Trip report: Disneyland Paris oct 15/16, 2000 | |||
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Sometime during autumn 2000, I came along an advertisement in a TV magazine for a Halloween trip to Disneyland Paris, which included some exclusive park time (used by themepark enthusiasts to indicate the park is only open for a special group). Since it was rather cheap and included transportation to and from the park, one night in one of the Disney hotels, a day in the park and several hours of exclusive park time the evening before, Bart, Henk, Ernst and me decided to go. October 15, we had to get up real early and go to a parking lot in front of the Amsterdam Arena, where the bus would depart. The voyage by bus to Disney Paris, took about six hours (takes about 5 by car), with some stops to get something for lunch and stretch our legs. We were staying at Hotel Cheyenne, which consists of several buildings in the old west style. At our arrival we put our stuff in the room and went to have a look at the Disney Village. It was several hours before the exclusive park time and we had to get ourselves some dinner before that. We strolled through the village, had a look at some of the shops and restaurants. We finally decided on 'The Steakhouse' and went in and found ourselves a table. It was somewhat crowded, but we were served pretty fast anyway. After eating our burgers and fries, we cleared our table and Bart got 'Kill Dr Lucky' out of his bag and put the game on the table. We played the game for a while, until it was time to put the remainder of our stuff in our room and head for the park entrance. At the park entrance some 2000 people (we'd estimated the number of people by counting the busses during one of the stops) were waiting to get in. Some had already got themselves some Disney Halloween hats.
When the park opened, we walked towards the end of Main Street. Since most people went to the right there (presumably towards Space Mountain), we decided to go left and go to Big Thunder Mountain first. Hardly any queue (not a lot of people in the park and most went to Space Mountain, first), so we got in, in a few minutes. I'd never been to Disney Paris before, so it was the first time on this coaster for me. It turned out to be the smoothest coaster I've ever been on. The train almost seems to glide along the track. It's a fun ride in the dark, but you haven't got a clue where you're going. After we got out, there still was virtually no queue whatsoever, so we got right back on for a second ride. This time, when we got back, the queue had gotten a lot longer and we decided to go and have a look at some of the other attractions in this part of the park (Frontierland).
The first we went to after Big Thunder Mountain, was Phantom Manor. Since it's a haunted house, it doesn't need much Halloween decorations, but there were of course the mandatory pumpkins around the mansion. When we got out of this ride, we had to go right back in, because Bart had found part of the ride where he wanted to take a picture (of some see through bodyless heads).
After Phantom Manor, we went on the nearby Thunder Mesa Riverboat. For the occasion, the riverboat was mummyfied and had pumpkins on the chimneys (as you can see in the picture on the right). The boat goes all around the (artificial) mountain of Big Thunder Mountain so you can have a look at the coaster from all sides.
We then finally proceeded to Space Mountain. By now, all the people who'd gone there first, had gone to other rides and we could get right into the coaster without waiting in the queue first. The ride is entirely in the dark (it's in the building you can see in the picture on the left). It's got some suprising turns and twists and is one of the very best rollercoasters I've ever been on. When the train got back into the station there were hardly any people waiting and we could stay in our seats for a second run. Bart and Henk even went for a third. At this time they started closing the rides for the fireworks. We thought they would stay open a little while longer but alas. The fireworks were nice, but not exceptionally good. When the fireworks were finished we headed back to our room for some sleep. The next morning we got up early, took a shower and went to find the restaurant (breakfast was also included in the package deal). We found it near the Cheyenne Hotel reception, the Chuck Wagon Cafe. After finishing our breakfast, we went in search of the place where we could drop our stuff, so it would be put on the bus and we wouldn't have to carry it with us. Having gotten rid of our stuff again, we went to the park entrance for a day in the park.
The weather was a bit drizzly, so we got us some Disneyland ponchos in a shop on the way. As it turned out, the drizzle kept on during the entire day. Space Mountain was the first ride we went to, only to find out it was closed for the entire day, for maintenance. I found out later, you could look up on their website which attractions were closed for maintenance on what day. When your park opens 365 days a year, you gotta do maintenance when the park is open. We were somewhat dissapointed, but luckely enough, we'd been on it the evening before, so we didn't miss out on this one alltogether. As we found ourselves in Discoveryland, we decided to do some of the other attractions in this part of the park. The first was Star Tours. It's a flight sim ride like Back to the Future in Universal Studios Hollywood and Batman in WB Movie World Germany. This one has a Star Wars theming (the theming really is the only thing that differs in these kind of rides). When we got out of Star Tours, we went to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. It's a movie theatre with a very big screen. They give you the impression you (the audience) is shrunk, by first showing the people in the movie in normal size and then showing them (and everything else) very big, so you feel very small. There are also some nice (quite unique) special effects which you won't find in a normal theatre. The floor (on which the seats are mounted) can move and they can spray some water out of the back of the chair in front of you. After Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, we went to Le Visionarium. It's another movie theatre, but this one has a 360 degree screen (all around you). The movie is presented by (an actor playing) Jules Verne and takes you to different places in the history of Europe. They make it look like it's filmed with a 360 degree camera that hovers around.
By this time we'd seen most of Discoveryland and went on to Adventureland. We walked past the Robinson tree house (huge fake tree with a tree house in it) towards the Indiana Jones rollercoaster.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril: Backwards! used to go forwards, but apparently that wasn't exiting enough. We got in the queue that luckily offered some shelter from the drizzle. The queue area and the ride are nicely Indiana Jones like themed. The coaster itself however, will never be one of my favorites. It's trains are cramped (especially if your tall) and it's quite painful getting thrown around during the ride (you'll hit the protection for your head a couple of times). Apart from it being painful and cramped, it has the potential of being a nice little ride (so I actually rode it a second time later during the day). It's weird how one park can have the smoothest (Big Thunder Mountain) and the bumpiest (this one) coaster I've ever been on.
After we got off Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril, we went on past La Plage des Pirates and Adventure Isle to Pirates of The Caribean. Pirates is one of the best themed boatrides in any themepark (I like Universal Studios Hollywoord's Jurassic Park the Ride just a bit more though). There's a restaurant somewhere along the ride (no you can't get out of the boat there, you'll have to ride it till the end and then walk there), from where you can look at the boats going by while you're eating.
Since we'd been on only one coaster this day, we headed for Big Thunder Mountain next. We had to wait quite a bit longer than the evening before, but at least the long queue space has a roof over it. After another smooth ride, we went for one more time to Phantom Manor. It had some nice Halloween decorations along the path to the entrance. We then went on (or rather back) to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril: Backwards! for one last coaster ride. It's was still a painful ride, but a funny coaster (It would help if they got some new trains which aren't so cramped).
So far we had avoided the Fantasyland area, because there aren't any rides there that particularly interest us. It even has one we try to avoid: It's a Small World. Not that it's such a bad ride, it's just not up our alley. I bet it's a great ride if you've got kids (which none of us do). Anyway, we finally went to Fantasyland to have a look at the nice Disney theming and take some pictures. We headed past (or under?) the Sleeping Beauty castle and the first thing we got past, was a sword (Excalibur I presume) stuck in an anvil in a bit of English themed little square.
We didn't ride any of the rides in this area, but it's got some real nice theming, like the Alice in Wonderland maze. It was getting later in the afternoon and we decided we wanted to do some shopping before we left.
To get to the shops we got on the train at the Fantasyland railroad station, to get to the railroad station at Main Street near the shops. We bought ourselves some Halloween witch hats and other little souvenirs. With the shopping done, there was a little bit of time left to have a look at the Electrical Parade. It was the last thing before we had to get to the busses, which would drive us home. It's a parade with floats on streetcars, which drive along the streetcar tracks in Main Street.
When the parade was over, we walked to the busses with our souvenirs. Our stuff which we had dropped of in the morning, was waiting for us near the bus. The bus made a stop on the way home, so we could get some (fast food) dinner along the autoroute. When we finally arrived back in Amsterdam at the transferium (parking lot), we found out, parking there maybe cheap if you stay less than a day, it isn't if you leave your car there for more than 24 hrs. Not that we'd let our day be ruined by that. We had tremendous fun. |
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