Return to Disneyland Paris! Day 2 - Secret Passageways!

On to day two, and our first day in the actual park! We all got up early and grabbed breakfast (the Golden Forest upgrade in Sequoia Lodge offers a cooked breakfast, so we dined on bacon and pancakes!) and headed into the park. This day was actually our anniversary, so Moose and I headed straight to City Hall to book dinner reservations for that evening at Blue Lagoon! It's my favourite restaurant in the park and the gorgeous night time atmosphere makes it a perfect date night venue.

We then headed to the very back to the park, walking up Main Street with me squealing like a maniac the whole way! We grabbed a Photopass, and then even though it wasn't the greatest weather, I was determined to grab some ice cream, so we ended up at a little kiosk in Fantasyland. It was then we noticed that Les Pays des Conte de Fees (Storybook Land Canal Boats) was actually open! It's been closed every visit I've made to Disneyland Paris, so even though it wasn't the highest on my 'do-do' list, it felt like we absolutely had to give it a go! It was cute, and I loved going into the Cave of Wonders from Aladdin, but it's probably not something we'd do again on a cold day! We then went straight to Casey Jr. which, again, isn't very high on my list but also had never been open in previous visits and I just don't feel like a very good Disney fan without finally riding it!

We then went along to Adventureland and jumped straight onto Pirates of the Caribbean, which is one of my personal favourites! I love the Disneyland Paris version so much, and it was super fun sailing past the restaurant knowing we'd be dining there later! We then jumped onto Indiana Jones! Sarah doesn't much like rollercoasters and had set out determined to ride some at Disney. Unfortunately, Thunder Mountain was closed (and remains closed for most of 2016, sadly) and Crush's Coaster was also down for maintenance the week we were there, so that kind of limited her plans to Indiana Jones, Space Mountain and Rock 'n' Rollercoaster. Oh well!

I didn't mention to Sarah than Indiana Jones had a loop, and of course by the time you see it, you're already strapped in and on your way! She forgave me, though! Here's an interesting factoid - Indiana Jones in Disneyland Paris was the first Disney ride to feature an inversion. Woo!

On our wonders, we met Timon! He was actually the only character I got to meet this time at Disney as everyone else had long queues. I'm so glad we bumped into him though since The Lion King is my favourite Disney movie ever! He was great, and did the Baymax, er, fistbump badaladala!

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By now, our tummies were rumbling, so we decided to mosey on down to the Lucky Nugget Saloon for lunch. Surprisingly for out of season, they had a live band! We were seated right by the stage and it was a wonderful little break while we worked out the rest of our day. I love the theme and atmosphere of the Lucky Nugget, but then I am a sucker for Westerns and cowboys! Hah. The food isn't bad, and it's a pretty cheap place to grab lunch by Disneyland Paris standards (€18 for burger, twisty fries, unlimited drinks and a little ice cream).

Our plan was then to ride Phantom Manor, but as we approached we were informed that it was temporarily closed. Aw! So, we rounded back across Main Street and ended up in Discoveryland and discovered (see what I did there?) that Space Mountain only had a ten minute queue! Well, rude not to, right? But here's a thing about Space Mountain (Mission 2, the DLP version) that I don't remember from my first visit back in 2012 - it hurts. It's a fun experience and I wish it didn't hurt because I enjoy riding it, but my head gets knocked around so much no matter what I do! Lean back, knockknockknockouchouchouch. Push my head out past the restraints? My ears smashed against the harness. Aaah! It must be a fun ride because we returned like five times during the week, but I suffered for it each time. Ouch!

To recover, we rode Buzz Lightyear's Laser Blast! Moose and I started a thing last visit that we'd ride Buzz every day and see who came out the ultimate winner at the end of the week. It's always Moose. :P But I got a few good moments! Hilariously, Moose got an obscene score on our last go on Buzz, but the Photopass overlay wasn't recorded, so we have no reminder of it! Oops! Sorry Moose!

We then went back to Sequoia Lodge, to make use of our Golden Forest teatime treats! We warmed up with a lovely hot chocolate and some sweets before venturing back into the park. We were planning on going straight to the Studios this time, but as we approached the gate Luke realised he'd left his ticket back at the hotel. D'oh! So, fighting for time now (Moose and I had dinner booked for 5:45 as the park closes at 7pm in January), Sarah, Moose and I went ahead and into Ratatouille! We were constantly surprised at the short wait times for Ratatouille this visit - last time the shortest non fast-pass queue was over an hour! This time said it was a fifteen minute wait, so we used our hotel fast pass. Unfortunately, the queue ended up taking a little longer than we anticipated, and we had to peg it back into the main park and all the way up to the Blue Lagoon! We got there late and, thankfully, they'd been holding our reservation for us. Phew!

I love the Blue Lagoon. I love the atmosphere and the food so much. This time, Moose didn't enjoy his food quite as much as before (he always goes for the swordfish), but I loved my chicken as usual. It was nice to have a little 'us' time away from the hustle and bustle of Disney. We stayed as long as we possibly could, and eventually we were the only ones left in the restaurant. What I didn't realise was that the park had actually closed around us! We were informed that we'd need an escort once we were done with our food, and what happened became one of my favourite Disney moments!

When we left, the park was officially closed. The whole castle had been cordoned off for the Dreams fireworks display, so we had a long detour. We actually walked right through Fantasyland, through the doors where the parade starts (which usually isn't open to the public!), all the way around the side of the park and into Discoveryland. We were the only non-castmembers there! It was surreal and awesome. We felt like VIPs (or criminals haha) being personally escorted out of the park. I actually recorded the whole walk, but the quality isn't very good, sadly. By the time we walked to the top of Main Street, there were a couple of non castmembers around (the shops were still open), but the whole place was very quiet and we managed to get some cute castle shots (again, shame about the quality!)

Until next time!