Half term and just back from four days in and around Paris. Having managed to persuade the family during our French touring holiday in August it would be a very bad idea travelling overnight to spend one day in Disneyland, I had to relent and agree to a trip in the autumn.
My top tip for Disneyland is simply don’t go. However, if like me, you have failed to rule your family with a rod of iron and you find yourself outvoted, then I strongly advise you to pick up a copy of A Brit's Guide to Disneyland Resort Paris
I would like to say that the first two days we organised in Paris and Versailles were compensation for spending 48 hours chez Mickey & Minnie, but in truth we had to queue for an hour and a half to simply gain access to Louis XIV’s sumptuous palace (after first spending an hour and a half on the train getting there) and on the day in Paris we queued for a staggering two hours in order for the privilege of climbing up the first 375 steps of the Eiffel Tower. This meant that we didn’t have time for the Pompidou Centre and to cap a perfect day they changed the late night opening for the Louvre so that all that Cathy got in reply to her “Ou est la Mona Lisa” was “Sorry Madame, we are closed – come back on Wednesday.”
Still, this put us in good stead for the two days at Disneyland, where queuing is the order of the day. By the time they opened our first chosen ride (Thunder Mountain) there was already a 50 minute queue. 53 minutes later we staggered from our carriage with Cathy and I in mild shock and Churton screaming that he wanted to go home. The teenagers however were keen for more thrills and so the day developed into a routine of long queues followed by short burst of either excitement or disappointment. After about six hours of this I was grateful to sit down in the Silver Spur and, despite paying Michelin star prices for a Harvester style steak and chips, was sufficiently mellowed (after a bottle of Disneyland Merlot – who says they haven’t embraced French culture!) to face a couple more queues before retiring for the day.
Day two was saved by the lesser used (but in my humble opinion – vastly superior) Disney Studios Park, which instead of fairground thrills delivered its excitement through a series of experiences which were all linked to actual movie making. The stunt car demonstration was spectacular and the Sci-Fi Armageddon was so realistic that one child had to be let out of the simulation in hysterics. His annoyed parents obviously hadn’t read the warning signs on the door.
All in all though, the time passed pleasantly enough and that evening we were all aboard Eurostar for the long trek home. Our sleeper from London delivered us back to Bodmin at 6.30 in the morning and we were to be greeted at home by a letter from the State Veterinary Service stating that the farm from which we had purchased our new bull (see entry for 7th July) had gone down with TB (tuberculosis). We now await our routine TB test on Monday with some trepidation and our fingers firmly crossed – I have had quite enough excitement for one week.