PTR: Dainan goes to Europe

[CycloneMan]

Hey guys, Im really sorry for not posting this sooner. Ive had a lot of things come up recently in my life, and I just havent had the time for it. But a late PTR is better than no PTR, eh?

 

January 19th, 2009

Disneyland Paris

 

Welcome to early morning at Disneyland Paris. This is the Disneys Newport Bay Club resort.

 

On this date, it was just Marc and I. Alex was dropped off at the Airport to go back to Canada, and Louis had to work. So we got there an hour and a half before the parks opened.

 

We decided to walk around the Disney Village

 

We wanted to get food, but everything was over priced.

 

Either were still at Toverland, or this is Rainforest Café.

 

I love the crowds!

 

I couldnt resist

 

We did some browsing, but no actual shopping.

 

My mom saw this picture, and yelled at me for not getting her anything. Oops

 

Sorry Marc, check in isnt till later

 

Lol, wat

 

More shopping.umyay?

 

YeaI think Im that cool!

 

El Bandito

 

A good example of me not knowing my camera settings

 

They had every state except for New Yorkbut they had Prince Edwards Island!?!?

 

Next time Ill see the show

 

Good to see that its not frozen today!

 

]

Love. This. Castle. ZOMFG!!!!!!!!!!

 

We lined up for the rope drop in Discoveryland, so we can be the first train out on Space Mountain

 

But it was closed when we got there. So we headed to the other side of the park.

 

From a Vekoma to an Intamin, we head to Adventureland for the worst coaster ever.

 

Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril

 

This is me filming. Marc decided to sit out this one. (Hes ridden it before)

 

This is my front row POV of the ride.

 

The caves in Skull Isle were cool.

 

We didnt do it. That makes 3 Disney parks on my list so far!

 

NOT FROZEN!

 

What can be over here?

 

Pirates of the Caribbean opened up from its refurb, just a few days before.

 

They had the best station out of any of them Ive been on

 

This is the best POC Ive ever been on

 

Marc and I were offered a second ride, and we got our own boat.

 

Next, we went over to Fantasyland to find Emmanuel.

 

Dumbo!

 

This is easily the most beautiful of the Magic Kingdoms!

 

Over at Les Voyage de Pinocchio we found

 

Our friend Emmanuel! Yay!

 

The back side of Sleeping Beautys Castle

 

Looking up, something doesnt seem right.

 

This is what separates this castle from the others.

 

You go upstairs and theres stained glass and paintings.

 

It was beautiful

 

Mon amour, Je t'ai vu au beau milieu d'un rêve

 

Totally awesome!

 

Looking down, theres an empty castle

 

Looking outside, you see an empty Fantasyland. Its like a real fantasy

 

Go down stairs and a mystery awaits you!

 

OH SNAP! Its a dragon!

 

Seriously, I cant love this park anymore already

 

Me in front of the castle.

 

We got lunch at the Cowboy Cookout

 

Its nice to see free roaming characters again!

 

Marc with the badass Chip and Dale.

 

There is a reason behind this photo. Click the link below to find out.

 

Big Thunder Mountain is coming right at us! AHHHHHH!!!!!

 

I really liked that it is on its own island.

 

They did really good with dispatch times on this one.

 

I loved the theming of this place.

 

Adventureland has a village theme, a jungle theme, and a pirate theme. It was really cool

 

It works very well

 

Youre not doing it right!

 

This is not any other park!

 

Genie welcomes you!

 

Its just a bunch of dioramas

 

What I found interesting was that there was no Cast Member to watch over the guests.

 

Au revoir!

 

Next we headed over to Walt Disney Studios

 

That explains a lot!

 

Youre not doing it right!

 

It may not be the best Tower of Terror, but its still fun.

 

The queue is always nice. It just seems so much smaller than the two other TOTs Ive been on.

 

We were sent upstairs to our elevator.

 

This is a bad photo, but this is me and Marc laughing because we put some annoying French girl in her place. We were waiting in line, and were talking about stuff in English. Well, these two French teenie boppers are behind us complaining about us in French. Were annoying them, etc. Then one girl says to the other, I bet they dont even speak French! I caught this and flashed my eyes to them, for Marc to notice. We start listening closer, and then Marc turns around, and in perfect French says, So, have you girls ridden this ride before? The girl looks at us and just stares with her mouth open. We just laughed and said stuff like, Cette pute!

 

Moving on. This is the only picture I got of Armageddon Special Effects. Everyone kept telling me the pre-show is really lame, etc. But thats all I knew about it. Needless to say, the attraction totally surprised me, and I was blown away. I wont ruin anything about it, but let me just tell you that this attraction is hot!

 

Next up was Rock N Roller Coaster, except it went 101 on us.

 

It did let me get some neat coaster porn pictures. Heres the catch car that pulls the train down the launch track.

 

The trains look a bit better than Floridas

 

Then the ride went 102 and re-opened. We ended up getting the test train. The test train launched at 70mph. It doesnt stop accelerating at all on the launch track, and you can truly feel the difference through out the ride. Just ask my neck!

 

And then it rainedshocking!

 

Im sorry, I just cant like this park. I tried, I really didbut its the saddest excuse for a Disney park. Six Flags America puts this place to shame!

 

We headed on over to Disneyland see if Space Mountain had reopened yet!

 

Nope! So now I have two! Two closed international Space Mountains on my list. The other one was at Tokyo Disneyland, it was closed my entire visit in Japan.

 

Star Tours time

 

Walk-on is fine by me!

 

This chart is unique to only Disneyland Paris

 

This is why I love the off-season!

 

I swore I heard rumbling from within the mountain!

 

OUI!!!!!!!!! Sadly, it was only testing.

 

Nautilus time

 

Walking down into the depths of Captain Nemos Nautilus

 

Another example of me not knowing how to use my camera settings.

 

It was really cool.

 

Hey Florida! Remember me?

 

We headed back over to Space Mountain to see if it was reopened, but it wasnt.

 

Videopolis looks pretty interesting.

 

So.we headed over to ride Indy again

 

The queue had some okay theming.

 

We only went on it to pass the time for Space Mountain to open.

 

Yea This isnt the best ride.

 

Intamin copied the layout of the Pinfari TL59 coaster. Thusits terrible.

 

Itll also send you to First Aid.

 

Well Marc and I were boarding the wet train, Marc slid and banged his knee pretty hard against the seat divider. He rode the ride with a bloody knee and some nice bruises, and the Cast Members didnt offer any assistance.

 

Afterwards, we went over to Big Thunder Mountain.

 

Where we got the first row.

 

And no the moment weve been stalling for all evening! Space Mountain finally opened!

 

Rien ne saurait donner une idée de la détonation épouvantable de la Columbiad ni les éclats de la foudre, ni le fracas des éruptions!

 

The queue!

 

Electro de Velocitor

 

She was running smoother than she was the week before!

 

You can tell that this photo is definitely not from this day. The reason Im posting it now, is because I kind of lost it in Louis car, and was half-convinced I left it at Stéphanies house in Luxembourg. But I got it in the mail from Louis today, so now Im posting it. So in this photo is, Emmanuel, me, Alex and Maxime, from our first day in Paris.

 

Liberty Arcade

 

Its an indoor Main Street. The other side had Discovery Arcade

 

I really got a kick out of it.

 

If you didnt know it was there, you might miss it.

 

Disney beauty!

 

I see this statue every day. Im not going to lie, seeing this made me feel a bit home sick and depressed. Being this was my last night in Europe!

 

Our final dinner was at a rotating Sushi bar outside of Disney. I now have three rotating Sushi bar credits: Tokyo, New York (my home) and now Paris.

 

That doesnt look very Japanese!

 

-Dainan Next up, last day Rafferty

[CycloneMan]

January 20th, 2009

Last morning in Europe

 

The final morning was the first day we woke up to daylight. Louis also let us go to the Chateau to take some pictures. So the following pictures will be of the beautiful Chateau de Mortefontaine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yea...I wasn't going down there!

 

So, we went to a super market for breakfast. And Marc got en entire loaf of bread for himself to munch on!

 

Louis got two Nun pastries for us to eat. They were so good, they should have been illegal!

 

Banania! I lived off this stuff to wake me up in the morning. So I had to buy some and bring it back home.

 

And Lemon Fanta made me pass out every time I drank it. But only in France...not Germany.

 

Notice the sticker in the window? This is what I like to call fore-shadowing!

 

Here is the Air Canada plane that brought Marc and I back home to Montreal.

 

Fast froward a few days later, and I'm driving back home to New York City. On the way, I decided to take some photos of The Great Escape.

 

I love the new sign.

 

The most painful Arrow coaster looks so innocent in the snow!

 

As of now, there are two drop towers that would be blocking my view if the Heinz Boomerang.

 

The water park was open, but I wasn't paying to go in by myself.

 

I like this Johnny Rockets, but I liked the Coach House better (the restaurant before this and Trappers)

 

Like I said....out dated!

 

Yummy, Vekoma

 

Alpine Bobsled, in the snow

 

The Comet. I can't wait to ride you again soon.

 

The last photo of the trip will be me, trying to get a shot of Xanadu construction!

 

I did come home to a little surprise party with my family, my cousin and two best friends. And was fun, but I don't have any pictures. Overall, this was easily the best trip I was ever on. (Yes...it was even better than Japan)

 

-Dainan "C'est tu!" Rafferty

[dino]

Cool update. Caught up on the last few posts & that chateau just looks amazing.

BTW is that Banania like a cereal?

[CycloneMan]

Banania is like Hot chocolate mix with banana in it. You then mix it with warm milk. It's really good. And the chateau was so beautiful. I honestly still can't believe I stayed there.

 

-Dainan "msep003 is King Louisberg " Rafferty