Mediterannean Cruise/Disneyland Paris Day 20: Paris, France to Orlando June 1, 2022

 I woke at 6:16, but not on purpose. It was only four minutes early, but it was still four minutes of sleep. My husband K woke with the alarm. Our daughter J woke, too, even though she didn't need to, as her flight was later than ours. She was going to hang around and take advantage of Extra Magic Hours one more time before returning to claim her bags and head for the train station.

K and I were out of the hotel and waiting for the bus at 7:05 in the chilly morning air. It arrived at 7:13 and it showed that it was 48 degrees. When it reached the train station at 7:30, it did not pull into one of the bus spots in front of the station, but dropped us off on the opposite side of the loop.  

 

We already had our tickets, so we headed down to the track. At 7:35, we were waiting between F and G for car 6. When we boarded the crowded train at 7:50, we could not find our seats. So, I grabbed an empty one and K stayed with our bags.The train departed two minutes later.

We were at Charles de Gaulle Airport at 8:02 and joined the crowd riding up the escalator.

The first thing we did was look for the customs office for Global Blue in order to get the stamp to submit the paperwork to get back some of the VAT I'd paid at a couple of shops during the cruise. While they always tell you to have the items that are on the receipt in your carry-on luggage or go to the customs office before depositing your bags, because they may ask to see your items, they rarely do. Well, they did this time. They were in fact in my hand luggage. There was box to drop the claim envelope in after I finished and I could just hope that the refund would come through.

We were finally able to go get in line to check in for our flight at 8:36. We stood in line a while before reaching the counter and showing our boarding passes and Covid results, but finished at 9. We then found out that because we had Sky Priority with Air France, we should have been a totally different place with shorter lines for that. We were told how to go find the special Sky Priority passport/security line, which was trickier than it should have been, but we were in it at 9:08 and grateful for it, because the other lines were a mob scene.

Meanwhile, using the airport WiFi, I'd been texting J with what we were finding. Since she was flying Air France, too, albeit to D.C., she had a much easier time of it, when she got to the airport later.

We finished with the passport stamping at 9:18 and had to wait for a shuttle out to our terminal. We were on at 9:28 and off at 9:30. There, we went through Sky Priority security and my bag was swabbed. At 9:40, we headed off and the path led through Duty Free, of course. There were deals on chocolates, which I wouldn't have been able to resist, even if I'd already had breakfast. When we finished there at 10, we saw that we were in the area of some fairly high-end stores.

A mere two-minute walk put us at Costa Coffee, which was the only real food place we saw. I told K what I wanted and went to claim seats. He got a pain au chocolat for 2,10 euros and a Oasis Tropical 50 cl bottle for 3, 95 for me and a marble muffin  and coffee for himself.

We got to Gate 41 at 10:23 and I noticed people madly grabbing papers off a table and filling them out. It is a good thing I noticed. They were Covid-19 forms for the US for us to swear we were Covid-free. We each quickly filled one one out and handed it in as we went through the passport scanners that let us through to the jetway at 10:42.

We were at seats 23 K and L on Air France flight 14 to New York JFK at 10:42. Our seats were at the bulkhead by an emergency exit near the restroom with a jumpseat across from us. They were fancier than regular economy seats , but not as fancy as business class. This plane was a 2 x 3 x2 seat set-up at this point, with the back of the plane beyond the bulkhead in the back of this photo in a 3 x 3 x3.

I was incredibly sleepy by now and actually dozed off once I was settled in. The plane did not push back until 11:48, 23 minutes after the scheduled departure time. The safety video played immediately. Then, when we took off at noon, the screen showed the ground.

The wall pouch next to us contained bottles of water for us. I started watching Abominable and K watched Eiffel. This was a French plane. So, we were offered champagne as an aperitif and it would have been rude to say no. We both ordered the chicken, when lunch was served to us at 12:54. I had white wine with mine and K had red. The meal was good

 

After the meal they offered chocolat noir 63% by Valrhona and I did not say no. It was good. K decided to take a nap. I pulled out the cross stitch kit I'd worked on a bit on the trip and watched The Croods. When that was over, I got to see Hope Springs. 

At 3:09, they brought around a snack basket. I got some butter cookies and a granola bar, but saved the granola for later.

At 5:50, they brought around a bagged fuller snack. The bag was no brown bag, but rather a nice cloth ribbon-handled one. Of course, I kept the bag. The snack was a mango yogurt drink, muffin (France eats muffins!) and a Viennese-style French sandwich of edamame, cheese and other vegetable. It was good!

At 7:05 pm Paris time, we landed at JFK in New York. There was no gate available and we were stuck out on the tarmac. One of the flight attendants was seated in the jumpseat for landing. I noticed a pin on the floor and asked if it was his. He was thrilled to have it back and wound up talking to us until we reached the gate. He even took pictures of us for us.

We were finally at the gate at 1:46 EDT and our phones had changed to local time. We were off the plane at 1:55. During the pandemic, K and I had each upgraded our TSA PreCheck to  Global Entry. It is more expensive, but being finished at that kiosk at 2 pm and through immigration just four minutes later is one of the reasons it is work the extra cost.

Baggage got through faster here than in Orlando. We picked them off the carousel at 212 and dropped them off for the flight to Orlando at 2:16. 

Our connecting flight was a Delta flight in the next terminal. But they did not have an indoor connection nor did they have a clearly marked exterior one. We finally asked someone and they sent us across the street to the Air Train. We reached that at 2:20 and the train arrived four minutes later. It took exactly one minute to reach the station across the street from the next terminal. Once again, we had to make our way across the street. Just ridiculous!

We had to make our way upstairs on the escalators and found the screening at the top. We got into the PreCheck line at 2:34 and were done at 2:38. We bought very expensive sandwiches at their version of our Hudson stores. Then, we hurried off to Gate 63, where we found that the few seats there were already taken.

We boarded the plane and were seated in seats 14 E and F in their so-called Comfort Zone at 3:07. Our layover cushion had been severely cut short by that 41 minute wait on the tarmac.

When the plane pushed back at 3:51, I was already watching Licorice Pizza. We took off at 4:06 and as soon as beverage service started, K and I pulled out those expensive sandwiches, which were pretty good.

This flight felt much more crowded than the previous one. We were among the very few people bothering to wear masks.

As we approached the coast of Florida, the view became more interesting to us. We soon could see the Canaveral National Seashore.

We flew over Geneva, which is northeast of our town and we could see Alligator Lake.

We passed over St. Cloud to the south of the airport. That meant that the cooling towers at the electrical plant that are south of our town were now on the right as the plane came in for a landing.

We landed at OIA in Orlando at 6:30, but it took eight minutes to taxi to the gate and five more for us to disembark. The luggage took forever. Mine was the last one out and it didn't arrive until 7:19.

K could now let his friend K know that we were ready to be picked up. He was not far away and got us at 7:49. We walked into our house at 8:14, really exhausted and glad to be home. But, man, what a trip!

Surprisingly, the phone said I walked 7,474 steps for 2.5 miles.

Mediterannean Cruise/Disneyland Paris Day 19: Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios Park, France May 31, 2022

I didn't go to bed until 1:30 last night, because I was too awake after our amazing day. I still woke up 20 minutes before the 7:30 alarm.

At least the temperature was a vaguely more reasonable 52 degrees. 

My husband K, daughter J and I had a busy morning ahead. Since we are flying home tomorrow, we had to have Covid-19 tests today. J had been in charge of figuring that out. There had been a testing center here in the Disney Village, but France recently got rid of some of their restrictions and that site was closed. We'd have to travel to the next village. My one thing was that if we were going to a French village, we needed to eat pastries at a Boulangerie or Patisserie. So, we planned breakfast for after the test.

We stopped at the concierge desk to ask some train questions before we left the hotel at 8:55. The train station was on the other side of the Disney Village. So, we had to go through security to pass through the Village.

We saw people streaming out of the station and heading for the park. This station was the end of the line.

We knew that the stop we wanted was the next one. It was rally rather cheap on the RER. j got 3 tickets for 5,85 euros. We had decided to get the tickets for tomorrow's trips to the airport, too. They were each 35 euros for the TGV. This was accomplished by 9:06. 

We then tried to figure out where to go to get the train. All the tracks were below this level. We finally gave up and asked someone. Down on the platform, I figured out that the sign told us where to stand to enter the car for our particular reservation. This was not something you'd just look at and go, oh, okay. More English would have helped and we know English guests come here.

We boarded the train at 9:42. It departed at 9:47 and reached Val d'Europe exactly one minute later. When we got off the train, I looked up at the buildings and said that this was not a village. This was a town.

What J had called a shopping center turned out to be a mall, which we reached at 9:57. We were really surprised to be wanded by a policeman, when we entered.

The Pharmacie was not hard to find, but it did take a bit to figure out where to go inside. It turned out to be the druggist's counter, where we made appointments and paid 20 euros each. The test was not done in the Pharmacie, but rather outside of the mall in a portable, which we entered at 10:05. Since we had appointments, we were taken in no time and finished at 10:15. 

Conveniently, there was a Boulangerie-Patisserie right down the street from the portable, catty-cornered from the mall. The photos show why it was so incredibly hard to choose and why it is a good thing I don't live there. We got Beignet aux pommes (2,35), 1/2 Viennoise choco (1,55), drops (2,10), pain au chocolat (1), quiche provençale (3,95), orange juice, Orangina, and coffee Amercain for a total of 20 euros. There was an open high table and we parked ourselves there to partake of the delights in front of us. So delicious!

Mid-way through our meal, J got a ping on her phone. A message said her results were ready. We debated whether it would ruin the meal to look at the results now. Finally, we all opened the link and were relieved to find out that all the care we'd been taking for almost three weeks had paid off- all negative. We could go home tomorrow.

Naturally, after breakfast, we wanted to use the restroom before heading back to the train. However, we were informed it was out of order and we'd have to go back to the mall. Off we went at 10:57. We were wanded again, of course. At least we could see that it was an honest-to-goodness mall, complete with art.

The restrooms were in very good shape. As I was washing my hands, I realized that the Pharmacie might have something to help the cracking of my skin at the top of my nails. It was not hard to find Eucerin, which I also have at home. We took a look at the very neat, very full toothpaste section and recognized several brands. That sort of thing always amazes me.

When we came out of the mall at 11:19, I decided to take a photo of the street. Definitely not a village.

The station was only a three minute walk. Once again, the three tickets for the trip costed 5,85 euros. We were on the platform at 11:24 and the train arrived 2 minutes. Like the last train, it was a double decker. The train left at 11:27, which was quicker than the original trip.

We arrived at the Marne-la-Vallée- Chessy station at 11:34. Since it was the middle of the day, we did not have to use the huge line system that they had coming out of the station on the Disney side. in fact we were through security in one minute.

As planned yesterday, we headed for the Disneyland Paris park first.  As we reached the sort of turnoff to go there rather than Walt Disney Studios Park, we passed a statue of Mickey's arm dressed in the sorcerer's robes and his hand in the air with the wand. I swear I immediately thought of Harry Potter and "Wands up!"

We were in the park at 11:40 and it took us 12 minutes to get through Frontierland to its back and the Pueblo Trading Post. We found the mother lode! So. Many. Pins. It's a good thing K had a cast member discount!

When we came out at 12:03, we took our time walking back. We noticed things we hadn't yesterday. For instance, there were cast members dressed Western style. I don't think we have that. We saw the interior of the fort from a different angle. And, we'd been in a rush to get in yesterday and not only had we not noticed the teepees, but also, we didn't see the smoke coming out of them!

As we passed the castle, we marveled at its beauty again. I was able to zoom in on a couple of windows with my camera. (The zoom on the phone isn't nearly as good.) I actually got a shot of the castle with no people in it!

We took some more photos of Main Street, too.

There was one last parade for us that we had to scoot around to reach the park exit. We were out of the park at 12:33. We decided to sit for a moment in the shade. It was warmer than yesterday. The jackets were off, but K and I still had on two shirts each.

Then, it was on to Walt Disney Studio Park, which was just a 5 minute walk to the entrance. It was cool to see Earful Tower in the distance. Ours was taken down quite a while ago.

The entrance looks really neat with studio gates, although they don't open. You go through turnstiles on either side of it. Our tickets were verified again, of course. Plenty of people were leaving, but you see that any time you go to any Disney park. I made sure that I took a photo of the back of the gate, in case I didn't remember to later.

Like good tourists, we took plenty of photos. We rather liked the Sorcerer's Apprentice fountain. We knew that the first building we entered, which looked like a sound stage, was actually the home of restaurants and shops. The center was done up to look like a street in Hollywood. So neat!

It was time for lunch, since it was 12:. So, we went in the Brown Derby entrance, because we like that restaurant in Hollywood Studios. It was actually a restaurant called "Restaurant en Coulisse", which means, appropriately enough, "Restaurant Backstage". It had several quick serve lines and tables to the right. I gave K and J my order and managed to find a table to save. There, I admired the sketches of the stars a la the real Brown Derby and the props hanging above for ambience.

It took a while for them to come back with the food. I got the 30th Anniversary Menu for 19 euros. It was a Generous Gourmand Burger (double beef burger, tomato, lettuce, balsamic roasted shallots, smoked cheddar cheese, and barbecue sauce) with fries and Coke Zero. J, the Marvel fan, got the Black Widow Menu (Burger with symbol on roll, fries, and Coke) for 14 euros. K got the Chicken Burger Menu ( chicken burger 100% chicken breast fillet, fries, Coke Zero) for 14 euros. We also got 2 of the 30th Anniversary Desserts for 5 euros each. The meal was okay.

When we finished at 1:50, we went out to look around the building some more before heading out into the park proper. It really was neat looking.

Outside, we just stood there and took in our surroundings. There were familiar sights like the Tower of Terror and even the Walt and Mickey sculpture. The sorcerer's hat was more complex than ours had been, as it had characters flying around it. I was quite taken with the bright flowers below Mickey and Walt. I couldn't decide if they were plastic or actually came that way. When we turned around and looked at the sound stage and saw the lovely Encanto poster above it.

I loved the details in the buildings for their sort of street scene.

Down near where the new Avengers campus will be was a theater with  shows called "Stitch Live!" and "The Disney Junior Dream Factory". We didn't go, but saw people heading there.

Speaking of the Avengers campus, we saw this poster of what it will look like. And they are also planning for Arendelle from Frozen and a Star Wars area  in the back of the park.

 

We saw a bunch of closed kiosks like the one below all over the park. It turned out that they are having a food festival after we leave. Terrible timing! Plus, that food has to be better than what we've been having.

Neither K nor J was interested in riding the Tower of Terror. So, we made our way past it to get to Toy Storey, as they spell it, in the Worlds of Pixar section. It had the same backyard vibe as ours. I wondered how many Europeans recognized the toys back there. We did not go on any of the rides, but the Hot Wheels one was definitely true to the toy.

We retraced our steps a bit to go next door to the "Paris" section of the Worlds of Pixar. This is where the original Ratatouille ride was. We've recently gotten one at Epcot and we've all ridden it. J had looked at the wait time on the app and decided we needed Fast Passes. She got us each one for 12 euros a piece.

We went into Chez Marianne, because we'd seen on those videos a couple of things we were interested in. J wound up buying a mug with Eiffel tower legs. I was looking for a Minnie 30th anniversary item, but there were none in sight.

I'd seen on a video that if a cast member is wearing a lanyard with pins, you can ask to trade. I finally saw someone with a pin I wanted, but she said no, when I asked, because they were her pins. At home, they'd never let a cast member wear a lanyard of their own pins and not trade. I did find someone else to do it and another tonight. Very disappointing to have hauled them all this way for nothing.

At 3:11, we got in line for Ratatouille and we were out at 3:30. The ride is pretty much the same as ours, because ours is a copy of this one. Still fun.

There's a Chef Remy restaurant in this section, but reservations were gone months ago.

We found a tunnel to the Toy Storey area that was made from a Barrel of Monkeys game. We went through and found painted walls for backdrops for photos. Pretty cool.

We followed a path to the back of the area, where we found the Cars Road Trip. We had no idea what this would be. Had we looked at the map, we would have had a better idea. There was a very large line area and we watched trams with lots of seats pull up to empty and load people. At least it was under cover. We got in line at 3:37. We were on the tram 10 minutes later and finally moving at 3:53.

There were props and backdrops, which were cute to see. There was a lot of space between them.

When I looked at the description of the ride on the map later, I found that it did not tell you the highlight of the ride. It is depicted on the map, but if you don't know what it is, you wouldn't think anything of it. It is Catastrophe Canyon, which was in WDW's Hollywood Studios until they took it out to make room for the stunt show Lights, Motors, Action. It was so cool to experience it again.

It was a pleasant ride, but would have been boring without Catastrophe Canyon. We were done at 4:01. As we went past the Toy Story area, I once again appreciated the Disney attention to detail. Like the Orlando park, this is imagined as Andy's backyard. He's strung up Christmas lights on Tinkertoys. The great thing is that the end of a string has a connector like real Christmas lights would. Nice!

Our route led us past Toon Town to our left and Radiator Springs to the right. The former was a place for fun photos, the latter had structures in front of the Cars Road Rallye ride. I wondered how many Europeans had seen an ice cream truck before.

J and K saw Crush's Coaster and decided it would be worth the wait to stand in line for it. So, we found a spot to plant me in the shade at 4:26 and they were in line by 4:30. I used the time to post on Facebook and Instagram using J's  WiFi. It was a pleasant way to pass the time. K got on the ride at 5:27 and J at 5:28. They were off by 5:31 and really enjoyed it.

In front of Mickey's sorcerer's hat, we found bronze statues of Disney characters. There were the usual ones, such as Mickey and the Genie. But, they had Esmerelda from Hunchback of Notre Dame (which was understandable, given this is France), Brer Rabbit from Song of the South, Hercules, Tarzan, and Bacchus from Fantasia.

 

 

We weren't interested in riding any of the other rides or seeing any shows. So, we left the park at 6:36 and headed for the Disney Village. At the Disney Store, I found some postcards for my collection. At Pandora, I asked K to get me the Disneyland Paris ones as a gift. Meanwhile, I found a cast member to trade with.  At least I got a couple this way.

At 6:52, we decided to eat at King Ludwig's Castle, since there was no French restaurant here that would make us feel obligated to eat French. Besides, Ludwig is my guy and it promised to be vaguely Bavarian. 

It was barely Bavarian. There was a portrait of Ludwig on the wall and Bavarian flags around. Lots of wood. Did not photograph well, unfortunately.

K took the opportunity to order a König Ludwig Dunkel beer,which was a nice dark beer. I had Coke Zero and J had Fanta. I was excited to see Flammekueche on the menu, because I've seen recipes for it but never tried it. I chose the chicken for 21 euros and we all liked it. J went for King Ludwig's Sauerkraut, which came with frankfurter, smoked sausage, veal and poultry sausage, and potatoes. Sadly, it was greasy and needed acidity. It was, in a word, dull. K got the Prince's Menu, because he could get a main course and a dessert. He chose cod, which meant he did not share with us, and crème brûlée, which he did. He said the cod was fine, but we all agreed that the dessert lacked the satisfying crackle that it should have. The one French thing and they couldn't get it right.

 

 Service was slow and it took forever to get the check. We did help the British family by us with information on the fireworks. We finally got out at 8:50.

Heading back to the hotel,we had the chance for a few last photos of the hotel area, including one of Disney's Newport Bay Club across the lake from us.

J and K stopped in the lobby to check on logistics for tomorrow, while I headed to the room. I was there by 9:02 and deep in repacking, when they returned. Terrified of the potential weight of my suitcase, I asked J to bring home some of the Provence soaps for me. She's coming in a couple of weeks to meet her new niece or nephew and can bring them then.

The phone shows 14,016 steps for 4.6 miles.