hildasmuriel
04-11-2008, 10:40 AM
Mon 7 April
We were so pleased to find that the snow had gone by the time we woke early early Monday morning. We got to Terminal 5 in about 15 minutes and were pleased that there was no delay or problem with our flight....until we boarded and were told by the Captain that we may have to wait 2 hours as they had snow in Paris. :headache: Fortunately we got an earlier landing slot and so were only delayed by about 20 minutes. I don’t know if other people find this with the VEA but things are NEVER straightforward. The 9.30 was 5 minutes late and then, having loaded us all on board, waited 25 minutes before departing, so we didn’t get to DLRP until gone 10.30. We booked in quickly enough and set off for the Park. Some people had obviously got bored queuing up to get in and had some fun with this chap.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14214Small.jpg
There was still snow on Mickey’s ears in Fantasia Gardens.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14215Small.jpg
We like to start off on POTC if we can and fortunately there wasn’t too much of a queue. pirate: We walked over the pont flotant and could see that quite a lot of snow had fallen.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14219Small.jpg
IJ was a walk-on so dtr hopped on smartish.
As we came past Colonel Hathi’s we noticed a group of characters out – Genie, Pluto, Baloo, Jafar and Rafiki.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14224Small.jpg
This pretty much made the theme for the week – every time we passed there we saw some characters and with far fewer crowds than characters in Main Street. Dtr thought she had found character-paradise and whenever we went from one ride to another her suggestion was always “let’s go via Colonel Hathi’s”- even if we went from IASW to Buzz! (Okay – only joking).
We were walking through Adventureland near Hakuna Matata when we saw some teens who were standing either side of the path lobbing snowballs at each other. They didn’t care who got caught – anybody passing by was at risk. As we got there one took a run up to throw a snowball and WHAM! Honestly it was like a cartoon - he slipped in the snow and went up up up in the air, horizontally and then fell WHACK full length on the floor on his back. :lmao: His friends, as teens will do, just cracked up with laughter, especially when he got up shouting and squealing because a load of snow had gone down his back. As for me, well I didn’t laugh until we were well passed but then I gave in and roared – thinking that if he hadn’t been messing about it wouldn’t have happened.
Despite the weather we have been having the flowers looked very pretty around the place.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14227Small.jpg
I am so rarely in the photos I had one taken to prove I was actually there. You can see it was turning into a lovely day.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14229Small.jpg
Some music sounded and the next thing was some characters coming from the gate. It was time for the Mary Poppins mini-show.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14232Small.jpg
It may only last 10 minutes, but as is typical of Disney, it was superbly choreographed and performed.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14235Small.jpg
After they finished they came to the crowd to shake hands and wave and Mary and Bert were signing autographs.
We went out to Planet Hollywood for lunch and then went to Sequoia Lodge. Pluto and Robin Hood were hanging around.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14238RotatedSmall.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14239Small.jpg
Dtr was amused that Robin Hood signed ‘Mickey’ then had to take the book back and sign ‘Robin Hood’ instead. Can’t think why he did that! :rolleyes1 We noticed this time that there were a lot more characters at the Hotel – Pluto seemed to be there most of the day! He was very naughty as well, sliding down the banister towards Beaver Creek/Hunters Grill. Dtr was telling him “No, you’ll get into trouble!” but he just tickled her.:rotfl:
We stopped for hot chocolate in Redwood Bar and were lucky enough to get the sofa by the fire – that’s a first! Anybody who has stayed at SL in winter will know how these seats are fiercely contested.;)
When we got our room we were pleased to find that we had once again been given a Lake View without having to pay for it. It was on the 6th floor, so we could see the Village, DLH, Space Mountain, Castle, TOT, Eiffel Tower (oh, sorry, got carried away). Notice the snow still on Panoramagique
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14247Small.jpg
The thing that dtr loved the most was the rocking chair – if I’d known how much she would covet it, I could have bought one and just stayed at home and saved a fortune. (Not likely). She was disappointed to find though, that Channel 1 was not working – nor did it work all the time we were there – which meant we couldn’t watch Sophie telling us of “the top ten things to know before you go”
Off we went to the Studios and watched the HSM2.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14258Small.jpg
This really impressed me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Whether or not you like the film you had to admire the dancing – it was real high-energy stuff to songs from the film. They performed it once outside RnRC and then moved down to near Stitch Live and did it all over again.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14259Small.jpg
I have to tell you that when my son saw this photo he asked why they were all imitating using the loo – but that’s 15 year old boys for you. It was actually a move straight from the film and looked really good.
After dtr rode RnRC & TOT we went to watch Stitch Live for the first time.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14261Small.jpg
Those who have seen it – did you spot the hidden Mickey in the queuing area?
The show was great fun – I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it, but just recommend you give it a go. I can’t imagine any little ones not enjoying it and if you are old and daft like me, you’ll love it too.
Dtr then rode Cars for the first time (no queue) and, after a quick photo call,
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14265Small.jpg
we left to go back to the Park for rides on BTM, PM, Snow White and IASW before closing time. The crowds had died down a lot as you can see.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14268Small.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14269RotatedSmall.jpg
The second one is us leaving at 8 o’clock – we’re not used to the Park closing during daylight.
Dtr still had some energy to go swimming although I didn’t fancy it, so I said I would sit and watch. SL pool was just closing as we got there, although it was due to be open until 10. The CM said they had a problem, but it would be all right for us to use the HNY pool. I was very wary of this – thought we would be thrown out on our ear. But it was okay – and no charge to hire towels there.:thumbsup2 It was the first time we had been in HNY and we were a bit in awe of the place. Goofy was just finishing off a song and dance routine when we walked in.
Anyway, dtr had her swim and finally we headed off to bed. I love the feeling of the crisp laundered sheets and comfy bed at the end of a lovely Disney day. 2 seconds later….ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Tomorrow: our first look inside the DLH and another day packed with rides.
We were so pleased to find that the snow had gone by the time we woke early early Monday morning. We got to Terminal 5 in about 15 minutes and were pleased that there was no delay or problem with our flight....until we boarded and were told by the Captain that we may have to wait 2 hours as they had snow in Paris. :headache: Fortunately we got an earlier landing slot and so were only delayed by about 20 minutes. I don’t know if other people find this with the VEA but things are NEVER straightforward. The 9.30 was 5 minutes late and then, having loaded us all on board, waited 25 minutes before departing, so we didn’t get to DLRP until gone 10.30. We booked in quickly enough and set off for the Park. Some people had obviously got bored queuing up to get in and had some fun with this chap.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14214Small.jpg
There was still snow on Mickey’s ears in Fantasia Gardens.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14215Small.jpg
We like to start off on POTC if we can and fortunately there wasn’t too much of a queue. pirate: We walked over the pont flotant and could see that quite a lot of snow had fallen.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14219Small.jpg
IJ was a walk-on so dtr hopped on smartish.
As we came past Colonel Hathi’s we noticed a group of characters out – Genie, Pluto, Baloo, Jafar and Rafiki.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14224Small.jpg
This pretty much made the theme for the week – every time we passed there we saw some characters and with far fewer crowds than characters in Main Street. Dtr thought she had found character-paradise and whenever we went from one ride to another her suggestion was always “let’s go via Colonel Hathi’s”- even if we went from IASW to Buzz! (Okay – only joking).
We were walking through Adventureland near Hakuna Matata when we saw some teens who were standing either side of the path lobbing snowballs at each other. They didn’t care who got caught – anybody passing by was at risk. As we got there one took a run up to throw a snowball and WHAM! Honestly it was like a cartoon - he slipped in the snow and went up up up in the air, horizontally and then fell WHACK full length on the floor on his back. :lmao: His friends, as teens will do, just cracked up with laughter, especially when he got up shouting and squealing because a load of snow had gone down his back. As for me, well I didn’t laugh until we were well passed but then I gave in and roared – thinking that if he hadn’t been messing about it wouldn’t have happened.
Despite the weather we have been having the flowers looked very pretty around the place.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14227Small.jpg
I am so rarely in the photos I had one taken to prove I was actually there. You can see it was turning into a lovely day.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14229Small.jpg
Some music sounded and the next thing was some characters coming from the gate. It was time for the Mary Poppins mini-show.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14232Small.jpg
It may only last 10 minutes, but as is typical of Disney, it was superbly choreographed and performed.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14235Small.jpg
After they finished they came to the crowd to shake hands and wave and Mary and Bert were signing autographs.
We went out to Planet Hollywood for lunch and then went to Sequoia Lodge. Pluto and Robin Hood were hanging around.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14238RotatedSmall.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14239Small.jpg
Dtr was amused that Robin Hood signed ‘Mickey’ then had to take the book back and sign ‘Robin Hood’ instead. Can’t think why he did that! :rolleyes1 We noticed this time that there were a lot more characters at the Hotel – Pluto seemed to be there most of the day! He was very naughty as well, sliding down the banister towards Beaver Creek/Hunters Grill. Dtr was telling him “No, you’ll get into trouble!” but he just tickled her.:rotfl:
We stopped for hot chocolate in Redwood Bar and were lucky enough to get the sofa by the fire – that’s a first! Anybody who has stayed at SL in winter will know how these seats are fiercely contested.;)
When we got our room we were pleased to find that we had once again been given a Lake View without having to pay for it. It was on the 6th floor, so we could see the Village, DLH, Space Mountain, Castle, TOT, Eiffel Tower (oh, sorry, got carried away). Notice the snow still on Panoramagique
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14247Small.jpg
The thing that dtr loved the most was the rocking chair – if I’d known how much she would covet it, I could have bought one and just stayed at home and saved a fortune. (Not likely). She was disappointed to find though, that Channel 1 was not working – nor did it work all the time we were there – which meant we couldn’t watch Sophie telling us of “the top ten things to know before you go”
Off we went to the Studios and watched the HSM2.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14258Small.jpg
This really impressed me and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Whether or not you like the film you had to admire the dancing – it was real high-energy stuff to songs from the film. They performed it once outside RnRC and then moved down to near Stitch Live and did it all over again.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14259Small.jpg
I have to tell you that when my son saw this photo he asked why they were all imitating using the loo – but that’s 15 year old boys for you. It was actually a move straight from the film and looked really good.
After dtr rode RnRC & TOT we went to watch Stitch Live for the first time.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14261Small.jpg
Those who have seen it – did you spot the hidden Mickey in the queuing area?
The show was great fun – I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t seen it, but just recommend you give it a go. I can’t imagine any little ones not enjoying it and if you are old and daft like me, you’ll love it too.
Dtr then rode Cars for the first time (no queue) and, after a quick photo call,
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14265Small.jpg
we left to go back to the Park for rides on BTM, PM, Snow White and IASW before closing time. The crowds had died down a lot as you can see.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14268Small.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee59/hildasmuriel/Disney%20April%202008/SSL14269RotatedSmall.jpg
The second one is us leaving at 8 o’clock – we’re not used to the Park closing during daylight.
Dtr still had some energy to go swimming although I didn’t fancy it, so I said I would sit and watch. SL pool was just closing as we got there, although it was due to be open until 10. The CM said they had a problem, but it would be all right for us to use the HNY pool. I was very wary of this – thought we would be thrown out on our ear. But it was okay – and no charge to hire towels there.:thumbsup2 It was the first time we had been in HNY and we were a bit in awe of the place. Goofy was just finishing off a song and dance routine when we walked in.
Anyway, dtr had her swim and finally we headed off to bed. I love the feeling of the crisp laundered sheets and comfy bed at the end of a lovely Disney day. 2 seconds later….ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Tomorrow: our first look inside the DLH and another day packed with rides.