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Photo TR - Disneyland Resort Paris

All 3 Parts Posted - Pictures on Pages 1 and 3!
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Photo TR - Disneyland Resort Paris

Postby Paul Arthur » Wed May 14, 2008 11:01 am

As promised.... part 2 of 3 of my Disneyland Paris Resort trip report. (This time in correct order :P ) This section features our visits to the Disneyland park over 3 days time, Tower of Terror advertising, and other miscellaneous 'stuff'. If you missed part 1, go check it out as it features the Studios park and other miscellaneous.
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We started seeing ads for Tower of Terror as far away as London.
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This billboard in London featured elevator doors at the bottom that closed and opened to reveal new faces each time that were sent via cell phone.
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These exit doors were in several of the Metro subway stations in Paris.
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These billboards were in almost every Metro subway station platform in all of Paris. There were also many television commercials that played several times a day on Paris stations.
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These buses were all over Paris. On some of them, the graphic wrapped all the way around the bus.
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Taking the RER out to Marne La Vallee Chessy takes about 45 minutes from the middle of downtown Paris.
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We loved the Orangina machines that were on the RER and Metro platforms. This was definitely our favorite!
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Arriving at the Disneyland Paris Resort train station.
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Arriving at our hotel.... the Hotel Santa Fe. I'm convinced that many of the French think all Americans are cowboys.
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If you like sleepless nights on a bed that pokes giant springs into your body, then this place is for you. If not, then stay away! Oh, and the food court is pretty much a train wreck in the mornings.
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Rebekah is a little worried about a hidden door next to our room with a warning plaque on it.
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I can't imagine why.... wouldn't you feel safe at night knowing this was going on in a room next to yours.
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Let's head out to the park!
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As soon as you get off the bus, you see promotion for Tower of Terror.
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More promotion heading toward the entrance to the parks.
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Walking towards the bag check, they had several mounted security personnel roaming around.
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Once through the bag check, we turn around and see the observation balloon.
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Closeup I took later in the day.
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Once through security, you have the choice to go left to the Studios park....
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..... or right to the Disneyland park.
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The entrance plaza to the Disneyland park/hotel.
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Heading under the hotel to the admission gates.
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They were having numerous problems at the turnstiles. This guy had to wait about 5 minutes while they figured out what was wrong with his pass. And as we found, the French are not a patient people.
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For early afternoon on Main Street, it was pretty deserted.
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This kid was cracking me up... he stood alone in the Emporium entrance with his finger up his nose sadly watching people walk by as his parents shopped.
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The information board shows the really low wait times. Only 25 minutes for Peter Pan.... the park must be empty. This wouldn't last though... Days 2 and 3 filled up fast.
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These banners line both sides of Main street. The 15 and the stars are internally lit and look really nice at night.
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Stage for 'Candlebration' in front of the castle.
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Sleeping Beauty castle...
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The first of many storms is on it's way in. The clouds were moving really fast all day.
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Our first stop is Adventureland.
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You can really see here how empty the walkways were this day.
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Heading over to Pirates...
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Theming outside the entrance...
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More outside the Pirates entrance...
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The ride has many parts exclusive to this version. Many audio cues were not playing throughout the ride and other mechanical effects such as cannon shots and splashes weren't working.
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It was pretty much a walk on... but that didn't keep this family from cutting under ropes and walking right past Rebekah. Inside we got shoved out of the way at least 3 times for people to walk past us.
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Over the Adventure Isle bridge...
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There are several walkways and caves to roam around in this section.
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The views from the treehouse were pretty good.
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From the treehouse we see our next destination...
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Apparently this is where everyone is... we decided to fastpass it.
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The Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril coaster features quite a bit of a perilous temple... not so much (if any) of Indiana Jones. I was hoping they would be playing him up more since the movie's coming out so soon.
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Now over to Frontierland...
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From here we can see our next two ride destinations.
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Big Thunder Mountain sits out on its own island in this park, which the Molly Brown circles on its cruise.
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Heading over to Phantom Manor, we see a closer view of the Molly Brown.
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Phantom Manor was also a walk on. Good thing we're heading inside, since yet another storm is passing through.
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Closeup of Phantom Manor signage.
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Waiting for the next group to load. This version enters through the front doors, like in Anaheim.
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Like Pirates, Phantom Manor was plagued by numerous mechanical and audio problems. On this visit, the elevator refused to move once the doors were closed and there was no audio track. Thus, we stood in the elevator for about 2 minutes with nothing to listen to and no lighting/blackout at the end. The hanging figure is so hard to see in this version, that it didn't really matter anyway.
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The less than patient French crowd that shared the elevator with us was finally let off and we enjoyed an uncramped minute in the gallery queue. You can see a portrait of the bride at the end of the hallway.
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The load area of this version is quite different. Unfortunately, the lighting change effect wasn't working.
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The doomed bride was a storyline that wasn't completely clear, as we had no doombuggy audio 2 of the 3 times, and the 3rd time was all French. I got the basics of the story... but it would have been nice to hear some of the details.
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The singing busts are only a quartet here. Unfortunately, there was no audio at all in the Phantom Canyon scene.
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The view of the house after you exit. I know I bring up a lot of the problems this ride had, but don't get me wrong... I love Haunted Mansion in all it's incarnations... that's why I hate to see a version of it not maintained making for an incomplete guest experience.
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From the exit of Phantom Manor, we can see our next ride... Big Thunder Mountain!
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The views from this version of Big Thunder Mountain are awesome! Being out on its own island really makes this ride a standout. There are some exciting surprises for those who have never been on this version.
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We enjoyed this version so much, we decided to go and get a fastpass. The cast member said they were out, but he was still hand-writing some for people who asked.
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I now present a rarity... a hand written fastpass.
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Waiting for the parade, people just go wherever they want. They hop railings to stand in the grass, they stand on fences, and there are no cast members to pay any attention to this.
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This was really strange. They pull kitchen staff from the restaurants to do parade walk duty.
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We saw several cast members with haircuts that would never be approved by parks in the states.
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Speaking of strange hairstyles... this was our winner for best mullet we saw at Disney. We saw many, but this one was fantastic!
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This wasn't at Disney.... but rather at a bird market in Paris. It was the overall trip winner for worst toupee, of which we also saw many. Rebekah had to get closer to get a better look.
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Time for the parade...
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Is it just me or does the Army man face look like Harrison Ford?
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Jessie had some trouble on the float. She got completely caught up in her leash. By the time she was freed by her wrangler it was time for the other characters to come back to the float.
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The characters were all wearing insulated suits under their costumes, so they looked like they'd been eating too many pastries.
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Though I'm not entirely convinced that Aerial's tummy overflow was because of an insulated suit.....
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This lady was working entirely too hard to get a souvenir streamer for her kid.
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Just after the parade, another storm stirs up.
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Rebekah watches the sky as the crowds scatter to get out of the rain.
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We took this little-known back hallway behind Main Street back to Frontierland to see if we can use our fastpass before leaving. There is one of these hallways that runs the entire length of Main Street on each side. They are usually less crowded during times of heavy traffic.
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The storms quickly passed and we headed on to Big Thunder Mountain for a night ride.
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There must have been some major issues with fastpass distribution for this ride, as the fastpass wait time was about 45 minutes. Here we see a 5th train being added into rotation.
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As I said before... IMO, this version of Big Thunder Mountain beats out all others!
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The views on this ride at night are even better! I highly recommend going after dark.
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The rains start up again as we leave for the night.
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When it's wet, the floor under the train station was like an ice skating rink. We watched several people get 'owned' by the floor.
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Current Disneyland park map.
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The next morning, we woke up early to very foggy surroundings.
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The top of the castle got lost in the fog.
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While we were waiting for our breakfast reservation time, we checked out some of Fantasyland during Extra Magic Hours.
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I feel unfairly represented in this scene... we're not all farmers in the Midwest....
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Behold the unbelievable...
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The Snow White queue features pro-rodent architecture.
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It was strange to see the teapot not as the turntable centerpiece.
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Obligatory self photo on the Teacups. I think we take this every time we ride this at any of the parks.
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This just makes me sad that it's only a restaurant and not the ride.
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The Casey Jr. Circus Train
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Some of the miniature sets are worth seeing... if the wait isn't too long.
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Time for breakfast. Our hotel stay came with a breakfast each morning. You choose between eating at the hotel food court or one of the park locations. I highly recommend any of the park locations, as the one at the hotel was a nightmare of chaotic proportions.
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They laid out a nice selection of cereal, fruit, meat, cheese, pastries, coffee, juice, and milk. The atmosphere was nice and the space wasn't crowded at all.
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Now, over to Discoveryland. As you can see, the fog hasn't burned off completely.
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The Nautilus walk through is a nice break if you want to get away from the weather for a few minutes.
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Just a friendly piece of advice... two grown adults do not fit into the Orbitron rockets without leaving traumatic and scarring memories. That didn't keep us from trying though.
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Now for Space Mountain. Rebekah makes the grimace face, as the last time she rode this was extremely rough and gave her a major headache
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I like the outdoor load platform... it really cuts down on light spill inside the main show building.
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Postby Paul Arthur » Wed May 14, 2008 11:04 am

Part 2 continued...
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This ride was no different... we sat in the back and both felt like we suffered mild concussions.
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Postby mcjaco » Wed May 14, 2008 11:06 am

Since you've taken so many awesome photos, I'm putting this with Part 1, so they don't get lost.
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Postby Paul Arthur » Wed May 14, 2008 11:09 am

There's still some more to come that wouldn't fit in that one...
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Postby Team Thriller » Wed May 14, 2008 11:59 am

Hey, you stayed in the same hotel I stayed in. Cool.
Plus, I agree with you on Thunder Mountain and it being the best one. At night, the ending drop diving under the water is amazing. It seems to go on and on forever.

Awesome pictures. Thanks for posting them. :)

--James
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Photo TR - Disneyland Resort Paris

Postby Paul Arthur » Wed May 14, 2008 12:13 pm

Part 3.... Disneyland park continued...
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I decided to give it one more chance... this time in the front seat.
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Inside the tube, right before launch.
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At the top of the launch, just before you go into the show building.
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As we were standing near the exit.....
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.....Two more people were treated for head bangs by park medics.
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Over to Buzz Lightyear.
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Buzz's nose was off from his projection. It was quite disturbing in person.
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This version features the better blasters that aren't attached.
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Refurbishing one of the brick walkways.
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There was a lot throughout the park that needed to be repainted.
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We checked out the Tarzan show... basically 30 minutes of group acrobatics and tumbling.
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This character train travels down through Main Street every hour. The first couple times, the theme is catchy.... after 5 times it really drives you insane.
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Characters get off the train only to be mobbed by children wanting autographs. Scrooge was pushed up against a fence to the point of crushing.
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Jessie was pushed up against the same fence into a position that, I imagine, can't be comfortable.
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One of the Tweedles came over to sit with Rebekah on the bench to keep her company. I like the expression of the guy sitting next to her.
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For lunch, we headed in to see the Lion King show.
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It's like dinner theatre... only with concession stand food and and more modern dance.
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Many of the topiary figures had not filled out yet. I think this is a frog....
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Into Alice's Labyrinth.
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Notice the kid freely climbing around on set pieces.
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The eyes spin around.
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Most of the pop up figures weren't working.
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This very visible area was really attractive...
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Back of the Queen of Hearts' castle.
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The Queen of Hearts' castle.
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View from the top of the castle.
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From atop the castle, we can see the back of the Pirates show building facade.
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Distant view of Space Mountain. As you can see the crowds are getting bigger.
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This was closed all 3 days we were there.
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From atop this castle, we see the back of Sleeping Beauty castle and the Tower of Terror in the distance.
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As we exit the Labyrinth, we can't help but wonder if we're in Anaheim.....
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Under the castle is an animatronic dragon. You can easily miss the entrance if you don't look hard.
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Outside we saw what looked to be this guy dealing something looking like packs of drugs out to the girls. The hats just made this all the more strange.
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We caught the end of the 'Candlebration' show.
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This was the only time we saw Ratatouille characters out. You'd think that a popular and current movie set in Paris would be more promoted here.
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These Lumiere 15 year anniversary figures were all around the center hub.
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One of the many overflowing trashcans we saw at the Disneyland park.
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For dinner, we went to the all you can eat Plaza Gardens buffet on Main Street.
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By the end of the day, the brick work was not finished.
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As the sun sets, we got the first beautiful sky in 2 days.
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We finished up with one last ride on Space Mountain.
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Main Street all lit up as we left.
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I leave you with a pretty shot of the castle all lit up.
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Postby terrancew_hod » Wed May 14, 2008 12:25 pm

Team Thriller wrote:At night, the ending drop diving under the water is amazing. It seems to go on and on forever.

Awesome pictures. Thanks for posting them. :)

--James


And thank you for spoiling the surprise for me when I go on the TPR trip next month.

When they say nice surprises, let's keep 'em that way 'eh?

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Postby SharkTums » Wed May 14, 2008 12:50 pm

Great TR!

I've merged them together as I think it tells the story better then to have them in different threads.
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Postby Paul Arthur » Wed May 14, 2008 12:53 pm

Awesome! Thanks Elissa...
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Postby Nemesis Inferno » Wed May 14, 2008 1:29 pm

Quite a few problems over there then...

Shame really, especially over the mechanical issues, sounds more like a trip to Thorpe than a Disney park... Seems to be a lot more q-jumping over there in Continental Europe than in the UK as well... I can see myself being hassle when I go, must learn the French for 'That's jumping the queue you silly ejit'

I look forward to my trip in July regardless... As long as it's not busy...
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