Best Day Ever

      Given that I'm in France, you would expect that my best day ever here would entail something possibly, or even remotely, French.  However, no matter where you go in the world, it is hard to beat Disneyland!  Disneyland Paris is smaller than the other two, but it was so incredibly fun that I am getting excited just thinking about it.  One of my friends had a season pass because he is gaga about Disney, so he invited us to come with this special coupon and we got in for 1/4 the normal price.  In retrospect though, it was worth the full amount.  Now, before I continue, I must add that we spent the entire day outside on the coldest day that the Paris area has seen all winter.  Every time we checked the weather it was below freezing.  Needless to say I was wearing four layers of long sleeves, tights under my jeans, and two layers of Smartwool socks (thanks Mo and D!), and I was still cold.

       Michel, the season pass holder, was so anxious to get to the park that he managed to drag us out of bed, on a 45min. train ride, and to the park thirty minutes before it actually opened.  He was afraid of the lines that would be forming...because everyone wants to get out of bed at 8am to stand outside in 27 degree weather to be the first to ride the spinning teacups.  As you can see, the family ahead of us offered some steep competition.

he was very excited (please note all of the snow)

We were so cold in this picture, but already so psyched that it didn't matter.

one of many selfies

      The joke of the trip was that Mary is sort of a Grinch when it comes to things Disney, so this is her actually being sarcastic about being up this early in the cold.  Also, I still don't know what the "20" was celebrating, but it's pretty!  

      After this point, I don't have any photos of the rest of the morning, but it was quite fun.  The last time I went on a roller coaster I was eight and screaming and crying to be let off of Splash Mountain, so I always assumed that I didn't like them.  Thus, you can understand my mild terror when they drug me straight in the direction of Space Mountain.  Along the way, we figured that we would get a Fast Pass for another ride, but the young guy working there just looked at us and said, "You know, the wait time only says five minutes because we can't put zero, right?"  There were so few people at the park that the longest we waited was about 10 min. on one ride near the end of the day, and the rest of the time what took the longest was winding through the barricades just to get to the ride.  Pretty nifty.  

     It was probably best that I didn't have much time to process my fear of roller coasters, because before I knew it I was lowering the harness and the thing started to move.  It was not what I was expecting, it was way better!  I have never screamed or cussed with such fervor as during that ride.  I had my eyes closed pretty much the whole time and nearly pulled a muscle holding on to the handles so tight.  When it finally stopped, my adrenalin was going so fast I could hardly get out of the car, but one of the first things we agreed upon was that we wanted to go back and do it again!  It was so much better the second time around, and I was having so much fun that I couldn't stop laughing, and thus was the start of our six rounds on Space Mountain.  

      On round three a couple obviously not feeling the Disney spirit at that hour asked us if their daughter could go with us as we headed back to do it again and they would meet us at the exit.  That was how we met the absolute cutest 10 year old Corsican of all time.  It was a wonderful affirmation of our growing French abilities to be able to have a legible and funny conversation with a little kid, and she joined us for the rest of our rounds as well.

      After a surprisingly awesome Star Wars themed ride obviously from the eighties, some more smaller rides, and the absolute weirdest 3D movie ever by George Lucas, Frances Ford Coppola, and Michael Jackson, we headed back to Frontier Land where we had seen a Mexican food place, but it was closed so the obvious next choice was BBQ at this place that was a French version of an American chuckwagon restaurant complete with harmonica versions of "Oh My Darlin'" and a real fire.  I must say the Angus burger filled with fried onion rings, flame-grilled patties, and arugula of all things was actually very good.  

      Because of our full stomachs, roller coasters weren't really an option for a while, so we rode the carousel, visited the haunted mansion, and some little kid rides.   

We got a free hot drink with our lunch receipts, so hot chocolate it was.

I only include this blurry photo because the expression on the girl's face behind me is just a winner.

      After hot cocoa, we went to the other park.  I hit notes I never thought reachable when they convinced me to go on the Hollywood Tower Hotel ride.  That was true terror right there as we were dropped twelve stories in an elevator over and over again faster than the speed of gravity.  It was still fun, but I don't really think that's my type of ride.  The view from the top before they dropped us was quite nice though.  Afterwards was the Rockin' Roller Coaster (best ride ever!!!!!), and then off to the Toy Land of sorts.

Quote of the Day

Random lady:  Elle est belle!    [She is beautiful!]

Me: Non, elle est Cendrillon.     [No, she is Cinderella.]

The parachute jump was a bit more intense than expected.

      One of the last things we did was go say hi to Minnie which was the perfect end to a pretty much perfect day.  It might have been all of the adrenalin running through our system, but we were all in very good moods and just had so much fun.  Kudos to my awesome friends as always, and I can't wait to go on a roller coaster again!  Much love,

Kate Alice