2011 Med Cruise on the Magic

Aug 24 finally arrived, I was hoping to take the day off work but as usually getting away for holidays is so hard. I was able to get done by noon and it was off to do some last minute shopping. With school starting the day after I got back there was lots to do.





I arrived at the airport about 3:30, hoping to avoid the long lines I encountered last summer and I succeed (also Air Canada had all PC’s manned compared to only 5 last summer). I decided to take the train to Terminal 3 as they have much better restaurants then T1 for dinner.



Emirates A380 had arrived and was 2 gates down from my flight, what a huge difference in size.

My plane was in and waiting to go a boeing 777.

The flight was full but I was able to get a couple of hours sleep. Arrived at CDG at 8:30 local time. What an old airport but I was there. Luggage took forever and I was getting concerned that I would not make the 10:30 train. Finally about 9:50 my luggage arrived and it was off to find the TGV station. What a great set up having the train station in the airport, it was a bit of a walk but not terrible. I had a few issues figuring out the machine to get a ticket but I got some help from an SNCF employee I had a ticket.

TGV train was on time and quick 1 stop later and I was at Disneyland Paris. It was a beautiful sunny day but not too hot. I quickly found the hotel shuttles (just outside the train station, an amazingly easy set up ) and was soon at the Santa Fee hotel. I must say the hotels sure lack any type of theming and in comparison to the Orlando hotels seem boring. A huge line for check in but I need the park ticket so I had to wait.




The check in was fairly efficient as they had a person manning the line and getting the paperwork ahead so once you got to the desk it was quick.



I made it back to the park back 11:45. The entrance to the parks were stunning.

 I found the whole park to be very quaint and charming. The castle is stunning.

Inside the Castle

 I spent a lovely afternoon touring the park, very similar set up to Disney World and also Disneyland. The best ride by far was Pirates of the Caribbean, it is almost an Splash Mountain, but without the last huge drop, but there are 3 or 4 smaller drops, and then of course Big Thunder Mountain.

 There was a fun Alice in Wonderland maze in Fantasy Land.

The park was not terrible busy. My goal was to stay awake till 8:00 but it was tough. I made the mistake of heading to the Studios park and going to the Lights camera action stunt show, I am sure I dozed a few times so from then on I kept moving. The studio was very similar to Hollywood Studios but there was some cute smaller kid rides in the park, and the theming was good.



Toy Soldier Parachute ride only pictures
 from the Studios




I had some fast passes left for Buzz light year so I headed back to Disneyland. Everything is so close that walking back and forth was no issue, in fact I ended up walking back to the hotel, and it was only about a 15 minute walk back through Downtown Disney.