Saturday July 13

---

We woke up early today at 7am. I think it’s the earliest we woke up on this trip so far except for our first jet-lagged day.

We took the RER train one stop to Marne la Vallée and Disneyland is just steps from the train stop. We got there at 8:45am and the park officially opens at 10am. They opened the gates early at 9:30am just like in Orlando.

The first thing we did was to see the animatronic dragon under the castle. We loved it so much we went back to see it again later in the day.

Then we did some rides in Adventureland and Frontierland.

Cal, Asa ans I liked Big Thunder Mountain. Even Nova gave it a try but she didn’t like it. She didn’t cry though, just said she didn’t want to do it again.

Then the boys and I went to the other Disney park, Walt Disney Studios. Unlike in Orlando, the parks’ entrances are just steps from each other which made moving between them really easy. Nole and the girls stayed in Fantasyland to go on rides.

Meanwhile at Walt Disney Studios:

When we got to Studios, all of the rides had long waits. The only shortish one was Aerosmith which was about 30 minutes. The boys and I had rode that one in Orlando and liked it so we figured we would like this one. We were wrong. It was very bumpy and we got our ears boxed pretty bad. Asa was so scarred by it that he said he was done with rides for the day however after a cold drink and a rest (the boys watched a show while I went on Tower of Terror) he was ready to start slow. After a few kiddie rides, he even rode “Crush’s Coaster” with Cal and me. We headed back to the other park soon after that and met up with Nole and the girls. Magic Kingdom in Orlando is so big that we usually skip the parade in order to go on more rides (which usually have shorter wait times during the parade). This park was smaller so we watched the parade for the first time since Cal was 3.

Then we saw the things the boys really wanted to see in Fantasyland and Discoveryland.

Favorites:

• Jessica – Tower of Terror and RC Racer (both at Walt Disney Studios)
• Nole – Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast
• Cal – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril thrill ride
• Asa- Ratatouille (at Walt Disney Studios)
• Esme – it’s a small world, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Tours and many others
• Nova – it’s a small world

We finished the day with Illuminations, the fireworks/night show. Overall a successful day and much colder than Orlando. I had my sweater on and off all day and we all needed jackets after dark. It was kind of weird to be at a Disney park and not be concerned about staying hydrated and finding shade.