ukstitch
<font color=deeppink>I'm not sure I'm quite your a
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- May 5, 2008
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I thought I'd finally sit down and start writing my trip report from our holiday at the end of July. Unfortunately, I have a relatively short attention span when it comes to sitting down and writing this, so it's taking quite a while to say the least! In addition, I appear to write and write at times, so I apologise if it gets rather long by the time I'm finished. I will attempt to write and post it as quickly as I can, but I make no promises.
Anyway, on with the show...
This was our first DLRP holiday in the high summer season since 2002, so we were particularly looking forward to Fantillusions, the Fireworks and the longer hours.
Day 0:
Day 0 started when I got in from work at about 5:30 on the Friday. Having done a grand total of no packing (I wasn't the only one who hadn't finished packing, but at least the others had started
), I put my stuff together and we eventually left for folkestone at about 8:30.
We reached the hotel (The holiday inn Express at Folkestone) about 10:30 or so, so we checked in and found our rooms then settled down for the night. The huge advantage of this hotel in particular was that you can actually see the Eurotunnel from some of the rooms.
Day 1:
We woke the next morning at about 6ish and got dressed, half asleep. Our train was just late enough that we had time to grab some breakfast which was ok, although nothing special. We left with what should have been plenty of time to spare, but unfortunately, we ran into some queues at the entrance to the Eurotunnel area, which meant that we missed our train by about 2 - 3 minutes.
Fortunately, we're becoming seasoned pros at having our journey not run to plan, so a missed Eurotunnel train is not much of an issue to us, especially with Eurotunnel's policy of booking you straight onto the next available train, usually at no extra cost.
Surprisingly, the next available train was actually the next train (we had a roof box, so we were expecting to have to wait a bit for a spare high carriage slot because the website suggested they were fully booked), so we parked and went to do a bit of shopping for a while. I took the opportunity to spend some Magic Money on a new camera, replacing the rather dated camera I had before.
Once we had all returned to the car and our letter was called, we were on the train and off to Paris.
The crossing was as quick as ever, so within a little over 30 minutes, we were in France.
3 Hours, 2 Stops and 2 toll booths later...
DLRP!
We parked in front of the reception building at the DCR and collected our information pack and cabin key, then drove round to our cabin. We then unloaded the car and started on the unpacking before heading to the shop for some things, including an autograph book and large pen.
When we returned from the shop, we continued unpacking some more. While unpacking our food, we noticed that there was a hole in the end of the bag. Assuming it to just be an already existing hole, we picked the bread up and noticed the crumbs on the floor of the cupboard.
It was at this point that we realised that a mouse must have snuck in while we were out
, so we quickly headed back to reception to see if they could move us - I didn't really fancy spending the week sleeping in the same room as a mouse. They were very apologetic about it and of course they gave us a new cabin, so we went back to the old one, loaded everything back into the car and drove round to the new one.
Once we had unpacked everything (for the second time), we finally drove off to the parks themselves.
We drove through those magic gates and parked in our usual car park (Winnie the Pooh)
. After a short walk towards the parks and through the bag checks, we decided to head into the studios first.
We collected a fastpass for TOT, then we headed round to RnR. This always makes a good ride to do early on in the holiday because the launch seems to shake any cobwebs out of my system, as well as kicking in the adrenaline early on and this time was no different.
After RnR, we headed back round to TOT for a much loved ride.
Once I returned from the twilight zone, DM, DB and I then joined the 15 minute queue for the flying carpets but DB was bored within 5 minutes so we had to leave the queue again. After this, we headed over to the Disneyland park instead.
Once through the gates of Disneyland Park, we made our traditional trip to City Hall to pick up our disabled pass. This gave us a pleasant surprise as when they gave us the pass, they informed us that because this was required for autism, we were given a special black Mickey stamp on his pass which meant that we could go to the exit of any ride, including those in the Studios. This was a huge improvement to us over the old system which was not usable in the Studios at all, plus Buzz used to involved queuing through the Fastpass queue.
With the disabled pass collected, we then headed for our - Buzz. After Buzz, we rode space mountain, before working our way over to Phantom Manor
.
One of the issues with our traditional way of choosing which rides we do is that he tends to choose rides which are miles apart from each other, so there is a lot of walking involved between rides. So, we reached Phantom Manor and walked through the exit. It always seems a little disappointing when on Phantom Manor that Disney did not make the effort to theme the walls between the off-loading area and the loading area, as you are instead treated to two very bland, black walls. Apart from that though, the theming on Phantom Manor is extremely well done and we always enjoy a trip around the mansion.
As we got off, we noticed that the Molly Brown had just docked, so we hurried round and went for a trip along the river and around Thunder Mountain.
After our boat ride, we then headed round to POTC
- our disabled pass enabled us to take the front of the boat for the best views, which was lucky.
After pirates, we finally headed off to watch the OUAD parade at the disabled spot nearest to main street station as it was the closest to Inventions where we had a reservation for 8. We thoroughly enjoyed the parade and even received a small amount of character interaction which was good. This was also the first time that I had noticed the smells coming from the parade floats, which adds something to the parade, although they are often too subtle to notice, especially if the wind is blowing the wrong way. We were also lucky enough to get our hands on 2 pieces of ribbon from the parade, so we grabbed one as a souvenir.
As soon as the parade was finished, we got up and headed to Inventions. We made it with some time to spare, which was good. We sat down and after being puzzled about what on earth we wanted to eat from the huge selection of foods for a while, we decided that the best approach was just to eat it all
During our meal, we were paid visits by Mickey, Tigger, Eeyore, Goofy, Gideon, and Pluto. It was slightly disappointing that Eeyore wasn't able to sign an autograph, especially as he was able to in Florida, but it wasn't a real problem.
After our huge meal, we headed back to the park for a second ride on Buzz. After Buzz, we quickly headed to main street to watch Fantillusions, which was as good as we remembered it from a year or two ago. After Fantillusions, we wandered up Main Street and found a spot where we could watch the fireworks from, although it wasn't particularly close to the castle. We watched the (now shortened) Candlabration, followed by the fireworks. Despite having seen the fireworks video already, they were amazing and seemed much better now we were actually there. We also felt that they were much improved over the old Tinkerbell fireworks, which were the last ones we saw.
Once the fireworks were finished, we headed back to the car and drove onward to the cabin. It had been a long day by the time we got back (having got up at about 7am French time and not got back to the cabin until about midnight), but not much longer than any other day would prove to be during the holiday. We settled down for the night, ready to get up early the next morning, in time for EMH.
Anyway, on with the show...
This was our first DLRP holiday in the high summer season since 2002, so we were particularly looking forward to Fantillusions, the Fireworks and the longer hours.
Day 0:
Day 0 started when I got in from work at about 5:30 on the Friday. Having done a grand total of no packing (I wasn't the only one who hadn't finished packing, but at least the others had started
), I put my stuff together and we eventually left for folkestone at about 8:30. We reached the hotel (The holiday inn Express at Folkestone) about 10:30 or so, so we checked in and found our rooms then settled down for the night. The huge advantage of this hotel in particular was that you can actually see the Eurotunnel from some of the rooms.
Day 1:
We woke the next morning at about 6ish and got dressed, half asleep. Our train was just late enough that we had time to grab some breakfast which was ok, although nothing special. We left with what should have been plenty of time to spare, but unfortunately, we ran into some queues at the entrance to the Eurotunnel area, which meant that we missed our train by about 2 - 3 minutes.
Fortunately, we're becoming seasoned pros at having our journey not run to plan, so a missed Eurotunnel train is not much of an issue to us, especially with Eurotunnel's policy of booking you straight onto the next available train, usually at no extra cost.
Surprisingly, the next available train was actually the next train (we had a roof box, so we were expecting to have to wait a bit for a spare high carriage slot because the website suggested they were fully booked), so we parked and went to do a bit of shopping for a while. I took the opportunity to spend some Magic Money on a new camera, replacing the rather dated camera I had before.
Once we had all returned to the car and our letter was called, we were on the train and off to Paris.
The crossing was as quick as ever, so within a little over 30 minutes, we were in France.
3 Hours, 2 Stops and 2 toll booths later...
DLRP!
We parked in front of the reception building at the DCR and collected our information pack and cabin key, then drove round to our cabin. We then unloaded the car and started on the unpacking before heading to the shop for some things, including an autograph book and large pen.
When we returned from the shop, we continued unpacking some more. While unpacking our food, we noticed that there was a hole in the end of the bag. Assuming it to just be an already existing hole, we picked the bread up and noticed the crumbs on the floor of the cupboard.
It was at this point that we realised that a mouse must have snuck in while we were out
, so we quickly headed back to reception to see if they could move us - I didn't really fancy spending the week sleeping in the same room as a mouse. They were very apologetic about it and of course they gave us a new cabin, so we went back to the old one, loaded everything back into the car and drove round to the new one.Once we had unpacked everything (for the second time), we finally drove off to the parks themselves.
We drove through those magic gates and parked in our usual car park (Winnie the Pooh)
. After a short walk towards the parks and through the bag checks, we decided to head into the studios first.We collected a fastpass for TOT, then we headed round to RnR. This always makes a good ride to do early on in the holiday because the launch seems to shake any cobwebs out of my system, as well as kicking in the adrenaline early on and this time was no different.
After RnR, we headed back round to TOT for a much loved ride.
Once I returned from the twilight zone, DM, DB and I then joined the 15 minute queue for the flying carpets but DB was bored within 5 minutes so we had to leave the queue again. After this, we headed over to the Disneyland park instead.
Once through the gates of Disneyland Park, we made our traditional trip to City Hall to pick up our disabled pass. This gave us a pleasant surprise as when they gave us the pass, they informed us that because this was required for autism, we were given a special black Mickey stamp on his pass which meant that we could go to the exit of any ride, including those in the Studios. This was a huge improvement to us over the old system which was not usable in the Studios at all, plus Buzz used to involved queuing through the Fastpass queue.
With the disabled pass collected, we then headed for our - Buzz. After Buzz, we rode space mountain, before working our way over to Phantom Manor
.One of the issues with our traditional way of choosing which rides we do is that he tends to choose rides which are miles apart from each other, so there is a lot of walking involved between rides. So, we reached Phantom Manor and walked through the exit. It always seems a little disappointing when on Phantom Manor that Disney did not make the effort to theme the walls between the off-loading area and the loading area, as you are instead treated to two very bland, black walls. Apart from that though, the theming on Phantom Manor is extremely well done and we always enjoy a trip around the mansion.
As we got off, we noticed that the Molly Brown had just docked, so we hurried round and went for a trip along the river and around Thunder Mountain.
After our boat ride, we then headed round to POTC
- our disabled pass enabled us to take the front of the boat for the best views, which was lucky.After pirates, we finally headed off to watch the OUAD parade at the disabled spot nearest to main street station as it was the closest to Inventions where we had a reservation for 8. We thoroughly enjoyed the parade and even received a small amount of character interaction which was good. This was also the first time that I had noticed the smells coming from the parade floats, which adds something to the parade, although they are often too subtle to notice, especially if the wind is blowing the wrong way. We were also lucky enough to get our hands on 2 pieces of ribbon from the parade, so we grabbed one as a souvenir.
As soon as the parade was finished, we got up and headed to Inventions. We made it with some time to spare, which was good. We sat down and after being puzzled about what on earth we wanted to eat from the huge selection of foods for a while, we decided that the best approach was just to eat it all
During our meal, we were paid visits by Mickey, Tigger, Eeyore, Goofy, Gideon, and Pluto. It was slightly disappointing that Eeyore wasn't able to sign an autograph, especially as he was able to in Florida, but it wasn't a real problem.
After our huge meal, we headed back to the park for a second ride on Buzz. After Buzz, we quickly headed to main street to watch Fantillusions, which was as good as we remembered it from a year or two ago. After Fantillusions, we wandered up Main Street and found a spot where we could watch the fireworks from, although it wasn't particularly close to the castle. We watched the (now shortened) Candlabration, followed by the fireworks. Despite having seen the fireworks video already, they were amazing and seemed much better now we were actually there. We also felt that they were much improved over the old Tinkerbell fireworks, which were the last ones we saw.
Once the fireworks were finished, we headed back to the car and drove onward to the cabin. It had been a long day by the time we got back (having got up at about 7am French time and not got back to the cabin until about midnight), but not much longer than any other day would prove to be during the holiday. We settled down for the night, ready to get up early the next morning, in time for EMH.
about the mouse. I can't stand rodents and we're off to DCR next week. I hope that's not a regular thing.
Lovely pics!
