Back from our first trip!!! PHOTOS NOW ADDED!!

Caz30

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 15, 2010
Messages
36
And what an amazing trip it was...but hugely tiring, I need another holiday to get over it!! My legs are still aching!!!!!

Apologies in advance if this trip report goes on a bit too long, it's my first one so please bear with me....


Cast

Myself, Caroline (30), DH, Ben (34), DD, Ellie (3), DS, Matthew (7) & DM (56)
Hotel Cheyenne Monday 15th March - Friday 19th March


First of all huge praise for our shuttle from the airport to DLP!! We flew from Newcastle Airport to CDG. As our flight was due to land at 7:40 we didn't have the option of the Disney shuttle bus as we would have missed the last one so decided to pre book ezyshuttle from previous recommendations!! Wow, what a service and what a lovely guy John is. Unfortunately on boarding the plane at newcastle we were left waiting half an hour before taking off. The pilot told us that there was someone who hadn't got on the plane so they were having to remove their luggage from the hold, however five minutes after this announcement 2 police officers got on the plane and took one of the passengers off.
If I wasn't nervous about the flight beforehand I definately was now :scared1:
Anyway soon after that he was allowed back on and we were on our way!! However because of the delay we were 45 minutes late by the time we got through baggage claim at CDG!! I was worried John would have given up but we walked out of the gate and there he was with a sign with our name on it and a welcoming smile on his face, I can't stress enough how nice this guy is. I felt awful about how late we were but he was totally understanding. He had three different car seats for us to choose from for the kids which was great as our daughter is on the titchy side so still needs a baby seat. We'd also arranged for him to take us home yesterday. He arrived a couple of minutes late but we got a text message through advising us that he was stuck in traffic and apologising for the delay. Hardly a delay though as it was only about 2 minutes past 5!! He got us to the airport in no time at all. We gave him a 10 euro tip and he didn't want to take it, we insisted and wouldn't take it back of him, so he put it in DS's pocket and told him to buy himself something with it :goodvibes


Day One

We arrived at our hotel at around 9:30pm and I was very impressed with it, the kids loved it!! The staff were very friendly, we got a 'yee ha' from our receptionist on arrival :lmao: Our room was very clean and smelt lovely. The rooms are small but adequate for the little time we spent it them, literally an hour on a morning and half an hour at the end of the day before we fell asleep as soon as our heads touched the pillows!!!! I recommend the early breakfast, we went for 7 every morning and it was very quiet, breakfasts lovely, buffet dinner was also fantastic here!!


Day Two

Tuesday morning started with our breakfast at 7, there were only about four other tables of people there at this time, it was deserted!! I remembered the tips from these boards and took the kids juice cups which I filled with orange to save us buying drinks in the park :thumbsup2
We finished breakfast, then caught the bus to the parks for EMH's!! We headed straight for Buzz which was fab, I got my highest score of the week in this first ride which was 88,300 which I thought wasn't a bad score :) Then it was straight onto Orbitron which DS loved. We then headed to Fantasyland where we did Teacups, Dumbo, Peter Pan and the carrousel. All of these loved by DD!! My plan of action was to then head for Frontierland for opening at 10:00 and go straight to Big Thunder Mountain which we did but were disappointed to find that they were having technical difficulties so we headed for Woody's roundup village instead and then went to the pocohontas village. This was great to have a rest while the little ones played. Heading out of here an hour later we hoped that BTM would be on by now, but it wasn't so we headed for phantom manor instead. It was just opening as we got there so we have about a ten minute wait to get in (the longest wait of the day).

By now it was lunchtime so we headed back to Fantasyland , on the way around the central plaza we caught some characters jumping in the cars for a tour, there were chip'n'dale, tigger and pooh. In Fantasyland we went into Pizzeria Belle Note, I was not impressed with this place. For our first meal in the Disneyland Park it left me feeling a little deflated. We went to place our order at the till and the server said 'Bonjour' to which my DH replied 'Bonjour' (We always tried with our french as much as we could), as soon as she realised we weren't french she was horrible, spoke to us in one word grunts and looked at us like we were rubbish!! She went on to serve a french family after us and was laughing and joking with them. The lady who gave us our food was very nice even if she did get our order wrong, this happened in every counter service - check your order before leaving the counter. The pizza was ok but the pasta was not very tasty. Little birds flying around excited DD, she thought they were very cute!!

After lunch we did IASW and Alice's Labyrinth then headed to Discoveryland which was absolutely deserted, we walked onto Star Tours which was awesome, DH and DS are huge Star Wars fans and in their words it was 'Mint'!!! :lmao: We then did Honey I shrunk the audience which terrified DD but the rest of us really enjoyed. Then it was off to the station and onto the railroad train which we stayed on around the whole park and got off back at Discoveryland which was still like a ghost town!! We decided it was time for an ice cream so headed for Ben'n'Jerry's, it was on the way that I noticed everyone sitting the kerb sides - it was going to be the parade soon.... I sent DH for the ice-creams and bagged a spot on the kerb on the corner of Main Street in front of Central Plaza. I wasn't quite sure which way the parade came around and then a CM came and put a rope from where I was over to Central Plaza so we were right at the front of where the parade turned to go down main street, I was more than a little excited!!! Soon it was starting and it was everything I'd hoped it would be....stunning, I had a lump in my throat watching it!! And then the parade stopped just as the princesses were in front of us, they came down and then the magic happened, prince charming and cinderella headed straight for us, Prince charming to DD, taking her hand and talking to her :love: (I dont know what was said, DH had her and I was clutching video camera) and then he sweetly ruffled DS's hair which DS was thrilled at!! Parade over, bus back to Cheyenne for a fabulous dinner in the Chuckwagon and straight to bed where sleepy children had magical dreams. And I did absolutely NOT dream about gorgeous prince charming!! :rolleyes1


Day Three

After another 7am brekkie we headed for EMH's again where we did Buzz and orbitron. DH managed to convince me to do Space Mountain which I'm glad I did even thought it was terrifying I'm glad I did it!! Then it was off to fantasyland to fit in the teacups and carrousel before heading off to the Walt Disney Studios for the day. On going through the gate we noticed Goofy was there so we headed over. There was a bit of pushing going on but Hats off to Goofy he stopped everyone by putting his arms out, then told everyone what their turn would be by pointing to the children one by one then giving the thumbs up. When he got to DS he rested the autograph book on DS's head to sign it :rotfl:, the child who's turn it was next tried to shove his book in Goofy's hand but he stopped him to make sure I got some photographs and did some good poses for me, what a star he was!! :goodvibes

So off into the Studios we went heading straight for Crush's Coaster (while DM took DD on the Flying Carpets) where there was a 30 min wait but ended up being about 20, Me and DH loved this but DS didn't, think it was a bit too spinny for him and being in the dark scared him!! He didn't realise what was to come with TOT :scared1:

It was off to Animagique after this, wow, everyone loved this, fantastic show, DD was very upset when it was finished, tears were shed!!! Luckily we timed it really well as after this we headed straight to stitch live and it was a 5 minute wait for the english version. None of us had seen the film but it didn't make any difference, what a hilarious show, DS now loves stitch, and brought a stitch home with him!!
Dinner was at Restaurant De Coulisse with our free vouchers, nice burgers and chips!! After dinner we did the 'Art of Disney animation' which the children got slightly bored by towards the end. Then the time had come for Tower of Terror, DS wanted to come on, I thought it would be fine, I thought there was only one drop so what would be so frightening?? :confused3 If only I'd known, DS was terrified, me and DH loved it..... :rolleyes1 Oh who am I kidding, we were terrified aswell, DH screamed like a baby, I was in too much shock to scream :scared1: and DS was in tears by the time we stopped!! I was so relieved when it was over, I'm happy to say I've been brave enough to do it but never again :rotfl:

After that we watched the Cars'n'Stars parade then the Motor Stunt Show, wow what a spectacular show, definately a must do for anybody, DS & DD loved it.
We headed into the village for dinner tonight and to Annette's Diner where we had a lovely waitress. There was one waiter going around on roller skates. The food was absolutely delicious, I had the Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich...yum!! Half way through dinner a waiter starts yelling, 'Is everyone having a good time - Who wants to dance??' :dance3: He starts dancing to Grease, by half way through children were joining in and then the rest of the waiters joined in. At the end of grease a waiter came to our table, pointed at DH and said 'Come with me, I show you a good time', DH was then made to join in with the waiters and dance to 'freedom' :rotfl2: A great night which was topped off with returning to the park and watching the St Patricks Day Fireworks over the castle!!! Magical!!!


Day Four

We had the fantasyland breakfast in the park this day, it was in the plaza gardens restaurant and was really nice. It was great for DD as they had little fromage frai's which they didn't have in the Cheyenne, I think she had about 4!!
We spent all day in the disneyland park again trying to fit in anything we hadn't on Tuesday. We first explored adventureland where we left DM with the children in the pirate play while me and DH did the Indiana Jones ride, this was a walk on and to my horror we were right at the front of the ride. Another one I'm glad I did but will not be in a hurry to do again. When the ride stopped I looked like I was crying but my eyes were just severly watering...honest!! :rolleyes1

We managed to fit in BTM which was now working, then caught Jessie in Woody's roundup for an autograph!! Dinner was Colonel Hathi's Pizza Outpost, the food here was really nice, lasagne and garlic bread was delicious!! We'd eaten inside the restaurant but noticed on leaving that a lot of characters were hanging around the diners eating outside so this is a good place to catch them!! There were about 5 characters altogether!!

Afternoon was spent in fantasyland which included Snow White (thought DD would be frightened but she wanted to do it again), Pinnochio, checking out the castle and the dragon which DS was convinced was real :lmao:. We also managed to catch Sleeping beauty who was signing autographs in the sword in the stone circle thingy?, she was very sweet and said she loved DD's sparkly princess shoes, I got a lovely photo of DD with her too. Today was a very busy day in the parks and full of parties of school children so we didn't get round as much as we would have liked. We decided to leave early and have a restful hour back at the Cheyenne before our evening meal which we had booked at Cafe Mickey.

We were very excited as we turned up for our reservation at 6.30, we were taken straight in and before we'd even managed to take our coats off Chip or Dale (I forget which one) was at our table for cuddles. Our waiter was fantastic, he brought over our drinks and tried to give DH's beer to DS :rotfl:, DS was highly amused!! The food was really lovely here but the highlight of the night was of course the characters. Next to visit our table was Mickey himself followed by Smee, then an angry Captain Hook - he took DS's chair from him and sat down slamming his hook on the table, DS very timidly gave him his autograph book which he snatched from him, signed and threw back at him, he then stood up and shoved the chair back under the table nearly knocking it over - it was hilarious :rotfl2:. Pluto was next - awww he was so cute, then pinnochio, then minnie which made DD's day, Eeyore was next, he was so big that when DS hugged him his head disappeared in Eeyores huge paws. Then just when I thought it wasn't going to happen for us, it did!! The Freedom song came on, Mickey jumped up on the counter with the waiters and as many children as could get themselves up and the dancing began, Tigger came round to our side of the restaurant and was dancing up and down the aisle's, everyone was getting into it, clapping and dancing around!! It really was a truly unforgettable experience!!!


Day Five

Our last day, we dropped our bags off after breakfast and headed to the parks for our last EMH's. After EMH's had finished the park was easily the busiest we'd seen it. We wanted to have another go at Star Tours so headed there at 10:00 to find a huge queue, however this went down quite quickly so we only waited about fifteen minutes. After that we headed to Walt Disney Studios and watched Cinemagique, this was fantastic, and even though it was mostly aimed at adults the children loved it too, it was very clever.

After Cinemagique we headed for our lunch buffet at Plaza Gardens to use up our evening vouchers that we hadn't managed to use on the Monday due to our late arrival. This was an excellent buffet with lots of choice, even snails...ewww. DH tried one, I felt ill just watching him eat it!!
After dinner it was one last walk around the park getting in a few favourites in fantasyland and then off to the videopolis for the african tam tam's show. DH and DS headed straight for the front row, that was a bit too close for me so I sat a few rows back with DM and DD and I was so glad I did. For anyone who's seen the show they'll know why!! Half way through they get some audience members up to join in, DH was the first to be picked followed by about 8 other victims!! It was so funny watching them trying to copy the african dance moves and then one by one having to jiggle their hips :rotfl:
Eventually they all left the stage and we thought that was it, until big scary african bloke walked to the front of the stage again and picked out a child from the front row to go up on the stage, it was only DS!! :laughing: DS is not shy so he went up on the stage in front of everybody and copied the dance moves as best he could bless him. I was so proud of him for getting on the stage and he was really chuffed that everyone clapped for him. It was a lovely end to the holiday. After the show we walked back down main street, skipping along to the music and on heading out to the square we bumped into our last characters of the holiday - eeyore, piglet and rabbit - autograph books signed we headed out and said our farewell.... :sad1:

Goodbye Disneyland Paris, thank you for the magic :love:
 
Great trip report!! Sounds like you had an amazing holiday! :goodvibes

decided to pre book ezyshuttle from previous recommendations!! Wow, what a service and what a lovely guy John is. He arrived a couple of minutes late but we got a text message through advising us that he was stuck in traffic and apologising for the delay. Hardly a delay though as it was only about 2 minutes past 5!! He got us to the airport in no time at all. We gave him a 10 euro tip and he didn't want to take it, we insisted and wouldn't take it back of him, so he put it in DS's pocket and told him to buy himself something with it :goodvibes

Another great recommendation - we're using ezyshuttle in May! :thumbsup2

Then it was off to the station and onto the railroad train which we stayed on around the whole park and got off back at Discoveryland which was still like a ghost town!!

When we were there you could only get on the Railroad at Main Street so the queues were awful - hopefully they have changed this now then?!

we were right at the front of where the parade turned to go down main street, I was more than a little excited!!! Soon it was starting and it was everything I'd hoped it would be....stunning, I had a lump in my throat watching it!! And then the parade stopped just as the princesses were in front of us, they came down and then the magic happened, prince charming and cinderella headed straight for us, Prince charming to DD, taking her hand and talking to her :love: (I dont know what was said, DH had her and I was clutching video camera) and then he sweetly ruffled DS's hair which DS was thrilled at!! And Mam did absolutely NOT dream about gorgeous prince charming!! :rolleyes1

Magic!! :cloud9: We're taking my Mum on our next trip and all she's interested in is meeting a handsome prince!!

Then the time had come for Tower of Terror, DS wanted to come on, I thought it would be fine, I thought there was only one drop so what would be so frightening?? :confused3 If only I'd known, DS was terrified, me and DH loved it..... :rolleyes1 Oh who am I kidding, we were terrified aswell, DH screamed like a baby, I was in too much shock to scream :scared1: and DS was in tears by the time we stopped!! I was so relieved when it was over, I'm happy to say I've been brave enough to do it but never again :rotfl:

:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:

Goodbye Disneyland Paris, thank you for the magic :love:

Pocohontas was shut last time we were there too - which was a shame. DD is 3 too so I think she would really enjoy it.

Sounds like you really enjoyed Cafe Mickey too! Will you be posting photos??!!

:goodvibes
 
Great trip report!! Sounds like you had an amazing holiday! :goodvibes



Pocohontas was shut last time we were there too - which was a shame. DD is 3 too so I think she would really enjoy it.

I'm sure she would, Ellie loved it, we stayed for about three quarters of an hour but she would have stayed longer if she could have. There was lots of slides which she loves.

Sounds like you really enjoyed Cafe Mickey too! Will you be posting photos??!!

:goodvibes

I'll definately post some photos, I just have to figure out how to do it first.

We did have an amazing first time there. There were only a couple of lows which I didn't let get to me. The usual rude people and even ruder children which I was prepared for. Altho I knew it went on it still surprised me how just plain rude they are!! At one point when we were in Alice's Labyrinth DS went over and stood behind the playing card that you put your head through. He was happily just waiting for his turn when a boy around the same age as him just went up to him and shoved him out of the way and then happily posed for his picture. Matthew, not used to this kind of behaviour got himself all upset. I was foaming, although his mother did tell him off.
This happened in the 'sword in the stone' aswell. There was one boy getting his photo took and Matthew stood behind waiting. The boy finished and walked away, Matthew went to walk forward and then from nowhere this woman walks in front of him pushing her child towards the sword, I was so taken aback. She then had the nerve to tell DS to move to the side (in whatever language it was) as he was in their shot!! Unbeliveable!! :mad:
I wished her husband standing in front of us understood what I was saying as I sounded off to DH!!

Apart from that I was pleasantly suprised, especially by the character signings. I'd heard these were a nightmare but all of the characters we went up to, everyone queued pretty well so DS got more autographs than I thought he would.

Photos to follow...... :goodvibes
 
The first trip is always fabulous :goodvibes

Glad you had such a good time - when are you going back :rotfl::rotfl:
 

It is a shame that you get some very rude people :mad: as you said though, you just have to try and not let it spoil things!:thumbsup2

I upload my photos to photobucket and then copy the URL into the post on here. I think there may be a thread on how to do it somewhere but it's fairly straightforward. :surfweb:
 
Our first day at Disneyland Park :woohoo:

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A very excited Ellie!!

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He tried with all his might to get that sword out!!! :laughing:

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The Pocohontas Village

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Unfortunately we didn't get photo's of the princess's as we were switched to video for them!!
 
After breakfast we caught up with Pluto in the Cheyenne before heading off to the Parks. He was very sweet!!

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On entering the Walt Disney Studios we headed over to meet Goofy where he was very playful, signing Matthews book on top of his head!!

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And then pulling some great poses including this one

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Pics of the Stars'n'Cars parade

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Matthew with his Mickey burger at Restaurant en Coulisse

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Our photo from the Tower of Terror :scared1: :lmao:

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Matthew with his face painted as a green dragon which cost a shocking 12 euros!! :eek:

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Ellie pulling a silly face at the Motor Stunt Show

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At Annette's Diner which was a fab night with yummy food :thumbsup2

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And heading back to the park for the fireworks

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The fireworks were amazing but our photo's of them were very blurred. We got a nice one of the lit up castle tho. :)

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Ellie meeting Sleeping Beauty

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On the Teacups

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Driving the boat on the pirate ship

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At the end of the day it was off to cafe mickey

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Captain Hook ordered Matthew from his chair and sat himself down

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Matthew was so nervous he couldnt keep the book open at the page much to Hook's annoyance

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Matthew disappearing into Eeyores Paws!! :rotfl:

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The beginning of the 'Freedom Dance' :thumbsup2

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What a night to remember!!! :woohoo:
 
Our last day :sad1:

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The African Tam Tam's show where DH was chosen to go on stage

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then Matthew was chosen too!!

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and on heading out of the park for the last time we bumped into these guys

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And that was that. Our magical holiday over!!

When can I do it again :rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:
 
The first trip is always fabulous :goodvibes

Glad you had such a good time - when are you going back :rotfl::rotfl:


Hmmmm..... As soon as my bank balance has recovered :rotfl:

Hopefully next year.... shhh tho, dont tell DH, I think he wants his relaxing holiday in Centre Parcs back next year... but I have other plans :rotfl2::rotfl2:
 
fab pics!!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks for ur report too - lovely to read and see such happiness!!!
 
Oh what a great report! I had a fab time reading it and I am so excited for our upcoming trip now!
Great photos too, your family is just beautiful. You seemed to get so much done I was almost exhausted just reading it!
 
Thanks for all your lovely comments everyone.

Zebette, we did fit so much in, I planned and planned and stuck to it as best I could, although we didn't get to do absolutely everything we wanted. We missed the playhouse disney show and a couple of rides and we only got to see the parade once.

So now I have an excuse to go back :lmao:

It was totally exhausting, I'm still in recovery :rotfl2: but completely worth it. I'm sure your trip will be just as fantastic as mine!! :goodvibes
 
I'm so jealous your kids met Abu, Piglet and Rabbit.
Thanks for sharing! :thumbsup2


They were all very cute!! Piglet and Rabbit were messing around in the shop. They were picking up the eeyore costumes and holding it up against themselves to see how it looked :rotfl2::rotfl2:
 
You met Abu!!!! Soooooooo jealous!! Not sure I should let DD see this or we'll spend our entire trip looking for him! :rotfl2:
 















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