Trip Report I need to sell a kidney... but I'm going! - London & DLP October 2012

[Hannikins]

We woke up several times in the night as it was absolutely lashing it down, but luckily come the morning the skies were looking clearer. We were a little late down for breakfast again but it was still rather quiet so no big deal. There was no covert roll snatching today as we had plans to eat at annette’s for lunch.

We pretty much repeated yesterday’s routine today but again despite getting to the studios for 9.30ish we still didn’t get there first and had a bit of a queue for crush. No biggie though we still managed two rides before the wait hit an unbearable 25 minutes.

There were no ‘virgin’ riders at tower of terror today, which was a little disappointing. Although a slogan on a young Spanish boys T-Shirt had us both in stitches. I don’t know if it’s a band or he thought it meant something else but the words “Sit on a happy face” should NEVER be on a child T-shirt

By 11ish we were getting peckish so we headed out of the parks towards annette’s Adam did suggest we eat somewhere else since he had eaten a burger last night, but when I pointed out that this was exactly why I HADN’T had a burger last night he soon gave in ;P

Being early we were soon seated. I love the food here but we never seem to come when there’s an ‘atmosphere’ we even managed to get the only server not on rollers which was a little disappointing ☹

I ordered the strawberry milkshake

and Adam had the oreo cookie milkshake

We didn’t bother with starters or desserts knowing we’d be full so we just had burgers.

I had the onion burger

and I think Adam’s was the rock n roll burger

Both were yummy as always and we left completely stuffed.

Instead of returning to the parks the plan today was the head to central Paris so we headed over to the train station. After a little fiddling with the ticket machines we purchased our two mobilis tickets and were on our way.

We had one of the lovely new trains on the way out which was nice since it displayed all the stops so we could see where we were headed.

On our last visited we’d got off at Auber but this time we decided to try stopping at Châtelet - Les Halles instead for a change of scenery.

Now it’s worth pointing out here that it was around this time that I realised that my phone had no battery and so we were completely mapless. This is always a trying situation for any couple so lets just say that after a few minor disagreements and several “I told you so’s” we eventually reach this.

This wasn’t our final destination but considering we were heading to Notre dame and that’s in the centre of the seine it wasn’t a bad start

It’s hard to believe but we got a bit lost on the island. In fact the only reason we knew where to go was to follow the groups of asian tourists! In our defence this area is rather built up and quite a lot of the government buildings nearby are rather high!

Finally we made it

Every time we’d been here in the past there had been a large queue so we’ve never been inside. Noticing that on this occasion there wasn’t we decided to head straight in.

Now being of a non religious persuasion I don’t go into many churches but this place is a must do. Despite my beliefs there really is just ‘something’ about this place, in the peace and the calm away from the city, you just feel it. You’re not allowed to use flash inside for obvious reason but I managed to get a few shots of the windows

This bit is currently under restoration so I got some shots while it was all light up as well

we headed back outside and as it had just started spitting with rain a large queue had now formed so we had been lucky!

The plan was the head over to the Eiffel Tower but without my phone or a map as backup we were a little lost! I knew we had to be on the south side of the river though from memory so we headed over, planning to walk west along it until we saw a station.

I remember from a previous visit coming this way. There’s lots of lovely stalls setup along the way selling old copies of vogue and reproductions of famous and not so famous paintings.

Eventually we came across a station, Saint-Michel - Notre-Dame. I find the paris metro a lot more complicated than London or New York as they have several different types of trains using the same station which causes confusion. Using the station map however we managed to work out we could catch the RER C (yellow line) to Champ de Mars - Tour Eiffel which was only a short walk from the tower itself. With our Mobilis Ticket covering the journey we hopped on.

From looking at the map outside the station I worked out we needed to walk in a generally north east direction so off we went. We walked though a market area dedicated to selling plants. They had lots of lemon trees and thanks to the rain shower (which was ongoing) you could smell the ripe citrus in the air. We soon reached a large government building and I was getting a little worried we’d gone too far, but we turned the corner and BOOM, there it was

now I know that doesn’t look hard to miss, but it was!

The rain choose this moment to get a little heavier so we sat on the floor under the tower for a little while, looking at the plans and information for the new level they are building up there.

 

[Hannikins]

After 20 minutes when it didn’t look like it was going to be stopping any time soon we decided to make a run (well brisk walk) for it up to the esplanade du trocadero.

Now had it been a nice evening we’d usually sit here and watch the sunset and the tower light up. As it was, the rain got heavier and heavier, so this is an close as we got

Again at the top there’s usually street entertainment but that had all been rained off as well. It’s fairly open up here and as I had a gilet and not a coat like a sensible person I was more than a little soggy from the florida like storm.

We ducked into the first doorway we found, which just so happened to be the Théâtre National de Chaillot, everyone else seemed to have had the same idea. We sat here for 30 minutes but still the rain continued and I remained soggy, and by this point, rather grumpy to boot.

I suggested to Adam that we get the tube up to Arc De Triomphe, knowing we could from a previous visit but he was insistent we walk, in the rain, it wasn’t far apparently.

Well he was right, it wasn’t THAT far, but a 15minute walk in torrential rain seemed like hours.

I wasn’t in the mood to go and look at the arc so I sat in the tunnel underneath trying to warm up a little while Adam took some photos

We wondered up the Champs-Élysées a little, going into the car showrooms along the way. Now the plan had been to head off at this point to one of the many Bistro’s we’d researched on trip advisor and been recommended on the Dibb. Since last time we hadn’t prepared and ened up grabbing a quick mcdonalds. However it was still raining and I was still grumpy, so instead we ended up at one of the awful, expensive tourist traps along the avenue, bracing ourselves for what we already knew was going to be an expensive do.

Now we did walk about a little and I now know with the benefit of hindsight that we picked the worst possible one. Now I’m not one to plan a whole holiday around trip advisor but on returning I was glad I didn’t read these beforehand, as most were DIRE!

We decided to sit outside since although raining it wasn’t particularly cold.

We both ordered the soup to start, and a ‘small’ coke each (The large ones were 12 euros EACH!)

They also brought some bread and olives to the table (I don’t think we were charged for these…)

Anyway the soup was rather nice and we ate most of it.

I wasn’t all that hungry so I order the croque monsieur. Adam on the other hand went for a steak and wedges

Adam’s was ‘alright’ but not really great for the price we paid. Mine was the most expensive cheese toastie I’ve ever had

Now I know what a croque monsieur is, I’ve had lots, but for the price I paid I was expecting something more. I suppose some nicer bread, some hand carved ham. Instead it was processed ham, with just regular sliced white bread and not much cheese, rather disappointing.

The service on the other hand was better, he was probably the most friendly server of the trip. So we left him a small tip and left without dessert or coffee, balking at the price ;P

Instead we headed towards macdonalds and had a gourmet coffee each and shared a small packet of macrons, only the finer things for us!

By now it wasn’t that late but it was already dark

We both agreed that we didn’t want to make a night of it, having both had enough of being soggy and wet.

Instead we headed to the rer station just behind the Arc and headed back to Disney.

 

[Hannikins]

It didn’t take long as all and with time to kill we ended up looking in world of Disney for a while, purchasing a few decorations for our Christmas tree while there.

I really needed some cheering up by this point so I suggested we head over to look at the Disneyland Hotel, perhaps even having a drink in the bar if it was open.

I’ve never been in here and the first thing we noticed was the smell! Not sure if it would get annoying if we stayed here though. The lobby was fairly empty but we headed up to the fantasia bar and took a seat in the main bar where we could hear the piano player.

Adam ordered an expensive cocktail again

and I order a glass of the anniversary wine

I was expecting a small ‘taster’ glass for the 5 euros it cost but this was a large one and well worth the money.

No bar snacks here though which was a disappointment, every other table seemed to have them ☹

We must have sat here for ages as the piano player soon finished for the evening and looking round we were the only ones left. Realising it was getting late we headed back to the lodge… in the pouring rain of course!

The rain didn’t seem to stop them working on the castle though

we noticed this every night, I guess they are setting up the fireworks for the show tomorrow night.

 

[Hannikins]

We woke to the sound of rain ☹ in fact we woke several times to the sound of rain during the night, it hadn’t stopped since yesterday!

Still, we were in Disney, and we had to make the most of it!

I had hoped that an evening hung up in the bathroom would have meant dry jeans and jumpers, it didn’t, we were soggy before we’d even left our room! My shoes were an equally soggy story ☹

Still convinced that things would clear up soon we headed down to breakfast to eat our body weight in pastries. No plastic bags to stash cheesy rolls in today, we were going to sample some more Disney counter service delights!

We didn’t waste long on breakfast, eager to get cracking on our last full day in the parks. I have to admit though that even my resolved started to falter on reaching the hotel entrance, yep, still bucketing it down. Now with hindsight, sitting in the warmth of my livingroom back in the UK, we should have packed it in and either gone to check out the hotel pool or gone back to the room to sit it out on the balcony. But at the time anything other than EMH seemed like a waste and so leaving the sensible people back in the lobby we headed out.

After 10 seconds we were soaked, and pretty much from that point on it could have rained all it liked, I was as wet as I was ever going to be, which with no coat and an absorbent hoodie was VERY soggy indeed.

We managed buzz and space mountain before I realised the error of my ways. Yes we were making the most of our time here but were we having fun? the short answer was no.

It was around this time that I realised my feet were soaking, which considering I was wearing boots wasn’t promising. I discovered a hole in my sole and that was the last straw for me. I convinced Adam that if we could just head back to the hotel so I could sort my feet out I could deal with the rest of the sogginess. He wasn’t pleased and so in stoney silence we marched back to the hotel.

Now again here was my ideal moment to suggest we pack it in until later and go swimming instead… but I didn’t. Instead, on realising that my ballet pumps were going to be even worse at keeping rain out and that I only had one pair of dry socks left I had to get creative. On went the dry socks… followed by a sandwich bag on each foot… then my wet socks and finally my holey boots again! Sweaty? Yes, but more importantly dry!

Dry feet I was much happier so off we went, again in the rain, this time heading for the studios as it was now 9.45

We finally made our first rope drop at the studios and in we went following everyone else towards crush, where we stood, for 15 minutes, IN THE RAIN!! until they let us into the loading area. It was round about now, stood in a big queue, completely sodden, that I actually admitted to myself that I was officially insane, this was stupid and in no way fun, but it was a bit late to change our minds now wasn’t it.

We managed crush three times, noticing the second time that the rain was now nothing more than a light drizzle, TYPICAL!!

Taking advantage of the now clear skies we headed off to get our fill of TOT, RNR and RC Racer.

The plan was to head over to MK for lunch and then spend the afternoon there as I really wanted to find the anniversary cake somewhere.

As it happened on our way through Studio 1 we saw I could get it from the counter service there instead. Adam just wanted nuggets so ordered everything separately. I on the other hand was starving and grumpy so I ordered the anniversary meal deal.

This meant a HUGE burger, HUGE drink, fries and the all-important cake!

I love the ‘stamp’ on top of the burger

Adam’s looked rather sad in comparison, with his 4 nuggets and fries

Adam’s only cost 3 euros less than mine so it goes to show what good value the meal deals are in comparison, although I admit it’s still expensive.

I wanted to save the cake until later but Adam was still hungry after his four nuggets so we shared it.

I already knew this thing was tiny after reading about it in geoffa’s trippie but it was by far the nicest dessert we had the whole time so I wasn’t complaining about the size!

We left the studios as the sound track to harry potter started playing… we weren’t the only ones to find this odd, a few people commented on it on the way out!

The weather was now GLOURIOUS, see, NO SLEEVES!!

With 45 minutes to go we decided to settle down at a good spot to watch the parade, it also gave us chance to enjoy the sunshine and dry off fully

We took it in turns to leave our spot and do some shopping. Adam came back on the last trip with some yummy mickey shaped marshmallows dipped in chocolate, no pictures but they were large so we shared one and kept the other.

As expected just before the start of the show a group of Spanish turned up and sat in front of us, now that didn’t bother me, we were at the back so we could lean, we expect it. What did get on my wick was their decision to park their buggy RIGHT IN FRONT OF US, they could have placed it anywhere along that stretch, but no in front of us it was!! Grrrr. My steely glare ensured the father of the group knew my displeasure and they soon moved it to a more suitable position.

Queue lots of parade pics!

 

[Hannikins]

Overall a nice little parade, I loved the additions of the floating fairies and the princess carriages.

Parade over we headed to the hub to check out the castle in the sunshine

We planned to stay here for the rest of the day so we spent the afternoon working our way through all the rides one final time and took some photos along the way

I love that last pick, anyone who says DLP is looking shabby and needs a lick of paint should take a look at that pirate ship, it’s STUNNING

Not wanting to ruin a fantastic tradition once we’d done everything a few times over we headed off to big thunder mountain to ride it again and again until it got dark, creatures of habit that we are!

We were going to cut it fine to catch Disney dreams again so we hung out behind the gardeners hut, in the spot we’d noticed a few days ago, so we had a quick getaway through liberty arcade.

In fact the view wasn’t half bad!

Once the final fireworks went off but before the ‘end’ we set off at a speedy pace towards the exit, on looking back I could see the hoards catching us up so we sped up a little and reached Café mickeys to be first in line! 2 minutes later and that queue was HUGE so we timed it just right!

On entering I was a little let down to see we were being seated in the conservatory. We’d not been in here before but it felt instantly a little ‘out of it’.

There were only 4 other occupied tables in here but it soon filled up!

Our waiter soon arrived and knowing pretty much what we wanted we ordered drinks and food straight away.

We were surprised to see our starters arrive with our drinks. I know it’s soup but it takes longer than that to microwave it!

Knowing this it wasn’t surprising to see that the soup had a ‘skin’ and was luke warm, it had obviously sat a while :/

Still it was tasty and eeyore came along to make up for a disappointing start

It was around this time when we noticed the stereotypical ‘embarrassing brit on holiday’ they were what I imagine the cast of towie to be like, but with less charm and fewer manners. The woman was in the process of complaining loudly to a cast member that her and her son had only seen 1 character the whole time they had been there (which judging by the number of empty wine bottles on the table was a LONG time). The cast member did what I expect all cast members in this situation do, shrugged. This didn’t help and now whenever a character entered the conservatory she shouted across the whole restaurant at them and when that didn’t get the characters attention she got up and dragged the character to her son, regardless of whether that character was with another family or not. And of course everyone of them had to partake in singing happy birthday to her son and sign and wait for LOTS of pictures

I thought things couldn’t get anymore embarrassing for them and brits on holiday in general until the son announced he needed a wee, pulled his pants down and crouched, I’m sure some of you parents out there will think nothing of this, but he wasn’t a toddler :/ I would have been mortified, they didn’t even seem to noticed or care ☹

Anyway I’m waffling…

We did managed to grab goofy before our mains arrived

Mains were a steak for Adam

and the turkey for me

Both were nice but I couldn’t finish the pasta, the cheese was just too overpowering.

Pluto arrived just before Adam finished his steak so he missed out

Onto desserts!

I had the apple pie and Adam had the profiterole

Adam's was nice but mine was a little soggy.

After the desserts the main man arrived!

We weren’t rushed to leave so we spent time looking into the main dining room watching the character interaction.

The table next to us had a little boy asleep on his chair, they tried to wake him up when Minnie arrived but he was fast asleep so instead Minnie lay down on the chair next to him and stroked his head. It made a lovely picture but I’m glad he didn’t wake up, he would have had the shock of his life!

Just as we were leaving we saw eeyore grab a little girl, wrap her up in his arms and roll around on the floor, she loved it and it was cute to watch.

All in all we enjoyed it, not as much as last time but we enjoyed it all the same. We would much prefer to be upstairs again next time though

 

[Hannikins]

As it was still a pleasant evening we decided to do some last minute shopping in the village.

I really wanted a little mermaid t-shirt but all I could find was this and I wasn’t keen

I much preferred the kiddie one!

this was interesting…

and this was EXPENSIVE

Leaving empty handed we decided to head back to the bar at sequoia lodge to blow our last few euros on two liqueur coffee’s

They were yum!

It wasn’t until we got back to the room and finished packing that I realised I was still wearing sandwich bags on my feet! A small cruel part of me contemplated keeping them for Adam’s sandwiches tomorrow but the lovely wife side of me won out…. Or did it ;P

 

[Hannikins]

October 2012 - I need to sell a kidney... but I'm going! – Day 8

Soooo late writing this, Christmas has gotten in the way and December seems to be the month everyone orders wedding stationery so it’s been mega busy! Just coming up for air so I thought I’d finish this off. A have a pre trippie to write now to so I’m eager to get started on that!

Where were we…

We woke to, wait for it, CLEAR SKIES!!!

We finished off the packing and headed down to breakfast. Today was a Friday and the breakfast room was noticeably busier than it had been during the week, the weekend crowd had obviously arrived overnight! We heard quite a few English accents today for the first time too. Hats off to the mother with 5 kids wearing her dressing gown and curlers, nothing like a bit of multitasking!

Fed and watered we went back for the cases and a final look at the view before heading down to reception to checkout and then bag drop to leave the luggage.

We made it to Disneyland Park for the final time and despite breakfast been busy EMH was the quietest we’d seen it, no idea where everybody went!

We saw Minnie coming out for a meet and greet so headed towards the queue, walking round and round the empty queue line much to the amusement of the CM

We headed towards the castle first. I wanted to make the most of the clear skies and get some photos within the castle.

I love the DLP castle, it’s just so much more magical than CA or WDW to me.

I tried to prove to Adam that the months at the gym were paying off

but it wasn’t to be ☹

Final ride on dumbo next. Adam decided to go in his own so he could take a picture

I’m happy, honest

Saying goodbye to fantasyland we headed towards Discoveryland for a ride on space mountain.

Head suitably shaken we decided it would be fun to ride on orbitron. Now we’d been on this before, in a ‘ship’ each but we’d both found it difficult to stay seated as there was bags of room, or so we thought!

With this is mind we decided to get in the same ship, together.

DO NOT ATTEMPT this ladies and gentleman!

Adam and I are pretty joe average in the BMI department so we were obviously going to fit….

Adam jumped in first , spreading his legs so I could get in between (I’m not going there, this isn’t a JamelUK trippie!). Now I tried to get in between but my derriere was considerably larger than the gap allowed so I thought sitting on Adam’s lap was the next best thing, it wasn’t judging by Adam’s wimpering. Not wanting to risk any future family planning I had to hover, using my hands to balance. I couldn’t even get the seatbelt on, and the checking CM didn’t seem to care! Just as I was about to call it quits and get my own… WE SET OFF!!! Want happened next was a series of balancing acts and position changes I feel were probably left out of the Karma Sutra as they were deemed to difficult and counter productive!

In need of recovery, and preferably the opportunity to sit on a solid seat of my own we headed to Buzz.

My gun didn’t work so we decided to work as a team, Adam shooting and me pointing out the highest scoring targets.

At the end, after all my help, I was branded a cheat! Apparently I had within held the knowledge of which shapes scored the most points for all these years! Typical man! It’s not a secret, read the instructions!!!

With his new found knowledge I was forced to ride again so he could use this knowledge to beat the evil emperor Zurg and become the intergalactic space ranger he knew he was always destined to be.

He did it, and boy was he smug about it ;P

After that performance we decided to head over to the studios to get a few hours in there before lunch.

On the way out we spotted the main street transport in full swing, they were obviously expecting a busier day, we’ve never seen two out together before

 

[Hannikins]

We managed to reach the Studios before opening and so managed to ride crush’s coaster a few times before the crowds arrived. I could have kept this up all day but we had other rides to do sadly

Rc Racer was next up

followed by several rides on RnRC

This is Adam’s favourite photo of the trip, apparently I’m enjoying it just a little TOO much, a fact which he was kind enough to share with everyone else gathered around the photo wall :/

Time was running out so after a final ride on TOT we headed towards the exit and the village.

We were both a little sad by this point ☹

We had a 12.30 ADR at the steakhouse so when we arrived we were the first in and the place was dead.

I had reservations about eating here as it seems to be the marmite of DLP restaurants, some people have fabulous meals, others have awful ones.

Our waiter was the best of the trip, he was funny, trying to make us laugh and helpful almost to the point of being annoying!

We both decided to stick with the set menu

Adam had the Caesar Salad

and I had the Bay City Cassolette

We ended up sharing as I don’t like mussels but love salmon and Adam was the opposite.

Both were nice, the cassolette was a lot nicer than I was expecting in fact.

For Mains we both has the Rump steak.

I ordered it Medium in the hope it wouldn’t be too well done. We were in luck, it was just right. The steak had plenty of flavour and wasn’t chewy at all. YUMMY!

For dessert I had the village crumble which had replaced the Old Fashioned Apple Pie à la Mode on the menu

It was tasty, certainly better than the one we’d had at the Manhattan, it was warm for a start!

adam had the Bailey's Crème Brûlée

Just after this picture was taken the glass bowl exploded! I expect from the heat. They ‘Brûlée’ it tableside and I think too much of the sugar was under the dome which made it crack. Our waiter was mortified but when he saw us laughing he soon joined in and bought a new one out to us.

Overall this was my favourite meal of the holiday, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

Once outside we noticed that the sun was well and truly out, it was barmy summer weather. Adam decided he wanted to spend the remaining euros on some fudge from the shop on main street. Not wanting to re-enter the park as I’d now said ‘goodbye’ I waited in the village and sunbathed, in OCTOBER!. Fudge purchased we walked back to pick up the suitcases and headed for the train station, but not before getting a final piccie…

122 DAYS TO GO!!!!