Here we are Day 3 of our short vacation to Disneyland Paris, and after a good nights sleep we headed straight into Disneyland Park and Plaza Gardens restaurant for our 'breakfast in the park'.
The day was still very cold but much brighter with clear blue skies and shining sun.
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| A much brighter but still freezing cold day |
We arrived at Plaza Gardens at 8.45am, exactly the right time for our booked time slot.
Now the breakfast inside Plaza Gardens was pretty much the same as what we got at the Sequoia Lodge...there were some different breads to choose from but everything else was the same. Although there was a panic moment when I couldn't find the Nutella chocolate spread, thankfully Ethan managed to track it down and so a crisis was averted!
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| Inside Plaza Gardens Restaurant |
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| Tucking into breakfast to keep us going for awhile!! |
Before heading off into the cold we took advantage of the warmth and coffee refills to look at the park map and decide what we wanted to do first.
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| Checking the map! |
Molly however had plans...she was determined that our first ride of the day be Autopia as we hadn't managed to ride it the day before. So despite it not being one of my favourite rides we agreed to head over that way to 'get it over and done with'!!
But there was a problem...the ride didn't become operational until midday and it was only around 10.00am so we had to find something else to do. Now one ride that I can never remember riding at any of the parks is Orbitron (or Astro Orbiter as it's called in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World). Or as I like to call it Dumbo with a space theme!! It's just one of those rides that has never appealed plus it always seems to have long queues and is known to be a 'slow loader', but on this bright sunny morning we decided to give it a go!
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| Hey let's do this!! |
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| Beautiful but very cold day |
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| Ride queue selfie! Well it's gotta be done! |
We had such a laugh on this ride if only watching the kids trying to get in one rocket together! Now Simon and I managed to get in our rocket perfectly fine but the kids were a little squashed...and I have to admit we just sat there and laughed at, and with, them. Suffice to say we all had a great time and I was pleasantly surprised by the ride itself, so much so that I think next time we are in the US this will be on my list of 'must do's'.
As we still had time to kill before Autopia we jumped on Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast before heading over towards Sleeping Beauty Castle to explore La Galerie de la Belle au Bois Dormant. This is a walk through attraction located on the first floor of the castle which tells the story of Sleeping Beauty through stained glass windows, tapestries and illustrated books. It is a truly magical experience that has been done with the highest levels of detail and is one of the highlights of Disneyland Paris. Here are a few photos to whet your interest but I shall save more for a future blog piece.
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| Stained glass window |
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| One of a number of 'books' re-telling the story |
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| Beautiful, detailed tapestry |
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| Gallery ceiling is just...wow! |
And then when you exit you find yourself on the castle battlements overlooking Fantasyland to the rear...
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| Amazing views over Fantasyland, gives you a new appreciation for the way this land has been constructed |
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| Busy taking lots of photos! |
...and Discoveryland to the front of the castle...
But that's not all the castle has to offer...oh no! Because we then paid a visit to it's resident who lives in the dungeon...La Taniere du Dragon...
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| Me and a dragon! |
I shall have many more photos of this amazing and unique attraction to share with you in another blog post...promise!
To finish off the first half of our day we took a stroll through Le Passage Enchante d'Aladdin in Adventureland. This is another walk through attraction which depicts scenes from the film Aladdin and whilst it's nicely presented it's not a patch on the castle walk through! Hence no photos to share!
We then had a meander around Adventure Isle culminating in a visit to La Cabane des Robinson, otherwise known as Swiss Family Robinson; A Treehouse with a View! Adventure Isle is a great place to explore especially if you have younger children but with two teenagers who couldn't see the point to it plus the extreme cold it simply wasn't appealing enough to do in detail this trip. The treehouse was very similar to those stateside and whist nicely done we were now beginning to feel the cold or should that be unable to feel our fingers and toes and were desperate for some warmth.
So off we went in search of a sit down in a warm place with a nice hot drink; we walked through Frontierland but the offerings were slim so we ended up at Casey's Corner for coffees and hot chocolates before we decided what to do next.
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| Sizing up Casey's Corner |
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| Feeling rather cold and trying to get warm |
And then Molly reminded us that Autopia would be open and that we had promised to ride it...so that's where we headed next!
Even though it had not long opened the queue was already at a 25 minute wait!
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| About half way through the queue |
We decided that the girls would go in one car and the boys in another. Us girls got in the car behind the boys, saw them drive off and then we were told to stay still...we waited for what seemed like an eternity before we were given the all clear to go. This meant that the boys were long gone and any chance we had of 'chasing' them was lost...wasn't quite the fun ride it could have been if we'd been 'after' the boys. In fact it was almost at the end of the track before we caught them up...
It was now approaching lunchtime and we decided that a change of park was in order, so we took a stroll down Liberty Arcade, which runs parallel with Main Street USA, and set off in the direction of Walt Disney Studios.
I think this would be a good place to stop and save the rest of the day for my next post :)
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