Disneyland

We got up earlier than the other days, but still didn’t get out of the apartment until 8:30 or so. We walked to Gare de Lyon, which was a bit of a walk, but the easiest way I could figure out to get there. We found the right track with little problem, but then things went downhill. I don’t know how I managed to do it, but I slipped getting on the train and ended up on lying on the platform with my leg dangling between the train and the platform. I got up quickly and we got on the train, but I was really sore and could tell that a huge bruise was forming on my thigh.

We got to Disney and got in the slowest line imaginable. When we finally got to the cashier to buy our tickets, she told me that my Paris Visite pass, that I bought because of the Disney discount (among other reasons) was expired. She refused to give me the discount. I got very angry and told her it was not expired and that I had used it for the train to get there. She still refused. I asked to see the manager, who finally came and told me that because I bought the pass before April, I couldn’t use it. I countered that I had bought it on Thursday when I arrived at CDG! I think the problem was that the date printed by the machine was 7/2/2009. I had to talk to yet another person who wanted me to pay. I then explained that the Disney tickets in his hand were ones I had paid for (without the discount); I was NOT going to pay again! So we had to go back to the original cashier, who then “discussed” with the manager for another 15 minutes, and then finally I had my tickets. What a royal pain that was. I thought Disney would be better than that, even in France.

Then the day started to get better, and we had a wonderful time. We first went on the Peter Pan ride, then the spinning teacups and through Alice’s Maze. The lines weren’t too bad, even though the park was very crowded. We then went on Star Tours, had lunch and then went on the Buzz Lightyear ride. Chloe was too short for Space Mountain. We headed on over to Adventureland where we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean. On Main Street, we had some Ben and Jerry’s and then waited for the parade. After the parade, we went on Thunder Mountain. Chloe likes the French one better than the Japanese one.

We had a snack, then waited for the big Fantillusion Parade and fireworks, which were awesome! The train ride back was hard — I had to stand and my leg started to ache. At Gare de Lyon, I got us a taxi since it was so late and we were so tired.

During the day, it was interesting to see the mix of cultures. The Germans picked up trash that other people dropped. The only people to really react to the lady who passed out in line were the Italians, who yelled for help and ran to find an employee. The Chinese people on the train were very alarmed by the African-French young adults that got on the train and were a bit rough in their horseplay. The French kids and teens made it a point to push past people in line.