Points make Paris... TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 30 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Monday 2 May – part three: are we going to be able to go up?
We met back up again in the lobby of the Hotel New York, and headed outside, and look!
So it looks as if we will be able to go up after all. We headed back through security, which had a longer wait than earlier, but nothing terrible. We then paid our €12 ($13)each and headed through to wait for the balloon to come back down for us.
We were standing next to a mother with two children from the north of England, and she was getting ill, just looking at the balloon high above us. I had to confess it was pretty high up, and apparently she doesn’t do heights… as well as flying, water and butterflies… yes, seriously!
Standing out there, above Lake Disney, you did get a fascinating, and slightly different view of the surrounding area.
Soon the balloon was making its way back down to us…
We headed inside, with the woman in front of us still freaking out. Apparently she’d been told if she got that bad, then the guy operating it would bring her back down, then send the rest of us back up again. Thankfully, she was fine once she got up there, and I think she surprised herself with how well she coped…
Almost as soon as we started to go up in the air, you got the most amazing views over the whole of the Disneyland Paris Resort. I was so glad we’d done this, especially given the weather was so utterly perfect and you could see everything…
The views from up there are amazing. I'm glad you got to go up. It's good that that woman got over her fear once she got up there.
Pluto really gave Evie a magical moment .
Liz
You really got some great views from the balloon. Good for you for sticking up for Eeyore when Mickey was picking on him. Pluto was a hoot! That was quite the interaction you all had with him. Oh, and, by the way, that is Dale in the picture, not Chip. Chip has the chocolate chip nose while Dale has the red one.
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You really got some great views from the balloon. Good for you for sticking up for Eeyore when Mickey was picking on him.
Hey, I'll defend my donkey boy all the time, even against the Big Cheese!
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Pluto was a hoot! That was quite the interaction you all had with him. Oh, and, by the way, that is Dale in the picture, not Chip. Chip has the chocolate chip nose while Dale has the red one.
Wow, incredible views! Very cool. Indeed - it's absolutely perfect weather for that. I ended up doing the WDW one at night and after seeing your photos, I may have to do it again during the day.
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Tanya
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I've never had much interest in the balloons but your photos have me rethinking that. What a great perspective!
What is that last photo? It looks like a building with trees?
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Wow, incredible views! Very cool. Indeed - it's absolutely perfect weather for that. I ended up doing the WDW one at night and after seeing your photos, I may have to do it again during the day.
Now there's an idea! I've never done Characters in Flight at night, we may have to look at doing that in September. We've done it during the day and the views were superb - I'd definitely recommend a daylight flight.
I've never had much interest in the balloons but your photos have me rethinking that. What a great perspective!
What is that last photo? It looks like a building with trees?
It's in the Disneyland Park and is called La Cabane des Robinson. It's essentially the Swiss Family Treehouse and it's surrounded by scaffolding, as it was down for rehab at the time.
Monday 2 May – part four: so that’s where they keep the animals
From our vantage point in the Panoramagique balloon, we even found out where they keep the animals that are used in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show…
Eventually, we dragged ourselves away from the views of the park, and instead admired the hotels beneath us…
Before we knew it, we were slowly descending again. I’d almost say it wasn’t quite long enough, as I’d have liked another couple of minutes up there, but it was great value for what we saw. We got a few final shots on the way down…
We then made our way back to the Hotel New York, where we were parked. My goodness, look at the line to clear security now!
This was where I felt very glad we were in the Disneyland Hotel, as that’s the only hotel that doesn’t have to go through a second security check, as presumably each hotel has one in their lobby, just like the Hotel New York? I personally found this a bit worrying, as the only people that should be in this area should be Disneyland Paris resort guests, and the fact there’s another security check here says to me that it’s not completely closed off and other people can get in.
We found this guy chirping away as well…
We drove back to our hotel, and headed for the parking lot. Now, that seemed perfectly sensible to us. We pulled up, and the barrier was down, so I got out, assuming our room key would activate it. Apparently, as I found out when a Cast Member came racing over, you had to drive up to the resort entrance, see them, then they press a button to let you into the car park. Now I don’t know if this is all part of the additional security, or just how they’re doing things now, but it made much more sense to me to just make the car park room key activation.
Once we were in, we headed back to the room, with me getting some photos on the way, as it was so beautiful outside.
We had a little bit of downtime, before we headed off to check out. Thankfully, we left enough time before the 11:00am cut off time, as we had to wait ages for an elevator, then we had a family who decided to get in with their luggage, when patently there wasn’t space for them. The lift started bleeping as it moved, indicating it was overloaded – no surprise there then.
When we got to the second floor, they got out, and promptly stopped in front of everyone. I got past them, but could see Mark struggling to get past them, so I yelled “excuse me” at them, and pointed behind them. They were completely oblivious and Mark was now trying to get past their child who was standing in the way, and he had the suitcase. I said in a loud voice “she will get run over at this rate”, and still they did nothing, and the child just stood in the way. How Mark avoided her, I do not know, but they were very lucky….
Oh right, the animals! I'd nearly forgotten about them already. So well behaved, those bovines....
The hotels look very cool from up there. I see Hotel Cheyenne and Santa Fe are a little bit of a walk away - but perhaps the others are worth the extra expense to be closer. Then you don't really need to use the shuttle and can just walk.
Here we go again with the rude and oblivious. These people are everywhere!
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Tanya
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Thankfully, she was fine once she got up there, and I think she surprised herself with how well she coped… 
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One of these days, I will get it right! 
I ended up doing the WDW one at night and after seeing your photos, I may have to do it again during the day.
I got past them, but could see Mark struggling to get past them, so I yelled “excuse me” at them, and pointed behind them. They were completely oblivious and Mark was now trying to get past their child who was standing in the way, and he had the suitcase. I said in a loud voice “she will get run over at this rate”, and still they did nothing, and the child just stood in the way. How Mark avoided her, I do not know, but they were very lucky…. 
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