Paris Pictures - 14-15 March & Disneyland Paris

Published 8.April, back-dated to 15.March to stay in chronological order.




Our moving the motorhome to Disneyland Paris turned out to be the best move. First off, let me confirm for any European motorhome visitors out there: Yes, you can park your motorhome at Disneyland Paris and yes, you can sleep in it overnight. No one would officially answer our questions prior to arrival (something I hate about Disney in general). In fact, even the woman at the tourist office just outside Disney Village couldn't provide a definitive answer.



The skinny on motorhome parking at Disneyland Paris:

• Cost (per day - you pay at the car park pay station each morning): 13 EURO
• Facilities on site: April-October - Water, dump station. Year round - bathrooms (not sure if there is a shower).
• Recommendation: Park as far away from the "slide walks" as possible. The entry themed music runs until about 1am. We permanently have "Hello, and welcome to Disneyland Paris!" engrained in our brains.
• Recommendation 2: Park in groups of motorhomes. Our second night there, the parking lot cleaners came through around 2am and they were nothing short of noisy. If parked in a group, at least the interior vehicles aren't being circled by the sweeper trucks.
• Recommendation 3: Visit this park during low season and during the weekday. Our Friday visit was awesome - short waits, easy navigation through the park. Saturday was a completely different story. Crowded and the key navigation points don't really channel people very well. Rides were 40+ minute wait times.

We provided our moms with "curbside" service in the motorhome! Dan and Megan ran up to get them from the hotel, with the Winnebago parked out in front. I wish I could have seen the looks on the hotel staff/management's faces (if they even noticed us - but then we do kind of stand out). We definitely got the stare-down from the crowd waiting for the shuttle bus. The image of a Winnebago parked in front of the Disney Enchanted Dream Princess Hotel (or whatever the name of it is) just struck a funny bone and made me giggle.

The walk in from parking is about 1/2 a kilometer. Then there's the typical Disney confusion about tickets ... then the slog through the picturesque pre-entry stuff. About 45-minutes later, we finally found ourselves walking down "Main Street USA" complete with American flags on the buildings (in France!). All my bad feelings about Disney shrank to the background as I felt myself being absorbed in the magif of the place.







Onto the good stuff.


Rides:

• Space Mountain II - great fun-though the music needs to be rachetted up a few notches! Megan was too small to go on it (she was fine on Space Mountain at Anaheim ... but this one is a bit rougher). Dan and I sent our moms on it after we went... I don't know that Charlotte will ever forgive us
• Autotopia - The regulations are different in Paris. It was possible for Sophia to go on the ride and drive (that's just not right!)! The attendant missed the break - so Charlotte and Sophia had 2 laps!
  


• It's a Small World - the must for every Disney visit. This one is bright, light and clean. We had fun enjoying the sights - but couldn't get that darn song out of our heads.
• Indiana Jones Adventure - not worth more than a 5-10 minute wait. Nothing like my memory of the version at Anaheim. Very short roller coaster ride. In fact, they almost let us go through twice, but another wave of people made it through to the entrance ... Megan was too small to go on it.
• Teacups - a dizzying fun ride, of course.
  
• Pirates of the Carribean - a must see. Tons of fun with the girls though Sophia was a little scared, but we were on the lookout for Scooby Doo to save her (oops. wrong film company...hope the Mouse ears didn't pick that up).


• Disney Railway - bummer. They don't manage the line queu and the only station open for boarding was Main Street - our attempts to ride it were futile this time.
• Haunted Mansion - Stil fun after all these years. Always a shocking twist at the end - one which Sophia couldn't quite figure out.
  

Character Meet-in-Greets:

A mouse from Cinderella... awww.




Even the grandmas got into the princess spirit. (Note: Arial recognized and remembered Sophia about 10-minutes later! As she walked by us, she called out a friendly, "Goodbye Sophia!" and blew a kiss!)



Chipmunks galore (in Hollywood Adventure Land)


Woody! We didn't get to shake hands, but hey, we still gave a good ole' shout out.

Misc. Attractions:

• We got swept away into the Alice in Wonder Land maze. I think we squirrled away at least 45-minutes, just because the kids wanted to go in the castle. Good job diverting traffic, Disney!



• Aladdin's Magic Carpet - not worth the time. Just some dioramas of the story of Aladdin. Not very interesting for any of us (we were hoping the building contained a ride...). Though we had great fun trying out dreds on Dan and Norma (my mom).
  
  




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• Sleeping Beauty's Castle - very well done, quite ornate and fun.


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Hollywood Adventure Land:

Built around the movie theme, much like California Adventure Land. A little lame - but more open spaces. Still was very crowded on the weekend.

Rides:

• Tower of Terror - first Dan and I, then we sent Megan as a chaperone for Norma and Charlotte. Hehe.

• Rock-n-Roll Roller Coaster - Charlotte sat this one out with Sophia and the rest of us went for a very fast, very fun roller coaster ride. Very similar to the Space Mountain in Disneyland. We were dubious. It was one of the only rides with no wait time and honestly, the description sounded lame. We exited the rides with huge grins.
• Crusher's Wild Ride - Everyone else was beat - but Megan and I were determined to go on Crusher's Wild Ride (well, me, more so than Megan- the more she read the signs leading up to the ride, the more she questioned if this was really an appropriate ride for her). After waiting over an hour in line (the ride broke down), we finally got in our turtle shell and were off for a crazy fun ride that tipped us sideways and spun us around. We both floated back to the motorhome laughing, arrivin just in time for dinner!

This being our last night at Disneyland, I coerced the family into wandering back out at 7:30 for the "Candelabra" show, thinking it would be like the nighttime parade at Disney Anaheim. It hadn't rained all day. As we made our way back into the park, a gust of wind hit so hard, it blew us all sideways. We found ourselves standing in the cold, pouring down rain for a 5-minute character dance in the central square! I couldn't help but laugh - I had Megan on my shoulders and rain was pouring down my coat sleeves. After a reinvigorating shower, I was ready to go on rides... but, honestly, we were all exhausted from running non-stop and called it a night. Disney at night is quite beautiful though. Even if I can't hold my camera still enough for the night-time shots.

Exhausted, we were grateful that we didn't have an hour of train commuting on top of such a busy two days. The kids have never been so easy to put to bed and we were quite grateful to have our own bed to collapse into.