Day 6: Disney Land Paris

Written by Carrie L:
We didn’t set our alarms this morning.  We knew we were in Disney and we should have been excited, up early and ready to take Mikey Mouse by storm, but we were all just so tired.  Even with all my Type A planning, I didn’t take into account just how exhausted, not only the adults would be, but the kids too.  Three kids couldn’t have been more excited to experience Disney so I think it speaks volumes for the fact that no one even moved before 9:00. 

I woke up, still with my socks on and bundled up with my sweats and blankets.  The cabin was anything but cozy…it was down right cold.  Even with the heat cranked up we couldn’t get the chill out of the room.  Who knew layers and layers of wood-like veneer could be so cold?

The cabins (trailers) at the DCR

Now, I know that the concept of the Davy Crockett Ranch was to make it seem like we were actually on a ranch and I will say, the common areas of the resort were quite nice.  Real wood, warm cozy décor, a fabulous indoor pool, etc.  However, the trailers (uh, I mean cabins) reminded me of what Cousin Eddie may have designed had he won the bid for a similar development project.

The Breakfast hike

After waking up and taking showers (which is a whole other complaint in the “how would you rate your stay with us” survey) I got dressed for a day of Disney Magic and recruited Grace to go on my breakfast hike with me.  What’s a “breakfast hike” you may ask?  Well, apparently at the Davy Crockett Ranch guests are given a complementary breakfast.  More value for the money you are thinking, right?  Well, to get to the breakfast one must get dressed and walk to the end of the trailer park (uh, I mean trail) and show your room receipt to get the free “magical” breakfast.  Now, for those of you reading our posts, you will know we are room service folk so hiking for our breakfast was less than ideal.  But hey, it was a crisp morning, we were roughing it in the woods and we were in France.  Things could be worse, right?

The breakfast bread

We moseyed up to our breakfast kiosk and were given our Mickey and Minnie adorned bags with a huge baguette sticking out of one of them.  We have had our fair share of bread since being on the road, but a nice, French baguette with breakfast sounded great.  Grace and I trekked back to our “cabin” and presented the crew with our hard work.  Breakfast for all!  Well, I should say “bread for all” because in addition to the French baguette we opened up the various bags that were packed for us and we were given an assortment of rolls in one and an enormous amount of croissants as well.  And that was it.  That was breakfast.  French baguette, a dozen or so rolls and even more croissants.  Oh, I forgot to mention the freeze dried, instant coffee.  Bon Appetit.

After the nourishing breakfast filled us in ways that was less than, shall we say, diet conscious (how are the French not fat?!?!), we had nothing else to do (having no internet) so we figured it was time to hit the park.

The entrance

Although our accommodations were part of the park, being on a ranch and all, we had to drive about 10 minutes to Disney Land itself.  But, in true Disney fashion, the entrance was, well, in a word, magical.  The girls were so excited to see the entrance to Disney Land and I have to say, it brought back memories for myself as well.  Being one of 4 siblings to parents of teachers, vacations involving air fare were not usually the norm.  So every couple of years or so, my parents would pack up the car and drive us to Florida to see our grandparents and sometimes take us to Disney World.  I will always remember the feeling of driving up to the parks, with my dad behind the wheel and us kids settled into the back of the VW van.   Sitting on nothing but a mattress in the back (the seats in the car just took up too much room, they reasoned back then) we would jump up and down down, screaming as we saw that colorful entrance welcoming us to the world of Walt Disney.  Well, this day had the same feel, however we had the kids buckled in car seats so picture a similar, safety-first kind of scene.

After parking the car and walking towards the parks, Carrie and I laughed as we heard the common, looped announcement in French with that wonderful French accent that always seems romantic to non-French speakers like ourselves.  We weren’t chuckling at the French announcement, but at the translated one in English.  The same man with the gorgeous French voice suddenly sounded like he was from LA, speaking with the most “American-like” accent we have ever heard.  It don’t know why it was so funny but really, as I said, we were tired and even the dumbest things had us ROFL-ing.

We started off at the Walt Disney Studios which is geared towards the movies and cinematography.  We had a few great teachable moments as the “Studio” buildings were good opportunities to explain to the girls how movies and television shows are made and the concepts of “set building.”  One of their favorite shows, Good Luck Charlie  was one of the ones we talked about as we explained that the show was filmed in a studio and not in a real house.  It was interesting to see how they took it all in and started to understand the concept of how tv shows and movies weren’t real but more like fancy story telling.

We went to “Stitch Live” and it was a really cute, interactive show.  I realized I had actually never seen Stitch before nor did I know his backstory so I was riveted with how Stich came to be.  I am now a fan.

The girls got wind of some kids walking by with the most incredible face painting we had ever seen and well, Carrie and I were pretty impressed too.  So, we made our way back to the Studio Building and paid 32Euro for three faces to be made up as a “Lioness”, a “Swan Princess” and a “Blue Fairy.”  I must say, this wasn’t your typical face painting session.  These women were artists and their work was impeccable.  The girls were so happy, I swear we could have left just then and they would have been satisfied with their Disney experience.

Up next?  Convincing them to try the TOWER OF TERROR. (I am writing it like that because I am saying it all scary and haunted in my mind as I type this).  To connect to our lesson about how TV shows and movies are made, we tried to get the girls to understand that this too, was part of the magic of the movies and being the ride-crazed girls they were, they would be missing out on something great if they let the facade of the haunted house actually scare them.  We were honest with them about what they would experience yet reminded them that all three of them were too scared to ride Space Mountain at Hong Kong Disney but eventually tried it and LOVED it so we felt this would be the same kind of thing.

Elise came up with the idea that in the “Toy Story” area there were parachute rides that went up and down, similar to the concept of the Tower of Terror.  She thought that perhaps we should all go on that and then if it wasn’t too scary, they would try the bigger, scarier option.  Good idea!  Let’s go. 

After waiting in line for about 40 minutes and finally getting on the ride that was easy schmeasy we all agreed to give the Tower of Terror a try.  Grace, the most nervous of anyone said, “Are we going on that Tower of Terror now?” “Yes,” I responded.  “Ok,” she sighed.  “Let’s get this over with.”

We had our fast passes already and it was time to go…we got into the “hotel” while we waited for our turn and right away the kids were freaked out.  I must say, Disney does do a great job with this ride making it quite realistic.  It took every bit of teacher training I have ever had to convince Grace and Ellie that this was not real, and it was a show for the ride.  It was not an actual haunted house and they COULD do this.  Ellie takes in everything people tell her and totally started to rationalize what I was saying, explaining to Grace, “Yeah Grace, see that table over there?  That isn’t really a table, it is just made to look like a table.  And see that dust on the light?  That isn’t real dust, Disney just makes it look like real dust.”  Well, not exactly Ellie, but ok, I'll go with it if it works.

Grace was still uneasy but I brought her back to our Hong Kong Disney experience where she was terrified to ride Space Mountain but once she did it, it ended up being her favorite ride of all time.  She went on it about a dozen times over those two days we were in the park.  I reminded her how she would have missed out on a great experience riding Space Mountain if she let her fear get the best of her and the same would happen with the Tower of Terror.  I also told her if she bailed now and Ellie loved it, she would regret not doing it and we weren’t going back for another ride.  Okay, she bought it.  She was in and not turning back.

Elise was a bit harder to convince as she was really scared.  Carrie was working to get her to tough it out but she was also a bit nervous that Elise might freak out in the middle of it and there would be nothing she could do.  Elise decided she needed out and wasn’t going to attempt the ride.  I think Elise was really torn about what to do…she saw Grace and Ellie going but at the same time she was really scared.  What a hard decision for a kid to have to make!  But at the end, Carrie took her out (much to the frustration of Mr. Disney Worker who had to escort them out while we were already in the bowels of the “hotel basement.”) 

Needless to say, as my kids LOVE an exciting ride, they thought the Tower of Terror was AWESOME!  A great learning moment for Grace, she turned to me when the ride was over and said, “Thanks for making me do that mom, it was awesome!”

Elise and Carrie met us outside and the girls kept telling Elise how great the ride was.  I tried to get them to take it down a few notches because I know how Grace would have reacted if she ended up not riding it and Ellie came out overly enthusiastic as to how fantastic it was.  But Elise handled it really well.  Clearly at peace with her decision, she maturely listened to Grace and Ellie describe the ride and she seemed to be happy they had fun, but also happy she made the decision she did.

A lot of the attractions the girls couldn’t ride on due to height restrictions and some things were closed for maintenance so we decided to head out of Walt Disney Studios and check out Disney Land itself.  Carrie and I have taken the kids to Hong Kong and we were hysterical (remember we are tired, stressed and wearing the only clean clothes we have left so we are a bit off our rocker by this point) that this park looked EXACTLY like Hong Kong.  In fact we had de ja vou and momentarily forgot where we were.  We didn’t need a map…we knew where everything was. 

By this point I was already Disney’d out.  Maybe it was the Disney Trailer we were sleeping in or the “Groundhog Day” moment of being at what seemed to be the same park we were just at last year, or the fact that I am going to be at Disney World Florida NEXT WEEK  (Don’t ask…it is a whole other story that maybe I will explain later) but I seriously don’t think, at that moment, I could take another grown woman walking around with Minnie Mouse ears.  Seriously, who does that?  And tell me, who buys those ears and says, “This will be great investment because I won’t look at all ridiculous wearing this anywhere else other than the Disney parks.”  I really wanted to take the next woman I saw wearing those and say, “Really?  Why?  Just tell me WHY!?!?!?!?”

Just before dinner we left the park and went to Disney Village because we saw “Planet Hollywood” and thought it would be a much better option, even if was more expensive then the Ranch buffet we would have been faced with if we went “home.”  Remember, we haven’t had internet for two days and we feel like we have been deprived of an essential, basic human need required for survival.  I walked up to the hostess and before I asked if they had tables or a wait, I asked, “Do you have wifi?”  To my horror, she said, “No, sorry.”  No internet??  WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE?  However the lack of a wait enticed me to sigh, “Okay, table for 5 please.” 

After we sat, still reeling from the fact that we had no wifi in the restaurant, I said to Carrie B, “So, having no internet is like, what?  It is like having no……?”  “Soul?” she responded quickly.  “Okay,” I retorted.  “I was going to say something like shoes but soul could work too.”

We ordered and ate as fast as we could because just before walking into Planet Hollywood we thought we saw the Double Tail-ed Mermaid (did you know it had a double tail?) mascot of Starbucks.  Sure enough, after dinner (which was 25 Euro cheaper than the ranch buffet and Carrie and I even had a glass of wine) we ran to Starbucks, barely noticing or caring if the kids were within a reasonable distance away from us.

We walk in…pull out our iphones and….wait for it….yes!  A connection!  THANK YOU STARBUCKS! Not only do you keep us awake when we need it but you connect us to the world.  I swear, Walt would be turning over in his ice cube if he knew the lack of modern day practices that were taking place in his very own “Tomorrow Land.”

We sat and we surfed.  I had 65 email messages and a zillion Face Book posts (it was my birthday the next day) and I just didn’t have enough time to process all this information so quickly.  It was late and as responsible parents, we really needed to get these kids back home on the range as we had to get up early the next day, hike for our breakfast of bread and head to Belgium.  But we just couldn’t tear ourselves away….we were connected with the real world and it felt really good!  I don’t care how magical Disney claims to be…when you can’t connect to civilization outside of those gates in this day and age, you just can’t appreciate that magic!

In addition, and in my defense, I have a lot going on in my life right now.  While on this trip my husband Peter resigned from the only company he has ever worked for, besides his father’s repair shop, to accept a new job back in the US.   After almost 7 years of living overseas, we will be moving back to a country and culture my kids have never been a part of….and to a state neither Peter nor I are originally from.  And all this is happening in the next 3 weeks.  Also remember, I booked a trip to Disney World NEXT WEEK for TWO WEEKS. (My brother is getting married in Florida so we built it into our trip for that celebration).  Without getting into it too much, we have A LOT to do in a SHORT amount of time and no internet access is keeping me from communicating with Peter to make major, life decisions. 

So, maybe some of my craziness is starting to make sense now?  Only a zany woman like me would do this road trip before a major life change and international move.  But, honestly, knowing this move was a possibility, I had to figure out a way to fit all this in.  I couldn’t be living in Europe, with a car, without a road trip.  And, as my husband clearly has a few things going on, including him on this pipe dream of mine wasn’t possible.  Hence, my seemingly irrational, spontaneous and impulsive phone call to Carrie B asking her to pull her child out of school and come along with me is a bit more understandable, no?