Dimplenose
Stranger from the outside
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2002
- Messages
- 5,956
Disneyland Paris - Brilliant
Day 2
We got up at about 8am. We had an allocated time for breakfast at 8:40am as both parks were opening at 10am it fitted in very well. For the first time I noticed a lot of business people, women in their 20s mainly, in the hotel. They weren't a bother but they did seem rather out of place amongst all the families.
Breakfast
Breakfast was very good. There was a selection of croissants and other breads, cheese, ham, cereals, fruit, yoghurt etc., etc. You could buy an American breakfast but we had plenty with the continental provided. The girls were rather taken with the plastic spoons with the Mickey and friends heads on them and the fruit sweeties (rather too many of these were taken!!!!)
One thing I had intended to buy during our trip was a pink lanyard I'd regretted not buying at WDW but I hadn't seen any the day before. I saw a little girl wearing one but it turned out she'd bought it in Florida.
After breakfast we passed through the lobby and noticed Smee was posing for photos. My daughter had her picture taken as he is a family favourite. We then went up to our room to get ready to go out.
Studios
It was a lovely sunny day so we left our thick coats at the hotel and wore fleeces and kagoules. We made our way out of the hotel with the intention of walking to the parks when a little train (think of a seafront land train) pulled up. Once again our timing was perfect. We hopped on the train (2 euros per adult the children were free) and were dropped off just outside the Rainforest café in the Disney Village.
We wanted to visit the Studios first. We didn't want to spend much time there but wanted to see it. I thought it was lovely and fresh but there was very little atmosphere as it was so empty.
We made our way to the Alladin ride first. On the way there we passed Mickey outside his caravan. My little girl rushed over for a hug and much to our surprise my friend's daughter followed and met her first character aaaah!
We then went on the Magic Carpets. There was no queue at all and the CM was letting guests stay on for a second ride if they wanted to. We all got onto the same carpet with the girls controlling the height and the mums controlling the tilt. It was getting very cold now and I was relieved to find that there were no spitting camels. We stayed on and had two rides.
When we got off we started to look for somewhere to get a drink. Unfortunately the places we wanted to go to were shut as it was low (very very low) season. We ended up in Café des Cascadeurs which seemed just like a set from Happy Days - very nicely done. We had all had drinks while we planned the rest of the day. We were going to do the Studio Tram Tour next.
This was the only place I met a rude guest. The queuing everywhere was non-existent but I expected that, but here there was one very large French family who thought they had the divine right to the seats they wanted even if it meant separating us from our children. Anyway we stood our ground and kept the girls with us, the father, as he moved seat swore at me in English.
Apart from that we really enjoyed this ride. I'd done the Backlot tour at MGM but there was no gas supply that day due to lightning hitting the main Florida gas pipe so we saw Catastrophe Canyon without the flames and last year the tram tour was closed so I really enjoyed seeing this spectacle in its entirety. It was rather nice having the film commentary and seeing clips of where the props were used. As we got off we noticed that the queue for the German and Dutch commentary tram was practically empty and it might be a good idea to ride that tram if we did it again.
My friend's little girl (6) was very scared of the tram ride and the effects so we let her choose the next ride. So we went back to the Alladin ride. This time we had to wait about 5 minutes for a ride, then we had to wait one more turn as no carpets were free because one family of 3 had chosen to sit in 3 different carpets. It didn't matter as we didn't have to wait long.
We were now getting hungry. The girls wanted to go back to Disneyland Park. We knew we were missing things at the Studios but as we were there for such a short time we'd have to miss something anyway so we let the girls lead.
Lunch and Disneyland
Again we were limited for lunch as many restaurants were closed for the day.
We had lunch at Au Chateau de la Marionnette in Fantasy land. Here I met the only grumpy CM of the trip. I think he was a manager who had been put on a till as it became unexpectedly busy. I ended up with the wrong order as he had no patience with my pidgin French. Still it was edible and refuelled us for the afternoon.
We visited La Confiserie des Trios Fees as my friend had been told that you can see the fairies in the fireplace. Well we had trouble finding the fireplace let alone any fairies but as we didn't know what we were looking for we gave up and came out.
We went on It's a Small World. I thought this was rather jaded at WDW but here it was fresh and quite sweet. The multilingual song helped make this more enjoyable. When we got to the end the girls asked if we could stay on and the CM let us.
There were quite a few fantasyland rides closed for the winter but we still managed to fit in a few other rides before we started to feel very cold. We had a ride on the railroad. We did a complete circuit of the park and then stayed on until we got back to main street. I must say that I didn't like the bit with the stuffed animals - some cute animatronics would have been much nicer.
We bought a huge candyfloss for each girl (which we helped them eat) and made our way back to get a bus to the hotel.
Evening
We added extra layers and a coat each. (I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, cardigan, fleece and coat as well as hat scarf and gloves!) We were much happier now we were warm. We walked back to the parks.
By this time I'd managed to bribe my daughter (9) with a flashing whirly thing if she'd ride Pirates of the Caribbean. So she did it twice while the adults took it in turns to look after my friend's daughter. I quite enjoyed it but I can't see why the Americans rave about it. It turned out that my friend's daughter didn't like the drops which my friend had forgotten about. Anyway now we had to buy the whirly thing - it had to be Minnie so it took a bit of looking for but we found one just as we were leaving the shop.
It was getting quite late now and the girls were hungry again. They both wanted pizza so we ended up at Colonel Haithi's where we'd eaten the night before. The girls were happy and we didn't mind pizza again. This time we sat where we could see the toucans in the tree.
After tea my daughter asked to ride Thunder mountain in the dark and my friend's daughter wanted to ride Dumbo so we split up and agreed to meet up by the Dumbo ride.
Thunder Mountain in the dark is excellent, it really adds to the fun. We wandered through the shop opposite and then back to Fantasyland to find our friends. They were just having a second ride on Dumbo so we waited.
We then managed rides on Peter Pan and Pinnochio but unfortunately we were too late for Snow White which had closed for the night. We ended our day with a ride on the carousel. Once again we had the park to ourselves. We sat on the horses and the castle started to twinkle. Every so often we caught a glimpse through the castle of the floats of the electrical parade. Magical.
We made our way slowly out of the park stopping to look at the window in the castle that changed from a picture of a rose to doves and back. We walked through the shops of main street (to keep warm) and out of the park to the Village.
It was much busier this evening as it was a Friday night. The girls had more popcorn and then we watched people having a go on a bucking buffalo. As we walked back by the lake to the hotel we saw lots of people (probably from a convention) walking towards the Village.
We had an early breakfast booked at Fantasyland the next morning so we tried to turn in early and set the alarm for 7am - ugh!
Libby
Day 2
We got up at about 8am. We had an allocated time for breakfast at 8:40am as both parks were opening at 10am it fitted in very well. For the first time I noticed a lot of business people, women in their 20s mainly, in the hotel. They weren't a bother but they did seem rather out of place amongst all the families.
Breakfast
Breakfast was very good. There was a selection of croissants and other breads, cheese, ham, cereals, fruit, yoghurt etc., etc. You could buy an American breakfast but we had plenty with the continental provided. The girls were rather taken with the plastic spoons with the Mickey and friends heads on them and the fruit sweeties (rather too many of these were taken!!!!)
One thing I had intended to buy during our trip was a pink lanyard I'd regretted not buying at WDW but I hadn't seen any the day before. I saw a little girl wearing one but it turned out she'd bought it in Florida.
After breakfast we passed through the lobby and noticed Smee was posing for photos. My daughter had her picture taken as he is a family favourite. We then went up to our room to get ready to go out.
Studios
It was a lovely sunny day so we left our thick coats at the hotel and wore fleeces and kagoules. We made our way out of the hotel with the intention of walking to the parks when a little train (think of a seafront land train) pulled up. Once again our timing was perfect. We hopped on the train (2 euros per adult the children were free) and were dropped off just outside the Rainforest café in the Disney Village.
We wanted to visit the Studios first. We didn't want to spend much time there but wanted to see it. I thought it was lovely and fresh but there was very little atmosphere as it was so empty.
We made our way to the Alladin ride first. On the way there we passed Mickey outside his caravan. My little girl rushed over for a hug and much to our surprise my friend's daughter followed and met her first character aaaah!
We then went on the Magic Carpets. There was no queue at all and the CM was letting guests stay on for a second ride if they wanted to. We all got onto the same carpet with the girls controlling the height and the mums controlling the tilt. It was getting very cold now and I was relieved to find that there were no spitting camels. We stayed on and had two rides.
When we got off we started to look for somewhere to get a drink. Unfortunately the places we wanted to go to were shut as it was low (very very low) season. We ended up in Café des Cascadeurs which seemed just like a set from Happy Days - very nicely done. We had all had drinks while we planned the rest of the day. We were going to do the Studio Tram Tour next.
This was the only place I met a rude guest. The queuing everywhere was non-existent but I expected that, but here there was one very large French family who thought they had the divine right to the seats they wanted even if it meant separating us from our children. Anyway we stood our ground and kept the girls with us, the father, as he moved seat swore at me in English.
Apart from that we really enjoyed this ride. I'd done the Backlot tour at MGM but there was no gas supply that day due to lightning hitting the main Florida gas pipe so we saw Catastrophe Canyon without the flames and last year the tram tour was closed so I really enjoyed seeing this spectacle in its entirety. It was rather nice having the film commentary and seeing clips of where the props were used. As we got off we noticed that the queue for the German and Dutch commentary tram was practically empty and it might be a good idea to ride that tram if we did it again.
My friend's little girl (6) was very scared of the tram ride and the effects so we let her choose the next ride. So we went back to the Alladin ride. This time we had to wait about 5 minutes for a ride, then we had to wait one more turn as no carpets were free because one family of 3 had chosen to sit in 3 different carpets. It didn't matter as we didn't have to wait long.
We were now getting hungry. The girls wanted to go back to Disneyland Park. We knew we were missing things at the Studios but as we were there for such a short time we'd have to miss something anyway so we let the girls lead.
Lunch and Disneyland
Again we were limited for lunch as many restaurants were closed for the day.
We had lunch at Au Chateau de la Marionnette in Fantasy land. Here I met the only grumpy CM of the trip. I think he was a manager who had been put on a till as it became unexpectedly busy. I ended up with the wrong order as he had no patience with my pidgin French. Still it was edible and refuelled us for the afternoon.
We visited La Confiserie des Trios Fees as my friend had been told that you can see the fairies in the fireplace. Well we had trouble finding the fireplace let alone any fairies but as we didn't know what we were looking for we gave up and came out.
We went on It's a Small World. I thought this was rather jaded at WDW but here it was fresh and quite sweet. The multilingual song helped make this more enjoyable. When we got to the end the girls asked if we could stay on and the CM let us.
There were quite a few fantasyland rides closed for the winter but we still managed to fit in a few other rides before we started to feel very cold. We had a ride on the railroad. We did a complete circuit of the park and then stayed on until we got back to main street. I must say that I didn't like the bit with the stuffed animals - some cute animatronics would have been much nicer.
We bought a huge candyfloss for each girl (which we helped them eat) and made our way back to get a bus to the hotel.
Evening
We added extra layers and a coat each. (I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, cardigan, fleece and coat as well as hat scarf and gloves!) We were much happier now we were warm. We walked back to the parks.
By this time I'd managed to bribe my daughter (9) with a flashing whirly thing if she'd ride Pirates of the Caribbean. So she did it twice while the adults took it in turns to look after my friend's daughter. I quite enjoyed it but I can't see why the Americans rave about it. It turned out that my friend's daughter didn't like the drops which my friend had forgotten about. Anyway now we had to buy the whirly thing - it had to be Minnie so it took a bit of looking for but we found one just as we were leaving the shop.
It was getting quite late now and the girls were hungry again. They both wanted pizza so we ended up at Colonel Haithi's where we'd eaten the night before. The girls were happy and we didn't mind pizza again. This time we sat where we could see the toucans in the tree.
After tea my daughter asked to ride Thunder mountain in the dark and my friend's daughter wanted to ride Dumbo so we split up and agreed to meet up by the Dumbo ride.
Thunder Mountain in the dark is excellent, it really adds to the fun. We wandered through the shop opposite and then back to Fantasyland to find our friends. They were just having a second ride on Dumbo so we waited.
We then managed rides on Peter Pan and Pinnochio but unfortunately we were too late for Snow White which had closed for the night. We ended our day with a ride on the carousel. Once again we had the park to ourselves. We sat on the horses and the castle started to twinkle. Every so often we caught a glimpse through the castle of the floats of the electrical parade. Magical.
We made our way slowly out of the park stopping to look at the window in the castle that changed from a picture of a rose to doves and back. We walked through the shops of main street (to keep warm) and out of the park to the Village.
It was much busier this evening as it was a Friday night. The girls had more popcorn and then we watched people having a go on a bucking buffalo. As we walked back by the lake to the hotel we saw lots of people (probably from a convention) walking towards the Village.
We had an early breakfast booked at Fantasyland the next morning so we tried to turn in early and set the alarm for 7am - ugh!
Libby
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