I Promise To Do A Trip Report This Time PTR

[MichelinMan]

We are going to DLP Sunday 10th July to Thursday 14th July, staying at the Disneyland Hotel .

Cast

Me : 41 year old kid who has never grown up.
Wife : 42 year old whose main purpose in life is trying to make me grow up!
Son Alasdair : 7 years old, who is a bit nervous about rides, but has fallen in love with Minnie Mouse after last trip to DLP, but reckons Princesses are too girly for him now, so Auberge is out of the question this time!

The Background

We went to DLP 2 years ago, and stayed at Newport Bay in an Admirals Room. The reason for the title is that I created a pre-trip report, but never did get around to writing up the trip report - I promise to do one this time – honest!

We loved the Newport Bay, but always said if we ever came back to DLP again, we would have to stay at the Disneyland Hotel, and so that’s what we’ve done. We got a good deal, 4 nights for the price of 3, combined with 15% off for going in July (approx 40% off in total), and we also got 25% off the Eurostar. We did price up Castle Club rooms, but that would have been another 2 grand – won’t stop me asking for a cheeky upgrade when I check in though (you never know, I might get lucky!). We have purchased the Half Board Premium vouchers, but just starting to think they might not be as good value as the last time we went.

Before last time at DLP, I managed to scare the bejeezers out of Alasdair by taking him on The Dragon coaster at Legoland the week before going to DLP. After that (and getting spooked on POTC too) he refused to get onto Peter Pan, and screamed his head off getting on It’s a Small World – hopefully things will be better this time. The wife also managed to get huge blisters that became infected, so the walk from the hotel got longer each day - the proximity of the DLH will be very welcome this time! [Note to wife : don’t wear new shoes this time!] We also got delayed by 4 hours coming back on Eurostar when it broke down and we had to change trains, so hopefully better luck this time!

We had planned on going to WDW this year, but I don’t think Alasdair is ready for a lot of the rides yet so this is a stop-gap fix of Disney, and a test to see if he will be OK next year for WDW.

We are combining the DLP stay with some days in London (taking advantage of the last week of our Merlin Annual Pass we bought last year). Either side of this we are having some days with family in Yorkshire.

The High Level Plan

4-6 July : Holiday Inn, Chessington World of Adventures
6-10 July : Premier Inn London Kings Cross
10-14 July : DLH (via Eurostar)

The Detailed Plan

Chessington

Travel by train to Chessington from Yorkshire. We are staying in a Wanyama family room at the Chessington Holiday Inn, which overlooks some of the animals – a poor mans Animal Kingdom Lodge! We are intending to have a couple of days at Chessington (using our annual passes) before going to back to central London.

London

4 nights at the Premier Inn Kings Cross. We love Premier Inns – you know what you are going to get with them (clean comfortable beds and a decent breakfast, which is all we really want). We stayed at this one last time – it is just so convenient, not just for the Eurostar, but also for our train to Yorkshire, and the Underground station. I was surprised how much the Central London hotel prices have gone up though since last time – the room prices at the Holiday Inn in Chessington are cheaper than the Premier Inn at Kings Cross per night!

We are looking to use our Merlin passes to see Madame Tussauds, the London Eye (again) and the London Aquarium. We are also going to do the open top bus tour and river cruise, and try and catch a changing of the guard at Buck House. For meals we are looking at bookings for Hard Rock Café, Planet Hollywood and the Medieval Banquet.

It is our anniversary on the 9th, so I’ve splashed out on top price tickets to go and see The Lion King.

DLP

Important things first : the meals! We are looking to do Inventions night 1, BBWWS night 2, Blue Lagoon on night 3, and will probably do Inventions again on our last night (as we love it so much) but that might change yet – Agrabah Café sounds right up my street, but not sure about the rest of the family.

Last time I had every intention of making EMH – this time, I have no such expectation, having learnt that DS loves to stay up late every night to see the evening parade and fireworks. We might be able to make it before breakfast the odd day, then go for a late breakfast, but I’m not counting on it.

Must do’s this time include the Tarzan show (which wasn’t on last time) and to do a few more rides – Buzz and Star Tours are top of my list, and I’m going to try and get DS onto BTM and Phantom Manor. I’m also quite keen to see Captain Eo (as a bit of a closet MJ fan – sh, don’t tell my heavy metal friends ). We are also looking forward to doing some more drawing in the Studios – the two drawings I did last time look great in the study – and take in Playhouse Disney which we missed last time. Finally, we will probably do Storybook Boat Ride and Casey Jr as soon as we get there on the Sunday, as last time we left it to midweek, and found out they were only operating those rides at the weekend.

We are leaving on the 14th (Bastille Day) so will be missing the special fireworks that night, but we saw them last time so that won’t be a big loss. Last time we went to the Studios on Bastille Day, thinking it would be the quieter of the two parks, and we were probably right, so we will take that approach again this time.

We will probably have a bit of a break in the middle of the day each day to keep us from flagging, including a few swims in the pool.

Finally, we want to get some more Xmas decorations from the DLH shop, because the ones we bought last time were beautiful.

 

[It'sASmallWorld]

Sounds like a fantastic trip- your son is a lucky, lucky boy!

 

[jothp]

Wow, that sounds like a wonderful trip.

 

[MichelinMan]

To make up for not posting a trip report last time, here are a few photos from the last trip!

First a couple of views from the bedroom window in the Newport Bay – we paid extra to stay in a lakeside Admiral’s Room just to get these views:

Daytime:

The fireworks at night:

Some photos of the parade during the day and at night – we stood near the bandstand to catch the floats as they turned the corner to get some good photos.

The mandatory view of the castle:

The Bastille Day fireworks:

Some great photos from Auberge – highly recommended, but no chace of getting there this year as DS is in a ‘I hate anything girly’ phase.

Some photos from Inventions : again, highly recommended. No decent photos from Café Mickey though – we didn’t have a great time in there.

Oh look Alasdair, there’s Minnie again…

And he finally gets the kiss he was after!

More photos to come soon...watch this space!

 

[loladelorean]

Thanks for sharing your lovely photos, looking forward to your next trip report you are well organised already - meal planning always needs to come first doesn't it

 

[MichelinMan]

A few more photos from the last trip.

The stunt show at the Studios:

Some of the photos from the hotels in the morning (we got loads more photos than this!) - one day, we started off an Newport Bay, then made our way around via SL and HNY getting different photos with all the characters.

Good character interaction behind the stage during Stars n Cars - Stitch and Sulley were having a pretend fight before hugging and making up! we got loads of autographs and photos from here - highlight was one from Cruella, who wasn't signing anything (in character!) but seemed to respond well to me praising her dress, so she gave us an autograph - cue lots of very jealous guests who couldn't get an autograph!

And finally, some more assorted character meets, not all of them organised - I didn't think my Son would be too interested in autograph hunting, but it became the main attraction for the visit.