Christmas Trip Report Live from the Marriott - Day 5 added

[karenmoloney]

Cast

Me (Karen)
DD1 (Nicole) aged 9
DD2 (Natasha) aged 4

Pre-trip Info

I didn't have any plans for coming back so soon (otherwise I would have renewed my AP by post & got 6 mths added for free) until I noticed a week's accommodation at the Marriott on ebay. I was the only one bid on it & won the auction 12 days before we were due to go! The accommodation was for 20th - 27th Nov, but we will be here 20th - 25th to fit in with better flight times & cheaper prices! (The Saturday was very early in the morning & the Sunday flight was just too expensive). DH isn't with us this time, he has to work, but this is my Christmas present from him.

I contacted Ezyshuttle to book a taxi, but unfortunately they were fully booked (I suppose it was very short notice) so then booked a shared shuttle with RS Transport after reading good reports on them on this forum. It's my first time using them, but will use them in the future as their prices are very good.

Day 1 Sunday 20/11/11

My Dad picked us up at 10.30 (DH was working) & brought us to the airport, which was very good of him as it's a 3 hour round trip! My case weighed in at 21kg, so I was asked to take some things out or pay £10. Luckily I had plenty of room in our hand luggage, so transfered some things over. The flight was on time & when we landed, we were the last people left to collect our luggage. I was starting to panic when our case appeared on the carousel about 3 minutes after everyone else had gone. Don't know what happened there, but I was very glad to see it! RS Transport were waiting for us, and we had the car (not a minivan) to ourselves & were left to the Marriott for 6.30pm.

I asked for a house near the road this time to cut down on the walking time to & from the bus stop & we have 2012 and we're only 5 mins walk from the road (compared to 15 mins in August when we were at the far end of the resort). After a quick unpack, I made some pasta for our tea (had brought it in the suitcase). Then the girls wanted to go swimming. We had the pool to ourselves. There doesn't seem to be too many people about the resort at all. They have an onsite shop here, so we picked up some essentials for breakfast & then it was bedtime for the girls.

Day 2 Monday 21/11/11

We didn't get to Disney today. I was really disappointed, but Natasha was very tired (and very grumpy). The excitement & the travelling yesterday had worn her out & all she wanted to do was stay around the resort. So we went into Bailly Romainvilliers in the morning to the supermarket to stock up (don't know what I'll do when Natasha is too big for a buggy & I have to carry all the shopping back without one!) After a lovely roast chicken dinner, I was all set to go to Disney, but the girls wanted to go to the playground here first & then didn't want to leave it! Then they wanted to go to the playroom because there was drawing & colouring on in the afternoon, so I left them there for a while & the after tea, we went swimming again. There was only one other family in the pool tonight.

Day 3 Tuesday 22/11/11

We took it easy this morning. Nicole did the schoolwork she brought with her & we made it into Disney for about 12.00. The girls still have their annual passes, but mine had expired in September, so I had to get a new one. I bought a Fantasy one this time (I've had a Dream one for the last few yrs). We went through the gates & there were characters about near the gate where the floats disappear into at the end of the parade, so got autographs from Frollo & the Queen of Hearts with no scrum before they all had to go.

I went to the AP office to get my permanent AP & then we went on It's a Small World & had fun spotting all the Christmas additions on the way round. Then we queued in the Princess Pavilion for about 25 mins & met Ariel (Nicole's favourite). I had never been in there before & thought it was beautifully done. The other princess was Mulan (but you only get to meet one) but the girls were getting hungry and didn't want to queue again to meet her. So we had lunch at Toad Hall. We sat near the fireplace & had fun watching the changing picture.

Back outside & we did Peter Pan, Teacups twice, Carousel twice, Snow White (a first for Natasha) & Pinocchio (another first for Natasha) all with no or minimal queues. Then we did Buzz Lightyear, again with a minimal queue. Then Natasha announced that she wanted to go home, but I persuaded her to meet Santa first. Pooh Bear was doing a meet & greet when we first went into Woody's Roundup, dressed in his Christmas clothes (which I thought looked a bit like pyjamas - I preferred his coat that he wore a few years ago). Although the queue to meet Santa wasn't very long, we still waited for about an hour because it moves so slowly. He was very nice, spoke Spanish to a family 2 in front of us, French to the family in front of us & perfect English to us. He even asked me what I wanted for Christmas & told me to bake him some mince pies to leave out on Christmas Eve.

By the time we were leaving, it was quite dark & the decorations and lights were beautiful. Hopefully tomorrow night we will stay late to see the tree lighting, Fantillusion etc. We caught the bus at 17.49 back to the Marriott where I made dinner & then DH phoned to see how we all got on. He's wishing he was here with us!

 

[DLPdaft]

Yey Karen - another "live" trip report .

Isn't it great that Natasha thinks of your Marriot house as "home" when she's on holiday.

 

[karenmoloney]

Day 4 Wed 23/11/11

I can't believe this is day 4 already. We woke up this morning to fog outside & to me having a bout of diarrhea, so didn't go to far for a few hours! We got Natasha's schoolwork done this morning & then the girls wanted to go swimming. There was only a few others in there this morning, but I just sat at the edge & watched today and brought them back to the house for showers afterwards as I didn't think I could manage to shower Natasha in the changing room without getting myself wet!

After lunch we got the bus to Disney & went over to the Studios first. I had hoped to see the parade, but when we went through the gates, Rapunzel & Flynn were out & about. There weren't too many round them, so within a few minutes, we had their autographs & a photo. Then we went over to see Belle, but everyone kept pushing in front of us. The Beast noticed this & when it was time to go, he told me that he would sign their books & got Belle to do it too, but there was no time for a photo. Instead he told anyone who wanted a photo to stand in for a group photo instead. I hadn't seen a character doing that before! And when someone stood in front of Natasha, he brought her out to the front because she was small.

By the time we made it into the Studios, the parade was well over, so we went to Toy Story Playland & went on Slinky Dog twice & then the Parachutes (both rides being firsts for us). Natasha took some persuading to get her on the parachutes (I had to promise to go on Thunder Mountain to get her on), but she loved it & wanted to go again, but the 25 min queue put us off. It's the only queue for a ride so far this week.

Next we queued up to meet Minnie as Natasha was wearing her Minnie dress. Pluto was walking about, but walked away from us twice when we were next to meet him, so the girls weren't too fussed on waiting any longer after that. After a trip on the Flying Carpets, it was starting to get a bit cold, so we went into Anamagique for some heat & a sit down. This show always makes we want to go to sleep! We sat down near the front (4th row back) this time as the girls wanted to catch the bubbles, but we were still too far back. We should have been in the first 2 rows to get them, or there were more further back. When we came out we put our coats on (for the first time today) and went over to the main park to fulfil my promise for Thunder Mountain. The last time I rode this was in 1998 & I hadn't liked it then. But (after only a 5 min queue) it wasn't too bad. If DH is with us next time the girls want to go on it, I'll let him go, but if they wanted to do it & I was on my own again, I think I could manage it again.

We went a walk around into Adventureland. I was looking to buy a snack for the girls, but there was nothing open. We met Baloo on his way somewhere & he hugged Nicole on his way past. Then we went over to Main Street so the girls could buy themselves something. Natasha had spotted a small Pluto on a lead that walks when you press one button & barks when you press the other yesterday, so she was on a mission to buy this. Nicole wanted a Simba cuddly to go with the Nala one she already has at home. Then we watched the tree lighting ceremony & then Fantillusion before getting the bus back to the Marriott & had soup & crusty bread for supper.

So tomorrow is our last day at Disney. It is Natasha's birthday next week & she would be entitled to the free lunch offer they are running for AP holders, but the bill has to come to over 50 euro before she can be free! They want to go to 'Remys' restaurant, but the bill won't be enough to avail of the offer. Maybe I could talk them into going to Walt's - I've always wanted to try there!

 

[DLPdaft]

Hope you're feeling better now Karen - and how fantastic to meet Rapunzel & Flynn and Belle and the Beast in the Studios ! I've never seen any of the Princesses, except the ones who are in Cars n Stars, in the Studios park.

 

[karenmoloney]

Day 5 24/11/11

This morning was very foggy & damp and the sun didn't manage to get through all day, so we had the coats on all day today. We got the bus at 10.36 this morning - earliest this week, and went to the Studios first. There were a lot of characters about in front of Cinemagique, but the crowds around them put us off going over. We watched Stitch Live and then met Sulley before going for lunch with Remy (so didn't get to use the free lunch offer). When we came out, we waited round for half an hour to watch the Stars & Cars Parade, which I don't think stops any more.

Then over to the main park to watch Mickey's Winter Wonderland (I love that show) and then to write the girls letters to Santa (which we had forgotten to do on Tuesday when we were there). Today the queue to meet Santa was massive, those people were going to be waiting there a long time!

On our way to Fantasyland, we noticed that the dragon wasn't open. I bought Natasha a pair of Rapunzel shoes for her birthday next week & bought myself a Christmas decoration. Then we went for a boat ride round the Storybook ride, followed by Casey Jr three times (no queue)! The girls loved it & might have wanted to go again if they hadn't closed the ride! We watched the parade from outside It's a Small World & then went on this as our last ride of the holiday. Like yesterday, I couldn't find anywhere open to eat, so we went to Annettes & got the bus back to the Marriott at 19.20. It was nice not to have to cook today.

We are going home tomorrow. I have booked in here until Sunday, so we don't have to check out at 10, which is great - no rushing to get out in time. The taxi is collecting us at 13.45 & the girls want to go to the playroom here in the morning. So we won't be going into Disney and I'll have plenty of time to get the packing done - just hope I don't go over the 20kg in the suitcase again as I've no way of weighing it!

 

[karenmoloney]

Day 6 25/11/11

Travelled home today. Spent the morning packing, cooking a dinner & making a packed lunch for the plane journey home. Nicole & Natasha went to the kids club for a while in the morning giving me time to get organised. The taxi arrived 35 mins early, but I told him to wait because I wasn't ready. I don't think he was too happy!

The suitcase was actually underweight going home (19kg). Plane was on time & DH met us in Belfast to drive us home. Arrived home to discover that he had arranged a painter to come in while we were away to finish off painting the hall, stairs & landing & a new carpet down! I must go away more often.

Conclusion

Midweek in November is a great time to go. We were very lucky with the weather, it was so mild & the only rain we saw was in the taxi on the way to the airport. There was minimal or no queue for most of the rides we went on. The Christmas decorations were lovely. The Marriott was, as always, brilliant.

We went at roughly the same time 6 years ago & thinking back to that trip show how much Disneyland has changed since then. I can remember loads more shows for the Christmas season - a Belle one in the Christmas Village (and the stalls in the Christmas Village weren't open at all this time), Goofy & professional singers singing Christmas songs in the Studios & Mickey's Winter Wonderland was on too (the only one left now). Plus there were carol singers in the bandstand near the entrance.

I haven't had the chance to look at the photos yet, but will add ones to the trip report when I do.

 

[Ware Bears]

Enjoyed reading this what a treat to get home to find the decorating done and a new carpet!!