Hanging out with the D gang

Sometimes you just need to get away from all the ç§@#&! going on in your day to day routine.

If you are a normal person you decide to go somewhere far away, or exotic, or peaceful, or interesting, or different, or all of the above.

If you're me, you go to Disneyland.

Actually, it was hubby's b-day present to me this year (note to self: rethink the meaning of giving your 29year-old wife a trip to Disneyland Paris as a birthday present) and we spent the day hanging out with Mickey and the rest of the Disney gang.

It was actually quite fun I gotta admit. I'd never been to EuroDisneyland since moving here although it's right up there with visiting the Eiffel Tower and the Versailles Palace on every self respecting tourist's list of places to go while visiting the French capital.

I had forgotten how much I loved theme parks.

When I was in high school there was Reino Aventura. It's now long gone (having been replaced by the not as cool Six Flags) but back in the day Reino Aventura was THE place to go as our end-of-term school trip. Each year, our principal would rent a bus, load us all in it very early in the morning (one of the few times it felt justified to get up at the ungodly time of 4am in order to be on time for the trip) and drive us down to Mexico City, destination Reino Aventura. During the drive our teachers would all stoically sit up front with the driver while the rest of us would sing and dance (somehow a boom box would suddenly spring out of no where) and party in the back of the bus. By the time we got to the park we were as wired and ready to hit the rides that it would have been physically dangerous for anyone to stand in our way. We'd spend the day visiting la Cabana del Tio Chueco and riding the Escorpion. We'd queue in 30+ minutes lines only to ride the Huracan for 5 minutes and then go back and stand in line to ride it again! We'd wolf down some stale nachos with globbery cheddar cheese and a big jug of fizz-less coca-cola and not bother sitting down to eat since we didn't want to waste time we could otherwise be using to scream our lungs out as we were dropped in a 10 story free fall on the Salto Libre. We'd hop into the mechanical tubs on the Rio Salvaje and come out of that ride soaking wet and have to spend the rest of the day shivering until our clothes dried up again, just in time to decide we'd take a last shot at the Rio Salvaje again before having to go back and board the bus back home. The ride back to Puebla would be a little more quieter but still as exciting as we'd all huddle together and compare notes on who rode the Escorpion the most and who threw up after getting off the Salto libre.

You get it the idea, those trips were THE BOMB!


And I'd forgotten how fun it was.



Until this Sunday.


We got to Disneyland around 11am and proceeded immediately to the Big Boys rides, meaning the ones where you tend to scream your lungs out while being projected on a bullet train while hooping and looping up and down and back and forwards. We started out with "Big thunder mountain" which later turned out to be the "softest" of the bunch but that felt like the worst since it was the first one. We then headed out to "The Temple of Doom", the one where you pretend to be Indiana Jones in one of those mining cars and where there is at least one 360° loop (good thing I hadn't yet had lunch when we rode that one). We then tried the (sorry to say this but) rather boring Pirates of the Caribbean ride and finally hit the "Space Mountain"

A little smooching in the queue makes it feel like it's moving along faster! LOL

Everything that goes up, must come down *gulp* In my case, I hope the same applies for my stomach!

That's right folks... we went THROUGH that mountain, UP that steeple, DOWN those ridges and PAST that rickety bridge... and made it out alive.

This is the stupid grin of someone that has no clue she's about to enter the Hunted Manor (and scream her head off till hubby has to tell her to stop because she's scaring the kids more than the ghosts are.

It looks like I'm smiling... actually I'm praying

What do these rides have in common you ask? The fact that you scream your head off as you're riding them I answer. The worst (which of course means the best) one was Space Mountain. You climb into a little mechanical car and a tight leather life jacket fastens you to your seat. You can get an idea of what's coming by the fact that you're so strapped into your seat you can barely turn your head to the side. As the little car starts to move forwards you can hear the desperate screams of the people in front of you that have just left a few seconds before and you wonder if perhaps this would not be a good time to start praying. I'll say this: I didn't scream much. Of course, this is because I lost my voice halfway through the takeoff and no matter how much I opened my mouth no sound would come out because my brain was too busy trying to keep my stomach from dropping down to my feet. You can't turn your head, you can't scream or yell, you can't even hold on to hubby's hand for dear life... all you can do is close your eyes and pray that heaven is as nice as they say it is. THAT'S HOW GOOD IT IS. *goofy grin*

We also went over to the kiddies rides meaning the "Honey I shrunk the audience" 3D movie, the Star Wars simulator where you actually do feel like you're riding the Falcon while trying to get away from a few Star Troopers by jumping into hyperspace.... totally awesome! Also, lets not forget all the celebrities you keep bumping into all day long!!!

Exuse me Mr. Jafwar? Could you pwease sing my autogwaf? Pwease?

OH. MY. GOD. OH. MY. GOD. OH. MY. GOD. IT'S JHONNY. EFFING. DEPP!!!! - No, it's not. It's Jean Deppuis.

Cinderella & Prince, being stalked by the paps

Tweedle Dee being ambushed by a bunch of crazed three year-olds that have already kidnapped Tweedle Dum and are out to to get the set.

"Mr Pinocchio, how do you like signing autographs? "I love it, it's what I live for while working here at Disneyland Paris Resorts, it's the best part of the job"... oops! there goes that damn nose again!!

And no trip to Disneyland is ever complete without a ride on the teacups, right?

Uhm, yeah, well... I don't think the teacups are hubby's... cup of tea (sorry!)

Ok, so now that I have rejoined the land of the adults I'll say this... the next time you're trying to get away from it all... I totally recommend a trip to Never never land... if you can find it. ;)



Fned.