20 August 2012

Day Two - Part Deux

At Ibis Budget

As we had skipped breakfast at the hotel we thought we'd find somewhere en-route rather than wait for the park itself.

In the end we turned into a huge US style shopping mall/village. Nothing was signposted that well and the choice was McDonalds next to a Sea Life centre (!) or Starbuck's; the lesser of two evils!

The store was sandwiched next to an Armani Direct, Burberry and Ralph Lauren set of shops. Most of the customers were split into two groups. Smokers - French, and Non-Smokers - everyone not French. The distinctions between income streams was less easy to detect.

One latté and a plate of pancakes later we were off to Disney.

They've got the misinformation to a tee, having a walkway with "Bienvenue" on it that makes you feel you've not far to go despite being in parking row F33! The entrance is about a mile away, but some of the travelators (moving footpaths like flat escalators!) make is less arduous even in 31C temps.

The annoying thing is they stiff you for €15 to park. Before you shell out for a park entry ticket.

Getting the tickets from the Sky vouchers was relatively easy, although the guy in front that had a receipt for $555 wasn't happy at the delay in getting his!

Today's entry price is €74 for both Disney Studios and Disneyland. I'd have preferred a Euro version of Epcot.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

As expected queues were running at about 90 minutes for all the rides in both parks. We did some of the studio theatres and Disney Railroad.

We did the loop of the park sharing our compartment with an Arab family and a mature German couple.

About 2pm we decided we'd had enough of the queuing. Had I paid for the tickets I would have got as much of my money's worth as possible.

We set off for the long way back to the car and after running the air-con we were off.

The drive round the south of Paris on the A4 and A86 was free of tolls and so was the N12. The traffic wasn't too bad although the standard of driving was lower than at home. No wonder we smug British have the lowest casualty rates per million kms driven that most of the rest Europe.


Disney

We stopped for a late lunch sandwich and a coffee about 4pm.

Checking the map showed a pretty straightforward run to Alençon then to out hotel at Beaumont sur Sarthe.

Despite that, the satnav told us we had "arrived at out destination" some ten miles short and in the middle of nowhere.

I checked the POI and there are two TomTom entries! I clicked the other and it took us to the door. Who does this? Surely someone checks.

Once checked in we explored locally and then found a refreshing beer.

Dinner was in the hotel. For the vegetarians amongst you I will not say much about the gésiers. Nice but too much one plate!

And now to bed.

It's only been in the low 30C all day and much cooler this evening. Maybe don't need the wet towels!

Tomorrow the plan is to hit the town here to see the old town and then head across to a Beaux Village de France.

The pictures here are from the iPhone. Others from the proper cameras to follow. The order might be strange as they are added in the order they were taken but the Blogger app has other ideas!!!
 

Beaumont sur Sarthe

Beaumont sur Sarthe

 
Beaumont sur Sarthe


Beaumont sur Sarthe
 

1 comment:

Trobairitz said...

Thanks for sharing. I hope you are having fun despite the crowds and queues at the Disney park. Sounds tres expensive.

Funny you had a plate of (gesiers) gizzards. We grew up eating those when raising our own chickens and always had a bunch of them after the butchering. You can't find them in a restaurant though. Well, maybe in the south.