Disneyland

The alarm went off at 6:00. We hit snooze and 9 minutes later were up and fussing about. Disneyland opened at 9am and, needing to buy tickets, we didn't want to be late. At 7:01 we left the caravan park to catch a 7:08 train. We very nearly missed it, despite jogging the whole way and sprinting the last hundred metres to the station and up 3 flights of steps.

By the time we arrived at Parc Disneyland at 8:30 we (I) had just about recovered from the sprint.

We were greeted by a very empty ticket plaza and a small sign telling us that the park opened at 10:00. Apparently the 'high season' had just ended meaning a later time but unfortunately our resources failed to warn us of that. So there we were, tired, hungry and very very early. We bought our tickets and waited at the turnstiles.

In planning our trip Rachel had done some googling. The following is an exerpt from an American website entitled "How To Win!":

"Okay, so you've arrived, waited at the turnstiles (two or three to the left of the dead centre!) and Mickey has come out to the centre in front of you with a young child to open the park. When you hear the train hooter give two blasts the park has opened. The little red arrow on the front of the turnstile changes to green. When that happens, it will accept your entrance ticket and you can enter. Clear the turnstiles and move forward quickly, bearing left.

"As you exit the arches from the first open area in front you pass through a covered locker storage area and emerge into the town centre square. Take the left hand entrance and march briskly to the far end. As you exit the doors at the far end immediately to your left is a covered walkway with a white rope across. Position yourselves at the right hand side of this rope (it's always unclipped at that end).

"You'll have about half an hour to wait for the rope drop but don't worry; this will save you hours of waiting in line later on. The rope is unclipped following the Disney 'anthem' (Zip a dee Do Dah played by the Prague symphony orchestra!) at 9.30 am and the words '...enjoy your day in Disneyland and please walk, don't run, to your first destination.' This is the cue for you to run, as fast as humanly possible, to the end of the walkway.

"As you exit the walkway you pass in front of the main entrance to Frontier land and you will see that you are ahead of all but the Olympic trainees. Continue straight ahead, keeping the lake to your left and, after passing the shooting gallery, you will encounter the entrance to your left of Big Thunder Mountain."

Without intending to, we did all those things. We were first in line at the turnstile; we stood on the right hand side of the rope (and were accosted by several small and handsy children dying to get to the front); we ran to Big Thunder Mountain (Rachel's idea, not mine) and we got on the second train of the day.

Truth be told, we needn't have bothered running as it was very quiet. The park has constantly updated information on queue lengths, and we never queued for more than 20 minutes on any of the 7 rides we went on (you can get the queue line information on an ipone app - wow!). Most of the people there were young families whose children, much to their dissapointment, were too short to go on any of the fast and scary rides. Cue the tantrums.

Rachel, who isn't a fan of upside-downsie roller coasters went on all three, and found that they were the most exciting, if not slightly nauseating. Each ride had a theme which added to the experience and they'd gone to the most incredible trouble creating sets and props and storylines for each ride. I suppose it gives you something to look at while you're standing there waiting.

There was the wild wild west at Big Thunder Mountain, killing Zurg with lazers at the Buzz Lightyear Lazer Blast, travelling through space in the pitch black on a roller coaster at Space Mountain Mission 2, a Star Wars inspired flight simulater through a battle zone at Star Tours, a pirate ship ride at The Pirates of the Carribean, a ride on a rickety (yet incredibly fast) mine cart at Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril (which we did in the rain!), a hotel lift that would shoot up and drop down 12 stories (where did my stomach go) at the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and a recording studio at the Rock n Rollercoaster starring Aerosmith (yes that is the full title of the ride). There's videos of all the rides on YouTube if anyone's interested.

We also went to a stunt show called Moteurs Action Stunt Show Spectacular (which sounds awesome with a French accent). It had the expected cars and motorbikes doing tricks, men on fire, things driving through glass windows, explosions, lots of music, even more revs and screeches and a trilingual host to keep the crowd (mostly Spanish people) entertained.

The park was a very interesting place and they have spared no expense at creating another world. At the heart of the park is the iconic castle which rises quite dramatically into the sky. Primarily made for kids, there's lots of rides and attractions targeted at them. We, for instance, did not go on a single ride in Fantasyland, did not line up to meet Mickey Mouse or any of his friends or watch a parade.

Overall it was a fantastic day and I'd definitely recommend going on a Thursday in the low season.