The Paris Chronicles : Day 2

For day 2 in Paris, we split into two groups. One group, went to Versailles, the historic former capital and where King Louis XIV took up residence, and another to Disneyland Paris, the happiest place on earth. Guess where I went? :P

Of course, the child in me always wins... Ria and I separated from the group to enjoy a fun day with Mickey and friends. :) We split up at CDG station, and took the RER A to Marne-la-Vallee Chessy station. From there, it was only a short walk to either Walt Disney Studios or Disneyland Park. We first decided to visit Walt Disney Studios.

Our first stop, the Hollywood Tower of Terror. I love this ride! You'll get on an 'elevator', and be lifted up through several floors, stopping every so often to see a 'twilight zone' like corridor with ghosts calling you... and then you'll be lifted up very fast, the elevator doors open and you see you're on top of the entire park! Then you're suddenly dropped, and then go up again, and then dropped... it was exhilarating!

Then we tried Crush's Coaster, an indoor roller coaster with some very cool jellyfishes... it kinda got me a bit dizzy though. Then we watched Cinemagique, highly recommended! I wanted to go on the Aerosmith Rock &Rollin Coaster, but the erratic weather stopped us :( It was raining, and then it would turn sunny, it would snow, and then become sunny...it's amazing we didn't get sick :P.

Anyway, we transferred to Disneyland Park, and the familiar sight of Main Street greeted us. We arrived just as a parade started. And happy Disney music filled the entire park, and you could just how carefree people were. It was infectious! :) At that point in time, I really agreed with it's happiest place tagline.

Not having any time for lunch, Ria and I settled for some hotdogs and Coke...we made ourselves comfortable on a park bench and ate a quick lunch... it started out sunny, and it was already raining by the time we finished eating.. which just illustrates how crazy the weather was!

After lunch we rode the Indiana Jones, Temple of Peril ride. It was another roller coaster, and this time along the queue we wondered if we would still continue because we found out there was a loop in the ride... I personally love roller coasters, but I always had that feeling of anxiety everytime I rode one. We needn't have worried... it was a great ride! And the loop was practically dismissable... but the weather, again, acted up. See how blue the skies were right before we rode? About 20 minutes later, while on the ride, there was small pieces of hail/snow hitting us on our faces! It stung! But it was still enjoyable.

Some miscellaneous pics...close kami ni Goofy ;))

Scenes from inside of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride...

We also rode the Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion in the US)...I like the US version better though, because of the 'ghosts' in the mirror at the end of the ride. :)

The Big Thunder Mountain...this ride reminds me of my mom, who kept yelling "Ulo ko! Ulo ko! Aaaaaaaaah!" when we were in Anaheim! It's funny coz the guy right in front of us had to be at least 6 feet tall and you could see his head was nowhere near the 'mountains'. This time Ria and I kept laughing coz we would prematurely yell right before a seemingly steep drop which would turn out to be a very short one. Really fun and not at all scary. :)

We were able to catch another parade at around 4PM, this time the Disney Princesses were the highlight of the parade.

Our last ride was Star Tours, a Star Wars inspired ride....It wasn't as much fun as I remembered... or maybe it was because the 'robot' was speaking French all throughout, so you don't get the same feeling of 'victory' at the end of the ride because we couldn't understand a word it was saying. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch if they said, 'May the force be with you' in French.

And of course here are some pics from the Versailles group :P Pics taken from Jess and Fe Ann... Can't tell much about the place, but it's definitely a place I'm going to on my next trip to Paris. ;)

Afterwards, our two groups reunited along Champs Elysees... Ria and I were almost an hour late! Too much to do in Disney....After meeting up, Ria bought a bag from Louis Vuitton for her sister. The LV store was huge and I fell in love with this wallet... but there's no way I'm going to spend 400+ Euros for a wallet... at least not until I win the lottery or something. :)

Then, when we got back to the hotel, and we ate these delicious macarons from Pierre Herme... the Versailles group had this on their itinerary as well. You actually have to line up outside of the store because it was so popular, and it was delicious! I don't really like macarons, but I really loved the Jasmine flavor (the silver ones)

That ends Day 2 in Paris... :) Still a magical experience, from Disney, to Versailles, to walking along Champs Elysees and to eating delicious pastries...even now, while writing this entry, almost a month after the trip, I can still feel the 'appeal' and charm of this city... but you have to wait for the Day 3 update. Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower coming up. The most famous landmarks of Paris, all in one day. :)