DISNEYLAND!!!!!

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Lagny and DISNEYLAND
After departing Paris with fuzzy heads in the bright sunshine, we said our farewells to the Seine and headed up the River Marne to Lagny and Disneyland. I have never been so excited. I thought my little head was about to explode.
After a few sunny hours meandering along, navigating locks and a tunnel we arrived at the pleasant spot of Bonneuil where we spent our Saturday night far more sedately than we had the Friday! We sipped wine and ate BBQ’d food in peaceful and beautiful surroundings whilst the sun set in a bright azure sky. The next morning we rose early and cruised up to Lagny, amongst more sunshine. On the way Mike did some very impressive lassoing, neatly hooking a bollard first time in a lock whilst a crowd of onlookers watched from a bridge. I could tell he wanted to do a little celebration, but he played it cool and turned to me with a satisfied smile and knowing nod.
We arrived at Lagny around 6 pm, to discover that the power on the town quay didn’t work and the tourist office/Capitaniere was closed until the following morning. Unperturbed we resolved to explore the town. We soon came across a man in a striped shirt, bursting open at the belly, slurring vehemently at a portly sunburned man in a t shirt. Refereeing the battle of the bellies was a large man in jeans, 2 bespectacled men and a small and very shouty woman who seemed to making matters worse rather than better. Stripey shirt man was of the ‘he who shouts loudest wins’ school of thought and was gesticulating wildly with his arms whilst lurching forward at sunburned T shirt who Gallicly shrugged an d muttered some abuse back. Whatever he said served only to anger ole stripey further and he swung for him. The bespectacled ones intervened and the small shouty woman dragged stripey back. Not wanting to get mixed up in what was clearly a case of ‘beer in, brains out’, Mike and I walked on, hearing the ruckus grow louder as we rounded the corner. ‘I wonder what that was all about?’ I said. Mike confirmed that he too had the same suspicions as me ‘Too much beer,’ He said, and off we went to find some beer of our own.
Lagny is a lovely little town but, like much of France, appeared to be closed for Sunday (or August, we weren’t sure which). We found a lovely looking modern seafood restaurant in the village square and ordered food and wine to be taken Al Fresco. At the table next to us a French couple were having much more fun than the group down on the quay and were smoking a fag between each course and laughing a lot. The woman got such a fit of giggles at one point that she was hammering on the table, struggling to breath and almost crying. I have been there myself many a time. Before long her infectious giggle had spread and Mike and I along with several other diners were chuckling too, even though we had no idea what the joke was (it could well have been us and our halting French).
After dinner we walked back towards the boat. On the way I spotted a sign that confirmed my belief that you could buy anything in France (we’d previously seen butterfly knives, swords, guns and tasers in hunting shops) and sent me into my own fit of giggles and got me reaching for the camera. In huge capital letters, jutting from the wall was a sign declaring that the shop we were passing sold ‘1000 piles’. That could well explain the discomfort of the group by the quay earlier.
That night was far from peaceful. Something in me hadn’t taken kindly to the seafood risotto and I had some bad stomach pain. Just as it was starting to become bearable a group of drunken French people decided to sit on the bench by the boat and talk loudly, sing and dance about until 3am. We resolved to move on after visiting Disneyland.
Unfortunately, my pains got worse in the night and I awoke with what seemed to be mild food poisoning. I was shaking and pale and had terrible stomach pains and dodgy bowels. We decided to stay put today and go to Disneyland tomorrow - I didn’t want to do a Ross on Space Mountain. Instead we headed a few km upriver, closer to the Disney resort, and at a peaceful boatyard. I slept and read all day while Mike did jobs on the boat and scoped out the route to Disneyland and decided it would take about 40 mins or so on the bikes.
Next day IO felt a lot better so off we went at 9.30 to arrive at Disneyland shortly after it opened. A lot of the journey was uphill and hard going, but the thought of Mickey and rollercoasters at the other end spurred me on! After a while we spotted the turrets of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Off we went round a ring road, but the entrance eluded us. For half and hour we cycled round, growing ever more frustrated that we could see but not get to the Promised land! After almost completing a full circle we arrived at the road leading to the entrance. I felt like a kid in a sweet shop - I’d wanted to come here for years and now I’d done it - not by plane or train or even car, but by boat and bike! We quickly decided to buy the park Hopper ticket and visit Disney Studios as well then went inside the park and looked at our map, deciding to do all the ‘big thrills’ first then work our way around the rest.
Before we’d even reached the end of cartoon 19th century replica ‘Main Street’ the Disney Parade came by. Brightly coloured trains came past carrying Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy, Chip and dale, Winnie the Pooh and his gang, Toy Story and Incredibles characters and many more. I stopped where I was, blocking the view of a couple small children who were quickly hoisted onto their parents shoulders, and took pictures, grinning like a Cheshire cat from ear to ear. Mike said he had never seen me so stupidly happy and it only got worse (or better) as the day went on.
Our first stop was Space Mountain where the queue was only 20 mins. It was awesome. I laughed screamed and whooped my way around with Mike behaving in a similar fashion beside me. And I never did a Ross, thankfully. We spent the rest of the day walking from one big ride to the next, queuing in between and getting more and more excited. We rode The Star Wars simulator (amazing build up to the ride - loads of stuff to look at while you queue). The Indiana Jones ride (again, great rollercoaster with brilliant attention to detail as you waited) and the Pirates of the Caribbean water ride, where Mike hugely over-reacted to the drop by pulling our backpack up over his head to stop it getting wet and bashing me and the girl next to me in the process - it turned out the drop was a slight one and no water whatsoever came inside the boat...funny though, but I’m not sure the girl next to me felt the same way and I did have a sore nose for the rest of the day.
We also went on the Runaway train (brilliant), Tower of Terror (amazing views right across the park from the open section at the very top but you do find your stomach in your mouth on every drop, Haunted House (crap - don’t bother) and the mighty Aerosmith Rock and Roller coaster - quite possibly the best rollercoaster ever - just look at my face on the pic! I wanted to go back on but we didn’t have time so we did Space Mountain again instead. We also watched the stunt driving show which was phenomenal and made me want to be a stunt driver (Mike says our old Honda looks like I’ve tried to be anyway) the ‘Stars in Cars’ parade and a brilliant interactive film about the history of cinema (cinemagique, I think). We had intended to be back before dark, but I noticed that there was an illuminated parade and fireworks display before the park closed at 11pm so insisted we stay. The display and parade were stunning and beautiful, although Mike commented that he preferred fireworks that banged. After a long day of excitement and walking around for 14 hours we finally headed home at midnight. The bike ride back was scarier than any of the rides we’d been on that day. We had not packed the lights so had to cycle back in the dark. Off we headed, thinking it would be ok because streetlamps would guide us. Wrong. Parts of the ring road out of the park were pitch black,. The cycle path was gravel and I couldn’t see a thing. I was terrified. I rode on in silence as we tried to find out way back without being hit by a car or falling off the bikes into the road. Mike kept turning around to ask if I was alright, obviously he was disconcerted by my unusual quietness. I was far from alright and hating every minute. ‘Stop asking if I’m alright. Until we get off of this road and into a lighted area, always assume that I am not alright,’ I growled at him. We made it back safely some 45 minutes later - the ride had woke me up, got me alert and scared the crap out of me. ‘Who needs Disneyland when you’re married to me?’ Mike grinned ‘Never a dull moment with me around is there?’ ‘Sometimes I like dull moments’. I replied ‘That was terrifying.’

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Comments

[mum]

amazing
love reading all your blogs babe xxxxxxxxyou both obvious.ly loved disneyland Me and dad love reading them xxxit was lovely to see you on thursday xxxxxxxxx