The Gosses do DLP - day 1

[Guest]

Disneyland Paris – March 2004

Cast

GOS – Rick
Gosses Wife – Heather (Me)

Sunday 14th March 2004

We need to get to Waterloo today to catch the 8.30am Eurostar to Lille and as we have to check in by 8.00am we catch the first tube from Tooting Broadway at 7.03am. We arrive at Waterloo in plenty of time and check in is quick and easy, even though there is the usual baggage scan procedure. The departure lounge at Waterloo although quite small, is well stocked with restaurants/sandwich bars and we have a breakfast bagel to start the day.

We board our train at 8.10am and it leaves Waterloo on time. After a brief stop at Ashford, we arrive in Lille on time. We now have a 40mins wait until the TGV arrives to take us on the next leg of our journey to Disneyland Paris. The wait doesn’t seem too long and we are called to the train 10 minutes before it is due to leave.

Once again the train departs on time and after a trouble free 1hr 30mins journey we have arrived. As you approach the station, you get you first glimpse of Cinderella’s Castle and Space Mountain. The next part of our journey takes us through Disney Village to our Hotel, the Hotel New York. The Village is buzzing and there is a baggage check at the entrance. Bit of a waste of time, unsure why this is here, as the majority of people moving through this check, don’t have their bags checked at all.

The Hotel New York is 5 minutes walk away, and as we check in, we are told that our room is ready and they have our tickets/Pass Partout also ready for us to use today. So we make our way quickly up to our room to drop off our luggage and then it’s off the Park. Pluto is in the hotel lobby, but there’s plenty of time for photos later. We make our way back through the Village and head towards the Park entrance. We will leave the Studios until tomorrow, we have say hello to Disneyland again after a 10-year gap.

The weekend is not a good time to visit the Park as it is full of “people” and we decide that today we will just explore and see how long the queue are for all the rides.

At 7.00pm, we set up camp on Main Street, ready for Fantillusion – a cross between Spectromagic and the Magic Kingdom Electric Parade. We had lunch at Casey’s, explored the two Arcades and the majority of the shops, had explored Discoveryland, Fantasyland, Adventureland – queued for 30mins for Pirates of the Caribbean and queued for 1 hour for Phantom Manor in Frontierland.

The parade is spectacular and we will be able to see it again one evening over the next few days. We make our way back to the hotel, through the Village, stopping for coffee and baguettes from the Café in the Village. The weather has been cold today, but the rain has kept off. As we approach the hotel entrance the Ice Rink is open and there are people skating, I an determined to see if I can still stake, but not tonight as we are tired and cold, but happy.

High points of the day – Fantillusion Parade, helpful Cast Members and no rain.
Low points of the day – weekend crowds and “people” walking and pushing in front of you and also invading your personal space.

[Guest]

Heather,
Totally agree about weekends being evry busy. Will go mid week if we go again.
Sounds like a good first day no rain as well!
Claire

[Michelle]

Glad you had a good first day Heather