Doing Disney, Like A Boss - **COMPLETE**

[LoodlesNoodles]

Day 1

Laura and Nat stayed round my house on the Monday night ready for our early departure for Luton in the morning. We got up at around 3 and were out of the door and on the motorway by 3.30. Checked in and were through security and eating breakfast at Pret by 4.30
Flight was short, barely seemed worth flight attendants trying to flog anything at us.
Landed a bit early and our cases were some of the first to come out.
Because we were a little early we had to wait about five minutes for our driver, but even he arrived earlier than stated. He was really nice, took our bags for us and led us to his car. Traffic was horrendous! Took a good hour and fifteen minutes to get from CDG to get off of the motorway.

We finally arrived at close to 10am at HNY, all of us buzzing with excitement but all rather drowsy. We were a bit confused when the bellboy took our bags there and then. I thought they were going to bring them out the other side, it was a lot warmer than expected and wanted to put my hoody away, but no bother. We checked in and our room wasn't ready yet so we got our park tickets and were on our way! We headed straight for the studios, and first port of call was to purchase ears! We spent a good 15 minutes all trying them on and I finally decided on Minnie ears (classic),

Nat decided on sorcerer Mickey ears

and Laura decided on Marie ears.

After purchasing said ears decided that Rock n Rollercoaster was the way to go to for our first ride to get a bit quick adrenaline rush. It was fun, as usual. But none of speakers were working, which was very disappointing. The ride certainly lacking somewhat without the music.

We headed round to Toy Story Playland next to check that area out

It was all very well themed, and I enjoyed the scale of everything. Our first ride here was the parachute drop

Loved the graphics used for the instruction video! After a short wait (about 20 minutes) it was our turn, and we all loved it! It wasn't at all what I was expecting and we had a great view from the top. Somewhat relaxing.
Next was Slinky Dog, the queue theming was fun! Slinky's box which has a board game on the inside reminiscent of Snakes & Ladders. The ride reminded me of the ladybird ride at Wickstead.

Next on the plan was Tower of Terror and our longest wait at about 20 minutes. Nat was a bit nervous about going on this so we held her hands and laughed at her screaming, but she loved it! Yay! A quick look through the Hollywood Tower gift shop and we decided lunch was to be next. Off to Annette's!
We were seated straight away and had some fun dancing whilst sitting down.

I had the Bacon Chilli Cheeseburger

, Nat had The "Green-Piece" Veggie Burger, and Laura had the Avocado Verde Burger. We ate our fill in Annette's and headed off to the main park. Whilst there I decided to call in to City Hall to try and get our meals sorted, as I didn't manage to get through on the phone to book Cafe Mickey. It was fully booked for Weds evening, which was when I was hoping to go. So we had a jiggle around and ended up booking Cafe Mickey for lunch on our last day and brought Blue Lagoon to Weds evening. Which was fine with us, as long as we ate in those places.

The castle literally took my breath away with it's beauty.

I have so many castle photos.
A walk through Fantasyland and headed through to Adventureland for our first ride on Pirates! It was a bit of a shock to see the ship with scaffolding, even though I knew it would be up. But I'm glad they're sprucing her up. She definitely needs it.
After pirates we headed over to BTM to see a queue of over an hour
We decided to grab fast passes for later and headed round to Phantom Manor, saw that the Molly Brown was just about to come in so hopped onto this first.

After the relaxing ride on the Molly Brown we carried on round to Phantom Manor, which was showing a 10 minute wait. We waited about 25 minutes before deciding we were too tired to wait any loner and headed back to HNY to get our room and relax a bit. Our room was lovely. We were in room 2244, which had a lake view! If you opened the window and stuck your head out to the left a bit and squinted through the trees, but still!! I could not have been happier.
We soothed our feet a bit and Nat had a nap

After resting up a bit we headed back out at around 6.15 as we were planning on watching Mickey's Magical Moments Celebration at 7. We grabbed our cheesey hot dogs from Caseys and got comfortable

We then found out that the show had been cancelled, which was disappointing as I had been looking forward to the show (mostly because of Merlin!)

we shrugged it off and headed off to do some rides! First was another ride on Pirates, then Indy, as Nat loves those movies.
And then headed round to use our BTM fastpasses. We sat at the very front and as usual we all loved it.
It was now park closing and we were herded towards main street.
A quick poke in the shops and we headed out towards the Disney Village shops. A few pins were purchased and a few other items were logged ready for purchasing in the next few days.

Back to the hotel and collapse into bed after a long but incredibly fun filled day.

 

[DLPdaft]

you did loads on your first day , I'm impressed!

 

[loladelorean]

A great first day for you guys too! Totally agree about RnRC, we were ragin when the music was off grrrr
You didn't miss much with the mickey show thing, I'll have a moan about that in the next day of my TR
Looking forward to seeing what you did for the rest of your trip since we were there at the same time, strange isnt it?!
I miss it so much, can't believe its been a week already

 

[Kazzabelle]

What a lovely 1st day The castle is looking stunning

looking forward to reading more

 

[Ms Poppins]

Lovely first day You seemed to do loads. How strange music not being on RNR - that's the whole point of the ride

Looking forward to more

 

[kizzabel]

Great 1st day.
Ye got loads done! Pity about the Hub show. Havent seen it yet but kinda liked the look of it on youtube.
Looking forward to Day 2

 

[jothp]

What a great first day. Looking forward to reading more

 

[tennisfan]

A busy 1st day, look forward to the rest

 

[LoodlesNoodles]

Day 2
We woke around 6.30 and were down at breakfast not long after 7 where we were delighted to find a much smaller, calmer atmosphere with hot items!
Nat had never had a croissant before so this was rectified very soon! She said it was enjoyable but not as amazing as she had expected..
We ate loads at breakfast and finally lifted our full bodies from the parkside diner and headed towards the park for EMH where the fun really started...

First stop, excalibur where we found that none of us were destined to be the next king of England, no matter how hard we pulled that sword from the stone.

Then it was time to get our calvery together for a ride on the Carousel, Laura named her horse Sir Eric of Ericonia. I named mine Cedric, for he was regal. And Nat named hers...Wobbles. Because he looks like a Wobbles.

Next up was the Tea Cups, which was brilliant fun! I love the tea cups and I really hope I get to ride them in the dark one day with all the lanterns lit up and pretty...

Next was another first for me...Dumbo! This was a lot more fun than I had expected and had great fun making my flying elephant go up and down. I essentially turned into a five year old for this ride!

Next up was one of my favourites, It's A Small World.

Next was Laura's favourite, Peter Pan. Though we were disappointed that London was not as well lit as usual.

And for our final EMH ride of the day, Star Tours, our ride attendant was training someone who seemed like it was their very first day talking to guests and was very nervous and didn't really know what to say. Ride was as enjoyable as ever. Except for all the flash photography. Annoying.

We then skipped over to the Studios where our plan was to go straight for Crush, but timing issues over in Star Tours meant we missed opening by about 5 minutes, meaning the queue for Crush was already over an hour!
We decided to come back later and headed round for Rock n RollerCoaster where we bumped into Daisy! She was fairly quiet and I love Daisy so we decided to wait to meet her. She chose my friend fairly early and not long after a cast member came up to her with a load of kids so I waited and let the kids go ahead. More kids came, I let them go ahead. Some adults came and pushed in front of the kids, I let the kids go ahead. Daisy then noticed me waiting really patiently and wanting to meet her so she picked me out of the crowd, gave me a massive hug and posed for our picture and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I was rather ecstatic.

We then went on RnR, which we had to wait for for approx 15 minutes. But it was worth it cause we had sound!!! We sang along to Dude Looks Like A Lady and showed Nat how awesome RnR is when there is sound on that glorious ride!

We popped over for a quick stay in the Hollywood Tower Hotel and boy did we enjoy our stay! Again, we had someone training who didn't really know what to say and didn't really have the creepy factor down just yet. But the drop sequence was great. We all bought the photo and had it sent back to our hotel for pick up later (why have I never used this service before?!)

When we came out we decided to make our way over to Crush to see the time when we saw that Sully was out, Nat had had her heart set on meeting him so we rushed over there only to be pushed out of the way by a million families. I felt rather sorry for Sully as he was being mobbed from all sides and people getting closer and closer. Families posing for photos with strangers also posing for theirs in. Whilst the attendant handed out stickers. In the end we gave up as it was just too much to be pushed out of the way by everyone and unlike Daisy I don't think Sully could see the crowd as well to control it.
So we headed over to Crush and waited in line for approx 45 mins. Which of course is well worth the wait. I wish we could have rode this more than once, but alas this was to be the only ride of the trip.

After Crush we decided we were all quite peckish and headed out of the parks and decided we'd all like to try Earl of Sandwich. I had Cannonballs! Laura had The Earl's Club and Nat had the Hawaiian BBQ, we all enjoyed our sandwiches however I was disappointed that we could not sit upstairs, it was 1.30 and they hadn't set the upstairs up for lunch yet! We were lucky to get a table otherwise we would have had takeaway and took it back to our hotel.
It was good, but drink prices were rather frightening!

We then went back to our hotel for a break and rest our feet before heading back out. Where we spotted Scrooge McDuck wandering through Fantasyland, excited by the prospect of seeing such an unusual character we followed him only to be disappointed that he was heading out of the park. However this is where we stumbled upon Le Pays des Contes de fees, which was too cute.
Though considering it's been closed for so long it desperately needs some maintenance! Otherwise it's an excellent ride, though the CM on the dock was getting rather stressed at not being able to speak the same language as approx 80% of guests there so guests were just trying to sit where they felt like sitting. She was very nice to us and thought we were French and swore in English about the people in front of us. First time I'd ever heard such a thing. But to be honest, I can't really blame her. She was very stressed and guests were trying to stand up in moving boats and not listening/understanding. Even so we had a great boat ride and waved to the people on Casey Jr.


We then decided that why the hell not and went on Casey Jr too! This was so much fun! I loved everything about this ride! And from when we were queuing to probably just the other day I've been singing the Casey Jr song.

After this we wandered round to Frontierland, but on the way we ran into this scary villain who was making all the children rather nervous!

We were just in time to use the facilities and head over to the Chaparrel Theatre to catch the Tarzan show, which we all thought was incredibly good, however none of us particularly enjoyed the bit where Turk came out to sing that song. And it all seemed a bit anticlimactic.

We then headed round to Phantom Manor where we were greeted by an incredibly creepy CM Guillaume. I was in a doom buggy by myself and we kept getting playful ghosts interfering with our ride, I was rather grateful that we did not stop in front of the red eyed dog. I probably would have cried!

We then went to check out graveyard area before wandering over to Adventureland. We climbed Skull Rock and had a quick turn on Pirates, where we were sat at the very front. before heading to Blue Lagoon for our dinner reservation, where we walked right past Lisa!
The atmosphere in Blue Lagoon is rather amazing. We were just sitting there and behind Nat's head this waiter/pirate showed up and started messing around. I wish we had taken a photo, it was hilarious. I'm pretty sure it's the same guy that is in Lisa's TR.
Food was pretty good, Laura and Nat had the Caribbean Chicken Colombo, I decided to be adventurous (if not in a restaurant themed on adventure, where else?!) and went for the flambéed ostrich steak. Food was pretty good! We then had desert where I opted for the chocolate cake purely to have something rum based in the pirates restaurant!
After eating all of our food, stuffed to the brim we headed out and went for another quick turn on Pirates before heading to our last ride of Big Thunder Mesa Railroad.
After this last ride of the day we headed out and had a mooch in the shops on Main Street. I bought a Minnie Mouse tea pot, which I absolutely adore!

We then headed back to the hotel for a quick rest and Nat and I decided to hit the Village shops, as I wanted to buy a Sleeping Beauty t shirt and a watch which I had seen the day before in the fashion store and Nat wanted to buy a few pins and things.
After another long day we went back to the hotel, reviewed our purchases, watched a bit of Disney Channel before zonking out at about 10pm.

 

[loladelorean]

Great second day! I'm so chuffed I made it into your TR Glad you got a good turn on RnRC too
Did they set your ostrich on fire at the table too?! Exciting stuff, I love Blue Lagoon.

 

[DLPdaft]

you guys just look like you are having so much fun !

 

[Aurynn]

You look like you guys had a lot of fun on this trip. Great choice in the classic Minnie ears I had a pair when I was a kid but I seem to have lost them somehow...

I'm really dying to eat at Blue Lagoon but I'm going with the brother the coming trip (can't believe we're leaving tomorrow) and he's not too excited for it...

 

[mammy_megan]

sounds like you's had a great time!!

Love the classic minnie ears....will deffo be picking some up on friday while were there

 

[LoodlesNoodles]

Thanks guys! The classic Minnie ears were definitely a good choice, I got a lot of attention for them too! CM calling me Minnie

I had completely forgotten that I hadn't actually finished this report.
So here it is folks...

Day Three

Our last day began at approx 6.15 when we quickly got up and realised we had to pack everything up. We got ready and were down to breakfast for 7am. We had lots of yummy food and went back up to our room to pack. It was sad to close the door for the last time.
We took our luggage to luggage store and popped our key card into the check out box and headed out towards the park, we had a go on Buzz. Nat & Laura in one cart and me in another (mostly because they're competitive whereas I just like spinning it) I didn't do too badly though considering I wasn't really trying.
Next was IASW and we took some pictures

Laura running over and scaring Nat

After riding this for the last time we had turn on the teacups and when we came off we noticed the queue for the princess meet was fairly small and there was only 20minutes until the first princess was due out so we decided to queue up.

This.Is.Excitement.
We all met Snow White and she was lovely. She asked me my name and if I was Minnie Mouse for the days.

We then decided to go round Alice's labyrinth

before taking pictures of us at the Mad Hatter's tea party.

We had a quick turn on Pirates and walked over to Frontierland, on the way we bumped into Capt. Jack Sparrow and Nat and Laura had their picture taken with him after following him for what felt like ages.

We paid a quick visit to the dragon

and had a mooch in the glass shop inside the castle. Before heading down Main Street towards the exit so that we could swap Laura's ToT tee shirt in the gift shop before our Cafe Mickey reservation. Food here was just okay this time and the character interaction I was a little disappointed by. Next time it's dinner for sure!
Friar Tuck only bothered to take one photo with us:

and ignored Nat and I

We also met:

Chip and Dale were fantastic! They were the only ones who bothered going round to take pictures with Nat as well and they even signed her autograph book and Chip wrote 'To the big kids, love Chip' and drew a picture of himself. It was too cute. Whenever they came past as well they would make a fuss of us as well, Dale ruffled my hair and Chip tapping me on the shoulder only to be on the other side of me.

We then went back to the Studios, where we did Tower of Terror one last time, and we had a great CM in the library. He jumped out at us before we went into the room and made everyone jump.
We also had one more turn on RnR only to have no speakers yet again. Almost had Goofy run into us as we left that.
We noticed that Stitch Live! was about to start in English so we decided to see what that was about and we thought it was BRILLIANT! Wish we'd given it a chance sooner!
As soon as we were leaving Stitch, we noticed that it was last call for Cinemagique so we ran over to that and got comfortable in our seats. We didn't give it away and Nat loved it!

After this it was time to say goodbye to Studios and we headed out to do some last bits of shopping before heading back to HNY to collect our bags and wait for our shuttle, which was late! I was starting to get a bit panicked as I hadn't heard anything from them to say that they were going to be late.
When he finally showed up, he was nice enough but not as nice as the guy that drove us over.
There was lots of traffic and we finally made it to the airport to an uneventful check in, security, wait and flight before we made it home and back to the real world...

 

[DLPdaft]

lovely finish - I hope my DD still feels the Disney bug like you and your friends when she finishes school .

 

[Kazzabelle]

A lovely end to your trip .
I don't like sitting in a car on Buzz with my mum as all she does is spin in it, your about to shoot a target and theres mum spinning the car aaaaargh.
You all looked like you had a fab time

 

[disney_princess_85]

Great report Louise!

 

[Ms Poppins]

Great end to your trip. You all looked like you had so much fun.

Thanks for posting

 

[kizzabel]

Great Tr. Really enjoyed reading it.

 

[Ware Bears]

Looks like you all had a ball!

Shame about the Magical Moments show being cancelled but IMO you didn't miss that much, we watched it on Youtube before going and IMo it doesn't measure up to previous shows, and also what a shame your last meal was a bit disappointing. A big hurray to Chip and Dale though!

BTW, I braved the ostrich at Blue Lagoon too, and thought it was gorgeous!