The Happiest Place in Paris

Sunday morning I hoped out of bed at 6:15 with only a mild amount of complaining because it was the day we were going to EURODISNEY! I hadn’t signed up until Friday because I wasn’t sure I wanted to get up so early and miss my day of preparation before classes, but in the end it was a really good rate and I figured it would be a lot of fun to go with the other international students. We had to meet at the school at 8 am. I made it there just on time, but we waited around for about 30 more minutes for everyone else to get there. That wasn’t a real big surprise but I was a little annoyed that I had gotten up so early if we weren’t actually leaving at 8. So first we had to check in with the student leaders who were taking us. And then we had to walk to the metro stop and buy our RER tickets for the train to Disney. Then we had to take the metro to the RER station and catch the train to Disney. This is not a complicated process. Yet somehow, because of how disorganized it all was and because there were so many of us, it took FOREVER. So we finally get everyone on the RER and ride for about 30 mins out to the East of Paris to Disney. It was about 10 in the morning and stupidly we thought we were almost into the park. I asked one of the girls if we could go to the restroom and she said she didn’t think there was one nearby so we should wait cause it would only be 10 min. We stood outside the security check for another 30 mins waiting for some people coming on the next RER, and then we went through security and clustered up again thinking we were about to get our tickets. One of the student leaders went off to buy them but he didn’t come back, and he didn’t come back, and we didn’t come back. I asked the girls if we would have our tickets soon. “Oh just 10 mins.” A half hour passed. They told us there was a problem getting the tickets and we could go to the bathrooms if we needed. Another half hour passed. We were all pretty ticked off at this point because it was after 11 and we still weren’t in the park. It wouldn’t have been so bad if we hadn’t had to meet at the school at 8 in the morning. If it had just been a few of us on our own we could have been there in 45 mins and already ridding rides. They said that the problem was that the ticket sales office was demanding to see all of our student cards because of the special rate they were giving us, but the leaders didn’t want to go collecting everyone’s cards because that was a big hassle with the number of student we had and surely someone’s would get lost, and some people might not have them because they hadn’t told us to bring them, so the guy had been negotiating with the ticket people for an hour. Finally, after a looooot of waiting, they emerged with our tickets. We skipped off into the park trying not to focus on how many hours we had wasted waiting to get in.

Walking into Disney was kind of like going home for me. Not that I spend that much time at Disney in Orlando, but it is familiar and very American. The layout is really similar to Disneyworld, and they have a lot of the same attractions and decorations. The first sign you see when you walk in is “Mainstreet, USA” which I thought was pretty great. It was especially fun that one of the guys in our group had never been to a Disney park before so we got to experience it “for the first time” vicariously through him. Disneyland Paris isn’t as big as Disneyworld in Orlando but it has some things that the other doesn’t, and it is also more modern. Most of the rides here are more hi-tech than their counterparts in Orlando. For example, Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain both have loops in them. Despite that, they don’t make you leave your stuff in a locker or anything, they just tell you to tuck it under your feet and they rely on centripetal force to keep things from falling out. They also allow you to take pictures on rides inside which I don’t think is allowed in the US? Basically I don’t think they are nearly as paranoid about lawsuits as Americans are.

The whole day was a lot of fun, especially since it was perfectly acceptable for us to act like dumb tourists since everyone at Disney is a tourist. We rode as many rides as we could. Some are better, like Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain, but some aren’t as good, like the Haunted Manor. While it is a very American place, there were small reminders that we were in France, like the pirates and such speaking French. And only in Disneyland Paris can you buy a beignet in the shape of Mickey’s head. The park is bilingual, French and English, so they make all the announcements on the rides in both. We laughed so hard when the warning on the Madhatter’s Tea Party ride was “Please remain seated until your tea-cup has come to a complete stop.”

When we went into the Swiss Family Robinson tree house the employee at the entrance was messing with the family in front of us and making them solve a riddle before they could go in. I hoped he wouldn’t do the same thing to us because the chances of me figuring out a word puzzle in French are not good. He didn’t, but when we walked by, he stuck out his finger and poked me in the arm and blew a raspberry. Yep. I have no idea why. It was maybe the most random thing ever. We all exchanged confused looks and kept walking. The park is already decorated for their month-long Halloween celebration, which was fun for me because elsewhere in France they don’t do much for it and it makes me feel like they are skipping my birthday. We stayed until closing time when the lines got short and we could ride Space Mountain without waiting. And then we hoped back on the RER and tried to stay awake long enough to get home. Pictures from the day are posted to the left!
M- I- C....see you real soon....K- E- Y...why? Because we like you!....M- O- U- S- Eeeeeeee
-Lyndsey