Tradition is part of everyone’s lives.

In the States, we have our traditions, like celebrating Halloween.

In France, they have started to take the American tradition of the carved pumpkin and the costume.

I, unfortunately, broke my tradition of dressing up for Halloween and traded it in for a day at the greatest place in the world.

After returning from three days of fun in jolly London and finding out the St. Louis Cardinals lost the World Series (it was a sad day in baseball), a bunch of friends and I went to a place where all your dreams come true and where a certain mouse reigns supreme.

We went to celebrate our Halloween early at Disneyland Paris.

The park was decked out for the holiday with a giant pumpkin right in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle. The Halloween parade was amazing. Instead of it being the princesses’ parade, it was all of the Disney villains. There were villains from Gaston from Beauty and the Beast to Ursula from The Little Mermaid.

I had the best time dancing to the Halloween music with my friend from the University of Rhode Island.

Main Street U.S.A. had a certain eerie feel. Although the Disney music played throughout the park, the sound of witches and ghosts laughing could be heard.

It was hard to tell if a person dressed as a monster was going to just jump out and frighten someone.

Frontierland was transformed into Halloweentown and around every corner orange and black could be seen.

We spent the day riding the rides and soaking in the Disney fun.

After the long day at Disneyland Paris, we had a long meal at Planet Hollywood. I mean it was a really long meal.

Our server kept disappearing, and it took forever to receive our food. He would not come ask us if we needed anything or how we were doing. It was the worst service we had ever had; that is why I did not buy a shirt.

We were scared we would have to spend the night in Paris because the server was taking his time. But, we ended up taking the last train out of Paris back to Orléans.

In the end everything worked out, and we all had a great experience at Disneyland Paris.

Oh by the way, I was looking really snazzy in the Mickey Mouse ears I bought. I felt like a child again.

Jessica MacIntosh is a foreign correspondent for The Chart. Her opinions are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of The Chart staff.