Disneyland Paris Day 1

Today is at the top of the list as one of the best days of my life.
We got up at 4 this morning to get ready for Disneyland!!!! We left our apartment at 5 to walk to the metro station. We got on the first metro that ran at 5:15. We got to the train station at about 5:30 and our train didn’t leave till 6:10. We had time to check the board for where our train was going to come in and relax for a second. When they posted which platform our train would be on we headed down there. We got there just as our train was pulling in and we climbed on board. Right before the train was supposed to leave this lady came down and put her stuff on board and got back off to return her cart she had used…we watched her run with the train as we pulled out…guess she wasn’t going on the same trip as her luggage. We both fell asleep pretty much as soon as the train took off. We woke up at like 8:30 and had our tickets checked before we arrived at the train station at 9. When we got to the train station we walked out the door…and the guy at the train station in Rennes wasn’t lying…we could see Disneyland!!!
We walked through Disney Village…the shopping and restaurants…heading toward our hotel. We got to see pretty much all the hotels since ours is one of the farthest from the park…which is why it was the cheapest. We got to our hotel and we were able to check in…even though it was only 10 am. We got in our room and put our stuff down. We decided to each have one of our granola bars we bought so we could eat a late lunch and not have to eat dinner till we got back to our hotel tonight. We fixed our hair since we had slept on the train and headed out to get the bus. It came pretty quickly and we were on our way back to the parks!!!!
We went to Disney Studios first because it had just a few rides we wanted to hit and the parade we wanted to see was at 5 in Disneyland. We rode Tower of Terror and it was amazing…and the wait was only 10 minutes. We went to ride Crush’s Coaster…from Finding Nemo…next but it had a 45 minutes wait time. The Flying Carpets of Agrabah…from Aladdin…instead of waiting in line. It was pretty much like Dumbo but it was flying carpets instead of Dumbos. We decided to go get fastpasses for Rocking Roller Coaster and then wait in line at Crush’s Coaster, but once we got there there was only a 10 minutes wait. We rode it once and it was awesome so we immediately rode it again. On our way back to Crush’s Coaster we passed Tower of Terror again and it only had a 15 minute wait so we rode it again while the line was short. That ride is pretty cool. Every time you ride it you drop at different rates and a different amount of times before you drop the major time. Sadly Morgan and I discussed the engineering of the ride once we got off. Even in France we can’t get away from our true callings. We got back to Crush’s Coaster and it only had a 35 minute wait…which ended up being the longest wait we had the entire day. It was a pretty cool ride but not what we expected at all. You sat in a shell with four seats facing outward. You explored the EAC…Eastern Australian Current with Nemo and Crush.
We were starting to get a little hungry since it was after 1 so we headed back towards the entrance of Disney Studios were there were a ton of restaurants. We found a place that had pizza and they had an awesome deal for a full meal. You got a main food, a side item, dessert, and a drink for 12.30 Euros. We got cheese pizza, fries, and I got a tiny chocolate cake and Morgan got a Doughnut type pastry that was filled with chocolate and we split our desserts. We took picture of our food before we ate because it was so much food. We were determined we were going to finish it all and we failed miserably. I left about a third of my pizza…pretty much all my fries (I think I ate like 2)…and some cake and doughnut (that should tell you how full we were). We had to take more pics when we were done to prove how horribly we failed. We decided if we ate there again on Sunday we would just split one meal. When we were paying for lunch the guy gave us a coupon for a free hot drink that was good at a ton of store today from 3 to 7.
We went to the main park after lunch to hit some rides before the parade. We went to Discovery Land first and rode Space Mountain Mission 2. This is the best ride we rode the entire day…if not ever!!! It was kinda like Mr. Freeze in the way it took off but the ride was inside a building in pitch black and you fly through space with asteroids, the moon, and stars everywhere. The whole ride is super fast and has spins and upside down parts. You also think it’s over several times just to drop and get started all over again. Before we had even completely stopped I asked if we could ride it again…and we did…right then. We rode Buzz Lightyear next which is just like the Scooby Doo ride at Six Flags…you ride through the ride shooting bad guys with your laser gun. We stopped and pottied after that and figured out what we wanted to do the rest of the day.
We went to fantasy land next and explored everything in Playful Architecture. We rode Small World first which is where you ride through and see tiny people acting our every country in the world and small versions of major landmarks. We rode the teacups and then went into the Queen of Hearts Labyrinth. It was pretty tricky and we ended finally making in through and we ended up at the Queens castle. We rode the Peter Pan ride and Pinnochio next. They were pretty much like Small World except they told each story through scenes in the ride. Once we got off Pinnochio it was almost time for the parade to start. We went through Aurora…sleeping beauty…’s castle. It was gorgeous. The architecture was amazing and the stained glass told the story and that was some awesome stained glass. There were owls everywhere because they are in the story. We went to leave thinking we were done and we ended up in the dungeon where they had a dragon. It was animatronic and growled. It kinda scared us so I know it had to be freaky for small children.
It was 4:30 and we wanted to get a place for the parade. Morgan staked out prime seats for us and I went to cash in our free hot drink coupons we got with lunch. We enjoyed our hot chocolate while we waited for the parade to start. When it finally did it was so much fun. We watched the “Dreams Come True Parade” so it had all the princesses in it. After the parade we went into Adventure land to ride the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It wasn’t that good. It was like Peter Pan and just told the store while you floated along. It did have a few drops in it but nothing too spectacular. We were running out of time before the park closed at 7 and we wanted to at least get in the Haunted Mansion. We went to Frontier Land and found the ride. It was pretty cool but nothing to amazing…and not scary. Apparently I missed a key point and Morgan missed to she only knew about it because of everything she has read about Disney. We are going to make sure we ride it again so maybe we can figure it out.
It was 10 till 7 so we headed back towards the entrance were they were already starting to decorate for the Halloween stuff that starts tomorrow. They had a ton of Pumpkin head people acting like they were painting the street orange and were set up for awesome pictures. We prolly took about 50 pictures with all the ones they had set up. It was a little after 7 when we were done so we headed over to Disney Village to shop a little. We both really wanted Mickey ears to wear tomorrow since everyone will be dressed up for the Halloween stuff…and a ton of people were wearing them today. We finally found some we liked at the last store we went in. Morgan got pink princess ears with a tiara and veil attached on a headband. I got Mickey ears on a headband that have a little blue hat like the one he wears in Fantasia. I can’t wait to wear them tomorrow.
We headed back to the hotel just in time to catch the bus heading that way outside Disney Village. When we got back we stopped to get some food. Since our hotel is the Hotel Santa Fe it was a tex mex buffet and a bar in it. We were going to eat the buffet but it was ridiculously expensive and we weren’t really hungry. We decided just to get margaritas at the bar and some nachos with salsa. I was yummy but the frozen margaritas didn’t help that our hotel doesn’t have central air. It’s cold here…did I mention that yet. We both wore jeans and jackets pretty much all day. After we finished our dinner we came back up to our room. Luckily we have a little heater like in most hotels so we won’t freeze tonight. We uploaded our pictures onto our computers and are charging our batteries. Mine died before we got to the pumpkin people but luckily Morgan’s old camera…that she had with us in case she filled up her new ones memory card…used the same battery as mine and I stole it so I could take more pics. We both didn’t realize how tired and sore our feet were until we sat down on the beds to type up what we had done today.
I’m going to hope in the shower now though so we can get to bed before too long. We are getting up at 6:15 so we can eat at 7 when our reservations are. We get to go to the parks at 8 in the morning for special Magic Hours for Disney Hotel guests only. They parks normally don’t open till 10 so we get 2 hours of less people…not that the lines were bad today anyway…but it’s extra time that we are going to take advantage of. The park stays open till 10 tomorrow so we will be there for about 14 hours. We will need every minute of it to take in the rides…sites…and characters which we barely saw today. Tomorrow starts the Halloween stuff so there will be extra characters since the villains will be here too. The regular characters will also be in costume so we will have tons of pictures to take. I’ll make sure and write again tomorrow so that I don’t leave anything out for you guys. Shower time!