Malin's DLRP Trip Report 29th of Febuary to March 2nd 2008

Friday the 29th of February 2008

Part 2

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Leaving the Village I came upon one of the best and most stunning entrances to a Disney theme park, the Disneyland Hotel.

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Entering the park I notice some big crowds about, which is always a good sign that the current new attractions as well as the kids under 12 go free offers are working for this Resort. Did I mention the Sequoia Lodge, Montana Rooms were the cheapest rooms I was able to book two weeks before my arrival.

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After a full day travelling I was feeling hungry and turned towards Discoveryland for a bite to eat. Paid a visit to Café Hyperion. I noticed crowds gathering in this restaurant, and looking over towards the Lion King stage next show was 10 minutes. I joined the line for food and ordered a Cheese Burger with fries. What I like about eating here is that you choose the toppings for your burger from a salad bar, which if your like me and hate gherkins, you don’t have to pick them out of your food here. Found a sit on one of the top floors and enjoyed a French version of the Lion King show. Still an incredible show and one of the most underrated attractions at DLRP.

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Leaving after the show I headed back over to Main Street where I noticed the Castle Bridge was under refurbishment. Heading into Frontierland next I noticed the Molly Brown turning around the next bend to offload and pick up the next round of guest. As this is always one of my favourite attractions due to it being an relaxing experience I couldn’t resist getting into line. The sky by this time was starting to turn dark, so it was perfect time to take a cruise. One thing I did notice and not sure how long this has been the case but the erupting geysers were not err erupting.

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Returning to dry land I made my way over to Phantom Manor. Line was a walk on. During my last trip I wasn’t impressed by the overall condition of this attraction. Very unhappy to report than that condition are worst. While some improvements have been made including the return of the dog, many things have gotten worst including during the stretching room where its now making a horrible noise and various props not working, the Crow is missing during the piano scene, the Phantom isn’t moving at all during the ball room scene. Through the final Phantom is very animated indeed. Also the bride needs the lights on her candle replacing, this is a problem I noticed in Sept and its now worst. This attraction really needs a decent refurbishment soon.

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Leaving the attraction I noticed the great lighting on Big Thunder Mountain and made my way over to the line. Sadly the attraction went down while in the line and I decided rather than wait I would leave. This is the second time I’ve had the attraction go down as the park is closing, hmm maybe some are wishing to go home early.

It was 7.00 pm and park was closing so I made my way over to Main Street to find the Candlebration show going ahead. This is the first time I’ve seen this show in the dark and you can truly appreciate just how amazing the lights look on the Castle. Shame most guest will never experience this.

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The park was closing so decided to hit the shops instead of joining the lines now leaving the park. Looked around for a bit before hearing Mickey’s voice. I followed it to find him above the train station waving good bye to all the guest for the day. I’ve also seen this happen during closing at the Magic Kingdom and I think it’s a nice way to end your day at the park.

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Leaving I headed back over to Sequoia Lodge for my reservation at Beaver Tavern. A Cast Member explained that I was allowed to go up as many times I wished and help myself to everything. The selection was huge and catered to all tastes. I wished I had skipped the starters through as it was a selection of pate’s and coleslaws, which I wasn’t to keen on. The main courses were fantastic with pizza’s, fries and chicken nuggets to gammon ham, lasagne and many more choices. Deserts were a huge selection of pies and cheesecakes, and cheese and biscuits. Well worth the money but I do feel this restaurant would be better as table service than another buffet, aimed at half board meals.

After the meal I left giving the Cast Member a tip, to which he ran after me to personally shake my hand and thank me. Nice to see in some countries its still appreciated.

I decided to pop back to the Village for a bit of shopping and came across a cute Mickey plush wearing his parade costume and a collection of Disney Characters dressed as Star Wars characters. Overjoyed with my purchases I made my way back to my suite, where I was able to view the Castle and Tower of Terror all lit up. This was a wonderful way to end what had been a long day.

Day 2 and part 3 coming soon…
 
Excellent update, can't wait for the next one.
 

I've just noticed that your suite appears to have two double beds in it - is that right? I've never seen that layout of suite at SL before - looks lovely though!

Enjoying your report. :goodvibes
 
I've just noticed that your suite appears to have two double beds in it - is that right? I've never seen that layout of suite at SL before - looks lovely though!

Thats correct there are two double beds, but both could be made up into sofa's.
 
Saturday the 1st of March

Part 3

Instead of making the most of the free continental breakfast, I decided to get a bit more sleep and skip it. Today the park wasn’t due to open until 10.00 am but thanks to Extra Magic Hours, hotel guest and guest holding the Dream Annual Passports are given access to some of the Disneyland park’s attractions two hours earlier.

I made the short walk from Sequoia Lodge over to the parks by passing through the Village. The weather today was rather wet and grey and had me thinking if tonight’s St David’s Day Fireworks show would actually end up taking place.

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Upon arrival at the park I made a quick stop at City Hall to book reservations for lunch at the Silver Spur Steakhouse. I also made enquires about the Fireworks, which were still planned to go ahead and in order to get a decent place I should arrive about 30 minutes before hand as the park was expecting a large crowd today. By the way one thing of interest I did notice was the lack of any advertisement the park did regarding the fireworks. Apart from the odd leaflet, no other announcements were made. Anyway I was happy to visit City Hall early as I had no wait and when I returned later on people were waiting outside the Main Street building. A bit of advice I think for anyone who is wanting to book reservations or find out about park information is to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours and visit early.

As I left City Hall I saw quite a few people already waiting to meet Mickey & Minnie in Welsh costumes, even through they were not scheduled to appear until 10.15am. I walked up towards the Castle which was one of the attractions opened.

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Next time we will tour the Castle
 
Saturday the 1st of March

Part 4

Picture tour of Sleeping Beauty Castle



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Part 5 coming soon
 
Saturday the 1st of March

Part 5

After leaving the Castle I came across Fantasyland.

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Only a number of selected attractions were open this morning which included some attraction in Fantasyland and Discoveryland. I decided to take Fantasyland on first as this is usually always a bit of a nightmare to enjoy when the park starts filling up. Due to high winds Dumbo was kept closed, but I did get to have a spin on the Tea Cups. Next was a trip on Pinocchio followed by a short by Paris time anyway 20 minute wait for Peter Pan’s Flight.

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By this time it was about 20 minutes before the parks official opening and the crowds were starting to show up. I quickly walked over to Discoveryland to ride Buzz which was posting a 30 minute wait.

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After Buzz I made my way over to Town's Square where both Mickey and Minnie were out greeting guest in Welsh costumes to celebrate St David's Day. The wait took 90 mins and reminded me of being at Tokyo Disneyland. In fact I actually spotted a few Tokyo Disney Resort fanatics in the park, many of which were waiting to meet Mickey & Minnie too.

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After meeting Mickey & Minnie it was getting close to my 12.00 pm lunch reservation over at the Silver Spur Restuarant. So I made to Big Thunder Mountain to pick up a Fast Pass for later in the day. The whole Big Thunder Mountain area was very crowded, and I had trouble locating the FP Machines. Found them soon enough through and got my ticket for later in the day.

On the way over to the Silver Spur Resturant I bumped into Pluto who was out greeting guest.

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I arrived at the Restaurant a couple of minutes early and was seated almost straight away. Restuarant was quite empty but did start to fill up by the time I left. Starter was a wrap with Smoked Salmon inside.

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Next was a Grilled sirloin steak with chips and Pepper sauce.

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And finally the desert was Big Thunder Ice Cream Sundae.

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The meal was nice but was kind of dissapointed with the pepper sauce as I was expecting more of a taste to it. But would certainly eat here again, very good.

Part 6 coming soon.
 
I love love love your reports :yay: your photos are brilliant and I like the look of that smoked salmon wrap!
 
Lovely report and pics. There's nothing like some Disney restaurant pics to get the tastebuds tingling. :goodvibes
 
Thank you for your TR and for all your pictures; especially for the inside-Castle pics. :thumbsup2
 
Saturday the 1st of March

Part 6

After lunch I made a quick trip over to Phantom Manor as its a great attraction and the wait is never too long. I just wished it was looked after better, but I've heard a refurbishment is scheduled for June.

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Next my FastPass for Big Thunder Mountain was due so I made my way to the entrance. It was nice to see CastMembers being strict on the rules here by refusing many people who turned up too early for there window.

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By now it was getting quite late and I wanted to try out the new Tower of Terror on this trip so I made my way over to the Studios for a quick visit.

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Sadly my time was limited here as I wanted to get back over to Disneyland Park to watch the last performance of Mickey's Winter Wonderland. My first stop was Tower of Terror to pick up a FP for later on. The line for this new attraction was a respectable 45 minutes. With FP in hand I checked out the new placemaking, and I have to admit a job well done. This park is starting to resemble a real Disney park, lets hope the rumoured Theatre District get the thumbs up soon.

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While I was waiting for my window I visited Toon Studios. Joined the 50 minute line for the fun Crush Coaster.

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As I was taking some pictures of the Cars attraction, I spotted The Incredible's and Mickey posing for pics.

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Next was my return window for Tower of Terror, I have heard that 2 differnt versions of the ride is available with either French or English on offer. I was going to request an English show but in the end decided to go with what ever I was given. This was the French version and I'm happy I did as the French voice over was very good and really added to the attraction. This attraction is almost the same as the current version at Disney's California Adventure and is a fun ride, and very much welcome addition to the Studios. Hopely this will be the attraction will turn around the Resorts luck.

On the way out you pass through the gift shop which was stocked with a large selection of TOT gifts. To say this is the new attraction I was a bit shocked to only find it available for sale in one shop through out the Resort.

Time was getting on and I only had about 15 minutes before the start of Mickey's Winter Wonderland. So I power walked back over to DLP and I noticed the parade was in show mode on Main Street and stopped by a couple of secs before cutting through the indoor arcades.

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I made it to the theatre with moments to spare. The show was a lot of fun and sadly it was performing for the last Weekend before Tarzan returns for the Summer. But don't worry I'm sure this show will be back this winter. Mickey and Minnie ice skating was very cute.

While in the area I had a quick look at Woody's new meet & Greet.

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My next plan was to do some shopping over in the Village, and dropping it of in my suite before returning to the park. I arrived back about 7.20 to find loads of people already leaving. Did none of these people realise the park was open till 10 tonight with a Fireworks display.

I had one of those foot long hotdogs and a coke before making my way over to Fantasyland. I did a trip on Its a Small World which was looking clean and fresh but a lot of AA's not working. Finally I made the short walk over to Adventureland to enjoy many front row trips on POTC. We were given the option of staying on as many time as we liked. A tip this attraction is always a walk on late at night and its best to ride during this time. Upon leaving POTC I noticed a lot of areas being closed of due to the fireworks and I decided I should also make my way over to Main Street.

This years Fireworks for St David's Day were titled Dreams in the Sky, and the music was from Fantasmic. Beautiful display and a great way to end what had been a very enjoyable day at Disneyland Resort Paris.

Final part coming soon.
 
I love reading your reports, they're so informative. Thankyou for sharing :goodvibes
 
Sunday the 2nd of March

Part 7

I woke up about 8.00am and got ready to leave. Made my way to reception to store my lugage hand in my room key card. Reception was packed with many also wanting to leave bags behind and what seems like hundreds of people wishing to check in. As most rooms were unavailable yet the left bagage area is full and rooms were being moved to another room across the hotel complex. Great to see the Resort so busy.

I first walked over to the train station to pre pay for my RER and Metro train tickets for use later in the day. I than walked back over to the Studios and made it to the first showing of the day of the Stunt Show. Not seen this show since 2003 but its hardly changed at all. Stunts are all well produced but some parts do drag on.

After the show I left to leave the park passing by Studios 1, where I had a quick counter service meal. While enjoying my grilled chicken sandwich, the resturant started to fill up. Upstairs wasn't open but many people were looking around for a table to sit.

I was running out of time and made a quick visit to DLP to ride a couple of attractions, namely Phantom Manor and Big Thunder Mountain. As well as check out Adventureland.

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Leaving the Manor I made a short side trip to one of the hidden treasures of DLRP, Boot Hill.

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I was running out of time so started to make my way over to the exit. On the way I ran into The Character Express.

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I than left the park, walked over to the Seqouia Lodge to grab my bag and was on a train back to the Centre of Paris by 2.00pm. I hope you enjoyed my trip report of Disneyland Paris, I will be in Hong Kong around May so expect another trip report plus pictures than. As for DLRP the Resort is in good shape and credit has to go out to Karl Holz and his management team for the great job there have been doing. While not everything is perfect, the Resort has shown huge improvement and I can only hope that it will continue this year with the opening of Tower of Terror and Stitch Live. I hope to be back maybe later in the year, possibly November for Christmas and I can't wait.
 
great report and even better photos - thanks for sharing!:flower3:
 
That was a great report, i really enjoyed reading it. Fantastic photos too and wow that was great about the upgrade too!!

luv
#ashleigh#
 
Excellent report and pictures. Thanks for sharing.
 












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