disneyland paris, part 2

we had park hopper tickets for our day at disneyland paris, so once we'd gotten our fill of the disneyland side we headed over to walt disney studios next door.

captain marvel was there to greet us as we went inside.

you go through this building that's themed to look like old hollywood, and all of the facades are really fun.  there's lots of shops and a food court there.

and then you walk out and find yourself looking at a replica of the "storytellers" statue that's also at disneyland california.

the last time we were here, it was pouring rain.  while it was cloudy for most of our visit this time, at least we didn't get wet.  their entire cars land area was closed for refurbishment, though.

they have a toy story playland here, and it's super cute.  it was a lot more crowded than last time though, and the slinky dog ride i remembered was also closed for refurbishment.  oh well.

this is what i really wanted to do, though - the ratatouille attraction opened not long after our first visit and i was excited to ride it.  the standby line was really long though, so the hub and i got into the single rider line instead.  we wouldn't get to ride together, but that's okay.

it reminded me of the transformers ride at universal studios - a mix of a virtual reality attraction with a bit of movement in the cute little mouse-shaped cars.  and it ends with a peek inside the bistrot chez remy restaurant.  it was a really fun ride, and i knew the old lady (who adores this movie) would have loved it.  i took video during the ride to share with her, although since you're wearing 3D glasses for it i knew the video wouldn't be the greatest.  she liked it anyway, and hopefully one day she'll get to ride it for herself.

i was also pretty excited to see this:

while i like the guardians of the galaxy ride we now have instead at california adventure, the tower of terror will always have a place in my heart.  and since the hub enjoys this ride too, i knew he'd be cool with waiting in line for it.  i loved seeing the familiar set-up as we went through the queue.

 you can kind of see us in the top left corner, if you squint just right.

next up was the studio tram tour.  i wasn't sure what we'd see here, but at least it was a ride where we could sit for a bit.

just as i'd anticipated, there wasn't much.  it was just long enough to rest our feet for a little while.

the ratatouille ride had given the hub a headache and he was pretty much over waiting in line, so i ended up waiting for my last ride of the day solo.  he headed off to the starbucks in the disney village outside the park while i went here:

the old lady and i had fond memories of this ride, and so it was the only thing left that i really wanted to do.  and i definitely paid the price as i waited a full hour in line for it.  but it's such a great ride, and it's more exciting than it sounds.  you sit in these turtle shells that spin around randomly, and it's just really fun.  there's even a cute little model of it outside, so you can decide if you want to ride it or not:

on my way out i passed this monsters inc. themed area that the bean had enjoyed last time:

and then that was it.  au revoir, disneyland paris!  merci beaucoup!

we walked through the disney village just so i could check it out, and while i would've loved a drink from starbucks the line was ridiculously long.

there was an equally long line for this:

and by then it was almost time to meet up with our driver for our ride back to paris.  as we walked to our meeting spot we passed the train station we'd been to with the girls when we were here before.  it's right outside the gates, and an easy way to get here if you don't have a car.

back at the hotel les matins de paris, we'd been moved to our upgraded room.  and it was most definitely an upgrade - about twice the size of the first room with a bigger bed and way more space to move around in.

we decided to walk down the street to have dinner at one of the bazillion cafes, and shared some burrata and steak frites.  so delicious.

it was a lovely way to end our long day, and we both passed out pretty hard once we got back to the hotel.  we were averaging at least 15,000 steps every day so far...not bad, right?