It’s a small world after all

We had a lesson today in how the small the world really is and what’s required in order to keep the thing spinning. Getting up early in preparation for a memorable day we took advantage of Gabbys’ pre-planning and plunged back into a very quiet Met (Sunday morning) and headed off on the RER to country France. About an hour out of town they’ve built a replica of Disneyland, complete with towers, magical events and people dressed up in fluffy dog outfits (Pluto, Goofy et. al.). Disney Europe is a big attraction. This can also be interpreted as “There will be queues”.

We had to queue to get our bags checked. Then we queued to get tickets (even though they were pre-purchased), then we queued to use our tickets to get in. Once we were in, we duly found that everywhere we went – we had to queue. Disney has the art of queuing down pat. They have the ability to take a really long queue (like we are now used to eg. Coluseum, Eiffel Tower etc) and make them really compact, so they don’t look that long but, by jingos – they are. We discovered after our first wait (Thunder Mountain – 55 minutes wait - 1minute ride) that they have a Fast Queue system. This works really well for all the people that know about it. By the time the time everyone has figured it out – they close it down. There is a science to queues – most businesses know this – Disney take it to another level as they get people to pay for the privilege of being in them.
Apart from the queues (including 30 minutes to get a poorly packed Ice cream) we all had a fabulous day. Disney do know how to entertain. We had great fun on roller coasters, stunt shows (over at Disney Studios – the twin theme park), animation overviews, back lot tours where we got rocked, flamed and washed all in the space of a minute (queue time 40 min). We had a ride to the Death Star and back (queue time 40 minutes), we went through the Haunted House. (queue time 5 min – got lucky there), we drove cars (45 mins). And we also got to see what happens when High 5 meets Mickey Mouse (with budget). Fascinating - the whole thing.
We also got to experience the underlying philosophy of Disney in “It’s a Small World” ride (queue time 40 minutes) where they manage to use a heap of kids from different cultures to push the point that we can (and should) accept and appreciate each other (as nations). This was pointed out by Gabby later - at the time it just seemed that yes, it really is a small world, but why do most of the inhabitants in it have to come here today?
Exhausted, but exhilarated we left just as the grand parade was getting under way. This was quiet funny as the crowds had nothing better to do but to line the streets for an hour beforehand in order to stand at the front. They were actually doing this without an official queuing mechanism. After a long day I guess they just needed to queue some more. We thought it best to leave early so we didn’t have to deal with the post parade hordes on the trains back to Paris (queue jumpers we are – where we can).
Dinner in the Hotel Common room (cleverly purchased by Ro – somehow) and everyone has crashed – tomorrow we run away from Paris and their Bastille day celebrations – most likely a good thing as jeers about the Rainbow Warrior from the back of the crowds would probably not be appreciated.