Monday 16th February 2009
On Sunday Patrick and Mike came to mine, as we would have to wake up about 3am we decided on staying up the entire evening. We surfed the net and watched French film 8 Women and some South Park episodes to pass the time. Mike, Patrick, my sister Sam and I left the house just before 5am. We got to Grove Park station where we purchased the train tickets and waited for our train. We got on our Southeastern train and arrived at London Bridge station about 15 minutes later. We then headed to the underground to catch a Northern line train to St. Pancras station.
At St. Pancras we went straight to check in and we bumped into Benin and Kara.
*Waves hello*
This was jolly amusing. We were all uber tired due to the time of day (and our lack of sleepy time) but we were all excited and geared up for the trip ahead. Benin and Kara’s train began boarding 10 mins before ours so we had time to discuss our excitement etc. We then parted for our separate trains.
A couple of hours later and our train arrived at Paris Gare du Nord station. We then lugged ourselves and our luggage down to the Metro/RER ticket counter where a long queue of peeps had already formed. It took time but we finally got our ticket to Marne la valee chessy (Disney). The journey on the RER wasn’t too bad, about 20 mins or so. We encountered two beggars on this part of our journey. The first one played an instrument which was actually entertaining and the other handed out cards with a message in French and English. The card guy was not impressed when we didn’t give him any moneys, was quite awkward.
We finally arrived at the Disneyland Resort about lunchtime. We first placed our luggage in the Disneyland concierge and headed straight into the park. Typically stopping at the toilets first . Our first ride would be in Frontierland. The legendry Phantom Manor. Patrick and I love this attraction, it has amazing theming and some great scenes. The previous week Disney had installed new projections for Leota and updated her scene. I don’t think Sam was that impressed but it’s probably an attraction that grows on you over time.
We had noticed that Big Thunder Mountain had broken down (a train stuck at the bottom of one of its lift hills). So we walked straight past and headed to the Cowboy Cookout Barbeque. It was slightly busy but we didn’t have to wait too long for food. It was tasty and satisfied our appetite.
We then entered Adventureland and went straight into the queue for Pirates of the Caribbean. We queued about 25 minutes. This is also one of my favourite attractions in the resort but our ride was kinda ruined by someone’s insistence of taking photos with probably the brightest flash you could find. Bern.
Mike wanted a coaster credit and Sam was getting bored with dark rides so we headed to the back of Fantasyland for Casey Jr. Unfortunately it was closed so we continued round to it’s a small World. I was expected Sam to despise this ride but she enjoyed it because it had a catchy tune.
I think we all wanted something a bit more exciting so we went round to Discoveryland for Space Mountain: Mission 2. We didn’t have to queue long and we had sound on the ride! It was awesome and we all loved it, joyous moment.
After all that excitement we went back to Fantasyland to watch the Once Upon a Dream Parade. I had split from the others between Space and the parade to do some filming and ended up watching the parade from the castle. I believe Mike, Patrick and Sam grabbed their free hot drink as it was after 3pm (special offer they were doing in the resort if you purchased food or drink in the morning). The parade was running well and they had lots of characters and performers out, good atmosphere.
We then went back to see if we could get on Casey Jr and we could! We were very happy; it is such a fun little coaster with a great catchy tune. We then went back to Adventureland for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril. It is a great coaster which packs some punches with a really intense loop. However Patrick didn’t ride due to not really feeling in the mood for it. Fair dos, Mike, Sam and I loved it though
We then exited the park, collected our luggage from concierge and checked in at the hotel in Val d’Europe. The staff were friendly and so check in was nice and quick. After dropping our luggage off in our rooms we got back on the RER to get back into Disney. This time it was so we could go to the Village for dinner. After ages trying to choose which busy restaurant to eat in we decided upon the Rainforest Cafe. Our food was really nice and extremely filling.
MONKEY!
There was a lizard trying to get at our food!
Sam is happy to be at the Rainforest Cafe
Sam is bored of waiting for food
Patrick loves his cocktail
Mike is also please to be in the cafe
My food
Sam's food
Mike's food
Patrick's food
After our filling meal we headed back to the hotel and into our separate rooms. Sam and I in one room and Mike and Patrick in the other. I attempted to watch Hitman on TV which I found hard considering it was in French, lol, I think it was about a Hitman but I could be wrong. Anyways that was our first day, extremely exhausting with all the travel and lack of sleep but we got on some of my favourite rides and generally had a good day. I was mainly looking forward to the next day though, a day in the Walt Disney Studios.
Video Trip Report Day one
LINK
It's basically a skimmed version of the text trip report with images and an on ride video of Casey Jr!
On Sunday Patrick and Mike came to mine, as we would have to wake up about 3am we decided on staying up the entire evening. We surfed the net and watched French film 8 Women and some South Park episodes to pass the time. Mike, Patrick, my sister Sam and I left the house just before 5am. We got to Grove Park station where we purchased the train tickets and waited for our train. We got on our Southeastern train and arrived at London Bridge station about 15 minutes later. We then headed to the underground to catch a Northern line train to St. Pancras station.
At St. Pancras we went straight to check in and we bumped into Benin and Kara.
*Waves hello*
This was jolly amusing. We were all uber tired due to the time of day (and our lack of sleepy time) but we were all excited and geared up for the trip ahead. Benin and Kara’s train began boarding 10 mins before ours so we had time to discuss our excitement etc. We then parted for our separate trains.
A couple of hours later and our train arrived at Paris Gare du Nord station. We then lugged ourselves and our luggage down to the Metro/RER ticket counter where a long queue of peeps had already formed. It took time but we finally got our ticket to Marne la valee chessy (Disney). The journey on the RER wasn’t too bad, about 20 mins or so. We encountered two beggars on this part of our journey. The first one played an instrument which was actually entertaining and the other handed out cards with a message in French and English. The card guy was not impressed when we didn’t give him any moneys, was quite awkward.
We finally arrived at the Disneyland Resort about lunchtime. We first placed our luggage in the Disneyland concierge and headed straight into the park. Typically stopping at the toilets first . Our first ride would be in Frontierland. The legendry Phantom Manor. Patrick and I love this attraction, it has amazing theming and some great scenes. The previous week Disney had installed new projections for Leota and updated her scene. I don’t think Sam was that impressed but it’s probably an attraction that grows on you over time.
We had noticed that Big Thunder Mountain had broken down (a train stuck at the bottom of one of its lift hills). So we walked straight past and headed to the Cowboy Cookout Barbeque. It was slightly busy but we didn’t have to wait too long for food. It was tasty and satisfied our appetite.
We then entered Adventureland and went straight into the queue for Pirates of the Caribbean. We queued about 25 minutes. This is also one of my favourite attractions in the resort but our ride was kinda ruined by someone’s insistence of taking photos with probably the brightest flash you could find. Bern.
Mike wanted a coaster credit and Sam was getting bored with dark rides so we headed to the back of Fantasyland for Casey Jr. Unfortunately it was closed so we continued round to it’s a small World. I was expected Sam to despise this ride but she enjoyed it because it had a catchy tune.
I think we all wanted something a bit more exciting so we went round to Discoveryland for Space Mountain: Mission 2. We didn’t have to queue long and we had sound on the ride! It was awesome and we all loved it, joyous moment.
After all that excitement we went back to Fantasyland to watch the Once Upon a Dream Parade. I had split from the others between Space and the parade to do some filming and ended up watching the parade from the castle. I believe Mike, Patrick and Sam grabbed their free hot drink as it was after 3pm (special offer they were doing in the resort if you purchased food or drink in the morning). The parade was running well and they had lots of characters and performers out, good atmosphere.
We then went back to see if we could get on Casey Jr and we could! We were very happy; it is such a fun little coaster with a great catchy tune. We then went back to Adventureland for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril. It is a great coaster which packs some punches with a really intense loop. However Patrick didn’t ride due to not really feeling in the mood for it. Fair dos, Mike, Sam and I loved it though
We then exited the park, collected our luggage from concierge and checked in at the hotel in Val d’Europe. The staff were friendly and so check in was nice and quick. After dropping our luggage off in our rooms we got back on the RER to get back into Disney. This time it was so we could go to the Village for dinner. After ages trying to choose which busy restaurant to eat in we decided upon the Rainforest Cafe. Our food was really nice and extremely filling.
MONKEY!
There was a lizard trying to get at our food!
Sam is happy to be at the Rainforest Cafe
Sam is bored of waiting for food
Patrick loves his cocktail
Mike is also please to be in the cafe
My food
Sam's food
Mike's food
Patrick's food
After our filling meal we headed back to the hotel and into our separate rooms. Sam and I in one room and Mike and Patrick in the other. I attempted to watch Hitman on TV which I found hard considering it was in French, lol, I think it was about a Hitman but I could be wrong. Anyways that was our first day, extremely exhausting with all the travel and lack of sleep but we got on some of my favourite rides and generally had a good day. I was mainly looking forward to the next day though, a day in the Walt Disney Studios.
Video Trip Report Day one
LINK
It's basically a skimmed version of the text trip report with images and an on ride video of Casey Jr!