07-12 Back to the USA; Paris to LA

Up early today (5am) to catch our Magic Shuttle from the Sequoia Lodge to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport. We are out of the room at 6:45 and ride the 7:00 shuttle to CGD. We have our boarding passes and our bags are checked by 8:35. Now over to the Tax Refund Company (there's a line). We show them all the paperwork and they stamp each one approved. But then to actually get the cash you have to go to another line, a short walk away. We are only behind one person but the people currently at the windows take a while. We got back $4.00 cash. Three of the biggest receipts had to be dropped into the box for a refund to be mailed to us. Those receipts were from Norway. We'll see how that works out.

Now on to the security line. Just as we arrived in this area the police started blowing whistles, lots of whistles. Some unchecked bag is causing security issues and they shut down this security area. We have not moved and we can't see if we are in a security line, in a priority line or we are not really to the line yet and can't see if it's not really a line. Finally we moved and now we are in a security line to get our bags and bodies scanned. There is a passport check and then through the scanners we go.

There is now no time to visit the First Class Lounge or even time to buy a water bottle. They are boarding our plane already when we arrive at the gate. There's no option other than to smile and keep moving.

Then we wait an entire hour on the plane for people stuck in the security line. Great for them, but really bad for everybody on the plane that has a connecting flight in Boston – including us. We have a two hour layover scheduled in Boston and needed to do customs there as well. At least we have "comfortable" seats.

They finally close the doors at 11:34 and we take off at 11:57. It's a 7:45 minute flight. We are an hour late leaving.  

Arrived in Boston at 1:45pm.  Over to the baggage claim. We wait for our two bags, then we head for Customs. By now it's 2:10 and we have a 2:45 flight. We are at the re-check baggage check for Delta. The agent is so busy not paying attention to us, but helping her coworker do her client, and then told us we couldn't make the flight. So we ended up on a new flight, of course, in different seats, but still First Class. With a little help and a flight delay of 10 -15 minutes, I think we could have made it. But now we get to sit in the Sky Lounge for four hours. Woohoo.

At the boarding time we went down to our gate only to find out our plane had just landed and people were disembarking. Now there's a weather issue delaying us further.

We finally take off about 50 minutes late at 6:55 pm.

Tried to sleep, but these seats, even though they are first class, are very uncomfortable to try to sleep in. The center arm rest is very hard and you’re too far away from the window to lean on them.

Down to baggage claim to get our luggage. Into our Execu-Car at 10:05. Not clean and smells. Arrive hotel at 10:50. Check in at the Clarion Hotel and in our room at 10:55.

Fortunately, we don't have many 27 hour days on our itinerary.

07-11 Disneyland Paris Final Day

We left our room at 8:50 this morning heading to Disneyland. We are using one hour of our two hour early entry. Hopefully we get to do Space Mountain and Peter Pan before 10 and then get as close to Big Thunder Railroad as they will let us. That's the plan.

We get to the Space Mountain line at 9:15 - it's a 25 minute wait posted. Getting off the ride at 9:33, we head over to Peter Pan, arriving at 9:44 - the line was posted at 25 minutes, so we decided to wait for the Fast Pass to open at 10, then beeline it to Big Thunder Mountain.

When we arrived at Big Thunder the queue was not open yet, but there was a long line of people waiting. They tested a train because we saw it on the walk over. It's 10 minutes after 10 and the ride line is still not open. So now they are telling us it's broke down.

So Pat went to get a FastPass for this ride. Karen stayed in line to see if it would open. It didn't and Pat's back with the FP.

By now Karen was almost to the front of the line because so many people had left. Big Thunder was still not open, so we left and went back to Peter Pan to use our FastPass. We had 30 minutes left to get on the ride with that FP.

Peter Pan, the ride, is the same as California, but this ride is very jerky.

Snow White is next and has a posted time of a 10 minute wait. NOT! The queue is full. There is no one here at the load position directing people where to load, just numbers on the floor and people are just loading themselves. With just a person watching them load, then walking over pulling down the three lap bars and then going back and pushing the button to go.

Next was lunch. Our first choice, Cowboy Cookout BBQ, was closed. Not opening until 12:20; strange time. Next choice Fuente Del Oro Restaurant. We split the "menu" as they call it here of 4 small soft taco shells, rice (kind of dry), three nice pieces of chicken (for the 4 tacos shells?), Mexican vegetables, as they call them and a mini almond Magnum ice cream bar (the menu didn't say mini, that's my description). Good meal but not as good as Rancho del Zacola at Disneyland.

Over to Phantom Manor. Things that are different here than Disneyland's Haunted Mansion: the stretching portraits, the grand staircase across from the load station, random eyes in the wallpaper that light up, there's no dueling guys in the ballroom scene, when you turn around and go down backwards you are going underground into the ground, the ceiling and around you is dirt. There are skeletons and dead people and then when you're underground you're in a western town. Strange.

Now it's sunny out, so let's ride the Riverboat. We have to wait for the next one, this one is full, but it hasn't left yet. Last time when we were here we rode this in the pouring down rain. It had been raining all day. I just remember going around trying to get pictures and it was so wet. This is a much nicer ride in the sunshine. Big Thunder Mountain is still down, so there's no train on the tracks for pictures.

Across from the Riverboat is the Lucky Nugget Saloon. We popped in for a couple of pictures and stayed for a chocolate sundae and the show. It was one part live stage performer and one part puppet show. He did a little intro song, then there was a puppet show based on Woody's Roundup. Woody and Jesse and Bullseye were the heroes and the Prospector was the villain.

We went over to the Castle and shopped through the Christmas shop. Went upstairs through all the stain glass and tapestry telling Cinderella's story. Then down under the Castle to wake up the dragon.

What you can see from the balcony on the back side of the Castle.

Back again to check if Big Thunder Railroad was running and it was! So we used our Fast Passes.

Deciding on where to eat dinner. Our first choice was Last Chance Cafe, which is closed. That does not bode well for dinner. OK, Cowboy BBQ you're next. Howdy Partner, it's open. Karen had the BBQ chicken and Pat had the ribs. The chicken was flavorless, potatoes were OK and the brownie just OK.

For our last ride we wanted to do the train. We always save the train for later in the day when our feet need a break. But the train was not running.  The entrance to it over here in Frontierland was roped off. Bummer.

So we walked through the Adventureland area and found a door open that we've never seen open. Walking in, it's a shop with a huge wooden camel.

We walked through the Hub area and down Main Street taking pictures.

Pat, hanging out at his favorite place.

The Imagineers, under the guidance of Tony Baxter, who created Disneyland Paris.

We finished off our visit with a stop at the Disneyland Hotel gift shop and a quick picture of the Castle Club sign. This time no one is here to let us up the elevator. Bummer.

Back to the room to pack. Our 94 days in Europe are over tomorrow and we are flying all day to Los Angeles.

07-10 Disneyland Paris Studios Park

It's our second day at Disneyland Paris.

We have nothing for breakfast so we had to go down to the gift shop to see if we can get a couple of muffins and water to go. But they only have chips and crackers. Across the hall from the gift shop at the Redwood Bar and Lounge they do have muffins and water; only chocolate muffins, so that's breakfast.

We are ready for the park. Our room is too far away to go back and brush teeth as we are in the Sierra building. I think it's as far as you can get away from the lobby.

We are hopeful, so we are in shorts. Yesterday was very hot. We also have our rain coats and we need to put them on before leaving the hotel.

They now have a bag check and metal detectors to walk through before you enter Downtown Disney Area. We arrived at the Disney Studios at 10:05 in the rain; it opened at 10.

There are already 65 minutes of people standing in the Crush's Coaster line, so we are heading for the new ride, Ratatouille. Posted wait time is 35 min.

The Ratatouille ride is based on the movie with the same name. You are "rat-sized" and are in a restaurant. You get chased around and visually you are looking at large projection screens that are beautiful.

The cars are only made for 6 people (3 front, 3 back) and we get a front seat for our first ride.

We get right back in line to ride again and we choose the Single Rider line for our next ride. Two minute wait for Karen for the front seat and by chance Pat gets a seat right behind her in the same vehicle. Amazing ride.

Third ride is also from the single rider line and now there is a line for single riders, but with three people to a seat it moves pretty fast.

Lunch was at a food truck by Twilight Zone. There are 3 food trucks in this area.

Catastrophe Canyon special effects demo is the same as Florida's but there is not much else to this tram tour.

Back from our tram tour and now it's time  for our Fast Pass for Hollywood Tower of Terror. People talk all through the preshows here in Europe, both in here and in Phantom Manor.

Next we saw the Magic Mickey stage show that was new last year. It was a very good show that reminded me of a cruise line show. Mickey wants to be a Magician and Fairy Godmother, Rafiki, the Genie, and Elsa, inspire him with their magic.

Next we did Crush's Coaster, a fantastic and fun spinning coaster. There were 13 people in the single rider line and the sign said Single Rider 35 minutes on queue sign. The stand by line was 45 minutes. Took us about 20 minutes in the single rider line here.

The Art of Animation: Has a preshow with Roy Disney Jr; it's in French with English subtitles. Says animation began in France? Then a film about animation is about creating emotions. Same animation show from California Adventure with Mushu and a Disney animator. Learn to Draw is also here, but we did not do it. "Make a Zoetrope" is also here and so is a Meet and Greet with Moana.

Quatre Rouvs Rallye is a car version of Mater's Junkyard Roundup where you ride in cars, not tow trucks. It's a little kids ride, sized for kids, so the seat is short, not deep enough for adults.

Armageddon is a special effects show based on the movie. Not that good or interesting.

Dinner was pasta with red sauce for Karen and a croque monsieur for Pat and we got to eat in a pirate ship, kind of, with the Pirate's of the Caribbean Theme playing. The croque monsieur is a running joke for us, because our first food at Disneyland Paris 5 years ago was this sandwich. It "looked" great, but was undercooked and tasted like french toast that hadn't been cooked. We had avoided them for 5 years after that and just recently had one earlier on this trip. Today's was great.

After dinner we shopped the front gate area store inside the studio building waiting for English version of Stitch, next door at Stitch Live!

Stitch Live is like Turtle talk with Crush. The on screen Stitch talks to the kids sitting in the audience. The kids ask questions and Stitch responds live. Stitch isn't our favorite character because he's not very lovable and he talks funny.

Then we shopped back to the hotel through The Disney Village area. Our last stop was for an ice cream for the walk back.

We checked in with concierge at the hotel about taking the Disney Magical Express back to the airport. They tell us to just show up at one of the scheduled times and pay them and go to the airport.

07-09 Ah, Paris - Disneyland Paris that is!

We are flying to Paris this morning. Up early; it's a very short walk to the small airport that’s actually bigger that I thought.

We landed at 9am, picked up our checked bags and found the Disney Magical Express, although not easily (we should have located this before we got here, without luggage).

We left the airport an hour later on the Disney Magical Express bus and arrived at the Sequoia Lodge shortly after 11am after dropping people off at 4 other hotels.

We were in our room by 11:30. These rooms look really tired and could use an update. Dropped things off and back out of the room in 25 minutes.

We stopped at the Disney Village on our way to the Park and had lunch at the Earl of Sandwich.

In Disneyland Paris at 12:35.

Taking pictures the whole way, we arrived at our first ride, Phantom Manor, their version of the Haunted Mansion at 1pm. The ride scenes are very similar to the other Mansions with the exception of the Attic being replaced with the Bride's Bedroom.

More pictures around the park and then we had some ice cream. This picture of their Castle never gets old.

Next was our Fast Pass for Hyperspace Mountain, this version just came to Paris for their 25th Anniversary Celebration.

Next it was on to Star Traders for some shopping and to get FastPasses (6:10pm) for Star Tours, which has been just changed to “Star Tours, the Adventure Continues”, like at Disneyland, for the 25th Anniversary

There’s a nice shortcut walkway to get from Discoveryland to Fantasyland, where we ride "it’s a small world". This “world” is so much more colorful than the others we’ve been on. Bright, vibrant colors instead of the muted pastels of Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom.

Pinocchio and Snow White are SO much more popular over here in Europe. The lines are usually 25 – 30 minutes long (hot and sweaty queue lines with no air movement in summer) instead of the normal 5 – 10 minute lines we are used to.

People eat dinner around here after 7pm which works out great for us, since we like to eat around 5pm. No one is at Colonel Hatti’s Pizza Outpost when we order our lasagna and pasta.

Their Canal Boat ride loads like a river raft ride so the line moves pretty fast. Also unusual about this ride is the Wizard of Oz scene at the end. Very strange.

We headed back over to Star Tours and we use our FastPass and we are in and out in 15 minutes.

It takes us almost an hour to get through the queue line of Buzz Lightyear. It’s a fun ride, the same as in all of the other parks. Two of you ride in a pod shooting targets and trying to get a high score while the evil Emperor Zurg yells at you that you can’t shoot worth beans.

We shopped on our way back to the park entrance looking at all the merchandise with the cool 25th Anniversary logos and finally left at around 9:30pm.