Disney-crazed couple do the 20th Anniv PTR - now with photos

[MelanieRavenswood]

Ok so here goes - my first ever PTR! Eeek!

Cast:

Me, 27, huuuge Disney fan - especially the classics. Never went to a Disney park as a child so trying my very best to make up for it now! Favourite characters are Minnie, Donald, Belle, Aurora, Dopey, Mike Wazowski...I could go on but I'll stop there for now.

DBF, 29, old hand at Disney - has been to WDW (unlike me) as well as DLRP. Favourite characters are Prince John, Dory, Donald, Ariel and Mickey of course!

Details:

Staying at HNY from 13th-16th May to celebrate the 20th Anniversary! We've only ever stayed at the Santa Fe and Cheyenne before, but seeing as we haven't been to Disney in such a long while, we've decided to push the boat out and go for the HNY. We've also treated ourselves to a Eurostar upgrade - oooOOOOOooo - only because when we booked the price difference was teeny (in for a penny!). This trip feels like a real treat and we're so excited already. We actually both hardly slept last night we were up planning!

Our first trip to Disneyland Paris together was for the 15th Anniversary so it feels a bit crazy that we're already on the 20th but so excited to see the new parade and night time show. I have never seen a night show at Disney apart from Fantillusion (we normally go waaay out of season) so it will be a big thing for me!

Plans so far:

Haven't gotten around to thinking about what we might do on specific days yet but here is a list of the things we want to make sure we cover in this trip.

- Dinner at Annettes (we used to really stick to eating in the parks rather than the village so we've only done this once before and can't WAIT to try it again!)

- Stitch Live (this will be our 6th trip and we have never tried it yet!)

- I'm hoping to pluck up the courage to try TOT and RC Racer this trip - Done all the other rides in the park but I've chickened out of these two in previous trips and may well do on this one but I'm going to try and gee myself up for them both! (words of encouragement welcome!)

- California Grill and a cocktail (first ever glowtini maybe?) at Fantasia bar (can you believe despite all of our previous visits we've never even set foot in the DLH??)

- Add to my collection of Minnie beanies (my collection currently stands at one Minnie beanie a lovely halloween one! I need more!)

- Stock up on 20th anniv souvenirs! Particularly got my eye on the plates and glasses!

- Try Agrabah Cafe

- Buy more ride photos - we've got a funny one on Pirates which I've posted below - I want more and am keen to try and buy one of those photo voucher packs from the DLH shop if they still do them - anyone know?

Traditions:

We have a few Disney traditions that we hope to stick to for this trip.

- Make a Casey's Corner hot dog geant (with cheese!) our first meal of the trip

- Get a snowglobe (any good ones available at the moment?)

- Ride at the very back of Big Thunder Mountain at least once

- Daily churros!

- Hang back when everyone gets out of the lift in Phantom Manor so it feels like it's just us in there

- Ride a full circuit of the Disney Railroad

- Eat on the beach at Blue Lagoon


...I think that's it for now. I'm new at this but will try my best to keep it interesting for you.

 

[HappyPanda]

I love all of your traditions! It's funny how everyone always has their own little traditions to do in DLP!

Looking forward to hearing all about your plans -don't blame you for being so excited!

 

[MelanieRavenswood]

Haha yes - traditions are great and always form a good base when we're planning our trips. Gives us a starting point.

I've started to try and plan our meals out but there are just too many restaurants to fit into four days!! I think we're going to have to start inventing new meals for inbetween the regular ones

I've enjoyed reading your recent trip report btw Happy Panda - your daughter is just gorgeous. Looks like a wonderful trip!

 

[DLPDreams]

Sounds good to me - I can sense your excitement from your pre TR (which great as it is what it is all about ).

Love the photos btw - very funny .

I can't believe you have never been in the DLH on your visits - you have missed something and must go on this trip (even if just to visit the lobby and the shop!). Having said that, on our previous visits we have stayed at the DLH and never set foot in any other Disney hotels. So, I can't talk . But in my defence, the hotels are all the 'other way' to the Parks and past the Village when coming from the DLH .

We are staying in the HNY for the first time during our June trip. I am looking forward to the change but do keep thinking about sneakily upgrading to the DLH. I sway from upgrading to wanting to try something new . HNY looks a great hotel and having been to the real NY, I'd like to try it for the theming.

Looking forward to hearing more about your trip as you go along. If you are like me, I end up buying so much Disney stuff to take before I even get there (but I have two young girls so have been stocking up for them ).

Oh, and don't forget there are apparently going to be special 'Dreams & Dinner' packages released after 1st April. Where you can have your dinner then access to special viewing area for Dreams. Not much else to go on right now, but keep watching as I'm sure as soon as info is available, it will be posted here .

 

[MelanieRavenswood]

Glad you like the photos

V envious of all your DLH visits! We'd love to give it a go but the deal was sooo good with Hotel NY when we booked we thought we'd take it one step at a time

Hopefully next trip we might be able to save enough pennies to test drive the DLH and we're DEFINITELY going to pop in this time - I know, I can't believe we've never even had a nose in there either - I don't even have a decent excuse it's just never crossed our minds on previous trips for some wierd reason!

Like you, booking a holiday for me means buying lots of new clothes and stuff to take (my poor credit card!)! No Disney accessories yet though...but I'm browsing significantly on Ebay and the Disney Store when I have time and have ordered a new spring/summer coat in the sales to take (but it's not very Disney themed ). Like the idea of getting Disney passport covers maybe and have my eye out for a nice Minnie tote bag!

Great to hear about the Dreams package - I hadn't realised they would be doing that! I'll keep my eye out for more info - yet more dining ideas to take into account. They're going to have to roll me home

 

[tinkerbells mum]

hope you get your glowtini!! we went last month and it was the first time i'd been in to the DLH in 5 trips!! it was lovley in there and the morning meet and greets are birlliant. have fun planing xx

 

[loladelorean]

Great PTR! You guys look like you have great fun in DLP
I'm looking forward to your trippie already

 

[Ms Poppins]

Great ptr

I love that pic of you on Pirates

HNY is my favourite hotel, so I think you've made a good choice We had been a few times before we realised we'd be 'allowed' to pop into the DLH for a nosey about. For some strange reason I thought we wouldn't be allowed in Once you're in the lobby, take the stairs up to the next level and follow the signs for the restaurants. This takes you along a beautiful corridor where the hotel shop is too. It really is well worth a look

I love your traditions too - I think we all must have them.

Happy planning

 

[MelanieRavenswood]

hope you get your glowtini!! we went last month and it was the first time i'd been in to the DLH in 5 trips!! it was lovley in there and the morning meet and greets are birlliant. have fun planing xx

Thanks tinkerbells mum! I hope I get several

Can't wait for my first ever snoop inside the DLH!!

 

[MelanieRavenswood]

Great PTR! You guys look like you have great fun in DLP
I'm looking forward to your trippie already

Thanks loladelorean! We do indeed have much fun and let our inner child run wild!!

I love your TRs so will definitely be revisiting them for inspiration

 

[MelanieRavenswood]

Great ptr

I love that pic of you on Pirates

HNY is my favourite hotel, so I think you've made a good choice We had been a few times before we realised we'd be 'allowed' to pop into the DLH for a nosey about. For some strange reason I thought we wouldn't be allowed in Once you're in the lobby, take the stairs up to the next level and follow the signs for the restaurants. This takes you along a beautiful corridor where the hotel shop is too. It really is well worth a look

I love your traditions too - I think we all must have them.

Happy planning

Thanks Julie! Glad you like our pirates pic - the CMs were all laughing as well when they were printing it for us

You were a massive help with all my q's about HNY so thank you so much for that!

Re DLH - I think we thought the same for the first few trips! Great tip about where to head once in there. Will definitely be following your advice on that one!

 

[Ms Poppins]

Thanks Julie! Glad you like our pirates pic - the CMs were all laughing as well when they were printing it for us

You were a massive help with all my q's about HNY so thank you so much for that!

Re DLH - I think we thought the same for the first few trips! Great tip about where to head once in there. Will definitely be following your advice on that one!

Thanks - just hope you like it. I'm beginning to worry that not everyone will be as happy there as we are - I've already got nightmares about DLP Dreams not liking it

 

[MelanieRavenswood]

Thanks - just hope you like it. I'm beginning to worry that not everyone will be as happy there as we are - I've already got nightmares about DLP Dreams not liking it

Haha! We're just excited to be trying somewhere new. At the time we booked with the 40% discount it would have been pretty much the same price to stay at the Santa Fe or Cheyenne anyway. And we're closer to the parks!! Hooray

We love the theming of the Cheyenne but last time we stayed there I felt a little bit cramped in the room of an evening - I think due to the bunk beds which were quite imposing in the room we had been allocated (although very useful storage space for suitcases! . Will be really interesting to see how HNY compares!

 

[Kittina]

That's exactly how I felt about the Cheyenne! Everyone loves it but I just hated it. I couldn't figure out why for ages, the room just didn't quite sit right with me and now I realise it was because it was cramped and bunk beds made it seem even smaller. I didn't get this feeling from Sequoia/NPB or HNY so i'm glad we are going Sequoia in June.

I love your PTR the pic is great! Hope you have a lovely time. we went in that time last year and the weather was amazing!

Love your traditions, ours is to have our last meal at lunchtime (usually the friday) at Inventions with a bottle of wine and a cocktail in Fantasia bar, perfect end to the trip!

 

[MelanieRavenswood]

That's exactly how I felt about the Cheyenne! Everyone loves it but I just hated it. I couldn't figure out why for ages, the room just didn't quite sit right with me and now I realise it was because it was cramped and bunk beds made it seem even smaller. I didn't get this feeling from Sequoia/NPB or HNY so i'm glad we are going Sequoia in June.

I love your PTR the pic is great! Hope you have a lovely time. we went in that time last year and the weather was amazing!

Love your traditions, ours is to have our last meal at lunchtime (usually the friday) at Inventions with a bottle of wine and a cocktail in Fantasia bar, perfect end to the trip!

Oh interesting to know it's not just me! Although its strange, I don't remember feeling like that the first time we stayed there, although maybe because it was a new experience I was looking at it differently. Who knows!

Nice to know you had good weather in May - I always have packing dilemmas with Disney trips and end up taking clothes for every eventuality (and then never using most of them, which is bad as it means less space for souvenirs in my case!! )

Like your tradition...maybe will have to start a similar one of my own involving a lunchtime bottle of wine to numb the pain of leaving the park

 

[MelanieRavenswood]

I notice that no-one has given me any words of encouragement for braving TOT this time round Is it as bad as I'm thinking it might be?

Been on a small freefall drop ride at the London Dungeon that I didn't like very much but we had shoulder restraints and there aren't any on TOT so I was wondering if it was more of a tame freefall drop (yeah right, because there's such a thing as a tame freefall drop )

It bugs me that this is the one ride I've actually chosen not to do. I feel like I want to tick it off the list but at the same time, feeling a bit wussy about it!

 

[Kittina]

Unfortunately you will get no words of encouragement from me. Tried Detonator at Thorpe park and it was horrendous experience. never again, though I think TOT may be a little tamer. I watched a youtube video of a guy who didnt put the seat belt on in the WDW TOT and he flew straight out of his seat! i'm not helping am i..

Am going to try and *brave* the parachute drop in TSPL this time... have you tried it? does it make your tummy flip a lot? I'm such a wuss...

 

[Ms Poppins]

I'd say that the HNY is about double the size of the rooms at Cheyenne. The beds are bigger than an average double and are well spaced. There is also a desk and chair and a smaller table and comfortable chair. The bathroom is bigger too with double sinks. You'll also have hairdryer, electronic safe and large wardrobes. I go the week before you (looking at your ticker) so if you want to know anything specific, let me know and I'll report back

Sorry, but I can't give any encouragement on TOT either I love the fast roller coasters, but for some reason I couldn't work out if we were going up or down on TOT, and I honestly felt it really hard to catch my breath. I was shaking when I came off My DH however, who absolutely hates all the coasters loves this, and is probably his favourite ride now

The parachutes were fine, I thought. Very gentle. But I'm not frightened by heights or anything. I don't remember my tummy flipping and my ds, (who was 6 at the time and would not do btm) loved it

 

[RoseBug]

Tower of Terror isn't scary in the slightest, I was actually really disappointed! :-(

However - considering I did this and then ran straight back on for a second go, I may not be the person to listen to :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Shot_(ride)

 

[DLPDreams]

We loved the ToT but happy to do most rides . Having said that, we had a bit of an experience last time where the ride abruptly stopped 15 m or so from the floor and stuck! We were stuck there for about 15 mins until a maintenance guy came, tinkered about for 10 mins or so and eventually got us off! I thought they were going to have to get a ladder to let us down . I'm probably not helping your fear though..... Honestly, it is a great ride and worth doing once at least!

Ms Poppins - had to laugh at your comment re me not liking the HNY and blaming you for recommending it Don't worry, I won't blame you at all (well, not much - I'm only joking!!!) . I'm sure we will it! It's Disney after all!