Started off this morning a bit later going to breakfast in the 8am hour.  After breakfast walked through the Disney Village stopping at a couple stores on our way to Disneyland Park.  Once inside roamed around Main Street enjoying some of the Halloween entertainment and morning activity.  Worked our way out to Frontierland and visited with Jack Skellington before and took in more Halloween festivities before returning to Main Street for Mickeys Halloween Celebration parade.   After the parade wandered through Adventureland, hiked through the Swiss Family Treehouse then strolled back to the Cottonwood Ranch area of Frontierland.   Visited with Mickey, Pluto and Goofy and roamed around the area before returning to the main part of Frontierland.  Went for a ride on Phantom Manor since it was a walk on and then went to a later lunch at the Silver Spur Steakhouse in Frontierland.   After lunch crossed the hub and found a spot for the It’s Good to Be Bad with the Disney Villains moment.   After their song took some character photos then went into Discoveryland.  Grabbed a snack at the Café Hyperion and took in some of the Jedi Training Academy then wandered around Discoveryland circling Space Mountain.  Decided to go for a ride on the Autopia which had a longer wait than Space Mountain and Star Tours (combined!).  30 min vs 5 and 5.   Walked out toward Small World and caught the Disney Magic on Parade! From there.  After the parade wandered around Fantasyland.  Went for a ride on the Carrousel and then found a spot with a great view of Sleeping Beauty Castle to get some tweets in the queue for this evening.  Stopped by for a second showing of the villains show then made my way back to Main Street and saw Minnie in her Halloween outfit then spent some time in the Liberty Arcade.   Circled Town Square then headed for the Disney Village.   Found a spot with an ok view and let the phone start to upload the tweets.   Then roamed around the area a while before heading back to the Lodge to call it an early night.  We have a 4am wake up call tomorrow… we head up to tour the D-Day beaches in Normandy so it will be a long day!

• We started off a bit later with breakfast in the 8am hour this morning.  The Golden Forest Lounge was more crowded at this hour and they had a second room open for seating even.  The advantage of the bigger crowd is they kept bringing out fresh/hot food.  On our way out the door we took a quick look into the regular breakfast downstairs and thought it was a more limited offering and substantially more crowded and chaotic than the Golden Forest Lounge.
• On our way to the park we spent some time in the Disney Village checking out a couple of the stores since we had not really stopped to see any of them the previous days and we were not in a huge hurry to get to the park this morning.  It was nice to shop at this hour, just after 9am due to there being no one around.
• Stepped onto Main Street and the Halloween festivities were in full swing and the street was alive with activity.  There was a Halloween inspired band and several Main Street vehicles were out making the rounds and all were decked out for the season.  It was great to see and a really brought a sense of energy to the street. 
• I thought the costumes on the Scarecrow inspired band were great.  The selection of music was a bit odd to me and not very Halloween themed to me.  Also having to use sheet music was a bit of bad show but they sounded ok and did bring energy to the area.
• Jack Skellington had a photo op in Le Cimetiere de Jack (Jack’s Cemetery) in Frontierland at the Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing.   The backdrop worked and had both a covered/protected area and you could stand in front too.   Jack was really into it and interacting with both the guests he was taking pictures with as well as those in the queue and even those in the area walking around.   After you met Jack cast members were on hand to give you a candy treat (they called them bonbons but were basically marshmallows) and a Halloween activity handout.  This was a great plus!
• Found a spot in the hub for Mickey’s Halloween Celebration with the goal of having Sleeping Beauty Castle in the background.  Lighting was a bit of a challenge but better than the Disney Magic on Parade the other day.   I had avoided learning about the parade and wanted to just experience it.  I was very impressed with the seasonal offering.  It had a handful of floats and large number of characters and other performers.  They ran this three times a day and still ran the regular parade once.  So this is a great plus for the season! 
• Went for a hike up the La Cabane des Robinson (The Swiss Family Treehouse).  It was well done with what felt like wider walkways than the other tree houses and less steps.. maybe I was just in better step shape after Paris.   One difference of this version vs others is no water system in this tree.  Also as you got near the top of the tree the branches and leaves really obstructed views of the park.
• The Cottonwood Creek Ranch area in the back of Frontierland was open for the Halloween Festivities.  There were some characters roaming around and a photo spot for Mickey Mouse.  It had a feeling very much like the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree at Disneyland of a hidden quiet spot.  It was not crazy and you had time to interact with the characters and cast members which was great.  I turned a corner and ran into Goofy and Pluto and got to spend quite a bit of time taking some pictures of them and with them as they goofed around for me.
• I was disappointed they did not have anything going on in the stage out there.   Also seeing the area around the train station made me more disappointed I was not going to have a chance to experience the Disneyland Railroad.  I think there were some great photo ops back there and I could picture the trains coming through.    
• We at lunch at the Silver Spur Steakhouse in Frontierland.   We walked in with no reservation and were seated right away.  There was no wait and only a dozen or so tables with guests at it.  The place looked great and from time to time a cast member would come out and play the piano which was a perfect touch.   The steak was ok.  I should have sent it back to have it cooked more but about ¾ of it was cooked ok for me.   My only complaint is guests let their kids run wild and cast members did nothing to stop this.  For example one group let their kids go up to the piano and bang on the keys (not play anything.. just hit the keys) and they took pictures and video for several minutes.   I do not know why a cast member did not go and ask them not to use the piano.. it was very disruptive to everyone eating.  Another interesting note is they had fountain drinks here.. no glass bottles… but no refills though.
• It’s Good to Be Bad with the Disney Villains! Took over the castle stage.  This brief show ran a handful of times per day and was how the Villains made their appearance for photos with guests.   I thought this was a fun little show and great way to make an entrance and allow for photos of them.   Also interesting they changed up which Villain was the lead/spotlight.   Afterward most went to photo spots and were available.  This process was a little more chaotic with the guests standing around and the Villain choosing who to come forward for a picture.  It worked but looked a bit crazy.
• I caught a Jedi Training Academy show while in Café Hyperion grabbing a snack.  The show is more or less the same as the version here in the states.  A couple of tweaks.  First the light sabers have lights vs extending.  Also they levitate R2D2 which was a fun effect.  The process was a bit slow with only Darth Vader for the kids to fight.   Also the set up took some time as the Jedi Master had to say everything in English and French.  It worked but was slower.
• I waited for the Autopia in the late afternoon since I wanted to compare to the others around the world.  One of the few attractions every resort has.   They only had 2 of the 4 tracks open so this made it a 20 minute wait.  The cars drove very much like the ones here in the states with gas engines and the braking.  The drive itself was much better than I had thought.  It was decent length and the tree/forest theme as you drove around was really nice to see.  I enjoyed the experience.. the wait not so much but the drive was good.
• While waiting I talked to a family from Australia.   I heard them describing it the attraction to their children saying it was like what they experienced in California.  So I asked their impressions of Paris compared to California.  They thought the original Disneyland in Anaheim was significantly better because of the cast and guests.  They said the Paris guests as a rule were more rude and the smoking everywhere was annoying.  The biggest difference though was they said the park was missing “life”.  They said the guests just did not seem to have that Disney magic/energy or happiness.   They did single out Pirates as being better in Paris.  They were going to skip Disney Dreams because they had to catch a train but figured it could not live up to World of Color which they really enjoyed.  I thought this was an interesting comparison vs a castle show.  Guess they heard projections and that was the comparison that came to mind.  I always do enjoy hearing what other guests have to say and had plenty of time in the slow moving Autopia line to chat.
• Speaking of lines the lines throughout the day for everything else were really short.  For example Big Thunder and Space Mountain both were usually around 10 minutes.  Think the longest I saw was 15.   But Autopia was up around 30 due to it operating at half capacity.
• I called it an early evening and headed back to the hotel by 8pm because tomorrow was going to be a very very long day and I had a 4am wake up call in order to catch a 5am train to the City as we were heading to the D-Day Beaches for the day.

Daily Summaries & Pictures:

• Sunday - September 27, Day 1 - Arrival and 1st Visit to Disneyland Park
• Monday - September 28, Day 2 - Disneyland Park
• Tuesday - September 29, Day 3 - Walt Disney Studios Park & Disneyland Park & Hotel New York
• Wednesday - September 30, Day 4 - Paris Sightseeing
• Thursday - October 1, Day 5 - Versailles Sightseeing & Disneyland Park
• Friday - October 2, Day 6 - Disneyland Park Halloween
• Saturday - October 3, Day 7 - Normandy - D-Day Beaches
• Sunday - October 4, Day 8 - Disneyland Park, Hotel Cheyenne, Hotel Santa Fe & Disneyland Hotel.
• Monday - October 5, Day 9 - A soggy afternoon at Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park as well as Newport Bay Club.
• Tuesday - October 6, Day 10 - A quick trip to Disneyland Park then heading home.