Disneyland Paris The next morning came so fast for Anthony and I. We were awaken by our alarm at 6:30am. Breakfast started at 7am and we were to leave for Disneyland at 8am. Our breakfast was much more fulfilling than the previous morning’s. This one was included in the price for our hotel and it consisted of croissants, French bread, cereal, fruit, coffee tea and juice. We did not leave that place hungry, which is good since food always is expensive in amusement parks. It was about a 45-minute trip outside Paris to get to Disneyland. It was about 9am when we arrived. Our tour guide gave us our tickets (which looked like credit cards, metallic strip on the back and everything) and told us to meet the bus back here at 8pm. We had 11 hours in the park. Geesh, When we went to Busch Gardens and Kings Dominion we didn’t stay that long! We were wondering what we were going to do! We knew right then that we wouldn’t have any problem sleeping on the bus that night! Our tour guide was not coming into the park, so he set us all free to go on our merry way. Now, you know there is like a mile walk from where you park to the entrance of the park. It was the same here. But, there were two long flat escalators (like the ones you would find at an airport) for us lazy people. It was pretty fun to walk faster than normal—getting to the entrance faster. As we approached the entrance to the park, but still outside, there was the Disney Village. I guess this was for the people who wanted to experience the restaurants, shops and shows. There were plenty of restaurants here and even a Disney Store! I couldn’t believe it, a Disney Store right inside the Disney Park. Go figure. As you kept walking to the back of the village, you came across a lake. On the each of the other three shores you could see the Disney resort hotels. One day Anthony and I will actually get to stay in one! The park seemed deserted at 9:30 in the morning. It was very nice to walk around and not get bumped. The first few hours we walked and walked and walked. We went through some of the attractions that were not rides, but most of them were stores. We weren’t quite in the shopping mood yet. It was still early and we really didn’t want to carry around our bags all day. So we just looked. Mainly it was a curiosity—to see if anything was different in Disneyland Paris. Around lunchtime we happened to be in Discoveryland. We ordered a "spaceburger" and fries. It was the best hamburger we had. Prices were about the same. Everything looks higher though, since the Franc is not very strong. After lunch we walked around more. Space Mountain looked like it had a long line so we went wandering more. We rode a few rides and eventually made it back to Space Mountain. Let me tell you something. I have been to Disneyland, California, and DisneyWorld, Florida and now Disneyland Paris. Every Disney Theme Park has it’s own Space Mountain. I have been on all. Paris’ Space Mountain is by far the best! The ones in the states just went round and round and had some light as you went. The one here in Paris was completely in the dark. You could not see! It was the fastest ride! Short, sweet and lots of loops! I actually felt my face pulling back from the G-force on some of them! After that ride, it was all over for us. We knew we weren’t going on any more rides after that one. It was good we went on most all the rides beforehand. Now it was more walking. We did have a few breaks during the day. At noon there was a small parade, with Hercules, on Main Street USA. Then the big parade was at 3:30, same place. This parades theme was all the Disney characters over the years. The first parade wasn’t so crowded. It was all of 10 minutes long and the park still wasn’t crowded. The three thirty one, however was very crowded. We had to get there a half-hour early so we could get a spot with a good view. Of course, we didn’t. The parade came from the opposite direction we were expecting and we had chosen a spot on a bend. So, what we did after a few bad shots of the parade, we made a beeline for the other side of the street in-between floats. We were lucky we weren’t caught! We had a great spot on that side for taking pictures. This parade lasted 45 minutes. It was very nice. And sitting down was very nice. By that time it was nearly 4pm and we still had 4 more hours to go. So, we were in for more walking. We took in a couple of shows, the train ride, and Alice in Wonderland’s labyrinth. The labyrinth was great too; but the best part was the fountains. There were 6 fountains, set zigzagged from each other, that were choreographed. The first shot out a blob of water to the next fountain and so on and so forth. It was perfectly timed and looked as though it was the same piece of water hopping from one fountain to the other. It was even a random blob ranging from a second to 6 seconds. The longer the time, the more it looked like a stream of water (more like a worm but made of water). I could watch it for hours, and I stayed in there for a long time just watching it. I have decided I want one of those fountains in my garden! Dinner rolled around and we ate another burger and caught the show they had there. After dinner we were getting into our shopping mode. So, we walked some more from shop to shop to find something that said Disneyland Paris and wasn’t tacky or common. We ended up with T-shirts for parents and ourselves. And, to frame the best picture, we found a nice frame that said Disneyland Paris. We also got some fudge. Oh, man, fudge. Banana/chocolate fudge. I am sure very fattening. But we shared one piece, even though we didn’t want to. I also tried to purchase something on my Disney Credit Card, but was denied. The cashier was very nice about it, though. She went and checked to make sure my card wasn’t bad. But, she came back and said it was only good in the states. I found that odd! When I got the card, it said it was good in "any" theme park, resort, catalog, website, and Disney cruise. I thought "any" meant ANY. (I had to write Disney about this one when I got home!) Needless to say, we were disappointed, but it gave us the opportunity to spend all our Francs. By this time as well, it seemed as though everyone and their brother was shopping too. Talk about crowds. It ended up being a typical theme park after all, even though I had heard it was the least popular Disney Theme Park. Finally, after 11 hours of walking and standing it was time to go home. Our feet hurt, our backs hurt and we were just ready to go home. We met our bus at 8pm and began our trek home. And, as I said earlier, everyone fell asleep. I think it only took about an hour before everyone settled down, including the children. Finally we arrived back at our car around 5:30am and by 6am we were home. Good thing we had taken Monday off! Looking back on Disneyland Paris, we have come to the conclusion that the only differences would be the quality of the food (which was better), all rides and shows were multi-lingual, and it was a more diversified group that attended the park than you would find back home. The trip was very busy, but very worth it. Anthony and I have decided to do it again one day.   E-mail us with any questions, comments, suggestions.