jillrobinson
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2005
- Messages
- 6,953
The cast
4 adults Me and DH Rob, sister Ann and her hubby Matt
3 children - my DS's Liam 6 and Jamie 11 and my niece Jessie 3.
The Trip.
Left Abergavenny Friday morning for the trip to Ashford I'd found a B&B on the net with 2 family rooms available for the
night before departure and the night of our return with free parking and all for £200.00. It wasn't quite as grand as it
looked on the website, but the rooms were adequate, the bedding freshly laundered and the host was very amiable. Taxis
arrived Saturday morning to ferry us to the Eurostar.
First hiccup of the trip, my DH who suffers with sciatica hurt his back lifting the cases into the luggage rack, my heart
sank - he's done this before and been in agony for days after, luckily as well as his routine prescription tablets we'd also
brought some strong painkillers and there was nothing we could do but sit back and wait and see how his back reacted to the
trauma.
Second hiccup - there weren't any documents onboard for our check in, whilst I was fairly confident in the CM's explanation
that this sometimes happened, my sister was starting to panic, having phoned the hotel the day before I knew were booked in
so I wasn't too worried, although I did attempt to phone the NPB from the train to calm my sister, but ended up using up all
my credit and running my battery down whilst on hold. Not wanting to do the same to everyone else's phone I persuaded Ann to
go with the flow, though I'm not sure she was convinced. Anyway as promised when we went to the Disney Express desk ( after
removing painkillers from the suitcase to dose up DH ) I explained what had happened and the CM organised temporary 1 day
park tickets for us, although when he disappeared with my Passport for what seemed like ages, I was starting to worry myself,
how many times have I read about not giving your Passport to anyone.
First impressions of the Park.
With our tickets in hand we headed for the park and Ann, Matt and Jessie's first view of Disneyland and like any little girl
Jessie was suitably impressed by the Disneyland hotel. We dashed through the turnstiles and into Main Street, the Carnaval
music was playing and there were characters everywhere, Ann went to get a stroller and Jessie didn't know here to look first,
we went to see Alice and the White Rabbit, Chip and Dale, Donald and Daisy Duck, unfortunately they were all being mobbed and
I realised just "how busy" the park is at the weekend, we've always been during the week before.
Got into Fantasyland and there were long queues for every ride, I thought long and hard and decided if we had to queue we'd
do it for It's a Small World, Liam and I had spent the train journey teaching Jessie the words and her dad thought we should
get it over with, actually it only took us about half an hour to get on and it was so worth it, although I couldn't find the
Welsh dolls, but there were a lot of Irish ones, presumably in anticipation of the St. Patrick's event so I guess they'd been
moved - I love this ride and I think everyone else was suitably impressed. Next we did Casey Jnr. which we hadn't done
before, I don't think the cleaners had been told that the ride was open, it wasn't scheduled to be and it is the only
time I've ever seen overflowing bins in the park. After a ridiculously long wait the ride was a bit of a disappointment, not
helped by the fact that it was bitterly cold by this time. We had Cafe Mickey booked for 6.30pm and given the confusion over
our documents I thought it would set everyone's mind at rest if we went and checked into the hotel beforehand.
We walked through the village and I admit I like the new design with the coloured "balloons", the whole place seems more open
and you don't have to avoid the pillars, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly we arrived at the Newport Bay Club, not
too bad a walk at all plus there's so much to look at on the way.
The Newport Bay Club.
We chose the NPB because we liked the look of it, but oh boy - photographs do not do it justice, even with scaffolding
covering some small sections it is most impressive and despite what I've read on other boards it was immaculate, you enter
through huge glass doors into the lobby and then up a flight of stairs to the Reception area, which is stunning, an enormous
globe forms the centre piece of the area.
We were booked into the Admiral's floor so straight to the dedicated check in, no queue, we were dealt with immediately. I'd
read about the staff here being offish, I'll dispel that rumour straight away, all of the CM's I spoke to at the hotel were
courteous, helpful and friendly, even passing in the corridors they always said Bonjour. Our documents were all present and
in order and we had a choice of GMF breakfasts so we chose Tuesday, (our Travel Agent hadn't prebooked it for us) and we were
given an elaborate invitation to have our hotel breakfasts in the "Captain's Quarters" at any time between 8 and 10.00 am and
informed that the porter would bring our luggage to the rooms.
We were on the 7th floor of the West Wing a short walk from reception to the lifts and then just around the corner to our
rooms. Some of you will remember that I had telephoned the hotel to ask if I could arrange a surprise in the room for Liam
as it was his birthday. We were promised balloons and we got balloons - everywhere - there must have been at least 15 of
them all on those plastic sticks and arranged around the beds, he also got an autograph book and a card signed by Mickey,
Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy.
The boys were over the moon as the room had bunk beds and I'd told them they had to share a double, I didn't know bunk beds
were an option at the NPB. My sister had the room next door and there were adjoining doors inside the rooms much to the
kids delight, Ann's room had 2 double beds. The children all had a cuddly toy on their beds along with a couple of chocolate
coins. On our bed was a welcoming letter and what looked like some beautiful Belgian chocolates, I didn't actually see those
go I was too busy oohing and aahing over the room, the bathrobes, the little bottles of Shampoo and Bubble Bath, the NPB
notepaper and postcards and the view.
Our luggage arrived quickly and we changed and headed to Cafe Mickey.
Cafe Mickey
We were seated quickly, downstairs and our waiter Christophe was absolutely superb with a wicked sense of humour, almost
immediately the characters appeared, Captain Hook took a shine to Liam's lanyard
and then demanded my rings and when I couldn't get them off as my fingers were swollen he offered to use his sword to help,
luckily the quick thinking guy on the table next door shouted "Peter Pan's behind you" which diverted his attention away.
Stitch is just the grossest character ever - he went around poking about in everyones'ears and licking his fingers, much to
the kids delight which egged him on to start scratching his bum and doing the same - yeuch.
Next came Baloo and Goofy, the characters spent lots of time at every table and everybody's children were so well behaved,
there were no kids running to other people's tables, everyone sat and waited their turn. Suddenly Aretha Franklin's version
of "Think" from the Blues Brothers came on and all the CM's and Characters started dancing, with everyone in the restaurant
either up dancing or clapping along too - Captain Hook had some really fancy dance steps. Our meal's arrived and they were
wonderful I had Simba's Steak and a "Cosmopolitan" cocktail which was awesome, Rob & Matt had Pluto's steak and Ann had a
rack of lamb, all were beautifully presented and delicious. The kids all chose the Chicken Nuggets - everything was eaten,
for dessert I chose Topolino's Cream - a creme brulee which I'd highly recommend, I'm not sure what the others had, the
second lot of characters had arrived and this time we got Minnie & Mickey and the Genie from Aladdin. I called Christophe to
ask if we could have the Birthday Cake I'd ordered, to which he threw up his hands and said "You've all had desserts, you
can't eat a cake as well", the birthday music started up and Liam said "Somebody else has a cake" we'd already seen 2 or 3
others in the restaurant have cakes, but I'd kept this as a surprise, his face was a picture when Christophe passed it over
his head and put it down in front of him and Mickey, Minnie & the Genie all came around the table to sing and help blow out
the candles - it was magical.
Christophe was right there was no way we were going to be able to eat the cake, so he packed it into a box for us along with
the candles and the cake topper so we could enjoy it back at the hotel. "Think" came on again and the dancing started -
Minnie was wonderful, she joined hands with Jessie and a couple of other little girls and they danced together in a
circle,
If I hadn't been so busy taking photos I think I would've cried, when the music finished she gave them all a kiss.
It was getting late now and we were all tired so we headed back to the hotel, this was the most expensive meal we had during
the trip but well worth it, the restaurant was full, but the food was fabulous as was the character interaction and the atmosphere, I wouldn't
hesitate to book here again - it had been a wonderful first night.
Sorry if I've gone on a bit - I'm still on a high, I'll try and make the next one a bit shorter and I'll resize the pics too.
4 adults Me and DH Rob, sister Ann and her hubby Matt
3 children - my DS's Liam 6 and Jamie 11 and my niece Jessie 3.
The Trip.
Left Abergavenny Friday morning for the trip to Ashford I'd found a B&B on the net with 2 family rooms available for the
night before departure and the night of our return with free parking and all for £200.00. It wasn't quite as grand as it
looked on the website, but the rooms were adequate, the bedding freshly laundered and the host was very amiable. Taxis
arrived Saturday morning to ferry us to the Eurostar.
First hiccup of the trip, my DH who suffers with sciatica hurt his back lifting the cases into the luggage rack, my heart
sank - he's done this before and been in agony for days after, luckily as well as his routine prescription tablets we'd also
brought some strong painkillers and there was nothing we could do but sit back and wait and see how his back reacted to the
trauma.
Second hiccup - there weren't any documents onboard for our check in, whilst I was fairly confident in the CM's explanation
that this sometimes happened, my sister was starting to panic, having phoned the hotel the day before I knew were booked in
so I wasn't too worried, although I did attempt to phone the NPB from the train to calm my sister, but ended up using up all
my credit and running my battery down whilst on hold. Not wanting to do the same to everyone else's phone I persuaded Ann to
go with the flow, though I'm not sure she was convinced. Anyway as promised when we went to the Disney Express desk ( after
removing painkillers from the suitcase to dose up DH ) I explained what had happened and the CM organised temporary 1 day
park tickets for us, although when he disappeared with my Passport for what seemed like ages, I was starting to worry myself,
how many times have I read about not giving your Passport to anyone.
First impressions of the Park.
With our tickets in hand we headed for the park and Ann, Matt and Jessie's first view of Disneyland and like any little girl
Jessie was suitably impressed by the Disneyland hotel. We dashed through the turnstiles and into Main Street, the Carnaval
music was playing and there were characters everywhere, Ann went to get a stroller and Jessie didn't know here to look first,
we went to see Alice and the White Rabbit, Chip and Dale, Donald and Daisy Duck, unfortunately they were all being mobbed and
I realised just "how busy" the park is at the weekend, we've always been during the week before.
Got into Fantasyland and there were long queues for every ride, I thought long and hard and decided if we had to queue we'd
do it for It's a Small World, Liam and I had spent the train journey teaching Jessie the words and her dad thought we should
get it over with, actually it only took us about half an hour to get on and it was so worth it, although I couldn't find the
Welsh dolls, but there were a lot of Irish ones, presumably in anticipation of the St. Patrick's event so I guess they'd been
moved - I love this ride and I think everyone else was suitably impressed. Next we did Casey Jnr. which we hadn't done
before, I don't think the cleaners had been told that the ride was open, it wasn't scheduled to be and it is the only
time I've ever seen overflowing bins in the park. After a ridiculously long wait the ride was a bit of a disappointment, not
helped by the fact that it was bitterly cold by this time. We had Cafe Mickey booked for 6.30pm and given the confusion over
our documents I thought it would set everyone's mind at rest if we went and checked into the hotel beforehand.
We walked through the village and I admit I like the new design with the coloured "balloons", the whole place seems more open
and you don't have to avoid the pillars, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly we arrived at the Newport Bay Club, not
too bad a walk at all plus there's so much to look at on the way.
The Newport Bay Club.
We chose the NPB because we liked the look of it, but oh boy - photographs do not do it justice, even with scaffolding
covering some small sections it is most impressive and despite what I've read on other boards it was immaculate, you enter
through huge glass doors into the lobby and then up a flight of stairs to the Reception area, which is stunning, an enormous
globe forms the centre piece of the area.
We were booked into the Admiral's floor so straight to the dedicated check in, no queue, we were dealt with immediately. I'd
read about the staff here being offish, I'll dispel that rumour straight away, all of the CM's I spoke to at the hotel were
courteous, helpful and friendly, even passing in the corridors they always said Bonjour. Our documents were all present and
in order and we had a choice of GMF breakfasts so we chose Tuesday, (our Travel Agent hadn't prebooked it for us) and we were
given an elaborate invitation to have our hotel breakfasts in the "Captain's Quarters" at any time between 8 and 10.00 am and
informed that the porter would bring our luggage to the rooms.
We were on the 7th floor of the West Wing a short walk from reception to the lifts and then just around the corner to our
rooms. Some of you will remember that I had telephoned the hotel to ask if I could arrange a surprise in the room for Liam
as it was his birthday. We were promised balloons and we got balloons - everywhere - there must have been at least 15 of
them all on those plastic sticks and arranged around the beds, he also got an autograph book and a card signed by Mickey,
Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy.
The boys were over the moon as the room had bunk beds and I'd told them they had to share a double, I didn't know bunk beds
were an option at the NPB. My sister had the room next door and there were adjoining doors inside the rooms much to the
kids delight, Ann's room had 2 double beds. The children all had a cuddly toy on their beds along with a couple of chocolate
coins. On our bed was a welcoming letter and what looked like some beautiful Belgian chocolates, I didn't actually see those
go I was too busy oohing and aahing over the room, the bathrobes, the little bottles of Shampoo and Bubble Bath, the NPB
notepaper and postcards and the view.
Our luggage arrived quickly and we changed and headed to Cafe Mickey.
Cafe Mickey
We were seated quickly, downstairs and our waiter Christophe was absolutely superb with a wicked sense of humour, almost
immediately the characters appeared, Captain Hook took a shine to Liam's lanyard
and then demanded my rings and when I couldn't get them off as my fingers were swollen he offered to use his sword to help,
luckily the quick thinking guy on the table next door shouted "Peter Pan's behind you" which diverted his attention away.
Stitch is just the grossest character ever - he went around poking about in everyones'ears and licking his fingers, much to
the kids delight which egged him on to start scratching his bum and doing the same - yeuch.
Next came Baloo and Goofy, the characters spent lots of time at every table and everybody's children were so well behaved,
there were no kids running to other people's tables, everyone sat and waited their turn. Suddenly Aretha Franklin's version
of "Think" from the Blues Brothers came on and all the CM's and Characters started dancing, with everyone in the restaurant
either up dancing or clapping along too - Captain Hook had some really fancy dance steps. Our meal's arrived and they were
wonderful I had Simba's Steak and a "Cosmopolitan" cocktail which was awesome, Rob & Matt had Pluto's steak and Ann had a
rack of lamb, all were beautifully presented and delicious. The kids all chose the Chicken Nuggets - everything was eaten,
for dessert I chose Topolino's Cream - a creme brulee which I'd highly recommend, I'm not sure what the others had, the
second lot of characters had arrived and this time we got Minnie & Mickey and the Genie from Aladdin. I called Christophe to
ask if we could have the Birthday Cake I'd ordered, to which he threw up his hands and said "You've all had desserts, you
can't eat a cake as well", the birthday music started up and Liam said "Somebody else has a cake" we'd already seen 2 or 3
others in the restaurant have cakes, but I'd kept this as a surprise, his face was a picture when Christophe passed it over
his head and put it down in front of him and Mickey, Minnie & the Genie all came around the table to sing and help blow out
the candles - it was magical.
Christophe was right there was no way we were going to be able to eat the cake, so he packed it into a box for us along with
the candles and the cake topper so we could enjoy it back at the hotel. "Think" came on again and the dancing started -
Minnie was wonderful, she joined hands with Jessie and a couple of other little girls and they danced together in a
circle,
If I hadn't been so busy taking photos I think I would've cried, when the music finished she gave them all a kiss.
It was getting late now and we were all tired so we headed back to the hotel, this was the most expensive meal we had during
the trip but well worth it, the restaurant was full, but the food was fabulous as was the character interaction and the atmosphere, I wouldn't
hesitate to book here again - it had been a wonderful first night.
Sorry if I've gone on a bit - I'm still on a high, I'll try and make the next one a bit shorter and I'll resize the pics too.
Oh Jill, that was absolutely wonderful. I can tell you're still on a high, all the excitement is showing in your report! 
Sounds like a wonderful birthday for Liam. 
In the end I'm ashamed to say that I decided if you can't beat 'em join 'em 
