The Only Snow on Main Street Should be Man-made

Disneyland Paris is a pretty enjoyable park for the most part.  I spent the day there, at both Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios Park (their second gate).  It was a blast!  But I'm getting ahead of myself.



I know you can barely see it, but there is snow.

Remember the three Spaniards that I had in my room?  These little snots were the most obnoxious and inconsiderate travelers that I have ever encountered over a (roughly) 100 nights of hostel staying.  I am hoping their behavior is atypical for Spanish guys in general; however, it was bad enough that the Algerian and non-speaking dude moved rooms--as did I.  I guess none of us were about to wait around for a second night to see if they would kick them out.  They basically acted like they were in a private room--shouting, talking super loudly, eating and leaving trash on the floor, keeping the lights on pretty much through the night.  I thought non-speaking dude was going to go ballistic at one point.  The hostel totally had great common spaces for them to do all of this.  They just chose to do it in the room.  I was ready to shove them into their lockers and leave them.

But they got me in a new (and quieter) room right away this morning and then I was on my way to a chilly day in the theme parks.

As I sat on the suburban trains (RER) on my hour journey there, I decided to see if I could pronounce anything.  So, before we'd arrive at a station, I'd say how I thought it is pronounced.  Then, I'd hear them say it over the speaker as we pulled up to the station.  My record was two in a row.  I got about 17 wrong.  I think there were 20 stops.  I had a solid failure rate of 85%.  Not too shabby, if I was going for worst possible.  Even with this struggle, I managed to find my way to the parks.  Probably because it is at the end of the line.

I'm not going to regale you with the details of my whole day, but here are some take-aways:

• Apparently if you are a guy wearing a parka and it doesn't have a fur-lined hood, you are doing it wrong.  That is all the rage everywhere I've been so far.
• There is a shanty town in the woods right before you get to Disneyland Paris stop.  It was beyond unattractive, and certainly sad because of what it represents.  I can't image something like that along I-4 leading up to Disney World.
• Although selfie-sticks are banned, I lost count of how many people were using them.  I guess the Cast Members don't care.
• Speaking of not caring, they also don't care about where the smoking sections are, because they let people smoke everywhere.  Including in attraction lines.  I can't remember how long ago we allowed smoking in lines.  Decades now, I think.
• They had a really cute movie-mashup called Cinematique with Martin Short--and it wasn't all too old, so I guess that is still popular there (it was pretty packed).
• I forgot how much cooler their Phantom Manor and Pirates of the Caribbean are compared to ours back home.
• They still have the original Snow White ride there.  Man, it has to be scary for little kids still.
• They bundle ice cream with their meals in the quick service restaurants.  Which was awesome.
• There were snow flurries during the afternoon parade and on into the evening.  This was due to the fact that it was a brisk 29/30 degrees F all day while I was out there.  Those temps start wearing you down after a while.  Fortunately it wasn't breezy, at least.

I made my way home in one piece.  I tried to remember how the stations were pronounced.  I did marginally better than going there.  Tomorrow, it is off to Versailles.  Former home of some famous dudes and chicks who ruled France, or something.