"All Passed Up" Half Term Trip Report day 1-2-3-4 COMPLETE

[princessmummy]

cast

Me Karen nervous about our 1st trip abroad without DH but so excited!!! missing the magic

DD1 age 11. Mostly with a bit/

Dd2 age nearly 4, her first trip abroad ever!

Day 1

Bank Holiday MOnday May 30th

Up at 5.40am to head to Bristol airport in torrential rain and get there about 9am (after several loo stops!) Loos are destined to become a major part of our trip! 3 yr olds!! LOL

We are glad we packed our raincoats in the backpacks as walking from the car park to the terminal got us soaked to the skin!

Can't check our bags till 2 hrs before the flight so head to Coast for smoothies, coffee and cake!!

go through our prebooked fast track security (£9 for us all) and Dd1 is so excited she almost forgets to get her shoes back! LOL

Try and get lunch early but mostly only breakfast is available till 11.30.....I don't want a fry up before flying so we have sandwiches....

The flight takes what feels forever as Dd2 wants the loo, and due to the weather we have to stay in our seats!

eventually (it seems ) we land in CDG and make it to another loo!

quickly got our bags and security at a guess around 25 mins total.

Then we head to meet RS Transports. our flight was delayed and he was waiting for us at the agreed place. There was noone else in our shared shuttle. In 35 mins we had made it to the Dream Castle!

Super efficient fast service from the hotel we are back on the shuttle bus (only 5 min wait) and arrived at the gates to DLP at 5pm.

We struglle through the crowds waiting for the parade (BAD time to arive) but sneak up the arcade on the right, clutching our Pass tickets tightly heading for the annual pass office.

Again very quickly the service in the pass office was fab! Noone mentionned the fact the DD2's pass was 'free' and within 15 mins we had our passes....

we then gave DD2 her first chance to admire sleeping Beauty's Castle and we walked up, across the bridge and through into Fantasyland.

We had a go on the Sword but no luck this time LOL

The queues were very long in fantasyland and we had to make it to Cafe Mickey for 6.30pm for our booking

The Storybook Ride (Pay des Compte Fees) had only a 10 minute wait so we had our first ride before wandering slowly up through the park sucking in as much magic as possible on our way to Disney Village.

The queue at Cafe Mickey was around 15 mins when we arrived 5 mins early for our booking.

We got a table at the back uopstarirs quite near some big parties who unfortuanetley seemed to monopolise the time of the characters so several (Chip, Pluto and ?? Tigger, I can't remember) left before they got to us. We had great interaction from Mickey though, who spent some time entertaining the girls, Mr Smee and Friar Tuck.......

Dd1 ate the kids burger (mainly to get the dessert!) Dd2 was delighted with her plain pasta and chicken sticks.

I ws starving so had the fixed price menu, caeser salad, Steak and chips and creme Brulee (yummy) plus Long island Iced Tea (i deserved it)

We then decided to head back to the hotel and unpack.

DD2 had woken up by now 8.30pm and would not settle till 11.30pm!

I was left with a few questiuons as I went to sleep "Will be be up in time for EMH in the morning?" and "will I be able to geta signal on my phone tomorrow?" as I was supposed to be meeting up with my DBF and her DD who are coincidentally in DLP at the very same time as us.

Check out our day 1 pics here. http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.177021769020548.42126.174268825962509

 

[kizzabel]

Great start to the TR. Cant wait to read more. Your Dds look like theyre having a great time. Weather looks great too

 

[Donald Ducks wife]

'liked' your facebook page, hope thats ok. Looks like your girls had a fab time

 

[jothp]

I can't wait to hear more We were in the crowds waiting for the parade when you arrived

 

[SparkleMum]

I ws starving so had the fixed price menu, caeser salad, Steak and chips and creme Brulee (yummy) plus Long island Iced Tea (i deserved it)

The creme brulee was to die for I had the mushrooms and lasagne....feeling hungry just thinking about it!!!

Suzie.

 

[SparkleMum]

'liked' your facebook page, hope thats ok. Looks like your girls had a fab time

Me too!

Suzie.

 

[princessmummy]

Hi all.
it has been a very busy week and I have been stricken with that weird throat virus thats doing the rounds, so have had NO energy to do anything, sorry to keep you all waiting so long!
Here is day 2

Oh its great that you 'like' my pics on facebook. Doing it that way makes the tr quick to load on a phone. my 3g signal is rubbish at home so reports with loads of pics take ages!

Anyway- to business.

Day 2

My phone alarm woke me with a start at 6.40 (which really DID feellike 5.40!) and I set about rousing the very tired and grouchy DDs!

We had been super organised the night before and got all our clothes out for a quick getting dressed before trying to get to breakfast at 7!

when we arrived at 7.10 a coach load of japanes middle aged tourists had descended on the buffet and started stripping it with almost military prescsision. they were very quick though! and let us barge through their massed ranks to get what we wanted.....

Dds both too tired to really eat much though so the amazing breakfast buffet (full selection of fruit/ yoghurts/ pastries ham cheese, SALAD, toast, cereals plus hot food sausages, bacon, eggs, beans etc) was not really appreciated! I did my best to hold our end up but am trying to lose some weight! LOL!

We went back to the room, got DD2 dressed in her princess dress of the day (minnie) and went out to wait for the shuttle bus. again we only waited a couple of minutes, and managed to get to the parks for a very tardy 8.30.

I was suprised how busy the park seemed this early (ha ha, I'd not seen NOTHIN compared to Thursday!)

but we went straight to Fantasyland and did Carousel (5 mins wait) Dumbo (20 mins- do people REALLY wait over a hour for this???) By the time we had come off Dumbo the Peter Pan queue was 45 mins so we decided to wander back to Salon Mickey to experience our Shareholders Perks!

We left the Park Gates at around 9.40am and went round the corner to knock on the door of salon Mickey........

we loved the door knocker and the wonderful friendly CM who welcomed us, and spotting it was our first time expoained everything.....


I enjoyed a few minutes with a cuppa and a croissant (and a nice quiet loo) as DD2 had already had us visiting the crowded fantasyland one twice!

The girls enjoyed a cookie 'Biscuit fro breakfast great!' LOL
we loved the mickey plates and daisy duck bags....

We left then to get to the studios just after opening.

My phone still had no signal so I used DD1s emergency PAYG to text DBF and reassure her we had arrived and would see her in the Blue Lagoon as planned for lunch!

The initialplan was to try and do as many shows as possible for DD2 and get some autographs (I remembered their books this morning!)

However looking at the board with the times on the shows in english were all late morning/ afternoon

This meant that we had to entertain ourselves until around 12.00 before we had to leave for the Blue Lagoon.

We queued at toon studio to get our pics with Mickey Mouse (who delighted D2)

Then we headed to Toy story Playland but all the queues were 50 mins and I don't think DD2 will be able to stay out of the loo that long!

so had some pictures taken with the enormous Buzz..

We decided to do the tram tour as the queue ws supposedly only 20 mins....

45 mins later we are still in the queue and Dd2 has hit her head on the bars at leats 4 times... i manage to persuade her to wait for the loo a bit longer LOL and watch as numerous Dads leave the wife and kids in the queue and go off shopping! (I smile as thats why i left my DH at home. fair play they managed 45 mins!)

was concerned that DD2 would be scared on the tram tour but she was fine, and really liked the animatronic dinosaur!

we bumped into a few more characters on our way off the ride ( a monkey I think) then we wnt to buy our Mickey pics with the E35 for 5 voucher- but no shareholder discount and headed back to DLP to meet DFB at the Blue lagoon.

more to follow.........

 

[princessmummy]

We arrive at the Blue Lagoon and NOT suprised to find DBF and her Dd are there already........ she always was early for everything! Even her kids arrived early!

We encounter our only CM whose english is not great (from the whole trip! puts us to shame) we try and explain that we have a booking and my DBF is already at the table..... then we ask about the Teen menu (but this just gets her in more of a fuddle) so Dd1 opts for the kids menu and the promise of sweets later if she is hungry ! LOl

We have a great tabel next to the water and I am delighted to find DBF and her DD are havinbg a great time, they seem to have done most of the rides (not as many loo stops as us! LOL) and they LOVE the blue laggon.

i ask about the express menu (which we had not been offferd, and find its ON! Result!) I order salad (i did say i was trying to lose weight) But its the biggest salad in the WORLD when it arrives. YUMMY! Good job I like Shellfish!

DBF has ParrotFish and Rice, My DDs both have pasta and DBFs DD has chicken I think... although she is not impressed that the gravy is already on it!

the girls enjoy getting as many waves from passers by as possible, Possibly to the annoyance of the nearby tables..... and if you were on POTC that day you know which tabel we were! LOL! we made them stop when they got to 150 waves, mainly because they were not eating their dinners!

the Gormet cafe were to DIE for !!! SERIOUSLY!!!!!! oh my!!!! worth planning another trip just for that... well we had to polish the wine off with something! LOL

DFB wanted to go the The Studios in the afternoon and we had a FP for BTM (DD1s favourite ride!) so we went our seperate waysd and agreed to meet up in EMH the next day to spend the morning all together........

My phone is STILL not connecting to the network and so i spend some time on phone to DH at home (who has his uses!) and ask him to check the virgin website when he gets home from work to see if he can work out why... DD1 is moaning about her credit AGAIN (like I don't pay for it LOL)


We then head for our FP ride on BTM. Dd2 just over the height (I am sure the rulers are a bit tall- I measured her at home and she was way over) so they let us on1

DD1 loves it (as always!) DD2 at 3 yrs 9 months enjoyed it 9the fast bits) but was scared on the dark parts and the noisy sections..... she wanted to go on again tho!

we then wandered up to The Riverboat when DD2 had a rest for her little tired legs and a cuddle with Mummy. They then persuaded me to buy them a lolly but I wouldn't let themn have one of the massive ones.... I bought a pack of 5/6 winnie the Pooh ones with 20% off with my dream Pass LOL

They both swapped pins with the CM in frontierland on the lolly stall (DD2 getting ANORTHER minnie LOL)

then we headed for POTC at around 4.15pm

we were disstrcted by the rhythms of the Jungle Meet and greet but were sad to fiind NO real african drummers, so DD1 taught us what she had learned in school.

We did POTC (Pirates drinking beer mummy! and ladies in pretty dresses) BLESS with a 10 min wait, and waved at the few people left in the Blue Lagoon. as usual my favourirte ride...

Then we went for a quick spin on Its a small world before catching the parade from above afterwards!

Again my planning paid off as DD2 LOVED IASW with a passion...
she spent the whole time smiling and staring1 then we ran round and leaned against tghe fence to catch the parade form above. I did regret not beinbg at ground elevel as lots of little ones in dressed got picked out to dance but DD2 was very tired and we would not have been able to grab a spot for long enough without putting her ina nappy! LOL

we zoomed through Fantasyland after the parade had passed and did snow white (a bit scary for DD2 she hates the witch) and Pinnochio with no wait! again Dd2 attracted lots of attention in her Minnie outfoit. I was glad I had bought her Minnie ears with sequins in disney store in cheltenham (£5 minus 10% shareholders discount) as they were E12.99 in DLP! Identical!

We deiced that as DD2 was very tired we would call it a day and head out to RFC for some tea..... Prob about 5.45pm by now

We got to RFC to encounter a large queue! Both DDs had blisters as they had not had chance to break ther sandles in very well and it ws SO hot. DD1 insisted on taking hers off in the queue! LOL

RFC was really busy and not as good as when I had been before.

we were sat in a corner behind the entrance, where there were hardly any animals or special effects!

DD1 ate from the adult set menu as she was STARVING. Turkey in breadcrunmbs and mozzarella with chips then a raspberry meringue pudding. DD2 had the kids meal (not pasta for once LOL) chips and nuggets and choc pancakes for pudding

I had Rainforest Burger, a Maragilla Cocktail (for research purposes only) and a cappucinno instead of a dessert.

DD2 was very pleased with her plastic cup which we took home, and loved the animals when we went ona tour of the restauarant...on the way to the loo (of course) she didn't like the thunderstorms though, too tired!

I used my Shareholderfs 15% discount here too- so very pleased! At this point have saved more than the shares cost!!!! everything else is a bonus!

We walk back to the bus (no waiting AGAIN) and get staright back to The Dream Castkle DD2 is exhausted and asleep by 8pm!

DD1 sits reading her book and drinking complimentary hot chocolate while I phone DH and then Virgin mobile (in the end after spending almost an hour on the phone and walking to the car park in front of the hotel) it turns out they need to switch the Roaming on...... which they do.......

I celebrate by texting loads of people and DBf to tell her and fix up a meet fro tomorrow. she is in Buffallo Bills and told me off for not going this time.. said it was FAB


I get everything ready for another early start in the morning......then get an early night too (after doing my notes for my TR obviously) asleep by 10.30......


Will we make EMH AGAIN? Will DD1 finally get on Buzz?? Will the queue for Peter Pan be less than 45 mins????? Watch this space........

Check out our photos here.http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.178623085527083.42837.174268825962509&saved

 

[Princess Clayre]

Great trip report so far. Wow you covered alot of stuff on the 2nd day!

Your report is backing back happy memories of taking by son to WDW when he was 3 years 9 months. I am now an expert on all the loos in the Magic Kingdom

I also must confess to doing the funniest thing while reading your report. When you mentioned you were going to meet up with your DBF , I read it as Disney Boy Friend. I thought 'Wait didn't she leave the husband at home' I them realised it was Disney Best Friend; panic over

Looking forward to the rest

 

[princessmummy]

HaHaHa Princess Clayre....yes, on reading it back I can see what you mean. sadly I am typing this on Dear HUSBANDS laptop hence all the typos and rubbish spelling. Much better on the PC but its almost dead due to having too many pictures on it..... another story.

DBF IS my dearest oldest friend (female) not my boyfriend, much to DHs relief! Don't know how I'd find the time TBH!

Anyway Day 3


We leave our 3 princesses fast asleep in the Dream Castle having had an early night..... the phone alarm goes off again at 6.40 (now feeling less like 5.40) and we get up superquick andf make it down to breakfast by 7.05.

the wonderfully polite coach party of Japanese tourists have beeten us again, and they yet again let us push into their orderly lines to get some nosh..... DD1 has bacon and eggs, Dd2 has yoghurt, fruit salad and a croissant. i decide to stuff as much fruit and natural yoghurt as I can to try and keep myself off the hot stuff!!!! I do succomb to a couple of tiny pain au chocolate.

we head back to our room, put DD2 in the dress of the day (Disney fairy) and wait about 2 nmins for the shuttle bus.

we get into DLP at a respectable 8.05am and head straight for Buzz,planning to do Peter Pan afterwards...

Walk straight onto Buzz (yipee) andfind to our delight the ride is a bit stoppy...... so have a few spells when we are stopped in front of targets .. DD1 is delighted with her very respecable 34000 (and she's not sporty, or a shooter in ANY way) DD1 is just happy at age 3 to be 'shooting baddies'.....

we then walk into Fantasyland to find PP closed.... GRR and decide not to stand and wait for it but to go back for another go on Buzz........(after a quick nipon the carousel)

DD1 this time gets an amazing 55000! she is very impressed. As we are queueing for Buzz (10 mins or so) I am texting DBF who is at the back of the uzz queue.... and we meet up after our ride with the aim of getting on PP (if its open) and the BTM (which DFBs DD wants to ride with DD1)

PP is back up to 50 mins queue (forget it1) so we head to the Fantasyland loos.... and then chat while we are waiting for rope drop when we try not top look like we're running to BTM.......

DBF is a bit of a wussy and is not sure that DD2 will go on this ride.... or if she will! I assure her that DD2 may be small and dressed like a princess but inside is a granite core and not to be fooled!

We get straight on BTM... DBF "that was amazing, the best ride ever "... DBFs Dd really enjoyed it too!

unsuprisingly DD2 loves the speed but again not over fond of the dark bits! she loves spotting the animals too!

We get off and head fopr the loos! then wander up to phantom Manor which is not open yet due to a technical fault.... so we head for the Paddleboat and spend the ride time gossipping about old times!

When we get off PM is open! so we head straight in1 DD2 is very brave and would have been fine if the ride had not kept stopping! It stopped at the scariest bit... for what seemed like ages. She did not cry but was starting to get a bit tense! I kept her occupied by playing i-spy......beginning with L (Lady- ie scary female ghost) or D (Dog, as in devil dog with fangs) LOL!

we walked back through then to Adventureland as we had a booking at Agrabah for lunch and the girls wanted to run around and play on Adventure Isle. It was a bit disappointing that so much of that is being refurbed.


We then have a quick pic with aladdin who does a lovely patient job with Dd1s pen which is playing up........ and go on in to Cafe agrabah.

the setting was SUPERB! it feels just right. DFB and I were delighted we could share ar 50cl carafe of wine for E5 minus shareholders discount! We all loved the food except DBFs DD who would hardly eat anything! My DD2 ate some of the pasta in tomato sauce and some salad, then started on the pudding, but DBFs DD only ate a couple of sausages (like pepperami) and an apple!!!!!

Obviously my Dd1 and I made up for her but do be aware the food is quite grown up, and none of it is 'plain' kiddy food! so if yours are fussy i would wait until they are older. a couple of years ago my DD1 would hardly have touched any of it... but now age 11 she had about 3 plates of meat and loads of the warm pitta and salads. I discvovered DD2 would eat couscous as long as we called it 'tiny rice' LOL

the pudding where lovely, a gorgeous coconut pie thing but TBH I was totally full of salads etc so didn't have much. DD1 had a bowl of chocolate sauce and dipped pancakes and fruit in it like a fondue!

After agrabah we had to bid our farewells to DFB and her DD who were off back to sunny Lancashire ina few hours.

We then headed over to the studios to try and catch up with what we had missed the day before. and try and se stitch and Playhouse Disney shows in english.


we got to the studios in perfect time to catch the parade, and I remembered that I had read on the disboards that the characters get out of their cars by the stitch show and walk around signing autographs.......

so we cut round the back of the crowds and found an area very close to the front, and just by the entrance to stitch so we could dive in quickly when the show was starting to fill up!

DD2 was delighted by the parade, i am glad I did it this way, when the characters came along the fact that she was so little and dressed up meant they all stopped to talk to her......

I did try and goad Cruella into signing an autograph by winding her up but I think i did it a bit too well, as she stropped off........
She was english, and for some reason i thought she would be french, hence my insults were probably a bit much LOL

We went into stitch then and werte very glad we had waited for the english version. DD2 was in her element!

We then had half an hour to kill before the Playhouse Disney english show and it was hot so we had the days only snack- a lolly sitting in front of the Studiuos main building on a bench, watching somelitlle birdies.

did object to splashing out E3 each for a twister lolly! and not allowed discount for either my shareholders or my Dream pass!

we went to see Playhouse Disney which I was not sure if my girls would like, but actually they BOTH loved, even DD1 age 11!

I was in considerablepain by the end though, sitting on the floor for 20 mins after walking around carrying the worlds biggest backpack all day.

we had a chat then and decided to head back to the hotel as DD2 was getting really tired (it was about 4.20) and we would decide whether to head back to disney village for tea or do the buffet in the dream castle. Neither DD1 nor I were hungry though, after the buffet lunch in agrabah!

we went to the station supermarket to get water (as the stash I had brought form home had finally run out.) I calculated that by bringing supermarket water into the parks and topping up back in the room every day had saved AT least £60! it was very hot and wew were drinking A LOT!

we got back to the hotel, had one of those weird chocolate cream things you can buy in french supermarkets.... I don't know why they are in the fridges, a sort of cake/ biscuit / wafer thing. very nice anyway!

Then we went for a swim. The pool at the Dream castle is COLD but the kids didn't seem to mind.

thios woke DD2 up so we gave her the choice about what to do for tea! SHE DEIDED SHE WANTED TO GO BACK TO DISNEY SO OFF WE WENT!

By the timewe got on the bus it was 6.15 so we had resigned ourselves to missing the Mickeys Magical celebration, but thats OK we'll see it next time! swimming had made us hungry too! LOL

we plumped for annettes as there was miraculously no queue, and TBH our last visit had not been great, but so many great things are said about annettes on the forums i decided to give it another chance!

I am glad I did! It was fab!

There were about 5 rollerskating CMs, at one point they all got up on the tables to sing greased Lightening and the atmosphere was fab!

I had to celebrate with a lager (too thirsty for cocktails)

Dd2 had burger and chips from the kids menu, DD1 asked for the grownups menu as she wanted a footlong hotdog, so she had the set menu, but TBH it was too much! I had the set menu burger. I should not have ordered the coleslaw on the side.... but I love it!!!! never mind!!!

DD2 was very pleased with her jelly both me and DD1 struggled with our chocolate brownies (amazing but true!) we then visited the loos AGAIN before heading to the shops for last minute gift buying.

The girls had their own money to spend and I had a couple of people to buy for (plus I wanted some disney keyrings for mE)

DD2 bought a tiny snowglobe and a cuddly minnie in a pink dress. Dd1 bought a stitch pencil case for 'big school' in septmeber

I was suprised to find there were no disney lunchboxes for kids, as I really wanted to buy one for disneyland, but will get one fro the disney store instead!

I treated myself to some Minnie Ttowels to cheer me up when I'm doing the dishes!

We then headed back to the bus (2 mins wait AGAIN amazing) and headed back to the hotel. DD2 was flat out very quickly but as we watched the disney channel on the TV as she was getting ready she was saying "I've been on THAT and THAT and THAT " aaah

I then packed all the bags for the next day so we could hopefully get to EMH and visit Salon Mickey again on our last day, before our evening flight home.


I needed a glass of wine to make this easier though!

see pics here http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.180679731988085.43614.174268825962509&saved

I finally fall asleep about 11.00 a bit stressed abouty whether i've forgotten anything... and whether DD2 will be able to stay awake until our 8.30 flight home tomorrow.

 

[DLPdaft]

Brill trip report - more please .

 

[Kazzabelle]

Sounds like a great trip It's lovely you got to see your friend at dlp too.
looking forward to hearing more

 

[princessmummy]

So here it is! Finally I get round to writing day 4! Its has suprised me how long writing a TR takes, especially trying to fit it round work/ kids/ cleaning the house (or not! LOL) etc etc.

I am going to hopefully finish my labour of love tonight. I hope people have found it helpful/ interesting....I can't stop popping back to the forums to plan for Xmas!!!! So I won't be going anywhere.



anyway day 4

To recap: we leave our princesses and mummy fast asleep in the dream castle!!!

The bags are packed (ish) for the flight home. DD2 (age 3) is dreaming of meeting Sleeping Beauty at Lunchtime and has been promised we will try and get Minnies autograph. DD1 would like more goes on Buzz and TMR ... i would like another trip to Salon Mickey, and everyone to get home without any major mishaps!

there is a bit of a feeling we have 'done everything' already, so its really about wandering around and redoing favs plus catching up...... This is a GOOD JOB as today is ascenscion day!

My initial thought was to leave very overtired DD2 in bed and let her sleep, forsaking the idea of EMH on our last morning but sneeky DD1 woke her up whilst i was in the loo, so we have a change of plan and decide to foresake hotel breakfast instead, and check out as quickly as we can to try and make EMH, agreeing a croissant in salon Mickey will do us!

We leave the bags at the Dream Castle baggage room and head off to the bus, only 2 mins wait AGAIN- how lucky are we???? This morning I am suscpicious though as its 8.00 and the bus is crowded!

we arrive at the park around 8.15 and manage to get on Peter Pan with 15 mins wait.... (the first time it has been working with a q less than 45 mins so far) We then go on Buzz with a 15 min wait but fail to improve our scores as the ride seems to not stop in front of Zurg! damn!

We then head to salon Mickey as we are really hungry at this point! We had a bit of a buzz around on the Old Bus (the second time we had been on the old vehicles, thanks to EMH- I love them! we WILL do that again it really is worth it)

As we approach the gates we ask to be let back through to salon Mickey side but we are told politely by CMs on th egate that we must walk all the way round.... so grumpily and hungrily we do........ and we see why!

the crowds are amazing, like nothing i have ever seen short of a U2 gig at wembley or a football match...... I am amazed by this and was NOT expecting such huge crowds..... they are waiting at the gates before 9.20 for the 10.00 opening!!!!

We battleour way through and join a queue outside salon Mickey!!!! the poor CMs in there are also inundated! and have run out of croissants/ Milk/ Cups etc etc..... they are lovely and apologetic, and of course its standing rom only (and the loo is busy too- poor DD2!)

Soon the supplies arrive and I'm really glad because I have been known to 'flip out' if I get really hungry...... we share the sofas with a french family who very nicely moved over for us.

After a bit of a sit down we decide to reenter the throng!!! This means a bit of a change of plan as although I knew it would be busy i had forgotten how long it would take in a big crowd to get anything done! we have reservations at 12.00 for auberge so we decide to try and do DD2s fav ride IASW

We wait 20 mins for our only ride on the train of the trip, planning to go all the way round the park but due to bolting several drinks in Salon Mickey Dd2 NEEDS THE LOO again, so we get off at Fantasyland! and find a lovely toilet close to the station, with NO QUEUE!

We have a bit of a go on IASW to please our 'dancing dollies' fan! she is bewitched again (as am I TBH)

After that it is getting on for 11.15 so we go the the fantasyland loos (DD2s favourite LOL) and spend a bit of time trying to make her presentable to meet Cinderella! DD2 is not a natuarlly tidy girl, more like Dennis The meance who loves pink...... so this is tricky1

we then set about battling the dads trying to push puschairs to get to auberge.

we wait in a queue (again) with all the other princesses. DD1 feels a bit left out in her Minnie dress....

the doors open at 12.00 and we form an orderly queue (ha ha the only one, must be the E60 price tag!) to chat to Cinderella.

She is lovely and makes the girls feel really special...

I then ask the lady on the desk if we can sit near the dancefloor (thanks Adam) and off we go.

Our waiter introduces himself and is very friendly and jokey..... we have a bit of banter about the quality of the competition from the waiters in the Blue Laggooon LOL!

as we are sitting down the princesses are doing the rounds, we saw Tiana, sleeping beauty, Cinderella, Belle, (and all their princes) and Suzy and Perla.

I was glad we booked early as we had good interaction from all of them, as DD2 was dressed as her favourite sleeping beauty SB spent quite some time drawing her out, and chatting to her
the prince obviously thought DD2 very cute (check out his expression in the pic- see link) I think it was the trainers!

the starters came, looking really beautiful but not really like 'food' so DD1 wolfed down all of hers, followed by DD2s as well..... DD2 did eat the bread sticks though!

Then the main courses arrived, both had ordered pasta but DD2 didn't like hers (I think it was a bit grown up TBH) so DD1 ate that too!

at this point both girls decided they needed to visit the princesses loo! Very lovely it was too! whilst i enjoyed my veal! (and my glass of wine)

when Suzy and Perla came round they invited Dd2 up to dance

She was in little girl heaven! it was wonderful how special everyone in auberge made my littlest princess feel- who due to the 7 1/2 yr age gap has tended to get dragged around her big sisters things all her life! this was her one little moment, and she really loved it!

The girls (and me) loved our very fancy desserts, which were very biased in favour of chocolate (not a bad thing!)....

We left auberge around 2pm (it was our longest meal, but I forced myself to eat really slowly to get my moneys worth!) by the time we came out the ride queues were just ridiculous! and it was SO HOT!!!!!

I really wanted to go on POTC again and DD1 wanted to try and get on BTM but the fast passes for BTM had run out, and the queue for POTC was over an hour! we tried to find some shade in adventure Isle (no luck) and were getting a bit tired and sick of all the crowds by now.......

we popped in to see our friend the Dragon (DD2 loved him too, she was not scared like I thought she would be) I was again impressed by the attention to detail1 I love his claws!

so we headed for a stroll to fort Comstock and discovered even the River oat had a MASSIVE queue. we were really glad we had already 'done everything' so we just chilled, took a few pictures and had lots to drink......

the ONLY thing I hadn't done was got DD2 Minnie's autograph but had to accept that it wasn't gonna happen this trip!

we wandered through the shops on Main Street picking up a few presents as we went and the girls spent some more euros... DD1 bought some keyrings for her school bag. DD2 bought a Sleeping beauty play set with removable HEAD..... I don't know why but she loves taking things heads off... LOL

we then said our goodbyes to Disneyland (for now) TBH the crowds made it easier as it was too busy to be fun! we just wanted to escape!

we passed through the supermarket at the station to get DD2 a sandwich as she was 'hungry' having hardly eaten anything except chocolate at lunch! we got a couple of babybels and some drinks which were MUCH cheaper than from the machines in the Lobby of the hotel.

we wait our longest time yet for the bus (10 mins) and arrive bag at the Dream Castle where the LOVELY team help me get my bags out of the storeroom, then i set about getting everyone changed into clothes for the plane and making sure our liquids are bagged up etc.

The RS transports shuttle driver is around 10 mins late and has another pickup at NPB hotel before taking us to the airport.

This is not really a problem EXCEPT when I have to check in.... By now its about 6.30 we are all hungry, stress, tired and hot. We arrive at Air france desk to find we MUST check in electronically on the machine.....

I do this and the machine promptly spits out 3 boarding cards for seats scattered around the plane!!!!!!! At this point I ALMOST lose it!!!!!

i stomp up to the air rance esk and explain that i am a Mum travelling with 2 young children and TBH DD2 needs to be sat next to me!!!!! Not half way down the plane next to a stranger!!!!!!

The lovely man calms me down and apologises, but because its only 2 hrs till take off most of the seats have been assigned! I explain that thats TOUGH and he needs to sort it out....... as how can a 3yo travelalone??????

In the end the only way it can be done is for me to sit in the front row exit door seats and the 2 girls to sit behind me together...... I am NOT happy but accept this as I can see the problem.....

he very sweetly lets DD2 go round behind his desk and press the buttons to send our bags down the shute! air France is now almost redeemed! I am struck buy how little the bags weight without all the water, squash, wine etc we took!!!!!!

We head off to the loo again and then deal with the VERY grumpy French security........ who told me off for following another family though (although no signs to tell me not to)

our thoughts turn to food as DD1 is STARVED again! LOL....

so we try and find a supermarket/ fast food place etc. NOTHING.

Be warned AT CDG airport the food after security is a complete ripoff!!!!!! It makes Disneyland look CHEAP! make sure you stock up and take it with you!!!!!

In the buffet place a single slice of pizza was E6 !!!!! A tiny pasta salad VERY VERY TINY was E7 and a green slaad with a few bits of bacon and a couple of mozzarella balls was E9 !!! Drinks were minimim E3 each!

ONE Babybel was E1.60 (yes ONE)

I spent A LOT trying to cobble together some kind of meal for us to share, luckliy I had some crisps, snacks etc in my bag (although the whole water at airports thing still winds me up!) at least it did my diet some good!

we sat and waited amid the crying babies at the gate for the shuttle bus to the plane......like all french bus drivers he wanted to kill either himself or the passengers as it was really scary! made BTM look tame! DD2 made the other people on the bus laugh when she talked about pole dancing.... I hope she doesn't know what that really is!

The plane back was fine, the girls behaved MOST of the way...... and it was great to sit and read my book and let DD1 entertain her sister! LOL!!!!

bristol airport was smooth and quick and we were out and on the way back to the car before I knew it!


As usual leaving an airport car park I couldn't find the exit, so we spent a while driving up and down the rows!

Then I got lost again in bristol looking for the M5! LOL!


I really wanted to stop for caffeine to keep myself awake but both girls had fallen asleep so I thought I'd best keep going!

We got home about 11.30pm Tired but had an amazing time!!!!!!!




Summary of what i learned for next time

Well, I couldn't just stop there could i??????



Know when French holidays/ busy days are, and plan to be in a restauant/ activity then to avoid it.

Find out when the English Shwings in The studios are, and plan round this.....

Salon Mickey!

Save a fortune by taking water with you!

If you have young kids LEARN where the loos are!

Pack clothes for when the fancy dress clothes are too hot/ big/ dirty

relax and enjoy all the little details! they are everywhere..... don't be too busy trying to get somewhere that you miss them.... I think walking with our 3yo taught me this more than anything!

Don't be afraid to be a big kid yourself! Its disneyland- you're supposed to!



Thanks for making it to the end

check out our pics here......http://www.facebook.com/editphoto.php?aid=45873&id=174268825962509&success=3&failure=0#!/media/set/?set=a.189972187725506.45873.174268825962509


Hope you enjoyed it!

Karen

 

[Princess Clayre]

Shame the last day was so busy but it sounds like the princess meal made up for that.

Thanks for the great report

 

[DLPdaft]

Loved reading all of that - you have an amusing way of telling your tales .

 

[kizzabel]

Great TR. I have a question... what was your favourite toilet?
My dd is the same! Shes very particular about toilets but thats not a surprise as she spents so much time in them!!
Looks like ye had a ball. Ascension day sounds scary!! Take it you'll be avoiding it in future!

 

[wmoon]

Sounds like you all had a great time.

Glad to hear your dd2 liked BTM, was never sure for ds but he will be 4 in August and tells me he wants to go on it in October.

Didn't know you could use your shareholders in Rainforrest cafe.

The thing with the seats on air France happened to us at Christmas and we were left having to ask people to move so our 3 year old could sit with one of us, the stewardess was really helpful as was the person who moved but it fair raises your stress level......

Wendy x

 

[Ware Bears]

Fab trip report, I really enjoyed reading it.

 

[princessmummy]

Thank you all for your kind words about my TR.

When reading everyone elses before writing one I hadn't realised how time consuming it was! Sorry!!!!

I truly appreciate anyone who takes the time to write a TR as it really is a labour of love!

I am busy in pre-planning for our week before xmas trip now, just waiting for eurostar dates to be released, and then hotels on expedia......

then we'll be off again!!!!

PS DD2's favourite loo was opposite the riverboat landing, I think becuase it was near the 'lolly stall' LOL!