s. The thorns are missing though, because the King at the time broke them off and passed them to important people and princes. Wow, cool story no?

There is a wall around the front of the chapel with carving panels from Jesus' life and aside from them all needing a feather duster (When I made that observation, Matthew said all of Paris needs a feather duster) the detail was incredible. The guide went through a lot of them.

Someone else's picture again

We went forward and were allowed up front by the statue in the front of the chapel. It's an emotion provoking image. You were not allowed to take pictures up there in that gated area, and there are only a couple that can be found on Google, interesting. So only a few on Google and the one the lady who got in trouble took. Here is the one I found. We were right up in front of it. (This is the statue in the painting in my last post!) It's beautiful.

We finished the tour through the other side more wooden panels.

After that tour we went down into the Archeological Crypts showing ancient Lutetia which was on the island pre-ND. We did the audio tour here too. It was interesting showing the actual floor plans, cellars and former bathhouses back in ancient times. even a doorway arch or two. More information on their page here. It went on the the building of the Notre Dame which took 150 years. (!!!) Can you imagine seeing a building start and it not be finished until not only after your lifetime but likely your children's? Crazy! The stones were lifted with a crane wheel contraption that worked by having a man get in it like a giant mouse wheel!

Random observations I forgot to mention. Those french people like their spiral staircases! They are everywhere. Very cool.

Me and Paris. I was apparently not all into this pictures taking idea.

And now... inside. There were no flashes allowed, but doesn't this make for INCREDIBLE pictures? You would think I knew what I was doing or something...

The tour guide gave us a lot of information about the stained glass windows and how they used to make them. Very interesting! I can't even imagine how long the windows took to create.