Gwendolyn is going home!!! Trip-report 7th-10th of July

[Gwendolyn]

Tomorrow DS(almost 4) and I will go to Disneyland Paris. It'll be the first time we will sleep there since Merlijn was a baby (june 2007).

My husband and my oldest son Burton are at scoutscamp so they won't join the fun. But that means more time for mommy and Merlijn to spend together

So this is Merlijn. Since he is turning 4 in 3 weeks and will go to kindergarten after summerbreak, he had a farewell party at his pre-school.

And this is me next to Merlijn at our favorite Chinese restaurant in the Hague (the town next door )

We will stay in Disney's Hotel Santa Fé which is greatly themed in a route66 theme, expecially the town Santa Fé. But you will find a crashed flying saucer somewhere and brokendown cars and roadkill carcasses etc.
I just love this hotel, and its the cheapest of the bunch too. We got this hotel with a 40% discount.

I decided to go with the Half Board vouchers. So we can have dinners on a discount. The discount was even higher than with our Shareholders Pass, so we wanted to go with it.
First I went with the Standard vouchers, which allows you to eat a full meal (appetiser, entrée, dessert and drink) at 8 restaurants in the parcs. Including my all-time favourite Agrabah Café.
But I really really want to eat at a couple of other restaurants too, so I decided to upgrade the vouchers to Plus.

For the first time ever I've decided not to wing it with the meals so I actually made dining reservations. :hehe:
Tomorrow at 14:00 we will eat at the Blue Lagoon restaurant which is actually situated inside the Pirates of the Carribean ride.


Thursday we will eat at Walt's An American Restaurant on Mainstreet

And later we will have high tea at Lucky Nugget Saloon with Disney Characters. We will celebrate Merlijns birthday there. I'm really curious how he will react.

Friday we will watch the Buffalo Bill's Wild west dinner show with Mickey and friends. It is not in the meal plan (at least not in the one we have) but we got 18% discount because we booked a package instead of room-only. We will be seated first category. That mean we will have a pillow under our bums, have nacho's during the show and tea with sweets afterwards. We will see if its worth the extra 12 euro's to sit first category

Saturday we will have early lunch at Lucky Nugget Saloon It's a character buffet all tex-mex. Not my type of food, but I like the characters being there.

Things to see:
Disney's Fantillusion Parade
Disney's Enchanted Fireworks
Panoramagique; Disney's first hot air balloon that allows you to view the area at 100 meters height

It will be the first time that Merlijn will go into Big Thunder Mountain, he had to grow another 1cm last year.

We will return home Saturday in the late afternoon: we will head back to Paris by RER and take the Thalys train back home.

I hope I can trick my dad to pick us up from Rotterdam station, because we will be really really tired.

Thats my pre-trippie for now Wait a couple of days for the real trip-report

EDIT: I've edited this post to make the TR better readable and to have only my own pictures in this TR.

Index:
Day 1 part 1: To Disney or not to Disney? That's the question.
Day 1 part 2: Welcome to New Mexico
Day 1 part 3: We are going to Disneyland!!!
Day 1 part 4: Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me!
Day 1 part 5: What a pleasant surprise!
Day 1 part 6: I know you I've walked with you
Day 1 part 7: Once Upon a Dream
Day 1 part 8: Let's go to Thunder Mesa
Day 1 part 9: Mickey and friends, and more friends, and even more friends, and...
Day 1 part 10: Let there be light!
Day 1 part 11: Enchanting
Day 2 part 1: Goodmorning Disneyland!
Day 2 part 2: Hello Fantasyland!
Day 2 part 3: It's a Small World After All
Day 2 part 4: Aye Pirates!
Day 2 part 5: Back to Thunder Mesa
Day 2 part 6: More views from Mark Twain
Day 2 part 7: Jules Verne land
Day 2 part 8: A Disastrous lunch

 

[heaven2dc]

What an exciting trip!! I am so happy you and your son will be enjoying together time I love reading about Disneyland Paris trips (it is SO different than WDW - maybe some day I will be able to visit)

Hope you have an awesome Magical trip!

 

[Gwendolyn]

Soooo I am back. This trip report is going to be really really picture heavy. So it can take a while to load.

So this is me on the night before we would leave to Disneyland. I was totally prepared for the Urugay-the Netherlands football match. Which ofcourse we won

Bummer, we became second in the World Champion ship.

After the Netherlands won the match againt Uruguay, I did some last packing. And I went to bed. Merlijn was really nervous, so he wasnt able to sleep so far, so I took him into my bed.
At 4AM my alarm went off. After snoozing it once I just out of my bed, got dressed and had difficulties waking up Merlijn. Even telling him that we were actually going to Disney didn't help

At 4:30AM we left the house, got a great view at the rising sun over the Hague (the town next to mine)

Oh and this is the pile of luggage we were bringing:

And a picture of us in the newly renovated elevator in our appartment building:

We were got an one and a half hour early train to Rotterdam, but the train ran over a jumper. May he rest in peace...

So we were delayed for an hour till the train personnel let us leave the train at Delft only 45 minutes till te departure of the Thalys to Paris from Rotterdam station. Totally in panic I called my dad, who came to my rescue, ven though it was 6:10 AM when I called him. He got at Delft at 6:40AM and my train would leave Rotterdam just 18 minutes later!!!

My dad drove as fast as it was safely possible and helped Merlijn and me to get to the train. We arrived on the Thalys platform at Rotterdam station 2 minutes late. But thank God the train was still there, and the Thalys personnel allowed me to board the train to Paris Nord.

It took a while before the stress was gone. But we were on our way to Paris Nord. And I was happy and felt blessed. I feel sorry for the person who really thought the world was better without him. I'm sure he will be missed.

Afterwards I heard that it took the whole day to clear the tracks of his remains. :afraid:

Here is a picture of Merlijn and me in the Thalys train:

And a picture of Merlijn in his stroller (which he normally never uses anymore)
at Paris Nord station in front of the amazing looking Thalys.

And Paris Nord station:

The RER is some sort of Metro (underground/subway), but then different. Since they also got a train system that they call metro and that is underground for 100%. RER also goes above ground when needed.

At Paris Nord we took RER B to Chatelet Les Halles and then RER A to Marne-La-Vallée-Chessy, which is the name of the Disneyland Resort Paris train station.

Here is the station of Marne-La-Vallée-Chessy:

I kissed the ground as soon as I walked out the station. Looking around me I saw the Pink Palace (Disneyland Hotel which functions as the magical entrans to Disneyland Parc) and the gates to Walt Disney Studio's parc and ofcourse Disney Village which is the younger and smaller version of DownTown Disney. And I saw the Santa Fé bus coming up (the bus to our hotel Santa Fé where we would stay for the following 3 nights) so I ran for it Here are some pics:

And I was finally there. The place of my dreams, my home. I was there and I felt like the happiest and luckiest girl in the world

 

[Gwendolyn]

When arrived at Hotel Santa Fé at 11:15 Pluto was in the lobby. Noone was lining up to have their photo made with Pluto, so I took Merlijn to meet Pluto. Merlijn was very very impressed by Pluto's appearance and was a bit scared. Pluto was really nice to Merlijn, patted on his back without being pushy.
Ofcourse I wanted to have my picture taken with my favourite Disney dog:

After having my picture taken with Pluto, Merlijn went watching Jetix on TV while I was waiting in the check-in queue. In about 10 minutes I got to a dutch speaking castmember. And she told me that I got a VIP-treatment That means getting in one of the better rooms and have presents waiting as soon as my room was ready. And I didnt need to get a breakfast pass for breakfast, so I could eat which ever time I choose to eat.
She also gave me a pass to eat breakfast at Plaza Gardens restaurant for the following morning at 8:15AM.
She also gave me the tickets to the parcs and Buffalo Bill's Wild West dinnershow and our halfboard Plus vouchers. She also changed my ADR for Lucky Nugget on saturday to 2pm, I initially booked it for noon, but since we were leaving Disney at 4:30pm it seemed like a better time.
The castmember was really nice. I'm sorry that I forgot to note her name:

Since we had our lunch reservations for Blue Lagoon at 2pm, we decided to walk to the parcs. First we dropped of our luggage at the baggagery and then we strolled through the hotel area. I really love the set up of the hotel. It consists of smaller buildings with minimum of 8 rooms and some bigger buildings with more than 100 rooms.
And the theming is Route66 expecially New Mexico. So you will find RL cars parked, lots of desert like grounds, appropiate vegetation, lots of indian and mexican stuff and some really cool relics

Here are some random Santa Fé pictures:

The end of the water trail, with the entrance to the hotel area and the reception and baggagery in the back:

Panoramagique in Disney Village in the back

Beginning of the water trail: in the railing next to the steps.

Uhoh a chrashed Flying saucer:

And after a stroll along the Rio Grande river we finally see Disney Village:

 

[otwidalepda]

Sounding good up to now. Just hope I am not being too rude but how do you get the VIP rooms and does it cost too much extra?

Looking forward for the rest of the TR.

 

[Gwendolyn]

Dunno, I think they just love me
When I reserved my room I mentioned that I was a Shareholders Club member and that I've been visiting Disneyland Paris regularly for 14 years. Maybe that helped.

 

[Gwendolyn]

We finally got into Disneyland Parc and was so happy to see the most beautifull Disney castle of all. <3

I've made some films for the Disneyland Paris newbies I hope you will enjoy them.

Entrance Square:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMxUO6-h9bk

Town Square:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc2zKDrfA1M

Mainstreet USA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMv0Fx4mrjQ

Central Plaza:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot6Noxcq-s4

My sons name Merlijn is the dutch version of the name Merlin, so I had to make this picture of Merlin the wizard in the shop window.

Here is a different angle shot of the castle:

If you stand on the bridge going to the castle and you look to your right, you will have this gorgious view:

 

[__disneygirl]

Hi there! Thanks so much for this report - I LOVE reading about Disneyland Paris trips. It's crazy that I can know so much about Disney World and so little about DLP! I love the crashed flying saucer at the hotel!!

I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.

 

[Gwendolyn]

We really had a slow walk. I really wanted to soak up the atmosphere. I was going to be here for 4 day. Yay!

Finally close to 2PM we arrived at the Blue Lagoon restaurant, which is really special. It's actually located INSIDE the Pirates of the Caribean ride.
The whole restaurant including the food got a Caribean theme, lots of fish and coconut. Pasta for people who are affraid to try something new, and beef for the meatatarians

This is Merlijn at the fountain in front of the entrance to Blue Lagoon.

Sorry for this bad picture, but I wanted to show you the barrels of rum close to the entrance inside of Blue Lagoon.

Kids and teens menu at the Blue Lagoon:

Merlijn choose the fish with haricôt verts. And fresh fruits as a desert. His starter was taken away for a moment because they forgot to leave out the items that contain milk (mozerella and the dressing) but he got a bowl full of cherry tomatoes later.

The Halfboard Plus menu:

Translation:
You can have 1 starter + 1 entrée + 1 dessert + non-alcoholic drink

starter choices:
* Shrimp cocktail with curry vinaigrette
* Exotic salad with Mango vinaigrette (with shrimps, papaya, pineapple and palm hearts)
* tomato tatar with rocketsalad and curry vinaigrette

entrée choices:
* caribean chickencolumbo, coconut, pilaf rice and raisins
* mahi mahi (fish) with herbs, mashed potatoes with lemon and vegetables
* cruble of sweetned vegetables, kurkuma, rocket salad, sundried tomatoes.

desert choices:
* crème brûlée with vanilla
* coupe with hazelnut, bitter chocolate icecream and chocolate sauce.
* Bermuda triangle with passion fruit, and almond milk sorbet.

So I went with the exotic salad with Mango vinaigrette (with shrimps, papaya, pineapple and palm hearts), which tasted absolutely delicious:

then I got the mahi mahi (fish) with herbs, mashed potatoes with lemon and vegetables. The mashed potatoes were actually mashed with coconut milk instead of cowmilk and it got coconut flakes inside, which tasted amazing. I'm going to mash my potatoes that way from now on.
The veggies we nothing special but tasted really well.

As a desert I chose the Bermuda triangle with passion fruit, and almond milk sorbet.
The Bermuda triangle was actually passionfruit cheesecake with an almondcake bottom. Wonderfull combination. The little ball on top was actually white chocolate. The blue sauce was Blue Curaçao and the whole thing was decorated with almond crumbs.
This is possibly my most favourite dessert ever!

This already was one of my favourite restaurants in Disneyland Paris, but it was good te be reminded why it was on my list of favourites

Here are some random photo's of the Blue Lagoon restaurant:

See the Pirates of the Caribean boat between the leaves?

And our fabulous server:

After our lunch we went into the Pirates of the Caribean ride. The light was pretty bright outside, since we left a pretty dark restaurant. But I managed to make some amazing photo's of the area:

And our ride picture. Merlijn was holding his arms over his head because he is affraid to get water on his head. He doesn't mind getting water over the rest of his body though :lol:

After Pirates of the Caribean we did some shopping: Merlijn got a Pirates of the Caribean flag, a new cap for Merlijn since his old one got to small (he didn't want to wear it during our trip though, only his Holland cap due to the Fifa world cup going on back then). And there was a discount on a Nightmare before christmas coulouring thingy with the condition that I had to purchase 20 euro's of merchandise to get it for 10 euro's. Well fine by moi

Here is a picture of Merlijn waving his new Pirates of the Caribean flag. You see the pink palace (Hotel Disneyland) and Fantasia gardens in the back.

 

[It'sASmallWorld]

What a wonderful trip report and you have a gorgeous little boy there! I can't wait to read the rest, post soon!

 

[All7OfUs]

Good afternoon, Gwendolyn!!

My name is liesa, and I was attracted to your TR because our NGO headquarters is in the Hague, and I have many Dutch friends!

I love your TR so far! Especially the Blue Lagoon portion! I was a CM for a while at the Blue Bayou in California, and I loved seeing the PoTC everyday

Yikes! A jumper! I"m so sorry you had to put up with that sort of stress while trying to get to your nice vacation.

The Santa Fe looks very much like where I went to school in Arizona. Nice!!

 

[Gwendolyn]

thank you all for your kind remarks

Liesa, its so cool that the HQ of your job is in the Hague. I live in a town "next door" so if you are around you are more than welcome to visit my home, maybe join us for dinner?

I'm glad you think Santa Fé's theming is correct

Over here at Disneyland Paris it's all a bit themed as the typical stereo type of things we Europeans think of when we think of the USA.

So cowboys, indians, seqouias, sailors, New York, Davy Crockett.

 

[Gwendolyn]

We went back to the hotel to pick up our room keys.

This is a photo of the hotel Santa Fé reception area I made back then at 4:15PM:

We picked up our luggage and went to the appartment building. To my pleasant surprise it was one of the buildings next to the watertrail, and I actually photographed it before.

Remember this picture? The left window was actually the window of our room:

When we came into our room, we found this waiting for us:

In the box was a tea and coffee set.

We were given a newly renovated room. So instead of the old landscape pictures on the wall we got Cars. Which fits the theme perfectly. The room looked really good and clean. I was really happy

Here are some pictures of the room:

Free water kettle:

Some bathroom pictures:

Hotel Santa Fé area map:

I let Merlijn rest and play in the room a little bit, eat a chocolate spread sandwich, before heading back to the parcs.

 

[Gwendolyn]

Once upon a Dream..... parade. We arrived just in time in the parcs to see that one. It now features Princess Tiana too.

 

[Gwendolyn]

 

[All7OfUs]

Ha! I met a wonderful DISer from Germany, and we actually took her up on her offer to visit!!! You never know what we crazy DISers will do!!

Who knows, maybe some day we will get back to The Netherlands. Meantime, I'll enjoy your TR!!

 

[heaven2dc]

What an adventure just trying to arrive at your destination! How sad for that man on the train tracks

I absolutely loved the videos - thank you for sharing! It really made me feel like I was there with you. Don't you think the parade floats are so much better in Disneyland Paris? I love the ones here in the U.S. but the ones there are gorgeous! I loved Alice in Wonderland float

Your little boy is so adorable waving his Pirates flag - what a cutie!

 

[Gwendolyn]

The floats really are great. Did you notice that they have 2 different themed ends? The Alice float doubles as a Pinnochio float in the end and the Peter Pan float as Mary Poppins and the Lion King float doubles as Jungle Book float

 

[__disneygirl]

Oh my goodness! I am in AWE right now. I can't believe how AMAZING those parade floats are!!! 10x better than anything I've seen at Disney World, that's for sure. I'm shocked. Thanks so much for sharing.

 

[Gwendolyn]

After the Once Upon a Dream parade ended, lots of people went back to their hotels or having dinner. So I decided that Merlijn should finally get into Big Thunder Mountain.
He tried to do that last year, but he came 1cm short and was heart broken over that.

At Big Thunder Mountain we had absolutely no waiting time, just a long walk through the queueing area. I feel pretty stupid that I totally forgot to make pictures of the ride or the perfectly themed queueing area. But I did purchase the ride photo which was really horrible. So I'm not showing it here. The only reason I purchased it was that it was Merlijns first time BTM.

Merlijn was absolutely thrilled that we did BTM he thought it was exciting, tad scary, but he loved it.

After BTM we went to Phantom Manor.

For people not knowing the story of Phantom Manor. The man of the house was the owner of Big Thunder Mining Compagny in Thunder Mesa (the village of Frontierland). His daughter and an employee of the Big Thunder Mining compagny fell in love with eachother and were about to get married. But the fiancé didnt turn up at their weddingday. Leaving the girl heartbroken. You can still see her ghost waiting in her bridal gown for her fiancé.
What happened to the guy? No one knows, but there are actually haunted graves in the garden, one of them without a name.

I'm sorry for the blurry pictures, but I have to show them

The bride crying in front of a mirror. And the steam thats on the mirror is shaped as a skull.

scary skelleton man in the manor.

After Phantom Manor, I went back to Main Street USA, check out a store Lilly's Boutique which offers lots of home stuff like towels, bath stuff, kitchen stuff etc. I love it there:

After visiting some other stores, I walked to the Center Stage at Central Plaza and wait for the last show of Mickey's Showtime Spectacular of that day.
More about that in the next update of our TR.