It's A WONDERful 2015 - Feb Cruise, May WDW grand tour, and France/DLP! NEW 10/25 Nice & End!

[TheMaxRebo]

I heard about the closure of the GMR - but had no idea there are rumors of a Mickey ride! I am going to look into that now, sounds awesome (although why can't they just build a new ride, keeping the iconic GMR?!)/

I think a lot has to do with the changing direction of the park and not really about movie making, etc. - and a lot of the movies featured in the GMR are not Disney movies. It is supposed to be going through the history of Mickey Mouse (starting at Steamboat Willie, etc.) so it still will have that history element to it

I heard that originally they were going to change the facade of the building as well but as of now the Chinese Theater will stay (which was actually featured in an old Mickey cartoon so there is a connection)

it's supposed to be a true E-Ticket Attraction and the GMR will close sometime next year and this will be open in 2019 - but who knows

 

[Imagineer5]

I think a lot has to do with the changing direction of the park and not really about movie making, etc. - and a lot of the movies featured in the GMR are not Disney movies. It is supposed to be going through the history of Mickey Mouse (starting at Steamboat Willie, etc.) so it still will have that history element to it

I heard that originally they were going to change the facade of the building as well but as of now the Chinese Theater will stay (which was actually featured in an old Mickey cartoon so there is a connection)

it's supposed to be a true E-Ticket Attraction and the GMR will close sometime next year and this will be open in 2019 - but who knows

So true, honestly I think that ride could be really cool (and more interesting for Aria and eventually Maya).

 

[Imagineer5]

Friday 9/11

Our last full day in the parks! Boo. But we had a full day ahead - DLP opened early at 8 again, we had lunch reservations at Walt's restaurant on Main Street and dinner at the Innoventions restaurant at the Disneyland Hotel.

This morning we made it to breakfast by 7:10 and then made it to the gates of the DLH by 7:45 - the lock the gates at night apparently which we found VERY odd. Not sure how people get out or in?? We had to wait for a CM to come and open the gates just to get to the turnstiles. We made it in the park right at 8 though and characters weren't even out. There were maybe 30 other people at that time, pretty awesome! Again, staying on site for those first 2 hours of EE really seems worthwhile to me!

We went straight to Peter Pan and walked on - we were the first family to ride! Love the pixie dust -

Next we headed to Dumbo

And we headed for the Tea Cups next but stopped for a photo with these Alice in Wonderland chairs as there was no one there

At the Tea Cups, there was a girl who was maybe 10 in line - CM wouldn't let her ride alone so Andrew offered her a ride with Aria and him.

And then Aria and I took a spin on the carousel (in general, Andrew sits out the carousel).

We hopped on Peter Pan again since it was there with no line still, and then headed towards Tomorrowland (only other open part of the park during the early hours), stopping to say hi to Chip and Dale.

Aria asked to meet some more characters so we took a trip up Main street to the entrance where it seemed like most characters met, and saw Goofy and Pluto out.

THey were super silly. I was in line with Aria while ANdrew stood off to the side, but when they noticed he was with us they motioned for him to join in the fun

Dancing

Afterwards we headed to Tomorrowland where Andrew rode Space and we rode Buzz again and I noted that I was really enjoying this version of Buzz lightyear over WDW or DL - likely because I was able to score way more points lol! It was about 10 at this point so we headed back to Fantasyland and Aria and I rode Dumbo again with the pregnancy pass

Then we all headed over to Casey Jr train. There I pretended not to speak either English or French when the CM asked me if I was pregnant as I boarded... :-D (I felt like Maya popped out at this point, was feeling much bigger today!)

After that, we split up - I was going to attempt to get a "fastpass" for the Princesses. Since we had been to Auberge a couple days before and met many of the princesses, I hadn't made this a priority mainly because it sounded like a pain, but today I felt like trying. People line up for these dumb passes as soon as the park opens up, apparently, (8am), and they don't start handing them out until like 10:30 or something - basically it's a human fastpass distribution, and you have no idea which princess(es) you might meet. Well a CM told me earlier in the trip I could use my Pregnancy pass and not wait from 8-10:30 for them, so around 10:15 I meandered over only to find utter chaos. SO many people, SO many lines and not knowing where to go. I asked a couple CMs, found my spot, and about 20 minutes in was told that all passes were distributed for the day! So that was a huge waste of time and I went in search of Andrew. I hadn't told Aria of my plan, so luckily she was none the wiser and didn't realize I had failed at my princess pass task.

We had yet to ride Snow White so that was our next destination (while I was waiting, Andrew took Aria on the storybookland boats again).

Apparently Aria thought we were going to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and when she realized what it was she was pretty disappointed! So naturally Andrew took Aria over to Big Thunder next and they rode that with a minimal wait.

While waiting, I sat down and made a game plan for the rest of the morning before lunch trying to do things we hadn't gone to yet - Aladdin walk through, treehouse, pirate play area, check out the Speedway line and do the Nautilous walk through, then visit the candy store (remember Andrew promised aria candy and she hadn't cashed in on that yet!).

The Aladdin walk through exhibit was really well done

continued...

 

[heaven2dc]

Aria's dress and boots are so adorable on her! Looks like you had a great morning with low crowds - love when that happens! When you said you didn't act like you could speak French or English when you went on the Casey Train attraction, was that because pregnant women are not allowed onboard? Just curious

 

[Imagineer5]

Then we checked out the treehouse and the other cool swinging bridges and such nearby

After a short visit to the play area, we headed over to Tomorrowland. Autopia had a 45 minute wait so Andrew and Aria skipped that, and instead we did the Nautilous walk through which was again really cool (although Aria wasn't a huge fan, it made her nervous).

This is right up Andrew's alley though so he enjoyed it a lot.

Next we headed to the candy store, where Aria got to fill a bag with gummies and other candy, plus she picked out a huge lollipop and some DLP chocolates. Then went to Walt's which is about halfway up the street. I think this has a similar feeling to Carthay Circle - it is another Prix Fixe place with a very old time Walt Disney theme with cool pictures on the walls and various themed dining rooms upstairs - cool to be on the second level of Main Street.

I was distracted when checking in and forgot to ask for a window table, and we ended up at a table in the middle of the room. The rooms were pretty small (ours just had maybe 6 tables) and very quiet, so we were glad Aria is so good at mealtimes (I can't imagine bringing Maya at the moment into such a quiet restaurant haha).

They had a couple different set menus, and I again chose the 3-course including dessert whereas Andrew chose the 2-course. This time we shared with Aria vs buying her a meal. To start with we both ordered a caprese, 1 because we knew Aria would love it and 2 because the mozz cheese here can only be beat by being in Italy itself, just SO SO SO much better than the mozzarella we get here! For our main dishes I had a vegetarian risotto, and Andrew enjoyed a perfectly cooked steak with some sort of herbed butter that he deemed amazing.

We both said this was the best food we had had at DLP! It was just fantastic. By the way, I had intended to do Walt's for one of the dinners, but for some reason it was not open for dinner during our visit, only lunch.

For dessert I had the hot chocolate fondant (otherwise known as a molten lava chocolate cake). It was amazing. Aria stole my spoon. I was supposed to be sharing with the table but didn't want to!

After lunch, we put aria down for a nap in the stroller and headed to the Studios. On the way out I took this picture. Not sure why.

At the Studios I really wanted Andrew to ride Crush's coaster, which is one of the few really awesome rides not at WDW/DL. The wait was over an hour though, and the single rider line was closed! Boo. So we watched it come around a couple times (it is mainly inside, but right out front the cars come out for a minute), and so we checked out the wait for Rock n Roller Coaster which had a 5 minute wait! Andrew hopped on that excited to ride while I waited outside enjoying the sun. While waiting on a bench though, and older man came and sat next to me and then proceeded to light a cigarette right there!! ugh (and no, I wasn't in a designated smoking area). I moved and gave him a dirty look.

Push the talking trash can was out though, so I got to watch the shenanigans and that was so much fun - the CM's were having a ball with people as they got off the ride.

Andrew came out and I flagged him down and then we headed out of the park back to the hotel. I packed up most of our things and then I was tired so I laid down and not 5 minutes later Aria woke up lol. We decided to head to the pool before dinner (no pictures as I had packed up the water camera!). After some showers we walked over to the Disneyland Hotel.

Inventions is a buffet but with a TON of characters, really good food, and one of the more pricey places to eat. It has a really cool theme of..... inventions :-D .

If you remember from previous trips, Aria always starts a meal off with some salt on her hand. Well, she still does it.

I had no idea which characters to assume would be there, which drove Aria crazy as she wanted to know! First up was Gepetto though -

Before we had a chance to go up for some food, Pluto came over to say hi

Then we headed up for the buffet. Here, they have a HUGE seafood buffet, then a meat one, and a pasta/ salad one, and a dessert one. Andrew was in heaven!

I took a photo and quickly left the seafood buffet. No thank you!

Here is one with a bunch of various salads and other dishes

Cheeses, fruits and look at those desserts!

This is awesome. Andrew was still up at the buffet while Aria and I sat down. I had asked our waiter for some ketchup for Aria, and then Goofy came over and plopped right down in Andrews seat!

Aria thought it was hilarious

Because of our proximity to the buffet, despite the constant characters I was pretty relaxed (maybe also because we didn't have anywhere to be after dinner?). We did note a mother and son who ate quickly, met maybe 2 characters then left before we were done with our first plates - that was a very expensive 30 minute dinner imo! Anyway, Mickey came over next.

Aria got some twirls

BTW, the waiter made Aria's night by bringing her a soup bowl filled with ketchup lol! She thought that was amazing.

Pinocchio came over as well

He tried to get her to bust out some moves

 

[Imagineer5]

Next up was Donald -

SO many characters!!

Aria gave Eeyore a kiss and he was acting bashful

I decided to hop in that photo

At one point Chip and Donald were joking around about something and then Chip stopped by

And Dale was close to follow

Then we had a little reprieve! Phew! It was dessert time and I was SO SO SO happy that that diabetes test while pregnant came back negative! Wahoo!

A look at the decorations

Andrew even got dessert! Mickey stopped by again while we enjoyed our treats

Soon after we decided to call it a night. It was the best buffet either of us have been to - from the characters, food (Andrew said this was BETTER THAN CAPE MAY!? WHAT?! his favorite WDW restaurant is Cape May). Not that I was counting, but Andrew had three plates of seafood lol. I had two of dessert alone!

On the way back they checked out the ducks & fish in the pond

We had an early start in the morning, so when we got back to the room Andrew brought down all but one of the suitcases and put them in the car while I did a little more packing and then got Aria to bed. We all tucked in early.

Up next - 3 nights visiting Chateau Country in the Loire Valley! Hope you'll stick around for the rest of the trip, we have four more destinations to visit! <3

 

[Imagineer5]

Aria's dress and boots are so adorable on her! Looks like you had a great morning with low crowds - love when that happens! When you said you didn't act like you could speak French or English when you went on the Casey Train attraction, was that because pregnant women are not allowed onboard? Just curious

Yes the first two hours were awesome.

Yes, the Casey Jr train is one of the many that have pregnant restrictions in place. Still have no clue why, it's about as time as Peter Pan. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is crazier at DL

 

[TheMaxRebo]

definitely looks like those first 2 hours are worth it - you got so much done! That process for getting FP for the princesses seems like a disaster! I feel like the more I see how they do character meets at other parks the more I like how they do it at WDW - yeah, they might have to cut the line off and you have to wait for the next set, but it just seems more controlled and like a known quantity of if you will get in and when, etc.

I do love that they have several walk thru attractions there. I know they aren't super exciting but they can be interesting a good thing when you have some time to kill or just want something lower key

One thing I love about this park is that they seem to recognize Disney history - that is one thing I really felt was missing in Hong Kong Disneyland. I love that they have a restaurant called Walt's. Not that I have eaten there but the decor reminds me of the pictures I have seen of Cub 33 as well

Inventions looks like a nice buffet too! Lots of options at all the stations - and that is a lot of characters! Makes me think of an upscale Minnie's Breakfast they have at Disneyland in CA. Love the pictures of Goofy sitting down at your table with the bottle of wine in front of him.

That is a sweet picture of Andrew and Aria watching the ducks

Looking forward to the rest!

 

[Dugette]

This morning we made it to breakfast by 7:10 and then made it to the gates of the DLH by 7:45 - the lock the gates at night apparently which we found VERY odd. Not sure how people get out or in?? We had to wait for a CM to come and open the gates just to get to the turnstiles.

Weird - you mean the hotel guests might be locked in there too?

We went straight to Peter Pan and walked on - we were the first family to ride! Love the pixie dust -

That reminds me - you mentioned not being set on doing Peter Pan at Disneyland - it is a bit different because they added some additional tech enhancements to it. Not necessarily worth planning a day around, but I wouldn't have minded a second ride.

Cute!

At the Tea Cups, there was a girl who was maybe 10 in line - CM wouldn't let her ride alone so Andrew offered her a ride with Aria and him.

That was nice!

I asked a couple CMs, found my spot, and about 20 minutes in was told that all passes were distributed for the day! So that was a huge waste of time and I went in search of Andrew. I hadn't told Aria of my plan, so luckily she was none the wiser and didn't realize I had failed at my princess pass task.

I didn't know anything about this, but sounds like something to skip if we do the princess meal.

Apparently Aria thought we were going to ride the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and when she realized what it was she was pretty disappointed!

Aw, poor girl!

I love her dress - so cute! (Also, the boots remind me that we finally found Izzy some cowgirl boots yesterday - pink ones, per her request. And they have a small heal, if that comes in handy. )

Next we headed to the candy store, where Aria got to fill a bag with gummies and other candy, plus she picked out a huge lollipop and some DLP chocolates.

Sounds like Izzy's dream! She always wants the huge lollipops (yet, I haven't gotten her one, as she rarely finishes a small one).

The rooms were pretty small (ours just had maybe 6 tables) and very quiet, so we were glad Aria is so good at mealtimes (I can't imagine bringing Maya at the moment into such a quiet restaurant haha).

Wow, good to know. Glad Aria is so good.

For dessert I had the hot chocolate fondant (otherwise known as a molten lava chocolate cake). It was amazing. Aria stole my spoon. I was supposed to be sharing with the table but didn't want to!

I would kill for one of those right now! Sounds great!

While waiting on a bench though, and older man came and sat next to me and then proceeded to light a cigarette right there!! ugh (and no, I wasn't in a designated smoking area). I moved and gave him a dirty look.

Geez, I am really not loving the smoking culture!

Push the talking trash can was out though, so I got to watch the shenanigans and that was so much fun - the CM's were having a ball with people as they got off the ride.

Cool, I didn't realize that Push was there! I never did manage to see him.

If you remember from previous trips, Aria always starts a meal off with some salt on her hand. Well, she still does it.

Haha, I'd wondered if she still did that.

I took a photo and quickly left the seafood buffet. No thank you!

I'm right with you there.

Cheeses, fruits and look at those desserts!

Mmmm, now this is more my type of buffet!

I love how it looks like Goofy is sitting down to a dinner with wine!

Soon after we decided to call it a night. It was the best buffet either of us have been to - from the characters, food (Andrew said this was BETTER THAN CAPE MAY!? WHAT?! his favorite WDW restaurant is Cape May). Not that I was counting, but Andrew had three plates of seafood lol. I had two of dessert alone!

Seems like quite the successful dinner. Great food and tons of fun characters (though Izzy was looking at this with me and was disappointed that Daisy was not there).

Up next - 3 nights visiting Chateau Country in the Loire Valley! Hope you'll stick around for the rest of the trip, we have four more destinations to visit! <3

Really looking forward to it!

 

[cindianne320]

That looked like a very fun meal!
And how cool that Push is there- he was one of my very favorite things about WDW when I was a little girl!

 

[Imagineer5]

definitely looks like those first 2 hours are worth it - you got so much done! That process for getting FP for the princesses seems like a disaster! I feel like the more I see how they do character meets at other parks the more I like how they do it at WDW - yeah, they might have to cut the line off and you have to wait for the next set, but it just seems more controlled and like a known quantity of if you will get in and when, etc.

I do love that they have several walk thru attractions there. I know they aren't super exciting but they can be interesting a good thing when you have some time to kill or just want something lower key

One thing I love about this park is that they seem to recognize Disney history - that is one thing I really felt was missing in Hong Kong Disneyland. I love that they have a restaurant called Walt's. Not that I have eaten there but the decor reminds me of the pictures I have seen of Cub 33 as well

Inventions looks like a nice buffet too! Lots of options at all the stations - and that is a lot of characters! Makes me think of an upscale Minnie's Breakfast they have at Disneyland in CA. Love the pictures of Goofy sitting down at your table with the bottle of wine in front of him.

That is a sweet picture of Andrew and Aria watching the ducks

Looking forward to the rest!

The princess meet there really is a disaster. I wish I had gotten a photo of the crazy snaking lines. People wasting their entire 2 hour early entry time just to get in line for princess tickets? No thanks!

WDW definitely works for me. And even crazier, in planning for DL I actually miss the FP+ at WDW with being able to pre-book some things!

I do like the walk throughs, and made it a point to check them out since they are not at the US parks.

Agreed, the Disney history was definitely present, which is one of the main reasons I did really love DLP - really the only downside was the smoking. Ekk so excited we'll be doing Minnie's this time next week!

Weird - you mean the hotel guests might be locked in there too?

I can't imagine they would BUT I couldn't see a way out? Really strange. I assume someone from the hotel would let them out? Idk.

That reminds me - you mentioned not being set on doing Peter Pan at Disneyland - it is a bit different because they added some additional tech enhancements to it. Not necessarily worth planning a day around, but I wouldn't have minded a second ride.

Oh that is good to know! I mean, I want to do it once (Aria has already asked for it) but I just don't need to do it multiple times. I would rather ride Alice 4 times than PP.

I didn't know anything about this, but sounds like something to skip if we do the princess meal.

Yes, definitely not worth the wait. Why don't they just use Fastpass?

love her dress - so cute! (Also, the boots remind me that we finally found Izzy some cowgirl boots yesterday - pink ones, per her request. And they have a small heal, if that comes in handy. )

Oh yay! So cute. I also ordered Aria some bigger cowboy boots yesterday! It was finally time as her older boots were definitely too small.

Sounds like Izzy's dream! She always wants the huge lollipops (yet, I haven't gotten her one, as she rarely finishes a small one).

I don't think she finished that lollipop either, but the wow factor was there!

I love how it looks like Goofy is sitting down to a dinner with wine!

Haha yeah (Andrew ordered the wine btw). Goofy made himself at home!

Seems like quite the successful dinner. Great food and tons of fun characters (though Izzy was looking at this with me and was disappointed that Daisy was not there).

Yes, I didn't want to be negative about such a fun dinner (and Aria never mentioned this) But I would have liked to see some gender variation - i.e. have some girl characters too! I do think it changes though so it's possible that we just had a boy centric day haha.

That looked like a very fun meal!
And how cool that Push is there- he was one of my very favorite things about WDW when I was a little girl!

It was wonderful! ANd so random to see push - I hadn't realized he had moved here. I was sad when he left WDW, mainly because of the how different and uniquely Disney he was, but what a wonderful surprise to run across him at DLP.

 

[Imagineer5]

4 DAYS!! Eek. So excited, can't believe I'll be walking around DL on Friday! Aria offered to carry a backpack filled with Maya's toys on the plane (along with her own small carry on suitcase filled with her own toys). She is such a super big sister.

I don't know if I mentioned that our return flight home on Alaska Air had us all booked in separate seats? Well I called to add Maya as a lap baby to my reservation, and casually mentioned that we might have to ask travelers to move seats for us, and the customer service agent was SO sweet and ended up upgrading us to business class (not first, we don't have luck like @Dugette lol) with seats altogether! That was so awesome.

Anyway, I wanted to continue on with the TR and get another day or two under my belt before the next trip comes.

So - Day 9! Saturday September 12th. Our plans were to head to the Loire Valley (about 3 hours total drive) stopping at Chambord on the way. South of Amboise, we were renting a rustic French country house for the next 3 nights, and the next door neighbor apparently didn't speak any English so I had a few phrases written down.

We started the day about 6AM, showered, packed final things - Andrew brought the rest out to the car and Aria and I headed to breakfast, we finally left about 7:30. I had noted that most gas stations in rural France are closed on Sundays- chip CC's will still work, but ours was iffy on whether it wanted to work or not- so we filled up the gas tank on our way out just in case. The chip and pin again didn't work, but Andrew was able to pay inside. This was frustrating because I spent a LOT of time searching the internet for what CC to use that would work in Europe and ended up signing up for an Andrews Federal Credit Union CC, which supposedly was my best bet, and it still only worked about 25% of the time!

Anyway, we drove about 2 hours to get to Chambord. Andrew made me take random photos of cars, like this one...

I love tree lined streets

The first 1.5 hours was on highways but then we ended the route with small back roads which was fun.It was so cool driving up to Chambord - the whole town of Chambord is surrounded by a 20' stone wall. Pretty impressive considering this was multi square miles of land! Lots of forested area with deer and wild boar.

This was entering the vicinity of Chambord:

But to actually get to Chambord, we drove another 20 minutes or so through the forest. We parked in a free parking area, paid 50c for a porta potty manned by an elderly woman lol, and then headed in.

What a sight!

We hadn't pre-purchased tickets (it didn't seem necessary, for our early visit) and thankfully there was no line to get in. Andrew opted for the audio tour, and we also bought tickets to the equestrian show they have a couple times a day (more on this later!).

It was sort of a wet, dreary day but thankfully it wasn't downpouring as we toured the chateau.

A little history - Chambord was build by King Francis I to serve as a hunting lodge while he was living in Blois and Amboise. Da Vinci designed the central spiral staircase. It began construction in 1519, and after the French Revolution in 1792 much of the furnishings were sold. It's pretty bare inside which was surprising to me.

We left the stroller on the 1st level and climbed to the top, to work our way down.

This place was seriously massive

Spiral staircases everywhere!

Back inside we checked out some of the rooms - the top inside floor was the hunting floor where guest rooms were.

Aria enjoyed the giant fireplace lol

The next floor down had the king's and queen's apartments

At 11:45 we headed out to the equestrian show which is held at the stables.

It started to sprinkle at this point, but the seating area was thankfully covered. Mid-show it started pouring and Andrew ran out to move the stroller under cover lol.


The show was set up like a play of multiple parts.

Aria LOVED the show

Here is the description of the show from the Chambord website. Note, the show was in French but they gave us an English sheet that described each play section in English.

From the reign of François the First, the last king-knight, until the romantic era of Victor Hugo crossing the jokes of Molière, it is a real ride through the five centuries of Chambord which is proposed to all the visitors of the domain.

Since 2013, the success of the equestrian show « In the forest of history » written by Gonzague Saint-Bris has not denied. And this year, the show takes a new turn with the arrival of the horsemen of the Almeria Park !

Find the troop at the stables of the Marshal of Saxe to discover dressage and high ropes figures, battle stunts and fight scenes.

The best part of the show was a comedy routine where a guy was learning how to ride a horse and was given a donkey instead. Aria was literally cracking up at the antics as he rode backwards, then slipped off, then slipped sideways etc. She still talks about it to this day!

After the show we decided we had seen enough of Chambord, although I popped in the store to find an ornament, and went to the little town right near the chateau to find some lunch. We noticed Aria had passed out in the stroller during that little walk lol! I wanted to find a spot inside as it was still dreary and chilly, Andrew wanted something quick more like a sandwich. Well, the pregnant lady won after a battle of wills, and we found a different sort of restaurant with tartine's - kind of like bruschettas. I had one and some hot chocolate which tasted amazing, and Andrew ordered a burger which had goat cheese and caramelized onions and he said it was amazing. It ended up being a great lunch. We were definitely surrounded by tourists from all over the world, which was neat anyway.

We perused some shops and then headed out, Aria woke up when we transferred her to the car, but she was happy to watch the road. We saw some wild boar on the way out of Chambord!

We drove through some quaint towns (no highway!) and stopped at a grocery store for dinner & breakfast supplies.

continued!

 

[Imagineer5]

We arrived right before 3 to the house in Orget, which is a non-town (no town center or anything) but within 15 minutes of Amboise and near the Loire river. We had instructions to stop at the first house on the street and tell them that we were there for the rental (this was the lady who spoke no English). I knocked and said in broken French who we were and she gestured she would meet us there. A bit further down (you could walk but it was far) we went to the house and parked. How cute!!

She showed us around the house, chatting quickly in French. We had no clue what she was saying lol!

upstairs there were two bedrooms. We started out our stay with Andrew & me in the interior room with Aria in the first bedroom, but she was unhappy in the middle of the night and I didn't like that bed, so I ended up sleeping with Aria in the first bed. Andrew didn't like the upstairs bc of his asthma, so he ended up in the downstairs bed lol!

Living area with a piecemeal kitchen and dining room

After a little unpacking we went back outside as the sun was finally out!

They found an apple tree

At this point we were restauranted out, so we had plans to cook up some raviolis and had artichokes as we found these amazing beauties at the grocery store! (We love artichokes and have them about 2 times a month at least, but only when we find acceptable ones - which are never this amazing!!).

After some cooking and relaxing, we ate dinner outside

After this we ended the day on a low note though- there was a washing machine and Andrew had thrown in a load of clothes attempting to be helpful. Well, in with the load was a new navy shirt of his, and it had ruined Aria's black and white Well Dressed Wolf dress (the one from our last night in Paris), along with staining a couple other things. Instead of apologizing like a normal person, he just shrugged it off saying he didn't realize he shouldn't put in a new navy t shirt in the load. All I wanted him to do was apologize and maybe help hang up the laundry (no dryer) but he just got really defensive. So I spent the rest of the night angry and planning for the next couple of days, figuring out what to do with the rain that was supposed to be coming, and also looking through the various tourist pamphlets that were in the house. Aria was enjoying relaxing with the ipad and we called it an early night.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Chambord looks really cool - love the Divinci staircase. And the show sounds really fun. Glad Aria enjoyed it despite it not being in English. Guess a man riding a donkey backward works in any language

That seems like a scene out of a comedy of this woman telling you all about the place in French and you not having any clue what she is saying.

Sounds like a nice meal you all made. Bummer about the argument that night though - I can kinda understand Andrew getting defensive, but dude, just apologize as well! Doesn't he know the first rule of marriage? That one person is always right and the other person is the husband

 

[Imagineer5]

Chambord looks really cool - love the Divinci staircase. And the show sounds really fun. Glad Aria enjoyed it despite it not being in English. Guess a man riding a donkey backward works in any language

That seems like a scene out of a comedy of this woman telling you all about the place in French and you not having any clue what she is saying.

Sounds like a nice meal you all made. Bummer about the argument that night though - I can kinda understand Andrew getting defensive, but dude, just apologize as well! Doesn't he know the first rule of marriage? That one person is always right and the other person is the husband

He still refuses that rule, despite it being the case during every argument

Chambord was great and the perfect stop to break up the drive too. The back roads took a bit longer than sticking to the highway, but we enjoy that scenery and drive as much as anything so it was fine for us. I thought it was pretty funny when the woman kept on going on in French - I mean, I probably was nodding my head but I certainly never responded lol.

 

[Dugette]

4 DAYS!! Eek. So excited, can't believe I'll be walking around DL on Friday!

So excited for you! I was just thinking about how this will be Aria's first chance for RSR, right?

Aria offered to carry a backpack filled with Maya's toys on the plane (along with her own small carry on suitcase filled with her own toys). She is such a super big sister.

Aw, so sweet. She's a good kid.

(not first, we don't have luck like @Dugette lol)

Haha, well, technically I've never been upgraded. I mean, we did pay for the first class tickets when we purchased (you know, for that whopping $2 price glitch more ) Glad it worked out so well for you!

I had noted that most gas stations in rural France are closed on Sundays- chip CC's will still work

Good to know!

Spiral staircases everywhere!

Very cool!

This looks insanely cozy! I just wanna take a nap there!

The best part of the show was a comedy routine where a guy was learning how to ride a horse and was given a donkey instead. Aria was literally cracking up at the antics as he rode backwards, then slipped off, then slipped sideways etc. She still talks about it to this day!

Glad it was such a hit! Sounds like fun.

She showed us around the house, chatting quickly in French. We had no clue what she was saying lol!

Haha, this is where Dug's ability to speak French will come in handy for me.

Andrew didn't like the upstairs bc of his asthma, so he ended up in the downstairs bed lol!

Was there something he was allergic to upstairs?

Izzy saw this picture and got super excited. I'm guessing it was because they look like maracas instead of veggies to her?

After this we ended the day on a low note though- there was a washing machine and Andrew had thrown in a load of clothes attempting to be helpful. Well, in with the load was a new navy shirt of his, and it had ruined Aria's black and white Well Dressed Wolf dress (the one from our last night in Paris), along with staining a couple other things. Instead of apologizing like a normal person, he just shrugged it off saying he didn't realize he shouldn't put in a new navy t shirt in the load. All I wanted him to do was apologize and maybe help hang up the laundry (no dryer) but he just got really defensive.

That's a bummer! I hate when clothes get stained. Guess he needs some remedial laundry training. Sorry you didn't get your apology. I guess at least he was trying to be helpful.

 

[Imagineer5]

So excited for you! I was just thinking about how this will be Aria's first chance for RSR, right?


Aw, so sweet. She's a good kid.


Haha, well, technically I've never been upgraded. I mean, we did pay for the first class tickets when we purchased (you know, for that whopping $2 price glitch more ) Glad it worked out so well for you!


Good to know!


Very cool!


This looks insanely cozy! I just wanna take a nap there!


Glad it was such a hit! Sounds like fun.


Haha, this is where Dug's ability to speak French will come in handy for me.


Was there something he was allergic to upstairs?


Izzy saw this picture and got super excited. I'm guessing it was because they look like maracas instead of veggies to her?


That's a bummer! I hate when clothes get stained. Guess he needs some remedial laundry training. Sorry you didn't get your apology. I guess at least he was trying to be helpful.

YES! First time on - RSR, Soarin, Grizzly River Run (I'll put this in here bc the height requirement is higher (42) and it is longer than KRR), Matterhorn, Space, Goofy's Sky School, Jumpin Jellyfish, Silly Swings...what else? she gets to basically ride everything but CA Screamin' and Indiana Jones (which is ALL MINEEEEE and the whole reason I want to stay out late Friday night to go single rider on that over and over...eek).

He is allergic to dust, mold, grass, etc. Usually it doesn't bother him too much, but we figured that house was built in the 1700's and he gets that way in old houses. (I forget why we decided the 1700's, maybe from the way it was constructed?).

 

[Imagineer5]

I'm going to try and telework tomorrow before heading off super early on Friday, so I wanted to get in another post today.

In the Loire, we had two full day plans - Amboise with Le Clos Luce (Da Vinci's house!) and a combo of two popular chateaus (Villandry and Chenonceau) another day. Well today we woke up to major rain, so we chose Le Clos Luce since it was closest (Villandry is known for its gardens). Since it was downpouring, I ended up staying in bed until about 8 and then we got going for the day. This morning I made some delicious fingerling potatoes for breakfast and we had those with kiwis and chocolate croissants. I haven't been able to re-create those potatoes!

Aria ready for the day!

Around 9:30 we headed out, as Le Clos Luce opened at 10. It was still raining but the drive to Amboise was still beautiful, taking us through some really gorgeous little towns and across the Loire river - it only took about 20 minutes total too.

This is the road our house is off of -

Aria was excited to see the horses out

I took this blurry picture because we passed so many beautiful little parks and I wanted to remember all the color that popped during our drive

Today we brought umbrellas along with rain jackets and hoped for the best! We bought tickets to the chateau and the park (you can buy them for one or the other or both). Since it was still raining pretty hard we decided we'd do the chateau first. In order to enter, you go up a spiral staircase built in 1471 and then cross a medieval walkway to the house.

At the top of the spiral staircase -

Walkway (there is a main doorway as well, but this is how the self guided tour starts which was pretty cool we thought!)

Looking at the house (side note, we parked the stroller near the ticket booths and left the umbrellas in it)

The premise of the house is that King Francis I commissioned Da Vinci to come from Italy, and basically paid him to talk. Literally, he would come to the house (which is near the Amboise Chateau where the king lived part time) and listen to Da Vinci talk about his inventions, ideas, etc. Legend has it that Da Vinci came from Italy over the dolomites on a Donkey carrying 3 rolled paintings, one of which was the Mona Lisa.

This room was Da Vinci's room

Also living in the house was Marguerite, King Francis' sister. This was her room:

Downstairs there was a chapel, dining room and kitchen.

Da Vinci lived here until he died, I think he lived in the house his final 4 years but it might have been less than that.

The basement level had been finished by the museum foundation and they used it to display Da Vinci models.

These were not meant to be played with, but outside there were life size versions to play with!

After the basement, we exited to no rain! Woohoo!

We grabbed the stroller and did the walk around the park. There was a cute garden area with chickens & ducks, some ponds, and the inventions. There was even a small playground area.

Two-level bridge

It was sprinkling on and off so we kept taking off the rain jackets and then putting them on again

He made this lion animatronic for party amusement. He was seriously an amazing man!

This actually spun

Another house on the property

Paddleboats designed in the 15th century

Made it to the playground!

Heading back up to the chateau to leave

But we stopped at a flying contraption first

continued...

 

[Imagineer5]

Back at the entrance we checked out the shop hoping to find an ornament but we didn't see anything particularly "da vinci" so we took some photos outside

Aria felt like twirling

From there we headed back to the car. Neat architecture on the way

We decided to drive into Amboise proper (another 3 minutes) and bonus, they have free parking on Sunday! It is located along the river

There is a nice big pedestrian area to visit

We were very hungry so our first order of business was to stop for lunch and after perusing a few options, we ended up at the first place on the left in the above pic, which was a Creperie. It was delicious but took forever - almost 2 hours! We had plans to check out another chateau afterwards but we were pretty tired so decided to move that to tomorrow. At lunch I ordered a goat cheese and tomato crème, then a toffee sweet crepe for dessert. Andrew had an onion soup, steak, and ice cream lol!

Aria fell asleep in the stroller as we were leaving lunch haha, so we decided to walk around.


The Chateau Amboise is apparently another good choice for a chateau to visit but we skipped it.

Cute shop sign

Sleeping girl

After walking for a short while we realized there wasn't anything else to see - most shops were closed! So we were able to keep aria asleep while transferring her to the car, and we took a nice long drive around.

At one point I hopped out of the car, grabbed a wad of Euros, and went to a fair. I had plans to buy something (guess I was feeling spendy) but came back empty handed lol!

We ended up back at the house at 4. We did some relaxing as we had a really nice dinner coming up later tonight! The house had two odd bathrooms - one was basically unfinished with the washer, with a stand up shower that was tiny, and the other one had a bathtub but no shower curtain (so you had to sit and bathe/shower). Aria really needed a bath and two people couldn't fit in the stand up shower so we took a funny shower bath thing. I know these are fairly typical in Europe, but it was strange to me.

Anyway, around 7:20 (about Aria's usual bedtime) we headed out for dinner. We had reservations at L'Auberge du Cheval Rouge. This is a Michelin starred restaurant only 10 minutes from the house - it didn't open until 7:30 and reservations are required. Typically they have a small patio open for outside dining, which is mainly why I chose it because I thought Aria would enjoy eating outside while we got to eat some gourmet food. But the sprinkling had returned so we ate inside. There were only about 8 tables total and we were the first to be seated.

Aria enjoyed the gourmet salt

By 8:15 all the tables were full. They had a fantastic 3,4 or 5 course meal offerings and no English menu, but I had printed out the English translation (thanks Google translator) along with the French one so we could cross reference.

To start with they served a little tasting plate which had parmesan crisps, smoked salmon, fois gras, and a little pancake. Aria attempted a try but didn't like anything (I'm not really a fan of fois gras or smoked salmon either lol). Then they brought out an amuse bouche of haddock which I tried and enjoyed.

They had a kids menu (another reason I thought it would be okay to bring a 3 year old to a Michelin starred restaurant) and Aria ordered the chicken with potatoes.

In case you hadn't realized I love goat cheese LOL, my first course was a goat cheese, tomato over gazpacho. It was amazing.

Andrew had a lobster and cream thing, which had an amazing presentation and he loved it. Then our main dishes came out, I ordered a cod which was cooked in a turmeric curry sauce, absolutely delicious once again, and Andrew ordered a duck breast.

Aria's meal (around 12 euros btw, can't beat amazing kid's meals in France) came with a molten chocolate cake with ice cream.

I had apricot profiteroles with peach and berry sorbet.

While Andrew enjoyed a grand marnier soufflé (at my request, so I could have some of that too).

We left about 9:40, feeling like it was a well paced and reasonable (for the food quality for sure) priced meal. When we got up to leave, people around the room all looked over and an older lady gave Aria a hug, it was like no one even realized we had a 3 year old there. She had many smiles and waves goodbye, it was so cute.

Here was the restaurant from the outside

And from there we called it a night. Aria I think fell asleep on the 10 minute ride back lol!

Up next, Villandry, Chenonceau,and an unexpected chateau too! (But first, Disneyland!!)

 

[TheMaxRebo]

The Le Clos Luce looks really cool - love that sort of stuff! Hard to imagine a staircase/walking bridge thing that is significantly older than our country

I've seen pictures of that two level bridge before - did they explain why the made a two level bridge or was it just to be cool?

Dinner looks amazing! I love how even the kids chicken had fancy presentation and foam and stuff with it