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It's an adventure. Our family of five is taking a year off from... the normal. Less work. More travel. Even (gasp!) homeschooling! We invite you to come along with us as we head West. Then on to Europe. Even grand times at home in between! Our goals: Rest. Connect. Experience. We hope to grow closer as a family and gain a deeper appreciation of all that God is, does, gives. Scaled back commitments. Scaled up adventure. Come along with us as the story unfolds!

A not so magical day in Disneyland Paris

5/22/2012 01:39:00 PM |

We have other events to catch up on, but we just went to Disneyland Paris yesterday, and I just have to write about it!

We took the 45-minute train ride to get to the park.  Anna and I played Go Fish (Littlest Pet Shop cards, in case you're wondering).  And the boys played Monopoly Deal (card game, I highly recommend!).  Kevin read on his iphone.

"Do you have any twos?" (and it looks dark outside, but we're actually in a tunnel)

We were very excited about going to Disney.  Even though it's not a historical thing, it's one of the places we were really excited about visiting. And would you believe that it's the most visited place in Europe, even more than the Eiffel Tower!  So, even though it was cold and rainy when we started out, we just knew that the rain wouldn't last.  From our experience over the past three weeks in France, the weather forecast always seems a bit off.  If there's a 30% chance of rain, it might rain two or three hours.  If there's a 90% chance of rain, it might rain two or three hours.  Yes, it doesn't seem to make a difference what the forecast is.  So, surely it won't rain all day, right?

Wrong, it rained all day.  And the temperature never reached the high of 63.  I think it's only got to 58.  Sigh, oh well.  It definitely wasn't an ideal day.  But at least the crowds were lighter, and we didn't have to wait long for any of the rides.  Although we were disappointed that several rides were closed.  And we tried twice to ride Peter Pan, but they kept temporarily closing it, not sure why.  

All in all, we mostly had good attitudes.  We bought ponchos for Daniel and I, because I didn't bring my raincoat (I really thought it wouldn't rain!!), and Daniel's coat isn't waterproof (don't get me started on that one).  So, we mostly stayed dry.
 





Our first stop was the Buzz Lightyear Ride.  This was so fun!  It was especially funny hearing Emperor Zurg speak in French!  And guess who got the high score (out of our family) for shooting aliens?!  Yep, I'm the one you want with you when you encounter any aliens.


Unfortunately, Anna wasn't tall enough to do Space Mountain.  Kevin and I did the child swap thing, so that first, he went with the boys, and then Justin went again with me.  So fun!  But my head was little woozy after - I'm so sensitive to motion stuff.  Kevin usually makes some joke having to do with age!


Then we went on to Star Tours.  I opted not to do this ride, since I was still recovering from my head wooziness, but the kids loved it!


 It's a small world!





 We took a quick detour to check out the Mad Hatter's tea party:


 Of course we had to ride the Tea Cups!  Well, all of us, except me.  I can NOT do rides where you spin around.  I am NOT a wimp!  I just don't like to feel bad.  So there. Plus, my talent lies with shooting aliens.
Kevin instructing the kids in the finer points of tea cup twirling.
 
Anna was very excited about riding the carousel.  But she didn't get the horse she wanted (she wanted one with pink on it, and I think she was on a horse with green). I tried to cheer her up, but it didn't work.  So, I did what any sane parent would do.  I saw an empty pink-saddled horse up ahead, lept off my horse and took Anna, and we rushed up to claim the pink horse.  The carousel hadn't started moving yet, so all was well!
 All was worth it for this sweet smile:

 The Dumbo ride!
 Pirates of the Caribbean ride:
 We all got to ride the Big Thunder Mountain railroad roller coaster:
Anna loved the coaster - it was her first "big" one.  Her words: "That was awesome!  Can we ride it again?!"

We ate dinner at the Plaza Gardens buffet.  We were all happy to be in a warm place sitting down!  And with lots of yummy food around, we were content.  We even decided to skip the parade, because the weather still looked yucky outside.  But we could actually see a little bit of the parade from the restaurant (sorry, no pictures, only buffet pictures).
Notice one of the chefs striking a pose as I took the picture!
 



As we were leaving, I realized that we didn't have any pictures of the Mouse!  We never saw any characters walking around, well except the baboon guy from the Lion King (sorry I can't remember his name).  And our kids aren't big character fans, so we didn't stand in any of the lines to see them.  So, on the way out, I got a picture with Mickey!
Despite the cold and wet weather (I think it was the worst weather day we've had in France), the kids said it was one of their favorite days so far. Daniel kept profusely thanking us for taking them to Disney.  So, I guess, the day can be upgraded from not-so-magical to sort-of-magical.  And, hey, we're in Paris!

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Posted by Kelly

1 comments:

Valerie said...

ha, ha, ha...Kelly who knew you had such hidden talents!?! And Megan would totally agree with Anna - horses with pink are a necessity (for good moods at least).

May 22, 2012 at 4:45 PM

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