The Happiest Place in Europe

Some back and forth travel planning:

• Before coming to France Chris explains to the kids that we will not be going to Euro Disney (which is apparently now called Disneyland Paris).  You don't go to Paris to go to Disneyland!  
• After a few weeks in Paris we realize that many of the things that Chris and I enjoy doing (museums and such) are not very fun for the kids, but they have been really good sports.
• We should take them to Disneyland.
• Great idea:  we have a Disney rewards credit card with lots of unused points we could use for tickets.
• We go through the two week process of getting the rewards card only to find out you can't use it in Europe (thankfully we found that out before actually going to the park).  
• No Disneyland for us.  
• Due to budget constraints (we sound like the U.S. government), we decide we probably should not go to London as planned the last week of October. 
• Instead we could go to Disneyland (we would be saving money!).
• Buy tickets to Disneyland without telling the kids.
• Realize that if we don't go to London we will overstay our passports.  Look for info online and talk to the U.S. Embassy in Italy and the Italian Embassy in the U.S. and start to worry about potential fines and time in Italian prisons (we are flying back to the U.S. from Italy not France).
• Find reasonable (not really) train tickets to London and decide to go for it.  {side note: my sister said we should travel all we can while in Europe and eat Top Ramen for a year when we get home if we have to.}
• Tell the kids we are spending the day at a chateau outside of Paris.  
• SURPRISE!

Lots of fun Halloween decorations.   These are clearly not their surprised faces.

Libby and Luke were pretty surprised when we came out of the train station at the front gates of Disneyland.  Isaac said he figured it out on the train ride since they kept announcing Disneyland as the last stop.  Smart kid.

First stop, Dumbo the Flying Elephant.  The park was more crowded than we expected and after waiting a little too long for Dumbo we decided we needed to get our game on and make a plan.  We had two parks and only one day.  Luke was tall enough to do most of the rides and so we didn't have to spend too much time in Fantasyland or other places designed more for little kids.

Isaac and Libby

Luke with mom and dad.

On top of Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

Space Mountain was on the top of Isaac's list so we headed to Discoveryland.  There was only a 25 minute wait so I took Isaac and Libby and Chris took Luke to the Oribtron.  Even though she was a little nervous and kept her eyes closed and ears plugged the entire time, Libby loved Space Mountain (Isaac had been before and knew he would love it).  Isaac said it is a better ride than the one in California (faster, has a loop, etc.).  It has been over 20 years since I have been on Space Mountain in California so I'll take his word for it.

Luke and Chris on Orbitron.

We loved Autopia!  I'm glad we have many years until any of these kids are driving, they were terrible.

Buzz Lightyear is a favorite.

When we were in Disneyland a few years ago we met our friends the Emmetts at the Buzz Lightyear ride (a surprise to the kids).  We have great memories of that trip.

Now on to Adventureland.  We waited in line for Pirates of the Caribbean and when we were almost to the front, the ride was shut down for technical reasons.  We also have great memories of riding Pirates of the Caribbean over and over again on our last trip to Disneyland.  The lines were never too long and it was a great place to get Luke to take a nap.

Waiting for Pirates of the Caribbean.  Unaware of what was to come.

Libby and Isaac were really excited for Indiana Jones.  It is a very different ride than the one in California.  It is essentially a roller coaster with Indian Jones themed decor.  Unfortunately Libby did not meet the 1.4m height requirement (curse you metric system).

Now it was time to go to park number 2 - Walt Disney Studios.  It was much smaller and much less crowded than Disneyland.  It had a few similarities to California Adventure.  First thing we had to do was to get our courage up to go on Tower of Terror.  We all loved it! The line was short enough that we did it twice.

Toy Story Playland.

Chris, Isaac and Libby rode the RC Racer.  They thought
it was a lot of fun but not worth the 45 minute wait.

Luke and I rode Slinky Dog's Zigzag Spin.

Clearly Luke loved it.

On Cars Quatre Roues Rallye.

Walt Disney Studios closed at 19:00 (or 7pm) so we headed back to Disneyland Park.  We had a fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain, which turned out to be one of our favorite rides.  Luke kept saying "I got to ride on my first roller coaster and it was awesome."

Second time's a charm for Pirates of the Caribbean.

Isaac and Libby wanted to do Space Mountain one more time so we took a shortcut through Fantasyland to get to Discoveryland (why so many lands?).  There was no wait on It's a Small World so we had to do it.

Luke and I were able to go on Buzz Lightyear one more time while the others rode Space Mountain (two more times).

This girl is the perfect example of a young French woman,
 so I had to take her picture.  Long dark hair,  black leather jacket,
ankle boots, skinny jeans, young French boyfriend.
This is a visual example of why when anyone asks if I ever get mistaken
for a French person the answer is "no, never."

We finished up the rides as the park was closing and just in time to see the 20th Anniversary light show.  It was pretty amazing.

After 11 hours at the park we were ready to go home. There were no seats on the train so the kids settled for a nap on the stairs.  We had a great day!

Here is a YouTube video of the light show: