Paris - Deuxième Jour (Second Day)

I wish I have a handicapped kid in a wheelchair, at least I can cut the queue - British teengirl's asinine comment in EuroDisney

For those in the dark, my OVERzealous fixation with Starbucks is attributed to its non-existence in Clogsland. Yes, they are unheard of. You have to go to either Germany or France to get your fix. Even Belgium is offlimits. These countries really put all the necessary measures to prevent this corporate mammoth from bulldozing their local coffee chains. Thus, when I saw Schiphol's answer to Starbucks and the ones in France, I was unquestionably over the moon!

Anyhow, second day was all about Disney and Notre Dame de Paris.

Eventhough Eurodisney opens at 10 a.m. daily, we decided to take it easy and left the hotel at half past 11. The previous day's fiasco left all of us tired to the bones. We ate some goodies from a neighbourhood boulangerie for breakfast, before trotting off down the street towards the nearest RER station from where we have to board the train to Disney.

(An aside: Along with a small fridge, the hotel room comes equipped with a kitchenette, which was handy for us to cook Sadia's meals as well as to make beverages for brekkie time)

As it turns out, that said station is located right after the river. Hence, we had to walk all the way 'uptown' which I didn't particularly mind since we'd pass by that Starbucks joint and I wanted to get my long-awaited cuppa. Hehe. I got my Venti! Caramel Macchiato, to be shared with hubby of course.....



The Malaysian tourists that we are, we snapped photos at every possible nook and cranny. Haha. Just jossing. Make that just anything that caught our fancy enroute to the station. Paris is such a beautifully-preserved city. The impressive markings of various schools of architecture and arts are both ubiquitious and ostentatious here. Gilded, ornate, elaborate statues, sculptures and reliefs, they are in stark contrast to the humble masonry works that are readily seen in Delft, or the Netherlands for that matter.

We lost our bearing for a while after the river crossing at Chatelet as proper signage for a RER-service line was not properly installed at Chatelet's roadside public map. The RER was in fact a bit further down the road from the riverbank than we had initially imagined. Underground, we engaged in the usual 'upper-body' and 'gluteus-toning' exercises carrying the buggy from that stop to its connection to the RER. To say the least, it was a long subterranean hike to the designated RER track.

Whilst I attended to Sadia, hubby lined up to buy return tickets to the Disney stop - the Marne la Vallee-Chessy. It's the last one along the RER 'A' line so you'd not have any trouble missing your stop! As hubby queued up, he overheard an American tourist - two persons behind him - saying to his kid, who had earlier nudged the dad to bring him to Disney (pointing to the subway's Disney ad), that it'd be an insult to go to a Disney Park in Europe. When hubby loudly requested for Disney-bound train tickets and simultaneously looked back at the guy, the American hastily added that it'd be an insult if Disney is right behind your house. Yeah right. Hehe.

The train ride took about 40 minutes and we arrived there close to 1 p.m. The legendary long lines to purchase entrance tickets in Disney are quite living up to its name! The multitude of people are indescribable. Luckily, one staff pointed us towards a ticket booth which was relatively empty. Spot-on!


By the time we entered Main Street, USA, we were already famished. A parade was just wrapping up on the said Street, with loud music blaring on the overhead speakers cum street lights, and I managed to click away at some characters on the parade floats.





After taking some must-have photos in front of Belle's Castle, we trudged off to the middle part of Disney Park and and saw the magnificent Lancelot Carousel flitted by in a kaleidoscope of colours. In this area, we ate some crepes sucre (sugared crepes) at one of many food kiosks located all over the park in order to tide us over. (Side note: Crepes are French's version of street food - a personal favourite is the yummy Nutella-filled crepe)



Taking cue from my low sugar count and obvious antsiness, hubby (thanks love!) suggested a proper, relaxing lunch. We were hesitant to eat earlier because of the huge crowd having their lunch at all available seating-down eateries. We settled down at Toad Hall Restaurant, eponymously named after that character in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Since Mr Toad is British, this fast food joint's stellar performer is its traditional fish and chips. I wouldn't go so far as to claim it is 'traditional' though.

Following lunch, we strolled towards Adventureland, passing by Pirates of the Caribbean ride, the Swiss Robinson Family's tree house as well as the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril. Despite all the audio-visual stimulations that a Disney Park has to offer, Sadia fell into a slumber which lasted for almost 2 hours. We found a quiet spot for which she could sleep uninterrupted, a dull photo-taking area nestled somewhere in between Adventureland and Frontierland.

As usual, we took turns roaming about the nearby areas - taking toilet breaks and window-shopping for souvenirs at the sundry shop. I actually even contemplated on the prospect of going on one of the theme park's rides. For parents (or the general public), the Park has a system whereby you could take a 'Fastpass' token at one of the rides and are required to come back for your time slot on the ride. Two drawbacks on this service are that the 'Fastpass' is only available on certain rides - usually the not-so-famous ones - and the limited number of tokens for each cycle which could work to your disadvantage when a throng of visitors have the same idea. There is a 'Baby Switch' service on offering too for rides that are not suitable for baby/toddler such as thrill and/or scary rides. However, in our haste to get into the park, we had forgotten to inquire about it from the ticket booth.


Needless to say, our Disney outing was mostly spent strolling around the park, soaking in the scenery and simply hanging out. Perhaps, we have passed that stage where getting that adrenaline rush is uppermost in our minds. Or maybe we have to wait until our kid is much, much older! ;) And the Park is a little less crowded... :(

Post-nap, we walked briefly through the darkened caverns at Adventure Isle before taking the closest exit as some naughty kids were making ghoulish howls inside the cave hideout which might scare Sadia in turn. We enjoyed some ice-cream cones instead outside the coves. It was during our purchase of said desserts that we overheard a teenager telling her equally heavily make-up friends about her wish to have a paraplegic child so as to enable her to be first in line at her favourite attractions. That was sheer adolescent stupidity!

As the Malaysian Malays would say "Cakap itu doa", which loosely means you should be careful what you wish for as it will come true.

We dropped by a beautiful and lavish Moroccan-style oasis to view Aladdin's series of diorama and thereon ventured into Discoveryland and reminisced about old times after seeing the thrill ride, Space Mountain Dome and the virtual reality ride, Star Tours.

Thereafter, we temporarily exited the Disney Park and headed straight to the other main attraction, Disney Studio. The place however appeared to be a pandemonium - chaotic, disorganised and very loud. Sadia, who by now had fully woken up from her nap, was more than ready to explore the grounds. We had to contain her excitement lest she got lost in the maddening crowd. Oh did I mention it was a scorching hot day? It was even more so when we stepped into the Studio. Must be the noisy uproar - it brought temperatures up a few notches.

Enough is enough. We darted out of there in a flash and found shelter in one of the grassy mounds, randomly planted alongside the pathways between Disney Studio and Disney Park. Kicking off our shoes, we momentarily lied down on the ample grass. It had been a long day. Sadia was however displeased by our state of inanimation and demanded that we got a move on. Believe it or not, we lugged our feet back to Main Street, USA and indulged in some shopping.



We had originally wanted to wait for the 7:30p.m. parade before hopping the train back to Paris proper. However, the hordes of people were really getting on our nerves that we resolved to go back as soon as we finished feeding Sadia her dinner. One pit stop before we were out the doors was the toilet. I have to say that for a world renowned household brandname like Disney, the women toilet (near the exit) was in such a deplorable, dirty state. I'd expect this back in Malaysia's public toilets but not at a Disney Park! There were toilet papers strewn all over the place, wet splotches on the floor and suspicious-looking liquids on toilet seats. Egad! Hubby however countered that the men toilet was in tip-top shape. Is it just a woman thang?!

Inside the bathroom, a girl asked her mummy as to why the toilet was dirty to which the mum replied it was almost the end of the day. Utter rubbish! It was close to 7 p.m. and the Park only stops operating at 10 p.m.! Toilet rant aside, at 7 p.m. we were well on our way back to the city of love. Whew, what a day!


And yet, we had scheduled in one final stop before heading home to the hotel. The Notre Dame Cathedral. On the way, we took a picture at Place du Chatelet, a fountain famous for its sphinx heads and its long column on which a gilded winged figure stands aloft (We dropped by there earlier in the morning as well). Notre Dame de Paris was a magnificent sight to behold. Its Gothic architecture as well as intricate sculptures and reliefs depict dramatically a long gone French era. While Sadia and hubby busy chasing pigeons, I sat there marvelling at its aesthetic form. But the Cathedral's height is not as awe-inspiring as we would have visualised it to be. Yikes! Is it sacrilegious even to say that? Haha. In the end, we couldn't help but to cry out "Sanctuary! Sanctuary!"







Till my third entry, I bid you Au Revoir!