Castle to Chateau - Disneyland Paris Inaugural Rundisney Weekend *completed 06/30

[dancingtodisney]

Day 3 - Inaugural Rundisney Launch Party
Part 1 - It's oh... so... quiet!

Today it was another early start, we were up fed and watered and waiting for the bus by 7.30am. We didn't wait too long and made it the entrance of the Disneyland Park for EMH opening. Again we hopped straight into the line to Mickey and Minnie

We had a really cute interaction, Mickey noticed that I was wearing my Dopey shirt and got so excited about it. We told him that we were running her in Paris too! We captured the full interaction in our vlog, SO SO CUTE!

Next we met the #1 Duck!

Then it was across the way to meet Goofy and Pluto, again this was a really fun interaction! The characters spent lots of time with us as there wasn’t a long line behind us.

We decided to take advantage of the short waits and get on some rides! First up was Space Mountain Mission 2… I was hoping for a smoother ride!

We got to the tunnel part at the start and Rachel looks at me and says ‘Is this like the Hulk?’ and I stared straight back at her and said ‘No’…. 5secs later…. BLAST OFF… MWAHAHAHA I’m so evil!

We rode Buzz right after, it was so quiet and everything was a walk on! We went to Fantasyland next and started with a ride on Le Carrousel de Lancelot

Then Dumbo

We did the Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups! So much fun! We decided we needed to refuel so we went to the Cable Car bakery on Main Street and grabbed some hot chocolate and pasteries

The pain au chocolate was DELICIOUS!!! We really enjoyed this little snack and we grabbed a table outside just off Main Street which was perfect for people watching!

Next up was Le Pays des Contes de Fées which is a cute little boat ride that has miniature scenes from various Disney movies.

We ended with It's a Small World... I'll let you guys take the shortcut

That was it for the first part of our day, we went back to our room to chill for a bit because we a big party to attend that evening... Would the party make up for our terrible expo experience...?? You'll have to wait and see!

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Check out our Disneyland Paris Vlog covered this part of the trip

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[Grumpy's Wife]

I'm so glad I stumbled onto your trip report. I read your last one and really enjoyed it.

I love seeing the ride photos and comparing them to Disney World.

 

[dancingtodisney]

I'm so glad I stumbled onto your trip report. I read your last one and really enjoyed it.

I love seeing the ride photos and comparing them to Disney World.

Yah! Welcome!

Ye I do like to see how they do the same rides different! Thank you for following!

 

[dancingtodisney]

Day 3 - Inaugural Rundisney Launch Party
Part 2 - Party Time!!

So after a little rest at the room we went to a meet up arranged by a Facebook group we joined in the build up to this weekend. We arrived at the station and took a quick selfie

Then made our way to the Disney Village for the meet up. We were actually introduced by @chelynnah to the group we met so we met her too! It was nice to meet people that we'd be speaking to in person and have a chat about the race weekend. We stayed for a cocktail and then made our way to The Studios for the launch party.

The party is a ticketed event, it's €49 this year and I think it was the same last year too. Within the entrance building Goofy and Donald were taking photos but there was no cast member controlling the queue so it was a bit mental! We managed to get to Goofy.

Once inside we decided to just wander and see what we could find. We came across Woody! It was great meet, Woody was so excited to at the party and he did a little dance with Rachel, I got it all on video in our vlog, they were so in sync lol

After that we went to the Toy Story area to get on some rides we'd missed out on due to large queues. The one I really wanted to get on was RCRacer as it's a low capacity ride that always has a really long wait time.

I had to find a picture 'on the line' as we never took one of the ride! OOOPS! Unfortunately that happened quick a bit when we were vlogging... sorry!

OMG it was so much fun!!! It looks a lot more tame that it actually is! When you get right up to that top bit before you come time my stomach properly flipped!

The best place to be was the back row because then you went right up top on the right hand side of this pic!

We went on the parachute drop ride next, it's not a dramatic drop so it's actually quite tame but it's cute and I love the theme.

When the ride finished we could not for the life of us figure out how to get our seatbelt off. In the meantime the next group of guests had loaded, a CM finally came over and was like 'oh looks like you'll have to go again' and then pointed to the seat belt release which was right in the center for all belts.. DOH!

We went on the Slinky Dog ride and I know this looks like a kids ride and it is but it goes pretty fast and I ended up on top of Rachel and unable to move and then got a massive fit of uncontrollable giggles!! It was so funny, poor Rachel was shouting at me to get off and I literally couldn't do anything. Again it's on video, I know I keep referring to the videos but words can't really do justice to the fun we were having this night!

We went straight back to ride RC Racers again and witnessed a very funny conversation, there was a woman getting on the ride with I guess her partner and she was asking the CM if this ride was anything like Tower of Terror and told the CM that she hated ToT and so if this was anything like it she didn't want to ride. Her partner and the CM agreed that it was nothing like ToT... which is true... but in reality that 'drop' feeling is SO MUCH WORSE on RC Racers.

The woman's face when she got off... priceless!! She was giving her partner DAGGERS!

After that we strolled and danced around the park and really just soaked up the party atmosphere. There was some free facepainting happening so we took advantage:

We spotted the special lighting on the Tower of Terror for the party

Pretty cool!

We decided it was time to grab some food, we had food included in our park ticket and we went to the counter service restaurant in the entrance building...

We both went for the crab cake sandwich, potatoes and magnum with a soft drink. The food and drink was available at any time and you could go back if you wanted. We grabbed water bottles to go later in the evening.

The burger had this really odd black coloring but it tasted lovely

We then wandered around for a bit, there were Marvel characters out for the party but the queue was always pretty long and they had shut it down early. When we went over to Captain America his line it was already closed. We didn't mind too much, we had so much fun just enjoying how quiet the park was.

We wandered around for quite a while just taking pictures. The park was pretty cool at night but the opening hours while we were there for the weekend meant this was the only time we could be there when it was dark.

Our pictures are all from our phones so I apologise for the poor quality!

There was a rundisney back-drop out so we stopped there for some photopass photos

And our final destination for the evening was our favourite ride... Tower of Terror!!

We had THE BEST CM ever! He was so funny and keep scaring people and singing songs and he really just made this the most fun experience! As it was the last ride of the day he actually rode with us too!

We thanked him afterwards and got this picture

After all that excitement it was time to head back and get some rest before our 5K tomorrow.. We left the park, got the bus home and went straight to bed!

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Check out our Disneyland Paris Vlog covered this part of the trip

​

 

[chelynnah]

Thanks for the shout out. I'm really glad you guys (and now your Dad) joined the FB group.

Wow I have to pay more attention to the fountains! I've never noticed the hand with the wand before - that's embarrassing.

Shhh don't tell Nick that the Parachute drop is tame, I'm trying to work him up to Tower of Terror. I got him on parachite drop and he nearly killed me when it shot up. He ended up enjoying it in the end. I also got him to do RnRC as his first ever proper coaster (he went on 3 times), but so far no Tower of Terror.

I would love to do Space Mountain 2, but the reports (including yours) about the head throwing make it a no go for me with my back issues. I can do drops and loops and speed, but head jerking, nope

Enjoying the report. Looking forward to catching up with you guys again this year if they ever get those bib only sales out!

 

[JulieODC]

Joining in!! So cool to see Paris park pictures!! It seems so empty and quiet?!

 

[evre13]

This looks so fun! I fly through CDG all the time for work, and I am so tempted to take a night and to go Disneyland Paris the next time I head through.

 

[chelynnah]

This looks so fun! I fly through CDG all the time for work, and I am so tempted to take a night and to go Disneyland Paris the next time I head through.

If you have the time it would be worth it

 

[evre13]

If you have the time it would be worth it

I'll be there in July, maybe I'll do it on the way over! I feel like I should, just because who knows how long I'll be going back and forth.

 

[disneydaydreamer33]

Loving this trip report so far! I really enjoyed your marathon weekend report too! Those toy story attractions look great! Are some of those coming over to Toy Story land at HS?
And love that ToT CM! I love when the CMs add to the fun!
Can't wait to read more!

 

[chelynnah]

I'll be there in July, maybe I'll do it on the way over! I feel like I should, just because who knows how long I'll be going back and forth.

It's the 25th Anniversary, so everything's all updated and decorated. This would be the perfect year to do it

 

[dancingtodisney]

Day 4 - Disneyland Paris Inaugural 5K​

Part 1 - It's race time!​

An early start this morning because we were running in the first EVER Disneyland Paris Rundisney event!!

Flat Karen was ready to go from the night before

We had been so tired the night before we hadn't even attempted to take our facepaint off, we must have slept like a log because we both woke up with it still perfect! We decided we might as well keep it on and wash it off after the run!

Ready to go!

The hotel we were staying at did not have race transportation for the 5k, the lady that checked me in was lovely and explained that they had only been given information about the half marathon and even that was provided super late. There did seem to be a few noticeable areas where the planning and organisation for this weekend was pretty no existent, the expo being another! We could have walked but there wasn't great lighting on the roads so we decided to get a taxi. We were lucky that @chelynnah and her partner were staying in the same hotel and he was running the 5K so we decided to share. I had pre-booked the taxi for 5.30AM, so we were dressed and downstairs for 5.25AM and the taxi was waiting. The journey is 5-10mins max but it was a 20e which is crazy expensive!

We were dropped off right outside the entrance and went in via security. I realised when we came in that I hadn't really done any research and had no idea where we were supposed to go. We went to the start line that we'd seen the day before and started walking through what would become the corrals. The presenters were practicing on stage as we walked past. It was SUPER quiet which I knew wasn't right! We continued walking down through the corals and past various workers who didn't seem at all concerned by our presence. We asked several people where to go and they had no idea! It was clear that we were not in the place but we assumed if we kept following the corals back we'd eventually get to where we needed to be! We made it into the staging area next where they had the backdrops ready for photo opportunities and again there were no runners about but several workers.

We decided to snap some photos anyway

Eventually someone came over and said we were supposed to be in the big expo tent! We were walking towards the doors when they opened and all the runners were coming towards us!! So naturally we turned around and walked with them right back to the staging area. We lined up for coral A (WHOOP) and waited. There were LOTS of runners around now and thanks to our little adventure we found ourselves right up front ready to enter the first coral of the first ever race!

Soon we were let out into the coral and we waited to move closer to the start line. It was SUPER COLD so everyone was trying their best to keep warm. We came to our final spot right at the start line ready for the event to start! Paul Radcliff gave a short interview (in French and English)

and there was a very excited warm up from the presenters.

Paula and her family lined up right in front of us!

We were literally going to be part of the first group of people to start the race! So exciting!

Look how close we are!

READY TO GO!

Just time for one more selfie

AND

3... 2.. 1

Allez Allez Allez!!!

Just like that we were off!!

They were using mini waves withing coral A so only a small group of us set off and it was AMAZING!! We were running straight towards the Disneyland Paris Park and it was EMPTY!

We had planned to take it easy but with all the excitement we took off pretty fast and just kept running! I loved that there was park time right away, it just kept the excitement level super high!

We came down towards the Disneyland Hotel and entrance to the park and cheesed it up for the cameras

I don't know if I mentioned already but we purchased the Rundisney photopass for the weekend, I think it was about 49e and we got a discount with our annual pass

Soon enough we were on Main Street USA

This photo makes me lol as it looks like Rachel is trying to sneak a peak at that guys picture on his camera haha

As we ran around the castle we came across our first characters

There was literally NO WAIT for Cruella and about 2 people ahead of us for Jafar!! Not only because we were right at the front but because a lot of runners were just running straight past...

We took off again and continued running towards Discoveryland. 1KM down already.. it was interesting to do Disney kilometres for the first time!

Soon after we spotted the next character, we initially thought it was Chewbacca and and hopped in line and then realised R2D2 was there too! We did wait a little bit for this one, but only about 3mins or so.

1KM down.. it was interesting to do Disney kilometres for the first time!

Next we got in line for a massive meet! It was lots of Winnie the Pooh characters! Pretty much all the main ones, Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Eeyore and Tiger! Unfortunately when we got to the top some of them had left

That line was pretty long so we waited about 8mins or so....

After getting our photo we took off again and soon enough hit our 2nd KM marker!

We were now around the back of the castle in Fantasyland and already we had hit our next character stop!

Say no more, Gov'ner

They were KILLING it with the character stops, we were only 2.5KM in! ​

 

[dancingtodisney]

Thanks for the shout out. I'm really glad you guys (and now your Dad) joined the FB group.

Wow I have to pay more attention to the fountains! I've never noticed the hand with the wand before - that's embarrassing.

Shhh don't tell Nick that the Parachute drop is tame, I'm trying to work him up to Tower of Terror. I got him on parachite drop and he nearly killed me when it shot up. He ended up enjoying it in the end. I also got him to do RnRC as his first ever proper coaster (he went on 3 times), but so far no Tower of Terror.

I would love to do Space Mountain 2, but the reports (including yours) about the head throwing make it a no go for me with my back issues. I can do drops and loops and speed, but head jerking, nope

Enjoying the report. Looking forward to catching up with you guys again this year if they ever get those bib only sales out!

Ye me too, it'll be fun to all meet up again in September!

Haha... Tower of Terror (despite it's name) is not the worst in terms of scare factor I don't think. There is something about it though that really scares people that have never been on! It was the only ride I refused to go on when we went to Walt Disney World for the first time when I was 9.

It's very jerky!

Well know we're all booked we can properly look forward to it! When do you guys arrive this time? Rachel is actually going to fly to London so we can get the direct Eurostar on the Wednesday.

 

[dancingtodisney]

Joining in!! So cool to see Paris park pictures!! It seems so empty and quiet?!

Thanks for joining It was super quiet! We've been back twice since the rundisney weekend and neither have been as quiet! It was great for our first proper visit, thanks to the party as well we got to do so much!

This looks so fun! I fly through CDG all the time for work, and I am so tempted to take a night and to go Disneyland Paris the next time I head through.

Oh you definitely should! The TGV is only 10mins to Disneyland, pre-book it for a cheap ticket!

Loving this trip report so far! I really enjoyed your marathon weekend report too! Those toy story attractions look great! Are some of those coming over to Toy Story land at HS?
And love that ToT CM! I love when the CMs add to the fun!
Can't wait to read more!

Aw thank you

Oh I don't know! I'd say they might, that little Toy Story are is so cute and even nicer at night. I love RC Racer but it's such a slow loader I'd be surprised if they took it as is to WDW.
CM's can really make an experience!

 

[Ariel484]

WHOA - R2 and Rabbit!! Awesome character meets!

So funny that you wandered into the wrong area, but hooray for easy photos with the backdrops!!

The facepaint looks awesome on you guys! Loving this report!

 

[dancingtodisney]

WHOA - R2 and Rabbit!! Awesome character meets!

So funny that you wandered into the wrong area, but hooray for easy photos with the backdrops!!

The facepaint looks awesome on you guys! Loving this report!

I know! Have to say the characters were awesome all weekend! Plenty more to come!

Haha ye it was so random, people just assumed we knew where we were going!

Aw thank you... I'm really enjoying writing it, it's getting me so excited to go back in September!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

How exciting to be so close to the starting line.

The character pictures are so cute. Nice that the wait times weren't too long.

 

[Ladyfish77]

I'm really enjoying your TR. DL Paris!! Whoop! I read your WDW Marathon TR and loved how your entire family just loves Disney and loves being together--treasure that!

It's actually called La Taniere du Dragon or the Dragon's Lair in English

So awesome. Didn't know this existed *but I know nothing of DLP

unprepared for these crowds that it was starting our running weekend off on a sour note.

So not cool. Obviously they had not gotten trained for the mobs of runners.

not even not great but terrible... really really terrible...

nooooo. After all that wait and then let down.

Annettes Diner in the Disney Village

Is this a nod to Annette Funicello? Cool.

SOOOOO COOL being in the party when it was this empty!

Wow! That was awesome to get those photos.

As it was the last ride of the day he actually rode with us too!

Woot! Such a great photo. And the ones with him after, priceless!

They were KILLING it with the character stops,

Such great characters and being in front with short waits!!!

 

[chelynnah]

Ye me too, it'll be fun to all meet up again in September!

Haha... Tower of Terror (despite it's name) is not the worst in terms of scare factor I don't think. There is something about it though that really scares people that have never been on! It was the only ride I refused to go on when we went to Walt Disney World for the first time when I was 9.

It's very jerky!

Well know we're all booked we can properly look forward to it! When do you guys arrive this time? Rachel is actually going to fly to London so we can get the direct Eurostar on the Wednesday.

Ooh, I missed this as I was home in Canada visiting my family.

Nick loves speed, but struggles with drops. At some point he may try ToT.
We arrive on the Thursday probably around mid-day and leave the Sunday morning, staying at NBC until Monday morning. We're driving. Looking forward to seeing you guys again . Shame our June trips miss out by a day

 

[TheLittleKatie]

YESSSSS I just went in March so I'm on a real DLP high. Loving this!

I was vlogging for our YouTube channel

Love that you're doing YouTube! I will definitely watch when I can!

I knew before arriving that this park didn't have the best reputation but I was keeping an open mind.

It really bugs me that there's no real theming to the park, but it has some of my favourite rides so I do enjoy it! ToT, Rock n Rollercoaster, Ratatouille and Crush Coaster! And not forgetting the backlot tour

Look at the Castle.... so elegant & beautiful

It's my favourite castle I think

I walked through the ticket gates and saw that Mickey and Minnie were out for pictures so I went straight there and got in line. The line was super short, I waited about 5mins.

Whoa this must've been super early, I've never seen their line short! Very cute picture!

I had just enough time to set up Rachel's surprise from me and my parents of custom Etsy Minnie Ears and a Stitch britto as she did AMAZING in her accountancy exams.

Woo Well done Rachel!!!

Then she arrived!!! YAH!!!! SISTERS REUNITED!!!!

YAAAY

First difference was that the door doesn't open directly to the lift, there is sort of a platform area and the CM's go in there and at times jump out at you when the doors open.

The french ToT CMs are all SO good!! There's always someone making everyone laugh.

The second big and most important difference is the timing of the first drop... The ride is almost identical to Orlando so you are expecting something else to happen and then all of a sudden DROP!!! Scared the you know what out of Rachel mwahahahaha

Hahahah YES you're expecting it to move forward through that dark starry electriccy room where the clock smashes and stuff.. and it just kinda drops

this little area was being refurbished for my enjoyment... I wasn't sure how much enjoyment I'd ever get out of this little square of pavement!

That is hilarious my enjoyment of Disneyland was definitely raised a few percentage points because of this square of pavement

t got so bad I thought there was going to be a riot at one stage as people were then screaming at others that walked right in and jumping out of the line to walk in themselves...

Oh dear, sucks that they were so disorganised DLP really is a bit of shambles sometimes

Beaut!!!

Rachel enjoyed it like I had done but wasn't blown away. It was really cute and nice but there are no WOW fireworks and I LOVE me some fireworks...

WHAT I love Disney Dreams!!!!!!

Love this! I have the same photo - arms and everything!

It was about half an hour after Dreams had ended when we left the park...

It had completely emptied in half an hour???!!!

We had THE BEST CM ever! He was so funny and keep scaring people and singing songs and he really just made this the most fun experience! As it was the last ride of the day he actually rode with us too!

Hahah he's such a pro

Flat Karen was ready to go from the night before

"Flat Karen"

We were walking towards the doors when they opened and all the runners were coming towards us!! So naturally we turned around and walked with them right back to the staging area.

I thought you meant they'd done the whole "3 2 1 GO!" and everyone was running towards you as you just stood there lolz

OMG he's GINORMOUS!!!

Eeeee excited for more