February 23rd

It was a fun time at Disneyland but a very frigid fun time. The weather prediction was around 30 degrees Farheinheit (-2 degrees Celsius, 271.15 Kelvin) but apparently Google weather sucks as much as Fox News forecasts. I can handle freezing, that's whatever. But when the temperature feels like the mid-teens (-8 degrees Celsius, 265.15 Kelvin) and my feet actually start to freeze up, well there's a problem. Somehow we survived it and even enjoyed ourselves. Let's review the details dear audience (I may have some of these out of order, it was a long day).

First attraction to see when entering Disney Paris is the castle. Sleeping Beauty's Castle to be exact and it is not much compared to Cinderella's for one glaring reason; it's pink. Had it been all pink (like dark pink roofs with light pink walls) then it would've looked better. Rather it was light pink with blue roofs and looks like a jumbo version of a mini golf castle. All that was missing was the windmill.

First ride was Dumbo! This specific ride holds a special place in my heart since it was one of my very first Disney rides as a child in Florida. While my mother and brother had gone to Splash Mountain (I have yet to conquer that one) my father and I rode the Dumbo ride together. It must have looked silly since I was only five or six at the time and completely miniscule next to my 6'2" father. Nevertheless I had a lot of fun riding it. This second round with Johnny and Kate was a lot of fun as well especially since Kate was giggling with glee (I can't believe I just typed glee, shiver) which made me laugh.

Second stop, Alice's Curious Labyrinth. I know it was Alice in Wonderland but I could help but think about finding a goblin or two hiding amongst the hedges. Maybe I watch too many movies, then again I wouldn't mind stay with Jareth forever (later Toby).

Just couldn't resist this ^_^

 Anyways, we all had fun posing for silly pictures (there is one of me looking utterly ridiculous) and becoming lost. Hmm lost might be too strong a word since it was a children's maze but we definitely hit many dead ends. "Couper la tête!"

Midday was food. Why? Well it was really (insert the most unique curse word in English in participle form) cold and I was starving. Never allow me to become too hungry otherwise as a wolf I will bite anything in sight. Usually people's heads off followed by their hands. I don't like to be petted when I'm hungry. Needless to say we made our way to one of the several Disneyland restaurants. I would have pushed to go to Pizza Planet but it was further from Café Hyperion (which was right by us) so we took the weak way out and went to the closer restaurant. If there is a Pizza Planet in California's Disneyland I'm so hitting it up!

In Café Hyperion there is a decent sitting area but on a cold day in Disney that means nothing. Kate, Jonathan, and I had to stand near the door and eat our hot sandwiches around small bar tables. That was fun, good thing the food was decent. I actually enjoyed my cheeseburger and fries. Somehow they were well made.

After chowing we decided to hang around for a lil bit in order to thaw more. Fortunately in Café Hyperion there is nonstop entertainment in the form of Pixar shorts. Sadly we did not see my personal favorite (embedded below) but the magician short, the maintenance robot from Wall-E, and even the original Junior short made an appearance on the screen. All was well but we eventually made our way outside. My feet weren't too happy but the rest of me didn't care.

Second ride, the teacups (obviously!). Again memories stirred with the teacups but those were vaguer. I remember riding them and I remember my brother trying to spin it as fast as he could. Did a pretty good job for a ten year old too but hey I was five (or something like that) everything seemed faster back then. This teacup ride was hilarious because Kate was in charge of the spinning. She was a trooper to ride the teacups because Kate doesn't do too well with dizziness. I'm alright with spinning but I prefer coasters where I go through loops and corkscrews and near vertical drops. Spins just tend to make my stomach slosh, just a lil.

Afterwards we found our third ride and our longest line, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Alright out of all three movies (I say three since this park was built long before the fourth film) why the Temple of Doom? A Raiders ride would've been way more epic. Imagine going through the pyramid seeing the puzzle room and the treasure chamber with the statue then from nowhere a giant boulder begins to chase you until you find the entrance and just barely escape in time! That would be epic. The actual ride was a lot of fun and had some decent drops and a few loops intertwined as well. The wait was around and hour but fortunately we were sheltered from the wind. That seemed to boost temp a bit.

Sometime later we found ourselves on a boat ride. Alrighty then. This was the Land of Fairytales or a boat tour with fairytale decor. It was sweet, very sweet. My favorite part was when we entered the Cave of Wonders, I mean who doesn't dream of that day? However the random village sets scattered throughout most of the displays were a bit misplaced. They were just space fillers but like most fillers they just didn't satisfy. Still, Cave of Wonders!!!

After that we grabbed some more food and by "we" I mean Kate and me. Lovely Kate spotted some candy apples and we both decided to buy one. To my surprise the apple itself was a golden delicious. At first I was questioned on my apple knowledge, big mistake. This chick right 'ere loves apples (a little too much sometimes) and even has a few trees in her backyard. One of them happens to be a golden delicious tree meaning I've eaten my fair share of goldens meaning I know the texture, taste, and skin very well. Crap, now I want a golden delicious or a fuji, I miss fuji.

While I was eating my apple Jonathan took the opportunity to make me feel like a savage, again. Except audience instead of ribs he was laughing at my face being covered in candy apple glaze. It's a messy food and I'm an aggressive eater (most of the time) so my prey often ends up decorating my face. I refused to look at him because he kept calling me "cute" (I loathe that word) and wouldn't shut up about how I was going to have candy coating in my hair. I ate my apple, back turned to Kate (who was delicately eating hers in peace) and Dolt. The candy apple was awesome.

It was then time to do some shopping meaning a visit to the Disney Village was in order. I found what I was searching for in a giant Disney store. I must say they are really promoting the whole "we own Star Wars now" thing. There's merch everywhere including Disney character pins as Star Wars characters. Donald as Darth Maul, bit odd. I steered clear, don't have me wrong I love Star Wars but I wasn't interested in Disney themed imitations. Rather I wandered to the Nightmare Before Christmas area. I've had a thing for that movie ever since I can remember, something about it just clicks with me. Now, that doesn't mean I want it to click with anybody else. It's one of those loves that I'd rather not share with someone. Kind of like my obsession with Toews, it'd be weird to have that in common with somebody else. Anyways what I bought was a deck of cards. It is tradition for me to buy a deck of cards anywhere I travel or anytime I feel like it. My collection is over twenty five decks so far, not bad but it's only a start. These Nightmare Disney cards are too perfect; I honestly couldn't ask for a better souvenir.

Once shopping was finished we visited the second park or Disney Studios. That place was pretty sick if I say so myself. We went on a behind the scenes tour that displayed original concept art as well as a montage of Disney scenes and songs. Best part is half was in French and half in English. Regardless everyone in the audience, myself included, was absorbed in the short film of Disney clips. They did play the sad part from Dumbo, when his mom is in chains, and I had to bite my lip. That part/song always makes me cry and want to hug my mother. I guess as a child one of my biggest fears was losing my parents. Didn't help that in every (pretty sure all) Disney films at least one parent is dead or in Pinocchio a group of children are turned into donkeys. I really hate that scene because of the talking donkey named Alexander. The idea of a little boy being turned into a donkey and forced to work in the salt mines while crying for his mother was too unbearable for little Mary. Also my brother convinced me that I'd turn into a donkey, funny now bad back then. Damnit Disney, why do you inspire fear in children?!

All in all the day was wicked cool. That is both literal and figurative because it was wicked cool or awesome but also was wicked cool or really damn cold. By the end of the day I was near to passing out because of overexposure (nocturnal!) to sunlight and I was hungry again. I don't remember the train ride back to St. Lazare or the train to Le Havre. But I do remember having a sandwich, a muffin, and some hot chocolate with Kate. That was delicious and heartwarming. Endings are always better when food and friendship are involved.