danandjackie
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2003
- Messages
- 440
The first Morning.
This report runs in conjunction with the pics on http://community.webshots.com/user/danny_jackie I have now put part 2 of the pictures up with a good space mountain at night which makes good wallpaper.
On with the report. Ok I had asked the kyriad for a early breakfast slot between 7.00am and 7.30am but we were a little over zealous at getting up and we arrived for breakfast at 6.55am and spent until about 7.30am. We were the first to arrive for breakfast and didn`t see more than five other families the whole time. Must just be us who are nuts. The breakfast was a good continental buffet spread with something for everyone and more boiled eggs on display than I have ever seen in my life. You could effectively have made yourself a picnic lunch with what was available but as I had pre booked all our meals it was not necessary. As soon as we arrived in the foyer of the kyriad about 7.40am a shuttle bus turned up and 5mins later we arrived at the bus station and joined the very small crowd heading towards the Park. The pics do not decieve you by the way those pics outside the kyriad are in the morning it was that dark. Weather wise it was dry, a little chilly with just a damp mist floating around. Being English we had already prepared to for an arctic mission and it was something of a blessing to find that it was not raining.
So we arrive at the park to find none of the turnstiles are open but people are going in through the right hand gates. Turns out these are the (half asleep) children going to the character breakfast and we have arrived about 40mins to early so we go and sip complimentary coffee in the foyer of the Disneyland Hotel. Coffee so strong by the way it would keep you awake for the rest of the day. The foyer is beautiful and gloriously decorated (nothing over the top just nice). Though the heating is hot enopugh to make you want to start stripping down to your underwear. When we feel we are going to pass out with the heat we wander back out to the turnstile area to find a queue has started (well 12 people really) and a cast member is preparing to open the turnstiles so we walk straight onto Main Street. Its actually still twilight and the mist gives the whole street an ethereal quality. There is no need to rush up to the plaza. Theres nobody here so we grab maps and stroll up the street taking in the atmosphere. The place is spotless, clean and beautiful. The castle (the best of all the parks) just begs you to take pictures even though the top spire is hidden under the slowly rising mist. We snap of a few pics and hang around the central plaza. The rope drop to frontier land now has the start of a crowd building (8 people), so we wander over to await the zipper di do da music and the multitude of languages telling you not to run. Mickey in the mean time runs up and down Main Street in his car waving away and jumping out to greet the children and adults, suddenly the unique disney trick and magic is starting to really get to work.
The rope drop complete we head straight over to Big Thunder MOuntain and are among the first twelve or so to board. Although this is quite a tame ride I do like the Black tunnel at the beginning you take to get to the Island as it seems faster due to the fake wind blast and is totally black. Climbing around the mountains the view over the lake towards Phantom MAnor is interesting as the fake mist has mixed with the real mist giving a thick fog vista which periodicaly clears giving you tantalising views of the Manor. Ok Ride over we head for Indiana Jones, we dont grab a fast pass for the Big Thunder as its for the next 20mins any way and the queue at the moment is non existent. We get lost trying to find Indiana Jones then eventually find it. Apart from 4 other people riding nobody is here. I Like it , even though its just a simple coaster ride the lovely detail of the temple is nice, and the backwards aspect really messes with your brain especially if your at the back (front) in the loop where you seem to hang for a moment and leave the seat. The cast members are happy to leave us on and ride again (at least I think thats what they said) the beauty of french is if you look at there faces the expression really says it all anyway. The other beauty of french being the girl cast members who have a radiance in there eyes and features, no copy cat hair styles and fake blonds with tans here, just real features expressions and beauty. Fortunately we both speak a little French Jackie better than eye but even if you didn't most seem to have some English skills. Ok 2 rides back to back is all even I can stand on IJ its a little lurchy and has the most unpadded head rests and shoulder harnesses ever and if you weren't wearing a hat would end up with mashed ears after to may rides. Stroll over to Pirates where I miss the cast member pretending to be a statue hanging from a rope but who swings out at Jackie and some children nearly giving all a heart attack. ITs posted that the queue is 10mins but as you enter the queueing area the biggest problem is that it takes 10mins to walk straight to the boat having got lost once in the queueing section. I prefer this version of POC to the US versions in all but one area, Its a little newer and the decor seems more spruce and its very very darker, with no emergency exit signs lit up to spoil the illusion, Its spoilt though I think by the lagoon and the Pirate ship section which isnt big ebough. Your under the Pirate Boat as soon as you come down the shoot and dont get chance to take in the scale. Anyway its still Disney at there best which I cant say for most of the rides in Fantasy Land. The rest of the rides in FL all have queus of 10mins or so except Peter PAn which has a 20min queue.(do families just walk in and clog this ride as a first mission on arriving). I though snow white and Pinnochio to be as bad as there US counterparts for which there is no excuse, they should have been updated. The 2D painted boards in these rides is no better than the cheap ghost trains you used to ride as a kid in the travelling fairground that came to town in sumer. At least Pinnochio has some Animatronic sections to redeem it, and Peter Pans still nice. We road this later having grabbed a FP for an hour or so in front.
I have to say at this point that at no point today have we been rushing anywhere, just gently strolling around, taking the rides as we come to them, we had expected it to be a lot lot busier but apparantly Christmas Eve is always very quite its the next 2 days that can get busy busy busy. WE explore the castle before going to see the dragon then wandering over to Fantasy Land to Space Mountain. We ride this twice in quick succession before our time slot for peter pan comes up, then before going to peter pan grab more FP for SP whilst we are in the window. I love SP the theming, the detail in the ride. The thought and atmosphere of the launch and the music which is timed to every turn and loop and launch. I have two thoughts on seating yourself on this right. The launch is better at the front as you hit the top of the slope whilst still accelerating, at the back your actually slowing down at the top of the slope. The back is better though for the body of the ride, though by back use 11 not 12 (the french are not very strict about forcing you to have a spot) as 11 gives you a clear view rather than the back of someones seat. The back also gives the great view of seeing the rest of the train lglow in the UV lights in front of you so you see it enter the corkscrew etc.
After Peter Pan and another SP it was approaching our first pre booked lunch 12.00 Walts. so we strolled down main street and entered Walts. I was a little apprehensive that they were going to know we were booked in, it turned out they were booked up, as I had made the arrangements direct from England 3 weeks before and hadnt recieved any confirmation No's or anything, so we checked in with the lovely concierge who found my name on her display and escorted us to our table in the Jules Verne room. The food was first class the atmospher wonderful and as the park was now starting to busy up and we had done alot of the main rides we had a beautiful lunch of Crab Cakes and Antipasti to start, Sea Bass on Wild Rice and Langoustines for the Main course, and Creme Brulee and Walts Cheese CAke for dessert, all washed down by a beautifully dry and chilled bottle of Graves Blanc and finished with espresso and petit fours. It was fantastic (as was the bill but its christmas). In all we probably spent over two hours in Walts slowly enjoying ourself and watching the false slow billow down main street. You could see how this was done from the restaurant floor of Walts. Light rigs rise up from the buildings at twenty or thirty yard intervals like something out of thunderbirds and blast strong UV light down on Main Street. THis makes the false foam type snow really glow white and visible no matter what the weather conditions and is extremely effective.
To be continued.
This report runs in conjunction with the pics on http://community.webshots.com/user/danny_jackie I have now put part 2 of the pictures up with a good space mountain at night which makes good wallpaper.
On with the report. Ok I had asked the kyriad for a early breakfast slot between 7.00am and 7.30am but we were a little over zealous at getting up and we arrived for breakfast at 6.55am and spent until about 7.30am. We were the first to arrive for breakfast and didn`t see more than five other families the whole time. Must just be us who are nuts. The breakfast was a good continental buffet spread with something for everyone and more boiled eggs on display than I have ever seen in my life. You could effectively have made yourself a picnic lunch with what was available but as I had pre booked all our meals it was not necessary. As soon as we arrived in the foyer of the kyriad about 7.40am a shuttle bus turned up and 5mins later we arrived at the bus station and joined the very small crowd heading towards the Park. The pics do not decieve you by the way those pics outside the kyriad are in the morning it was that dark. Weather wise it was dry, a little chilly with just a damp mist floating around. Being English we had already prepared to for an arctic mission and it was something of a blessing to find that it was not raining.
So we arrive at the park to find none of the turnstiles are open but people are going in through the right hand gates. Turns out these are the (half asleep) children going to the character breakfast and we have arrived about 40mins to early so we go and sip complimentary coffee in the foyer of the Disneyland Hotel. Coffee so strong by the way it would keep you awake for the rest of the day. The foyer is beautiful and gloriously decorated (nothing over the top just nice). Though the heating is hot enopugh to make you want to start stripping down to your underwear. When we feel we are going to pass out with the heat we wander back out to the turnstile area to find a queue has started (well 12 people really) and a cast member is preparing to open the turnstiles so we walk straight onto Main Street. Its actually still twilight and the mist gives the whole street an ethereal quality. There is no need to rush up to the plaza. Theres nobody here so we grab maps and stroll up the street taking in the atmosphere. The place is spotless, clean and beautiful. The castle (the best of all the parks) just begs you to take pictures even though the top spire is hidden under the slowly rising mist. We snap of a few pics and hang around the central plaza. The rope drop to frontier land now has the start of a crowd building (8 people), so we wander over to await the zipper di do da music and the multitude of languages telling you not to run. Mickey in the mean time runs up and down Main Street in his car waving away and jumping out to greet the children and adults, suddenly the unique disney trick and magic is starting to really get to work.
The rope drop complete we head straight over to Big Thunder MOuntain and are among the first twelve or so to board. Although this is quite a tame ride I do like the Black tunnel at the beginning you take to get to the Island as it seems faster due to the fake wind blast and is totally black. Climbing around the mountains the view over the lake towards Phantom MAnor is interesting as the fake mist has mixed with the real mist giving a thick fog vista which periodicaly clears giving you tantalising views of the Manor. Ok Ride over we head for Indiana Jones, we dont grab a fast pass for the Big Thunder as its for the next 20mins any way and the queue at the moment is non existent. We get lost trying to find Indiana Jones then eventually find it. Apart from 4 other people riding nobody is here. I Like it , even though its just a simple coaster ride the lovely detail of the temple is nice, and the backwards aspect really messes with your brain especially if your at the back (front) in the loop where you seem to hang for a moment and leave the seat. The cast members are happy to leave us on and ride again (at least I think thats what they said) the beauty of french is if you look at there faces the expression really says it all anyway. The other beauty of french being the girl cast members who have a radiance in there eyes and features, no copy cat hair styles and fake blonds with tans here, just real features expressions and beauty. Fortunately we both speak a little French Jackie better than eye but even if you didn't most seem to have some English skills. Ok 2 rides back to back is all even I can stand on IJ its a little lurchy and has the most unpadded head rests and shoulder harnesses ever and if you weren't wearing a hat would end up with mashed ears after to may rides. Stroll over to Pirates where I miss the cast member pretending to be a statue hanging from a rope but who swings out at Jackie and some children nearly giving all a heart attack. ITs posted that the queue is 10mins but as you enter the queueing area the biggest problem is that it takes 10mins to walk straight to the boat having got lost once in the queueing section. I prefer this version of POC to the US versions in all but one area, Its a little newer and the decor seems more spruce and its very very darker, with no emergency exit signs lit up to spoil the illusion, Its spoilt though I think by the lagoon and the Pirate ship section which isnt big ebough. Your under the Pirate Boat as soon as you come down the shoot and dont get chance to take in the scale. Anyway its still Disney at there best which I cant say for most of the rides in Fantasy Land. The rest of the rides in FL all have queus of 10mins or so except Peter PAn which has a 20min queue.(do families just walk in and clog this ride as a first mission on arriving). I though snow white and Pinnochio to be as bad as there US counterparts for which there is no excuse, they should have been updated. The 2D painted boards in these rides is no better than the cheap ghost trains you used to ride as a kid in the travelling fairground that came to town in sumer. At least Pinnochio has some Animatronic sections to redeem it, and Peter Pans still nice. We road this later having grabbed a FP for an hour or so in front.
I have to say at this point that at no point today have we been rushing anywhere, just gently strolling around, taking the rides as we come to them, we had expected it to be a lot lot busier but apparantly Christmas Eve is always very quite its the next 2 days that can get busy busy busy. WE explore the castle before going to see the dragon then wandering over to Fantasy Land to Space Mountain. We ride this twice in quick succession before our time slot for peter pan comes up, then before going to peter pan grab more FP for SP whilst we are in the window. I love SP the theming, the detail in the ride. The thought and atmosphere of the launch and the music which is timed to every turn and loop and launch. I have two thoughts on seating yourself on this right. The launch is better at the front as you hit the top of the slope whilst still accelerating, at the back your actually slowing down at the top of the slope. The back is better though for the body of the ride, though by back use 11 not 12 (the french are not very strict about forcing you to have a spot) as 11 gives you a clear view rather than the back of someones seat. The back also gives the great view of seeing the rest of the train lglow in the UV lights in front of you so you see it enter the corkscrew etc.
After Peter Pan and another SP it was approaching our first pre booked lunch 12.00 Walts. so we strolled down main street and entered Walts. I was a little apprehensive that they were going to know we were booked in, it turned out they were booked up, as I had made the arrangements direct from England 3 weeks before and hadnt recieved any confirmation No's or anything, so we checked in with the lovely concierge who found my name on her display and escorted us to our table in the Jules Verne room. The food was first class the atmospher wonderful and as the park was now starting to busy up and we had done alot of the main rides we had a beautiful lunch of Crab Cakes and Antipasti to start, Sea Bass on Wild Rice and Langoustines for the Main course, and Creme Brulee and Walts Cheese CAke for dessert, all washed down by a beautifully dry and chilled bottle of Graves Blanc and finished with espresso and petit fours. It was fantastic (as was the bill but its christmas). In all we probably spent over two hours in Walts slowly enjoying ourself and watching the false slow billow down main street. You could see how this was done from the restaurant floor of Walts. Light rigs rise up from the buildings at twenty or thirty yard intervals like something out of thunderbirds and blast strong UV light down on Main Street. THis makes the false foam type snow really glow white and visible no matter what the weather conditions and is extremely effective.
To be continued.
