Live Report 3!!

[jodyb]

Hi Again everyone - it's Friday noon. very bad weather today. Wind and rain. To answer previous questions, we've been bundling up in long underwear, scarves hats, the whole thing - and till now we've been fine. But rain is a bit undcomfortable. No real snow since we've been here (just the bubbles on Main street!).

Yesterday was fantastic - Rode BTM at night - just after the tree and Castle lighting - views beautiful from the ride!

Christmas parade far better than I remember from last year - and LOVE the music...

Haven't been to McDonald's but will try to check on the Narnia toys today.

Someone asked if WIFI is free - no, it's 10 Euros for 2 hours, and the 2 hours have to be used in the same 24 hour period. Very steep I think, but I have to choice - must keep up with work on this trip, so I'll write it off as a business expense but still that's 70 Euros I'd rather not have had to spend (we're here for a week and I need that 2 hours per day). On the positive side though, it's fast, and works from the room as well as the public areas of the hotel.

Got those chocolate covered strawberry skewers from the Bavarian market last night on the way back to the hotel, and had them in bed with hot chocolate from the lounge downstairs for a late night snack. OMG - heaven!!!

Sorry I haven't been able to answer your questions as quickly as I'd planned - I seem to use up my time on work (I know, I know... but I'm still managing to enjoy Disney a lot!!! and I'll have detailed reports for you next week!!)

That's it for now.

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Enjoy the rest of your day !!!
Maybe that rain wil stop !!!

Awww,you are in the middle of MAGIC !!!

This is what Santa says during the parade ... wow !!!

Lucky you !!!
Laura

 

[tialucy]

Jody, you are wonderful for taking the time to give us live updates, thank you. Glad to hear that you're wrapped up all nice and warm and I hope you don't get any more rain. You still have loads of time left, I hope you enjoy every single minute

 

[tialucy]

Enjoy the rest of your day !!!
Maybe that rain wil stop !!!

Awww,you are in the middle of MAGIC !!!

This is what Santa says during the parade ... wow !!!

Lucky you !!!
Laura

Laura, for some reason every message I read that is from you gets me 10 times more excited than I already am. Your passion for Disney is wonderful.

 

[Kernow_Clan]

Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God I am getting excited now.

Jody , thanks so much for the live reports, I will get Mandy (DW) to sit down and read these tonight when I get home.

Chocolate Strawberries in Bed - DREAMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jodyb]

It rained off and on all day but we managed a great day anyway! We saw Anamagique which we really enjoyed, then took a spin on the magic carpets even though we are "too old"!
Then we walked in the rain to Disneyland and the sun broke through at EXACTLY 4:00 and the Christmas parade rolled out! Brilliant!!!!
It started raining again as the parade wound around the castle... we went off to Adventureland to see Mickey's Winter Wonderland again - this time as darkness fell - LOVELY!
Liav wanted to ride Indiana Jones so I occupied myself with shopping while she rode... it was raining but not too hard. Oh, got Liav a poncho in the Village on the way over and she was quite dry - I braved it in my parka, and since it wasn't too cold outside the wet didn't bother too much.
Skies cleared at 6 for the lighting ceremony!!! But then a light rain caught those performers at about 6:10 PM and it rained steadily after that. They lit the castle and MS nevertheless, and it was as gorgeous as ever. Everybody that didn't run out of the park (many did) was rewarded by the wonderful sight and music... aaaahhhh... really what's a little water in the face of that!!????
Well, here I am with another skewer of strawberries!!
More tomorrow everyone!!

 

[Cyrano]

Jody enjoying you live reports

Strawberries sound heavenly

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

... here I am with another skewer of strawberries!!
More tomorrow everyone!!

AWWW !!! yummy !!!! I LOVE strawberries !!! where do you get them from ??
I feel ... envious !!!

Enjoy ... a magic night !!!
A kiss to Liav !

laura

 

[Ware Bears]

Hi Jody, those strawberries really do sound yummy!

 

[jodyb]

The strawberries are from one of the stands in the Bavarian christmas market which is set up in the Village during the season. they are expensive (5 Euros for 4 albeit very large, strawberries dipped in chocolate - your choice of white, dark, or milk chocolate). absolutely wonderful.

It's Saturday morning now - Liav is still sleeping so I brought my computer to the lobby - lovely Christmas music, hotel is quiet. I'll go down and get coffee and hot chocolate to bring up to the room in a few minutes. Outside it's CLEAR - going to be a sunny day!!

We're planning to enter the park early and soak up the early morning atmosphere again and maybe ride Peter Pan which we haven't done yet!

More later! Happy weekend before Christmas everyone!!

 

[diberry]

That sounds blissful - the anticipation of sitting quietly in the lobby with the prospect of SO MUCH excitement to come and a beautiful day too!!! Enjoy your day!!!!

 

[dlpSteve]

The choco strawberries sound awesome - that'll be a nightly (for all of the two nights we are there) tradition for us. What's the Bavarian Market like? I'm so looking forward to see it again - lots of video footage will be taken and photos too - a mini website dedicated to it is in much need - a very under-rated part of the Christmas experience in DLRP.

 

[diberry]

Well, we know we can all look forward to an extra specially long trippie and loads and loads of wonderful photos when you get back Steve!!!! Really looking forward to seeing your photos too Jody!!!

 

[jodyb]

Wow! What a crowd today!!! NEVER have I seen so many people in a Disney park at one time!!!! OMG!!!
We went straight to BTM, but it was closed!! So off to Phantom Manor - no queue, miraculously, I guess it was early and nobody had made their way all the way over there yet! BTM was open when we went by afterwards, but the line was already VERY LONG!!!! What a difference 15 minutes makes! We skipped that and walked over to Fantasy Land, and could NOT BELIEVE how many people were in the park!!! It was all of 10 AM at this point..
IASW - long queue, but actually moved pretty fast. Oh, forgot to mention that before going to Frontier Land first thing, we'd taken fast passes for Peter Pan, and they were good starting at 11:55. So at around 11:55 we went back toward the ride, but OMG!!!!! the line for fast pass holders was all the way over to Dumbo!! I have NEVER seen anything like this!! It was clear that even with fast pass we'd be waiting a LONG time for PP, so we looked at one another and said... "miss". We went over to the entrance to the theater for Le Noel Mickey. But the theater filled and we missed entering. We did not want to queue for an hour for the next show! Hmmmm.... what to do now? It was very cold...:COLD: very crowded.... we'd already been here for 5 wonderful days and this was just.... ridiculous! Well, let's have lunch!
We had to fight our way out of the park through the throngs of humanity!!!
Whew! Out of the park!!! OMG, here come about a million more people!! I could not believe they would or could let them all in! Every nook and cranny seemed full already!!!
We went over to - guess where... Annette's, and miraculously, we got a table immediately... warmed up... enjoyed a lovely lunch....
It was clear that neither of us wanted to brave the park again, and it was very cold and windy so we ducked into the train station - I wanted to buy a magazine or book for what looked like an afternoon in the room....
I found some light reading material, and we took the shuttle back to the hotel. Aaaaahhhhhh the lovely Sequoia - a haven in the wilderness indeed!!!!
Liav watched a Disney movie, I took a hot bath and read, and noooooowwwww... wish us luck - off we go to try to see Fantillusion with half the population of the Earth! LOL
Tomorrow's our last day!
Hopefully more later after parade (and maybe more strawberries! )

 

[diberry]

Oh Jody - I do remember it so well from this very same weekend last December - it feels like everyone in France and half of the rest of the continent is in the park!!! Sounds like you managed to do quite a lot even so!! Very sensible to have a warm and restful afternoon in the hotel!! I really can't believe you've been there 5 days already - can you?? I hope Fantillusion was wonderful - well, I know it always is and you know the good spots to watch it from to avoid the worst of the crowds !!!

 

[jodyb]

Diana, thanks for the vote a confidence, but what actually happened was less stellar. We just could NOT get anywhere close to a good spot, and the crowds and cold were just a little too much for us. We went back to the hotel and got a cozy spot by the fireplace (no fire though) and burrowed in for the evening. Liav had a non-alcoholic cocktail and I had tea... now we're back in the room waiting for the evening Disney Movie to start. Not the stuff of brilliant trip reports I guess, but really, I just don't enjoy crowds and this is something I never could have imagined!!!
Never mind - this is why we come for a week - no pressure and no need to commando on through. We like it this way.
Tomorrow I may come on line for another live report, but if not - back home on Monday and I'll start my actualy trippie.

 

[Cyrano]

I agree it is helpful to have a few days at the park. fairly takes the pressure off

 

[MICKEY'S DREAMERS]

Jody,it sounds like you two had a nice day anyway !!!!
I do hope we don't find those crowds in January!!! I agree there is no fun when you have to fight your way among ... half population of the Earth!!

Glad you had some rest and glad to know "old" SL is still cozy and "warm" !!!

Did you rub the bear nose ?

Laura

 

[diberry]

Well, you've got a great attitude I must say!! I had a real sense of humour failure when that happened to us last year - but it was our first day and I feared it would stay like that all week (it didn't!!!!) Glad you've had lots of good days before the crowds arrived!! Enjoy your last day, have a safe journey home and we'll wait (fairly ) patiently for your trippie and photos!!!