St. David's Welsh Festival - Highs and Lows

[Jonjo]

Here are our traditional highs and lows for our St. David's Welsh Festival trip. We got back last night at 10pm. This started off as a short Highs and Lows list but has turned into a mini trip report.

Highs

A newly refurbished Cars themed room in the Hotel Santa Fe overlooking the crashed UFO.

Dreams! Well what can I say that has not already been written? What a show! The best night time spectacular Disney has ever done.

Some nice new floats and music in the Parade and we got to see the Stars in Cars parade as well.

CM's - all the CM's we meet were very friendly and we had some lovely conversations with some of them, and also meeting a few we had meet on previous trips.

The Welsh Festival was great fun when a little bit of Wales came to the Cottonwood Creek Ranch in Frontierland on the Saturday. We got some fab photos of Mickey and Minnie in their Welsh costumes. The performances in the Chaparral Theatre by the National Eisteddfod and Urdd choirs and dancers was great and the Dreams! Welsh Festival Pre-show was fantastic with the park closing to a selection of songs from Tom Jones.

Who would ever thought I would walk down Main Street USA listening to 'What's New ***** Cat' and 'It's Not Unusual'. The Welsh bands playing in Billy Bobs during the weekend were good too. And with all the park announcements that weekend in Cymraeg / Welsh and lots of Welsh accents and Cymraeg being spoken around you it felt like I was transported back to Cardiff for the day.

Being able to do all the rides in Fantasyland in less than 30 minutes one evening as they were all walk-ons. We then had to leave Fantasyland via the back entrance that leads you into Discoveryland through the gates where the parade normally starts by Pizzeria Bella Notte.

The snow - the parks look lovely in the snow.

Trying some new restaurants: The Manhattan Resturant, Lucky Nugget Saloon, Hakuna Matata, Auberge de Cendrillon, Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost and The Yacht Club.

We had lots of character interaction this trip, some planed and other just stumbled upon. DW really enjoyed Auberge de Cendrillon and the Sunday Brunch at Inventions and I enjoyed the Welsh Festival meet and great, lots of little Welsh children all dressed up, the girls in traditional costumes and the boys in smart trousers, shirts and ties or Welsh ruby shirts. All waiting in an orderly line to meet Mickey and Minnie. My favourite was stumbling upon a surprise meet and great with the characters in safari outfits when we came outside Colonel Hathi's.

WDS tour is every informative  highly recommend.

Musicians playing in the restaurants - the majority of the counter service and table service restaurants we went into had musicians playing in them. Never seen them before and I have to say it's nice to see them around the parks.

I did two new 'extreme rides' this trip both in WDS RC Racer in Toy Story Playland and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Avec Aerosmith in the Backlott, both great fun.

We finally got to see the pre-show at BBWWS. We normally turn up just in time for the main show to start.

Considering our trip was during the Paris school holidays including a weekend the crowds we not too bad. But we still managed to miss a few things which are on the list for next time.

Because this trip was a mixture of business and pleasure, I spent two mornings on tours of the convention and conference centres, hotels and the events arenas around the resort and in meetings with Cast Members from the Business Solutions team. I thought I should do something special for DW.

With no Disney Dreams! VIP meals available I treated DW to the 'A Dream to Live!' experience at the DLH, which was truly fantastic. It started with cocktails in the Fantasia Café then we were taken up to the Founders Club in the Castle Club to view Dreams! from our own private balcony with the music piped into the Library while sipping on champagne nibbling on petits fours. It was such a fantastic view from up there. Then we were taken down to the California Grill restaurant for a lovely six course dinner with a table overlooking Main Street Station with the castle in the background.

Lows

DW was a bit unwell during the trip and spent one day in bed until 3pm.

Weather  we experienced everything from torrential rain, drizzle, sleet, snow and a lovely sunny day with temperatures ranging from a freezing -7 to a warm 14 degrees. The snow lead to some ride and event closures which was to be expected.

DW was upset that so many rides were closed this trip - PoTC, DL Rail Road, Snow White, The Tram Tour and Armageddon to name just a few. Plus the snow closed a few more.

Overall we had a fantastic six nights, seven day trip. Although the parks look lovely in the snow its just too cold for me, and with two trips in a row now effected by extreme snow with Eurostar cancelling services and not knowing if we are going to be able to get there or back we have already agreed that our next long trip will be in the in the summer  either in June, July or September.

[Christieand]

Wow! What amazing highs!

[LunaMini]

I like the sound of the 'A Dream to Live!' Do you have any other details on this? Parents are going next month for their anniversary so would be perfect!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

[Jonjo]

Originally Posted by LunaMini

I like the sound of the 'A Dream to Live!' Do you have any other details on this? Parents are going next month for their anniversary so would be perfect!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

LunaMini your parents would love it especially for their anniversary it's so magical

The ''A Dream to Live!' package can booked at the Concierge Desk at the Disneyland Hotel. It costs 199 Euros (about £172) per person. Below are some photos of the invitation, information leaflet, and menu.

Here is a link to a video tour of The Founders Club. It's full of memorabilia supplied by the corporate partners of DLP.

You get a lovely view of Dreams! from The Founders Club with a sofa to sit on to watch the show and your own balcony if you want to stand outside. It's all very romantic and the CM's go out of their way to give you the VIP treatment. It was a total surprise for DW as she thought we were just having a cocktail in Café Fantasia and then a meal in the California Grill until we were taken up in the lift by our waitress to the Castle Club then shown up to the Founders Club and offered champagne while we waited for Dreams! to start.


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[LunaMini]

Thanks so much for the info! It sounds lovely! What a fantastic experience! I really wish I was going this year now...

[tennisfan]

Welcome back, sounds like you had an amazing trip

[JohnnySharp2]

Sounds like a great trip, March can be very unpredictable weather wise, we went last March and it was bright sunshine all week, have also been to Florida then at it was wet and freezing cold.