Mam, Can we go now? PTR & TR (Post #28) DONE AND DUSTED

[Disneyfanswicklow]

Fabulous photos and what a really special trip for your little boys birthday! You managed to get so much done.....loving shopping trip off site.....I can never drag myself away from parks....have promised dh I will go to Paris this year for one whole day (don't know how I will force myself onto that train lol). Loving reading your trip report!

 

[cinderslg]

Great tr really enjoying it. My dd4 is planning on riding btm for the first timenext month hope she enjoys it as much as james
Great pic with Mickey

 

[kizzabel]

Fabulous photos and what a really special trip for your little boys birthday! You managed to get so much done.....loving shopping trip off site.....I can never drag myself away from parks....have promised dh I will go to Paris this year for one whole day (don't know how I will force myself onto that train lol). Loving reading your trip report!

Thanks Jo. You must have a look around VdE even if only for an hour, its worth a look Paris is beautiful and I do intend to do a visit which is non-disney (shock! horror! impossible!).
He had the best birthday! And what made it special from my point is how much he appreciated and enjoyed it. Hes very laid back which helps, his sister is much more the mother hen but thats nice too - it gives me a break from organising!

Great tr really enjoying it. My dd4 is planning on riding btm for the first timenext month hope she enjoys it as much as james
Great pic with Mickey

Thank you Cinderslg. She will love it! And if she doesn't its a quick ride

Im hoping to add the last bit of this TR tomorrow or Monday. Busy weekend and myself and DD are too lazy here wrapped up watching cartoons so I won't be productive tonight!

 

[Mum to Belle]

Just catching up with your TR now... it is making me feel so cold.

James is such a cutie pie!!

I'm with you on Carousel, a long wait for not a lot, but they love it!

Glad he loved BTM - it's Isabelle's favourite ride now!

Sounds like you had a great trip - love all the pixie dust for James.

 

[Laura678]

Just caught up with your trip report! It looks like James had a fantastic time. The picture with himself and Mickey in cafe Mickey is brilliant! Looking forward to reading the next instalment!

 

[kizzabel]

Just caught up with your trip report! It looks like James had a fantastic time. The picture with himself and Mickey in cafe Mickey is brilliant! Looking forward to reading the next instalment!

Thanks Laura, hope all is well with you.
We had such a great time. The countdown is on for our next trip but unfortunately its still aaaages away. He loves having his pic taken but he was so swept up in all the magic he wasn't looking at the camera in half the pics! Too much to see!! Final installment is hopefully coming tonight if I can track down my notebook!

Just catching up with your TR now... it is making me feel so cold.

James is such a cutie pie!!

I'm with you on Carousel, a long wait for not a lot, but they love it!

Glad he loved BTM - it's Isabelle's favourite ride now!

Sounds like you had a great trip - love all the pixie dust for James.

Thanks Jenny! Its great to have a little daredevil to enjoy the big thrill rides with! Im playing catch up tonight with TRs, looking forward to reading more of your latest one

 

[TheTizardFamily:0)]

Just catching up with TRs, looks like you had a fab trip and little man had a wonderful Birthday!

You have made me even more excited about staying at HNY in November now, everyone seems so positive about it I really can't wait!

But can I just say......brrrr how cold?!?

 

[kizzabel]

Thanks Jemma,
it was really great but -14 wasn't much fun although I don't think it really took from the trip at all. We still did loads and the park was lovely and quiet all week
Hows your planning coming along?
Just finishing this TR now (hopefully!!)

 

[kizzabel]

We had all our packing done from the night before so I decided to get up super early to do EMH with just myself and chubby cheeks. We went down stairs and met an exceptionally bold Pluto!! He sat into James' stroller (and was told off by his handlers!!!) but the best part was this



He held out his arms and gosh did James come running! Makes me well up! His sole purpose was to make my sons morning magical and he truly did. James had the hugest smile.



We spent ages with Pluto just crawling around on the floor and playing but we had to make tracks for the park and they're were other kids waiting to meet him.... We walked out into a crisp, cold morning and almost ran to the park but alas it was not meant to be! No EMH this morning *boo hiss*

We did the walk of shame back to a comatose Elaine and then got organised for breakfast which was in...... The Manhattan side (pleaded dolefully to be allowed - result!!) It was exactly the same but the nicer surroundings made everything taste better I swear!
We went back to the room to sort our last few bits away and then called down to have our bags collected - well we were in the HNY after all
We headed out thru the Village and straight for Salon Mickey for our very final visit. I had a coffee, Elaine had tea and James had juice. It was not the time for pastry. We sadly left SM and James was oblivious and decided Pinnochio was first up. For some reason I prefer this to Snow White even though I hated the film , saying that Snow White was the next ride we did.
And joy of joys.... Carousel was his next choice. Had a less manic looking stead this time though so it was all good.
Elaine was in a iasw kinda mood so off we went there before we had another, better lit flight over London with Peter Pan. So safer rides out of the way we all wanted something a bit faster, higher and scarier so BTM it was.... or not!
We queued as we had all week and then got to the loading to be told DS was now to short. I stood my ground as he'd been allowed all week. The lady who was in charge came over with the measure and said a definite no. Now DS was a hairs breath too short but he had ridden all week no problems and he got very very upset at this point. I cried when I saw the tears rolling down his little face. He kept saying "I'm sad, I just want to go on the train" The lady was much nicer to us at this point and apologised to James and gave his a pass to enter PM without queue.
I stopped on the way over and bought him a BTMRR pin to cheer him up and he was delighted that Chip and Dale were on it. We rode PM and felt a little deflated but I also wanted to make it up to him so the really bold side of me said lets just try for ToT once more...
But again it was a no. But we did have a great outcome! The CM gave James a slip of paper to return with when he's tall enough. I don't know what it does or if it allows him any perks but we have it safely in the suitcase for October. I also bought James an ornament for his room - its a Stitch ToT bellhop hanging out of the height requirements measure - its screamed buy me and it was too apt to leave there!
We had another quick go on Slinky Dog but then it was coming up to our reservation time for RDS.
We arrived a few minutes early but it wasn't a problem.
We paid and were seated and had a wander up to see what was on offer. The soup was fine, nice and hot but of unknown make! I think veg leaning towards carrot but
The salad side of things were ok but I got something a little fishy. Yock. I like some fish but mostly shellfish and this was very tuna like. It looked like a pasta salad but it was probably my own fault for not looking thru it properly. Not was really labeled correctly either.
Mains were fine, nothing great but the desserts were fab. I ate my weight in sweet things and while we were letting it all digest we met this little guy



James thought this was the best thing ever!! He is Remy mad and still talks about this at times

We had a bit of a laze about after our lunch and had a look about the shops
before we picked up sandwiches in the station to have at CDG. We had an hour to kill in HNY before RS Transfers were to collect us so we sat in the kiddies area and James played with a very nice little chap from Estonia. Before we knew it it was time to get organised and RS Transfers arrived. The journey to CDG was quick and uneventful until we got to the airport.
We checked in fine (under weight! but not surprising as my carry on was a killer on my shoulders) and then went for a smoke and just kinda of mooched around.. until I asked Elaine the time. Which was wrong as she A- sets her watch wrong to make herself get out of bed earlier and B - she hadn't changed it over to French time. It took us a minute of adding on our fingers to realise we should be sprinting towards now if we wanted to make it thru security in time for boarding. So off we took like Olympic sprinters and naturally we had a good 20mins to spare by the end!
We landed a few minutes early and customs in Dublin wasn't as slow as usual but of course baggage claim was slow. Win some lose some
We got back to the car and set off for the Ibis on the Red Cow Roundabout for our one night stay and I made a mistake and went the wrong way, and then drove the wrong way up a road and then missed the turn again. All in all after nearly an hour of driving past the Ibis we managed to get in! The rooms were fine, perfectly sufficient and we slept like babies. We were up just before check out and stopped for breakfast on the way home. It was the best trip I've been on to DLP so far. Everything was perfect and yes we had some incidents (mostly my fault although the test center has to take some blame for giving me a driving license!) but James' enjoyment surpassed my hopes.

I am so very much so looking forward to doing our next trip on my own (no other adults), I think I'll be proud to have done it, even if it is alot more hard work and I only hope I can make it as great for them both as this trip was.

Thanks for reading along and special thanks to everyone who gave such great advice, help and who commented on our likkle PTR/TR.
Only 2 months until I get cracking on the next PTR

 

[Laura678]

Sounds like you all had a great time! Was lovely reading along

 

[Ms Poppins]

Lovely trip report. What a shame you couldn't do BTM on the last day...poor James, I'd have been crying too.

I always head straight to the Manhattan at the HNY too for breakfast. The trick is not to make eye contact with the CM's outside the Parkside and walk straight past

I'm sure it won't be long before you're counting down to your next trip. Thanks for posting

 

[kizzabel]

Sounds like you all had a great time! Was lovely reading along

Thanks a mill for reading Laura

Lovely trip report. What a shame you couldn't do BTM on the last day...poor James, I'd have been crying too.

I always head straight to the Manhattan at the HNY too for breakfast. The trick is not to make eye contact with the CM's outside the Parkside and walk straight past

I'm sure it won't be long before you're counting down to your next trip. Thanks for posting

Lol I love that - we did the same - fast march, no eye contact, looking like we had purpose!
We are at 112 sleeps and then 329 til DLH in May (dependant on DD's communion date!) and then 841 til WDW! This is my master plan anyway but it'll take a lot of scrimping and saving but its my something to work towards and reason to not smoke

 

[Princess Clayre]

Lovely report. Your little boy is soooo cute in all those pictures. His little smile says it all. Thanks for sharing.

 

[kizzabel]

Lovely report. Your little boy is soooo cute in all those pictures. His little smile says it all. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks
Looking forward to catching more of these smiles! Almost down to double digits