dlpSteve
Mr Dedicated to DLP
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2003
- Messages
- 2,630
Day 1 - Monday 16th October 2006
Cast:
Denise (26) - Disney mad, from head to toe!
Steve (32) - DLRP and POTC obsessive, also fond of Pins and Stitch!
Photos: Studio One Photos
I've waited far too long for this trippie so it may not be as complete as previous one but I'll give it a go!
Just as a bit of background - in true timely fashion both Denise and I were showing signs of a cold in the day leading up to our holiday so we dosed up with First Response and Beechams! I also had (and still have) a stye on my left eyelid so would try to avoid photos, though not too well at times!
So, we awake in our hotel room in Ashord and I'd had just 2 hours sleep - no matter what I do I can never sleep the day before our trip to DLRP - my mind works over time! Bran Flakes down the hatch and we set off for the station. We had to pick our Eurostar tickets up when we get there as there had been a ticket malfunction in the week leading up to the holiday so they couldn't send them to us. We did all that fine and then we were through the check in and passport control in no time. It was all pretty uneventful after that - train journey was fine and we got our tickets and Disney Express labels. One thing we noticed was the lack of Halloween theming on the map - Pinocchio and a pale pink background were hardly what we were expecting!
We arrived at 1.30pm, dropped our bags off at the Disney Express counter and made our way to Disney Village. First point of note was the weather forecasts right up to the day before we left had us down for 4 days of rain. Imagine our delight when we walked out of the station to be greeted by a day that would be perfectly at home in August lovely! We were also chuffed to see the Pumpkin Men had made their way to Disney Village not bad when a months ago they were going to be confined to Halloweenland.
We had our Sandwiches in American Sandwiches and headed to the parks, with a skip in our step no doubt! We noticed the Disneyland Hotel looked more like a building site than Tower of Terror feel sorry for the people with rooms looking out on that!
Through the gates and we are home feels good. The theming is just amazing, the amount of Pumpkin men in Main St USA was amazing and I began snapping away. We were determined not to look in any shops as we would have plenty of time for that when the shops closed and wanted to make the most of the park hours before they closed at the awfully early time of 7pm. Denise found time to make a new friend
First stop was of course Pirates of the Caribbean which was as wonderful as ever. Theyve added stuff since our last visit in July! There is a new bamboo type frame around the walkway just as you round the corner and look out over the queuing area. There are also more hanging things and boat remains on the actual ride. We always start our hols with POTC and probably always will the best ride ever!
Next we walked over to Halloweenland, filled to the brim with excitement and anticipation. Wed seen photos and heard so much about it we couldnt wait to see it with our own eyes. Before we even entered the land we were greeted with a strange looking head with goblins and pumpkins abound
We then walked into Halloweenland and wow. It was incredible pumpkin men everywhere, and paint machines and and skeletons and even a sky of pumpkins amazing! I was especially taken the Pumpkin Man who was hanging from the paint machine and thanks to a clear blue sky he made for a great photo:
As we walked to Phantom Manor I said to Denise that as good as the theming was, it was a shame that it was just concentrated to that area and that wed expected more. Anyway, PM had a huge queue so we decided to leave that for day 2. So, we walked to the other end of Halloweenland and that was when it became apparent that wed just encountered the tip of the pumpkin iceberg as we discovered the masses of pumpkin men and then we entered the area of Pink Witches! It was truly stunning we were gob smacked at the effort put in this prompted discussions of when they make the transformation and how long it takes can they do it all in one night? Do they close Frontierland to do it?
We sat down for a show on the Fantastitch stage but this was the day Donald and the Bat Boys werent playing and it was just a band which we werent that keen to stay for so went back to main St USA to get a good position for the parade, which we did in the Plaza area. To say the parade was amazing would be selling it short its by far the beat parade ever, and for me to say that with my love of the Wonderful World of Disney Parade, thats an accolade and a half! Its such fun and all the characters interact with the crowd so well especially the Witches. We were beginning to see why people loved this season at DLRP so much. Denise then got her Pumpkin ears and we were fully in the Halloween mood wooo hooo!
After the parade we headed to Buzz and I got 169,600 while Denise got 67,200. A long way off my best score from July; 628,000. Next stop was the pin cart where I bought #13 of the Stitch Invasion series (Stitch invades a pin cart how ironic!), a limited edition Autumn 2007 (a year early?) Tinkerbell pin and a huge Lady and the Tramp pin that last one was 39,00!
It was off to our beloved Cheyenne after this and when we got to our room we could smell smoke so we called reception and they said theyd send mousekeeping around. We left for Disney Village and after scanning the menus decided on Annettes, somewhere wed not eaten before. I had a huge, and I mean really huge Chicken salad while Denise had Chilli. We shared some cheesecake for desert and were well and truly stuffed! The food was fab and the service was great flies were the only problem, guess thats always the risk when the doors are constantly open because of the queue of people.
After our meal we had a look around the Hotel New York which agreed looked very plush but the bar looked very formal and dark (expensive too) and we decided to get back to the fun of the Red Garter Saloon at the Cheyenne. To our delight The Thrifts were playing and in the intermission I asked if they could play their song from the Frontierland en Musique CD that Denise loves so much. They were happy to and I also bought a CD of theirs for Denise which they signed for her. I got back to our seats with the CD and Denise was over the moon even more so when they dedicated and played her song for her. This really capped off a truly wonderful day.
First Response seemed to keeping our colds at bay but they still lingered a bit not enough to ruin our fun in any way though. I think the obscene amounts of retail therapy may have helped in that department! At around 11.30pm we headed off to bed, shattered but happy and looking forward to waking up to another day in the greatest and happiest place on earth.
Next Day 2!!
Cast:
Denise (26) - Disney mad, from head to toe!
Steve (32) - DLRP and POTC obsessive, also fond of Pins and Stitch!
Photos: Studio One Photos
I've waited far too long for this trippie so it may not be as complete as previous one but I'll give it a go!
Just as a bit of background - in true timely fashion both Denise and I were showing signs of a cold in the day leading up to our holiday so we dosed up with First Response and Beechams! I also had (and still have) a stye on my left eyelid so would try to avoid photos, though not too well at times!
So, we awake in our hotel room in Ashord and I'd had just 2 hours sleep - no matter what I do I can never sleep the day before our trip to DLRP - my mind works over time! Bran Flakes down the hatch and we set off for the station. We had to pick our Eurostar tickets up when we get there as there had been a ticket malfunction in the week leading up to the holiday so they couldn't send them to us. We did all that fine and then we were through the check in and passport control in no time. It was all pretty uneventful after that - train journey was fine and we got our tickets and Disney Express labels. One thing we noticed was the lack of Halloween theming on the map - Pinocchio and a pale pink background were hardly what we were expecting!
We arrived at 1.30pm, dropped our bags off at the Disney Express counter and made our way to Disney Village. First point of note was the weather forecasts right up to the day before we left had us down for 4 days of rain. Imagine our delight when we walked out of the station to be greeted by a day that would be perfectly at home in August lovely! We were also chuffed to see the Pumpkin Men had made their way to Disney Village not bad when a months ago they were going to be confined to Halloweenland.
We had our Sandwiches in American Sandwiches and headed to the parks, with a skip in our step no doubt! We noticed the Disneyland Hotel looked more like a building site than Tower of Terror feel sorry for the people with rooms looking out on that!
Through the gates and we are home feels good. The theming is just amazing, the amount of Pumpkin men in Main St USA was amazing and I began snapping away. We were determined not to look in any shops as we would have plenty of time for that when the shops closed and wanted to make the most of the park hours before they closed at the awfully early time of 7pm. Denise found time to make a new friend
First stop was of course Pirates of the Caribbean which was as wonderful as ever. Theyve added stuff since our last visit in July! There is a new bamboo type frame around the walkway just as you round the corner and look out over the queuing area. There are also more hanging things and boat remains on the actual ride. We always start our hols with POTC and probably always will the best ride ever!
Next we walked over to Halloweenland, filled to the brim with excitement and anticipation. Wed seen photos and heard so much about it we couldnt wait to see it with our own eyes. Before we even entered the land we were greeted with a strange looking head with goblins and pumpkins abound
We then walked into Halloweenland and wow. It was incredible pumpkin men everywhere, and paint machines and and skeletons and even a sky of pumpkins amazing! I was especially taken the Pumpkin Man who was hanging from the paint machine and thanks to a clear blue sky he made for a great photo:
As we walked to Phantom Manor I said to Denise that as good as the theming was, it was a shame that it was just concentrated to that area and that wed expected more. Anyway, PM had a huge queue so we decided to leave that for day 2. So, we walked to the other end of Halloweenland and that was when it became apparent that wed just encountered the tip of the pumpkin iceberg as we discovered the masses of pumpkin men and then we entered the area of Pink Witches! It was truly stunning we were gob smacked at the effort put in this prompted discussions of when they make the transformation and how long it takes can they do it all in one night? Do they close Frontierland to do it?
We sat down for a show on the Fantastitch stage but this was the day Donald and the Bat Boys werent playing and it was just a band which we werent that keen to stay for so went back to main St USA to get a good position for the parade, which we did in the Plaza area. To say the parade was amazing would be selling it short its by far the beat parade ever, and for me to say that with my love of the Wonderful World of Disney Parade, thats an accolade and a half! Its such fun and all the characters interact with the crowd so well especially the Witches. We were beginning to see why people loved this season at DLRP so much. Denise then got her Pumpkin ears and we were fully in the Halloween mood wooo hooo!
After the parade we headed to Buzz and I got 169,600 while Denise got 67,200. A long way off my best score from July; 628,000. Next stop was the pin cart where I bought #13 of the Stitch Invasion series (Stitch invades a pin cart how ironic!), a limited edition Autumn 2007 (a year early?) Tinkerbell pin and a huge Lady and the Tramp pin that last one was 39,00!
It was off to our beloved Cheyenne after this and when we got to our room we could smell smoke so we called reception and they said theyd send mousekeeping around. We left for Disney Village and after scanning the menus decided on Annettes, somewhere wed not eaten before. I had a huge, and I mean really huge Chicken salad while Denise had Chilli. We shared some cheesecake for desert and were well and truly stuffed! The food was fab and the service was great flies were the only problem, guess thats always the risk when the doors are constantly open because of the queue of people.
After our meal we had a look around the Hotel New York which agreed looked very plush but the bar looked very formal and dark (expensive too) and we decided to get back to the fun of the Red Garter Saloon at the Cheyenne. To our delight The Thrifts were playing and in the intermission I asked if they could play their song from the Frontierland en Musique CD that Denise loves so much. They were happy to and I also bought a CD of theirs for Denise which they signed for her. I got back to our seats with the CD and Denise was over the moon even more so when they dedicated and played her song for her. This really capped off a truly wonderful day.
First Response seemed to keeping our colds at bay but they still lingered a bit not enough to ruin our fun in any way though. I think the obscene amounts of retail therapy may have helped in that department! At around 11.30pm we headed off to bed, shattered but happy and looking forward to waking up to another day in the greatest and happiest place on earth.
Next Day 2!!
Hope you both are healthy by now.
