Disneyland!

Well, I'm back from Spring Break and will be writing little bits about the trip over time since there is so much to cover and so many things going on here as well. It finally feels like spring here in Perugia, so that made for a nice return. The cafe below has set their chairs and tables out in the piazza and the sun is shining through the windows.

I had a little mix-up about the whole Daylight Savings thing, first accidentally setting my clocks back an hour last night, then having the clocks ahead for most of today, before finally figuring out that Italy has a different date for Daylight Savings. I think. It's all so confusing.

Classes start back up tomorrow, which I can't say I'm too thrilled about, but that's mostly because I feel out of the routine of it. My Italian has definitely gotten rusty, not to mention more confused with the Spanish I had to use for the past five days, but I'm sure it will come back quickly enough. Alright, enough babbling, below is what I wrote on scraps of paper about Disneyland.

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As expected, Disneyland was absolutely fantastic. We took the train to get there in time for opening and were treated to some seemingly rare friendliness from French workers. We were so excited and could hardly wait to get inside.

Main Street is really similar to the one in Disney World, English signs and all, with just a few variations on the restaurants, including a bakery. Both of us had always admired the EuroDisney castle, which is Sleeping Beauty’s, from models and pictures we had seen before so we were both looking forward to actually getting to see it. It’s really beautiful with a terraced side area with a waterfall and boxed trees. It’s their 15th year so there was a big 15 with Lumiere on top and various characters on the rest of the turrets (including Chip and Dale, Cavin) holding candles, as that is the theme for the year.

I warn you, as an after note, that the rest of this post is basically a description of the rides and the differences between the ones in Paris versus Florida, and is more for my memory’s sake, so if you’re not interested in Disney things consider yourself warned.

The first ride we went on was Buzz Lightyear. The main differences were that the guns detach, you can’t hold the trigger down, and that different shapes are worth different amounts of points. Chris’s gun was supposedly malfunctioning so I beat him that round. (I’ll take what I can get). We then went on It’s A Small World which had a pretty outdoor part and a whole American section. It was pretty funny because America was represented by cowboys and Indians, Hollywood, and a cheerleader and football player.

Next we went on Thunder Mountain, which I thought was better in the sense that it was faster and a smoother ride (which I guess takes a bit away from its theme) but worse in that there were longer parts in the dark, which I find scary. I was also glad to hear that familiar drawl telling us to “buckle up partners.” We then went on Phantom Manor, which was basically the same as Haunted Mansion except for the fact that it focused more of the story of the bride.

After that Chris went on Space Mountain 2, which I passed on because I am not particularly fond of going upside down. I munched on my peanut butter sandwich and a baguette and people watched while waiting. Next up was Star Tours, which was funny to hear in French. Luckily we both know the rides and procedures so well that the French thing wasn’t a barrier at all.

Following this we went on the tea cups. Sadly, the wheel was almost impossible to turn, so that was probably the worst ride of the day. Sticking with Alice, we then went to a labyrinth called Alice’s Curious Labyrinth. It had various statues and signs along that theme and little kids were running all around climbing up things and playing games. There was also this really cool castle that was made up of colorful stones and had really pretty views. From one of the turrets we noticed a giant storybook so we headed that way and went on this boat ride that had little depictions of various Disney movies. It was really pretty and the little models were so detailed and intricate.

Having seen a scene of Beauty and the Beast on that ride, we decided to go to what we thought we read in French was a display in the castle of stained glass windows and other art of Belle and Sleeping Beauty. The inside of the castle is really beautiful, with stone trees, a large balcony, gothic arches, and a big staircase. The stained glass windows were really well done but sadly after viewing scenes from Sleeping Beauty and getting really excited to see something that beautiful with my favorite movie Beauty and the Beast we realized that we had hastily tried to translate and just assumed that the Beauty part of Sleeping Beauty was Belle when in fact it was not. This was rather disappointing but, as I said, the inside of the castle was beautiful, and I suppose it makes sense that in Sleeping Beauty’s castle artwork of her would be featured. (Still, I wouldn’t mind a castle, heck, a park, devoted to Belle).

After this we decided to sit on a bench in a little nook right on the walkway up to the castle to eat and rest a bit and enjoy the atmosphere. We had just started eating our apples when a worker came up to us and start speaking in French. At first I was afraid that he was telling us we couldn’t eat there but luckily he spoke English and told us that they were closing off the area. We decided to just move to the curb in front of the castle to finish eating and noticed that a lot of people were gathering around. We had a sneaking suspicion it wasn’t to watch us eat so we figured there was a parade starting soon and decided to wait. After a decent bit of time the parade began and it was well worth it. It started off with Mickey and the other classic characters, followed by Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Toy Story, Lion King, Jungle Book, Aladdin, and ending with the princesses. They were all on very pretty floats but most would come down and do little performances, perfectly enough, right in front of the castle. It was very fun to watch.

Following the parade we headed back over to Fantasyland and went on the Pinocchio ride, which is in the style of the Winnie the Pooh ride or old Snow White one. Our next ride was Pirates of the Caribbean, which I liked more than the one in Disney World. The line itself was really cool. It was extremely dark and the ceiling was covered in vines and there were lanterns in the area below. At the beginning of the ride you entered this huge lake that was dimly lit and eerie but beautiful, too. There’s actually a restaurant that looks out on that which we looked into afterwards since it would be so fun to eat there. The rest of the ride was pretty similar, minus the new Johnny Depp stuff in Disney World, and with an additional small waterfall, but the beginning made it for me since it was so pretty and really created the mood so well.

In the nature of Pirates we went to Adventure Isle, this big area with really dark caves and suspension bridges to explore. It was really fun to see everyone jumping around on the bridges and acting like kids (or being kids). Next we walked through an area with a beautiful Moroccan theme and saw Le Passage Enchante d’ Aladdin, more of the type of highly detailed scenes we saw on the ride before but this time focusing on, you guessed it, Aladdin.

We then went to Main Street to explore the stores and both ended up getting mugs (I know, I know, enough with the mugs). It has a sketch of Mickey holding an ‘E’ and Disneyland Paris on the back. We were hoping that they’d have more Belle or Ratatouille things but sadly Paris Disneyland does not seem to capitalize as much as I think they should on the fact that so many Disney movies are set in France.

After exploring Main Street we boarded the Disney Railroad Train and rode it for a bit before getting off to ride Peter Pan’s Flight. This is one of my favorites as I love anything to do with flying and I think it’s so clever how the boats are suspended from the tracks above. I especially like flying through the stars over Big Ben. After this ride we saw that finally the line for Dumbo wasn’t really long so I got to do another favorite ride with more flying. We were flying just while they were lighting up the castle so it was very special.

We wanted to leave the park with enough time so that Chris could look at the hotel on premises that looked a lot like the Floridian so we decided to just do two more rides. The first was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which I’ve never been on but Chris liked when he was younger because it seemingly brought you under water. We entered the ride and began walking through really quickly since there was no one else in line, thinking that we were just going through the line and marveling at how detailed their various sets were. We would quickly snap pictures of the submarine galley or something like that and then hurry on, trying to get to the ride part. Finally we entered this big room with a floating head above a piano and a giant window with this huge sea monster swimming closer and closer to it. It was then that we realized that there was not an actual ride but that the sets had been what the attraction was about. It then dawned on us that we were standing in a giant room with a floating head’s creepy low French voice yelling something about the monster and that we were all by ourselves. We looked around a bit more and then rushed out.

Our last ride was Buzz Lightyear, again, and we left the ride with high spirits, having gotten better scores.

Actually exiting the park took a long time. I think we both dreaded leaving because we had felt so at home there and we had had such a great time. We kept pulling aside to look around and try to take in all the details. As we left we kept turning around to look at the castle “one last time.” We were eventually able to drag ourselves away, even if ever since we’ve been talking about how much we miss it. I am so glad we went because it will always be a very special memory since it was such a happy and fun experience.