Castle club :=).........................................report complete

[hildasmuriel]

I am going to Disney tomorrow, so today seems a good time to start my last trip report. (anything to put off the packing).

It was only an overnighter, but I took a whole heap of photos. If you get fed up reading about daft middle aged ladies (+ 1 child) and seeing photos of them being silly - read no further. You have been warned.

Saturday November 28th

The idea for this trip started some months ago. First it was to be just Dtr and I. Then sister S said she wouldn’t mind joining us. When I mentioned it to sister J she said she liked the idea as well. J has never been into Disney – her son is grown up but not yet married so she has no little ones in her family – but she liked the idea of a short overnight stay with us ‘girls’. We decided together that as this was a one-off, never to be repeated trip, we would stay in a Castle Club room. S had her 50th birthday this month and that seemed a good enough excuse for the trip – so our stay was duly booked.

Poor J was exhausted before we even started – she has just started a new job which involves 17 weeks intensive training – and no days off allowed, so she would probably have preferred a quiet weekend at home.

I started to have a sore throat last Wednesday and worried that I may be starting Swine Flu.

S is always busy anyway and was in meetings until 1pm Friday lunchtime before she could get away and drive up from South Wales, ready for the Saturday morning.

But by Friday night we were all ready, my throat had got no worse – we met up for the evening and let the excitement really start to build.

Husband was to drive us all to St Pancras - this is us at 7.30 in the morning.

And then at St Pancras.

We boarded the train after buying up half the stock of Marks & Spencers food. Note I have only water, while my sisters have little bottles of wine.

We had a real laugh on the train. S is the queen of silly photos.

We had a little bit of panic when the train stopped outside the tunnel and the announcement was made that we could not enter the tunnel for technical reasons. Fortunately this was only a 10-15minute delay.

Once we arrived we headed into the Disneyland Hotel and mentioned at Reception that we wanted Castle Club.

WHOOSH! Immediately a Cast Member took our luggage away and escorted us in the lift to the Castle Club reception lift on the first floor. From there a Castle Club receptionist came to meet us and we got our first glimpse of the CC floor. We were asked if 2 of our party would care to have a complimentary drink in the CC lounge whilst the other 2 checked in. You bet they would! Off went Dtr and J to do just that. S and I went over to check in. This is also a bit different – you are seated in comfy chairs across the desk from the CM, not standing the other side of the counter as I have done in every other location. He was very very thorough and went through every detail for us. He opened the Park guides and recommended where we should go and when, numbering events for us to make sure we didn’t miss any. Lovely man.

Would we like to see our room, he asked. Heck yes. It was just as lovely as I imagined, but for some reason I took only one photo of it.

I did take a picture of this lovely set though.

It has emery boards and a comb and cotton pads and a sewing kit, shower cap, toothbrush and toothpaste, razor and shaving foam.

Our luggage arrived while we were there ( so that only took about 10 – 15 minutes to reach our room), then S and I went back to the CC lounge to join the other two. Dtr was enjoying a cocktail with a Captain Hook light-up clip. I was enjoying the view as much as our free drinks.

And then........

 

[FiFi Rose]

More more more............

Never mind the packing

 

[hildasmuriel]

.....

Now we were ready for the Park – into the CC lift and straight down to the turnstiles. Dtr wanted to hang around to make sure everybody saw us getting out of the lift! (Okay I quite liked that idea too)

It wasn’t quite as bad as I imagined it would be, considering it was the middle of the afternoon. This was J’s first visit so we took her down Main Street and through the Castle into Fantasyland for her first glimpse. I love the walk down Main Street during Christmas season with all the carols playing.

We went through Belle’s Village and over to Les Pays de Doo-Dah, which we were able to ride without queuing. It had started to rain a little bit, but it didn’t dampen out enthusiasm.

This was our aim for the weekend – to ride as much as possible but to queue for no more than 10 minutes if possible. My sisters don’t ‘do’ queues!

We walked towards Peter Pan, where the queue time was 80minutes and people were snaking out of the main queue and back towards POTC.

“Are you sure this is right?” my sister asked as we walked around these people and into the empty lane.

“Absolutely!” I said as we flashed our VIP Fastpasses and were boarded within 2 minutes.

We went passed the pirate ship when it was time for a bit of photography.

From here we went to Indiana Jones and used FPs again. J has neck problems so was, like me, coming along just to see the ride, whilst S & Dtr were actually going on. I love the moment in the queue where first-timers see the loop-the-loop bit and do that wide-eyed stare. Within 5 minutes they were on the ride while J & I waited. S loved it – she always screams on rides but said she actually had no voice when it turned 360°

We cut through Colonel Hathi’s into Frontierland. We could see that the queue for BTM using fastpasses was short enough to fulfil our less-than-10-minute aim, so we joined that queue. Dtr told J that she would be alright on this ride as it wouldn’t aggravate her bad neck. So off the three of them went. After the ride J said we LIED to her – it was very very scary and she never wanted to do it again! We bought the on-ride photo and you can clearly see on that that J was scared.

It was 4 o’clock now so we decided to go back to the Castle Club lounge for tea. This was really nice. There were sandwiches, (crusts cut off, of course), canapés, strawberries, mousse, little tomato/mozzarella combinations, pastries, cakes and drinks of course.
Even the crockery is special in the lounge.

and then.....

 

[pyebibby]

Loving your report, hope you get some more done before you leave tomorrow!!
Castle club sounds great and those VIP passes.

 

[hildasmuriel]

Our idea was that we would go from tea to wait to see the Parade, but what we hadn’t realised is that the parade was running the other way and started down at Town Square, so of course by the time we got there it was very busy and no spaces really to watch.

We made our way through the side alleys to Pirates and had a ride here. Of course we had to buy the onride photo again. S&J both loved this ride. As we came out, we happened to notice Captain Jack sheltering in a doorway next to the Blue Lagoon. J nearly swooned at the sight and hurried over for a photo with him.

We had a booking at 6.30 in Inventions so we made our way back down Main Street and up in the Castle Club lift (I love even TYPING that!) and back to our room to drop off our photos and a couple of other purchases we had made.

At 6.30 we went in for our meal. I have loved Inventions every time I have eaten there, but I have never had such a funny time. All the characters seemed to be game for a laugh. Minnie seemed very impressed with us as we all had our Minnie ears on.

There was one waiter (not even OUR waiter) who kept coming over and joining in the fun – he popped up in the back of one of our photos,

he made a silly hat out of a paper menu

he would say BOO in my ear as he passed,– he was just so silly.

We had a visit from quite a few characters – some of them twice.

Chip flipped forward our Minnie ears each time he passed.

Pluto tickled S and I so much we could hardly breath for laughing.

I also got pounced on by him as I was getting food. In the midst of all this , we enjoyed the food as well.

Outside we waited in Town Square to watch Fantillusion.

The CM was also in superb form. He was encouraging the crowds to cheer after he gave them a “un.. deux… trios…”. Then he decided to get guests out to give the countdown – Dtr got chosen – she has a very loud voice so had no problem getting the crowd to cheer.

Then he decided to get me into the middle of the road to have my photo taken.

He certainly added to the atmosphere and fun of the evening.


and then....

 

[DLPdaft]

...... and then - more more more please

 

[Fiona35]

Don't hold out on us Bev, more more more!!

 

[hildasmuriel]

Now the parade came – J really threw herself into it, shaking her fist and BOOOing at Jafar and waving like mad at Mickey. At the end she admitted she had been crying as well. My photos are a bit wobbly, I'm afraid.

We managed to scoot down Discovery Arcade and get up to Small World before the parade so we had a second view of it there. Dtr had a light-up Tinkerbell clip on that she waved like mad, so Tinkerbell, who heads up the parade skipped over to her to wave her wand at the clip.

Next we went on Small World – what a difference from our last visit. It was delightful and so very Christmassy. Dtr and I ooohed and aaahed all the way round. We thought we would have time to ride it again the next day so we didn’t take photos, just sat back and enjoyed. It seemed really different from before. (As you can probably guess, we didn’t get on again the next day, so I have no photos of it)

Walking through Fantasyland we saw that Pinocchio was a walk-on and went on for a ride, followed by Snow White, as that had less than one lane of queue. We walked through to the other side of the beautiful glitzy castle and took a whole bunch of photos then went into Frontierland.

J had NO desire to ride BTM again so Dtr and S went off for a ride whilst I took J on Phantom Manor. She was suitably impressed by the ‘goblins and ghoulies and creatures of the night’. We met up again with the other two and S was telling us that BTM was definitely more fun in the dark.

Things were winding down now so we went for a look at the dragon under the castle

and then strolled down Main Street taking in a few of the shops on the way. We decided to go and look at the Village and explore a few more of the shops. S & J were quite taken with the Disney clothes and both made a large number of purchases!

We went back to the DLH, through the ‘normal’ entrance this time! It was quiet by this time.

We went into Cafe Fantasia and ordered cocktails, but really we were all dead on our feet.

We soon finished them and went up in the CC lift to our lovely room. Sleep was NOT a long time coming.

 

[mommy2ash]

great tr i love all the pics. really impressed with cc i would love to stay there someday lol

 

[hildasmuriel]

Ohmigoodness – who set that alarm at such a stupidly early time? Oh yes, that would be me. We all felt quite tired but didn’t want to waste a moment of our short trip so we were up and ready to be in breakfast when they opened the doors.

Hello people below....we’re in Castle Club. No, we didn’t really call that out.

Breakfast was tasty, tasty, very, very tasty (anyone else remember that ad?)

but a glance out the window showed the weather had not improved.

We went in for EMH and were not at all surprised to find Buzz was not open – Sod’s Law dictates that Buzz is always closed on our last morning.

Instead Dtr and S went on Space Mountain (cue more screaming from S) and then we went into Fantasyland for a ride on Pinocchio and then the Carousel.

We rode Peter Pan – J had decided she liked this and it was just the right pace for her!

I keep forgetting that EMH is only 1 hour at the weekend – so by now the Park was opening fully and we went on POTC and bought yet another ride photo and had a look in the shop.

We left the Park and went over to the Studios where we did our longest queue of the weekend – on an attraction I am not all that bothered about! We had to wait about 20 minutes for the Tram Tour. We were quite cold by the end of that so we went to the Backlot Express and had Croque Monsieur and hot drinks. RnRC was not working so we went over to see Stitch live. The sisters loved this.

We used our FPs to walk on TOT next.

J had decided she would use the chicken exit with me, but as they queued, S said “ it’s only a couple of minutes. You may regret it if you don’t do it” She went on. She hated it and was crying for our mum! She was literally shaking when she got off but that didn’t stop us buying the ride photo, cruel people that we are. By the time we sat down later she was laughing enough to recreate the photo moment....they all did. Notice in the photo how S and Dtr are clinging onto J.

We decided that Cinemagique was a nice gentle thing to do next and we all enjoyed that. It was time to return to the Park for our meal in Walts.....

 

[wideeyes]

Great trip report so far.

Where are all the sweets? Did the not have it filled at all?

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

Really enjoying Bev! More more please!!

 

[eeyorefanuk]

Really loving your trip reports. Cannot wait for the rest.

Also to hear at the end of the report hopefully what your sisters thought of their visit to DLRP.

You do not have to answer this one ............ but ........... how much did it cost for one night stay please?

 

[hildasmuriel]

We had a wonderful meal in Walts – superb. I would post these pictures on the restaurant thread but I can’t remember exactly what each dish is!

We had lots more laughs here as well.

It snowed on Main Street quite a lot this weekend - this is just before we went in Walts.

Now I let myself down after this – I made no exact record of what we did in the afternoon. I know that we went and FP’d Buzz. J got a very respectable first time score and liked that ride. We didn’t get a ride photo as there weren’t all 4 of us in 1 photo.

We went to look at Casey and the Pay de Doo Dah but there was quite a queue. Fortunately there wasn’t much of a scrum around these 2.

Yay – Dtr has wanted to meet Piglet for ages.We then spent a long time indulging ourselves in the shops buying Christmas presents and lots more for ourselves. Dtr decided to watch the parade from outside Pizzeria Belle Notte but we oldies decided to have a warm up inside instead.

The last couple of hours were spent atmosphere sucking before it was time to collect our luggage from the DLH and head for the train station.

We spent the journey home reviewing our photos,

our purchases

and (in one case) having a doze.

Oh and thanks to the mum of the boy who was sitting behind J & S. It was that boy’s birthday and Mum had bought him a Thomas the Tank Engine electronic toy that went “chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP ... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP......... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP...... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP... chuffty chuff chuffty chuff chuffty chuff PEEP PEEP” for 3 WHOLE HOURS.

We were absolutely exhausted at the end of the weekend but it was worth it. I laughed more in those 40 hours than I had done for a long time. Both sisters enjoyed it more than they expected to, I think. J is now determined her husband WILL go with her one day and they will stay in CC for a week. He just sits and mutters “no way” whenever it’s mentioned.

Castle Club is wonderful and if you can afford it without having to sell ALL of your children, I say go for it.

Eeyorefanuk – the room was booked for only 2 people, as Dtr and I have APs. (they said we would have to pay city tax, but in fact they never asked for it) – so for room and park tickets for 2 adults it was £922 for one night.

 

[FiFi Rose]

Loved your trip report as always. Your photos are the nearest I'll ever get to Castle Club. Are you mixing with the common folk downstairs tomorrow

 

[hildasmuriel]

Yes we're 'standard' tomorrow.

 

[Ms Poppins]

That was lovely. Glad your sisters enjoyed the trip - looks like they had a blast. You're all very alike - just as well you had glasses on, or i'd have been very confused...

Have fun on the next one

 

[disney_princess_85]

Great report Bev! I agree with what Julie said above- you all look very similar!

Just wondering: are you allowed to have more people in the room than you paid for? I thought that was a no-no?

 

[FiFi Rose]

Yes we're 'standard' tomorrow.

Oh poor you, careful you don't catch anything Have a wonderful time (I'm very jealous!)

 

[DLPdaft]

Your trip looks like it was a riot from start to finish - and what a first time for sister J !!

Enjoy more DLH this week Hildasmuriel ,