marcus.ka
Disney Hotel Fan
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2005
- Messages
- 1,584
The Saturday started again with my pain in the food and with very beautiful weather, blue sky and not too cold.
At 9:00 we were at the Disneyland Park as this was an EHM day. But there were already a lot of people in the park. And as we wanted to be again among the first for Crush we only did Pinocchio and left the park after this one ride to queue for Crush.
As the weather was more than perfect the whole resort was horribly crowded and at 11:30 the waiting line for POTC looked like this:
This was also the first POTC day after 2 weeks refurbishment. And so we got in line for one of my favorite attractions. After 60 minutes we could get into a crowded boat.
During the ride we noticed that the swinging pirate was not swinging and this on the first day after 2 weeks closure.
When we got out of POTC the whole park was filled with people, and therefore we decided to go back to the hotel for a short break as we were not willing to wait for 130 minutes in the cold to ride BTM or 120 minutes to do Buzz.
At 16:00 we were back for the OAAD parade with blue sky and no rain. Right after that we had a reservation for Walts as this was the only time window we had between the parade and Enchanted Candleabration at 18:00. But the park was so crowded that we needed 12 minutes form Fantasyland to Walts. As the parade was still on we had to walk through Fantasyland and Adventureland to get to Mainstreet.
At Walts we had a very nice table near a window in the Mainstreet room.
The dinner at Walts is always a must do and a highlight of every trip. I just love the atmosphere and this time it was even better with the Christmas music inside and the Christmas decoration outside. And while we ate our Walts Gourmet Burger it was getting dark and every 30 minutes we could see the snow on Mainstreet. *how magical*
Closeup Christmas Lights
At 18:00 we left Walts to see the Enchanted Candleabration. As from this time on many guests with a wristband Noel came into the park Mainstreet was more than crowded. These were all the quests for that special event that started after 20:00 when the regular quests had to leave the park.
We waited right next to Walts to see the Candleabration. It was as magical as the other two evenings. Right after this show we fought our way through the crowd to get to Fantasyland to see Fantillusion. This was the second and the last time that we saw Fantillusion. I tried to make some pictures but the most of them came out not very good.
After the parade we did Phantom Manor once more and afterwards we had to leave the parks. I envied the many people who were allowed to stay for that special event. I still would like to know what kind of event this was. First we thought a company would have rented the park. But there were all kinds of guests (young and old) with a wristband and so I skipped this thought. If someone of you knows what this was I still would like to know.
Castle at night
Castle in the morning
The Sunday was the worst day of our trip. I woke up with a big cold and my foot was aching like hell. We had breakfast and afterwards we checked out and left our luggage at the hotel.
We did some attractions at the Disneyland park but after Saloon Mickey I just felt to bad and so we decided to take a taxi from the Seqouia Lodge to the Dreamcastle hotel were we would spent this last night.
We asked at the SL if they could call us a taxi and 15 minutes later came a shuttle service. I spoke to him in French and he asked me if I was informed that the ride between the hotels would cost 15 per ride. I said no but we accepted as we would have paid almost the same amount for a taxi. But I did not know that there is some kind of shuttle from the selected hotels to the Disney hotels. He had a sign in his car saying Disney Selected Hotels.
The Dreamcastle was another highlight of this trip. Definitely the most beautiful hotel of the 4 selected hotels. But as I became more and more sick I could not admire the atmosphere that much.
And when I explained that I was not feeling very well they gave us the room at 13:00 already.
At this point the weather was changing and outside was a huge storm and rain. And so we spent the whole afternoon in the hotel room and I tried to get well.
At 16:45 the weather was still awful and I was not feeling better but nevertheless we decided to try to get to the Disneyland Park again as I wanted to see Candleabration once again and we also had a reservation for the Blue Lagoon.
The park was almost empty as the storm was really bad. And it was raining heavily Mainstreet was filled with water. OAAD parade was canceled as they could not do it with this huge storm going on.
We did one round Phantom Manor and afterwards it was time for our Blue Lagoon reservation.
This was great. Outside was real bad weather but we were sitting in the Caribbean. I enjoyed this dinner very much although I had no appetite and did only eat a little bit.
The park must have been almost empty at this point (18:00) as many boats came out empty or with only a view people in it. And on Saturday we had to wait 60 minutes to ride. What a difference.
After our dinner we did POTC two times as there was almost nobody.
As I was feeling very poor we decided at this point to leave the park but just when we passed the castle the storm and the rain stopped for 10 minutes and so they could do a short version of Enchanted Candleabration.
And so we had one more highlight for the end of our not so perfect trip.
And just when Mickey left the stage the rain and the storm started again and so we left the park. I wonder if Fantillusion was on this evening. But I doubt it.
Goofy and Pluto
Conclusion:
With my sickness, the very crowded park on Saturday and the bad weather on Sunday this was not our most perfect trip. Bud we did nevertheless had a great time.
Our highlights were the special events like OAADP, Fantillusion and Enchanted Candleabration.
We planed this trip around Fantillusion as we had seen this parade only once before. It was worth it but from now on we wont plan coming trips around special events as they are mostly only on weekends or during the very busy summer month. This was my 15th trip since 1994 and since 2001 the park became more and more crowded with every visit.
My boyfriend said during this trip: DLRP is no shopkeeper anymore. It is known and it is successful.
And that is more than true. During the last visits we always had at least one Saturday or Sunday in the trip included and all these days were horrible as the resort was filled with people.
Thats why we decided not to go on weekends anymore. And the only advice I can give to other DISers is: Try to avoid weekends if you can. We have been there in JAN, MAY, JUNE, SEPT, OCT, NOV and DEC) and there was no weekend were the crowds were manageable.
And I know now how a sickness can ruin your trip. I felt so bad to spend almost the whole Sunday in bed knowing that my favorite park is just outside waiting for me.
And although Christmas at DLRP is more than perfect and magical I still prefer the warmer month. I can enjoy myself more if it is warm outside and if I dont have to think about were I can make the next warm-break.
At 9:00 we were at the Disneyland Park as this was an EHM day. But there were already a lot of people in the park. And as we wanted to be again among the first for Crush we only did Pinocchio and left the park after this one ride to queue for Crush.
As the weather was more than perfect the whole resort was horribly crowded and at 11:30 the waiting line for POTC looked like this:
This was also the first POTC day after 2 weeks refurbishment. And so we got in line for one of my favorite attractions. After 60 minutes we could get into a crowded boat.
During the ride we noticed that the swinging pirate was not swinging and this on the first day after 2 weeks closure.
When we got out of POTC the whole park was filled with people, and therefore we decided to go back to the hotel for a short break as we were not willing to wait for 130 minutes in the cold to ride BTM or 120 minutes to do Buzz.
At 16:00 we were back for the OAAD parade with blue sky and no rain. Right after that we had a reservation for Walts as this was the only time window we had between the parade and Enchanted Candleabration at 18:00. But the park was so crowded that we needed 12 minutes form Fantasyland to Walts. As the parade was still on we had to walk through Fantasyland and Adventureland to get to Mainstreet.
At Walts we had a very nice table near a window in the Mainstreet room.
The dinner at Walts is always a must do and a highlight of every trip. I just love the atmosphere and this time it was even better with the Christmas music inside and the Christmas decoration outside. And while we ate our Walts Gourmet Burger it was getting dark and every 30 minutes we could see the snow on Mainstreet. *how magical*
Closeup Christmas Lights
At 18:00 we left Walts to see the Enchanted Candleabration. As from this time on many guests with a wristband Noel came into the park Mainstreet was more than crowded. These were all the quests for that special event that started after 20:00 when the regular quests had to leave the park.
We waited right next to Walts to see the Candleabration. It was as magical as the other two evenings. Right after this show we fought our way through the crowd to get to Fantasyland to see Fantillusion. This was the second and the last time that we saw Fantillusion. I tried to make some pictures but the most of them came out not very good.
After the parade we did Phantom Manor once more and afterwards we had to leave the parks. I envied the many people who were allowed to stay for that special event. I still would like to know what kind of event this was. First we thought a company would have rented the park. But there were all kinds of guests (young and old) with a wristband and so I skipped this thought. If someone of you knows what this was I still would like to know.
Castle at night
Castle in the morning
The Sunday was the worst day of our trip. I woke up with a big cold and my foot was aching like hell. We had breakfast and afterwards we checked out and left our luggage at the hotel.
We did some attractions at the Disneyland park but after Saloon Mickey I just felt to bad and so we decided to take a taxi from the Seqouia Lodge to the Dreamcastle hotel were we would spent this last night.
We asked at the SL if they could call us a taxi and 15 minutes later came a shuttle service. I spoke to him in French and he asked me if I was informed that the ride between the hotels would cost 15 per ride. I said no but we accepted as we would have paid almost the same amount for a taxi. But I did not know that there is some kind of shuttle from the selected hotels to the Disney hotels. He had a sign in his car saying Disney Selected Hotels.
The Dreamcastle was another highlight of this trip. Definitely the most beautiful hotel of the 4 selected hotels. But as I became more and more sick I could not admire the atmosphere that much.
And when I explained that I was not feeling very well they gave us the room at 13:00 already.
At this point the weather was changing and outside was a huge storm and rain. And so we spent the whole afternoon in the hotel room and I tried to get well.
At 16:45 the weather was still awful and I was not feeling better but nevertheless we decided to try to get to the Disneyland Park again as I wanted to see Candleabration once again and we also had a reservation for the Blue Lagoon.
The park was almost empty as the storm was really bad. And it was raining heavily Mainstreet was filled with water. OAAD parade was canceled as they could not do it with this huge storm going on.
We did one round Phantom Manor and afterwards it was time for our Blue Lagoon reservation.
This was great. Outside was real bad weather but we were sitting in the Caribbean. I enjoyed this dinner very much although I had no appetite and did only eat a little bit.
The park must have been almost empty at this point (18:00) as many boats came out empty or with only a view people in it. And on Saturday we had to wait 60 minutes to ride. What a difference.
After our dinner we did POTC two times as there was almost nobody.
As I was feeling very poor we decided at this point to leave the park but just when we passed the castle the storm and the rain stopped for 10 minutes and so they could do a short version of Enchanted Candleabration.
And so we had one more highlight for the end of our not so perfect trip.
And just when Mickey left the stage the rain and the storm started again and so we left the park. I wonder if Fantillusion was on this evening. But I doubt it.
Goofy and Pluto
Conclusion:
With my sickness, the very crowded park on Saturday and the bad weather on Sunday this was not our most perfect trip. Bud we did nevertheless had a great time.
Our highlights were the special events like OAADP, Fantillusion and Enchanted Candleabration.
We planed this trip around Fantillusion as we had seen this parade only once before. It was worth it but from now on we wont plan coming trips around special events as they are mostly only on weekends or during the very busy summer month. This was my 15th trip since 1994 and since 2001 the park became more and more crowded with every visit.
My boyfriend said during this trip: DLRP is no shopkeeper anymore. It is known and it is successful.
And that is more than true. During the last visits we always had at least one Saturday or Sunday in the trip included and all these days were horrible as the resort was filled with people.
Thats why we decided not to go on weekends anymore. And the only advice I can give to other DISers is: Try to avoid weekends if you can. We have been there in JAN, MAY, JUNE, SEPT, OCT, NOV and DEC) and there was no weekend were the crowds were manageable.
And I know now how a sickness can ruin your trip. I felt so bad to spend almost the whole Sunday in bed knowing that my favorite park is just outside waiting for me.
And although Christmas at DLRP is more than perfect and magical I still prefer the warmer month. I can enjoy myself more if it is warm outside and if I dont have to think about were I can make the next warm-break.
what rotten luck to be poorly. At least you managed to still enjoy your trip.
It was our first visit and we had no idea what was waiting for us. 
I love Pirates and could hardly bear it, not to ride. 
