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.
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.
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.
The phone shows 14,016 steps for 4.6 miles.
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