Disneyland, Paris!

So I am back in the States (My weepy, missing-France-and-wanting-to-return-as-soon-as-possible post will be coming soon), but I still have a bunch of things to update everyone on, so keep reading please :)

Now, on to Disneyland Paris! I have not been to Disneyworld since fourth grade (even though I currently go to school in Orlando, go figure), so everything was like new for me.

My cousins at the entrance

Gorgeous day

First we went to the Sleeping Beauty’s Castle (La belle au bois dormant, which translates to "The Beauty sleeping in the Woods."

View from the castle

At the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride. Yep, I'm the only one with my hands raised. I was expecting a bigger drop...

After that…LINES. And LINES. And MORE LINES! I realized that in a few years, I will refuse to go to theme parks altogether (except King’s Dominion, my one true love). Nothing, not even robot pirates or a train ride around the park is worth an hour in line. We were all getting crabby by 6pm. But we decided to do one more ride, Old Thunder Mountain because we had fast passes for it. It looked like another normal train ride to me so I was not expecting much. But of course, it was the ride that made all the previous waiting worth it. It was thrilling but not too scary for the kids and really fun and didn’t hurt and was refreshing! We all left the ride chattering about it, in much much better spirits. I couldn’t stop smiling.

Everyone delighted after the ride

As we were leaving, we saw an unbelievable crowd of people taking pictures of something. Turns out it was the 20th anniversary parade of Disneyland Paris! People were scrambling to take pictures of Mary Poppins and Mickey drsssed in his Fantasia costume and Simba…it was crazy. Music was playing and children were riding on their dad’s necks and singing along and I felt like I finally understood the hype of Disneyland. The whole day I could not comprehend why parents brought their little kids here. It seems like such a hassle and I doubted the kids would remember any of it. We saw license plates from all over Europe so these parents were really trying hard. Is it really worth it? I guess my answer now is: Yes. There is something inexplicably magical about Disney, and no, I am not seceretly working for them.

CROWDS

The parade

Where dreams come true