Back from the magic.

[MummyMinnie]

Thought I'd do our highs and lows as I enjoy reading others.
Myself, hubby, son aged 15 and daughter aged 11 stayed our first night at the Kyriad and 3 nights at the Dream Castle. 11th-14th April.
Our 14th (can't believe that!) trip!

Highs:

Firstly being there of course! Definitely our 'happy place' and that first walk down Main St never fails to take my breath away.

Dream castle - our first time there, really liked it. Clean and spacious room, nice breakfast and lovely hotel.

The park is so beautiful for Spring, definitely my favourite time to go now.

Characters - managed to meet: Thumper, Miss Bunny, Alice, Mad Hatter, White Rabbit, King Louie, Baloo, Peter Pan, Wendy, Goofy, Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, Suzy, Perla, Woody, Snow White (my daughters absolute favourite so very special to see - the photographer took a photo as we walked in think I look more excited lol and they put that one up on the board how embarrassing!) Mr Smee, Captain Hook, Queen of hearts, Tiana and our biggest highlight - Merida, didn't know she would be in the pavilion so was a huge and very welcome surprise, she was lovely too. Most were random meets and we had some great interaction with them.

Photo pass plus - new to us and what a brilliant idea. Would definitely recommend. Was 45 Euro after AP discount and we got 84 photos. Worked really well with no issues although think would be great if they had more photographers round the park like at the castle etc.

Kyriad - basic and clean as usual. New to us was hot breakfast items (included) and wifi in our room.

Weather - very lucky hot every day apart from our first night Saturday.

Seeing the fruit sculptor in the park - such a talent he has. The carving was simply amazing, have some great pics and he even suggested he had one with the children and his creations. He was also carving apples with your initial if you wanted, lovely man.

Cast members - as usual all very friendly and helpful and fun.

Ratatouille - our first time, loved all the theming. For the ride I 'liked' it and the others 'loved' it. I wasn't sure what to expect but found the beginning scene made me feel sick, the rest was ok. Really different ride which was well done. We used the single rider queue so only 15 min wait.

Cowboy cookout - really enjoyed our meal there, good value for money and you get loads. Bonus Goofy and Pluto were out, hardly anybody bothering them so easy meet and greets.

Managing all the rides more than once.

Shows - enjoyed them especially the Mary Poppins one, everyone sat down made it very pleasant to watch.

O/t slightly but a high for the footie fans out there - my husband took my son to the PSG final with Bastia, I was nervous for them going as kick off wasn't until 9pm but it all turned out great, was a good game and they would definitely go again.

Lows that aren't really lows just niggles!

Rude people!!!!!!!!! I know it happens everywhere but it seems more upsetting in such a happy place, they obviously don't have the 'magic' !!

Princess pavilion ticket system - really don't like it, having to queue twice is crazy, really feel for the cast members having constantly to explain why people can't enter without a ticket.

Tsum Tsums disappointed not many around and the shops that did stock them all had the same ones.

Vinylmations my daughter bought 3 frozen ones - got 3 Olafs!! 2 of the 'surprise' spring Olafs and 1 normal Olaf!

Pizza planet first time eating there, wasn't overly impressed, wouldn't eat there again but the desserts were very nice!

Think that's it. Every time we go I think we're never going to top our last trip and we always do. It's such a special place I can't ever imagine we would be tired of going.

For those of you about to go, enjoy.

 

[jillrobinson]

Welcome back, glad you had a good trip, not too many lows there

 

[KatyTheFairyPrincess]

Sounds like a great trip! I'm very impressed with all those characters!

Can you please let me know a little more about Photopass+? I've used it in WDW before but its new to DLP since my last visit and 45euro after AP discount sounds a bargain! Do you just purchase in the parks then hand over your park ticket (AP) as you do (or did before magic bands) to collect pics from photographers and rides?

 

[MummyMinnie]

Sounds like a great trip! I'm very impressed with all those characters!

Can you please let me know a little more about Photopass+? I've used it in WDW before but its new to DLP since my last visit and 45euro after AP discount sounds a bargain! Do you just purchase in the parks then hand over your park ticket (AP) as you do (or did before magic bands) to collect pics from photographers and rides?

Thanks it was and yes lots of characters too, love seeing them.

We got our photo pass from the store that I think is now called Floras? The store on the corner near the bandstand that used to be the photographic store. They are in other stores but not every store sells them. It comes in a box with a card pass on a lanyard with two small passes for other members of your party to use which we found really useful when we split up for rides etc. you just hand the box to the cashier and pay as normal in the shops so handing your annual pass at the till. They do need to activate the pass at the till which they weren't sure how to do!, so went for help. It works straight away. When you meet the characters with the photographer you just hand them your pass, they scan it for you. At the rides you need to locate the number of your photo from the board then go to the till with your pass and they load the photo then. The buzz ride was hit and miss with adding the scores (some were accurate, some were missing and some totally different - I was pleased with one they gave me 212600!!! Lol).
You can download the photo pass app on android or iOS to view your pics. Every night I checked before we left the park that our photos had loaded (sat on the bench near the disneyland hotel to use their wifi!).
Only one photo was wrong it was another family on the Pirates ride but doesn't matter.
Definitely would do it again we've got some amazing photos that we wouldn't normally have, enjoy your trip.

 

[cherrymarzipan]

Welcome back, sounds as if you had a great trip and I'm very impressed by the number of characters met! Lovely to read the details and we'll look out for the fruit sculptor

 

[MummyMinnie]

Welcome back, sounds as if you had a great trip and I'm very impressed by the number of characters met! Lovely to read the details and we'll look out for the fruit sculptor

Thankyou. Cyril (the amazing sculptor) was right in front of the Plaza Gardens restaurant. Will try and post pics, could've spent all day watching him.
Enjoy your trip.

 

[OldSchoolReasons]

That's quite a character list! I'm very jealous

 

[MummyMinnie]

That's quite a character list! I'm very jealous

Quite a lot were 'random' meets too, which of course meant scrums for the photos which I don't like!, but I always like the fact you could literally just bump into the characters anywhere. We've always seen some to the right of Its a Small World ride which is where we saw Suzy and Perla this time.

 

[tennisfan]

Sounds like you had a fab trip with only a couple of niggles. Thanks for sharing