As it was a Sunday we expected the park to be very busy, but the rain must have kept some people away, so it was quite busy but not too bad.
My DH, DD and I had been to DLP before but our friends were visiting for the first time.
We walked under the DLH and through the turnstiles into the Park. The first thing we saw was the decoration along the back of the station and then we saw the main Christmas tree and all the little snow covered trees at the top of Main Street. We walked past the bandstand just as Santa Claus made an appearance. The two girls were beside themselves with excitement and both had photos taken with him before everyone else realised he was there. We then set off down Main Street, as we did so it started to snow. This convinced my DD that we must have seen the real Santa Claus as he had made it snow.
We then spent the next few hours wandering around the park helping our friends find their bearings. We did not both trying the rides as the queues were very long. The queue for POTC was at least 60 minutes so we looked around Skull Rock and the Pirate Ship. We all enjoyed pretending to be Captain Hook, Peter Pan and Tigerlily.
We headed for Caseys Corner at about 3.00pm and had hotdogs and hot drinks. The two girls thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate cake that came with our meals. We found a table in the Liberty Arcade with out too much trouble but the queues started to build about 10 minutes after we sat down.
During this break my DD decided to bite her finger. She bit it enough to break the skin and cause the finger to bleed quite heavily. Fortunately like most mums I carry wipes, plasters etc. in my handbag for such eventualities. (More stress, both for her and me).
By the time we had finished the crowds for the parade were beginning to swell and we decide that rather than watching the parade today we would head back to some of the rides. We first headed to BTM, we used the hotel Fast Pass and got straight on the ride. It was then through to Fantasyland and a quick twirl on the Carousel of Lancelot. The queue on this was not too long as most people were waiting for the parade. It was then a quick walk to Its a Small World as the two girls kept asking for the ride over and over again. It was here that we met the grumpiest cast member I have ever met, really not the best match CM for this ride. She would have been perfect in the Phantom Manor and would not have had to work on the expression. She was so grumpy that it gave us all a good laugh as she seemed such a contrast to the cheerful little song all around us. We thought of taking her photo but did not think she would appreciate it.
After IASW we headed to the Castle to watch the Enchanted Fairytale Show. The area around the stage was very busy but a nice lady let my DD stand right at the front, so she got a great view. This show is a must for anyone visiting over the Christmas period, a host of characters walk down to the stage on Central Plaza from Sleeping Beautys Castle. You need to try to find a position where you can see the stage, the castle and Main Street. The highlight of this show is the lighting up of the Castle. This is magical and my friend who was trapped in Fantasyland and could not see knew something special had happened as she heard a loud gasp from the watching crowd. I wont say too much about this for anyone who has not yet seen it, but please make time to watch it as I think it was one of the highlights of my trip.
We then thought we would head back to the hotel for a chill before dinner at Inventions. As we reached the entrance to the DLH I thought it strange how many members of staff were sitting outside the hotel. As we got to the door we were greeted by a member of staff who told us that an incident had occurred in the hotel and that we could not enter. We looked thought the window and could see firemen We were directed to Studio 1 in the Disney Studios, but they could tell us anything more, so four weary adults and two even wearier children set off to Studio 1. Even though the Studios were closing we had no problem getting in and went in to Studio 1 for hot drinks and a rest. After about ½ hour we saw that staff members from the hotel seemed to be heading back and then we show other guests also leaving Studio 1. It became clear at this point that the hotel had obviously been evacuated quickly as most guests did not have coats and some were only wearing the hotel bath robes and slippers. We even saw some children with no shoes who were being carried. We returned to the hotel and were told that we could go back to our rooms, but as we had been given our rooms we were told to enter the hotel using the Castle Club lift and wait in the area outside the restaurants. We waited there for only about 5 minutes when a really nice member of staff took us up to the Castle Club check in area, as Reception was still closed. We were booked in here and then escorted to our rooms by another member of staff. The staff in the hotel were excellent once we finally got into the hotel and I can not fault the service that they provided. We did try to find out what had happened but the CM said that they had to tell guests that there had been an exercise, but that this was not really the case. When we asked if there had been a fire they said that this was definitely one possibility and when we finally went to Reception later that night you could small burning/smoke.
I now decided that things really could only get better, surely nothing else would happen to cause me anymore stress???? So into the room
The minute I walked into the room I felt the stress of the last 3 days falling away. The room was beautiful. It was considerably bigger than the room we had stayed previously at the NBH. We had a view out onto an internal courtyard and our friends were in the adjoining room. I looked around the room and with each look I noticed something new. The bedspreads have pictures of the Fairies from Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty and Tinkerbelle on, though so discretely that you will not notice them immediately. This is the same throughout the whole room, it totally Disney but very discrete and you dont notice it on first look. The frieze around the bedroom and the bathroom, the mirror in the bathroom, the detail on the front of TV cabinet and the pictures on the wall. All completely Disney, but all very tasteful. We had bathrobes to use and the usual postcards, writing paper and envelopes. The only thing missing was the kettle, but this seems to be a UK thing, and we did not really need it.
Due to the delay in getting into our rooms we did not have much time in our rooms before we had leave for our booking in Inventions. The meal was great with excellent character interactions. I will give more details on the restaurant thread, but suffice to say that we booked to eat there on the Tuesday as well.
After what now seemed like a very long day we all headed back to our rooms. When we got there the beds had been turned down and on each pillow there was a chocolate Disney coin. My DD thought that Mickey must have come and put them there himself. After calming her down again it was finally to bed, setting the alarm for 7.30am as I had be up to meet Nikki (Bonitatime) at 9.30am the next morning in Salon Mickey.
My DH, DD and I had been to DLP before but our friends were visiting for the first time.
We walked under the DLH and through the turnstiles into the Park. The first thing we saw was the decoration along the back of the station and then we saw the main Christmas tree and all the little snow covered trees at the top of Main Street. We walked past the bandstand just as Santa Claus made an appearance. The two girls were beside themselves with excitement and both had photos taken with him before everyone else realised he was there. We then set off down Main Street, as we did so it started to snow. This convinced my DD that we must have seen the real Santa Claus as he had made it snow.
We then spent the next few hours wandering around the park helping our friends find their bearings. We did not both trying the rides as the queues were very long. The queue for POTC was at least 60 minutes so we looked around Skull Rock and the Pirate Ship. We all enjoyed pretending to be Captain Hook, Peter Pan and Tigerlily.
We headed for Caseys Corner at about 3.00pm and had hotdogs and hot drinks. The two girls thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate cake that came with our meals. We found a table in the Liberty Arcade with out too much trouble but the queues started to build about 10 minutes after we sat down.
During this break my DD decided to bite her finger. She bit it enough to break the skin and cause the finger to bleed quite heavily. Fortunately like most mums I carry wipes, plasters etc. in my handbag for such eventualities. (More stress, both for her and me).
By the time we had finished the crowds for the parade were beginning to swell and we decide that rather than watching the parade today we would head back to some of the rides. We first headed to BTM, we used the hotel Fast Pass and got straight on the ride. It was then through to Fantasyland and a quick twirl on the Carousel of Lancelot. The queue on this was not too long as most people were waiting for the parade. It was then a quick walk to Its a Small World as the two girls kept asking for the ride over and over again. It was here that we met the grumpiest cast member I have ever met, really not the best match CM for this ride. She would have been perfect in the Phantom Manor and would not have had to work on the expression. She was so grumpy that it gave us all a good laugh as she seemed such a contrast to the cheerful little song all around us. We thought of taking her photo but did not think she would appreciate it.
After IASW we headed to the Castle to watch the Enchanted Fairytale Show. The area around the stage was very busy but a nice lady let my DD stand right at the front, so she got a great view. This show is a must for anyone visiting over the Christmas period, a host of characters walk down to the stage on Central Plaza from Sleeping Beautys Castle. You need to try to find a position where you can see the stage, the castle and Main Street. The highlight of this show is the lighting up of the Castle. This is magical and my friend who was trapped in Fantasyland and could not see knew something special had happened as she heard a loud gasp from the watching crowd. I wont say too much about this for anyone who has not yet seen it, but please make time to watch it as I think it was one of the highlights of my trip.
We then thought we would head back to the hotel for a chill before dinner at Inventions. As we reached the entrance to the DLH I thought it strange how many members of staff were sitting outside the hotel. As we got to the door we were greeted by a member of staff who told us that an incident had occurred in the hotel and that we could not enter. We looked thought the window and could see firemen We were directed to Studio 1 in the Disney Studios, but they could tell us anything more, so four weary adults and two even wearier children set off to Studio 1. Even though the Studios were closing we had no problem getting in and went in to Studio 1 for hot drinks and a rest. After about ½ hour we saw that staff members from the hotel seemed to be heading back and then we show other guests also leaving Studio 1. It became clear at this point that the hotel had obviously been evacuated quickly as most guests did not have coats and some were only wearing the hotel bath robes and slippers. We even saw some children with no shoes who were being carried. We returned to the hotel and were told that we could go back to our rooms, but as we had been given our rooms we were told to enter the hotel using the Castle Club lift and wait in the area outside the restaurants. We waited there for only about 5 minutes when a really nice member of staff took us up to the Castle Club check in area, as Reception was still closed. We were booked in here and then escorted to our rooms by another member of staff. The staff in the hotel were excellent once we finally got into the hotel and I can not fault the service that they provided. We did try to find out what had happened but the CM said that they had to tell guests that there had been an exercise, but that this was not really the case. When we asked if there had been a fire they said that this was definitely one possibility and when we finally went to Reception later that night you could small burning/smoke.
I now decided that things really could only get better, surely nothing else would happen to cause me anymore stress???? So into the room
The minute I walked into the room I felt the stress of the last 3 days falling away. The room was beautiful. It was considerably bigger than the room we had stayed previously at the NBH. We had a view out onto an internal courtyard and our friends were in the adjoining room. I looked around the room and with each look I noticed something new. The bedspreads have pictures of the Fairies from Pinocchio, Sleeping Beauty and Tinkerbelle on, though so discretely that you will not notice them immediately. This is the same throughout the whole room, it totally Disney but very discrete and you dont notice it on first look. The frieze around the bedroom and the bathroom, the mirror in the bathroom, the detail on the front of TV cabinet and the pictures on the wall. All completely Disney, but all very tasteful. We had bathrobes to use and the usual postcards, writing paper and envelopes. The only thing missing was the kettle, but this seems to be a UK thing, and we did not really need it.
Due to the delay in getting into our rooms we did not have much time in our rooms before we had leave for our booking in Inventions. The meal was great with excellent character interactions. I will give more details on the restaurant thread, but suffice to say that we booked to eat there on the Tuesday as well.
After what now seemed like a very long day we all headed back to our rooms. When we got there the beds had been turned down and on each pillow there was a chocolate Disney coin. My DD thought that Mickey must have come and put them there himself. After calming her down again it was finally to bed, setting the alarm for 7.30am as I had be up to meet Nikki (Bonitatime) at 9.30am the next morning in Salon Mickey.
