thewelshman
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2009
We returned from DLP on Monday, unfortunately I came down with a nasty bug Monday night which wiped me out for a couple of days. This is a brief summary of our trip.
Thursday 3.45am – Wake up, get dressed and finish loading the car before lifting the kids (DS 5 & DD 2) out of their beds and putting them in the car.
Drive from South London down to Eurotunnel took about an hour and 15 check-in a breeze (never done the tunnel before) – kids have no idea we are going to DLP and as we are on the train, have no idea we are leaving England.
A smooth drive down to Paris has us arriving at DLP by 11am, DS spots the tower of terror and shouts “We’re at Disney” to which DD responds (without looking up from her game) no we’re not, Disney is in France (we went last year but her comment took us by surprise!). Check in at the Santa Fe was relatively painless and they gave us a room with bunk beds (building 14, room 16). Room was not made at that point – I can’t complain because it does say check in at 3pm – housekeeping assured us it would all be down by the time we get back from the park.
By 12 noon we are in the main park – Sun is out and it’s looking like a beautiful day – we head for fantasyland and get there just as the Sleeping Beauty performance starts – maybe it’s just me but I swear this years sleeping beauty looks like Sam Mitchell! Onto the carousel (5 min wait) where a very rude woman tries to push my DD off the horse she is getting onto as she wants it – What is it with the pushing? Last year was the same, they are incredibly rude. By the time we get off the carousel the sky is darkening and we head for dumbo, 5 min wait – get on just as the heavens open – Getting a tad wet in the process. We then jump on to the teacups which has no wait at all – By the time that has finished the rain has stopped and we wander over to “It’s a small world” – I have to be honest – I hate this ride, but the kids love it (In my head all I hear is “Duff beer for me, duff beer for you, you have a duff, I’ll have one too).
We book a fast pass for space mountain and head to star tours (20 min queue). Making good use of parent switch we go onto Space Mountain and then onto the Nautilus – Queue for Autopia is ridiculous – promise to come back early another day for it.
Our first trip onto Buzz Lightyear lazerblast – and my wife beats me Grrrrrrr. Will have to come back for a rematch!
We head over to Thunder Mountain and have 1 ride on that (Top Tip, remove your child’s baseball cap before riding – it’s now part of the lake!) and by that point we are all exhausted – so decide to head to Val’de Europe to get some wine for the room and have a meal – stopping at the Italian restaurant where we had some lovely pizza and wine for a very reasonable 39 Euro’s inc starter.
Friday 30th
Into Disney Studio’s and straight to Toy Story Playland – We are the 3rd group onto parachute drop – it’s great fun and a reasonably long ride, the theming is excellent. Onto Slinky dog which the kids love, I stand at the side taking pictures. Unfortunately RC racer is offline – this was the only time there wasn’t a queue of over an hour for it – so never made it onto this ride.
Wife and DS queue for Crush whilst I take DD on Magic Carpets – DD meets Buzz whilst we are waiting for wife and DS to emerge – Just in time as she comes out for the parent switch – tbh Crush is nice, but this is my 2nd time on it and I really don’t see why the queues get so big.
Onto Tower of Terror which we all head onto – everyone staring at our kids going on this ride “so brave” is one comment. Again only a 10 minute queue – Last year my DS loved this ride but DD was too small – this year DS says after emerging from the ride “I don’t want to do that again”. DD thought it was ok but not overly impressed.
We head for our first of 3 visits to Stitch Live – love the fact it changes every time we see it – and straight onto playhouse Disney (the amount of foil leaves we have for “art” is ridiculous.
We then go to watch the parade, get a great position in front of the stage and really enjoyed Star’s and Cars.
We then go to Motors Action – which as usual is great – took some fantastic pictures (glad I bought a good camera this year) and we are sheltered from the rain coming down.
We then went to Animagique which we missed last year –really enjoyed this very clever.
Onto RocknRollerCoaster where again we make great use of parent switch and again only a 15-20 minute queue.
Took the kids to Armageddon – DD is not a fan of this!!!!!!
By this time Park is starting to close so we head to McDonalds for tea – which considering how busy they were the service is fab – shame about the horrible smell of sick on the ground floor – thankfully not an issue up on the top floor.
Back to the hotel for drinks and sleeps.
Saturday
Saturday was a dual parks day whilst we hunted around for a top my wife wanted for our DD. Queues were a lot busier but still not chaotic and we did Thunder Mountain, Swiss Family Treehouse, and Indiana Jones – We’d also got in early so jumped on Autopia as it opened and also Orbitron plus another quick ride on Space Mountain. Made it onto Pirates of the Caribbean which had no real queue at all and found a couple of park tickets dropped by someone in the Disneyland hotel which we dropped off at reception.
We headed over to the Studios to Meet Sully and also did the Cars ride, and another trip on magic carpets. We then headed back to the main park for the Showtime Spectacular and the main parade- I swear Disney control the weather as just as the parade started, the clouds parted and the sun came out, as the parade finished the clouds came back and within 5 minutes there was torrential rain!
We had made a booking at the Plaza Gardens, as we enjoyed it there last year – Food was superb as ever with plenty for the kids to choose from. After the meal we decided to head for the hotel and enjoyed a drink in the bar whilst listening to a guitarist who must have spent an hour on his soundcheck.
Sunday, our least favourite day in the parks – Weather was horrible, we did Pinochio and Peter Pan, IMO the two most boring rides in the park but the kids enjoy them. Some poor soul must have overdone it the night before as the CM were desperately trying to clean up one of the peter pan boats as it went past, shovelling lots of sawdust on it and then trying to scrape it up….lovely.
We made it to Phantom Manor which I really enjoyed – I have to be honest I don’t see what has been refurbished – it seemed very much the same and the ride stopped frequently “Ghostly spirits etc” DD & DS were a bit scared of it this time round, last year no probs???
Did thunder mountain again as we all enjoy that. Wandered over to the studio’s and the queues were horrendous, worst we’ve ever seen, Did the Cars ride again, and Stich Live Again but decided as we were eating at Café Mickey that evening we would go back to the hotel and get all cleaned up.
Café Mickey – Well…thanks for all the recommendations, Our starters were lovely, Garlic Mushrooms, yum. Kids had the Pizza and the Pasta which IMO are a rip off, but our main courses were great – I had the steak and my wife had the fish & chips. We both had the chocolate cake to finish. We met: Mickey, Pluto, Baloo, Goofy, Chip n Dale, Tigger and Friar Tuck who all spent time at the table Total Bill including 4 Long Island Ice Tea’s was 130 Euro’s - Expensive but a good evening.
Monday, our final day – packed and out of the Santa Fe by 9am – We did buzz lightyear laserblast again and one last turn on thunder mountain – then over to Studios for a final turn on tower of terror and stitch live. We then did the bulk of our character meets as Geppeto, Sherrif of Nottingham, Eyore, Tigger, Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee were out en masse. Also DS got to meet buzz after a lot of confusion, he was over an hour late appearing and no one was sure what was going on. After all of this we decided it was time to head for home, got to the tunnel at 7pm, shopped until 8pm and got home by 10pm.
A lot of fun, but still recovering!
Highs:
We met over 20 different characters and have photo’s and autographs with each.
Café Mickey was great, the shows fab, and the hotel was nice.
Minnie and Princess Tiana spent a lot of time with DD which she loved.
Lows:
Guests Rudeness & inability to queue
Weather
Bad organisation of some character meets : Woody’s Roundup – We are all waiting patiently, the characters come out from a gate by Stinky Pete, then immediately went back in and reappeared over at the back of the BBQ Food Barn – Considering there was only about 30 people there (hardly a mass crush) I thought it very unfair that people who had patiently waited ended up at the back of a new queue to meet these characters.
Am I going back? It depends on whether we get the money together for Walt Disney World!
Thursday 3.45am – Wake up, get dressed and finish loading the car before lifting the kids (DS 5 & DD 2) out of their beds and putting them in the car.
Drive from South London down to Eurotunnel took about an hour and 15 check-in a breeze (never done the tunnel before) – kids have no idea we are going to DLP and as we are on the train, have no idea we are leaving England.
A smooth drive down to Paris has us arriving at DLP by 11am, DS spots the tower of terror and shouts “We’re at Disney” to which DD responds (without looking up from her game) no we’re not, Disney is in France (we went last year but her comment took us by surprise!). Check in at the Santa Fe was relatively painless and they gave us a room with bunk beds (building 14, room 16). Room was not made at that point – I can’t complain because it does say check in at 3pm – housekeeping assured us it would all be down by the time we get back from the park.
By 12 noon we are in the main park – Sun is out and it’s looking like a beautiful day – we head for fantasyland and get there just as the Sleeping Beauty performance starts – maybe it’s just me but I swear this years sleeping beauty looks like Sam Mitchell! Onto the carousel (5 min wait) where a very rude woman tries to push my DD off the horse she is getting onto as she wants it – What is it with the pushing? Last year was the same, they are incredibly rude. By the time we get off the carousel the sky is darkening and we head for dumbo, 5 min wait – get on just as the heavens open – Getting a tad wet in the process. We then jump on to the teacups which has no wait at all – By the time that has finished the rain has stopped and we wander over to “It’s a small world” – I have to be honest – I hate this ride, but the kids love it (In my head all I hear is “Duff beer for me, duff beer for you, you have a duff, I’ll have one too).
We book a fast pass for space mountain and head to star tours (20 min queue). Making good use of parent switch we go onto Space Mountain and then onto the Nautilus – Queue for Autopia is ridiculous – promise to come back early another day for it.
Our first trip onto Buzz Lightyear lazerblast – and my wife beats me Grrrrrrr. Will have to come back for a rematch!
We head over to Thunder Mountain and have 1 ride on that (Top Tip, remove your child’s baseball cap before riding – it’s now part of the lake!) and by that point we are all exhausted – so decide to head to Val’de Europe to get some wine for the room and have a meal – stopping at the Italian restaurant where we had some lovely pizza and wine for a very reasonable 39 Euro’s inc starter.
Friday 30th
Into Disney Studio’s and straight to Toy Story Playland – We are the 3rd group onto parachute drop – it’s great fun and a reasonably long ride, the theming is excellent. Onto Slinky dog which the kids love, I stand at the side taking pictures. Unfortunately RC racer is offline – this was the only time there wasn’t a queue of over an hour for it – so never made it onto this ride.
Wife and DS queue for Crush whilst I take DD on Magic Carpets – DD meets Buzz whilst we are waiting for wife and DS to emerge – Just in time as she comes out for the parent switch – tbh Crush is nice, but this is my 2nd time on it and I really don’t see why the queues get so big.
Onto Tower of Terror which we all head onto – everyone staring at our kids going on this ride “so brave” is one comment. Again only a 10 minute queue – Last year my DS loved this ride but DD was too small – this year DS says after emerging from the ride “I don’t want to do that again”. DD thought it was ok but not overly impressed.
We head for our first of 3 visits to Stitch Live – love the fact it changes every time we see it – and straight onto playhouse Disney (the amount of foil leaves we have for “art” is ridiculous.
We then go to watch the parade, get a great position in front of the stage and really enjoyed Star’s and Cars.
We then go to Motors Action – which as usual is great – took some fantastic pictures (glad I bought a good camera this year) and we are sheltered from the rain coming down.
We then went to Animagique which we missed last year –really enjoyed this very clever.
Onto RocknRollerCoaster where again we make great use of parent switch and again only a 15-20 minute queue.
Took the kids to Armageddon – DD is not a fan of this!!!!!!
By this time Park is starting to close so we head to McDonalds for tea – which considering how busy they were the service is fab – shame about the horrible smell of sick on the ground floor – thankfully not an issue up on the top floor.
Back to the hotel for drinks and sleeps.
Saturday
Saturday was a dual parks day whilst we hunted around for a top my wife wanted for our DD. Queues were a lot busier but still not chaotic and we did Thunder Mountain, Swiss Family Treehouse, and Indiana Jones – We’d also got in early so jumped on Autopia as it opened and also Orbitron plus another quick ride on Space Mountain. Made it onto Pirates of the Caribbean which had no real queue at all and found a couple of park tickets dropped by someone in the Disneyland hotel which we dropped off at reception.
We headed over to the Studios to Meet Sully and also did the Cars ride, and another trip on magic carpets. We then headed back to the main park for the Showtime Spectacular and the main parade- I swear Disney control the weather as just as the parade started, the clouds parted and the sun came out, as the parade finished the clouds came back and within 5 minutes there was torrential rain!
We had made a booking at the Plaza Gardens, as we enjoyed it there last year – Food was superb as ever with plenty for the kids to choose from. After the meal we decided to head for the hotel and enjoyed a drink in the bar whilst listening to a guitarist who must have spent an hour on his soundcheck.
Sunday, our least favourite day in the parks – Weather was horrible, we did Pinochio and Peter Pan, IMO the two most boring rides in the park but the kids enjoy them. Some poor soul must have overdone it the night before as the CM were desperately trying to clean up one of the peter pan boats as it went past, shovelling lots of sawdust on it and then trying to scrape it up….lovely.
We made it to Phantom Manor which I really enjoyed – I have to be honest I don’t see what has been refurbished – it seemed very much the same and the ride stopped frequently “Ghostly spirits etc” DD & DS were a bit scared of it this time round, last year no probs???
Did thunder mountain again as we all enjoy that. Wandered over to the studio’s and the queues were horrendous, worst we’ve ever seen, Did the Cars ride again, and Stich Live Again but decided as we were eating at Café Mickey that evening we would go back to the hotel and get all cleaned up.
Café Mickey – Well…thanks for all the recommendations, Our starters were lovely, Garlic Mushrooms, yum. Kids had the Pizza and the Pasta which IMO are a rip off, but our main courses were great – I had the steak and my wife had the fish & chips. We both had the chocolate cake to finish. We met: Mickey, Pluto, Baloo, Goofy, Chip n Dale, Tigger and Friar Tuck who all spent time at the table Total Bill including 4 Long Island Ice Tea’s was 130 Euro’s - Expensive but a good evening.
Monday, our final day – packed and out of the Santa Fe by 9am – We did buzz lightyear laserblast again and one last turn on thunder mountain – then over to Studios for a final turn on tower of terror and stitch live. We then did the bulk of our character meets as Geppeto, Sherrif of Nottingham, Eyore, Tigger, Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee were out en masse. Also DS got to meet buzz after a lot of confusion, he was over an hour late appearing and no one was sure what was going on. After all of this we decided it was time to head for home, got to the tunnel at 7pm, shopped until 8pm and got home by 10pm.
A lot of fun, but still recovering!
Highs:
We met over 20 different characters and have photo’s and autographs with each.
Café Mickey was great, the shows fab, and the hotel was nice.
Minnie and Princess Tiana spent a lot of time with DD which she loved.
Lows:
Guests Rudeness & inability to queue
Weather
Bad organisation of some character meets : Woody’s Roundup – We are all waiting patiently, the characters come out from a gate by Stinky Pete, then immediately went back in and reappeared over at the back of the BBQ Food Barn – Considering there was only about 30 people there (hardly a mass crush) I thought it very unfair that people who had patiently waited ended up at the back of a new queue to meet these characters.
Am I going back? It depends on whether we get the money together for Walt Disney World!
