Bye. Bye. Blue! *Release Balloons!*

Another tradition that is repeated at each Bye Bye Blue is the letting go of 120 blue helium balloons at the same time. Each balloon had a small letter attached that someone had written near the beginning of the evening. 

Bye Bye Blue.... 

Group Photo

After many squish pics and lots of dancing we had the annual photo where Madame Chantal gets up on a ladder and takes a group shot. We were very lucky that the weather was good, not sure what we would've done if it had been raining...

Me and my friends...

My friends started showing up, all looking lovely in their dresses. We spent the first half hour getting our photos taken by parents, eating food and drinking blue lemonade. I was surprised to see that there were already people lining up to get squish pics and Daddy was already hard at work. 

From L-R: Nora, Hannah,  Lizzy, Fiona, Amelia, Emilie and me. 

Me and Wendy, both in red.

My group of friends

Bye Bye Blue Begins!

Adorable cookies

Madame Chantal, who arranged the whole dance, putting a Bye Bye Blue  bracelet on me.

Me and Mommy at the entrance to Bye Bye Blue.

Mommy had volunteered to help out, so she would be staying at school as well.  This meant that my whole family was there. Mommy, Daddy, Ashlynn, Me and Buddy. 

Before the Dance...

 

After helping with the preparation of the squish pics, I got changed into my dress (that I bought in Curacao) in the bathroom. I wore high heels that I'd got at V&D, a purse that had been handed down from Mommy and a necklace that had been given to me by Memmie. Ashlynn and Buddy were there to help set up the  squish pic sheet, but they stayed for the whole evening. Lucky Ashlynn is the only kid that gets to have 2 Bye Bye Blues.

Setting up for Bye Bye Blue

July First: Bye Bye Blue. The school dance that all the girls in Y9 had been looking forward to since the end of Y8. It was a celebration of getting rid of our blue jumpers and going to black in Y10. So, basically it was our graduation party. 

Daddy decided that he wanted to help out by setting up an area to do squish pics. And for that he needed: a massive backdrop, lights, ladder and mats to go under the fabric. Here are some photos from the setting up of the backdrop for the squish pics. 

We had helpers in 4 windows of the 1st floor to pull the massive piece of cloth up. 

Ashlynn and I pulling on one of the sides.

Pull!

The concierges throwing down gymnastic mats to go beneath the cloth

9JN Class Pool Party!

A week after Ashlynn's Party we hosted another, this time for my form group. Most of the class came, except for 3 of the boys. Daddy fired up the barbaque and everyone brought their own meat to be eaten. As well as that, everyone was requested to bring some chips or a fizzy drink to share. We had enough food, which was good. We had a great time shooting each other with water guns or trying to push each other into the pool. In the evening we sat around the campfire and roasted marshmallows.

The Girls making Pringle Duck Faces!

The slip-n-slide that Daddy made

Group photo!

Sitting round the fire place

P.S. Happy Birthday to me!

Ashlynn's Birthday Party

For Ashlynn's 11th Birthday party, she decided that she wanted a pool party. And that she wanted my friend Adelina to help her make her cake. So Adelina came home with me after school on Friday, spent the night and then on Saturday morning helped to make and decorate Ashlynn's cake. She made two. One with an orca on it and the other with green icing and the words - Happy Birthday Ashlynn. 

Ashlynn and Adelina posing with the cake.

I got to invite Lizzy to sleepover the next night as well as Adelina, so Lizzy and Adelina spent Saturday night.  We did go in the pool, but not for very long...(it was just a tad bit cold)

Jumping in!

Princess Party

My group of friends summoned our inner Disney Princesses and went over to Adelina's house dressed as Disney Characters. We watched Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid. 

Adelina made a beautiful cake - as usual! 

Adelina (Meg from Hercules), Me (Rapunzel from Tangled), Nora (The Genie from Aladdin) , Ziyoda (Evil Witch from Snow White), Amelia (Abu from Aladdin), Ellie (Peter Pan from You know what), Lizzy (Pirate from Peter Pan), Emilie (Ariel from the Little Mermaid) 

I'd spent the evening before making a long wig, made unfortunately from white/yellow/purple yarn. 

We had a very fun time and I loved letting out the little girl inside me and watching everyone else do the same. 

Our Favourite Car Show

We saw the most awesome Car Show / Special Effect show at the Studios. It was AMAZING! First there was a car chase, and the drivers of the cars could do some pretty cool stunts. To see a youtube clip press here. Then there was the motorcycles (click here) and then out came Lightning McQueen, the car from the Disney movie CARS. He was getting chased by a car with a 'Secret Weapon'. Next was a car that drove up a ramp and jumped a massive way onto a big air mattress. We were shown how this would become more dramatic by adding music and special effects. Then they acted out a car chase scene from a movie, (which included fire) before putting it together and adding the special effects so we could see how it was filmed, and then how it looked when it was in the theater.

We loved this show so much that we went twice during our stay. 

Most AMAZING car show EVER!

here

Disney at Night

On usual days the park closed at 7pm, but on Friday night it stayed open till 10pm (not the Studios, just Disneyland). The castle was lit up and so were the rides and the shops. We ate dinner at our favourite restaurant in the park - the one that was in the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride! (We ate there 3 times in the course of 5 days). The food was good and the setting was awesome - we got to wave at people going on the ride!

Parades and Shows

Toy Story float.
In the ones above - Peter Pan, Lion King, Ursula from Ariel

The pictures above are from the main Disneyland Paris Parade. There were big floats with characters from the Disney films. There were dancers and characters that would come up to the audience and get the kids involved. Very cute. 

The pic below is from the show at the Studios. More singing and dancing characters, but the funny thing was, all the singing and talking was in French! 

A Whole New World Lyrics in French!

Ce rêve bleu, (One True love)
C'est un nouveau monde en couleurs (A new world and colours)
Où personne ne nous dit (Where no one can tell us)
C'est interdit (It's forbidden)
De croire encore au bonheur. (Believe in happiness) 

Fun at the Studios

We had loads of fun photo stops in Disney Studios. Here are some of them...

We're singing in the rain.......la la la la la laaa

Meeting Stitch (he was short! I had to bend down to stand next to him!)

Meeting Remi from Ratatouille 

OMG! Why is Rex eating Ashlynn? Wait.....am I feeding Ashlynn to Rex? I would never do that.

See, I told you I would never feed Ashlynn to Rex. I want to eat her myself!

The Line Clowns

Daddy and I found a new way to entertain ourselves (and others) while waiting in lines for rides - Juggle! 

The balls are really easy to carry in a backpack, it doesn't take up much space and its FUN!

People would watch us as we juggled and the kids would happily retrieve the balls for us if they fell. 

It was a great way to keep ourselves occupied in boring lines...

rides@disneylandpark.com

Here are some great rides from the Disneyland Paris Park. 

p.s. the address at the title of this post is NOT real......so don't send them an email....

Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast - Go around the galaxy shooting moving targets to try and defeat the Emperor Zurg! (This ride had MASSIVE lines! We went before public opening time and just before closing time, when the lines weren't as long)

Big Thunder Mountain

Pirates of the Caribbean Ride

Walt Disney Studios

On the second day we went to Walt Disney Studios, which was smaller than the other park, but had some pretty big rides as well. Below are our two favourite rides at the Studio, Rock'n Roller Coaster and The Hollywood Tower. Even Mommy liked the Hollywood Tower, and she rarely likes big drops.