Saturday June 11th 2005
Cast: Me (23) and my girlfriend Claire (25). In the photos, I'm the blonde with glasses, and she's the brunette.
NOTE: Click the little thumbnail images to see larger versions of the photos! I'm having to post the reports in sections as I have too many images! The board won't let me post more than 20 at once!
We had planned to get up early this morning as our breakfast card was for 7.00-7.45, but we accidentally slept in and finally woke up at 7.50. Oops. I wasn't really sure what to do as I hate being late and inconveniencing people, so I got a bit moody with Claire, telling her that she should've let us bring the alarm clock and not just relied on her mobile phone alarm, which I never hear! She said she'd sort things out and headed off to reception to ask if we could change our breakfast card, and when she came back, she said that the reception lady told her the card was valid until 11, so we could use it at any time.
After that little panic, we decided to be brave and go to the swimming pool before breakfast, as it was 8 o'clock and therefore "breakfast rush hour". (Opening hours for the pool were 7.00am-9.45pm but I expect it stays open later in high season.) As I hadn't been swimming in ten years and had been too scared to go, I was incredibly nervous and didn't really feel like it, especially as I was half asleep. We were directed to the changing rooms (which, to my horror, are communal) after showing the man at reception our hotel ID card. We very slowly got changed and put our stuff in a locker. (You will need a 2 Euro coin for this, but the man at Reception changed two 1 Euro coins for us.) I misread the sign about having to have a shower before going in the <em>sauna</em>, and made us have showers, which were freezing cold. I then put a towel around my waist to walk to the pool and I just felt so intimidated, despite the fact that there were very few people about.
I tell you, the feeling of actually getting into the pool was the most bizarre thing I've experienced in a long time. I used to swim several times a week and was a member of a swimming club, so I spent a lot of time in swimming pools, and to get into a pool again for the first time in a decade was just <em>weird</em>, but it felt great. I was very nervous at first and didn't even know if I'd remember how to swim, but I was fine after a few minutes, and also grateful of the cold shower, as the pool water was quite cool. I was also pleased that the pool is all the same depth (just under 5ft) as I wasn't quite ready to not be able to stand on the bottom. The pool also has a jacuzzi and a water slide, so we had a go on those. Claire didn't really enjoy the slide as she didn't like being pushed under water at the end, but I thought it was great (after the first time, as on the first go, I ended up almost choking to death on the chlorinated water going up my nose). The jacuzzi was quite nice, but very warm, which meant that the pool felt absolutely freezing when we returned to it. I was also sad that the outdoor pool was closed off today, but perhaps the weather wasn't warm enough for it.
In any case, we had a nice, long swim, and there were very few people about. It was awkward getting changed afterwards, and we felt kind of damp and gross when we went for breakfast, but still, we've decided to try to go every morning.
We had a late breakfast at the Beaver Creek Tavern (pains au chocolat, bread rolls, cereal, tea, etc.) and then headed towards the Walt Disney Studios Park for about 12pm. We were pleased to see that the only closed attraction was Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. I'd never been to this park before (as it wasn't built on my last visit) and it has quite a different atmosphere to the other park. It felt very unfamiliar and much more modern, which is what I expected, really. We went straight to the Studio Tram Tour queue and took no notice of the little language flags above the queuing area, but by some stroke of luck, ended up in the English/French queue. I quite enjoyed the ride, although we were in the very last car, which didn't rock at all at Catastrophe Canyon. The special effects were incredibly cool, though.
After that, we wandered over to Rock 'n' Rollercoaster starring Aerosmith, and were surprised to find that the queue was so short. We waited for about ten minutes, maybe less. I absolutely loved this ride, and Claire did too. The launch is fantastic better than Space Mountain: Mission 2, in my opinion and the countdown screen and flashing lights before the launch really build up the tension. Again, the launch on this really takes your breath away, and I find that a bit scary (but cool), but after that, the ride is great. I couldn't hear a lot of the music, but the ride felt and looked a lot better than Space Mountain: Mission 2.
We then wandered over to the Aladdin ride, Flying Carpets over Agrabah, and saw some of the Lilo and Stitch: Catch the Wave Party on the way, but we didn't really have a very good view. Again, the queue for this ride was small (for a Saturday) and the ride was okay, but made us feel a bit unsafe and dizzy. It's basically just like the Dumbo ride, but with flying carpets, and I think we were both scared that our little carpet would snap off or something! Claire didn't like it when I made the carpet go higher.
Cast: Me (23) and my girlfriend Claire (25). In the photos, I'm the blonde with glasses, and she's the brunette.
NOTE: Click the little thumbnail images to see larger versions of the photos! I'm having to post the reports in sections as I have too many images! The board won't let me post more than 20 at once!
We had planned to get up early this morning as our breakfast card was for 7.00-7.45, but we accidentally slept in and finally woke up at 7.50. Oops. I wasn't really sure what to do as I hate being late and inconveniencing people, so I got a bit moody with Claire, telling her that she should've let us bring the alarm clock and not just relied on her mobile phone alarm, which I never hear! She said she'd sort things out and headed off to reception to ask if we could change our breakfast card, and when she came back, she said that the reception lady told her the card was valid until 11, so we could use it at any time.
After that little panic, we decided to be brave and go to the swimming pool before breakfast, as it was 8 o'clock and therefore "breakfast rush hour". (Opening hours for the pool were 7.00am-9.45pm but I expect it stays open later in high season.) As I hadn't been swimming in ten years and had been too scared to go, I was incredibly nervous and didn't really feel like it, especially as I was half asleep. We were directed to the changing rooms (which, to my horror, are communal) after showing the man at reception our hotel ID card. We very slowly got changed and put our stuff in a locker. (You will need a 2 Euro coin for this, but the man at Reception changed two 1 Euro coins for us.) I misread the sign about having to have a shower before going in the <em>sauna</em>, and made us have showers, which were freezing cold. I then put a towel around my waist to walk to the pool and I just felt so intimidated, despite the fact that there were very few people about.
I tell you, the feeling of actually getting into the pool was the most bizarre thing I've experienced in a long time. I used to swim several times a week and was a member of a swimming club, so I spent a lot of time in swimming pools, and to get into a pool again for the first time in a decade was just <em>weird</em>, but it felt great. I was very nervous at first and didn't even know if I'd remember how to swim, but I was fine after a few minutes, and also grateful of the cold shower, as the pool water was quite cool. I was also pleased that the pool is all the same depth (just under 5ft) as I wasn't quite ready to not be able to stand on the bottom. The pool also has a jacuzzi and a water slide, so we had a go on those. Claire didn't really enjoy the slide as she didn't like being pushed under water at the end, but I thought it was great (after the first time, as on the first go, I ended up almost choking to death on the chlorinated water going up my nose). The jacuzzi was quite nice, but very warm, which meant that the pool felt absolutely freezing when we returned to it. I was also sad that the outdoor pool was closed off today, but perhaps the weather wasn't warm enough for it.
In any case, we had a nice, long swim, and there were very few people about. It was awkward getting changed afterwards, and we felt kind of damp and gross when we went for breakfast, but still, we've decided to try to go every morning.
We had a late breakfast at the Beaver Creek Tavern (pains au chocolat, bread rolls, cereal, tea, etc.) and then headed towards the Walt Disney Studios Park for about 12pm. We were pleased to see that the only closed attraction was Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. I'd never been to this park before (as it wasn't built on my last visit) and it has quite a different atmosphere to the other park. It felt very unfamiliar and much more modern, which is what I expected, really. We went straight to the Studio Tram Tour queue and took no notice of the little language flags above the queuing area, but by some stroke of luck, ended up in the English/French queue. I quite enjoyed the ride, although we were in the very last car, which didn't rock at all at Catastrophe Canyon. The special effects were incredibly cool, though.
After that, we wandered over to Rock 'n' Rollercoaster starring Aerosmith, and were surprised to find that the queue was so short. We waited for about ten minutes, maybe less. I absolutely loved this ride, and Claire did too. The launch is fantastic better than Space Mountain: Mission 2, in my opinion and the countdown screen and flashing lights before the launch really build up the tension. Again, the launch on this really takes your breath away, and I find that a bit scary (but cool), but after that, the ride is great. I couldn't hear a lot of the music, but the ride felt and looked a lot better than Space Mountain: Mission 2.
We then wandered over to the Aladdin ride, Flying Carpets over Agrabah, and saw some of the Lilo and Stitch: Catch the Wave Party on the way, but we didn't really have a very good view. Again, the queue for this ride was small (for a Saturday) and the ride was okay, but made us feel a bit unsafe and dizzy. It's basically just like the Dumbo ride, but with flying carpets, and I think we were both scared that our little carpet would snap off or something! Claire didn't like it when I made the carpet go higher.
But you'll hear about that in Part Five!
. Is there no shallow end for the kids, or the likes of me, I'm only 5'3" 
.
[or rarely] and being really cold 
, or going at a busier time of year having to queue 
