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BONNIE BARELY SLEPT LAST NIGHT, she was too excited for our adventure today, almost like a child on Christmas eve. I couldn’t keep up with her and ended up dozing off at some point in the night, but I don’t think she managed to get a wink. Looking at her this morning, she didn’t seem tired and I started to question how much caffeine she’d injected into her system.
We dressed for the sunny weather, me opting for cargo shorts today and another graphic tee and Bonnie in another sundress. My photography equipment was all packed in its case, and as we were getting ready to leave Bonnie insisted on taking her sketchbook, because you, ‘never know when inspiration is going to strike,’ and I didn’t have the heart to tell her otherwise.
The rest of the group met us in the hotel lobby and together we walked over to the Gare du Nord, to catch a train that would take us to the magical mouse kingdom. Once we’d purchased our train tickets and a suitable beverage to start our morning we grabbed the next available train and were off. On this journey however, there was little time to play kart racing and I was glad no one had asked me since. They probably thought I was too much of a sore loser last night but it was good fun.
Bonnie and I sat together, where she pulled out her sketchbook and continued with her work. I recognised some of the illustrations were inspired by our trip to the Louvre yesterday.
‘These are really beautiful,’ I said, glancing over her shoulder.
She blushed, ‘They’re just doodles, nothing special,’ she replied.
‘Don’t be silly, you’re a talented artist. Have you ever thought about making your own comic?’ I asked. She shook her head, ‘Why not? You can work from home, you can be your own boss, it might be the ideal career for you.’
‘I’m not sure,’ she said, casting her eyes out of the window.
Concern rose in my chest, wondering if I’d overstepped the mark. I quickly backtracked. ‘Sorry. I just thought it might be something you’d be interested in. I’ll help you anyway I can but only if you want to try and pursue it. I won’t force the issue or anything.’
‘No, it’s okay,’ she said, going back to her sketching. ‘Thanks.’
The pair of us were silent for the rest of the train journey, I didn’t want to end up falling out with a friend. But I continued to watch Bonnie’s creations out of the corner of my eye.
We arrived at the station, Poppy and Bonnie were the first ones off the train. They were easily the biggest children of the bunch, skipping off together hand in hand towards the entrance of the theme park, leaving the rest of us to trail behind.
At the gate, Poppy took care of the tickets, flashing her phone with her confirmation and received decorative lanyards in exchange. She handed one to each of us, along with a few maps. It was here I learnt the true name of the park was in fact the Land of Dreams. I wondered why Poppy had called it the magical mouse kingdom, maybe it had something to do with the mascot.
‘Where does everyone want to go first?’ Tristan asked.
‘Wait,’ Poppy said, standing before everyone. ‘Before we get into the park, we’re all missing something for this adventure.’
Jasper looked at her in disbelief, ‘What do you mean? I thought I dressed the part.’
Amelia laughed, placing a hand on his chest, ‘I think Pop wants us all to look like tourists.’
Poppy puffed out her cheeks and said, ‘Something like that. Come on everyone!’
We all tried to protest but she wasn’t having any of it, instead she dragged us to the closest shop and showed us the item she wanted us to get. Character headbands.
‘Tell me you’re joking?’ I said. I wasn’t fond of the idea of wearing mouse ears.
Bonnie gave me a gentle push, ‘Oh lighten up Harley, it’ll be fun.’ She said, already wearing a pair of pink and purple koala ears. She picked up a matching pair in blue and stuck them on my head. ‘I think you look cute. Come on, do it for me? For the memories?’
I huffed, accepting my fate. ‘Fine. But only because you asked.’
Amelia picked up a pair of mouse ears with a big polka dot bow for herself, and for Jasper the same but with a blue wizards hat. Poppy chose a pair of white cat ears with a little pink bow, and for Tristan a set in black. We paid for our ridiculous headbands and wandered out of the store, some of us with smiles on our faces and the rest just wishing the day would be over already.
We started our journey in Fantasyland, the home of the looming castle that stood in the centre of the theme park. Everything inspired by mediaeval fantasy lived here; from the Arthurian legend of the Sword in the stone, to a labyrinth of flowers and the promise of a tea party at the end.
Bonnie mentioned she’d love to venture into the hedge maze, considering it was based on her favourite book from childhood. We decided to go in as a group, but split off in the three different routes you could take. Naturally, I was paired with my best friend, which I was sure the rest of the group were plotting to push us closer together on this trip. First the matching headbands now this?
We walked around the garden, stopping each time we came to a figure from the book. I happily snapped pictures of Bonnie standing next to each one, acting out a particular scene of the book. We followed the whining labyrinth round, having to backtrack several times to reach our chosen destination, but finally we made it to the centre and were the first ones to arrive at the tea party.
Several cast members sat at the table in full costume, inviting us to join them for tea. Of course, Bonnie wasn’t shy to accept their invitation, but she dragged me along forcing me to sit beside her as we accepted tea. The rest of our friends joined a short time after, jealous we’d got to meet the cast members, who were stationed in the labyrinth for a limited time.
I set up my tripod and gathered the full group together at the party table, each of us sitting on a random assortment of chairs and holding the colourful teapots and cups as props. We all laughed at how silly we looked, but in truth we all enjoyed ourselves.
‘Oh!’ Bonnie squeaked as we were leaving the labyrinth. ‘They’ve got a ride here inspired by the book too. Look over there.’ She pointed a short distance away, at a pergola, decorated with paper lanterns and fairy lights, and underneath colourful teacups, spinning around in a big circle. ‘That’s if it’s okay with everyone else?’
Poppy was first to answer, ‘Course it is, I’ll race you there.’ As soon as the words left her mouth she took off in a sprint with Bonnie following close at her heels.
It was amazing how close the pair of them had gotten on this trip, it was nice to see. The rest of us refused to run after the children, but managed to rejoin them in the ride queue. We discussed how we were going to assemble ourselves inside the teacups until a cast member informed us we could all ride together and we opted for that instead. Bonnie sat in between Poppy and myself, and begged me to take photographs while we were spinning.
The music started and the entire platform shifted, rotating in a big circle, while the girls spun the wheel in the centre of our teacup, forcing us into a vortex. I struggled keeping my camera straight just to get a good shot, but I continued, not wanting to disappoint them.
When it was time to get off, the pair of them whined, but Amelia promised to buy them soda if they went with her on the next ride and they quickly changed their tune. The second ride was much calmer, something we all needed after the first one. A simple sitting in a boat, listening to a fairytale as you moved around the scenery watching animatronics come alive. One again, we were put into our usual pairs and by now I was used to it.
Back outside in Fantasyland, we all took it in turns to pretend to pull the sword from the stone, making for some comical snapshots. Tristan was the most dramatic with his poses. Amelia was the most elegant, and the terrible twosome that was Poppy and Bonnie the most chaotic. Afterwards we stopped to grab lunch, and hopped on the mini train that would take us over to another section of the park. This time Jasper decided our fate, and I was ecstatic, this would’ve been my place of choice to come too.
Spaceland. Specialising in everything Sci-fi related, and some of the bigger roller coasters. The first one, Highway to Mars, was by far the scariest, that launched you high into the sky. I was desperate to ride and asked Bonnie to join me.
‘I don’t think I can do it,’ she said, holding her fist against her chest. ‘I’m just… I can’t do heights, or darkness. Would you mind if I sit this one out?’
‘Are you sure? Would you like me to wait with you?’ I asked. I didn’t really feel comfortable leaving her by herself while everyone else was going on the ride.
‘No, it’s-’
‘Actually, I think I might sit this one out too,’ Amelia said, and slumped herself on the wall next to Bonnie. ‘Let my food go down a bit. I’m not too good with rides after I’ve just eaten.’ She added, sharing a giggle with Bonnie.
‘If you girls are sure.’
‘We are, you lot, go have fun. We’ll be here when you get back,’ Amelia said, shooing me away. As I was walking away, she gave me a wink to ensure Bonnie would be okay in her care.
I couldn’t explain the adrenaline I felt as I walked out of the rollercoaster, like I’d hit lightspeed in a split second and almost crashed back down to Earth. I felt so alive. The rollercoaster itself was incredible, dimly lit by what was meant to be stars, planets circling around as you shot across the galaxy.
We wandered back, still dizzy from the rush of the ride and met up with the girls. They were still sitting on the wall where they were both sketching. They looked up from their pads as our shadows loomed over them, slightly blocking their light.
‘How was the ride?’ Amelia asked, putting away her supplies before I could take a glimpse at her work.
I was about to answer when Tristan started bouncing up and down on the spot, ‘It was out of this world. Get it? Because we’re in Spaceland,’ he was like a child who’d had too much sugar.
Poppy shoved him and said, ‘Your jokes aren’t funny, stop.’
I laughed but pulled my attention away to focus on Bonnie, ‘What did you two get up too? I hope we didn’t keep you too long.’
‘Not at all,’ she replied as she put away her pencil, before turning her sketchbook around. ‘I saw these characters from a distance and wanted to draw them.’
Funnily enough their ears looked similar to the ones we were wearing. ‘Are they still about? Did you want to take a photo with them?’ I asked, thinking it might make a nice addition to the memory collection.
Bonnie’s eyes lit up, ‘Can we please? They are so cute!’ She said, ‘I think I saw them wandering over in that direction.’
‘Do you guys mind?’ I turned to ask the rest of the group.
‘Not at all, we’ll check out this shooting gallery and meet you by the flight simulation in a bit?’ Jasper suggested, which was the most I’d heard him talk all day.
We agreed on the next location just as Bonnie yanked me over to the two koalas; the pink one wearing a hibiscus flower on her ear and the blue one wearing a Hawaiian lei around his neck. We greeted the characters in the usual fashion with hugs and a funny gesture about the headbands we were wearing. Their handler offered to take our photo and I handed him my camera. They took some decent shots and then offered us plush keychains of the characters, which Bonnie begged me to buy. And me, being a guy who couldn’t refuse her puppy dog eyes, did exactly that, and even attached the creatures to our bags for the rest of the day.
The group met us at the flight simulation, which was the same fighter model of the kit I bought the other day. We all hopped on board and strapped ourselves in. Inside we were blasted by squirts of water and blown by wind machines as we soared through the galaxy. We laughed, and screamed at certain parts, but we all enjoyed it. Jasper couldn’t stop talking about it on the train ride to the next section, Westernland, Tristan’s choice.
We partook in a wild west shoot out using water pistols, jumped on the runaway train roller coaster and met a few more characters whilst we were there. But soon the sun began to fade on our adventure in the Land of Dreams, and soon it would be time to say goodbye. We returned to the main plaza, where the princess castle was lit up like a Christmas tree.
The theme park was closing up for the night, and our bellies were full of the various food we’d purchased from each of the concessions as we ventured around. Collectively we still had a couple of churros, a bag of popcorn and pick-a-mix, we were sharing between us.
‘We can’t leave yet,’ Poppy protested, as we were making our way to the main gate.
‘Pops, the park is closing, we can't stay any longer,’ Tristan cooed, wrapping his arm around her waist. ‘We’ll come back again, I promise.’
‘No, we can’t leave when we haven’t even seen the character parade,’ she said.
‘Oh, I’d love to see that,’ Bonnie chirped up, then she looked at me. ‘Would it be okay if we stayed to watch the parade?’
‘I’d like to see the fireworks,’ Amelia added.
‘Oh, I love watching the displays,’ Jasper agreed.
We found a little spot at the front of the main street, which was the closest we could get to seeing the parade and huddled together to keep warm. We waited until the music began to play and I don’t know if it was through pure excitement, but Bonnie squeezed my hand. Her eyes were transfixed on the scene unravelling before us.
Characters arrived on their own parade floats, decorated in their individual themes and wearing sparkling costumes that the lights danced off of. Handlers walked amongst them, some with drums and some dancing in between the floats. It was spectacular, that I even struggled to take my eyes off them. I snapped as many photographs as I could manage while watching. Once every character had said their goodbyes, along came the fireworks above. A colourful array of blooming patterns and bright lights, we were all enthralled by.
At that moment, I felt Bonnie’s head rest against my shoulder, much like she’d done in the museum. I gave into my desire, and placed mine on hers, wishing this moment could last forever.
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