Friday, July 17, 2009
Let The Roller Coaster Magic Begin – Disney Land Paris
While most people visiting Paris would want to wine and dine, the eternal child in me was craving for a visit to Disney land. So off to Disneyland went Sarin, Beau and me, with help from Nitin on which trains to board and most importantly which side of the platform to be on :-). We got up at wee hours of the morning, actually, we were woken up by our gracious and caring host - the Goel family who took utmost care of us during our stay in Paris and helped us immensely in planning our entire sightseeing in Paris and fed us with delicious home cooked Indian vegetarian food ranging from bread rolls to pav bhaji to pancakes. The food Bhavna cooks is nothing short of yummy ever :-)
We wanted to reach Disneyland early and try and catch up on as many rides as we could as we were warned of the massive crowd and circuitous lines at Disney and we almost reconciled ourselves to not more than 3-4 rides. Since none of us are early risers it was extremely difficult for all of us to keep our eyes open but since we had to change trains there was no option but to look sharp lest we miss the station.
It was a long journey (took us almost over an hour to reach Disneyland) but once there the eyes automatically were wide open and the sleep also went off for a ride. We walked towards Disney land expecting huge crowd and sent off Sarin to buy the tickets while we bought a raincoat for Beau as it had started to drizzle and Beau was not carrying a raincoat. Surprisingly we saw Sarin walking back with tickets in his hand. We thanked our lucky stars and quickly pushed off for the rides before the crowd started to swell.
The Disney map was collected and we went to the Adventure land (Disneyland is divided into some 5 lands - Discovery land; Adventure land; Frontier land; Fantasy land and Main Street USA, each theme based and having their own set of adventure rides; kid’s zone; shopping area and lot more stuff). Tip – once you enter grab a map and decide on what you want to see (or if you really have the time, then plan from before).
We started off with our first ride - The Big Thunder Mountain and the catalogue read “Its Dynamite”
IT was nothing more than …yawn …..but thankfully we didn’t have to queue up for this one :-)
Next it was Indiana Jones and Temple of Peril [anyone who knows Sarin doesn’t even need one guess on why :-)] and since there was no queue to enter we thought it was a good bet. Moreover the catalogue read “Prepare yourself for a whip-cracking adventure as you enter the Temple of Peril and find yourself in a runaway wagon speeding through the ancient ruins. Tummy-turning action”. Well it was anything but tummy turning (check out our pics where we tried hard to look scared). Disappointed? Well, yes we were a bit as we wanted the rides to really shock us out of our wits.
By now Sarin started getting his confidence back (well he is not a great one for these topsy-turvy rides) as we moved on to our next ride “Space Ride”. Four feet something, that Sarin always considers me, he always wanted me to check my height to ensure that I pass that test before I stepped on the ride :-)
We went on to the ride and wwhhoooaaaaaa it was really amazing. The shuttle started to move ahead slowly chugging along and then the announcement came get ready for your space ride ….in ….Three …..Two …..One and wwwooooppppsssssss before you could blink your eye the shuttle just shot up at top speed …. Before you knew it plunges headlong – double its previous speed. And then it was turns and loops which just left us feeling dizzy. Well this one sure was tummy turning action and Sarin swore that he will never do it again.
Now, Sarin wanted his lunch break, one good ride (bad by his standards) was just too much for him. Spotting a cool place, we trooped right in. The wait was long and the attendants looked totally confused. We were hungry and completely bored. Finally after lot of persuasion we got a table and lo the waiter was absconding. She came finally huffing and puffing but she was an extremely courteous and efficient girl though can’t say the same about the kitchen staff. The food was good and we were famished and quickly gulped it down (savoring food is never been our forte). Final round Sarin and Beau ordered for an icecream each and it was huge. We tipped the girl and set out for our next set of rides.
As we walked out towards the Disneyland park there was an announcement of the Disney Parade happening and so off we went to watch. It was cute with all the Disney characters in a small blue train waving and dancing. After the parade we went back to the Disney park and tried the Rock and Roll coaster. The lightning fast ride is accompanied by hi-amp rock music. For once the ride was perfectly described in the catalogue “As the music rocks, you'll "roll" from 0 to 100km/h in less than three seconds, into hairpin turns, jaw-dropping and over-the-top flips, upside down through a state-of-the-art rock video...” Lo!! that was nothing short of being awesome. Despite the adrenalin rush Sarin loved this ride being a great fan of rock music and for once I didn’t mind the noise being a great fan of thrill rides :-)
After that we shopped a little in the Disney shop where I bought a princess sweatshirt for my niece and a Mickey Mouse toy and Winnie the Pooh key chain for myself and Beau bought the Shrek donkey for “a friend” of his ;-) We posed among the big cars ; managed to catch up a street performance while we walked over to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror Ride.
The ride did look quite scary and he queue was long which took half the fun off the ride. The ride is situated inside a eerie looking hotel (that’s how it is made up like). A group of fifteen people are led to a room and you are asked to stand within the boundaries of the carpet. You almost faint at the thought of a ride without any thing securely strapping you up. But that is just for the introduction to create the eerie feeling. Then you are escorted to a place where there a 4 lifts in a row. When your turn comes you climb up the lift and are strapped. The lift has a capacity of approx 15 people.
In our lift a couple got in with their two little kids. The younger kid was getting edgy and seemed like he didn’t want to get on the ride. The attendant told the parents that she will need to ask the kid before starting the ride. The attendant then asked the kid do you want to go “up and down, up and down” The child let out a small cry and then the attendant gestured with her hand and said “up and down, up and down” the child started wailing. The attendant told the parents that the child can’t go. It was mothers turn to ask and she said “up and down, up and down”, and the child let out his loudest cry meaning Cant you UNDERSTAND I DO NOT WANT TO GO… The parents finally gave up and discussed among themselves on who would take the ride. After a few seconds a reluctant father stepped out of the lift with the boy.
It was an exhilarating experience where the ascent of the lift is followed by gravity defying drop. This ride was fun more so because through out the ride we just kept telling each other “up and down, up and down”.
By now Sarin had enough of the rides. But we were not going to let the Crush’s coaster let go past us without trying. The crush’s coaster was based on finding nemo where you ride on the turtle. There are four seats two in front of turtle and two facing back. While standing in the line I decided to sit facing the rear since all the rides were till now front facing. Our turn came and the turtle not only did the ceremonial ups and downs but also did a 360 degree spin throughout. So it never really mattered whether you were sitting in front or back. This ride was definitely not kids play :-)
Sarin just gave up after this ride but me and Beau hadn’t had enough we went back to the adventure land where the rides did not have a queue (much to Sarin’s reluctance he had no option but to go with us *wink*). This time Beau and I decided to sit right at the front of each ride. We went again on the Big Thunder Mountain; Indiana Jones; Rock and Roll and twice on Space ride. This time around we screamed and screamed out our lungs. By the end of it Sarin just wanted to kill us.
By now it was seven and in an hours time the big Disney parade at night was about to begin. We roamed about and had some snacks at the kiddie zone. We waited for a while before the procession began. Well this is one stunning show with illuminated float after float carrying Disney characters along with music and dance. The parade ends with fireworks, can’t say the same about the fireworks, have seen better ones for sure. Though the backdrop of the castle combined with the fireworks does make a memorable sight.
The parade ends almost in time for every one to catch up the last train and like all others we also rushed to the station. Once we boarded the train we realized how tired we were by the end of it and didn’t realize in sheer excitement of the rides. This sure turned out to be a fun filled day.
Go visit Disney land and let the magic begin……
We wanted to reach Disneyland early and try and catch up on as many rides as we could as we were warned of the massive crowd and circuitous lines at Disney and we almost reconciled ourselves to not more than 3-4 rides. Since none of us are early risers it was extremely difficult for all of us to keep our eyes open but since we had to change trains there was no option but to look sharp lest we miss the station.
It was a long journey (took us almost over an hour to reach Disneyland) but once there the eyes automatically were wide open and the sleep also went off for a ride. We walked towards Disney land expecting huge crowd and sent off Sarin to buy the tickets while we bought a raincoat for Beau as it had started to drizzle and Beau was not carrying a raincoat. Surprisingly we saw Sarin walking back with tickets in his hand. We thanked our lucky stars and quickly pushed off for the rides before the crowd started to swell.
The Disney map was collected and we went to the Adventure land (Disneyland is divided into some 5 lands - Discovery land; Adventure land; Frontier land; Fantasy land and Main Street USA, each theme based and having their own set of adventure rides; kid’s zone; shopping area and lot more stuff). Tip – once you enter grab a map and decide on what you want to see (or if you really have the time, then plan from before).We started off with our first ride - The Big Thunder Mountain and the catalogue read “Its Dynamite”
IT was nothing more than …yawn …..but thankfully we didn’t have to queue up for this one :-)
Next it was Indiana Jones and Temple of Peril [anyone who knows Sarin doesn’t even need one guess on why :-)] and since there was no queue to enter we thought it was a good bet. Moreover the catalogue read “Prepare yourself for a whip-cracking adventure as you enter the Temple of Peril and find yourself in a runaway wagon speeding through the ancient ruins. Tummy-turning action”. Well it was anything but tummy turning (check out our pics where we tried hard to look scared). Disappointed? Well, yes we were a bit as we wanted the rides to really shock us out of our wits.
By now Sarin started getting his confidence back (well he is not a great one for these topsy-turvy rides) as we moved on to our next ride “Space Ride”. Four feet something, that Sarin always considers me, he always wanted me to check my height to ensure that I pass that test before I stepped on the ride :-)
We went on to the ride and wwhhoooaaaaaa it was really amazing. The shuttle started to move ahead slowly chugging along and then the announcement came get ready for your space ride ….in ….Three …..Two …..One and wwwooooppppsssssss before you could blink your eye the shuttle just shot up at top speed …. Before you knew it plunges headlong – double its previous speed. And then it was turns and loops which just left us feeling dizzy. Well this one sure was tummy turning action and Sarin swore that he will never do it again.Now, Sarin wanted his lunch break, one good ride (bad by his standards) was just too much for him. Spotting a cool place, we trooped right in. The wait was long and the attendants looked totally confused. We were hungry and completely bored. Finally after lot of persuasion we got a table and lo the waiter was absconding. She came finally huffing and puffing but she was an extremely courteous and efficient girl though can’t say the same about the kitchen staff. The food was good and we were famished and quickly gulped it down (savoring food is never been our forte). Final round Sarin and Beau ordered for an icecream each and it was huge. We tipped the girl and set out for our next set of rides.
As we walked out towards the Disneyland park there was an announcement of the Disney Parade happening and so off we went to watch. It was cute with all the Disney characters in a small blue train waving and dancing. After the parade we went back to the Disney park and tried the Rock and Roll coaster. The lightning fast ride is accompanied by hi-amp rock music. For once the ride was perfectly described in the catalogue “As the music rocks, you'll "roll" from 0 to 100km/h in less than three seconds, into hairpin turns, jaw-dropping and over-the-top flips, upside down through a state-of-the-art rock video...” Lo!! that was nothing short of being awesome. Despite the adrenalin rush Sarin loved this ride being a great fan of rock music and for once I didn’t mind the noise being a great fan of thrill rides :-)After that we shopped a little in the Disney shop where I bought a princess sweatshirt for my niece and a Mickey Mouse toy and Winnie the Pooh key chain for myself and Beau bought the Shrek donkey for “a friend” of his ;-) We posed among the big cars ; managed to catch up a street performance while we walked over to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror Ride.
The ride did look quite scary and he queue was long which took half the fun off the ride. The ride is situated inside a eerie looking hotel (that’s how it is made up like). A group of fifteen people are led to a room and you are asked to stand within the boundaries of the carpet. You almost faint at the thought of a ride without any thing securely strapping you up. But that is just for the introduction to create the eerie feeling. Then you are escorted to a place where there a 4 lifts in a row. When your turn comes you climb up the lift and are strapped. The lift has a capacity of approx 15 people.
In our lift a couple got in with their two little kids. The younger kid was getting edgy and seemed like he didn’t want to get on the ride. The attendant told the parents that she will need to ask the kid before starting the ride. The attendant then asked the kid do you want to go “up and down, up and down” The child let out a small cry and then the attendant gestured with her hand and said “up and down, up and down” the child started wailing. The attendant told the parents that the child can’t go. It was mothers turn to ask and she said “up and down, up and down”, and the child let out his loudest cry meaning Cant you UNDERSTAND I DO NOT WANT TO GO… The parents finally gave up and discussed among themselves on who would take the ride. After a few seconds a reluctant father stepped out of the lift with the boy.It was an exhilarating experience where the ascent of the lift is followed by gravity defying drop. This ride was fun more so because through out the ride we just kept telling each other “up and down, up and down”.
By now Sarin had enough of the rides. But we were not going to let the Crush’s coaster let go past us without trying. The crush’s coaster was based on finding nemo where you ride on the turtle. There are four seats two in front of turtle and two facing back. While standing in the line I decided to sit facing the rear since all the rides were till now front facing. Our turn came and the turtle not only did the ceremonial ups and downs but also did a 360 degree spin throughout. So it never really mattered whether you were sitting in front or back. This ride was definitely not kids play :-)
Sarin just gave up after this ride but me and Beau hadn’t had enough we went back to the adventure land where the rides did not have a queue (much to Sarin’s reluctance he had no option but to go with us *wink*). This time Beau and I decided to sit right at the front of each ride. We went again on the Big Thunder Mountain; Indiana Jones; Rock and Roll and twice on Space ride. This time around we screamed and screamed out our lungs. By the end of it Sarin just wanted to kill us.
By now it was seven and in an hours time the big Disney parade at night was about to begin. We roamed about and had some snacks at the kiddie zone. We waited for a while before the procession began. Well this is one stunning show with illuminated float after float carrying Disney characters along with music and dance. The parade ends with fireworks, can’t say the same about the fireworks, have seen better ones for sure. Though the backdrop of the castle combined with the fireworks does make a memorable sight.
The parade ends almost in time for every one to catch up the last train and like all others we also rushed to the station. Once we boarded the train we realized how tired we were by the end of it and didn’t realize in sheer excitement of the rides. This sure turned out to be a fun filled day.
Go visit Disney land and let the magic begin……
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