Booknut
<font color=green>I couldn't figure out why people
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2005
Today we woke up pretty early thanks to the best wake up call in the world - our little princess! She was obviously excited about the day ahead and woke up at 6am (which is really 5am UK time so obscenely early!). Today was the first day we suffered from what was to become 'I don't want to get out of this wonderful bed'. For those of you who haven't stayed at the Santa Fe let me tell you, their mattresses are the bees knees, we slept soooooooo well 
We had our breakfast at 7.30am, it was a bit of a scrum if i'm honest and we couldn't figure out why as they kept replacing food quickly and efficiently so why everyone was pushing and shoving for some croissants and ham is beyond me! The breakfast was plentiful although my one complaint would be they didn't have any yogurts, only some plain fromage frais and no fresh fruit, just tinned fruit cocktail which was a bit disappointing as that reduced what I could give Matilda. And another tip would be if you are a coffee lover like me do NOT drink the coffee from the machines here (or anywhere at DLP), its just horrible. Bring a cafetiere from home and hire a kettle from reception!
We were just about finishing breakfast when an announcement came on overhead in the restaurant that the Park was open and so we gobbled up the rest of our brekkie and headed as fast as we could for the bus stop. We were so excited as you can see from our faces:
I thought the bus service in the mornings to the parks was excellent. We couldn't get on the first bus as it was full but another one came along less than 2 minutes later. For those of you who haven't been to DLP yet this is what the buses to the parks look like:
I thought the Disneyland Hotel was just gorgeous (and am trying to figure out how to save for this next time) and a lovely way to enter the parks. We practically ran into the parks and were greeted by a wonderful American CM named Leslie who was so full of the Disney spirit that I am thinking of recommending her for leader of the 'how to get and share the Disney Spirit' which I think all employees at DLP should be forced to take but that's another story...Leslie made our entrance special and by the time I saw Main Street and that Christmas tree I was already in tears. Everything was so beautiful and magical, the music, the decorations, the tree, it was just great. My daughter obviously felt the same but in her dreams as she fell asleep on the bus and didn't wake up until we got to Fantasyland LOL!
We took our time going up Main Street and taking in everything but that castle really steals the show in my opinion, it is just amazing, so beautiful, a proper castle
We then walked around the right hand side of the castle as I wanted to get a peak at the annual passport office and see when it opened. We had another hour to go before it opened so we went to Fantasyland and started planning our rides. It was virtually empty so we didn't have to queue for anything which was fab! Matilda's favourite ride was by far the tea cups, she loved the spinning wheel in the middle. She also loved the carousel - she gets that from me - and I was very impressed that she didn't cry when we went on Pinocchio as I thought that was a pretty intimidating ride for kids. I don't remember Pinocchio being that sinister!
After Fantasyland we ended up near Adventureland and decided to leave the AP office for now whilst walking around. Again, the whole place was amazing, I especially loved Skull Rock.
After riding Pirates of the Caribbean and having Phil taken by the pirates (the ride broke down for 15 minutes!) we decided to head to the AP office to get my pass. The office is very organised and it didn't take long to get called up to apply. They have a small sitting area on the left for kids where they were playing Finding Nemo and it was a good space for Matilda to crawl for a bit. Whilst waiting for me to finish Phil spotted a celebrity, Patricia Heaton who plays Deborah from Everybody Loves Raymond which is a show we really love! She was there with her family.
Once I had my Dream pass we headed over to Casey's Corner on Main Street for lunch. We had been so looking forward to this because at WDW the hot dogs are so amazing. Plus we'd just had a fabulous hot dog at Costco the week before so we were using this as the 'bar'. I queued for 15 minutes to order and was just sorely disappointed at the quality of the food. The bun was hard as a rock, completley inedible. We saw a few people get up and hand back their hot dogs and demand refunds. I ate the hot dog and left the bun and fed Matilda as at least we had a table and were out of the bitter cold! I had remembered hearing about the croque monsieur's at Victoria's Homestyle so we literally left Casey's and walked across the street to Victoria's. Another 15 minute queue and we got a Brioche, two hot chocolates and a croque monsieur to share. This was very yummy and filled the spot. I loved the decor in this place and the high chairs:
After lunch we went back to the hotel because it really was so cold and Matilda was getting a bit cranky and wanting her nap so we caught the bus back. As she had fallen asleep in the pushchair on the bus again we popped into the bar for a quick drink to try to warm up. It worked ;-)
We spend almost 3 hours in the room napping and just letting Matilda crawl and walk around because there wasn't anywhere in the park she could do this. We then decided we wanted to explore the Disney Village and didn't want to do the buses again so we drove to the Village and parked in the multi-storey which was very convenient and cheap (compared to London anyway!) and given how cold it was it was nice to be able to get to the car when we were done in less than 5 minutes. We were hungry so we first headed to Planet Hollywood and had some dinner. We got 20% off as we had Simon's book. Neither of us had eaten at one before and we really enjoyed it. The service was excellent, the food was good - Phil had a chicken burger, I had the shrimp carbonara and they brought out some breadsticks with a garlic dip which was divine! They also got us a very small bowl with cooked penne that I could mash up for Matilda with her food. We were seated in the Zebra Room I think which fascinated Matilda to no end!
We had though about going into the park to watch Fantillusion at 7pm but we thought we'd pop in first to the Disney Store for a few minutes. 2 hours later we came out with considerably lighter wallets and 2 gigantic sized bags filled with stuff! Amongst other things we bought Matilda's main birthday gift which was a snowglobe/music box with a baby Minnie in it. Did she love it?! I'll let you know on Day 3 which was my baby's 1st birthday and her first real encounter with her beloved Mickey.
We had our breakfast at 7.30am, it was a bit of a scrum if i'm honest and we couldn't figure out why as they kept replacing food quickly and efficiently so why everyone was pushing and shoving for some croissants and ham is beyond me! The breakfast was plentiful although my one complaint would be they didn't have any yogurts, only some plain fromage frais and no fresh fruit, just tinned fruit cocktail which was a bit disappointing as that reduced what I could give Matilda. And another tip would be if you are a coffee lover like me do NOT drink the coffee from the machines here (or anywhere at DLP), its just horrible. Bring a cafetiere from home and hire a kettle from reception!
We were just about finishing breakfast when an announcement came on overhead in the restaurant that the Park was open and so we gobbled up the rest of our brekkie and headed as fast as we could for the bus stop. We were so excited as you can see from our faces:
I thought the bus service in the mornings to the parks was excellent. We couldn't get on the first bus as it was full but another one came along less than 2 minutes later. For those of you who haven't been to DLP yet this is what the buses to the parks look like:
I thought the Disneyland Hotel was just gorgeous (and am trying to figure out how to save for this next time) and a lovely way to enter the parks. We practically ran into the parks and were greeted by a wonderful American CM named Leslie who was so full of the Disney spirit that I am thinking of recommending her for leader of the 'how to get and share the Disney Spirit' which I think all employees at DLP should be forced to take but that's another story...Leslie made our entrance special and by the time I saw Main Street and that Christmas tree I was already in tears. Everything was so beautiful and magical, the music, the decorations, the tree, it was just great. My daughter obviously felt the same but in her dreams as she fell asleep on the bus and didn't wake up until we got to Fantasyland LOL!
We took our time going up Main Street and taking in everything but that castle really steals the show in my opinion, it is just amazing, so beautiful, a proper castle
We then walked around the right hand side of the castle as I wanted to get a peak at the annual passport office and see when it opened. We had another hour to go before it opened so we went to Fantasyland and started planning our rides. It was virtually empty so we didn't have to queue for anything which was fab! Matilda's favourite ride was by far the tea cups, she loved the spinning wheel in the middle. She also loved the carousel - she gets that from me - and I was very impressed that she didn't cry when we went on Pinocchio as I thought that was a pretty intimidating ride for kids. I don't remember Pinocchio being that sinister!
After Fantasyland we ended up near Adventureland and decided to leave the AP office for now whilst walking around. Again, the whole place was amazing, I especially loved Skull Rock.
After riding Pirates of the Caribbean and having Phil taken by the pirates (the ride broke down for 15 minutes!) we decided to head to the AP office to get my pass. The office is very organised and it didn't take long to get called up to apply. They have a small sitting area on the left for kids where they were playing Finding Nemo and it was a good space for Matilda to crawl for a bit. Whilst waiting for me to finish Phil spotted a celebrity, Patricia Heaton who plays Deborah from Everybody Loves Raymond which is a show we really love! She was there with her family.
Once I had my Dream pass we headed over to Casey's Corner on Main Street for lunch. We had been so looking forward to this because at WDW the hot dogs are so amazing. Plus we'd just had a fabulous hot dog at Costco the week before so we were using this as the 'bar'. I queued for 15 minutes to order and was just sorely disappointed at the quality of the food. The bun was hard as a rock, completley inedible. We saw a few people get up and hand back their hot dogs and demand refunds. I ate the hot dog and left the bun and fed Matilda as at least we had a table and were out of the bitter cold! I had remembered hearing about the croque monsieur's at Victoria's Homestyle so we literally left Casey's and walked across the street to Victoria's. Another 15 minute queue and we got a Brioche, two hot chocolates and a croque monsieur to share. This was very yummy and filled the spot. I loved the decor in this place and the high chairs:
After lunch we went back to the hotel because it really was so cold and Matilda was getting a bit cranky and wanting her nap so we caught the bus back. As she had fallen asleep in the pushchair on the bus again we popped into the bar for a quick drink to try to warm up. It worked ;-)
We spend almost 3 hours in the room napping and just letting Matilda crawl and walk around because there wasn't anywhere in the park she could do this. We then decided we wanted to explore the Disney Village and didn't want to do the buses again so we drove to the Village and parked in the multi-storey which was very convenient and cheap (compared to London anyway!) and given how cold it was it was nice to be able to get to the car when we were done in less than 5 minutes. We were hungry so we first headed to Planet Hollywood and had some dinner. We got 20% off as we had Simon's book. Neither of us had eaten at one before and we really enjoyed it. The service was excellent, the food was good - Phil had a chicken burger, I had the shrimp carbonara and they brought out some breadsticks with a garlic dip which was divine! They also got us a very small bowl with cooked penne that I could mash up for Matilda with her food. We were seated in the Zebra Room I think which fascinated Matilda to no end!
We had though about going into the park to watch Fantillusion at 7pm but we thought we'd pop in first to the Disney Store for a few minutes. 2 hours later we came out with considerably lighter wallets and 2 gigantic sized bags filled with stuff! Amongst other things we bought Matilda's main birthday gift which was a snowglobe/music box with a baby Minnie in it. Did she love it?! I'll let you know on Day 3 which was my baby's 1st birthday and her first real encounter with her beloved Mickey.
Our dd celebrated her first birthday in DLP and it was just fab 
