Trip Report DLP Trip Report: Day 1/3

[scoobysnax]

Had a lonnng day in Paris. Started near CdG airport, made it across the city to Holiday Inn, Noissy le Grand. Dumped luggage and continued to DisneyLand Paris. Kids made it through the barrier at railway station, but adults trapped on other side Nice Military teenager opened barrier to floods of tears from children and major row between parents. Not a good start to what should have been a perfect day at DLP.
Anyway, made it into the park and I apologied to A for being a <deleted> and we all calmed down.
Did Buzz Lightyear laser blast which was intermittently stopping so took a photo of my 99,200 score then lunch at Planet Pizza which is all-you-can-eat pasta and pizza and drinks with a small indoor play area, so parents can relax (and calm down) and kids can come and go to the play area and the table as they please. To be honest the food was VERY average, but the salad and desserts made up for the boring pizza and pasta selection.
We discovered the sleeping dragon under the Castle and got impressed by stained glass windows upstairs in Sleeping Beauty's castle. Rain started so went to get indoors via Pirates of the Carribbean which wasn't as good as 5 yrs ago, but Luka wanted to do it again... maybe tomorrow son. Took Milly to Phantom Manor which is a cool optical illusion leading to a decent animatronic ghost story ride. Spooky and fun. Met A&L and we caught the full parade at 5PM and I went all emotional seeing Luka wave for teh first time at Woody, and a happy beam as he waved back.
Picked up our annual passports and got a Fastpass to do Buzz Lightyear again. We all went on Star Tours which is now showing it's age compared to modern movie experiences. No queue tho, so straight on!
Time for Buzz Lightyear pt 2 and beat my score by hitting the moving targets AND Zurg, so 106,200! Get in

Finished off the day at Annettes Diner for a decent chicken salad for me, and hot dog and nuggets for the kids. A had a burger and loved the idea of Sprite with fresh lemon in it. We shared a humongous chocolate brownie which drew looks of envy from the families on the near tables. The kids plates turned out to be real frisbees, so their coming home with us. Right now the other 3 are sleeping up stairs at teh Holiday Inn and I'm going damn soon too. Phew, bring on day 2

 

[DLPdaft]

ooh so this is an on-the-spot trip report? Lovely !

 

[Ms Poppins]

Great, a live trippie

Lovely moment with your ds waving to Woody and him waving back It makes the whole trip doesn't it

Look forward to more

 

[HappyPanda]

Sounds like you had a nice first day! Glad you didn't let the drama of the station ruin too much of your day!

Looking forward to hearing about your second day!

 

[scoobysnax]

So this had it's highs and lows, it's ups and ddowns too as I write this, it's 0843 of day 3 and Im the only one awake, so that explaiins it all
We decided to start the day be doing the FantasyLand kiddie rides that we didnt get to do on d1 due to the weather. Peter Pan is ALWAYS busy, even at 8PM there was still a 35min wait, so we got FastPasses and headed over to see Its a Small World which Ive read good things about... and its true, although not thrilling its a really well made boat ride through different "worlds" depicyted by animatronic dolls and withh a really cacthy / annoying tune. Remember when Shrek and Donkey arrived in Dulock and they stand in front of teh photo booth while that puppets sing a song? Well thats a p***take of Its a Small World

The queue for the Princess Pavillion was already 90minutes!!! at 1030 in the morning... no way, Jose.


From there we went on the Mad Hatters Tea Cups which L likes and mum doesn't.. and then Peter Pan. Its a dark flying through London and Neverland ride with animatronics,. I don't see the attraction myself, but obviously loads do... ho hum

Day 2 was all about Walt Disney Studios so in the sunshine we headed over and again really liked teh front lot and walk through Studio 1, but the controls for teh lights have been removed?

Walt and Mickey's bronze statue still brings a lump to my throat and I was suprised by the amount of change since 2007. Hollywood Tower of Terror and the terrace are well made and the ride is REALLY good. You go through a deserted hotel into the library where they (I think ascend the room) and show you a cool Twilight Zone TV explanation of the 5 deaths at the hotel in the 1930s. From there you move into the back area of maintenance amongst the pipes and metal work, again really well made, then into the service elevator which then rises infront of a big video twilight zone screen and the DROPS! and then RISEs! and then DROPS! You get the drift... it's reaally good

We explored Toy Story Playland and all rode on Slinky's Spinner Ride and also Radiator Springs car ride. TSP is small and also included a couple of thrill rides like RC Racer and teh Paratrooopers drop which look good but are busy.

We're gettin a bit bored with burgers so the adults had Starbucks and teh kids had McDs from the Village area. Upon returning to WDS, Luka ran off into the font lot and as I put my annual passport into my pocket and frantically tried to find him, I must have dropped it and we didn't find it by the close of play. This is a real bummer as it will cost me 25E to get a replacement and we had to stay in WDS until it closes at 7PM. The sun was shining although we had a short rain storm, but we got on Taj's Carpets Over Agrabah (summat like that) and teh kids had photos taken with the Monsters Inc characters and screamed at the Scream Monitors to get the tank full o' screams

All the cafes were closing by the end of the day so I tried to purchase one of teh 20th Anniversay Lanyards which I like but have only seen on cast members. The manager of the Disney Store told me that they're just for CMs at the moment and go on sale for Guests in May booo.... The Stitch and Star Wars lanyards are just not as nice.

We decided to push on through and stay all night for Disney Dreams, which we have all agreed was a GOOD idea. so we returned to DLP and I went to Guest Relations at 7PM who let me in for free as I showed them my UK passport. We decided to ride PP again, but the queue was still massive, so went to Pinocchio which was fine and just a car ride through animatronics and then Pirates of the Carribean again, which Luka has renamed Pirates of the Cabin. We walked straight on and had a boat of our own. L wanted to do it again? and we said nooooo....

At 830 they close a lot of Fantasyland to get ready for Dreams, so we couldn't get to Snow White and teh 7 Dwarves, and you cant get back to DiscoveryLand through the Castle of course, so you have to go all teh way around past IASW which we did one more time and then through the big back gates which bringss you to the railway station near Star Tours. We started to queue for Autopia, but didnt want to risk missing Dreams, so ducked outta that and got our spot in the Central Plaza.
Dreams started at 10PM and finished by 1020 and had a 10 minute get ready warning. Watch it on youtube as its awesome and I say that lightly. Tears will flow, and jawss will drop I suspect. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RySKmGtNFZQ&noredirect=1

A quick crush to the railway station and we were back in bed by 2330. Phew what a day!

The photos are here https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=9630b4c926d71b47&resid=9630B4C926D71B47!5091&parid=root

 

[Ms Poppins]

Great update

We were gobsmacked at the changes to the Studios too when we hadn't been for a few years.

Sounds like you're having a great time, although how could you say no to a double ride on Priates

 

[scoobysnax]

Day 3
As yu will have read, it was a late start on this final day, so we grabbed pastries from a bakery and made it into the main park for 1130. The plan was for me to get another copy of my Disney Annual Passport and while that was being sorted, for A, M &L to get FastPasses for Peter Pan and maybe do Dumbo. I waited at Guest Relations for an escort Mathieu to take me through the park to the passport office and on the way he explained how cool it was beinng a cast member and how he had to battle to get the job.

The nice lady Nicolette at the passport office struggled to renew my passport as no-one loses it in the park, mostly they're lost at home and they have to renew via mail. But 30 mmins and 25E later and I had a new Fantasy passport for the year.

A rain storm meant that I sat it out in their office watching the Lion King on the TV while the family apparantly caught the Snow White ride just at the right time and stayed dry too

We tried to get Fast Passes for Buzz Lightyear again, but you can only hold 1 at a time?! It used to be 2?! Anyway, that scuppered that, so A&L sat in Videopolis watching non-stop cartoons (no Lion King show ) while M&I walked onto Star Tours again.
After that, they had lunch while I shot off for a FastPass Space Mountain hit This is like the Black Hole in the UK. A dark coaster with double internal loops and twists and really halluceogenic lighting. Very good and nice and screamingly fast.

After ANOTHER rain storm, they used up their Peter Pan Fast Passes and we decided to look at Pirates of the Cabin as it has been christened for the 3rd time, but the queue was huge. No simple walk on this time, sso we diverted and coached Mum onto Phantom Manor. A enjoyed the room stretch but wondered what all the fuss was over teh ghost ride, whereas 5-yr old L LOVED it That turned out to be our final ride at DLP.. :boohoo:

We wanted souveneirs so went shopping down Main Street and at 4PM got our spot in teh sunshine for the parade, becuase the queue for the Disney Train was 45 minutes. Yikes, too close for comfort and I still haven't done that ride.

At 5PM we realised that this time, the parade was comign down Main Street, not out of the gates nnear the Dentists School where we had plonked ourselves. Uh oh, but although we were on teh wrong corner, we still had ringside seats. The parade is basically the same at 2007. Ho hum.

The finale of our trip was character dinner in Inventions inside the Disney Hotel.
Ive never looked or stayed in a Disney Hotel so was pleasantly suprised by the standard of the lobby and main resteraunt areas. There are some beautiful figurines for sale in the shops too, but the cafe drinnk prices are astronommical. 6E for a beer, 15 for a cocktail??!? Yikes.

At 6PM Inventions opened and I had an emotional final dinner with my family, or ex-family whateverwayyouseeit. The characters included Mickey, Goofy, Pluto, Mr Mistophelese and Chip n Dale. They all spent quality time with each table and M got autographs and hugs from all. Even Luka joined in and kind of fell in love with Mickey by the end.
Our server was attentive and we chose a bottle of 20th Anniversary Rose to accompany the all-you-can-eat buffet
The food was realy top-notch, and for 60E you would expect it to be. There wass a big variety of salads, starters, sea-fish, mains and desserts and fruit and cheese too. I pigged out, but I'm afraid that I think the emotion got to M and I and we had a Daddy and Daughter moment hugggggg.

We left tired and happy at 8PM... a few tears were shed tonight, but it's been a beautiful way to spend what-I-see-as my final 3 days as a family. x

 

[Ware Bears]

We always laugh at the Shrek film too!

Shame about losing your AP but glad to read another positive review of Dreams.

 

[Ware Bears]

Great, a live trippie

A live trippie that I'm reading over 2 months later but better late than never, eh?

I think TOT and its surrounds have been really well designed too.

 

[Ware Bears]

Glad you got your AP replaced but it was rather expensive. I'm sure it only used to be a fiver.

We tried to get Fast Passes for Buzz Lightyear again, but you can only hold 1 at a time?! It used to be 2?!

You used to be able to hold one fastpass at a time for every eligible ride but they changed this a few years ago (think it was 2008?) and to be honest it's much fairer now as beforehand all the fastpasses were gone by lunchtime.