Christmas trip as it happens - photos eventually added 010510

[karenmoloney]

Cast
Me (Karen)
DH (Denis)
DD1 Nicole (7)
DD2 Natasha (2 but 3 next week)

Initially I had booked to stay at the Santa Fe for myself & the 2 girls. DH didn’t know until recently that he would be able to come with us & when he booked his flights I cancelled our Santa Fe booking & changed to the Marriott. DH was away for the 3 weeks prior to our trip & all the girls knew was that we were going to Disney after Daddy came home. We have APs – mine is a Dream AP, Nicole & Denis have Fantasy APs & this is the last time Natasha will be able to get in for free!

Day 1 Sunday 22nd Nov

We told the girls this morning that we were going today & there was great excitment. We did most of the packing at the last minute as we had had a power cut on Saturday night & had lost a few precious hours, so it was a busy day. We left at 3pm for Belfast International Airport. Our flight was at 18.30 & arrived into CDG for 21.10 on time, but our taxi wasn’t there to pick us up. No problem, we just got one from the airport & he brought us to the Marriott. Natasha had managed to stay awake all day & I wouldn’t let her sleep on the last bit of our journey, so both girls were shattered when we arrived & went straight to bed. We got house 2005, which I think we have stayed in before & it is great – close to reception & the playground is just outside the back door. The houses all have a Christmas wreath on their doors, which is a nice touch. We unpacked & Denis bought a bottle of wine from the bar (cost 20 euro, but we fancied a drink on our first night). The lady on reception told us that the forecast for the next day was for rain all day, so did we get to go anywhere?

 

[karenmoloney]

Day 2 Monday 23rd Nov

The girls were up early and were very excited about two massive swans outside our back door pecking at the windows.

After breakfast (I had brought cereals & a few bits in the case) we went into Bailly Romainvilliers to do some grocery shopping. This is where having a pram comes in handy because carrying all those heavy water bottles, milk cartons & wine bottles – together with everything else – would be impossible, even though it is only a 10 minute walk back. On the way back it started to drizzle, but the rain didn’t get any heavier. Denis took the girls to the playroom while I made some dinner. Nicole played the wii & Natasha enjoyed climbing about in the ball pool enclosure & then played with the toy kitchen. After dinner it had dried up again outside, so the girls couldn’t wait to get out to the playground. We dried the slides and they played there for about 20 mins. The weather wasn’t as bad as was forecasted, so we thought we would head into DLP for a while, but the girls wanted to go swimming first, so we did. By the time we had spent about a hour in the pool, the rain was coming down quite heavy & Natasha was so tired she fell over, so that was the end of the DLP plan! It was about 4 pm by this time & Natasha was getting too grumpy to go anywhere, so I went off to Val d’Europe while Denis entertained them in the playroom, fed them & Natasha was asleep before 7 pm. Nicole made a start on the schoolwork she had brought with her & she too was in bed by the time I came back at 8.30 pm. Denis made me a lovely pizza & salad & glass of red wine and I got to watch my soaps – Coronation Street & Eastenders – followed by I’m A Celebrity. They have ITV1 now on the TV here as well as BBC1. It was a lovely day, even though we didn’t make it to Disney & I’m glad we had changed our booking to the Marriott so we get the chance to relax & do other things too. Denis had signed up for the 3 day internet connection, which is no longer free & we checked the weather forecast for the rest of the week and it isn’t looking too good – more rain, but there’s no way the girls will let us stay away from DLP another day.

 

[karenmoloney]

Day 3 Tues 24th Nov

Natasha woke at 8.30 am after 13 ½ hours sleep! Poor thing, she must have been so tired. The weather was cloudy & mild so we decided to get going while it lasted. We got the bus at 10.30 & went into the park. It was nearly 11 am & Nicole wanted to start her new autograph book, so we queued to meet Winnie the Pooh who would be arriving at 11.15. We were about the 4th family waiting & Natasha was completely in awe of him when she got to meet him, but she did manage a cuddle & she was so pleased with herself afterwards.

We went over to watch the Snow White show which was starting at 11.45. We arrived early & got great seats in the front row, but the show was cancelled due to technical difficulties, but Snow White & the prince came for a meet & greet, so we got their autographs & a photo.

Next we went on IASW. I liked the touches for the Christmas season & Natasha loved it too. By now Natasha was getting hungry, so we went to Lucky Nugget for lunch. We were questioned about Natasha being 2 – she is very tall for her age – but weren’t charged. We had her passport with us as proof of age just in case. When we arrived, Mickey saw us & came up & took Natasha by the hand and brought her down to our table & pulled out a chair for her. She was very chuffed! The tables on the main floor were very close together, so the characters were only going round the outside tables & we didn’t get any visits- which I didn’t think was very good. We had to go out to near the buffet to see them. Luckily there weren’t many people there, so there wasn’t a scrum. The tables were so close together, it was very hard to get in & out to the buffet. I kept having to move people’s chairs to get past. Maybe that explains why our table wasn’t cleared away. At one stage I brought our plates over to another table because they were piling up & we had no room to eat our dessert. I didn’t leave a tip because I didn’t think we had got any service.

When we got outside, Natasha just wanted to get into her pram & go to sleep, so we separated. Denis pushed her round for 1 ½ hours while Nicole & I went off on our own. We went to Fantasyland via the dragon, tried to lift the sword in the stone & onto the Carousel, followed by Dumbo (with a 10 min queue, the shortest I have ever waited), followed by Alice’s Labyrinth. The top part of the castle was closed – maybe because it was quite windy. Then she wanted to go on Casey Junior, but it was closed, so we had a spin on the teacups instead. We had been going for about 1 minute when the ride stopped. The CMs had noticed that one teacup had 6 people in it, so 2 of them had to get off before we started up again. I like this ride, but prefer it in the dark because I love the Chinese lanterns above it lit up at night.

Then we headed over towards Frontierland to meet Denis & Natasha. It had started to rain a bit so we went via the covered pathways & met Aladdin at the entrance to Adventureland.

In all our trips, this is the first time we have ever met him, so 1 autograph & photo later we continued on to meet up outside Cowboy Cookout. We walked over to watch Mickey’s Winter Wonderland show, woke Natasha who had been asleep all the time & got great seats up on the back row.

We all enjoyed the show & when we got out we discovered that there must have been some heavy rain, but it had cleared up again. The queues to see Santa were massive, so Natasha wanted to go on POTC. When we got there & walked in, she changed her mind & decided that she didn’t like the look of this, so Denis went on with Nicole while we waited. Then we brought her into Fantasyland. The first thing she saw was Dumbo. Luckily the queue was still small & she loved it. Then we went on the carousel & she wanted to go on one of the big horses at the outside & wouldn’t let me go on with her, so I stood beside her for the ride as she was sliding about in the saddle a bit.

Then she wanted to go back home. We bribed her with some cheese crackers to keep her going & went off to see Santa. By now it was nearly 5.30 pm & I wanted to see it in the dark as I had read that it is much prettier then. Also, since it was dry, I wanted to make sure we got to meet him today in case it was too wet later in the week. Santa’s village was beautiful at night & we had the added bonus of meeting Woody & Jessie there too.

I changed Natasha into her Santa dress – actually I took off her coat & put it on over her other clothes, so lucky it was a bit big for her! The queue was quite short & was all outdoor. We waited for about 20 mins & Santa was just lovely to the girls. He lifted them up on his knee & talked away to them. Nicole told me he was asking their names, ages & what they wanted for Christmas. Denis & I got in for a photo too, so I hope they come out well.

Then it was time to go home. We got a bus at 1830. I went on to the supermarket to get a few things for a salad while Denis brought the girls back to the playroom while they waited for me. After tea Nicole was shattered, but Natasha took ages to go to sleep because she had had a sleep during the afternoon. We watched some TV – it’s great to get ITV & BBC & Denis went to bed early while I typed this up. Having checked the weather forecast, it looks to be drier tomorrow morning, so hopefully we’ll head into DLP in the morning & then maybe come back here in the afternoon, but we’ll see. I really want to see the tree lighting ceremony & Fantillusion this trip if I get a chance!

 

[DLPdaft]

Loving it loving it loving it - will have to try and remember to take DD to see Santa late in the day.

It sounds like you all have a real home from home there at the Marriott.

 

[mommy2ash]

sounds like you are having a great time. i cant believe your taxi didnt turn up thats awful. who did you book with?

 

[disney_princess_85]

Great report!

 

[karenmoloney]

Loving it loving it loving it - will have to try and remember to take DD to see Santa late in the day.

It sounds like you all have a real home from home there at the Marriott.

Yes, I'd recommend visiting Santa when it's dark. The lighting is just beautiful. And yes, the Marriott is like having your own home here. DD2 wanted to know today if it was our other home! (If only).

 

[karenmoloney]

sounds like you are having a great time. i cant believe your taxi didnt turn up thats awful. who did you book with?

I booked it through the Marriott. It was cheaper to get one at the airport, so it worked out well! I had tried Ezyshuttle after all the recommendations on here, but I had left it too late & he was fully booked. I'll make sure to book with them early next time (hopefully 1st week in May).

 

[Disneyfanswicklow]

Sounds like you are having a lovely time. Great trip report, we ar enjoying reading it! cant wait to see your photos.

 

[karenmoloney]

Day 4 Wed 25th Nov

I couldn’t wake up this morning, I was so tired. The weather was nice, so we decided to get going to make the most of it & caught the bus at 10.30 – same as yesterday. We usually eat at Auberge during our holiday, but with the price increase & having to pay for 4 of us (Natasha would want her own dinner), we decided that it was too expensive this trip, so decided to meet a few princesses instead this morning. I had forgotten to mention that yesterday we had met Perla & Suzy in Fantasyland, so at this rate, we mightn’t get to meet anyone new there anyway.

The princesses meet & greet was due to start at 11.30 & it was nearly 11.10 when we got there & were the 2nd in the queue. We got to meet Cinderella & her prince & she was lovely.

Then we went to watch the Snow White show that we had missed yesterday morning. We had 5 mins to wait & there was a little bit of rain while we were sitting. We really enjoyed the show & afterwards Nicole collected autographs from Dopey, Bashful & Sneezy while I kept Natasha away from the scrum.

By now it was just past 12.00, so we headed to Belle’s Village to see if we could meet her. She was just arriving & made a beeline for Natasha who was sitting in her pram wearing her Belle furry hat! She signed both the girls books & posed for a photo before she was swallowed by the scrum, so we were lucky!

I had promised Natasha we would do IASW, so we did & enjoyed spotting all the Christmas touches again. When we came out the rain was coming down steadily – lucky we had put the rain cover down on the pram! Natasha was getting grumpy & needing something to eat, so we decided to go to Annette’s. On our way past I noticed that the princess & queue for the meet & greet had disappeared. It had been Ariel doing it & I would have thought she would have liked the rain! So over to Annette’s where the girls had the salmon & chips while Denis & I had burgers & chips. As soon as Natasha saw the chips she didn’t want the salmon & Nicole only ate half of hers, so I brought it home with me for their dinner. I really enjoyed my burger. I don’t eat a lot of meat, but it was delicious. By the time we had finished, the rain was very heavy. The girls wanted to go back to the playroom at the Marriott, so Denis brought them back on the bus at 1420 while I did a bit of shopping. I bought 2 Christmas decorations (Bambi & Marie), a set of Christmas pins, 3 advent calendars (presents), a HSM Mickey & Minnie (present), 2 new autograph books (they had a 30% reduction), 2 boxes of chocolate squares (they were on half price offer, 1 for Denis & 1 for my brother who is feeding our dogs & fish). With the 30% off the total (20% Dream AP discount + a further 10% with a receipt I got from someone on this forum), I think I did very well. Hopefully I’ll get to do some more shopping before I get home! I got the bus back at 1500 & missed my stop (I wasn’t watching where we were going), so ended up nearly in Bailly Romainvilliers, so I popped into the greengrocers & bought some potatoes & veg & a lovely punnet of strawberries. Back to the Marriott & found Denis & the girls hadn’t made it back to the house yet – they were in the playroom. After unpacking all my purchases we went for a swim & then the girls had some dinner. They soon polished off the salmon they hadn’t eaten earlier with their spuds, carrots & broccoli. Nicole did some more of her schoolwork & Natasha watched a Disney DVD. Then at about 7pm she said that she had to go to bed, she was so tired. Nicole went to bed at about 8pm & then we had some dinner. One drawback of having ITV – there is football on tonight, so Denis is happy! Looking at the forecast for tomorrow, it looks like more rain, so it’s not looking too likely that I will get to see the tree lighting ceremony or fantillusion this trip. We’ll probably go in the morning (must try to get there for 10am instead of 11am!) & come home in the afternoon again as this worked well for the girls today. They don’t seem to have the stamina to go all day & Natasha would quite happily spend all day in the playroom at the Marriott! Well, as long as they’re happy, I’m happy. Our internet connection expires sometime tomorrow, so depending on whether or not we pay for another day, I may or may not get to post Day 5 tomorrow night. Maybe I’ll be too busy packing up as we go home on Friday. If I don’t, I will be back online at the weekend to finish it off and to upload some photos.

 

[Disneyfanswicklow]

Another lovely day - thanks for sharing. We hope you manage to get online again as we are really enjoying your trip report. Enjoy your last day and we look forward to seeing your photos.

 

[karenmoloney]

We're back. I had typed up Day 5 on Thursday night, but we didn't have any internet access to post it, so here it is & I'll get round to finishing it off & adding the photos over the weekend (I hope).

Day 5 Thurs 26th Nov

We got the bus a bit earlier this morning & got into the Studios to see the Good Morning Studios parade. Nicole & Denis collected a few autographs afterwards while Natasha & I went on the Flying Carpets – I thought it was best to keep her away from the scrum.

We met up & watched Anamagique at 11.00, which had a 10 min delay in starting. Then we went on cars & then queued to meet Donald & then Remy.

By now Natasha was getting very grumpy, so we had lunch in Rendezvous des stars. It was our first time in there & we thought it was great. Nicole & Natasha didn’t eat much though. Immediately afterwards Natasha fell asleep as soon as she got into her pram. I got a great position to see the stars & cars show while Denis & Nicole got into position behind the stage to collect autographs (Nicole wants to fill her autograph book). While we were waiting, the rain started, so the parade just drove around and didn’t stop. We split up with me taking Natasha and doing some shopping (I bought some Christmas decorations) while Denis & Nicole did Stitch Live & then visited the Art of Animation. There was some torrential rain while I was in the shop which only lasted about a minute & then it dried up & we had blue skies. We met up again at 3pm & walked over to the Disneyland Park & went into the Emporium. We woke Natasha (who had been asleep for nearly 2 hours at this stage) and let the girls pick a cuddly toy each. Natasha chose a few, before finally deciding on Bambi. Nicole picked a Tod & a Copper. I thought that the Bernard & Bianca mice were very cute, but didn’t feel the need to buy them! Then we went into the Disneyland Hotel as it was nearly 4pm. The girls changed into their Snow White dresses – the first chance they had to wear them all week & we met the characters at 4pm – Goofy, Tweedledum, Tweedledee & Gideon – and got photos & autographs.

We caught the bus at 4.30 back to the Marriott & went for a swim & then dinner. I had bought a frozen lasagne in the supermarket a few days ago & it was delicious. Denis bought some crispy bread in the onsite shop & we finished off the salad we still had. Reception confirmed that we have a late check out at 1200 tomorrow, so we haven’t done any packing, so it will be a busy morning tomorrow. Natasha has gone to sleep in our bed tonight (she eventually ends up there anyway), so we couldn’t have got the cases out of our wardrobe anyway & that’s my excuse and nothing to do with the bottle of wine we had to finish because we didn’t want it going to waste!

 

[Disneyfanswicklow]

would have been such a shame to waste that wine!! Another great day by the sounds of it - looking forward to seeing your photos. Welcome home hope you not too depressed to be back!

 

[karenmoloney]

Day 6 Fri 27th Nov

We had all the packing to do & to make up something to eat at the airport. Denis made some pasta & some sandwiches, while I packed up. Natasha was unpacking as fast as we were packing, thinking she was ‘helping’, so eventually Denis took the girls to the playroom so I could get on with it. We had a late check out for 1200 & for the first time ever we were early & left the house at 1130. We checked out & put our luggage into storage & then got the bus to Disney. Natasha was (as usual) hungry, so we went to Annettes first & had more scrummy burgers. After lunch I wanted to get to see the parade & show in the Studios, but it had started earlier today (there was a new programme out from today which we hadn’t seen), so we missed the start. Denis & Nicole went round the back of the stage & she got autographs from Mulan (a first) and Lilo.

Then we went to the Disneyland Park and went on Buzz, Casey Junior, Storybook ride, Teacups, Alice’s maze, Carousel.

We met Mary Poppins & Bert for a quick photo & saw Captain Hook, but there were too many round him, so we didn’t bother going over.

I would have liked to have another go on IASW before we left, but we ran out of time. We got the bus at 1615 (it was 10 mins late) and were back at the Marriott for about 1630. Denis collected the luggage while I took the girls to the playroom for the last time until the taxi arrived at 1700. The traffic was quite heavy & the trip took about 50mins. We checked in & had our ‘picnic’ tea before boarding. Natasha fell asleep before we even took off & I couldn’t wake her when we landed in Belfast & had to carry her as far as passport control before she opened her eyes. We had a 1 ½ hr drive home & poor Nicole was very travel sick. We got home at about 11pm to 2 very excited dogs & a lot of unpacking.

Conclusion

Despite my initial plan to take the girls on my own, I’m so glad that Denis came with us. I definitely wouldn’t have coped as well on my own & I don’t think I will plan to go on my own again until Natasha gets older.

I’m so glad we stayed at the Marriott. With all the wet weather we had, it was great to have the pool & playroom to keep the girls occupied. It was also nice to have the selfcatering option so the girls weren’t eating chips all the time.

It was a great week to go – the crowds were low & we didn’t have to queue more than a few minutes for anything.

We all had a great time & will hopefully be back again the first week in May (Nicole’s school always takes that week off) – just have to wait & see if Denis can get that week off work & we’ll probably stay at the Marriott again because I love it there.


I haven't had a chance to look at any of the photos yet, let alone put them onto photobucket, so I'll do that tomorrow & add some into the report. I just wanted to finish off the written bit first while it was still fresh in my mind.

 

[karenmoloney]

It is about 5 months since we got back & we are off again tomorrow. So I thought I would have a read of my last trip report & realised that I never got round to adding the photos, so I have done it tonight - better late then never! Off now to pack again & hopefully I'll get to give you a daily report again from this trip.

 

[mommy2ash]

great pics karen thanks for sharing. i hope you have a great time, i cant wait to hear all about it.

 

[Mum to Belle]

Thanks for posting your photos - I must have missed your TR first time round! Shame about all that rain! Still looks like you had a great time though & met loads of characters!!

Have a great trip today and I'm looking forward to your TR when you get back!