Valentine's Day Weekend in Paris: Day 2: My Pilgrimmage

On my second day in Paris, I decided to go to Disneyland Paris. If you are reading this, it's very likely you already know about my Disney obsession so this should come as no surprise to you at all. Considering Disney is basically my religion, this was very much a pilgrimage I was obliged to make. While it was extremely cold, icy, and snowy while I was there, I still had a great time. I was in Disney! How could I not?

There was some sort of party-theme going on throughout the park which was a lot of fun. There were a lot of balloons and welcoming signs that showed this theme, as shown in the picture below:

The entrance to Disneyland Paris was a lot different than at Walt Disney World in that it was actually a hotel that made up the entrance. I can't even imagine the awesome views that some of these rooms must have. I mean to actually be able to see into Disneyland after it closes?! I would be in absolute heaven. Here is the entrance/hotel:

After going through the entrance, you're dropped off at the point where you need to collect a map and park schedule. I had forgotten that I was actually in France until this point when I grabbed the standard map and realized it was completely in French. I put it back and made my way towards the international map section where I happily got my map in English. I walked through the final gates and was greeted by Main Street USA and this wonder:

I realized quickly that I just simply love Disney castles in general. I have a preference for Cinderella Castle but I will really take a Disney castle any day over pretty much anything else. I was amazed by how familiar the park was feeling to me but this feeling was going to fade fast. I made my way towards what I thought was the Indiana Jones roller coaster they have and instead showed up at Pirates of the Caribbean. Since I had wanted to ride this anyway, I went ahead and rode it. I was amazed that there were two large drops in this version! There was also a noticeable absence of Johnny Depp which was quick unfortunate. This version was different, not better or worse, just different! It still had the same feel as the one in Florida though which is all that really matters. I then wandered around the park for awhile in search of the Indiana Jones ride and finally gave into the fact that I was going to have to regress in my Disney park skills and just use the darn map. I used the map and was successfully at the Indiana Jones ride within 10 minutes. The ride itself was pretty anticlimactic, lasting a whole 60 seconds but looked pretty cool anyway so at least I can say that I did it.

I had lunch at Casey's, a hot dog diner that they also have at Disney World. These were not the same hot dogs though. They prided themselves on serving an American hot dog but if we made hot dogs this great I might eat a lot more of them. The hot dogs were served on freshly made buns with tons of cheese (and mayo on the side? I requested ketchup...). The best part was that all of the other tourists there with me used a fork and knife to eat it! At this point, I had a bit of cultural nervousness. I mean, these people came to an American-owned theme park to an American hot dog joint, so should I conform and eat how they were eating or just show it how it's really eaten in America? I tried to be brave and just eat it with my fingers but after some small children started staring at how messy I was being, I decided to just go ahead and use the fork and knife. That afternoon, there was a token Disney parade that I basically just blacked out through from the enjoyment. Here is one of the pictures that I did manage to take, of the Mary Poppins float. I was so excited because Big Ben was on it!

After the parade, I was extremely cold so made my way to a bakery where I got a free hot chocolate and a Mickey brioche. I hadn't ever heard of a brioche of any kind prior to this so didn't know what I was in for. It was this wonderful sweet roll (in the shape of Mickey of course) with chocolate icing inside it. It was absolutely heavenly. After this, I wandered around the park taking in as many rides as I could and even stumbled upon the Black Pearl, albeit frozen in the water.

I then finished out my day in the Studios, the second park. It had a lot of different rides than at any of the other parks so was a lot of fun. There was a coaster from Finding Nemo about riding the EAC with Crush that I seriously want them to bring to Florida! It was awesome. There were also some very French attractions - such as Animagique and Cinemagique. Very fun and very different.
Overall, I really enjoyed my day here and didn't regret at all taking a day out of the normal Paris sightseeing routine to see it. It was interesting to see just how prevalent Disney is everywhere - even in Europe! I loved this day and was totally relaxed upon leaving.