Back to our happy place TR - Finally Complete!

[A dream is a wish]

Ooooh another fab installment. Chloe looks fabulous in her lovely Ariel dress.
Am so shocked by the treatment you received in Plaza Gardens.
Looking forward to the next bit xx

Thanks, I love that Ariel dress, just wish they sold the pink one, that's my favourite Ariel one. At the time I was really upset about Plaza Gardens but it was dealt with really well at City Hall so that was good. I meant to add more last weekend but didn't get round to it, there are not enough hours in the day! Hoping to get some more added over the next few days

Loved reading your trip report! Can I ask you how you got on with having a 2 year old there? We are thinking to go next year and Ryan will be 2 and a half. Just not sure if it's worth taking him when he won't really be able to 'go on' much or should we wait until he's 3 and a half?!

It depends to be honest, on the first trip with us he was 19 months old and got lots out of it. He liked the rides and really enjoyed the characters. By this trip he's really got into Toy Story (he is obsessed!) and LOVED the rides particularly Buzz and Slinky. He got so much out of these because he knew who they were and was into them.

He could go on loads of rides last time too, think it's around 1 they are able to. He also really liked the tea cups, Rachael said he giggled throughout the ride every time

 

[A dream is a wish]

Right, I need to get on and finish this before we go for our Christmas trip next month! Uni has been getting in the way how dare it I've done some more, hoping to finished over the next week

After the makeover, we popped into City Hall as I wanted to complain about the service we had received at Plaza Gardens as it had upset me. The person I spoke to was brilliant, she asked me to write down what had happened and got on the phone to the manager there immediately. I was told I could have used the voucher at face value, that I should not have been spoken to that way and that the drinks should not have been taken in the first place but they should have been replaced instantly. I was told that I could have a free meal at the Lucky Nugget Saloon and the manager would meet me there now. I explained that we had the princess lunch booked today but thank you. She just said it was no problem and I could be given a voucher for the meal and could go any time during our stay. I never expected a free meal I just wanted to speak to someone and say that I was unhappy about it but I really appreciated the way it was dealt with.

We decided to go and visit the dragon.




Chloe’s still not too sure of this, she always stands a little bit back.






We had a look around the castle, Chloe really loves these Lady and Tramp figures.



We then went over to go on the Snow White ride.



After, we had a wonder around Fantasyland but it was so busy.



I took a couple of photos of the face painting boards, I know people have asked on here before for the pics and prices.




We still had a little time before our reservation at Auberge so Chloe just sat in the shade and had a look at the flowers.




We ended up going in around 15 minutes early and were seated straight away. The only thing I don’t like about us being a two is that we are always seated up a corner on a tiny table!

We met Perla, Cinderella, Aurora, Phillip and Snow White. We had a really good time but there were a few things different this time that meant it wasn’t as good as our other two visits. Aurora and Phillip didn’t dance! Also, we never got to meet Suzy, Chloe was a little upset at first but I explained that we’d met her before and we were going to hunt for Ariel and she was alright about it.

I have to add though that the character interaction was fantastic, especially Snow White, who was so friendly and spent quite a while with us.

I know the food in Auberge is a bit hit or miss but this meal was the best we've had at this restaurant. Chloe didn’t like the salmon starter she’d had last time and it was the same again but with tomatoes this time. For her main, she chose the burger with rice. The only things she can’t stand to eat are tomatoes, green beans and butter (on anything) – she’s crazy she eats dry bread. With the starter having tomatoes and the main having green beans I didn’t know what she’d eat but she ended up having the most she’s ever eaten there. She had a piece of bread and ate the salad from her starter, but actually ate all her main apart from the green beans – although she did eat one to show she’d tried them, she looked like she was being tortured! I didn’t even ask her to! She really liked the main this time. She only ate the chocolate lolly on her dessert as she was full so I may have helped her along the children’s dessert is amazing! I only wanted to try it and ended up eating half! It was beautiful! I wonder if I’m allowed to ask for that instead of the adult dessert next time, which is alright but I’m not that fussed about it. I had the salmon tartare again - I really love this! I hope this is an option when we're there next month. For my main I chose the goose, I'm not sure why as I'm not keep on the idea of peach with it but I thought I'd try it as I'd had the other 2 options already. It was so good - the best main I've had there!



You can see how happy she was when she saw what her starter was




Showing me how to drink like a princess!




My main

 

[A dream is a wish]

The new children's dessert







I wanted a photo of Chloe with the carriage but the sun was so bright I just had to get one like this.



It was really hot now and we were going over to the Studios to see if we could find Ariel.



On the way we saw Belle rushing to Fantasyland, Chloe shouted hello to her and she said hi back I only managed to get a photo of the back of her though.



We came past Duffy who only had one family in the queue so we stopped to meet him.



The Studios was so quiet compared to the Disneyland Park. Chloe insisted I took a photo of one of her favourite rides – there are too many favourites now for her to just pick one!



We were waiting around and nothing was happening so I asked a CM if the characters were somewhere else before the parade today and she went off to ask someone else who said they weren't doing the meets today before the parade! I had a sad little girl

I told her we could go over to the Disneyland Hotel early and just wait for the descent of the stairs and that she might get to meet some characters there so she perked up. I did feel sorry for her, she really wanted to meet Ariel and it was so hot that day, I had spare clothes for her but she didn’t want to change. I don’t know how she did it, I was boiling and wasn’t wearing a huge dress! She had a little pose while we waited.





It's about to start!









It was great, I filmed it and managed to take some photos, I love how all the children do the oooos, ahhhhs and squeal when they see a new character come out, it really makes the atmosphere exciting. It wasn’t too busy either so afterwards Chloe got to meet them all!

 

[DLPdaft]

yey more wonderful photos ! I love the one of Chloe sitting at the table being a princess in the Auberge meal, she looks so regal .

 

[A dream is a wish]

I was waiting for her to say something about Snow White looking different but she didn't thank goodness! I'm not sure what I'd say!

I knew there was going to be a Princess Pavilion ticket hand out time soon so we rushed over to Fantasyland to get in the queue in one last attempt to meet Ariel.



It was so so so hot standing in that queue, which we did for about 45 minutes but eventually we got one! Straight after the parade too – perfect timing!

Chloe wanted to go on Pirates of the Caribbean so we walked over.



The queue was horrendous, only 5 minutes but the heat was unbearable in the queue, on the ride it wasn’t too bad. We decided to have a walk around Adventureland and then just chill in the shade for a bit.



I was starting to feel a little hungry again and so was Chloe - I don’t know how after we’d eaten so much! I gave her the option of eating in Au Chalet de la Marionnette and then going to get a parade spot or grabbing the food from there, going to the parade spot and eating there. She chose to grab it and wait for the parade. Chloe had the chicken burger, fries and ice cream and I had the cheese burger, fries and magnum. It was good as always. We got there half hour before it started, that whole side of the street was empty and there wasn’t many people waiting on the other side.

We finished eating Chloe was drawing on the box that Ariel came in while we waited. I didn’t realise until later when the parade had started that she’d made a little sign with ‘Ariel’ written on it so that she would see it and notice her she melts my heart. She had great interaction with quite a few characters during the parade, again it was magical.

 

[A dream is a wish]

After the crowd cleared we made our way over to the Pavilion, when we got there we were 2 minutes early so we needed to wait, then we were in! I love the waiting area, it’s stunning with all of the stained glass windows. It was enough to keep Chloe occupied for a little bit while we waited!

 

[A dream is a wish]

yey more wonderful photos ! I love the one of Chloe sitting at the table being a princess in the Auberge meal, she looks so regal .

Thank you

She behaves so well in there it has a real effect on her. She wasn't impressed with me, the table is so small though I kept bumping things and dropping things think I embarrassed her

 

[A dream is a wish]

We queued for around 45 minutes in the end. As we got closer I just caught the end of a conversation between a French family and the CM at the front, they were asking for Belle and I could have sworn I heard him say Ariel was there. My heart was going crazy, it sounds silly but I knew it would be a huge deal to Chloe if it was.

When we were first in the queue the CM was talking to Chloe about Ariel and asking whether she’d met her yet and what her favourite song from the film was etc. Then we were called over to one of the areas where we had to wait for a minute outside and we had a lovely chat with the CM there too.

She told Chloe to close her eyes and took her hand. When we were inside she told her to open her eyes and the biggest gasp came from Chloe! She was in shock bless her. After the Studios I told her it was unlikely that we'd see her so she wasn't expecting it. She was thrilled and in awe of Ariel. I actually felt like I was going to burst, I was so happy. We stayed in the room for ages, longer than we were supposed to I think, I couldn’t get Chloe to leave They were talking about how they both love swimming and Ariel was telling her little stories about Eric, Max, Sebastian and Flounder. It was the best character meet and surprisingly overwhelming. I took a fair few photos but they’re nowhere near as nice as the ones the photographer took. On the last night I bought all of them.














When we left she had the biggest smile and kept saying it was the best day of her life, she’s said that 100 times since too!

We went over and had a ride on Le Pays des Contes de Fées. We were going to go on Casey Jr. but the queue looked quite big so I said I thought we should go back to Santa Fe now as we were both tired. We stopped at a shop on the way and bought Chloe the Ariel animator doll as she’d seen it in a shop window earlier and wanted it. When we got back we caught up with Rachael, Jit and Dylan, all had showers and went to bed!

 

[itsrainingitspouring]

ooh how magical!

Love the Ariel pics so special

Chloe must be quite tall. lil man 7 year old (7 and eight months) is still too small for RC racer and Space Mountain oh well

 

[cruisingteacher]

oh wow.... what a wonderful update!

That close up picture of Ariel hugging your daughter actually brought tears to my eyes (combined with the story)

I am soooo happy she got to meet Ariel!!!

 

[A dream is a wish]

ooh how magical!

Love the Ariel pics so special

Chloe must be quite tall. lil man 7 year old (7 and eight months) is still too small for RC racer and Space Mountain oh well

Thank you, it was a magical experience for her!

Chloe's a month younger! She's actually one of the smaller girls in her class, she used to be really tiny and then had a growth spurt just over a year ago. When we came last summer she wasn't big enough for them but then in November she was literally just over the height line for RC Racer. She's about 3cm bigger now than she was last November bless her but she's just thrilled she can go on RC Racer and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster now. She's not big enough for Space Mountain yet and by the looks of it she wont be for a very long time!

 

[A dream is a wish]

oh wow.... what a wonderful update!

That close up picture of Ariel hugging your daughter actually brought tears to my eyes (combined with the story)

I am soooo happy she got to meet Ariel!!!

Thank you!

I had to really stop myself from sobbing with joy when we were in there! It was incredibly overwhelming just because we'd been searching for her and I knew how much meeting her meant to Chloe. It was just brilliant!

 

[A dream is a wish]

The next morning we got up, Chloe showered, we got ready and went off to breakfast. It was so quiet during our stay, so much quieter than it was the summer before. As we were going to get the bus there were 2 families queuing up to meet the character that morning, as we were about to leave I noticed Minnie was coming so we joined the queue to meet her. She was lovely, she had a little dance with Chloe and helped her down the steps when they were finished. I was disappointed that there was not a photographer there, I had to make do with taking my own pictures






Yet again it was absolutely boiling first thing! When we got to the parks we headed straight to Fantasyland!



We went on the Carousel, Dumbo and had a couple of goes on Peter Pan.



Afterwards we had a quick go on Buzz before heading to the Studios. I was not impressed with the Studios this day, everything we wanted to go on was closed! We headed to Crush, there was a problem and it wasn’t open so we headed to Toy Story Playland.



This was also closed and as you can see there was a group of people waiting, getting in the way of my lovely pictures at the entrance




I was trying to catch what the CMs at the front were saying, I couldn’t so in the end we decided to head over to Tower of Terror, which wasn’t open either, neither was Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster! We decided to go back to Toy Story Playland, as we got there the crowd were being let in

However, none of the rides were open. We hung around for a little bit and 10-15 mins later RC Racer was opened. We went and got straight in the queue. I love this picture of the back of her, strange as that may seem! It’s just that she looks so dainty yet she’s queuing to go on that ride!




As we got off they were starting to let people on to Slinky and Toy Soldier Parachute Drop, so we had a quick go on Slinky. I’d been smothering us with sun tan lotion but the heat was unbearable and with how things were with the rides in the Studios I was already wanting a break! So was Chloe, she was starting to feel tired, she’d had such a late night and she was also fed up with the heat as you can see!



I suggested going back to the room for a bit, she was not impressed and grunted no – heat, lack of sleep and Chloe do not go together well, she was not in the mood! We saw that Mickey and Minnie were doing a meet together so I suggested getting in the queue to meet them, it wasn’t that big but we ended up being there for an hour! Chloe spent her time sitting on the floor and hiding in the shade.



Although she did manage to smile at me so I mustn’t think I’m completely evil

 

[A dream is a wish]

After the horrible wait in the sun, Mickey and Minnie were brilliant! They took their time with her and posed for quite a few photos. It made us both feel much brighter!








On the last evening I bought this from the meet.



I managed to convince Chloe we should go back to the room for a rest and that we’d come back out later. On the way out she had a little scream.



I had some half board vouchers left so I said we could go and have lunch in the village first. I fancied Annette’s but there was a huge queue and some people were leaving the queue because the wait was too long. I asked Chloe where she fancied eating and she said EOS! So we grabbed a sandwich to share and a drink each and took it back with us as I said when we need to come back to the village in a bit we could come a little early (we’d agreed to meet Rachael, Jit and Dylan to go on the hot air balloon) and have something to eat in Annette’s then. Not long after she’d eaten, she fell asleep! I had a shower and chilled out for a bit until it was time for me to wake her. I suggested not putting her Belle dress on again because it was too hot and she agreed. As soon as she was ready we headed off to get the bus to the village.

The queue for Annette’s was HUGE! No chance would we be able to meet the others in time if we went there. I decided to go and pay to go on the balloon now, we got there and a sign was up saying due to the wind it was closed, I’m not sure what this was about, there was barely any wind!

After a little wonder around I asked Chloe if she fancied going to grab a cocktail and having a snack bar, while we waited for the others. She was very excited to as I’d said we could but we hadn’t got round to it.

I had this



I’m not sure why I chose it as I hate Bacardi but I just really fancied it! It was gorgeous! I also like the prices for the cocktails in the Sports Bar, much nicer than the hotels!

Chloe wanted one of these



However, they said they weren’t doing them as they didn’t have any of the shakers. They had some on display so she asked me if she could have it in one of them, I asked and was told no they are for display. She then wanted one of the cocktails in the souvenir cups with a glowing Tink and I was told they didn’t have any of those either! He said she could have a non alcoholic one in a glass, can’t remember what it was called, something with star in it!

We went and sat outside while he made them.



When Chloe’s was given to her she looked so worried and asked the man if that had alcohol in as she couldn’t believe it was hers! After he had reassured her that there was no alcohol in it she tried it and LOVED it, I wish I knew what is was so she could have one next time.



I was too distracted by my lovely drink and forgot to take a photo when I got it, here’s half of it




It was lovely to sit and chill listening to the music and watching everyone go by.



Chloe decided to have a little sing-a-long to Bruno Mars!

 

[A dream is a wish]

Eventually it was time to leave and meet the others, although I could have happily stayed there all day, sampling all of the cocktails too of course! We got to by the balloon and they had just arrived and seen that it was closed, we all sat by the lake as we had some time to kill before going over to the DLH for the descent of the stairs. After catching up we went headed towards the DLH. The kids sat nicely waiting for it to start.





Then the music started!!









Dylan started going crazy for Goofy



We headed off to meet some, in the end we only met Goofy and the white rabbit, apparently all of the people with no manners in the park decided to come to meet the characters! Seriously though it was a joke, they were pushing and shoving me and Chloe around. We actually only got to see the white rabbit because a lovely English family were chosen and they said no because we’d been there for so long that we should go first, so to whoever they are, thank you! I take back my comment about all of them having no manners, one family did!!




We were meant to be going to Café Mickey that evening but considering how it had been on our first night I didn’t really want to go back. I said if the others wanted to go then no problem but I thought me and Chloe would go somewhere else. Rachael said she’d been having the same thought and in the end we decided to try Blue Lagoon. We were talking about eating here before the holiday but then decided to do Café Mickey twice. Then when we were on POTC, Chloe asked if we could eat there and I quite fancied it myself. When we got there we were told that it wasn’t a problem (I was worried as we didn’t have a reservation) and we were given a table right by the water!

Initially our server was French but when I was talking to him about the meal vouchers he went and got a Scottish man to see to our table. I’m fairly sure his name was Ronald and he was fantastic. By far the best CM I’ve ever come across in DLP. Nothing was too much trouble and he was so friendly. Rachael asked if she could buy a bowl of chips for Dylan and was told he could have them for free. Dylan fell asleep while we were there so they asked the CM if they could get the pushchair so he could sleep in it (they’d been told to leave it at the top as it wasn’t allowed to come down) and he said no problem at all! Chloe then decided she wanted chips with her main instead and that was no problem either. She had the cherry tomatoes to start and as she hates them I may have pinched a couple! She had the chicken main and ice cream for dessert. She also had a Fanta. Rachael had the chicken colombo and Jit had the steak. I was really hungry and decided to be the beast of the group! I chose to have things from the treasures of the sea menu. I had the crab starter, barracuda main and the coconut ice cream. It was a brilliant meal, by far the favourite meal we’ve had in DLP for all of us! Chloe and Dylan loved waving at the boats as they went passed by. I’m really fussy when it comes to crab so I wasn’t sure I’d like it but it was perfect. The barracuda was delicious and so was the ice cream. I love this restaurant! Chloe ate all of hers and was saying how good it was. Rachael said her main was perfect and Jit said the same about the steak, so to have pleased us all so much was impressive. It is now a definite restaurant for our trip in a couple of weeks, I can’t wait to go back to this beautiful place!

 

[A dream is a wish]

Afterwards we went our separate ways, Rachael and Jit went for a cocktail and me and Chloe decided to hit the rides. First stop Le Pays des Contes de Fées.



Just as we were about to go through the cave of wonders (we were just entering his mouth) the ride stopped. A CM came over the speaker and was asking people to sit down in the boats. It went on for a little bit, then she began asking all others to stay in their boats! I wonder if people were getting up to see who was being told off! We then sat there for a bit and the CM came back over the speaker and really sternly said to sit down! Not long after the ride began again.

We went over to Casey Junior and got in the queue, which stated a 30 min wait.



45 mins later we were still in the queue and the ride broke down – it really wasn’t our day for rides! We walked round to POTC and had a go on this instead.




Afterwards we headed out of the parks as I needed to get the packing done

On the way out we waved to Peter Pan.



Rachael, Jit and Dylan weren’t back yet. We popped over to the shop and bought some bits, I got myself one of the 20th anniversary notebooks that I liked and I can’t remember what Chloe had, a couple of small bits. We also got the pictures printed. I’ve since realised that I got 9 photos but only paid for 8 (according to the receipt anyway) and got the 20% discount as well! Not bad!

Chloe had a little play outside our building before we went in.




Chloe was really hot so she had a cold shower when we got back in. I think she’s taking the mick, she came out of the bathroom looking like this!



Not long after she’d got changed the others got back. Us adults ended up having a late night getting everything sorted!

The next day I somehow managed to drag myself out of bed! I decided Chloe could just wear what she did when we went to Café Mickey on the first night as if it’s really hot it would be too much to wear a princess dress all day and then travel home. We were quickly ready and off to breakfast. Again it was really quiet and soon we were off to enjoy our last day!



We got to the park just as it was opening.




We went on the Carousel, Dumbo twice, Peter Pan three times and the Tea Cups.





Then we headed over to Buzz and went on this twice. We hadn’t been to Salon Mickey yet so I said we should pop in there.



I was told we could have two snacks each and to help ourselves to the drinks, which is more than I've been told we could have before. Two is too much for us, we had one each. Chloe chose to have a cookie and I had the lovely nutty pastry thing. When we went in there was a French couple, the lady said hello and asked how we were, before I got a chance to answer Chloe did! I couldn’t believe her, she’d been saying things in French while we were there and I’ve been teaching her some but she’d never done anything like that before. She’s since started doing French at school, her teacher doesn’t take that class but at parent's evening she said she’d been told Chloe’s fantastic in that class so I’m very impressed with her. She got herself an orange juice and I had a bottle of water.

 

[A dream is a wish]

We had a little rest and then were on our way to the Studios. We were early but it was open so we headed to Crush.





There wasn’t a very big queue so we were on and off very quickly.

We went on Tower of Terror, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster three times (that was my limit!) and back on Tower of Terror before heading out of the Studios.




We had the voucher from City Hall for the Lucky Nugget Saloon so we headed there.



Chloe had the cherry tomatoes, chicken, fries and the yoghurt drink with a fanta. I had the angus burger with fries and vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce with a diet coke. It was really good food, I highly recommend it. The band playing were excellent, Chloe was dancing (well wiggling) along in her seat.




When we came out the sun was really fierce! We got in the queue for BTM, I love this ride! Afterwards I asked her if she fancied exploring Skull Rock as I needed to get out of the sun, she was happy to.








When I took this she was saying “up there is a monster, or a dead man” loon!




Next we went to Hook’s ship.



Apparently this is how you use them

 

[A dream is a wish]

I told her we’d go and see what the wait time is for Casey Jnr. – 70 minutes – no thank you! Look who we’d just missed!



We ended up wondering around Fantasyland for a bit, then saw a little street show with Alice and the Mad Hatter! She was making him do all kinds of crazy things like be like a frog and then spider! I don’t know how he did it because I was melting and I wasn’t bouncing around!




We saw Pinocchio and Gepetto and Chloe tried to meet them but she couldn’t get anywhere near, it was a horrible scrum. Snow White was showing a wait time of 30 mins but it didn’t look that big so we joined the queue, 15 mins later we were on.



When we got off we went on Pinocchio which was the same, it said 30 mins but we waited 15. When we got off we saw Pinocchio and Gepetto were back so Chloe got to meet Gepetto. She’d not met him before so she was excited, although she looks like she’s got a right grump on



Chloe wanted to go on Snow White again and we had enough time for one more ride so we joined the queue, we only waited 10 minutes! Everywhere else in Fantasyland was crazy busy apart from Snow White and Pinocchio!

Finally it was time to start heading out the park



We had to quickly stop and say goodbye to the dragon though!




On our way out the music came on for the celebration train so we stopped and waved. I thought it was a lovely end, this what we first saw of the 20th anniversary celebrations a year ago and it’s how we last saw it.








I decided I wanted the 20th anniversary best of CD so we popped in to a shop. It’s brilliant, it has loads of songs on and some I remember from when I came as a child!

We had a little bit of time left so we were going to grab a few last minute bits in the village.



After our little shopping trip we met up with Rachael, Jit and Dylan outside the station and together we collected our luggage and got on the Eurostar home. Chloe got herself comfortable and grabbed her Leap Pad and we had a peaceful journey back to London.



We’d booked the Travelodge Kings Cross before we went, but Jit had a call while we were away from his boss asking his to return home instead of staying in London as he was starting a new job and they needed him to start earlier than planned, so me, Chloe, Rachael and Dylan went off to stay overnight while Jit got the train back to Birmingham. What a nightmare it was! I got us checked in and then found out we were given a room that you cannot access by lift. It was down a load of stairs, we had our cases and Dylan in the pushchair so it wasn’t a good room to get to. We asked to swap rooms and were told no others were available! We ended up having to struggle down the stairs, it was an absolute joke they were really steep and there was me and Rachael, a pushchair, 3 suitcases and 2 kids to get down in one piece! Behind us came a lady and her mother, her mother obviously needed assistance and her daughter was trying to help her down the stairs, they were saying it was awful. We were told to phone up for assistance in the morning if we needed it, we didn’t even have a phone in the room!

We were hungry and had intended to go out for dinner but after the nightmare of getting down the stairs Rachael didn’t fancy dragging the pushchair in and out again so I went and picked us up a McDonalds. We had a fun night, it was good to unwind from the holiday. The next morning we were up and battle the stairs! Rachael went up and waited with Dylan and Chloe who took her case and I took the pushchair. Then I went back down for the rest of the stuff. Finally we were out! We grabbed some breakfast and went and got our train. It wasn’t too long until we were back in rainy Birmingham!

So that’s the end of my TR – finally! Hopefully it wasn’t too dull, I like to ramble on

Thank you for reading!

 

[DLPdaft]

You can be as rambling as you like - all the better for a trip report !

 

[itsrainingitspouring]

what a fantastic trip report, looks like you all had an awesome time.

I guess we need to hope for a big growth spurt before we go! haha