Jonjo
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2008
- Messages
- 3,093
Here are our traditional highs and lows from our recent trip to take in the last few days of Disneys Enchanted Christmas.
We arrived in London on Saturday afternoon before catching the Direct Eurostar on Sunday morning and we had booked tickets to see the Disney on Ice show 'Dare to Dream' at the O2 on Saturday evening. The show was a little Princess heavy for my liking, but DW enjoyed it and it was a great way to start a trip to DLP.
Highs:
Lows
I'll be downloading all our photos today and will start on a trip report soon. Our next trip is in October for the Halloween season where we will be staying at Hotel Cheyenne, DWs favourite hotel.
We arrived in London on Saturday afternoon before catching the Direct Eurostar on Sunday morning and we had booked tickets to see the Disney on Ice show 'Dare to Dream' at the O2 on Saturday evening. The show was a little Princess heavy for my liking, but DW enjoyed it and it was a great way to start a trip to DLP.
Highs:
- The Eurostar on our way to DLP and on the way back was very empty so we had plenty of leg room and a table to ourselves.
<br> - Seeing the parks decorated for Christmas, DW loves the Christmas season at DLP and Main Street and Town Square looked lovely.
<br> - Magical Christmas Wishes was great, the new tree looks fabulous and the tree lighting ceremony in this new format works very well.
<br> - The Christmas Cavalcade was a fun little parade.
<br> - Being able to watch two versions of Dreams! Disney Dreams! of Christmas was just - wow. If you had already seen Frozen you were going to be in for a treat. This show was great.
<br> - Dreams! - Well what can I say about this award winning show that has not already been said. If you have not seen it, get over to DLP ASAP to watch it. It is the best park closing spectacular at any of the Disney theme parks.
<br> - Cast Members - We meet and had some fun chats with a quite few CMs and taking Duffy and ShellieMay with us meant for some great interaction from the Cast Members and Characters.
<br> - Going in the off season has it's advantages and one of those was the low crowds. All the rides were walk on, and we managed to ride everything in Fantasyland within an hour one day. The longest queue we were in for the whole trip was a 30mins wait for the Disneyland Railroad. We had just missed a train and the next one was the last of the day so we decided to wait for it.
<br> - Hotel New York - We booked a standard room, but the magic was well and truly sprinkled on us and we had been upgraded to a suite on the 8th floor of the hotel with a fantastic view of Space Mountain and the Castle from the window. There was also a bunch of roses, a bottle of champagne and a box of chocolates waiting for us on the coffee table of the room. The cooked buffet breakfast at the hotel was also a bonus.
<br> - VIP Fastpass - Which was a lovely little gift which we only had to use a few times for rides like Buzz, Peter Pan and Thunder Mountain.
<br> - DisAfterDark - joining in on an episode of the DisAfterDark Podcast live from the bar at Hotel New York.
<br> - Cocktail Tour - We took a cocktail tour around the hotel bars one evening which is always a fun way to spend an evening. We started at Café Fantasia at the Disneyland Hotel and worked our way around the hotels to the Rio Grande in the Santa Fe. Where a Glow-tini is 7 Euros cheaper than at the Fantasia. We also got chatting to the barmen who and they were discussing their ideas for entries for this years cocktail competition.
<br> - At the Redwood Bar the barman told us the tale of the Gobblewonker, the legendary monster that lives at the bottom of Lake Disney and has been spotted recently swimming up the Rio Grande River.
<br> - Chip 'n' Dale dancing to 'Dancin' (A Catchy Rhythm) at HNY one morning was wonderful. It's our favourite parade tune and to see these two crazy chipmunks dancing around was a fun way to start your day.
<br> - Organised queues in the park for the random Character Meet and Greet's. These were working fantastically and guests quickly leant how these worked. No pushing or mad scrums to meet the Characters. Just guest waiting in an orderly queue to meet them.
<br> - Weather - Not as cold was we had thought it was going to be, a few sunny days and one day of real rain but much better than what we packed for.
Lows
- Weather - Not a Disney issue, but it did rain once or twice in the evenings during Dreams! so we got a little wet watching it and walking back to the hotel.
<br> - Side Plates - Where had the side plates gone for your bread??? We ate at the Blue Lagoon, Silver Spur Stakehouse, Café Mickey and the Steakhouse in the Disney Village and not a side plate in sight for your bread.
<br> - You get a good spot for Dreams! and then someone pushes in front of you and then they put their children on their shoulders totally blocking your view....... Not much you can do about it, but move to get a better view, and not such a good idea either. We were told by a French couple standing next to us that they had witnesses a very nasty accident on the Saturday night when then saw a child fall from the shoulders of their parents and hit their head quite badly on the floor. The paramedics had to be called and the child was stretchered off to hospital.
<br> - Smoking - yes always a problem. DW told off someone while we were waiting in the queue outside Meet Mickey Mouse one morning. He had his lighter in one hand and a cigarette in the other and she politely asked him not to smoke in the queue and he put them away.
I'll be downloading all our photos today and will start on a trip report soon. Our next trip is in October for the Halloween season where we will be staying at Hotel Cheyenne, DWs favourite hotel.
