After a quick breakfast at the hotel Monceau, we were off to Disneyland. Disneyland is about 35 km from the heart of Paris. The drive was similar to those on the freeways across cities in the US. Nothing typical of Paris except for the language on the sign boards: 4 lanes on either side with fast moving traffic.
Most of the vehicles were familiar ones and predominantly small cars: Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagon and even a Citroen which I had recently read about in the Da Vinci Code.
I thought I caught the cab driver making an overt racial remark. But since he didn't speak English very well, I will give him the benefit of doubt. Deposited the luggage at the hotel "Dream Castle" and took a 10 min shuttle to Disneyland.
Disneyland Paris is very similar to the one at Anaheim, California. They have tried to replicate the model as though with a cookie cutter. The feel is just the same. The Main-Street, the shops on either side, the castle, the different "lands" spread out on either side, the vegetation- almost everything looks transported from California. If there's a difference, it's the crowd. Found very little "diversity" in the people. Most of them were French. Don't recall any conversation around us in English at all. That's a surprise. We expected a better racial mix in the crowd considering the fact that Paris is one of the most sought after tourist destinations.
That way, California makes us feel at "home" a lot more.
"It's a small world", Alice's maze, "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Peter Pan", "Snow White's world", the train and of course the parade. That's the order in which we explored some of attractions. The rides are fascinating in terms of the breadth of imagination and the attention to detail in the execution.
It is a gentle boat ride in "It's a small world". The boat goes through a cave packed with motifs from various countries. Dolls dressed up in colourful costumes twirl and dance about on either side to the accompaniment of catchy music. As Samyukta says, two eyes are not enough. There's just so much to look at that we seem to miss most things. As we emerge from the cave, we are overwhelmed by the sights and sounds.
"Pirates of the Caribbean" is a slightly rough water ride. They have managed to create the illusion of a night sky, the sounds of the ocean, lighthouse flashes, scary sailors and buccaneers and treasure chests: It's a leaf out of classics like the "Treasure Island". There are a few steep falls over which the boat navigates jerkily. The element of surprise in the darkness keeps us to the edge of our seats.
"Peter Pan" gives the impression of flying over the city of London at night. We can see the city lights below, the clock towers and the church steeples. There are scenes from the character Peter Pan, who is an elf-like creature with some story line that I am unaware of. Samyukta is well informed but the plot is too complicated for me. But I get the general idea.
There's a train which goes through the entire campus. We took the train from "Discovery Land" and watched it go past the entire campus one full circle. It serves to tick off all the items on the Disneyland map. The themes that could not be covered can be seen from the train and gives us the vicarious satisfaction of experiencing them.
By the time we are through with this train ride, people have already taken the prime spots all along the route where the 5 pm parade goes through. Hence, Samyukta had to precariously perched atop one of the fences on this path. She has just enough room to place her hind legs on the tip of the fence. Her fore legs are resting on me and somehow she keeps herself aloft to watch the entire parade. But we are from India. We can do the rope walk and other balancing acts if the occasion demands. Saankhya was also hoisted up by Usha in a similar way. But her attention was so much on her balance or the lack of it that we figured she wouldn't anyway enjoy the parade from the vantage point. Hence, she watched the parade from the ground like other normal human beings.
The parade is similar to the one at Disneyland California. The floats with cartoon characters like Mickey, Donald, Lion King, Baloo and others go past one after another. They stop at some locations, do a little dance and show and move on. What strikes us is the sincerity and enthusiasm with which they all go about this sequence day after day. That freshness is maintained each time so that we don't complain that Mickey was in a bad mood today and didn't look as good!
Bought a couple of souvenirs in the shop at Main Street. Took a bus where we overheard a few Sri Lankans talking about Malinga and the IPL. It was re-assuring to know that we are not exactly outside the realm of civilization.
We were done for the day after we emptied the vending machine of all the yogurt boxes at the Dream Castle Hotel.It was partly in anger after we were told that there is absolutely nothing that a vegetarian can eat for dinner. Ensured that we had a good meal of yes, curd rice and MTR puliyogare in our rooms.
Most of the vehicles were familiar ones and predominantly small cars: Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagon and even a Citroen which I had recently read about in the Da Vinci Code.
I thought I caught the cab driver making an overt racial remark. But since he didn't speak English very well, I will give him the benefit of doubt. Deposited the luggage at the hotel "Dream Castle" and took a 10 min shuttle to Disneyland.
Disneyland Paris is very similar to the one at Anaheim, California. They have tried to replicate the model as though with a cookie cutter. The feel is just the same. The Main-Street, the shops on either side, the castle, the different "lands" spread out on either side, the vegetation- almost everything looks transported from California. If there's a difference, it's the crowd. Found very little "diversity" in the people. Most of them were French. Don't recall any conversation around us in English at all. That's a surprise. We expected a better racial mix in the crowd considering the fact that Paris is one of the most sought after tourist destinations.
That way, California makes us feel at "home" a lot more.
"It's a small world", Alice's maze, "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Peter Pan", "Snow White's world", the train and of course the parade. That's the order in which we explored some of attractions. The rides are fascinating in terms of the breadth of imagination and the attention to detail in the execution.
It is a gentle boat ride in "It's a small world". The boat goes through a cave packed with motifs from various countries. Dolls dressed up in colourful costumes twirl and dance about on either side to the accompaniment of catchy music. As Samyukta says, two eyes are not enough. There's just so much to look at that we seem to miss most things. As we emerge from the cave, we are overwhelmed by the sights and sounds.
"Pirates of the Caribbean" is a slightly rough water ride. They have managed to create the illusion of a night sky, the sounds of the ocean, lighthouse flashes, scary sailors and buccaneers and treasure chests: It's a leaf out of classics like the "Treasure Island". There are a few steep falls over which the boat navigates jerkily. The element of surprise in the darkness keeps us to the edge of our seats.
"Peter Pan" gives the impression of flying over the city of London at night. We can see the city lights below, the clock towers and the church steeples. There are scenes from the character Peter Pan, who is an elf-like creature with some story line that I am unaware of. Samyukta is well informed but the plot is too complicated for me. But I get the general idea.
There's a train which goes through the entire campus. We took the train from "Discovery Land" and watched it go past the entire campus one full circle. It serves to tick off all the items on the Disneyland map. The themes that could not be covered can be seen from the train and gives us the vicarious satisfaction of experiencing them.
By the time we are through with this train ride, people have already taken the prime spots all along the route where the 5 pm parade goes through. Hence, Samyukta had to precariously perched atop one of the fences on this path. She has just enough room to place her hind legs on the tip of the fence. Her fore legs are resting on me and somehow she keeps herself aloft to watch the entire parade. But we are from India. We can do the rope walk and other balancing acts if the occasion demands. Saankhya was also hoisted up by Usha in a similar way. But her attention was so much on her balance or the lack of it that we figured she wouldn't anyway enjoy the parade from the vantage point. Hence, she watched the parade from the ground like other normal human beings.
The parade is similar to the one at Disneyland California. The floats with cartoon characters like Mickey, Donald, Lion King, Baloo and others go past one after another. They stop at some locations, do a little dance and show and move on. What strikes us is the sincerity and enthusiasm with which they all go about this sequence day after day. That freshness is maintained each time so that we don't complain that Mickey was in a bad mood today and didn't look as good!
Bought a couple of souvenirs in the shop at Main Street. Took a bus where we overheard a few Sri Lankans talking about Malinga and the IPL. It was re-assuring to know that we are not exactly outside the realm of civilization.
We were done for the day after we emptied the vending machine of all the yogurt boxes at the Dream Castle Hotel.It was partly in anger after we were told that there is absolutely nothing that a vegetarian can eat for dinner. Ensured that we had a good meal of yes, curd rice and MTR puliyogare in our rooms.
the rides sound really interesting - ur kids must have really enjoyed them! But no veggie food at disney-land?!?! that's weird! Not even fries or tacos or veggie-wraps?
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the rides much as you did appa. I think
ReplyDeleteyou were half asleep by the time we came to
Disneyland hotel !!! - Saankhya