rgoble5972
Are we there yet?
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2001
- Messages
- 276
CAST
Robin 41 Trip Report writer, Bringer of Good Weather, Recently Relieved of Duties as Trip Planner
Larry - 46 - Host, Walking Compendium of Knowledge, and Trip Report god.
Jill - (no way would I betray a confidence without permission) - Keeper of the Passports, Park Navigator, and First in Line
Greg - 17 - Quiet Teenager, Purveyor of Dry Wit and Sarcastic Remarks
Ed - 14 - Runescape Addict, Chief Dog Walker, and Professional Conversationalist
Pippin/Killer - 4 months - Official Wilmot Poodle, Beggar of Table Scraps, Eater of Baked Goods
Saturday, June 16, 2005
Is there a Fast Pass line? (Said while queuing up for the Eiffel Tower.)
Seeing as how this is a Disney trip report, I wont bore you with the details of our trip into Paris except to say that we did all sorts of French things including eating croissants in a sidewalk cafe, visiting Notre Dame, St. Chappelle, the Tullieres gardens, the Louvre (very quickly--kind of a Jiffy Louvre, though that joke was wasted on my English friends since they dont have Jiffy Lube in the UK), the Place de la Concorde -( Now that the heathens have taken Concorde out of service in England and France, should this spot be called the Place de la Airbus 380? - L. ), walking down the Champs Elyessee, splashing around in the Trocadero fountain, having a Royale with Cheese at McDonalds (ala Pulp Fiction--one of my all-time favorite movies - Mine Too - L), walking along the Seine, and visiting the Eiffel Tower.
After our very Parisian day, we got back to our hotel at 6:15 and agreed to meet up for dinner at 8:00. Tonight was the debut night for the fireworks show Wishes, and for the new Fantillusion parade, and we wanted to see them both.
Larry decided it was time to take some bean photos. No, his brain had not baked in the Paris heat, he merely needed to photograph a well-traveled (and, quite possibly, salmonella-laden) can of S & W Premium Select black beans at various locations around the Disney resort. Gosh, that explanation doesnt seem to be helping convince you of his sanity, does it? Let me start again.
Larry, it just so happens, is a bean ambassador. If you visit the website beansaroundtheworld.com, youll see the brain child of an ex-Disney cast member. He posts photos of a can of beans at various locations around the world. Those who take the pictures of the beans and send them in to him are known as bean ambassadors and enjoy all the perks and privileges that come with that title (free parking at all Taco Bell locations, diplomatic immunity--that sort of thing). Larry has taken the beans to several exotic locations and this was the beans second trip to Disneyland Paris, though they hadnt been since the Studios was opened and he hadnt taken any pictures of the beans at any of the Disney hotels.
So, Larry decided it was time to take some bean photos. See, doesnt that statement make infinitely more sense to you now? I went with him and, not having a lot of time, we took a few pictures of the beans at the Hotel Santa Fe and at the Cheyenne Hotel. We did, however, find a walking path from the Disney Village back to our hotel.
(The only problem with Beans around the world is, they don't pay the airfares, otherwise I may have taken them to Australia by now, or even Bali. - Great website though so don't be afraid to go and visit. www.beansaroundtheworld.com. My photos are to be found from DLP, St Andrews, Perth, London and Belfast. - L. )
We had time for a little rest before we met up again at 8:00. Greg decided to stay at the hotel and get some more sleep, so the rest of us caught the bus to Disney Village around 8:30. We decided on a quick dinner at the New York Deli. I had ham and cheese on a baguette while Jill, Ed, and Larry all had tuna. We split two orders of French fries between us.
After dinner, we went to the Magic Kingdom and found a spot for the parade (which started at 10:30) on a street corner outside of Caseys. Okay, so we were kind of underneath a hanging plant, but, if you didnt mind a few leaves and blossoms in your hair, it was a pretty decent spot. (I dont think being underneath a hanging plant quite describes the experience for me, it was more like having a floral hat. - And I got so frowned on by other people for picking bits of the hanging display off which were in front of my eyes, as it was regarded as Horticultural Vandalism - L.)
The parade started on time. Its a night-time parade with floats all lit up like Spectromagic or the Electrical Light Parade. Fantillusion seems to emphasize the Disney Villains with floats containing Ursula, Jafar, and Maleficient. (Yes I think they were taking the whole villain thing just a little bit too Jafar- L) The floats stop along the parade route and each villain transforms into its larger, and scarier counterpart (Jafar becomes the giant cobra, Ursula the octopus, and Maleficient the dragon). These are followed by the good wins out over evil floats which contain princesses (Snow White, Ariel, Belle, etc). My big gripe with the parade was that you only got to see one villain transform. For example, the Jafar float stopped in front of us so we got to watch his transformation into the cobra and back again, but then the other villain floats just passed us by because they had already transformed while Jafar was transforming as well. It would be nice to get to see all of them change. (Robin, you know these villains as well as I do, you can send them for as much counseling as you like, but they will only change if they really want to. - L)
After the parade was over, we moved out from under the hanging plant and out into the street to get a better view of the castle for the Wishes fireworks.
The show was much the same as it is as WDW with the exception of reduced fireworks but more lighting effects on the castle. I think I like the WDW version better. Larry was nice enough to have stuffed his pockets full of Kleenex for me because he knew how much I tend to cry at these fireworks. I again amused Ed greatly by boo-hooing over the show.
After the fireworks, we joined the sea of people trying to exit the park. Larry and I got separated from Jill and Ed and they made it to the bus stop before we did. The non-Disney resort busses were doing better than the Disney busses tonight and we made it onto the first bus and back to the hotel by 12:20. Ed was hungry so we got him some food out of a vending machine before going to our rooms.
I was too tired to call home tonight and went to bed around 1:30 after I updated my trip report notes.
Robin 41 Trip Report writer, Bringer of Good Weather, Recently Relieved of Duties as Trip Planner
Larry - 46 - Host, Walking Compendium of Knowledge, and Trip Report god.
Jill - (no way would I betray a confidence without permission) - Keeper of the Passports, Park Navigator, and First in Line
Greg - 17 - Quiet Teenager, Purveyor of Dry Wit and Sarcastic Remarks
Ed - 14 - Runescape Addict, Chief Dog Walker, and Professional Conversationalist
Pippin/Killer - 4 months - Official Wilmot Poodle, Beggar of Table Scraps, Eater of Baked Goods
Saturday, June 16, 2005
Is there a Fast Pass line? (Said while queuing up for the Eiffel Tower.)
Seeing as how this is a Disney trip report, I wont bore you with the details of our trip into Paris except to say that we did all sorts of French things including eating croissants in a sidewalk cafe, visiting Notre Dame, St. Chappelle, the Tullieres gardens, the Louvre (very quickly--kind of a Jiffy Louvre, though that joke was wasted on my English friends since they dont have Jiffy Lube in the UK), the Place de la Concorde -( Now that the heathens have taken Concorde out of service in England and France, should this spot be called the Place de la Airbus 380? - L. ), walking down the Champs Elyessee, splashing around in the Trocadero fountain, having a Royale with Cheese at McDonalds (ala Pulp Fiction--one of my all-time favorite movies - Mine Too - L), walking along the Seine, and visiting the Eiffel Tower.
After our very Parisian day, we got back to our hotel at 6:15 and agreed to meet up for dinner at 8:00. Tonight was the debut night for the fireworks show Wishes, and for the new Fantillusion parade, and we wanted to see them both.
Larry decided it was time to take some bean photos. No, his brain had not baked in the Paris heat, he merely needed to photograph a well-traveled (and, quite possibly, salmonella-laden) can of S & W Premium Select black beans at various locations around the Disney resort. Gosh, that explanation doesnt seem to be helping convince you of his sanity, does it? Let me start again.
Larry, it just so happens, is a bean ambassador. If you visit the website beansaroundtheworld.com, youll see the brain child of an ex-Disney cast member. He posts photos of a can of beans at various locations around the world. Those who take the pictures of the beans and send them in to him are known as bean ambassadors and enjoy all the perks and privileges that come with that title (free parking at all Taco Bell locations, diplomatic immunity--that sort of thing). Larry has taken the beans to several exotic locations and this was the beans second trip to Disneyland Paris, though they hadnt been since the Studios was opened and he hadnt taken any pictures of the beans at any of the Disney hotels.
So, Larry decided it was time to take some bean photos. See, doesnt that statement make infinitely more sense to you now? I went with him and, not having a lot of time, we took a few pictures of the beans at the Hotel Santa Fe and at the Cheyenne Hotel. We did, however, find a walking path from the Disney Village back to our hotel.
(The only problem with Beans around the world is, they don't pay the airfares, otherwise I may have taken them to Australia by now, or even Bali. - Great website though so don't be afraid to go and visit. www.beansaroundtheworld.com. My photos are to be found from DLP, St Andrews, Perth, London and Belfast. - L. )
We had time for a little rest before we met up again at 8:00. Greg decided to stay at the hotel and get some more sleep, so the rest of us caught the bus to Disney Village around 8:30. We decided on a quick dinner at the New York Deli. I had ham and cheese on a baguette while Jill, Ed, and Larry all had tuna. We split two orders of French fries between us.
After dinner, we went to the Magic Kingdom and found a spot for the parade (which started at 10:30) on a street corner outside of Caseys. Okay, so we were kind of underneath a hanging plant, but, if you didnt mind a few leaves and blossoms in your hair, it was a pretty decent spot. (I dont think being underneath a hanging plant quite describes the experience for me, it was more like having a floral hat. - And I got so frowned on by other people for picking bits of the hanging display off which were in front of my eyes, as it was regarded as Horticultural Vandalism - L.)
The parade started on time. Its a night-time parade with floats all lit up like Spectromagic or the Electrical Light Parade. Fantillusion seems to emphasize the Disney Villains with floats containing Ursula, Jafar, and Maleficient. (Yes I think they were taking the whole villain thing just a little bit too Jafar- L) The floats stop along the parade route and each villain transforms into its larger, and scarier counterpart (Jafar becomes the giant cobra, Ursula the octopus, and Maleficient the dragon). These are followed by the good wins out over evil floats which contain princesses (Snow White, Ariel, Belle, etc). My big gripe with the parade was that you only got to see one villain transform. For example, the Jafar float stopped in front of us so we got to watch his transformation into the cobra and back again, but then the other villain floats just passed us by because they had already transformed while Jafar was transforming as well. It would be nice to get to see all of them change. (Robin, you know these villains as well as I do, you can send them for as much counseling as you like, but they will only change if they really want to. - L)
After the parade was over, we moved out from under the hanging plant and out into the street to get a better view of the castle for the Wishes fireworks.
The show was much the same as it is as WDW with the exception of reduced fireworks but more lighting effects on the castle. I think I like the WDW version better. Larry was nice enough to have stuffed his pockets full of Kleenex for me because he knew how much I tend to cry at these fireworks. I again amused Ed greatly by boo-hooing over the show.
After the fireworks, we joined the sea of people trying to exit the park. Larry and I got separated from Jill and Ed and they made it to the bus stop before we did. The non-Disney resort busses were doing better than the Disney busses tonight and we made it onto the first bus and back to the hotel by 12:20. Ed was hungry so we got him some food out of a vending machine before going to our rooms.
I was too tired to call home tonight and went to bed around 1:30 after I updated my trip report notes.
