crmscotland's trippie: 4 Days of Magic - Day 3

[crmscotland]

Friday 1st June, 2007

I got up around 7am and went for a walk outside (& took a photo of roughly where l thought our room was - didn't want to peer in at any windows to check ) l then had a walk in the grounds of Sequoia Lodge. Once l got back to our room l got DH, Louise & DS up, once they were ready (it seems to take ages to get everyone organised in the morning) we walked along by Lake Disney to the Newport Bay Hotel as we had never been inside there before, as it turned out we didn't get in today either - the entrance by the lake must be the back entrance which leads to the restaurants - there was huge queues of people queueing for breakfast, people were even queueing down the stairs. (note to self: if staying there in future do GMF Fantasyland breakfast in park as much as possible), so rather than push our way through the masses we decided to give our look round the Newport Bay a miss for the time being, we intended to go back there later that day or the next day, but never got the time - l think that happened a few times with various places this trip. There is so much l still want to see at DLRP.
Just as we were going to walk round the other side of the lake to Disney Village Le Petit Train stopped outside the Newport Bay and to DS John's shouts of "Thomas, Thomas" we boarded it, it cost 6 Euros (DS was free) for the short trip to Disney Village, it was worth it though as DS really enjoyed it.

We walked through Disney Village and into the park to make our way to Chalet au Marionette for our GMF Breakfast. l think it was at the park entrance that we saw our friends Hazel & her family, they went on ahead as l got sidetracked (much to Louise's annoyance, as l think she wanted to stay with Alice) taking photos of Mickey greeting guests at the park entrance. We walked up Main St, through the Castle to Fantasyland to Chalet au Marionette for our GMF breakfast. It was very busy inside, but we managed to find a table (we shared one with another family until they were finished). There was a really good continental breakfast selection available - cereals, croissants, pain au chocolat, cheese, cold meat, yoghurt, fruit salad, orange & apple juice, tea, coffee. As we were finishing our breakfast our friend Kaye(Bonhoga) & her family came and sat at the next table to us.

After breakfast we went on Dumbo the Flying Elephant - which is one of DS John's favourite rides then Peter Pan's Flight - the queues weren't that long at all for these, maybe 5 mins or so.

DH & Louise on Dumbo

We walked through Fantasyland and came to the area near It's A Small World where the parade starts, to our surprise and delight a lot of Disney Characters appeared suddenly, ok they must have came from somewhere, but l didn't see from where and l like to think it was by Disney magic. Bert & Mary Poppins were there - she had obviously floated through the air using her umberella.

Next Louise & John met Eeyore, Stitch (one of Louise's favourites), the Genie from Aladdin & Mr Penguin. The time seemed to pass really quickly as l realised l'd have to dash (leaving DH, Louise & DS still meeting characters) to the area near Videopolis for 11am to get tickets for the 2:30pm showing in English of The Lion King. I got over there and the queue for tickets was very long, although it moved fairly quickly, l think l must have queued 20-25 mins or something, but got the tickets and then met up with DH & co at the Videopolis entrance as arranged, if l had thought about it properly they could have just met me over at The Sword in the Stone behind the Castle in Fantasyland where we had arranged to meet up with Angela (disneyangel) her DD Jessica & Granny Car at 11:30am. We walked over to there & met up with Angela & co - we then all went on Storybook Boats (or Les Pays des Contes de Fees as it's known in French), Casey Jr. Train, It's A Small World and Carousel de Lancelot - which we all enjoyed and the queues for which were all very short if l remember correctly. I sat in a carriage in the Carrousel - a lifetimes ambition has been fulfilled. We all left Fantasyland & Angela & family got on one of the Main St vehicles while we headed to Casey's Corner for hotdogs for lunch.

While DH & Louise were queueing at Casey's Corner l went into the shop next door with DS in the pushchair to get DS John a set of small Incredibles figures that he had been wanting (you know if he really wants something if he keeps mentioning the same thing, even after seeing other things). I went back inside Casey's Corner to wait for DH & Louise & luckily l managed to get a table for us to sit at inside there. Our hotdogs were lovely and DS John had fries too. Louise & DS also got their drinks in Buzz Lightyear souvenir beakers which will come in handy for our holiday in Ireland this summer.

Since this post is very long already - and there's more to come, we are just up to about 2pm at this point and didn't go to bed until well after 10pm, so you've been warned - the next part of Day 3 is continued on the next post in this thread

 

[crmscotland]

Day 3 cont'd:

After finishing lunch we left Casey's Corner and crossed Main St. Louise was wanting a Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice-cream from Gibson Girl ice-cream parlour, but the queue was too long - she would have to wait to later. We walked over to Discoveryland to the Lion King show at Videopolis and got good seats just a few rows from the front, we were near the big lion in the cave on the left. DS John loved it when it moved. We all really enjoyed the show, it was the second time we had seen it, although when we went last year we sat in the Cafe Hyperion seating area and had lunch when we watched it then. This year it was great to see it closer up.

After the Lion King, DH & Louise headed over to WDS to meet up with our friend Hazel & her DD Alice - Louise was wanting to go on RnR Coaster with Alice.

DS & l got on the Disneyrailroad Train at Discoveryland Station. I was hoping to have a sit down & bit of a rest & do a complete circuit of the park on the train, but like the previous day with DH, DS John had other ideas - one stop later at Main St. he was announcing he wanted to get off saying "that's enough", so off we got. I could have just stayed on the train and ignored his moans - that's what l mostly do at home, but at that point l didn't think it would be fair on the other passengers sitting next to us to be stuck with grumpy moaning DS , as it turned out he fell asleep in his pushchair not long after we got off the train, so l could have stayed on after all. We then made our way up Main St looking in the shops (DS sound asleep, made for easy shopping ) and l bought a few gifts for family birthday presents. DS still asleep - bliss! we went into Cable Car Bakeshop and l bought a tea in one of those refillable souvenir mugs and a delicious chocolate and cream filled profiterole (wouldn't like to estimate the calories!!), l also got Louise a cookie & brownie for later. Walked back down Main St, out of the park and back to Sequoia Lodge via Disney Village.

DS & l got back to Sequoia Lodge approx 5:45pm, DH & Louise already there. I really could have did with a rest at that point, but had to get dressed for dinner as we had a 6:30pm reservation for the character dinner at Cafe Mickey. Once ready we left Sequoia Lodge and walked the short distance along by the lake to Disney Village & Cafe Mickey. We didn't have to queue outside and were seated upstairs very quickly. Our table had a lovely view of Panoramagique, the merry-go-round, Lake Dsiney and surrounding hotels (Hotel New York, Sequoia Lodge & Newport Bay). DS John who has refused to sit in a highchair since he was about age one, spotted a highchair with the Mickey ears, l told him that was Mickey's chair, so he agreed to sit in it & stayed in it for the whole meal. (BTW he's been willing sitting in highchairs anytime we've been eating out since we got home).

The food at Cafe Mickey was great: DH had fish and chips, creme brulee, l had Pluto Steak, ice-cream sundae, and from the children's menu, Louise: chicken nuggets & fries, ice-cream, DS John: pasta & ice-cream.

During the meal various characters made an appearance we saw - Mickey, Minnie, Tigger, Goofty, Pluto, Eeyore, Baloo the Bear, & another bear who l can never remember the name of.

Our waiter Benjamin was very friendly and the service was good except Louise & John's desserts were very slow to arrive. Since l had arranged to meet up with 3 friends (Angela(disneyangel), Tia(Tialucy) & Kaye(Bonhoga) at the Redwood Bar in Sequoia Lodge at 8:30pm and it was nearly that time by now l paid the bill (love getting that shareholders discount ) and left DH with Louise & John at Cafe Mickey awaiting the children's desserts so l could head over to Sequoia Lodge.

When l got there Angela & her DH Kenny had already arrived, so we sat and chatted for a while, then Tia & Lucy arrived and later Kaye managed to drop by for a short while too. DH John came along briefly with DS & Louise (l think they had been at the play area in the hotel). DH & DS John went away again, Louise stayed in the Redwood bar with us.

Around about 10pm, maybe it was later - l can't remember the time, we all decided to call it a night - l think everyone was pretty tired. Louise & l walked back to our room. We'd had a great day, but l was shattered.

Next: Day 4 - our last day.

 

[Ware Bears]

What a lovely day wonderful photos too.