An American in Disneyland Paris About This Page:

[PrincessSharon]

Originally Posted by orionchika

I just love your pics!!! and that punching bag game... I can dig it!!! May have to see if my TA wants to play tomorrow, LOL...Just kidding.... Can't wait to read more....

Oh yes, your TA really needs to learn that game.

Originally Posted by orionchika

OOOhhh and I love your pod!!! That's how one deserves to fly!!! But I really wished you'd taken a pic of that hunky driver....

I just didn't think I'd get the same one. Then when I thought about taking a photo, my camera was stashed in my suitcase and it was too late.

Originally Posted by dsteiny23

Wow, I didn't realize there was such a huge exchage rate on the points for Buzz...you lucked out. I agree that the castle picture with the flowers in front is the best one. And it's hard to pick because it is such a beautiful castle.

LOVE the pod!! A three course meal!! Awesome!!

I really enjoyed this entire TR. Thank you for sharing.

The points conversion helps a lot.

Originally Posted by Tinkerboo

I forgot to say a massive thank you Sharon for such a great report - even though some of your 'encounters' may have dampened my enthusiasm to go (I seem to attract those kind of people too somehow, either that or I just notice them more easily than other people do!) it's been awesome to see so many pics and to hear a first-hand account of what it's really like.

Oh, and I'm very jealous of the pod upgrades...we were hoping that we might get one when we were flying out to get married, or on the way back, or on our anniversary...but sadly we obviously just didn't look important enough on any of those occasions, unlike your good self...

While I do think the experience isn't as pixie dusted as the American parks, I still think you'll have a good time. I would never discourage anyone from going.

Originally Posted by Shawnam1868

Sharon....I really enjoyed this tr. I cannot wait to finally get to DLP, someday. A couple of comments. My oldest dd likes to play that French game you mentioned with her younger sister. Sometimes I want to play it with my older dd while she's "playing".

I loved hearing about your pod. It looked like a great flight.

I guess it's spreading! And does your older DD start it? Because if she does, I'd say that's a good reason for you to play too!

Originally Posted by christiejay

Great update! I love your point conversion system on Buzz ... maybe they use that same kind of system for their wait times ... can't believe how long some of those lines were! The Main Street window displays were nice, and I love your fav pic of the castle. I think the flowers in front really set it off just right. How nice to be upgraded on your flights home! Looking forward to your final thoughts, but I guess we will have to wait a couple of weeks until you are back home? Or will you do them from WDW?

Final thoughts are coming right up!

Originally Posted by Tawnya

Im so sad too see this TR end. Now you have to take another trip so I can read that TR and pretend im there too! I loved your pod that was so darn cool I want to ride in one too!

OK!

Originally Posted by coffeechef

The photos you took of the castle were beautiful. I saw the 80 minute wait for TOT and thought you might not venture on again... but you made it. I loved the Alice in Wonderland attraction. What a great day you had there. I want to see if I can youtube the crush ride, wonder if its out there? and the upgrades on the ride home...... that was such a bonus. what did you call your space ..... your pod? I couldn't remember That was sooooooo cool. I would love to be able to travel like that ...all the time. so since I see you were at the Airport this AM ready to head out to WDW I am guessing the final thoughts will be later. But I have really enjoyed reading about your whole trip to England and to France. and to gt a chance to visit DLP through you... I say thank you

That 80 minute wait was crazy, but I had a VIP FP. I'm not sure if there's video of Crush's Coaster. It seems like it would be hard to capture on film - dark and fast-moving aren't the best conditions for taking video.

[MayraLR]

Your updates had me cracking up . Sorry about the smelly family . I can't stop thinking about your next update , I wonder what happened... Great photos as usual.

[MGW]

Wait a minute, did you anything besides popcorn that day? I must have missed it.

Thanks for the updates!

[christiejay]

Originally Posted by Meggera

I the Singing in the Rain umbrella with real rain. They need to do that at DHS.

It used to rain at that one, does it not anymore? It's been a while since I've checked it out.

[mpwife153]

Luckily I have finally learned to not eat or drink when reading a Princess Sharon TR....this update had me in stiches!!! You always seem to meet the most, um, interesting people on your journies! the great photos, keep'em coming!!

[LLaffinPlace]

Originally Posted by mpwife153

Luckily I have finally learned to not eat or drink when reading a Princess Sharon TR....this update had me in stiches!!! You always seem to meet the most, um, interesting people on your journies!

Somehow I have the feeling that her success in meeting up with interesting people will hold up on her next trip to WDW. Whaddaya think, P-Sha?

[PrincessSharon]

Originally Posted by christiejay

Great updates! I can't believe RNRC had such a short line at that time of day. And I love how they have an Aerosmith tour bus. Sounds like they have quite an assortment of shows at the Studios. I love the look of Adventureland, especially the pirate ship and skull rock, that's really cool. So if the entrance to the park is through the hotel, how is the lobby set up? Is it on the second level of the hotel? Your pics of the lobby reminded me of the Grand Floridian, especially the staircase.

You enter the lobby from a separate entrance to the right of the park entrance. It seemed like there was nothing on top of the park entrance other than hotel rooms.

Originally Posted by coffeechef

You totally cracked me up with your commentary about the smelly family on IASW and your attempt to not have to smell them. I love all your pictures. it looks so beautiful there. and whoa... that overfilled trash. unreal and a yuck. How do ya miss something like that? where do you get your smilie icons,, they are funny

I have a collection of smilies, but I also use Google to find new ones.

Originally Posted by a_bernard

I love reading your TR's Sharon. You are so funny LOL you make me laugh
Hey how early did you book your ADB? Which month did you book it?

I booked it in August 2008.

Originally Posted by mom2twingirlies

I have laughing out loud during the IASW commentary. I just see someone coming home and talking about the mouth breathing American on the ride. Too funny.

What was the Mickey in the hotel window made of?

That Mickey was made of flowers.

Originally Posted by chezp

Wow, you have been busy and you've certainly met some...err... interesting people on your travels around Disneyland Paris, shall we say! Reading that, I couldn't help but think you must have had a magnet on you that day, attracting all the strange visitors towards you...

I loved your parade photos - we've never seen the parade there and it does look pretty neat. Overall, seeing all your photos makes me think we should go back to Disneyland Paris at some point. Hmmm.... maybe 2010?

I did have my weirdo magnet on that day! And you should definitely see the parade! It's a good one.

Originally Posted by MGW

Wait a minute, did you anything besides popcorn that day? I must have missed it.

Thanks for the updates!

I had breakfast and then a big lunch at the Restaurant des Stars buffet, so I really only needed a snack for dinner.

Originally Posted by christiejay

It used to rain at that one, does it not anymore? It's been a while since I've checked it out.

I think it depends on how much rain has fallen in Orlando whether they run it or not.

Originally Posted by LLaffinPlace

Somehow I have the feeling that her success in meeting up with interesting people will hold up on her next trip to WDW. Whaddaya think, P-Sha?

[KandJluvdisney]

great update sharon
sorry about your own little cast of "interesting characters"
hurry back with more please

[PrincessSharon]

Day Nine – Saturday, 23 May


I was up early and got dressed quickly. I finished packing and headed down to breakfast. Breakfast was pretty much the same exact thing as the day before. I stored my bags and did the express check out.

I wanted to get to the park early because I wanted to do some stuff at Disneyland (which opened for hotel guests at 8) before heading over (well before the 10:00 opening) at Walt Disney Studios.

I arrived at the park shortly after 8 and it was practically empty. I used that as an excuse to get more photos.























I also needed to get more pics of the castle. Because, umm… err… hey, look at that! <points at nothing>.






Not bad for a self portrait


This is my absolute favorite of all the castle pictures I took



After getting those very important pictures that I really, really needed, I headed straight to Discoveryland.










Café Hyperion, where I ate dinner my first night in DLP



Buzz wasn’t running (), so I continued on. I decided to give the Orbitron (or Astro Orbiter or whatever) a try. I had to wait about 10 minutes, and then I was happily soaring over Discoveryland.


Whee!



Next I went over to Space Mountain.


Here you can see the outside part of the ride – the launch that’s similar to RNRC


When a train is launched, smoke comes out near the top

As I said before, it’s very bumpy and I was risking a headache, but the ride’s so much fun I figured it would be worth it. It was practically a walk on (but like many attractions here in the States, the queue is so long it takes 5 minutes to just walk through it).

I passed Les Mystères du Nautilus, which is sort of the DLP version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It’s only a walkthrough attraction, so I decided to skip it (and thinking back, I’m sure it wasn’t even open yet). It certainly looks cool from the outside, so I probably got to see the best part.





It was about 9:00, so I wanted to head over to the Studios. I was determined to be among the first in line. I arrived at the gates at about 9:10. On the way I passed a cart selling fun hats. I didn’t buy one, but I did consider it for a minute.



Continued…

[PrincessSharon]

When I reached the Studios, there were already lots of people lined up at the turnstiles. I saw a gate marked “re-entry,” and because I’d already been in the parks, I’d be re-entering. I waited in front of that gate and was first! Yay!

They opened the turnstiles at 9:30 and I quickly walked over to Crush’s Coaster. I wasn’t first, but there were only about ten or so people ahead of me (proof that I didn’t run – if I had, I would certainly have been first ).



They kept us outside the queue until 9:45 and then we were able to move in, all the way up to the point where you enter the building.

The wait this time was so much more pleasant! I didn’t have any rude or loud families nearby. I did, however have a couple of kids in front of me providing me with free entertainment. For some reason (and I noticed this on at least four separate occasions), kids in France like to play a game when they are bored. According to my notes this game is called “Let’s slap the %#@&$ out of each other.” I mean these kids would just hit each other as hard as they could. For fun.

I wonder what the rules are. No punching? And do you get bonus points for making the other kid cry? Cause if you do, I’m all over that! I’m totally playing that game with my brothers.

So the park finally opened and we were allowed through the rest of the queue. Just before boarding, a woman turned around and asked me if I was riding by myself and when I told her I was she asked would I mind if one of her daughters rode with me (in French <pats self on back>). I don’t know why it was an issue, because there were four of them and the ride vehicle seats four. I guess they figured it out and all ended up riding together.

I was among the first people to ride, and it was even more fun than it had been the day before with that crazy wait. I got off the ride at about 10 minutes after actual park opening! Yay! Of course, since I got in line at 9:10, it still was technically an hour wait, but I was happy! And check out the queue when I came out of the building, 10 minutes after park opening…






I had lots of time to play and only one more thing on the agenda (Animagique). I spotted this cute area, which is normally a meet and greet. Mike and Sully weren’t around, though.





I considered the Studio Tour, which was just opened that day after a refurb, but the length of the tour would interfere with the time of Animagique.



I walked over to the tip board to help me make up my mind what to do next. Their tip board is awesome – it is computerized with video!





I decided which show of Animagique I wanted, but I still had no idea what to do right then. I didn’t really have a lot of time, so I just walked around and took pictures.









I decided to visit the Animation Academy, which is similar to the attraction at Disneyland.












The Animation class, which I didn’t take



I enjoyed exploring all the exhibits and stuff in there. When I came out, I noticed that the wait for the Studio Tour was posted at 2 hours! I certainly hope that was a mistake. I continued roaming around.



Continued…

[PrincessSharon]

I enjoyed the Radiator Springs area, which is a really cute area.















It was time for Animagique.



This is also a theater show. The best way I can describe it is as a live action, blacklight version of Mickey’s Philharmagic. Donald gets into trouble and then ends up in scenes from Disney classics. It’s very cute and was easily my favorite of the stage shows.

So I’d done everything at the Studios that I wanted to see. But before heading back over to Disneyland Parc, I had to “drop” in on my favorite attraction.







I walked over to the Disneyland and managed to take only a couple of photos on the way. The Disneyland Hotel is so pretty! How can I resist?





I hadn’t gotten any photos of the windows on Main Street, so I took the time to do that.











Then I saw something I simply couldn’t resist. Hand wound cotton candy (or as they call it over there, candy floss). I like cotton candy, but only the fresh stuff, not the bagged stuff.





It was freakin’ huge! It was so tall, I couldn’t get the camera far enough away from it to fit the whole thing in the shot! I couldn’t finish it all. Since I was going home that day, I figured I’d save it for later and give it to DM (who will not turn her nose up at any form of sugar). I asked the CM for a bag and she told me she couldn’t give me a bag without a purchase. Didn’t I just purchase this cotton candy? I decided not to press the issue, since it wasn’t really that important.

I saw Sleeping Beauty (who wears her blue dress in Paris) giving a little impromptu performance.



I made an entry in my notes about the balloons. They have Mickey and Minnie (and Winnie the Pooh) balloons for sale, but the weight they use for them must be flimsy or something because I saw about 30 balloons flying away over the course of three days. Also a lot in the ceilings of buildings. Must be an extra revenue stream for them.

I wanted to see Alice’s Curious Labyrinth because it had been highly recommended. It was earlier in the day, so I figured it’d still be open and it was. It was really cute and I enjoyed going through the maze and checking out the park from different angles.





















The Queen of Hearts (slowly) pops up from behind a fence to scream at you.




Off with your head!









When you climb up in the little castle, you can see all of Fantasyland







I walked through Fantasyland again, knowing this would be my last chance to see all the little details. Since there’s no Toontown, Mickey’s Garden is behind Sir Mickey’s (next to the giant beanstalk, which I think is a cute idea).





It looked like it might rain, so I opted for an indoor attraction – it’s a small world. Don’t worry, I won’t torture you with more photos.

Continued…

[PrincessSharon]

I still had one more thing that I wanted to do, Buzz Lightyear. I walked to Discoveryland and found it open and accepting my VIP FP. Finally!



The ride is pretty similar to the one at Disneyland.



That may seem like a low score, but when you do the conversion, it’s actually equal to 737,000 at a U.S. park. What?

It started to sprinkle then, but it was time for me to head back to the hotel. I had a last look around before heading to the Bell Services desk to collect my bags and wait for my driver. I’d just turned in my ticket to collect my bags when the same (hot) driver was suddenly standing next to me. He put my bags in the car, and we were on our way to Charles de Gaulle airport (it was just the two of us).

Before I knew it, we were pulling up in front of the British Airways terminal. I went inside and checked in at the counter, since I hadn’t done that ahead of time. The agent took my bags and checked me in for both flights (I was flying to Heathrow, and then New York). Since I was very early, she asked me if I wanted to get on an earlier flight to London. I’d have a longer layover, but I’d be waiting either way. I decided to spend the time waiting at LHR and took the earlier flight. Then she told me I’d been upgraded. Sweet!

Because it was a short flight, Premium Economy (which I think they call World Traveler Plus) wasn’t available on the CDG-LHR leg. But I’d been upgraded to Business Class! Yay!

The flight was practically empty (especially in Business Class, where there were only three other passengers). I had a window seat, which allowed me to enjoy the scenery.



I’m used to flying steerage (aka Southwest Airlines), so with a short flight, I’m used to getting a bag of peanuts and a soda. In Business Class, I got a real meal!



After I finished eating, I spent the rest of the quick flight looking out the window.



We landed at Heathrow and had to get a shuttle to the terminal, which was loads of fun. I spent the layover walking around, catching up on notes and just hanging around. When it was time to board, I got in line. One of the agents said people with J Class tickets can use the separate queue (i.e. the one with nobody in it). I looked at my ticket. I had a J Class ticket!

I quickly made my way over to that line and strolled right onto the plane. When I boarded, the flight attendant directed me to the left. Wait a minute! I’d been upgraded again! It took me until that exact moment to figure it out. In my defense, I didn’t know I’d been upgraded for both legs of the flight.

I was thrilled with the upgrade to Business Class (which I think they call Club World) on the way home in particular because 1) I was tired and could use the extra room and privacy to really get comfortable, and 2) I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about my seatmate looking at me like I’d never flown before, and I could therefore snap pictures to my heart’s content.


My pod!


With plenty of legroom in my pod!

I settled in to watch the safety video in my pod (and I was able to take a picture, because of the privacy of my pod).



Another benefit of Business Class (besides the pod) is all the booze you care to drink in your pod. I didn’t overindulge, but I did enjoy a nice adult beverage in my pod.

I perused the menu (in my pod) and made my selections (you get a three-course meal in Business Class).





Once I’d chosen what I wanted to eat, I made myself more comfortable in my pod and looked out the window. I enjoyed the scenery while there was still something to look at than the Atlantic Ocean.



The main difference between Southwest (and I Southwest) and British Airways is the normal sized bag of nuts you get in your pod.



A not so teeny bag of macadamia nuts. Then it was time for my first course in my pod. OK, I’ll stop I’d chosen the scallops.



That was delish! We also got chocolates, which I put away for DM.



Then I enjoyed my main course



And then I enjoyed my dessert



I spent the rest of the flight playing games, watching movies and reading. I wanted to stay awake to help readjust myself to my own time zone. I was able to stay awake for most of the flight.

I landed and cleared customs and picked up my luggage. I called my DM, who was supposed to be picking me up. I was surprised when my Dad picked up Mom’s cellphone! They'd both come to get me. I guess they missed me. How sweet!

Up Next: Final Thoughts and Ramblings

[LLaffinPlace]

Originally Posted by PrincessSharon

That may seem like a low score, but when you do the conversion, it’s actually equal to 737,000 at a U.S. park. What?

Wonderful pictures and commentary. And I am so jealous of your pod! Don't you love BA?

Thanks so much for sharing--looking forward to your wrap up on this amazing trip.

[iloverags2]

Oh, I just hate seeing this come to an end. You always make every trip so enjoyable. In the past I have heard so many negatives about DLP, but Sharon, you always make every trip seem like it was the best you ever had.

Your pictures are gorgeous, your stories a hoot, and we love you for taking us all on your journey!

[dsteiny23]

Wow, I didn't realize there was such a huge exchage rate on the points for Buzz...you lucked out. I agree that the castle picture with the flowers in front is the best one. And it's hard to pick because it is such a beautiful castle.

LOVE the pod!! A three course meal!! Awesome!!

I really enjoyed this entire TR. Thank you for sharing.