Almost at the end of our time at Mickey's European estate, we spent
our final few hours back in Disneyland.
The weather had improved substantially since we
first set foot in Disneyland on Saturday
The official welcome - better late than never.
It's sunny on Main Street!
First up was a return to Phantom Manor for a
breakdown free ride. Well, almost. It broke down just
before we boarded, but not for long.
From one dark ride to another - the superb Pirates
of the Caribbean. (And from one
breakdown-whilst-waiting-in-the-queue to another).
Casey
Jr is a powered coaster with the best themed trains I've ever
seen. According to the Disneyland Paris website this should have
been closed for during our visit. Finding it open, it would have
been rude not to ride.
Easy Donald! I just wanted to say hello.
We had walked over to Discoveryland in the hope of a
final ride on Buzz Lightyear, but the soft openings were only a
special for the weekend apparently. Star Tours instead then.
We had a quick browse inside the Nautilus from
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and had a close encounter with a giant
squid
Our last ride of the trip had to be one of the best:
Big Thunder Mountain
There was just time for afternoon tea
Inevitably though, time eventually ran out and we
had to catch our train home
French railways. Always on time. Apart from when you're
catching a TGV to Lille and changing on to Eurostar. Originally
delayed by 15 minutes, the train eventually turned up almost half an
hour late. Slightly worrying when you only have an hour between
that and the connecting Eurostar departure.
Thankfully we got to Lille Europe with plenty of time to
spare. Our Eurostar train arrived at the platform on time ...
and didn't move. After a while the train manager announced that
we were unable to depart because of some people on the line
ahead. This story then changed to there being two people on the
roof.
The police were called and removed the potential illegal
immigrants. However, they then had to wait for permission to
re-instate the electricity supply, resulting in a thirty minute
delay. In the end we made it back to Waterloo and then homeward
courtesy of South West Trains (urgh).
Disneyland Paris was a remarkable experience. Up until now
I've been used to UK theme parks. I've known they have their
flaws and that other people say how much better other parks around the
world are. Now I believe them. Disney really go out of
their way to create - in their words - magic moments, shielding their
guests as much as possible from the harsh realities of the real world
and letting them enter into an imaginary fantasy. At times the
experience feels a bit controlled and contrived, but this is easy to
forgive when viewed together with the incredible theming, the
attention to detail, the reliability of rides, the efficiency of the
staff and the atmosphere they have managed to create.
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