Disneyland...Paris Style

Gabrielle and Mindy were pretty excited to be staring down Main Street USA at Sleeping Beauty's Castle at Disneyland.

So you are a tourist in Paris, what do you do? Well, museums, chateauxs, and monuments are all viable options, however when asked what she really wanted to do while staying with us this past week, Gabrielle did not hesitate with her reply. "Disneyland!!!" was the resounding answer. Okay, so maybe we presented it as a possible option, but let's just say that I was accompanied by two pretty excited ladies as we made our way to Marne-la-Vallee, some 30 kms east of Paris to spend a day with Mickey, Donald, and the rest of the Disney cast.

Arriving as the park gates opened at 10:00 am, we dove right into the rides. We were very fortunate as the crowd on hand was not overwhelming and for the most part, we waited between 10 and 15 minutes to board most rides. Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones, and Buzz Lightyear rides were just a small part of the repetoire we sampled. Of course we also had to ride classics such as A Small World and Alice's Teacups. We all agreed that Space Mountain should have been avoided as we exited the looping in the dark with lights flashing roller-coaster just a little on the dizzy side.

We stayed right until the park closed at 9:00 pm and just like the kids we saw that day, we couldn't get the smiles off our faces.

Mindy and Gabrielle blast away on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

And took in the Canadian part of A Small World.

Before either screaming or laughing (I'm not really sure what that was) on Big Thunder Mesa roller-coaster.

We took some time off from the rides to visit with everyone's favorite duck.

And then back to the Teacups where we spun out of control.

Carefull Princess Mindy, don't prick your finger on the spindle or you will fall asleep.

Fortunately for Mindy, her Prince Charming was downstairs removing a sword from a stone before coming to rescue her.

The happy couple at the end of a long, tiring, and fun-filled day at Disneyland, Paris.

In the end, Mindy couldn't handle all the excitement and crashed for a little siesta.