Paris: Disneyland

You may ask why 2 California girls would go all the way to Paris to see Disneyland. The answer ..because we could and my BFF Pat is addicted and had to go. I managed to re-injure my knee from the Versailles trudge and moving luggage up 2 flights of stairs.

THE SAGA OF THE PRIORITY PASS

I rented a wheel chair, which from my experience here in CA would get us to the front of every line. But then “we are not in Kansas anymore Toto”. This being Paris and not CA, I did not know that a PRIORITY PASS would be needed. When I rented the wheel chair, there was no mention of a priority pass, so we merrily wheeled off to the first ride. Pat pushed and I frantically pushed the wheels which was fine until we came to a slight incline. I am sure the two of us were quite a site trying to get up the incline…here no one offered to help. I guess they were all tourists, not the lovely Parisians who had helped us with our bags. In a crowd of tourists trying to get to the next ride, you are on your own. We got to the first ride to discover the need for dreaded PRIORITY PASS. The guy at Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom took pity on us and let us through. See below for my evaluation of the Paris Disneyland rides 🫣🤬😝

When we asked how to get the priority pass, he said “you have to go to City Hall”. We are panicking …in Paris???? No he says, on the park Main Street. Apparently, they want you to have a doctor’s note that you are actually disabled to get the pass. We talked to a very kind lady while we were in the long line at City Hall. Apparently being old – over 65 – is not enough. I should be flattered she wanted to see my passport to confirm my age. I fessed up to my age and tried to look as pathetic as possible, saying “I injured my knee on the Paris Meto”. Finally I said we are from California…you know, home of the ORIGINAL Disneyland. That finally worked and she said…”i will make an exception because there are only two of you, and you are only visiting one park for one day”. She even asked if we needed a pass for just me or both of us. I just looked at Pat…the unspoken language of friends for over 40 years. 😟🫣😝

RIDE EVALUATION

For the most part the rides were pretty good, some similar to CA, but some new versions seemed to be mostly focused on short, fast, head jerking rollercoaster types with almost no narrative.
Indiana Jones was particularly awful as it was just a roller coaster around the Temple of Doom. In particular you, sat in a tight little seat with a high back and padded sections on both sides of your head. I sat down and suddenly my knee was bent in a painful position up against the seat in front. I just kept my head down for the short but painful, head bashing ride to nowhere…thinking – I am going to die here. I had to crawl out when it was over with the help of Pat and the guy working the ride.