Disneyland!

It was a long weekend because of the bank holiday. Munirah and I had earlier planned to crash Nina's Paris trip. This was something I told Nina that I wanted to join as a passing comment at the end of last year, and it actually happened. I think it's a bit crazy just to think about how about 15 years ago, we were up north in this country growing up together. We had then gone to Malaysia and lived our lives separately, only meeting up once a year. And then here we are, abroad, experiencing Disney again but when we're a lot older. If you had told me that when I was 12, I would have laughed and ran off to play, but now, I think life's pretty incredible.

On Monday, my uni friends who stayed over left in the morning. They kept on inviting me to go to Sheffield with them, but they only did because they knew I had other plans. I went into town to get myself some snacks for the trip and then headed into London that evening. I ran for my train, but I got to Victoria pretty early... did a little wander but then realized that the coach station was not next to the train station. Thankfully, I got there just in time.

I've been to Paris on a coach before, and it was back when I was a student. I couldn't remember the experience being that bad. I'm unsure if it's because this time we took the ferry instead of the underground tunnel or because of my lifestyle change that has made it come to that, but it wasn't as pleasant as I remembered it. This time, we were up half the night going through immigration, getting onto the ferry, and getting off the ferry... but I did get enough sleep. I'd like to thank my travel pills for that. When we got to Paris, we were the only ones left on the coach for Disneyland - it was like it was chartered. 

Arriving in Disneyland, we took the Metro to the next station out and checked into our hotel. Munirah called in earlier to ask them if we could get an early check-in, and they were nice enough to have saved a room for us. I would 100% recommend staying at Ibis Marne La Vallee because of its convenience, affordability, and comfort. We do not have any complaints. Unpacking, I initially did not want a shower, but I'm so glad I did because it felt like the best shower I've had. After freshening up, we headed back onto the Metro and to Disneyland. There were a lot of people, and the park had signs up saying that they were out of tickets, so you could just imagine how many people were at the park. 

Fortunately, we didn't have to queue long to get in because we were smart and followed the cast member's advice. Obviously, due to the pressure of the surroundings, the first thing we did was get ourselves Minnie Mouse ears. Honestly, no regrets, and I'm so glad I have money to be spending on things like that. There was a strike going on, so we were redirected away from the main street, but we finally met up with N & KY near Central Plaza. I felt like it was a moment (refer to the first paragraph). 

We hadn't had breakfast yet, and I had dinner quite early the day before because I didn't want to go to the bathroom on the coach. So we went to get some chocolate-filled Mickey Beignets, they were ok... I guess we can all say that we had better, but they were massive and enough for two to share! After having food, we went on our first ride, which was in Adventureland! I'll be absolutely honest and tell you that I can't remember the ride's name, but we were in a boat, I think, and there were pirates. There was a short drop where our photos were taken. Out of the four of us, I was the only one showing my face in that photo because it seems like everyone else either covered themselves or was covered by the people in front of them. 

Our next ride was the teacup ride. We were intending on squeezing into one teacup, but that didn't turn out as planned. So there we were trying to not get ourselves dizzy, but it was fun nonetheless. Now, you can't go to Disneyland and not get your head filled with "It's a small world after all," so that was our next ride. It was a very long queue, but I'd say you can't go to Disneyland and not go on that ride. We may have missed it, but the only Malaysia bit seemed to have been a sign that felt like an afterthought. We saw Jack Sparrow and Jafar on our way to lunch. We had fish and chips, and it wasn't too bad.

It got a bit too warm at one point, so we rested a bit in the shade before our next ride, which was the Indiana Jones roller coaster. I have a bit of history on this one. It came back to me as if I was just 12 yesterday. I remember queuing up for the ride with my parents. I was quite happy to go on it at first, but then I saw the 360 turn, and I just started bawling. I was scared, but we were probably near the front by then, so I ended up going on the ride. This time, though, I didn't cry, and the ride didn't seem as scary as it did when I was 12. To simply put it, I'm not a scaredy-cat anymore, and I'm clearly a big girl now. We screamed on the ride anyway because why not. 

After the ride, we headed to Central Plaza just to find out that the parade isn't on. We were pretty gutted about it. So we went onto our next ride, which we felt was a bit of a waste of time. It was a haunted house (but not the roller coaster one), and it initially had a short waiting time but ended up taking forever. Following that, we went to Buzz Lightyear. The ride stopped at one point so I shot at the same target to get my scores up. I am crap at targeting, so even with that, I don't think I did very well. 

It was starting to get late, and by then, we were all pretty tired, and I'd say half of it was because it was so warm. We then decided to search for ice cream, but the ice cream shop I wanted to go to was closed, so I went to get a milkshake instead. It was lovely, but there was too much of it that I didn't end up finishing it. 

N and I's next ride was Space Mountain. We queued quite long - again, it wasn't meant to be that long, but when we got there, they were saying how they reduced the number of carts, so the queue moved a lot slower. While Space Mountain has been rebranded, they didn't do a very good job of it. BUT I LOVED SPACE MOUNTAIN. If I had all the time in the world, I would go on that ride at least 5 times. Space Mountain has another memory linked to it. When we were there as kids, Aisyah was the only one who went on that ride. I remember being in awe because I felt like she was so brave to have gone on it. After the ride, she obviously raved about it. At that moment, I felt as if I missed out, but there was no way that I would have gone on something that looked so scary. Going back this time, I just wished that younger Asma had the courage to go on it because I would've been mind-blown, and it would've probably been the only thing I'd talk about. 

We then ended the day with waiting for the light show - it was definitely worth waiting for. It was magical and was the best way to finish our day in Disneyland. 

The next day, we were up for our second and final day in Paris. Our first stop was Pret. They made amazing iced coffee, and I had the best biscoff cruffin from Brioche Doree. It was only good because it had a lot of butter and sugar, obviously. Our first stop was the Louvre, and then we walked to get a view of the Eiffel Tower. We got tired... lol. So we Ubered to the famous hot chocolate shop. The portion of the hot chocolate was enough for 3. The salad was enough for 4... portions are odd here. 

We then had to head to the airport. The whole experience of getting back home was hectic. Our flight was delayed, which was fine. We went around the whole airport searching for a shop that sold Longchamp; it was right next to immigration. We then queued for so long at immigration. At that point, both M and I were quite concerned, but both of us were trying our best to keep it in. Basically, we both showed our strong front because we needed that support from each other. We got the middle seat empty on the plane, which was nice. 

When we got to London, there was literally no way back into London or Maidenhead because of the rail strike. I've never minded the rail strike, but honestly, it got us bad this time and was so troublesome. Mainly because there were no other public transport alternatives. It was just silly. Thank God I had Meriam and Don because they drove the whole way from Maidenhead to come pick us up. I feel extremely blessed and thankful that I have them here. I kept on thinking how if I were in Malaysia, I wouldn't have even had to second-guess it and would have just called my parents even if it was 3 AM in the morning. But it's different here. That said, I'm glad I have my Maidenhead parents.