Day 6 (19 April 2012)
Related posts: Paris Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7
As mentioned in the posting on Day 5, today is our Disneyland trip! I bought our Disneyland tickets online from their website (link) for GBP51 each. The ticket provides an unlimited 1-day admission into both parks: Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park.
During our 7-day trip to Paris, I had this “guide game” going on. It was my attempt to make sure everybody in the trip understands how to navigate around Paris and speak basic French. The Paris metro is more complicated compared to London’s tube, so a bit of figuring out was needed. And having no English signs didn’t help either. The deal is for everybody to take turns becoming the guide and everybody must speak in French when ordering food. Suffice to say at the end of the trip everybody knew their way around the streets of Paris and appreciated the beauty of the French language.
Anyway, today’s “guide” is my sister Syahirah. So she had to figure out how to get us to Disneyland (which train route to take).
We arrived at Disneyland around 12 noon. The metro is situated right in the middle of the map above. We passed by Walt Disney Studios (on the left of the map above) on our way into Disneyland Park (top left of map). The Disneyland area is massive. Just outside of the park are hotels and malls for people who decide to stay there to fully explore the area. It is recommended that you stay there around 2-3 days to fully enjoy all they have to offer!
We had lunch and after that we were off exploring. Disneyland Park was so massive that we spent the entire day there without even having time to visit Walt Disney Studios! No wonder the guide book recommended 2-3 days to explore the entire park!
Anyway, one of our friends on the trip recommended that we use the Fast Pass. The Fast Pass is Disney’s brilliant invention to enable visitors to cut queues! There’s always a long line at all major rides. To reduce our waiting time, we went to all major rides and took a Fast Pass. The Fast Pass will then enable you to cut the queue at a determined time in the future. E.g. it’s 1PM now, and you collect a Fast Pass for Space Mountain ride at 3PM. So you can spend time walking around (rather than waiting in a line) and come back at 3PM. The Fast Pass enables you to cut the long queue and join a shorter queue no more than 5-10 mins wait before going on the ride! Brilliant stuff!
There are 5 main “magical lands” in Disneyland Paris: Main Street USA, Fantasyland, Discoveryland, Frontierland, Adventureland. Because of the Fast Pass, we were able to enjoy 5 rides from all different “lands”! I was thoroughly satisfied as back in 2010 when I visited Disneyland Hong Kong (blogpost here), I wasn’t aware of the Fast Pass and due to the long lines, I couldn’t even go on a single ride!
In the evening, we had dinner at one of Disney’s Fast Food outlet while waiting for the fireworks show at 9PM. I was impressed with the quality of the food. The burgers and sandwiches were quite tasty!
The fireworks show, just like the one in Disneyland Hong Kong, was absolutely magical. I find the projection of cartoon characters on the water sprinkle around the castle during the fireworks show gave it a nice hologram effect (bottom right photo). We had an amazing time. I believe everybody, child or adult, must experience Disneyland at least once in their lifetime. If you’re in Paris and you have 1 day to spare, a visit is highly recommended!
Paris photos: Please visit my Flickr page here.
Related posts: Paris Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7
Imran Jaafar 