Disney Paris

Paris Disney

On somewhat of a whim we decided to take Colin to Paris Disney. We went to Disney World in Orlando before we moved to Germany, but he was too young to really understand where he was at that time. This time he knew he was going to Mickey Mouse's house and to see Buzz & Woody and he was ecstatic. The plan was to drive to the hotel near Paris Disney (outskirts of Paris) on Sunday, go to Disney on Monday, run around Paris city on Tuesday, head home Wednesday. When we saw that online tickets to go up in the Eiffel Tower were already sold out for Tuesday we were a little bummed. We have yet to be able to do this....ugh. Then when I started looking at the maps for Disney Studios and discovered there was a good bit of fun stuff at that park for Colin too, the plans changed to just spend two days doing Disney and Disney Studios instead of Paris city.

The night before we left for Disney, Colin started having a fever and not wanting to eat, the usual symptoms for his monthly sickness that we deal with. We decided to go anyway since I've been to the ER every month for the last 6 months with these same symptoms and the doctors rarely do anything and always tell me it's a virus. We figured he could be sick and stuck at home, or sick and enjoying Disney...either way he was going to be sick right? He was a real trooper at Disney despite fevers flaring up every 4 hours when the Tylenol or Motrin wore off. He had a blast looking around at everything, riding the rides and meeting the characters. As soon as we came through the gate and hit Main Street USA we found Mickey posing for photos and joined the 300 other people in line waiting to meet him. Colin was all excited to meet Mickey, but 30 minutes later by the time we actually made it to Mickey he was less thrilled. He did not want to hug Mickey, and Daddy had to hold him the entire time. I got a picture with Colin & Mickey in it, not exactly the shot I was hoping for though. After meeting Mickey we hit up some rides and started wandering the park for a while. We stumbled across a restaurant that was serving lunch with characters inside and was not packed out and reserved, score! We walked in and found Woody, Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Eeyore, and Tigger waiting to eat lunch with us! Colin of course did not eat, but we snacked on enough food to justify us taking up a table and Colin got to meet and greet everyone up close and personal. He got lots of pictures with all the characters and had a long conversation with Woody about where Buzz was. Apparently Colin favors Buzz, lol.







Now that we had dined with all the Disney pals there was no need to wait in line for pics with them anymore, yes!

We took in some more rides and playtime for a bit after our snacks. Colin's favorite ride was the Buzz Lightyear laser blast ride. You sit in a little car and it moves through the ride and your job is to assist Buzz as a space ranger and shoot the aliens and Zurg with your little laser gun and beat the person in the seat next to you. Colin LOVED it. It was a ride, it involved Buzz/Toy Story, and he got to shoot a laser gun the entire time. He talked about the ride nonstop for the rest of the day and I'm pretty sure it was the highlight of his trip. Colin also really enjoyed the classic cars that you could drive on the race track, we rode those two times and Colin drove his Daddy around both times.



We paused for an early dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Colin didn't eat anything at all, not even ice cream, but he did seem to enjoy the animals and the fish in the tanks. Poor kiddo still was fighting the fever and now his glands in his neck were the size of golf balls. He looks like he has the mumps! After eating we went back to the park for some more fun. Colin was in heaven even though he didn't feel well. By about 9 we decided trying to make it to the parade and fireworks at 10pm was not going to happen with Colin being sick and he needed his rest anyway, so we got some to-go desserts and caught the train back to the hotel.

The next day we woke up to pouring rain. We checked the radar and it was UGLY. It literally looked like a hurricane covering France on the radar. Heavy rain, some wind, and it was just sitting and rotating over France and not moving. There was a 50% chance of rain in the forecast when we packed to drive over, so we had rain coats and boots with us. We bundled up and headed out figuring the rain would hopefully slack off some as the day went on. We also hoped there was a lot of indoor stuff at Disney Studios and that the rain would drive the crowds away. The rain did not stop the crowds...they were all just as crazy as we were. It was cold. I'm talking MAYBE 50 degrees, you could SEE YOUR BREATH. WTH this is JULY folks! For real!! Colin wore one outfit in the morning getting to the park and to the first show, then he was wet. So we had to change him and put two pair of pants on him to keep his legs dry, his rain boots, a shirt, a hoodie, and a raincoat over top. Again I remind you, IT'S JULY! He was dry though, and pretty much warm. Shelby and I....not so much.

The first thing we did was head over to a stunt show with cars and motorcycles and Lightning McQueen made a special appearance. Colin was really into it and loved watching the stunt men show off on their bikes and racecars. After that was over we swam walked around to try to check out some other stuff. We discovered that most of the rides were outside and we needed to get poor Colin out of the rain. We tried to take in a Playhouse Disney show but the next showing turned out to be in French and the English show wasn't for another 2 hours. Darn! So we made an executive decision to head back over to the Rainforest Cafe to eat, dry off and warm up some and then decide what to do from there. Poor Colin was really feeling like poop at this point and he fell asleep in Shelby's lap for most of the time we were eating. He woke up near the end of our lunch feeling a little warm so I tried to give him more Tylenol, which he is now totally sick of and gags at the thought of. He did not want it and refused. He didn’t eat a bite and even turned down ice cream! Then he puked all over Shelby's pants at the table. Check please!

The rain didn't let up at all and the streets of Disney Village were under water. We decided to go do some shopping. Colin racked up...having Daddy around again is not good for my bank account. Colin got more crap than any one kid needs from Disney Land and we headed to Starbucks for one last fix before heading to the train station and back to the hotel. At the train station we were hurrying down the escalator to catch the train and Shelby slipped. He had Colin on his shoulders and they both went down. Colin never left Shelby's shoulders and Shel managed to keep him upright through the fall. His foot slipped off the end of a step and the teeth on the step scratched the heck out of his leg. He had a huge knot on his lower leg and it was all torn open and bloody, he scraped his thigh and his arm too. The worst part was half the venti white mocha in his hand spilled all over him. In addition to the puke on his pants, he now had coffee and blood on them and only half a Starbucks drink left. What a day!

When we got back to the hotel we decided we could sit around all night waiting to check out in the morning, or just pack up and head home now instead of waiting. We packed up and hit the road. We got back home late Tuesday night and had Wednesday free to do whatever instead of driving. We took Colin to the doctor, who told us (again) nothing was wrong with him and it's normal to get sick once a month and have golf balls for glands. URGH I hate doctors sometimes! We had a great time at Disney and will definitely remember the trip, for both the fun times and the fun to laugh at times!