Disneyland Paris

Many months ago, as I took computer science as a GCSE option at school, I was offered a place to go on a school trip to Disneyland Paris, to see how they use computer science in the park. I, of course, said yes, and I don't think anyone realised, at least for a while, that it would be mock week. Anyway, that was a while ago, so I don't really remember, and it's boring, so let's get to what actually happened.

The journey was rather boring, with nothing really happening at 2AM, and some people on the coach trying to sleep, nobody was awake enough to really be doing much, although I did sustain conversation with the person I was sitting next to for a little bit. It took us a few hours, but we stopped off at Cobham services on the M25 due to driving hour limitations, and the services were surprisingly empty, and then headed on to Dover. After a few hours, we got there and entered the port. Then we were handed our passports again by the teachers, who had kept them so far to make sure we didn't lose them. We went through passport control relatively easily, a few bags were pulled off the coach, and people searched, but it didn't take long at all. We had got to Dover and passed through quickly enough that we managed to get on a ferry about 2 hours earlier than we were booked on.

The Monday was our first day in the parks. We had breakfast in the hotel and took the coach to DIsneyland. For those who don't know, Disneyland Paris is split into 2 parks: Disneyland Park, which has the castle and is mostly child-themed Disney, and Disney Studios Park, which has some bigger rides. On the first day, we were only allowed in the Disneyland Park. As part of the trip, we had some tasks to do in the park. We had to go on 2 rides and write a short paragraph about how they use projection mapping. To start the day, the group I was with went to Pirates of the Caribbean, one of the mandatory rides. This was followed by the other mandatory ride, Phantom Manor. We spent the rest of the day walking around the park, and went on the following rides, although I can't remember in what order:

• Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain - I enjoyed this ride a lot, it is more of a rollercoaster, and is completely indoors. Probably the best rollercoaster in this park.

• Indiana Jones™ and the Temple of Peril - This was another rollercoaster-type ride. It wasn't as good as Hyperspace Mountain, but was still enjoyable.

We repeated these rides a few times, as well as stopping to eat at Pizzeria Bella Notte, which had very good pizza. It was better than some fast food chains, which is surprising, given its in Disneyland, and people have nowhere else to go.

We also stopped in the shops along Main Street, buying souvenirs for family, and then ended the day by watching the Evening Spectacular.

The Evening Spectacular is definitely worth watching if you go to Disneyland. Even without paying attention to the story and characters, which you should, the projection onto the castle, music, lighting, drones, water, pyrotechnics...it's all blended together in a way that is incredible, and it is just such a spectacle. There is no way to justify it using words, you have to be there.

On Wednesday, we made our return trip to the UK. We started off at around 0800 hours from the hotel, stopping off at a service station along the way before arriving in Calais at around midday, hoping to get an earlier ferry than the 1500 we were booked on, just like we did on the way there. However, as the coach driver was getting us through the barrier and into the port, we were given some disappointing news: French border force were on strike until 1600 hours. We pulled into a layby next to the ferry terminal building, so we had toilets, wifi and a lunch option (vending machines), and waited. Upon further research, I found out that, after a 48 hour strike at the end of January, French border force were striking every other day in February from 10AM until 4PM over the French Government raising the pension age to 67. There was nothing we could do. So I sat on the coach for a bit, browsing socials, and then eventually went inside the building. It was practically empty, except for 2 ancient planes in the middle. I have no idea what they were, and this place was obviously a lot less used to English tourists than everywhere else we had been to. I got a few waffles from the vending machine, walked around for a bit, and then got back on the coach. We rejoined the queue at about 1540, and, after clearing a vehicle inspection (similar to a DVSA check in the UK), with the coach operating company getting a slap on the wrist for faulty GPS of some description, we made it to passport control. The French police were there to help ease the backlogs from the strike, so they were who stamped out passports. We then made it to UK passport control, and it was the first time hearing a room of proper British people (outside of our school group) in a couple of days. There are no words to describe that. While that was happening, they put a dog through the coach, and then, eventually, we made it on the 1700 ferry, arriving in the UK at about 1745 local time. We stopped at Cobham services again on the way back, and also had a driver swap, as our driver wouldn't've had the hours to drive us all the way back due to the delays in the port. We made it back to school at about 0030 hours, and, as such, were given the next day off school.