![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Jun. 10th, 2003 08:50 amYesterday I went to Disneyland Paris. By the time I got back, I was far too exhausted to write an entry (and, more to the point, I really was too exhausted to sit there doing nothing in the computer room when there were three people in front of me waiting for the computers). So now I'll put off my two homework exercises and my shower in order to write this. Priorities, right? :)
I'm really glad I went to Disneyland. Besides there being a lot of little kid in me still, it's just generally really cool. This is in terms of special effects, some great rides, and the more "academic" aspect of comparing how things work at D.Paris versus the Disneyland at home. (I'm going to judiciously apply the cut-tag to one or two things that seem longish. Everything's part of the narrative, though!)
( On French vs. English at Disneyland Paris )
I should probably describe the people I went with. There were four other girls. Two were people I'd met during the barbeque the other night: Lindsay and Robin. Lindsay is Texan (goes to A&M) and straight-laced religious, but very nice about it. She reminds me of Anne in some ways, and she also reminds me of Anne before she had cancer, in some ways. It's mostly inflection and word-choice, though. Robin goes to, I think, an Illinois state college. She's one of the photography experts I mentioned, because her first major in college was photography, and she's still quite serious about it. Then there were Sharon and April. April was mostly quiet and, I eventually decided, not very bright. But she was very nice, so that made up for it. Sharon was cool. She's a graduate student in mediaeval history, at University of Colorado at Boulder. She's just going back to school after 10 years, and she did in fact remind me a little of Linda. Not lots, but a bit. She and her husband ran a photography studio for much of the ten years that she wasn't in school, so she is, of course, the other expert I mentioned. I got on with her quite well.
OK, so. Thunder Mountain was fun, of course, but I never got the stomach-dropping sensation that's its hallmark for me. (It was the ride after which, when I first went on it years ago with Nina, my mother had to put a name to "losing one's stomach" for me.) It's possible that it wouldn't do that at home any more, either, and that the tracks are in fact identical. But I don't think so.
The Indiana Jones ride was completely different than the one at home. Here, it's a pure rollercoaster, and a real rollercoaster: you go backwards, you go upside-down.... At home, it's a theme ride. That was another thing, most of the theme rides here seemed to be more about the going through on a single level than about a ride combined with a theme. Even the Snow White ride, which had a lot of the same character actions and scenes, was all on a single level. But maybe they reserved the other more for the Walt Disney Studios, or whatever the second park in Paris is. (We didn't go there; not enough time, and not enough money.) Anyway, though, I like rollercoasters, so it was very cool, just a slight surprise when it was nothing like what I was expecting.
Space Mountain is also more intense, and really cool. Both those rides, incidentally, have a slight problem with the way the safety gear works: you constantly get your ears boxed and your head bashed. I was very glad I didn't have a headache!
I'm also convinced that Star Tours has more movement here than at home: I really don't recall ever actually hanging suspended from my seat at Disneyland. But Robin said she was sure that it was like that at Disney World, so it could be that I'm misremembering, or it could be that both the others are different from at home.
I could go through and describe every ride I went on, but that would be tedious and a bit pointless. They're Disneyland rides, I mean really. But there were two things that were absolutely fantastic. The Time Machine display, which apparently is originally from the Epcott Center, was wonderful. It's a movie that completely surrounds you, because there are screens going in a circle that actually show the full 360º. I was constantly twisting around trying to see what was behind me as well as what was in front of me. Breathtaking views of French countryside, and Mont St. Michel, and vistas of snow-capped mountains, and train tracks, and other gorgeous images.
The other thing was Captain Nemo's submarine. It's a walkthrough tour, and it's actually like a museum. Sadly, I was sort of being rushed through both by the people behind me and by my companions in front. I would have gone back at the end, but I got there 15 minutes before closing, and they'd already shut the entrance. I was not happy about that. But there are gorgeous paintings on the walls (they're textured like actual oil paintings, but I can't figure out if they're real paintings or just reproduced by some sort of advanced Disney-technology), and astrolabes and papers and all these other sorts of artifacts. I think the paintings were my favorites, though. Despite having obviously decided that this would be the one time in my life I go to Disneyland Paris, I will probably retract that vow, simply because I so want to see the submarine again and go through it slowly. It's not at either of the other Disneylands, so it's actually the only way I'll get to see it.
Now I had probably better go do my homework. I can't imagine there will be any massively exciting things that take place today; tomorrow, though, I'm planning to go to the Louvre for a few hours after class.
ETA: Remembered I wanted to comment on It's A Small World, too. This has always been one of my less favorite rides; I think there was a brief period when I was small that I loved it, and then I started finding it very very boring. Partially because the song gets stuck in my head, I think. And I didn't find the visual aspect particularly stimulating. But in France, it's a completely different story. For a start, I think that, being much older than the last time I went through the ride, I was able to appreciate the interesting cultural aspects of the ride. And, secondly, there are masses more cultures in the French version, with really cool traditional costumes. Apparently they even had a Mayan group, but I didn't notice them. This is another ride that I would love to go through several times, because there's so much detail that it's impossible to notice everything on just one trip.
I'm really glad I went to Disneyland. Besides there being a lot of little kid in me still, it's just generally really cool. This is in terms of special effects, some great rides, and the more "academic" aspect of comparing how things work at D.Paris versus the Disneyland at home. (I'm going to judiciously apply the cut-tag to one or two things that seem longish. Everything's part of the narrative, though!)
( On French vs. English at Disneyland Paris )
I should probably describe the people I went with. There were four other girls. Two were people I'd met during the barbeque the other night: Lindsay and Robin. Lindsay is Texan (goes to A&M) and straight-laced religious, but very nice about it. She reminds me of Anne in some ways, and she also reminds me of Anne before she had cancer, in some ways. It's mostly inflection and word-choice, though. Robin goes to, I think, an Illinois state college. She's one of the photography experts I mentioned, because her first major in college was photography, and she's still quite serious about it. Then there were Sharon and April. April was mostly quiet and, I eventually decided, not very bright. But she was very nice, so that made up for it. Sharon was cool. She's a graduate student in mediaeval history, at University of Colorado at Boulder. She's just going back to school after 10 years, and she did in fact remind me a little of Linda. Not lots, but a bit. She and her husband ran a photography studio for much of the ten years that she wasn't in school, so she is, of course, the other expert I mentioned. I got on with her quite well.
OK, so. Thunder Mountain was fun, of course, but I never got the stomach-dropping sensation that's its hallmark for me. (It was the ride after which, when I first went on it years ago with Nina, my mother had to put a name to "losing one's stomach" for me.) It's possible that it wouldn't do that at home any more, either, and that the tracks are in fact identical. But I don't think so.
The Indiana Jones ride was completely different than the one at home. Here, it's a pure rollercoaster, and a real rollercoaster: you go backwards, you go upside-down.... At home, it's a theme ride. That was another thing, most of the theme rides here seemed to be more about the going through on a single level than about a ride combined with a theme. Even the Snow White ride, which had a lot of the same character actions and scenes, was all on a single level. But maybe they reserved the other more for the Walt Disney Studios, or whatever the second park in Paris is. (We didn't go there; not enough time, and not enough money.) Anyway, though, I like rollercoasters, so it was very cool, just a slight surprise when it was nothing like what I was expecting.
Space Mountain is also more intense, and really cool. Both those rides, incidentally, have a slight problem with the way the safety gear works: you constantly get your ears boxed and your head bashed. I was very glad I didn't have a headache!
I'm also convinced that Star Tours has more movement here than at home: I really don't recall ever actually hanging suspended from my seat at Disneyland. But Robin said she was sure that it was like that at Disney World, so it could be that I'm misremembering, or it could be that both the others are different from at home.
I could go through and describe every ride I went on, but that would be tedious and a bit pointless. They're Disneyland rides, I mean really. But there were two things that were absolutely fantastic. The Time Machine display, which apparently is originally from the Epcott Center, was wonderful. It's a movie that completely surrounds you, because there are screens going in a circle that actually show the full 360º. I was constantly twisting around trying to see what was behind me as well as what was in front of me. Breathtaking views of French countryside, and Mont St. Michel, and vistas of snow-capped mountains, and train tracks, and other gorgeous images.
The other thing was Captain Nemo's submarine. It's a walkthrough tour, and it's actually like a museum. Sadly, I was sort of being rushed through both by the people behind me and by my companions in front. I would have gone back at the end, but I got there 15 minutes before closing, and they'd already shut the entrance. I was not happy about that. But there are gorgeous paintings on the walls (they're textured like actual oil paintings, but I can't figure out if they're real paintings or just reproduced by some sort of advanced Disney-technology), and astrolabes and papers and all these other sorts of artifacts. I think the paintings were my favorites, though. Despite having obviously decided that this would be the one time in my life I go to Disneyland Paris, I will probably retract that vow, simply because I so want to see the submarine again and go through it slowly. It's not at either of the other Disneylands, so it's actually the only way I'll get to see it.
Now I had probably better go do my homework. I can't imagine there will be any massively exciting things that take place today; tomorrow, though, I'm planning to go to the Louvre for a few hours after class.
ETA: Remembered I wanted to comment on It's A Small World, too. This has always been one of my less favorite rides; I think there was a brief period when I was small that I loved it, and then I started finding it very very boring. Partially because the song gets stuck in my head, I think. And I didn't find the visual aspect particularly stimulating. But in France, it's a completely different story. For a start, I think that, being much older than the last time I went through the ride, I was able to appreciate the interesting cultural aspects of the ride. And, secondly, there are masses more cultures in the French version, with really cool traditional costumes. Apparently they even had a Mayan group, but I didn't notice them. This is another ride that I would love to go through several times, because there's so much detail that it's impossible to notice everything on just one trip.
