Disneyland Paris!

So last Saturday, I got up at the earliest hour that I have since arriving in France. Five AM. Brutal. But it was worth it, because I was catching a train to Disneyland Paris!

A group of 6 of us took the TGV (aka 'really fast train') to Paris' Montparnasse train station. From there, it was really easy to catch a subway (a really long subway) to Disneyland.

However.

Once we got out of the subway and started to walk towards the park entrance, we hit a roadblock.

Apparently, apparently, because we were traveling so far on the subway, our normal tickets didn't work. We apparently needed a 1-5 zone ticket (a zone corresponds to how far outside the city center you go) but all we had was a 1-3 zone. or maybe even a 1-2 zone. I don't know.

So anyway, when we tried to feed out ticket through the doors that would let us out, the doors wouldn't open up. There was no info desk or place to pay... we were just trapped in this little limbo-area between the metro and the park.

There was, however, a special door that was used for people in wheelchairs and people with strollers. You would hit a button, and I'm assuming that someone watching the area would hit a button opening the door up for you. So we tried it, just to see if we could talk to someone about how the hell we were supposed to get out of there. The door opened... and no one showed up... so we just walked through. Nonchalantly (ish). And we just stood around for a few minutes... and no one came by. So we headed towards the park entrance, content with having saved 6,70€ each.

So we pay a fortune to get into the Disney parks (we bought a two-park ticket: Disneyland Paris and Disney Studios), because that's simply what you do at Disney... but we got lucky again, because there was a student discount. Sweet.


Entrance to Disney. me.


Castle. it was a very grey day.

We grabbed lunch first. We had been on the hunt for pizza, but we settled for hotdogs because we were starving and they were cheap. Nothing like eating real French food in France, right?

Afterwards we headed to Space Mountain. This is one of my favorite rides in Florida, and it was pretty cool here too.


Space Mountain

And then we ate more. and did more rides. and shopped. and ate more. In case you're wondering (I know you're not) I ate my way through the entire park. Popcorn, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, candied apple...

We spent most of the next day in Paris, hitting up things that we didn't see during orientation. I saw the Champs Elysées and l'Arc de Triomphe... and Montmartre for what feels like the millionth time... but all in all, a good trip :)


Side note: I wrote this entry two weeks ago, and am just getting around to posting it. I just got back from Winter Break, and this Disney trip is pathetic in comparison. Expect more blog entries to come on Fez, Rabat, and Madrid :)