Emma & Family's DLP Christmas - Day One

emmaness

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Joined
Jun 24, 2005
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547
Sunday, December 18th 2005

Cast: Me (Emma), 18; Lucy (sister), 15; Mum & Dad!

In the photos, I am the one wearing a long stripey scarf, and you can figure the rest out! :p Click on the small photos to view a larger version!

Note: I've had to put it in two parts because apparentely I have too many pictures!

Today we had to wake up at 7, which was not fun for anyone as we had seen the Stereophonics live the previous night, and didn't get to sleep until gone 2am! I myself only got about 4 hours sleep as I kept getting woken up by traffic noise and people coming back to the Travelodge at various hours! :(

We caught a taxi to Waterloo and were there for 8.30, by which time it was nearly time to check in. The queue was fairly long but once you are through there's a nice little complex where you can grab some breakfast, which we did, and headed for the Disney Express desk. By this point there were big DLP standees everywhere, and lots of kids bouncing around, and I got all emotional and a bit teary!

The Eurostar (standard class) is a bit cramped, I have to say, so we didn't really enjoy the journey, although there was a really adorable kid behind us that kept saying, "We're going to Disneyland!" at regular intervals.

There were more tears as we emerged from the station at about 1.45 and saw Disney Village in the distance. Everything seemed so much smaller than I remembered, but no less magical! :wizard:

Okay, now the interesting stuff starts, so you can stop skipping over the boring stuff! ;)

Of course, we went straight into the Disneyland park, having a good look at Walt Disney Studios as we went past. Having stuff to look at makes the walk there go much quicker. We spent a good 15 minutes walking down Main Street, just soaking everything in really. Ah, the music! It felt like we had never left. It's just wonderful at Christmas - or "wonderous" as they say in the Christmas parade! (Nooooooo, that song gets stuck in your head something chronic!), but it was REALLY crowded, and we really started to remember how rude some people are at Disneyland.

We took the route through the castle, stopping on the way to have our photo taken by a nice cast member who offered to do so.



By this time most of the intial obligatory photo-taking was out of the way!



We continued through Fantasyland, passing by a 35-minute queue for Pinocchio! When did people discover this ride?! It used to be one of Disneyland's best-kept secrets.



All the queues in Fantasyland looked enormous so we then walked up through Adventureland and over to Indiana Jones, which had a 75-minute queue. :earseek: It started to look unlikely that we'd get on any rides at all today!



After this we looked in the shops in Adventureland, before taking the little "shortcut" through to Frontierland, our favourite land. It was actually quite unpleasantly crowded here, to the point where you could barely move. Big Thunder Mountain inevitably had an enormous queue - 120 minutes, in fact! We popped in a couple of shops, and then saw something quite amusing outside the Lucky Nugget Saloon:



I don't really think they should have an assortment of "crudities" at a place where children go! ;)
 
Day One, Part Two

It was now just about time for La Parade de Noël, so we took up a position opposite the gazebo in Main Street, on the corner of the Emporium shop.



We quite enjoyed looking at the floats but after you've heard "Chante, c'est Noël" go round about three times you start losing the Disney/Christmas spirit a little bit!!



We all agreed that we weren't that fussed about seeing the parade again. Afterwards we decided we might as well just head back to the hotel, as we were unlikely to get on any rides and we were all knackered and lacking in sleep anyway.

On the way to the hotel we saw Panoramagique up in the sky, and Lucy and I vowed to go on it before the holiday's end. Mum & Dad refused - "Argh, no, look how much it's swaying around!!"



Sequoia Lodge was absolutely gorgeous, especially so because of its Christmas decorations. It just felt so lovely and cosy from the moment we stepped in the door. Unfortunately I never got round to taking any photos of it, other than the ones I took of my room!

By about 6.30 we were getting quite hungry so we ventured into Disney Village for food. We had planned to eat at Annette's Diner but it had a huge queue, and it just wasn't worth it for what you get. We decided to go for King Ludwig's Castle, which wasn't there on our last visit, and had no queue at all! I think it must be because you have to walk through the shop to get to the restaurant.

Three of us had the Oktoberfest Chicken and my dad had some kind of steak-based thing - the portions varied massively! Dad's was tiny but the rest of us couldn't finish our chicken, even though it was yummy. I liked the atmosphere in King Ludwig's, too.

After dinner, Lucy and I had planned to go for a swim, but we were a bit too tired and decided against it. Back at the hotel the rest of my family went to the Redwood Bar for a drink (apparentely the non-alcoholic cocktails (or mocktails) are really nice!), whilst I had a lie down as I had had less sleep than everyone else and was feeling a bit rubbish.

We all had an early night to prepare for our Good Morning Fantasyland the next day, and we were hoping that we might actually get to go on some attractions this time! ::MickeyMo



Day Two will probably be after Christmas Day now. :goodvibes
 
That was a great read Emma - thanks very much! Loved your photos, especially the one of your dad outside the Emporium - he looks really happy!!! - and the one of Panoramagioue at dusk - really beautiful. Loved the "crudities" bit too - shame they couldn't find a better translation!! :rotfl: Looking forward very much to reading day 2 when you get time to write it up!!
 
Emkins, I think your .htaccess is playing up again because none of the photos are loading! *will wait until they're back before reading*
 

Bonnie said:
Emkins, I think your .htaccess is playing up again because none of the photos are loading! *will wait until they're back before reading*
They're working fine for me Bonnie (which is amazing but true!!!)
 
I think the server must've been playing up, rather than the .htaccess, because I checked it again and they loaded - oddness! Anyway, lovely trip report, Emma! Your photos are fab and I'm pleased you had a good time! :) 'Tis good to have you back. ;)
 
Thanks Emma,

looks like you had lovely weather [though probably cold :cold: I imagine].

Your photos are great, and sounds like the crowds didn't affect your enjoyment too much! :love:

Look forward to part 2 ........even if it is after Christmas!

kaye :goodvibes
 
Yey!!!!! Another Trip Report.. *Prints off to read*
princess:
 
Di - thanks! Panoramagique really did look gorgeous on the first day - the weather went significantly downhill after that unfortunately!

Bonnie - 'tis nice to *be* back. Well, not really, because, Disneyland or Devon?! It's a tough one! It's loads warmer here in comparison, though. :sunny: I actually went and added disboards.com to my .htaccess in between your posts, so that might explain that!

Kaye - it was such a lovely day on Sunday, if a little cold, but unfortunately that was the only sunny day - in fact, it was quite foggy for the rest of the week! And you are right, the good points outweighed the cold and the crowds by a MILE. :goodvibes

cannp123165 - hope you enjoy reading! :)
 
Emma, it was lovely to read about your feelings as you entered the park and soaked up the atmosphere on Main Street. Loved the pics too!
 
Emma what a great report - I did not skip over any of it, honest :)
Dad obviously enjoyed being king with a crown that size ;)
Even with the park as busy as it was sounds though you all enjoyed the atmosphere :goodvibes
 
Panoramagique does sometimes really sway! I was wondering what it must be like for the people on board when that happens. When we went up the air was very calm so we basically went straight up and straight down, but there were times when we wondered if it would ever land right!

Sounds like you made the best of the massive crowds. Looking forward to hearing about your second day and early entry for breakfast. Hope you were able to enjoy some attractions!

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas and thanks for the report!
:Pinkbounc :Pinkbounc :Pinkbounc
 
Hello Emma,

thank you for this TR with your great Pictures. It is really great that you came along with the masses of People. But a Disneyday without any Rides would be really hard for me.
Looking forward for your "sleptout", "emptypark" but foggy Day 2.
 
Great Trip Report Emma!

The pictures are lovely - and you look very happy to be there. The Panoramamagique photo at sunset is great. Frontierland is my favourite too, I really enjoyed Critter Coral when we visited.

I wonder if Voyages de Pinocchio was busy just because of the number of people there, or if it is becoming more popular?

Looking forward to part 2.
 
THANK YOU , Emma !!! I could read your report just now ... and I absolutely LOVED it !!! and those photos make me feel ... I am there !!!!
:love: Laura

Going to read part 2 !!!! ;)
 
emmaness said:
We quite enjoyed looking at the floats but after you've heard "Chante, c'est Noël" go round about three times you start losing the Disney/Christmas spirit a little bit!!

I think that's our friends were trying to tell us after we made them watch the parade from two years ago on DVD - my friend Steve said he woke up hearing the song in his head the next morning!

Great read - you look like a happy smiley family :goodvibes
 
I really enjoyed reading that Emma, and what lovely photos you have taken. Off to read next part now.
 











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