Disneyland & Paris

Via the Oxford Tube (coach) and the London Underground, we arrived early at St. Pancras Station in London.  After a french breakfast and security checks, we waited...

...patiently...

...for the Eurostar train direct to Disneyland.

Finally, our time came to board. Since February is not peak season, the train was relatively empty.

Matthew had two seats all to himself...

...but he was not far away from us. 

We were not in the premier car but the accommodations were still pretty posh.

The other passengers were mostly families, too.

The train station is right outside the park gates!
We had a little difficulty finding the path to our hotel even though we could see it from the station.
We did find the car park  and were welcomed as we trekked back to our starting point.

Hotel New York would be our home for 5 nights. Matthew was excited about the pool, which we used three times.

Matthew and Lori clowning around in the lobby near the restaurants.
We purchased meal vouchers and breakfasts so almost all of our meals were taken care of by Disney.

We found Disneyland Park! The entrance is under the Disneyland Hotel.

The park was opened in 1992 so the 20th anniversary celebration was still in progress.

Main Street looked just like the Orlando or Anaheim parks.

Sleeping Beauty's castle was model after Neuschwanstein Castle, which was Lori's inspiration to visit Disneyland Paris. 

Proof that I was with Lori and Matthew.

Matthew got really brave and rode the roller coasters:  Indiana Jones, Big Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain 2. Space Mountain was his favorite. He rode it 5 times!

The royals at yet another castle.

Lots of Mickeys...

...and lots of Minnies!

At Autopia, Lori drove so I could take photos. Matthew followed but had some technical  difficulties.
The road service had to restart his car after it stalled in mid-journey.

Then a car in front of us broke down. Paris traffic!

We happened to be in front of the castle as the parade started and had a great location to see the characters.
Here is large Alice looking out at Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

"Howdy, howdy, howdy!"

Guess who?

Silly chipmunks.

The duck with the temper was very up-beat.

Tinker Bell was on the back of the last float. If we hadn't planned to follow the parade to the front gate, we probably would have missed her.

On Saturday, we visited the other park next door.

It is a smaller version of the Orlando Park. We didn't stay long.  Since it was the weekend, the queue was long for the one ride we wanted to try. We did see CinéMagique in which an audience member becomes part of the film. It was fun.

On Saturday night, we went to the Wild West Show in Disney Village.

Mickey greeted us right after...

We received our cowboy hats.

Our seats were in the front row. What a great view.

Annie Oakley showed off her horsemanship.

The cowboys and Indians had rodeo competitions.
The audience was divided into four groups so we each  had a team to cheer for.

The winter scarf made a good bandanna.

Mickey and friends taught us all how to say "Yee Haw!"

Buffalo Bill was the hero of the show

The cattle knew exactly what do do when they received their cue.

Annie Oakley also demonstrated her shooting and lasso twirling.

I was selected from the crowd to guard the gold. Here Annie is taking me away and putting me to work.

I rode in the stagecoach but didn't do a very good job protecting the gold. The good guys wouldn't give me a gun!
The bandits caught us and tied us up. Don't worry, Buffalo Bill and the cavalry saved the day.

On Sunday, we rode the double-decked train into Paris. We even had live entertainment.

The Louvre Museum was once a palace. I keep telling Lori that we need a house like this!

How does one dust up there?

Everywhere I looked, there was art. Here is another ceiling.

The crowd around the Mona Lisa was small so I could get some decent photos. She looked strangely familiar...

...so I zoomed in...

...and zoomed in more...

...until, aha!
Oops. This is Mona Matthew.

Proof again that I am on this holiday too.

The many halls are huge and much of the art is large.
Once,  I gestured with my program and learned that alarms sound if a patron gets to close to the artwork.

This is the only painting that is not hanging on a wall. It depicts David and Goliath and has two sides.

I have never seen a painting like this before. David and Goliath were popular subjects.
We found at least five different pictures of them together.

This painting depicts the entire gospel, from Jesus' birth to his ascension to heaven.

We ate lunch in the museum's cafe. After I was seated, I noticed that I had a pretty nice view from my seat. Even though it was snowing, I could see the Louvre in the foreground, the River Seine beyond that and the Eiffel Tower in the distance.  Magnifique!

The famous painting of Emperor Napoleon the First crowning himself in Notre Dame.

After some technical difficulties, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was back in operation. The station is on the mainland but the ride travels around the island. What a surprising start!

Since it was so cold during our visit, we only explored the park after dark on our last night.
The lights make the castle and main street seem almost magical.

On our last morning, we woke up to more snow but Mickey and Minnie didn't seem to care.

I have lived in both Orlando and Anaheim and have never imagined a Disney park  with snow. It just didn't seem proper. Paris is approximately the same latitude as Thunder Bay, Canada, which is on the north shore of Lake Superior.

We had front row viewing for the 20th Anniversary parade. 

The happiest place on earth!

Our last Disney meal was at Cafe Mickey in Disney Village.
There was no crowd so we had the characters almost all to ourselves. Can you identify all three of these characters?

Pluto stopped by.

Goofy was really tall.

We even had two visits from the famous mouse.

Matthew talked Mickey into signing an autograph.

What a fun and relaxing holiday!