In 2016-17, I was a deacon finishing off my last year of seminary studies. It is custom for the transitional deacons to travel to Rome in January of that year to do a course in Rome (unfortunately, they won’t be able to do that this year due to Covid). As part of that trip, my classmates and I also had the option to travel beforehand. A total of 6 of us decided to visit Paris and stay at a seminary there.
Being such a theme park enthusiast and desiring to get to Disneyland Paris Resort (which has 2 parks: Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studios), I made it known early in the planning process that I wanted to go there. With 14 million annual visitors, Disneyland Paris is the most visited tourist destination in Europe. None of my classmates, however, were interested in going with me, so I decided to make plans to go on my own. We weren’t going to be in Paris for many days, so I could only go to the parks for a day. I planned to go on the last day, which happened to be New Year’s Day (also the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, which happened to fall on a Sunday). As our plans on New Year’s Eve were to go to Mass in the morning, I would need to go on the morning of New Year’s Day to fulfill my Sunday obligation. I found a parish that had a 7:30 a.m. Sunday Mass, which would give me plenty of time to get in a full day at Disneyland Paris. Unfortunately I would have to miss seeing Notre Dame in-person (prior to its partial destruction). On the actual day, I got up pretty early and made my way to the nearby Metro station. The fares were free due to the holiday. Unfortunately, when I got to the church, I found out that the 7:30 a.m. Mass was canceled (even though the website had listed it). I tried in earnest (without WiFi) to find another early Mass, but the one cafe that was open couldn’t help me. I ended up at the original church for 9 a.m. Mass. Uncharacteristic of me, I left after Communion (but not before doing a prayer of thanksgiving) to try to make up for some lost time. There is a commuter rail that runs between downtown Paris and Disneyland, so it’s pretty convenient even without a vehicle. I could see the parks from the train before we made it into the station. I went straight to Disneyland getting in at about 11:20 a.m. (rather than the 10 a.m. I had been aiming for). It was a chilly day (I was wearing long underwear), and the frost was everywhere still at the hour of the morning. I got my Facebook reservation for Big Thunder Mountain (the best version in the world) and walked back to Pirates (the second best version behind the best ride in the world in Shanghai) and got on with almost no wait. Since I had a park hopper pass (cost was a total of $72 or so, much lower than a 1-day pass of $100+ to Disney or Universal in the U.S.), I next spent the ten minutes or so to leave Disneyland, walk over to Walt Disney Studios, and enter the park. I learned that most of the rides were other long waits or closed (as in the case of the tram tour...probably due to the cold). I got in the Single Rider line for the Ratatouille ride (which is set to open in EPCOT in early 2021) and enjoyed the experience of being a rat in the kitchen! I won’t bore you with all of the details of the rest of my day. Some of the rides at Disneyland Paris have more thrill than similar rides in other Disney parks. For example, Space Mountain has a launch, as well as some inversions. The Indiana Jones coaster also has some inversions (as does Rock n Roller Coaster, which is now being transformed into an Iron Man Coaster). Another unique ride at Walt Disney Studios is Crush’s Coaster, which is a Finding Nemo themed family spinner coaster. Overall, my day at Disneyland Paris was wonderful even in spite of the delayed start and the chilly temperature (although I was warm enough overall throughout my stay). I would recommend it to all people who enjoy theme parks. One should weigh trade-offs like missing Notre Dame. I’ll just have to make it a point to get back to Paris to experience both Disney and the grand church!
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