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I made some friends in Versailles. A Kiwi couple Jess and James, another Kiwi Ellen (she had gone to Amsterdam) and a Spanish girl named Antito and an Italian boy named Pedro. Pedro didn’t come with us to Disneyland because he had a museum pass that he wanted to use before he left Paris. So it was just Jess, James, Antito and I. We met at Saint Michel and caught a train out to Disneyland. The tickets were cheap that day so we were lucky and it was off peak season so hardly anyone was at Disneyland so we could get on the rides quickly.
I had never experienced anything like Disneyland before. I felt this childish joy and it was so beautiful it made me want to cry, in fact I did cry at the Spectacular show at the end. I have never been on a scary ride before so it was such an overwhelming day for me. Jess and James decided to “ease” me into the scary rides so we went into Toy Story world first and did the toy soldiers ride first, which was so much fun and then we did the Tower of Terror ride, which was FUCKING INSANE!!
I don’t even know what life is after that ride! Antito was too scared to come, which in hindsight I do not blame her because what the fuck is life?! Please tell me because I DO NOT KNOW!
Basically this story happens at the start of this family that died and now they haunt the castle/elevator. So it tells the story, you go in and a man is “acting” as the life operator and scores you etc. then makes sure you’re strapped in safely before the elevator rises and it opens to random floors, showing a ghost projection of the family before DROPPING THE FUCK DOWN!!
It literately drops so fast that you rise off of the seat; I understand why they have straps now. It will rise again and then drop fast again, and again and AGAIN! It was fun but oh my god 30 seconds is enough.
The elevator doors open and the guy is standing there picking his nails, completely unmoved by the screams and horror. IT added so much to the ride.
The next horrifying rise was a roller-coaster called the RocknRolla. It was an Aerosmith ride where you walk into a music studio and hear them speak and go through a hallway of old school rock merchandise, like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, SCDC, Metallica and I started laughing because I was just thinking about how much Georgia would be frothing and passing in and out of consciousness.
We got on the ride and strapped ourselves into the seats, there was a slight wait because I think there was a malfunction somewhere which was slightly terrifying but we went on it and it was so intense! So much more intense than I expected and I just started screaming and all I could hear was James laughing over it.
I loved it though; it was terrifying but so exciting and got my adrenaline pumpin so hard it was ridiculous. We started walking around the park more and it was spectacular, the old school cowboy scenery was “legitimately fake” as Jess and I had made up. It was the most magical place and I felt like I was in another land.
Dad would have loved the Western Town. We did Pirates of the Caribbean boat ride and it was incredible. They had robotic people that I could have easily mistaken for real actors, they moved so fluently and realistic that it was ridiculous.
This ride was in an underground structure with torches everywhere and pirates songs being chanted and sung. We even went past a cave with hidden treasure and dead pirates who couldn’t escape. It was amazing. Then we went on the Indiana Jones roller-coaster which wasn’t as intense as the RocknRolla but it still went upside down and around. There was also a ride called Space Mountain which was another roller-coaster that was all about space and it took off like a rocket ha a pun! But seriously it did.. It was sooooo much fun as well!!
Not as intense as the RocknRolla but still spun around and went upside down and sideways, but it had more of a lighting and space show to see rather than the RocknRolla. We also went on the Buzz Light-year ride which was awesome because you hot to shoot Zerg’s minions while controlling the cart and “help” Buzz defeat Zerg. But the most spectacular moment of the day was when night fell and the Christmas tree and streets lit up. The parade of Disney characters and Princesses went by and the floats and costumes were just magical, the amount of time, work and dedication that goes into these days blows my mind. To be a kid at this would be absolutely unbelievable, you would think it was real. The castle was tinkling in the distance while the little Disney shops were all lip up and Christmas themed with characters and food, costumes and designs. Oh it was overwhelming!
I can’t
I
Can
Not
I watch back the videos on my phone and almost start crying again. The show at the end was the most amazing experience of my entire existence and if there was ever a moment where I could play a memory on loop forever that day and that show would be it. I can’t even describe the feeling, like all my dreams, hopes and smiles were being felt all at once.
It was so beautiful it made me cry
I was on a HUGE high and the problems I had in the past few days were tiny specs of dust now. I bought a Disney Paris hoody from the store because I liked ti and because I wanted something to remember Disneyland by. I also bought a pretty postcard to send to my family back home. It was late now, maybe 9pm and I was afraid of going back to the hostel by myself so Jess, James and Antito all came back with me, even though it wasn’t their hostel but I was so grateful because otherwise I would have got lost and we had dinner together. Antito wanted to do a boat tour tomorrow night and a pub crawl but at next day I was so god damn tired I just wanted to stay in the hostel which is exactly what I did and just slept in and lazed around,. My intention was to write in my diary but I was so tired I literately did nothing. I slept for over 12 hours!
Haley Lauren Smith 