L'Euro Disney

Disneyland! For once, each child was eager and ready to go in the morning. We left the apartment bright and early this time, so as to cram as much as possible into our day. As we swung past the arches that lead to the Louvre, we noticed a great many runners pounding by it on this Sunday morning. Some sort of fun run, we thought, not knowing that it was the Paris marathon that my own cousin Roland was running in. Off to the metro, and thence to the overground train to Euro Disney.

It looked just as magical as it had some thirty years ago (hem hem, showing my age) when I had gone to Disneyland in Los Angeles en route to Canada when Dad was on exchange. Although we had passes, we had to queue to change them for tickets. This took some time, as someone ahead of us was having trouble, presumably with a Transylvanian credit card or something. Wayne moved to a different line, while I hedged bets in the slow lane. Wayne won, so off we went.

First stop was Frontierland. The big kids wanted to go on Thunder Mountain, a roller coaster thingy which would not take the likes of Eleanor. I didn't fancy it myself, so Eleanor and I caught the paddle boat around a lake, looking at the Mountain, and various cheesy Wild West props, including some plastic moose. It was quite nice, however, and Eleanor was happy. The others were waiting for us off the boat - the queue for the ride was for ninety minutes, which they didn't fancy. We went off to a 'haunted house', which was very enjoyable - luckily I couldn't remember all the details from the American one years ago, although I think they were the same. It was great.

Buoyed by this, we went in search of silly hats. I chose Minnie Mouse ears headband, the girls Minnie hats. Jack wanted a Goofy hat like the genie's in Aladdin, but settled for a 'western' one instead. Wayne wanted to keep his dignity, for some reason. Here we are, plus hats, near a pirate ship. We had passed into Adventure Land, and were on our way to the Pirates of the Carribean ride. I know this was my favourite all those years ago, and it still was. Everyone loved it. A couple of scary rides down waterfalls, but more to stimulate the imagination than scare.

We needed some lunch at this point. There was a bit of a queue to eat. In fact, I think it was at this point that the queues started to dominate the day. Perhaps it was because it had got colder, and the wind had picked up. Also, unlike American Disneyland, the staff were not universally cheery... Anyway, the big kids went off in search of another scary ride (Indiana Jones, or something.) Eleanor and I went back to the pirates' bit, and checked out Davy Jones' locker and some other caves, then had a play on an adventure playground for smaller kiddies on a ship theme. Eleanor enjoyed this. The others were slow to join us, so we went and queued for a Peter Pan ride. We waited for 50 minutes, which would try the patience of a saint, let alone an 8 year old. The ride was good, but at five minutes' worth, hardly worth it. By this time the big kids had gone off to a really scary ride: Space Mountain. Wayne had several more grey hairs after accompanying them. They had to queue for ages, too. Eleanor and I flew with Dumbo the elephant, getting colder and colder... We all met at a parade, which was quite fun. A cup of something hot, and we thought one more thing would do us. Jack was keen for the mini car ride. The queue had dropped somewhat, since it was now after five, but it was still significant. Jack and Annie loved driving their own little cars. Poor old Eleanor was again too little to do this, but I let her steer, at least.

Then, back to the station. We all resolved to always dress warmly from now on, even if it looks sunny! I can't believe we all froze again so soon after the Bath experience. Brrr!

We kept our hats on to the last. " 'Allo, Minnie," grinned a couple of waiters at me as we passed a cafe. Ah, well, I probably won't wear those ears again...