Hello! Today, the travel post will be about a trip that we did not plan or execute ourselves. Back when we still studied and worked part-time, our employer (a large fast-food chain) sponsored a trip to Disneyland for all its employees. This meant that everyone who was a part of the particular franchise was invited to go there for free - well, at the cost of their sleep, as we would leave at 3:30AM!
Quick heads up - we had to work the day before, so we definitely did not have the craziest time; in fact, we spent a fair bit of our visit just sitting at a Disneyland movie theater watching some old cartoons and being half asleep. That said, we're extremely grateful for the opportunity; while we still had energy, we walked around as much as possible to explore the beautiful theme park! Oh, I should mention it was the Disneyland in Paris!
Truth be told, I am not an amusement park guy. While I usually enjoy walking around, finding cute spots and enjoying the more secluded parts, I am not big on rides. They do not give me the same kind of adrenaline boost as they do for many others. I don't necessarily get sick on them nor am I scared, but.. I definitely wouldn't want to stay in a long line, only to do something I do not even enjoy that much at all.
That said, my friends and my girlfriend for sure enjoyed the ones they went on, while I got to explore the surroundings while waiting. In general, there is a huge choice of rides and attractions and everyone can find something for themselves. For me, personally, the only attractions that really get me are the rides that go through water at some points, so those were the ones I went on. It was fun! Apparently, according to my girlfriend, the rides in Disneyland Paris in general are rather tame in comparison to most theme parks - clearly targetted at a younger and less adventurous audience. More family friendly, so to say!
Sadly, we were a little too tired to think about taking pictures of all those rides.. So you'll have to check that out somewhere else. Instead, we have some of us - just take a look!
The fancy castle and buildings in general are quite impressive. If you aren't completely surrounded by the crowds, you can just stop and look around, enjoying the scenery - you'll feel like in a fairytale! I was also peer pressured into wearing Mickey Mouse ears the whole time, so that made it even more fairytale-like, I suppose.
As you can see, we actually had tons of fun together and with our friends. There really is a lot to do and see and honestly you need a lot of time to ensure that you've experienced the whole park with all its attractions. This is something that's even more true when you consider the waiting time at restaurants and food places in general. Of course, the best play is always to simply bring your own food, but we just didn't want to carry stuff with us and figured we wouldn't mind some break in between.
Sadly, it turned out that the break took nearly two hours, as it took half an hour to even get through the queue to order and then over an hour to get our food. It definitely makes sense, as it was crazy busy, but we just got so sleepy that after eating, we've done pretty much nothing. All we have from that time is this picture:
Overall, this was a great visit and we're so happy we were given the chance to go there by our employer. To be honest, it is not a place we would ever go by ourselves - theme parks aren't so much our thing to go out of our way to go to one if it isn't right around the corner. It was a fun experience that we would not otherwise have!