Disneyland Paris 2009 Day 3 and 4

Day 3

Ahh.... bet you thought I had finished didn't you? Our holiday booking meant that by having early and late flights we were able to have nearly four whole day there.
So day three we decided to have a bit of a lie-in and had our breakfast at nearly 10am. We then decided to go into the Disney Studio Park and for Sophie we aimed for the Toon section..

We visited the Animation Gallery which we really enjoyed and had a go at drawing a sequence that would move when put in a zeotrophe (hope I have spelt that right?).

Here you can see us busily being creative. (I do not look my best here, it has been an intensive few days so please for give me!) We then put our strips of paper in the black cylinder on my left in the picture.

We then took part in a cartoon class where we were shown how to draw Mickey Mouse. Sophie did very well despite the fact that the lady went a bit too quick but her drawing is very good. I then splashed out and got a book which we can use to draw some more.

There were lovely colourful slides/pictures of many well known scenes from many Disney films..

Plus some fun interactive items..

Unfortunately that was really all that Sophie could do in this park. We went to see a 'show' about how they make cartoons but it did not really make sense to us and was more entertainment rather than fact. So we went back to the main park and looked in some of the shops because Sophie had been given some money from Grandparents and it was starting to burn a hole in her pocket. Then it was dinner back at the hotel this time and walked it off in the evening. We did spend some time in the bar/lounge where they had the biggest log fire I have ever seen! Then bedtime.
Day 4

Being our last day we decided to what round areas that we had missed. A very pleasant ride on a Mississippi River boat in the bright sunshine was good. We gave the haunted house a miss and the Wild West section or the idea of it simply went over Sophie's head so we left that too.
We had not queued for any 'meet and greets' but being the last day we decided to join the queue. Guess who came out to see us all...?

Sophie's face light up yet again. The queue was HUGE but she definitely wanted to meet them. Guess how long we queued? I could not feel the ends of my fingers or the end of my toes due to standing still and getting cold. We had a really good chat to the family behind us who have been to Disneyland Paris 17 times! We waited and waited and waited...nearly 2 blooming hours!!!!!! The things we do for our children. I do not usually like to put pics of Sophie's face on here but due to the time it took to get this picture I will...

The costumes were really lovely and look just like the characters in the films so there was no disappointment there at all. Sophie does think that they are real and these have been her favourites since she was old enough to look at them. We had to go for a hot chocolate and a large cookie to warm up after that! Then some more shopping. We were eventually Disneyed-out so we went back to the hotel to find our luggage and make our way to the airport. We eventually got home at 1am on Wednesday morning, exhausted but happy. Thank goodness we have the rest of the week to recover! It was well worth it all and even us adults got a lot out of it. It was pure kiddie fun and we are both kids at heart anyway, what is the point in having children if you can not enjoy this side of things too. I will end with a mixture of pictures. Crafting will resume asap. Take care

XX

Our Trip to Disneyland Day 1 and 2

Day 1

On Friday 13th I had a staff training day while Sophie and hubby got the car ready and took Tiger to the cattery for a few days. Once I got home we drove the Bristol and stay in a hotel near the Airport so as to reduce the driving and chaos on the day of flying. On Saturday we got up at 5am for breakfast (too early for me but I will never say no to a cup of tea at any hour!) then off to the airport, parked the car and then got ambushed by a lady with a clipboard and questionnaire of all things. I left hubby with that as it was for too early to think of answers, I am not good in the mornings. Check-in was easy and quick then an hour wait for take off. We arrived at Disneyland Paris at about 9.15am with the time difference and the temperature was 0 degrees! We put our luggage in a secure area got a park map and off we went!
What I was waiting to see was the look on Sophie's face because I knew what was coming. Hubby had not visited before either.

We got to the main entrance and still Sophie made no reaction as such.....

She was impressed with the size of it.

We then walked through into Main street and she saw this...

The pink castle. Now I can not put into words here the reaction we got from Sophie, but the waiting, planning and saving had been worth it. We were bombarded with loads of questions, the first being 'is that castle real' well yes in that it is not a picture but we knew what she meant. I think that at this age if she wants to believe it is real that is fine. It is a bit like Father Christmas, things will change as she gets older. We looked at our map and because I had been before with the school three years ago I suggested that we started with Fantasy Land or the pink zone.
As we made our way down Main Street we heard an announcement and I asked Sophie to stand on the pavement and watch. This came around the bend...

Sophie has always liked roundabouts but she could not believe her eyes when she saw this.

There is a lovely little boat ride called 'It's a small World' which is great for little ones and Sophie has been humming it ever since.
We stayed until about 5pm when we decided to get our bags and head back to the hotel to have a bit of a rest before dinner, what was that? A rest Mummy, no way a quick trip to the swimming pool please it has a slide. Silly Mummy of course we must go swimming first!

Day 2

We decided to get up really early and take advantage of using the park for two hours before it is officially open. So the alarm went off at 6.30am! At this point I was wandering what I was thinking if anything at all! Our breakfast had been pre-booked for 7.15am! Sophie was not very impressed at all but that did not last for long and the joy of being 6 years old is that she bounced back quicker than we did.

We travelled down to the pink castle in this which was fun but very very cold.

Due to the early hour and it being Sunday the park was almost deserted and we were able to go on so many rides by 10am, mainly the ones that would always have a long queue all day. This was the only day that we were mad enough to do this. This is a pretty exhausting 'holiday' but you have to make the most of the time you are there and it is part of the fun. Sophie really loved it. Going swimming again before dinner was our only mistake, she fell asleep and was not happy when we woke her up for dinner. Oh dear!

We had dinner at Cafe Mickey which she did enjoy but one character, who I could not work out which film he was from, surprised her so much she nearly cried. Once Pluto appeared she was happy again, the meal was rather pricey but we had more fun than we have ever had at a meal out!

We were seated right by the entrance where all of the characters came out into the cafe, lucky or what! Tigger was by far the best and the look on Sophie's face was brilliant.

Whether she knew they were people dressed up I am not sure and I am certainly not going to find out and run the risk of ruining it.

Once dinner was over Sophie did not want to go back to the hotel, typical, so we wandered around and ended up back in the park which was nice as now all of the lights were on and we saw this...

The pink castle all lit up you could see it from the main gate. Now I have not seen that before and it certainly was quite impressive, a lovely colour.

More tomorrow as I do not want to completely bore you and it is getting late again.

xx

Disneyland....We're back!

I will be back with more details etc once we have sorted ourselves out. Rather exhausted too, got back at 1am this morning, no food in the house, got to get the cat from the cattery etc. Back later. Thank you for visiting while we have been away.
Take care for now.
xx