Page 57 of From Notting Hill with Love…Actually
“I won’t be on my own,” I said, thanking my lucky stars I didn’t have to use any of the weird and wonderful excuses I’d come up with to prevent him arriving for the partying on Friday night. “I know loads of the people who’ll be in Paris.”
“Yes, I know that. But I meant I haven’t seen you for over two weeks, and I’m looking forward to us spending some time together again and hearing all about what you’ve been getting up to while you’ve been away.”
“It’s fine, David, really. I’m sure I’ll be able to find some way of keeping myself amused until you get there.”
We all gathered at the end of Main Street USA, waiting for the kickoff. We’d been arriving at Disneyland Paris in dribs and drabs all day. Some guests like Sean and me had flown in, but the majority of revelers had arrived by Eurostar about twohours ago. Now, after most of us had already spent the last hour in the bar of the Disneyland hotel, we were getting instructions on where we could go and what we were allowed to do for the next two hours.
“…and at 9 p.m. we will meet back here. Then we can separate into hens and stags and all go off to our own individual parties,” Maddie finished reading from her sheet of paper. “And can I remind everyone that tonight’s festivities are a huge favor to Felix and myself. So please enjoy yourselves, but don’t do anything silly or reckless, will you? If you must tie Felix up and strip him down to his undies—at least wait until you’re out of Mickey and Minnie’s sight!”
There were a few polite chuckles from the assembled guests.
“So, what are we all waiting for?” Maddie announced, holding up her arms in dramatic fashion. “Let’s go party!”
Everyone quickly dispersed into the park, eagerly heading toward the ride they wanted to attempt first.
“So, what do you fancy?” Sean asked me. “Space Mountain, the Indiana Jones ride?”
“Erm…” I wasn’t really that keen on rollercoasters. Being spun through 360 degrees while traveling at breakneck speed until you felt sick wasn’tmyidea of fun. “I don’t know. Shall we see what we come to first?”
“Righty-ho then,” Sean said, in his usual relaxed way.
We wandered into Frontierland. This area, full of timber buildings and Indian tepees, was designed to look like the Wild West.
“Oh, this is the bit that has Big Thunder Mountain,” Sean cried enthusiastically. “Come on!”
I had to smile. While we wandered around looking for the Big Thunder Mountain railroad, Sean was just like a big kid—his eyes darting excitedly to and fro, taking in everything and everyone. When we eventually found the ride, Sean almost ran through the turnstiles.
I hung back.
“Come on, Red,” he called, turning around when he found I wasn’t beside him. “What’s up? You’re notscared, are you?”
“No!”
“Well, come on then.”
I cautiously followed him through the entrance. We walked past a sign that stated a one-hour waiting time from this point; a bit further on there was a 45-minute one, and then a 30-minute one followed.
Do people seriously queue this long for this sort of torture? I wondered, as I followed Sean along the path.
“Isn’t it great we don’t have to queue for any of these rides?” Sean said happily when I caught him up. “We can ride them as many times as we like!”
I’m pretty sure once will be enough for me, I thought as I watched the last train rattle and roll its way around the mountain like a high-speed wooden corkscrew.
At last we found our way to the top, where we stood and waited with a couple of Felix’s friends for the “runaway” train to arrive.
“I’m sensing you’re not too keen on this kind of thing,” Sean said as we stood in silence.
“It’s not my favorite way of spending a Friday night, no.”
“You’ll be fine. This isn’t one of those really scary roller-coasters anyway—it’s just a baby one.”
When the train drew up and we were seated, huge metal harnesses descended into our laps—presumably in case we should come to our senses and want to get off again. This always worried me about these types of ride: if they had to strap you in, it meant you were going to travel fast enough to fall out.
But I didn’t have time to worry about that. The train suddenly whizzed off up the track toward a tunnel. The next four minutes were sheer hell, as we hurtled up, down, and around a rickety mountain railroad track. The only thing that made it half bearable was Sean’s hand reaching out and holding mine when we had just got to the peak of a long mountain climb and were about to plunge to our doom down the other side.
When at last we screeched to a halt in the station, Sean released my hand while we quickly climbed out of the train, allowing the next group of fools waiting to ride to take our places.
“So, how bad was that?” Sean asked, grinning at me.
