). There's a lot to say, but I'll try not to make it too long. 
Our flight from Liverpool to Paris CDG was at 7:30 in the morning with easyJet. We had no time at all to get our breakfast, so we got a half-toasted beacon sandwich. I say "half-toasted" because the bottom slice of bread hadn't been toasted at all, which was odd, but it was still nice.
When we landed at the airport, it was, as usual, a horribly designed mess of concrete walls that looked like the pre-painted walls of a janitor's closet designed by Gordon Brown. We only had hand luggage, so we didn't need to wait to collect any baggage. When we came into arrivals, we were meant to be greeted by a taxi driver, whom we'd pre-booked, but he decided not to show up. We waited for a quarter of an hour while my mum called up the company -- SunTransfers -- (which was a UK number, so it costed us a fortune) until he finally did show up, seemly surprised that we were so early.
Anyway, we made it to Disney. As usual, the view was amazing, even on the road to our hotel. We could see the Disneyland Hotel in the distance until we drove off into our hotel: the Sequoia Lodge, which is themed after lodges in American national parks. The Cast Member at reception was kind enough to give us a recently refurbished room with a digital flat-screen tele, modern interior lighting a light touch of Bambi theming.
We had no time for that, however, because we weren't able to get into our room until 3 o'clock, and we only ever use it to sleep in, anyway. So we left our luggage and went to the Disneyland Park.
Entering the park was just as breathtaking as it always is. There was a brass band that happened to be playing in the town square, which was a nice touch.
Now, I'm the resident cameraman in our family, so when I walked around the gazebo in the middle of Town Square and saw the castle for the first time after its recent refurbishment, I was amazed. I went photo crazy! Over the three days at the park, I've taken so many photos of it! I didn't go that crazy though. I probably only got about 30 photos of it. I tried to get it in as many photos as I could, though, provided that it was in view.
). It sounds mad, but couldn't stop looking at it every time I saw it.Our first ride was on It's a Small World, because it's my Grandma's favourite ride, so we went on it for her. She loved it, of course.
We basically spent the rest of the day going on rides for my Grandma. Next, we went on Storybook Land, which was funny, because Casey Jr. had broken down while we were on it.
After that, we went on Pirates of the Caribbean and then made our way onto the Molly Brown in Frontierland (which is a large sidewheeler boat that goes around Big Thunder Mountain).
Then, we made our way over to Discoveryland to watch Captain EO, starring Michael Jackson, which was found behind Space Mountain. They used to have "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" there, but they brought back Captain EO, recently, which was made by George Lucas in the 80s. Urgh. It was terrible. It really hadn't aged well. It was basically Michael with his alien friends using the "power of music" to turn an evil women that rules a Death Star-like planet into someone beautiful (and that somehow made her nice as well). What was really, odd, though, was that everyone was clapping when it had finished! Why!? It wasn't even dubbed into French, so I don't know why the French people in the audience were clapping when they couldn't even understand it.
After that, we went inside the castle so that I could take photos and have a look at all of the tapestries and stained-glass windows. Then, we went underground to see the giant dragon Maleficent chained up in the Cave of the Dragon.
On Day 2, we were very late getting up; about 9:30am. My Grandma stayed in bed, but the rest of us rushed to breakfast. I had two chocolate croissants, but that was it.
The problem with the Studios is that it was made on a low budget due to Euro Disney SCA's $2 billion debt to the Walt Disney Company (they got the debt because they built too many hotels when they first opened the resort, and it had a knock-on effect). Because of that, the park is small, and doesn't have some of the details and escapism that you expect from a Disney Park. Another Disney Park in California was built at the same time, and it was called "Disney's California Adventure", which also suffered with problems. However, DCA's problem wasn't that it was small, but that it was crap. Recently, the Walt Disney Company invested $2 billion into a massive regeneration project to bring the park up to scratch, and they've done a great job. However, the Walt Disney Studios is still here, still small, and still waiting for expansion and improvements. It needs a lake, too.
Next, we went to their cheap new land in the Toon Studios called "Toy Story Playland", which is basically a horrifically cheap but nicely themed fairground rides with a Toy Story theme. How it related to the story of the studios, I don't know, but anyway.... My family like childish rides, so I was forced to go on Slinky Dog Spin.
On the way back, I got a chocolate crêpe (which is like a French version of a pancakes; the difference between a pancake and a crêpe is that crêpes are thinner and are made from wheat flour, which means that they taste exactly the same
). It probably wasn't a good idea to get one, though, because it's not a great idea to have a hot snack on a hot day.Anyway, the parade started...
Speaking of which, the Disney Village had a new sandwich restaurant open called the Earl of Sandwich. You'll have no doubt heard of it if you're from America, but this is one of their first restaurants in Europe and their only one in France. The sandwiches there were surprisingly brilliant and so much better than Subway's make-your-own sandwiches... and they were relatively cheap, too, at only about €5 each!
We ended the day by eating them on the terrace of the Sequoia Lodge eating them with beers and lemonade.
* * * * *
Day 3 was our last day, so we were only able to stay in the park until about 5 o'clock. After that, we would have to go.
We tried to be more efficient in our planning so that we could fit in the most rides. Before that, however, we bought drinks from Earl of Sandwich. Sugary Lemonade, Perrier and two cups of coffee!We headed over to Discoveryland, first, because we hadn't been on many of the rides there, yet -- only Captain EO. First, we got Fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear's Laser Blast. After that, we headed to Star Tours. The queue was surprisingly short, so that was great! It would be nice if they updated the ride to the sequel: "Star Wars: The Adventures Continue", but, until then, Star Tours 1 is a great ride in itself.
Next was Autopia, where we're basically driving the cars of the future! ...Which are smaller, retro versions of the cars of today. It's a brilliant ride, but because it always used to be closed in the winter when we used to go, we never went on it.
After we got off Autopia, the Fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear were ready, so we quickly got on it. I was disappointed that my score was a bit lower than usual, but at least it was well above everyone else's.
After that, we went on It's a Small World again. Before that, however, we had lunch in a medieval pizza restaurant nearby it. There was a meet and greet with two of the Disney Princesses -- Tiana and Aurora -- going on at the time, so it was funny to see them walking past our table as they swapped with eachother and coming and going from the backstage area.
After It's a Small World, we went on the Casey Jr train, which is a gentle rollercoaster that goes around Storybook Land and past some gardens.
And that was it! It was time to leave!
We walked down Main Street USA for the final time in our visit. It was actually quite sad. I couldn't keep my eyes off the castle as I left. It still looked as amazing as when I first entered the park two days previous.
We bought some sandwiches from the Earl of Sandwich again, before we left. We once again ate them on the terrace of the hotel.
After we did that and checked out, we sat outside the hotel to wait for our taxi. I explored the grounds of the hotel before we left.
As we got out of the taxi, there was lightning. Not just a little flash, however. Fork lightning. Sheet lightning. Although lightning only appears for less than a second, it was hard to miss. And even if you did miss it, even a deaf person would be able to hear the sound of the thunder. It was loud enough to compete with the roars of the plane engines in the terminal. It continued for hours.
We finally got to the waiting lounge to get ready to board. Soon after, the flight was delayed by an hour. It was understandable, though, with a thunderstorm. But the next thing we knew was that the flight had been cancelled... a long with two other flights to other airports in Britain!
It didn't take long for everyone to rush past security and onto the easyJet check-in area. Sadly, there were many people in front of us -- about 50 groups or families. However, there were probably 100 more of them behind, so we were quite lucky to be where we were. While we were still arriving, easyJet representatives were there, preparing just three desks to deal with us; two to book our flights and one to book our accommodation until then. You would think that 50 groups of people in front of us isn't so bad, though. However, every single one of them was in tough circumstances, and each one wanted to have the best possible outcome from this. It wasn't as simple as being given a flight the next morning (however, it might have been for the first people in the queue). Because of that, it took us over two hours to finally get to the desks. It was 1 o'clock by then, which therefore meant that we had inadvertently been given a fourth day in our holiday!
* * * * *
While we were in the queue, two not-so-helpful representatives from eastJet came to give us a leaflet containing the rights that we are meant to receive by law because of the cancellation. However, we had a problem that we needed their help with. My Granddad is a Type 2 diabetic. But, because we were only expecting to be away for three days, he didn't have any tablets to get him through a fourth day. The representatives didn't seem to care, though. "What do you expect us to do about it?" they said.
Anyway, when we finally got to the desks, we were put on the spot. We were offered either a flight back to Liverpool Airport next Thursday or a flight to London-Luton on Tuesday in the evening and make our own way back home. We reluctantly chose the latter. However, either option meant that we would have to stay in a hotel at the airport. easyJet decided to choose for us a horrible Ibis hotel in a bed that smelt like urine and with toilets that resembled a portaloo. Jut to tick us off even more, it was all the way in Terminal 3, so we had to board a people mover (like a train) to take us there from Terminal 2. We made it after a long walk on travelators and escalators.
I was woken up abruptly at 8 o'clock the next morning as a cleaner attempted to enter our room. We felt as though we were being rushed out, so we quickly checked out and got our breakfast from the hotel's buffet. However, the food was running out and what was left was horrible. Additionally, the restaurant was full of young Canadians that kept saying, things like "I've got to come here again!" and "Wow, the bread is so awesome!" I don't know what bread they have in Canada, but I can garrantee that it's better than any of the food in Ibis hotels! Also, the floor was sticky and the chocolate criossants weren't as good as the ones in the Disney Hotels.
So anyway, we got back to the airport. It wasn't nice to know that we had a full day ahead of us with almost nothing to do. Before we could be board, however, we had to go to to the medical centre to get my Granddad a prescription for his tablets. It at least gave us something to do, but it happened to be all the way on the other side of Terminal 2. When we finally got there, it was rediculous that we had to pay for it! After that, we had to go to the pharmacy to pay to actually get the tablets!
So eventually, after hours of bordem and McDonald's, we got on the plane and the flight was fine. When we arrived, we had to rush to Avis car hire (while in CDG, we asked a friend to reserve a car for us). However, my mum didn't have her driving license with her, because... well... why would you need it on a little holiday to Paris? It should have been OK, though, because they were able to call the DMV to verify that my mum has a license. However, they had closed early for no apparent reason. Luckily, the manager of the car hire company let us off and allowed us to have a car.
It took us five hours to drive back to Liverpool Airport, fill the hired car with diesel, drop it off at the hired car drop-off, get my mum's car out of the long-stay car park and finally drive home. It was probably 1 o'clock at night when we got back.
So when I finally got back home, there was only one thing on my mind: bed!
It was a great holiday, despite the problems that we had.
