By Jenni Weightman
My husband Matt and I have a decouverte Annual Pass, which is the
cheapest with lots of blackout days, however I was very excited when I found
out that our passes were valid on the actual birthday of DLP.
We travelled to Marne La Vallee on the 11th and checked into an off-site
Hotel just one stop away on the Metro. In an effort to beat the crowds, we
had a pretty early start on the 12th and joined the already long
lines from the gates. Then they started letting us all in. Unfortunately we
hadn't quite got there early enough to get a view down Main Street and at 5ft
tall I couldn't see a great deal.
The day begun with a talk by Phillipe Gas, unfortunately all in French
so I couldn't tell you what he said but hen the excitement began! Matt, who at
6ft 4, could see everything, cast members started streaming into the previously
empty Main Street and danced en masse to the music. I stood a bit further back
and found the big screen where I got a great view and could dance along. Then,
if that wasn't exciting enough, the red arrows appeared!! It was perfect. The
weather was gorgeous and everyone looked so happy! To finish there was the ever
popular Disney streamers and confetti that poured out from the rooftops and
then we were allowed to walk down the massive purple carpet that had been laid
down on Main Street.
Then after unsuccessfully getting one of the limited edition pins that
had been released for the day we went to the Hyperion theatre for the
presentation by Tony Baxter. It started with happy birthday being sung by the
audience and then we learnt all about the creation of the park. I was literally
at the edge of my seat, didn't want it to end! It was really interesting and
his love for the park shined through. It was so nice to hear about the
inspirations behind areas of the park. One of the best anecdotes though was the
fact that he used to work as an ice cream seller at Disneyland California and
met Walt Disney himself!
The rest of the day we just went on rides and then had dinner in Walt’s
(including a bottle of the very nice anniversary wine) and then it was time for
Dreams! Having now been to Florida this is still one of my favourite shows,
although illuminations nearly wins but compared to what Paris usually gets it
was incredible, I had purposely avoided watching any videos before I went and
I'm glad I did. Although saying that I have seen it twice more since and it
hasn't lost it's magic. My only problem was that there were lots of people also
trying to watch it and I missed the images in the castle door due to people
stood in front of me.
