Disneyland Paris July 2011

Disneyland Paris, formerly known as Euro Disney, was all that we expected.  It was crowded, expensive, lots of merchandise to purchase, AND complete magic for the kids.  They had a great time.  So it was completely worth it.  My favorite part?  Two things:  everyone spoke English and plenty of restrooms for our potty training daughter.  Oh how priorities shift...  Anyway on to the pictures.  Instead of Cinderella's castle dominating the skyline like in Disney Orlando, in Paris it is Sleeping Beauty's castle.  This suits us great as we love Sleeping Beauty lately and have watched it recently at family slumber parties.  There is also a "live" dragon living under the castle that breaths smoke - little too much for James but very fun. 

While there were many rides we could not experience (space mountain, big thunder mountain) we did ride Dumbo, the Carosel, It's a Small World and the very cool Buzz Lightyear ride where we shot aliens.  And, of course, we rode the train around the park a couple of times.  Here is Dumbo and all four of us on It's a Small World. 

And yes, I rode on the Dumbo ride with Mary Martin.  I had to get a quick picture before I got in.  The wait for Dumbo was 45 minutes!  So dad and James ditched and rode the carousel instead.  All of this was in Disneyland Parc, like the Magic Kingdom.  That parc has Fantasyland, Adventureland, etc.  There was also Disney Studios, like the studio park in Orlando, but we never even made it to that park.  Too much to see in Disneyland Parc! 

We also shopped.  Mary Martin's favorite was her own "Sullivan" doll from Monsters, Inc.  She calls him Monsters Inc not "Sullivan," it is very cute.  And James got a couple of cars from the new Cars movie.  James also got - to my utter horror - a robotic arm.  He and his dad picked this out and I hope Uncle Matt is reading.  Those who went with us to Disney when I was in Junior High will well recall the robotic arm that Uncle Matt got on that trip and the very, very annoying nature of that arm on our 10+ hours car ride home.  Sigh.  Can our arm go live at Matt's house???





We also celebrated Mary Martin's second birthday!  Here we are opening presents in our room and then the special cake they brought her at dinner.  She wasn't quite sure what to make of the cake but in the end enjoyed, well not the cake, but all the candies that were around the cake.  We enjoyed the cake though. 

We stayed at a Disney hotel - the Hotel Santa Fe.  The hotel was a Southwest theme but also Cars themed, right down to our bedspreads decked out with Mater, Lighting McQueen and the rest.  One draw at this hotel for me was a promised Tex-Mex buffet.  Having a Tex-Mex buffet outside of Paris was a bizarre experience to say the least.  It was more of an international buffett.  They had Tex-Mex for sure but also traditional French veggies, pasta for the Italian visitors and even paella for the Spanards.  While I was grateful for the kid friendly meal (plain pasta anyone!?!) they didn't even have margaritas. 

Jim and I have tried AND FAILED to eat at Mexican places twice in Paris.  Both places have been closed when we got there.  The lack of margaritas at the promised Tex-Mex buffett was very disappointing.  And yes I noted this on my comment card.

Finally, we did a character breakfast so the kids could meet some characters.  Unlike in Disney Orlando, the characters are not walking around Disney for the kids to just happen to come across and get hugs from.  You have to wait in line at appointed times to see them and take pictures.  Wait another 45 minutes to meet Cinderella?  No thanks.  So we signed up for the character breakfast instead.  James loved it - you can see his huge smiles...  Mary Martin was scared by the characters.  She would blow them kisses and give them high fives but NOT get near them for a hug or picture.  She was very content to sit in dad's lap. 

One final picture that sums it all up.  So much fun that we fell asleep in our stroller holding our new birthday present.  Thanks Aunt Kelly!  But you can see the robotic arm creeping in to bother our Sleeping Beauty.  And guess who was holding the arm - not James - but Jim. I guess Disney will always bring out the kid in everyone of us.