May Trip Report updated with more photos

[Johnny_boy]

TR 1701 – Star date 02052010

The Crew:

Captain John (4-6 yo), chief navigator, finance officer, luggage transport, kiddie carrier, trip recorder

1st Officer Clare, chief buggy propulsion, wardrobe, sensible head

Princess Amélie – chief princess, chief communications with other children, liaison, friend making

Ensign Johannes – dumbo fan, chief charmer of other children's mothers (he blagged 2 seats on the bendy bus by smiling at mums with kids)

The Mission: enjoy the parks , take photos

Day 0: Saturday 1St May, kids excited, eventually got them to bed when my mobile beeped around 9:45 am – had to dial into a call at work, got off the phone at 445am and off to bed...still not fully packed

Day 1: Sunday 2nd May, awoke too early, finished packing, took DIS advice and stuck laptop and camera into another suitcase for Easyjet flight. My dad came to our house and took us to the airport in our car which he then took back to ours. I had a bit of hassle with passport control as I had to take the laptop out and the guy pointed out my case was probably a bit big for carry-on. Clare didn’t realise nail polish etc. counted as liquids – half her makeup ended up in little bags.

We managed to get the case through the gate as the staff were distracted with the buggy! It was fine in the overhead lockers. The flight left 20 minutes late due to congestion at CDG but we made up the time.

Arrival in CDG was ok, we walked for ages to the TGV terminal, jumped in a lift and went down to level 1 which the lift said was TGV....mistake! We should have gone to level 2 to collect the ticket as level 1 was the platforms, we walked down the platform and checked the blank screens but no sign of a TGV on our platform though there was 1 two across from us.... We waited almost 10 minutes for the lift to come down from level 5 then I ran up the stairs, spoke some crappy French to the assistants then realised they spoke English, they helped me retrieve my ticket, told me the lift was broken and advised me to use the one along from it, and told me what platform I should be on.

We missed the TGV by the time I got everyone back up then down there. We got an exchange through the machine but the next one was late so we finally got to Disney about 8:35. Cue the buggy jamming – turned out it was the buggy board strap but I snapped it getting the buggy open – could things get worse? Yep! We got to the bendy bus stop as the Buffalo Bill show finished and we had a load of rowdy people pushing each other and smoking in the queue. I guessed we would have low priority with our buggy and suitcases so we turned and walked to the Cheyenne. The kids ran out of energy and I ended up pushing all the cases with Clare dragging one and pushing Johannes in the buggy and Amélie on the buggy board. We then failed to find the entrance to the Cheyenne for about 10 minutes before someone showed us (we’d come in the back way and you can’t see the front because of the fence).

We dropped the cases off at the room and made for the Chuck Wagon at 9:30 and grabbed a pile of food – the crowds were quite bad but nothing too much. The food was very good but the meal felt too rushed as it closed at 10pm.

After the meal I sat Amélie on one of the bar “horses” and one of the CMs came up and started chatting to her in French, I explained she didn’t understand and she carried on in perfect English and asked Amélie if she’d like to join the CMs in a dance. They all did some line dancing to Achey Brakey Heart which was very funny as Amélie failed completely to follow but still enjoyed wearing the cowboy hat and being part of it.

Day 2 – Monday 3rd May - Things get better! We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and it wasn’t too busy, we headed to the park then Clare remembered she hadn’t brought her shareholder’s card – oops! A 10 minute trip back on the bus and she returned – we looked round the village and got some cash while she was away. When we finally got through the gates – the kids broke into huge smiles and got out of the buggy/off the buggy board and just spent ages looking at everything – suddenly all the previous day’s hassles were worth it.

We headed to the castle and Amélie saw her pal the dragon – Johannes didn’t like it!

We had to drag her out and stop him running out! It started raining so we took shelter in a shop and Mary Poppins walked past and her beau took Clare’s umbrella – her face was a picture! He handed it back a few seconds later.

We did the carousel, then Dumbo, fast passed Peter Pan, did IASW, ate at Toad Hall. The fish tasted like frozen Harry Ramsden’s fish you can buy out the supermarket but it was freezing outside and it was warm inside the hall so we coped. The kids hated their sandwiches, I ended up eating the emmental off them – mmmm. We didn’t get the ice creams that were part of the kids meal so I had to go back and ask. Clare and I had the fresh fruit with the red fruit dip – lovely.

We did POTC, LCDRobinson – the water wheel was very rusty and the last time we were there it was turning cogs that pulled water up via ropes or something (it was 4 years ago soi maybe I'm making that bit up), the rope had snapped and the tree looked like it needed some TLC.

We also did adventure isle and the pirates beach – the kids enjoyed that. They loved Alice’s Curious Labyrinth – great fun but Amélie banged her neck on the playing card photo spot when she slipped getting off – she was wailing until I pointed out we could climb up the castle in the labyrinth....” waaaahhhh---oooohhh can we go up there?” in one breath! Kids! Her neck still has a mark on it but it’s fading fast.

We wandered into discovery land and had a look round but Johannes had spotted the train earlier so we ended up getting that after a 10 minute wait. He fell asleep after asking us to stay on a bit longer so we did a full circle then got off somewhere else (it’s all blending into one day to be honest!).

We ate in Annette’s in the evening, the kids had the tomato pasta, we had nachos to start (we all shared them) and Clare had the classic burger while I had the fajitas which were very mild but very tasty, Clare had the apple pie for desert while I ordered the espresso, mini brownie, mini-milk shake and doughnut, Johannes had the chocolate mousse and Amélie had the ice cream with smarties. Clare had a glass of wine as well.

As desert was being served, Greased Lightning was heard from below (we were upstairs) and we ran down and watched it from the stairs. It was a good rendition though one CM at first glance was either very cool or very unenthusiastic, though looking again; she was just playing it cool as she was smiling away at the others. We also saw a waiter in roller skates!

When we got upstairs, the other CMs were doing a wee dance routine – very entertaining. The kids got Frisbees under the plates which they loved.
We used standard HB vouchers and had to pay a €17 supplement though €5 of that was for the wine. We gave the waiter €25 and he seemed happy with the tip.

Day 3 – Johannes’ birthday
We had a fairly long lie as we were booked for 9.30 breakfast at Cafe Mickey. We’d just brought the one present for Johannes as we were short of room in the suitcases – we’d packed so much as the weather kept changing daily as we approached the trip. He was delighted with the pressie anyway so it worked out well.

We were a bit late in getting to CM and I’d run on ahead. With Johannes as Clare and Amélie were looking at something outside one of the shops. Another family was behind me and were standing in the doorway and wouldn’t let Clare past, the woman was on her mobile and trying to pretend she didn’t see Clare while her husband stood and stared at them. The CM saw my tickets and beckoned us forward and basically asked the other family to move to let Clare in – they seemed pretty annoyed. I didn’t see them in there later so maybe they weren’t booked as it was pretty full and only downstairs was open.

We got settled and got some food then the characters came round, Johannes freaked out the first couple of times and hid under the table but soon settled on Clare’s knee for photos – Amélie just loved them all. We had Pluto first – he licked Clare and Amélie, then Mickey came along and Pluto licked him as well which was hilarious.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4585808239_fe35b71e74_b.jpg

We also had Minnie, Goofy, Eore and we saw Pooh and Donald but they didn’t come to our table and the Lion with the crown (we couldn’t remember his name – I think he’s from Robin Hood which I saw as a kid) who Amélie was a bit afraid of!

Afterwards we ended up at the Studios for the first time ever, we saw the Playhouse Disney show which neither of the kids seemed over enthusiastic about until they released bubbles then they loved it! We’d asked if we had time to see the show then the cars show and were told we did but the advice didn’t include toilet stops so we missed that! We did Armageddon next which Amélie enjoyed but Johannes was a bit upset at – I didn’t realise it would be so intense.

Clare and Amélie did the Tower of Terror next and I took Johannes onto the flying carpets where the old adage if you’re not fast you’re last proved right as they asked for two people to fill a carpet and I held up my hand (I was behind a party of 4) and the woman behind the party of 4 behind me nearly flattened us all as she ran forward! Johannes really liked it and wanted to go on again but the queue was quite large so we skipped it. When I returned to the buggy, Amélie’s Minnie mouse balloon had either blown away (unlikely as it was tied on) or had been stolen – unhappy wee girl when we met up later....

We ate in the counter service place in Studio 1, Clare and I had the double cheese burger, the salad, Nestea, a hot tea and a Mini-magnum which was some kind of mega-deal – we couldn’t eat all of it! I can’t remember what the kids had but they ate most of it. I was just going to have a salad as the sausages at CM had disagreed with me but I was feeling better by the time I ordered and fairly did some damage to the food!

We watched Stars in cars and then went to the car stunt show which was freezing cold but pretty good. The kids found a huge fan outside the exit and played there for ages with leaves and other things.

We left after that, the queue for Crush was 90 mins or so. We went back to the main park and did Phantom Manor which was good fun – and also the only ride that seemed to be running there! We wandered round after that, did IASW again and Dumbo then discovered Peter Pan fast passes were done for the day so we headed back home to the Cheyenne but ended up in Billy Bob’s instead. We had to wait a bit and the kids somehow broke the dividing rope between the booked and the non-booked (us). Looking at it, it had been tied together badly after being severed at some point so it wasn’t really them – they were just going under it and back. The CMs didn’t seem too bothered so we guessed it wasn’t really them breaking a 1inch thick rope!

Great food and not too busy – the jelly seemed to be popular with everyone – adults and kids! Great fresh fruit salad as well. The starters were fantastic, two or 3 with olives (a favourite of mine) and some great salads. The mains were very tasty though I missed out on the fajitas which were being replenished as I was up there (no room after I realised) though I did get the first choice of the roast beef – nice and pink or medium-well done as the French would probably refer to it as! (DW asks for it very well done in France, I like it rare).

Part 2 to follow!

 

[Mum to Belle]

Great stuff!!

Think the lion in CM was Prince John from Robin Hood?? He sucks his thumb in the film if I remember rightly?!!

Love the fact that your kids want to play with a big fan when they are in Disneyland - classic!! My DD is just the same!

Would you not recommend Toad Hall then? It is on my provisional list for lunch on Monday! Annette's sounded good though?

Shame about your DD's balloon! Hope she wasn't too upset? We won't get one this time as we're flying but it drove DH mad last time as it was always getting in the way!

 

[mommy2ash]

thanks for sharing it sounds like you had a great time.

cant believe someone stole your balloon thats just terrible.

 

[Johnny_boy]

Great stuff!!

Think the lion in CM was Prince John from Robin Hood?? He sucks his thumb in the film if I remember rightly?!!

I think you're right on that, it's coming back now. It;s an old film, I'm not sure why they still have the characters there though.

Love the fact that your kids want to play with a big fan when they are in Disneyland - classic!! My DD is just the same!

Ams just wanted to go ice skating the whole time as she saw it on the trip to the hotel as we arrived. When we actually took her, it was closed because of the windy weather - oops!

Would you not recommend Toad Hall then? It is on my provisional list for lunch on Monday! Annette's sounded good though?

We used your planner quite a bit as you'd put most of the places we planned to eat anyway. The fish was ok but nothing like real fish and chips, it was in mock newspaper with pictures of Mickey. The hall is small - we had 2 seats at the end of a table with Jo-boy in a high chair and me just getting a bit of space. The kids sandwiches were chicken and cheese - the kids just ate a bit of the roll. We're spoilt because we get a fish van on a Tuesday and it's really fresh so we probably were being a bit fussy. It tasted ok at first while it was warm but as I progressed it just seemed very greasy and tasteless.

Shame about your DD's balloon! Hope she wasn't too upset? We won't get one this time as we're flying but it drove DH mad last time as it was always getting in the way!

Jo-boy was sleeping when we bought it so we didn't get him one as we wanted him to choose but he wasn't that bothered. I lost track of the number of times it hit me in the face! We were going to have to abandon it at the end of the holiday anyway. She wasn't too upset fortunately.

All in all a good time was had and we're looking into doing it again next year but driving staying in the Paris suburb of Vincennes which is about 30 mins away.

 

[Johnny_boy]

thanks for sharing it sounds like you had a great time.

cant believe someone stole your balloon thats just terrible.

We thought it was pretty low to be honest. It could have blown away as it was quite windy but I can't really see how. We had a motion sensitive cable lock which must have been going off so they must have had a real brass neck!

I think the worst thing I saw was on day 3. We'd got separated after breakfast and Clare and Amélie had gone off to the park thinking we were on the bus. When we realised this (text) we headed for the park and we were standing in a fairly small queue and the bus stopped. The guy in front of us started pushing a wheelchair forward towards one of the doors, and a guy and his two kids pushed in front and the guy had this huge smug grin on his face that he'd got to the front first. I just shook my head and a few others did the same. There are some people there that just spoil the whole experience for everyone.

Our faith in humanity was restored when we got on the bus which soon filled up and this woman noticed Johannes standing and told her daughter to move over and beckoned on me to hand him to her. She sat with him on her knee chatting away to him in Spanish like a cat that had got the cream before putting him down next to her daughter. I think it's his auburn hair and/or his cheeky smile but he seemed very popular with some of the mums and always seemed to get a seat beside their kids.

That reminds me - as we were heading back to the hotel to be picked up by Ezyshuttle, there was a family on the bus that didn't get off at the park which looked a bit odd but we thought they'd maybe forgotten something - been there! We arrived back at the hotel and the guy put his head down and started shaking it while the woman glared at him and gestured with her hand - they'd obviously not realised they were at the park and stayed on the bus - I felt so sorry for him - he was going to get some ear-bashing Fortunately it's less than 5 mins return so maybe he'd get off lightly

 

[Mum to Belle]

Oooohhh, so does that mean that the ice skating IS still on????? (Weather permitting!!) DD& I luuuuurrrrrrvvvvvveeee ice skating! Ice skating at Disneyland would be !!!

Hmmmm, now you've got me re-thinking lunch on our first day...

 

[Johnny_boy]

We walked past quite a few people ice skating on the Monday but only 1 person the next time. I was assuming you hire the skates stvthe Rockafeller Plaza as they had notices up there but the shutters were closed.

 

[Ms Poppins]

Great tr! Glad things got better after the first day.

Yes, it's Prince John from Robin Hood - I've just recently got that on dvd for our ds (5) and he loves it - classic Disney.

We thought Toad Hall was ok last year, the fish was quite good. It's one of the few counter service meals that I think is a bit different, instead of the usual burgers/nuggets. Hope it's not changed too much.

Your kids look like they're having a ball - looking forward to the next day.

 

[Johnny_boy]

Great tr! Glad things got better after the first day.

Yes, it's Prince John from Robin Hood - I've just recently got that on dvd for our ds (5) and he loves it - classic Disney.

We thought Toad Hall was ok last year, the fish was quite good. It's one of the few counter service meals that I think is a bit different, instead of the usual burgers/nuggets. Hope it's not changed too much.

Your kids look like they're having a ball - looking forward to the next day.

Thanks for confirming Prince John, I thought it was King John so I was close. I remember getting the figures in cornflakes packets many years ago when the film was out - showing my age now!

Toad Hall was very busy and it was very cold outside so we might have been unlucky. We thought the roast chicken was the best counter service meal we had.

The kids really had a ball to be honest though they were glad to be back home afterwards.

 

[Johnny_boy]

I've covered Monday and Tuesday so far, Wednesday was another day showing promise weather wise in the morning. DD wanted to wear her Cinderalla outfit so we made her put warm clothes on underneath and we all went down to the Cheyenne for breakfast. DD got a lot of complements from the staff taking the vouchers (in Spanish - we got confused for Spaniards a lot - I blame DW's jacket, looks Spanish).

We found a table and started getting breakfast for the kids and us, one staying with them and one going up - the Cheyenne trays are a bit flimsy to carry much weight!

On one of my trips back I thought the wee boy at the table across from us was wetting himself - turned out he'd put one glass of orange juice inside another full one and the resultant spill was covering him. I ran over and moved him over, Clare handed me serviettes and I cleaned it up, I put serviettes on his knee and he managed to clean himself up. Both kids were on their own, their parents had left them while they went to get food, I'd say they were each about a year younger than my two...wouldn't have been me leaving them even at Disney.

As we left, Clare and I managed to miss each other and made our ways separately to the park with me seeing the incident with the wheelchair I mentioned before.

When I arrived, Clare and Amélie were about to head back - it was really windy and freezing so we all stayed on the bus and returned with coats and some more layers. We decided to try Salon Mickey for the first time so we wandered over and knocked on the door and were let in. It's lovely!

We were asked for our membership card and park passes and let in. We had the mickey hand biscuit and pain au chocolat and some nice coffee. Amélie knocked over her orange juice so we turned her reversible cinders dress to the rag side and she enjoyed cleaning it up while Clare told the story of Cinders.

Afterwards, we headed into the park and fast passed Buzz Lightyear did the riverboat (seemed to be the first day it ran), IASW, Dumbo, Carousel and a wee trip back to see the dragon, we also saw Snow White and Belle as we headed back from Discoveryland and passed the stage where they did a meet and greet - huge queues but fortunately Amélie wasn't that bothered about the princesses -phew.

We watched the show outside the castle about sleeping beauty for a bit as well.

We headed back and did Buzz, Johannes didn't get the hang of it (the gun was too big for his hand) and scored 0, Amélie managed 5,000, I got a pathetic 7,5000 and Clare got 17,500. We got stung for a buzz lightyear light up toy and a couple of laser guns afterwards!

Lunch was very late after breakfast and Salon Mickey in the Chalet de la Marionette. We realised the kids lunch was the same as Toad Hall so just ordered two roast chicken meals, one with chips and one with carrots and the lovely fruit salad. We just shared it between the 4 of us and promised the kids ice cream from the Gibson Girl for pudding - they were happy with the arrangements!

We wandered down and watched the parade getting ice cream which was delicious Ben & Jerry's. The parade was excellent and afterwards we just strolled round for a bit and headed home early and walked through the village hoping to get some ice skating for Amélie but it was closed.

The kids had a good play at the fort at the Cheyenne while Clare headed off to book tea. We headed back in time for a 7.30 tea and some packing but the only meal slot we could get was 9:15. We just bathed the kids and dressed them again, packed and then headed off to the reception for a bit, the kids played for ages in the play area, Johannes again charming another 2 women with his red hair - the Spanish and Italians loved his hair colour, I suppose it's a bit unusual for them.

Tea was horrible, what a scrum. I took the two kids in for food after we found a table - the last one while Clare sat at it. We returned with some plain rice for them and rice and paella for me, glad to be alive. It was chaos, 5 people deep at the ribs and chicken and people just rushing and pushing everywhere. A lot of food was running out and I have to say I really didn't enjoy it as much as the first night. The kids were pretty tired and didn't eat much and Johannes finished his milk carton for the first time so no tea for us later as we generally used what he didn't drink for our cuppa.

We got up reasonably early on the Friday - me first surfing to check our flight was running. Johannes woke up pretty early and was a bit grumpy for the first couple of hours - think he was also hungry. We had breakfast at the Plaza Garden - entering by the entrance next to Salon Mickey as the middle ones had horrendous queues.

The breakfast was great, very quiet and civilised and we then did POTC, Peter Pan, Aladdin, the Nautilus, some more shopping, Pocahauntus play area, and had a wee wander about before we realised we had to head back to be picked up by Ezyshuttle soon.

We asked the kids what they wanted for lunch and they liked the idea of sandwiches so we had some in the side street half-way up Main Street. It was pretty warm by then so we sat outside and saw the new generation parade go up then down Main Street. We also saw the Paddy Wagon driving up and down for the first time and we'd noticed the keel boats running as well but too late to do them. Our last day was the warmest and also the day that many of the attractions opened.

We had ice lollies and ice creams afterwards then got on the bus back to the hotel, where Ezyshuttle were waiting for us. I didn't catch the lady's name - it was Fa...something but it was a bit windy and I didn't hear her properly. She was lovely and helped us load the luggage and she had 3 seats, Amélie chose the booster, Johannes sat in a standard 5 point harness seat and promptly fell asleep before we really left Disney! The journey back was smooth and everyone fell asleep for a few mins at least.

Easyjet were a pain, they had two huge queues, we stood in the shorter which said Edinburgh and 2 other places. Nobody else spoke English in the queue so Clare asked me to check we were in the right one as it was getting near to our check-in time. I asked an easyjet employee and we were ushered through, the guy then asked others in the queue and they were also ushered through.

I didn't get away with my suitcase and had to pay €22 as it was marginally too large for the bag sizer. We were told that our online check-in was wrong and we had to be at the gate at 15:30 not 16:00 for boarding - yikes it was 1515 at that point. We rushed through to find she'd told us porkies, the flight was 52 minutes late so we hung around in a small cramped area with not enough seats for about an hour and a half.

The flight back was fine, we collected my dad from the wrong end of the airport - he was waiting at UK arrivals and departures - he hadn't read the sign properly!

The kids were glad to be home, Johannes spent ages playing with his cars before getting his toy plane and spending ages "pushing back from standing" and taking off and landing it, boarding and disembarking (or de-planing as we heard it called in the US) the passengers, telling them the door was shut so no mobile phones - he picked up the key phrases!

Summary

Overall the kids really enjoyed it, we've had more plane play from Johannes as well as a flying train (he was on a flying boat so I suppose...).

We did enough but not everything, we skipped some shows as the kids preferred the rides. We missed some rides like Orbitron as it wasn't as appealing to the kids as Dumbo - they didn't say they wanted to go on it and didn't seem that bothered. Crush was too long a wait and the same with Star Tours.

The bad weather has done some damage to roads (just like back here) so some bits don't look as magical, smoking is still a big issue there - I only saw someone being told off by a CM once. At least I only saw someone doing it once in a queue and he was quite far in front of me.

The parks were very pretty with the spring flowers and the CMs great, we had a lot of horseplay from them, especially one guy clearing up in the Cheyenne who pulled out his cowboy gun at every opportunity - all the kids loved him!

The only real downside was the pushing but I think that's a cultural thing, we Brits queue, nobody else does, I've seen it too many other places outside of Disney as well.

We're looking at going back next year but staying off site and driving in, that way we'll maybe see a bit of France as well.

 

[Johnny_boy]

I've added some more photos.

full set here

 

[Mum to Belle]

Great stuff! Glad my DD wasn't the only one spilling things in Salon Mickey!!

Totally agree with your comment about the spring time - the parks looked fantastic, all the grounds were so well kept, Mum was very impressed!!

 

[Johnny_boy]

We kind of sneaked out of the salon just as the CM came back into the room, there was a fair amount of crumbs under our table... We'd got the juice cleaned up though!

 

[Johnny_boy]

added this video - not sure if it will work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJeA9JdFVDk

 

[tennisfan]

Great report. I really enjoyed reading it, thanks for sharing