Our first 'real' Christmas!

[Jakaru]

Ok, be warned, my last trip report tended to skim over what actual rides were like etc and go straight for more obscure elements of the holiday. This one might be the same.

Forgive me but, at time of writing this, I’ve not taken the pics off the camera, so there is none included here (though I may come back and add some)! Also, I was trying to let this trip Not be about snapping away all the time. We know what the place looks like, pictures of Christmas bits, new parades etc yes, hundreds of pics of random things, no.

There to enjoy the break, not to feel pressure to diary the entire experience. Except of course for typing up my trip notes on my phone every night, which the rest of the party found amusing...

(For those that like to find out what certain dates were like weather wise etc, we flew very early on Saturday 26th November, back late on Wednesday 30th November.)


Trip day 1

Well, after working Friday it was supposed to be early to bed for a 2.30am rise. I literally could Not sleep at all. Didn’t feel like excitement, or worry that we’d not wake up, but none-the-less I lay in bed until 2.30am without actually sleeping... always a good start to a holiday!

But, at least it meant we all got up and got off to Liverpool smoothly.

Wow, the difference between flying Air France and Easyjet is surprising. Long walk to gate, then steps, then big queue, then loaded onto a bus, then a faff to get off it and onto the plane on the tarmac... didn’t get this hassle in May (but then, we did pay like 40% less for these flights!)

Smooth flight, though departure was delayed due to fog at CDG - and then when we got to CDG, the walkway wouldn’t work, so we were all stuck in the plane while they got an engineer over. Going well isn’t it...

Once nice thing - the pilot while we were delayed said there were kids on board wanting to see the cockpit, and if anyone else wanted to...? Well, toddler advantage being what it was, we were near the front, so we went for a nosey. Nice people, talked to Amy really well, helped kill a bit of time.

The terminal seemed an oddly long way away from the baggage collection (again, wasn’t like this with Air France!). Ezyshuttle were, of course, outside the door ready to take us to the Hotel Adagio (we were staying in Val d’Europe for the Saturday night, as the Disney price shot up if we went there on that day!

With the delays, it was 11.30am when we got to Adagio, and we were all resigned to wandering shops while we left our luggage there and waited for a room. No - it was ready! Marvellous, made the first tiring day a lot easier!

The apartment was basic, with the expected areas of ‘not that clean’ and ‘really don’t think that light fitting should be hanging down like that’, but really nothing you would worry about for such a brief stay.

We were now free for a walk around the shopping centre - my god it goes on forever... I got the apartment at the far end thinking it was close to the supermarket I had visited last time (see the Milk guide!), nope, that’s much closer to the station side of the shopping centre. Noted for next time!

We window shopped for a while, it’s a lovely place to look around at things you don’t want to pay that price for, until it became obvious we were all shattered. So, we did a Supermarket shop for the nights food, and supplies to take into Disney (yes, I had a photo of the correct Milk with me, just in case... ), and back to room by 3pm. It felt SO much later than that!

Amy having seen a Disney store in there got her first fix. Last holiday she got a couple of sets of these little princess dolls made of rubber, pull on dresses and lots of bits in kinda heart-shaped zip up carry cases (if you’ve been, you know the ones I mean, they are everywhere, even more so than usual I noticed this trip..!) - so she chose another one with some Birthday money she had.

Oh, I hadn’t mentioned! This is a Birthday Trip, Amy is 5 tomorrow, the first day (Sunday) we are in Disney, so she’s bound to get spoilt...

Now she has the toy, she just wants to go back to the apartment, climb on the bunk bed, and be left to her own devices, which works for us!

The trip from Adagio to Supermarket, buy stuff and get back, at full on marching speed, I made to be about a 40-45 minute round trip, should anyone need to know!

We need to be out at 8.30am tomorrow, as Ezyshuttle are picking us up to get our mass of luggage (and a big bag of Milk...) to Sequoia (I can never remember what order those vowels go in... SL from now on).

 

[Jakaru]

Trip day 2

Up, out, picked up, dropped off, all smooth sailing thanks to John at Ezyshuttle.

Very busy left luggage at SL - again is this sort of thing the price you pay for a more budget friendly holiday? Ho hum. Checked in ready for key collection later, and set off to the parks.

(Side note - left luggage have a Fridge you can leave stuff in.  )

Mickey in his woodland (ranger?) outfit doing the photo thing on the way out of the hotel, so quick queue for that, Amy now very much in full Disney mood, as she had been desperate to meet characters again - though now she just wants more. We will now get 4 days of asking to go to Cafe Mickey...

We’ve a birthday meal at the Steakhouse sunday brunch at 2pm, it’s a character meal, so we can keep her quiet with that for the morning...

It is bitterly cold, but as became the pattern, by mid-afternoon it’s really just a mild chill and the skies are quite bright.

Thought we’d start gentle, with the FX tour in the studios. The dragon fire part of it was notably under-whelming, have a feeling somethings not quite working right there. I still don’t see why they don’t just make the big effects area something you can just see by walking past, and run it on a loop, the whole queue and ride thing is boringly unnecessary.

Breakfast seeming a long time away, we wanted a snack, but I’d forgotten how limited the food options were in the studios. Having got an up to date programme, we were also now aware that Mickeys Winter Wonderland Show in the Chaparal theatre was not running on Monday & Tuesday! It made sense for us to get in there today, and get it done.

Amy dragged us into Face Painting on the way out, then we got into the main park (forgetting completely about Salon Mickey, duh) and nipped into a Main St cafe for a snack.

Sat in the alley behind the stores & cafes when we hear a strangely loud noise... quick nosey out... it’s snowing in Main Street! Dashed out with Amy, knowing it would be brief. Amy initially quite annoyed that its actually bubbles (more like foam). Once explained that this was magic Disney snow, so you didn’t have to get cold, she was happier!

So, off to Winter Wonderland show. Frontierland theatre? Ok, an area of the park we missed in May, apparently had never even seen it! And even better, Santa Claus grotto etc is in the same bit, so saved us wandering around looking for that.

Show was very good, very old-fashioned Christmas, and the sort of in-park show that we didn’t get last time (being pre-summer season I never saw any sign of any Tarzan or what-not type show, beyond Buffalo Bills in the village). They may have been on, and we just missed them of course!

As Santa’s town was right outside the theatre, we were now very in the Christmas mood. Grabbed a letter to santa for Amy to fill in (include your details, and you’ll get a reply apparently!).

First corner into Santa town was photo area (there are various bits good for photos even without characters in them, sledge, throne etc.), with Winnie in Xmas gear and just a few kids queueing (all too busy writing letters or dashing off for lunch maybe). Around the next corner, and Eeyore in Xmas gear had next to no queue! This was feeling really odd - the park itself is rammed, its a Sunday after all.

The Elves were in full character (and I mean completely 100% manic, slightly psycho etc, tormenting kids and adults alike!).

One of the elves spotted Amy was wearing an “I am 5” badge (this by the way is to be recommended for EVERY day of your trip, if your kid can be convinced not to mention the actual date, and just confirm that its their birthday, it encourages extra Character contact... mwah ha ha...). So, this Elf with a Very loud screachy voice that Amy was already backing away from screamed “Elves! Elf Emergency!” at full volume, and called all the elves over to sing Happy Birthday. This would have been great, had Amy not had her fingers in her ears, and slowly walked away from them while they were doing it. She wasn’t impressed by the sheer noise level of it all. Great of them to do it though.

Joined queue for Santa, but it barely moves (be warned), and as we had a lunch booking, we had to abandon it after an already long wait, that was likely to be around another hour!

Out to the Steakhouse for the Sunday Brunch - frankly, I wished we’d stayed in the Santa queue...

I know at 2pm, we were tail end of the food, but most of the containers gave you a choice of the food in there being Cold at the top, or Slimy at the bottom - even the less fussy eaters in our party were not chuffed.

The deserts area was better (harder to go wrong there of course), but the whole thing felt unorganised (no-one told us there were drinks, or where they were, I just spotted them in the distance), the waiters seemed overly keen to clear plates and thereby encourage us to get it over with. This is not really a cheap meal, so its just not on.

Character wise, Tigger and Eeyore (he gets about a bit) in first five minutes was great for Amy, but Minnie seemed to miss our entire section out. The ballon lady was good, making amy a lovely ladybird bracelet.

The original idea was to get a birthday cake here (it being her real birthday today!), but we saw 3 people have cakes brought out while we were there. One of them came with no characters (staff sang), the other 2 just got Tigger alone, none had any music come on. This was not the Cafe Mickey style experience we had seen, so we passed on it. Amy had expectations of the cake presentation, this would be a let down, so we just never brought the subject up.

First thing upon leaving the place, booked Cafe Mickey with cake for the following day!

Hotel would be ready for us by now, so went back to get our rooms - high hopes for the rooms, as my chancer email the previous week implied we’d been looked after.

Oh my god - those key locks are atrocious. Got second lot of keys issued, got in eventually, seemed like both the rooms were temperamental though, it was usually 2 or 3 goes to open each door.

Had asked for Kettles to be brought to the rooms, took 15 minutes to bring us... a Cot. Erm, not quite right there... kettles brought eventually.

Theres a mini bar! Locked in our room, but not in the other one. My mother, as she would, immediately starting faffing with the stuff in it, despite warnings about being charged. Went to reception, and they helpfully marked both our Mini-bars are being Used as fridges, so not to charge us for anything without double-checking, so that was good (made easier by ending up with an English receptionist who understood the Milk thing!).

Wife had a headache (long couple of days) so the break in the room while I messed with all this was appreciated at least.

(Side note - getting Paracetomol etc is apparently not as easy in France as it is here, where you can buy them in most newsagents etc. I never saw any (there may be places, who knows). The guy in the Relay shop in the station said there was someone ‘around the corner’ who would give you a couple of tablets, but that was it? (I’m guessing some kind of first aid area or something.) Anyway, apparently Doliprane, pronounced DollyPran, is the thing to ask for, should you need to try it. I’d brought enough for to be a 2 person emergency supply, but grandparents bought none, so our limited few tablets to keep the tired, flu-y group going were somewhat stretched! Take plenty with you! I threatened to put the Grandmother on a Calpol drip at one point...)

Anyway...Parade time! Dragging the grandparents to the park for 5.05pm was a challenge. Thought we’d missed just 5 mins of parade, turned out the Dream parade was 4.45pm. Oops.

However, we caught the end of it, and (and this really made me happy) my Mother has been to the US parks, and one of her residing memories is crowded parades, then 30 minutes to get back to car park, and then have to get back to hotel etc. The idea that we’d walked 20 minutes, and would just be 2 people back from the front, at the main entrance, left her rather chuffed. She found a stairway to stand on, and saw enough of the parade for her to declare that its much better here than the US parks! She is now a convert to DLP.

Fought through the Sunday crowd to Buzz Lightyear (as we’d still done very little in terms of actual rides), but it was packed, so we did a little Main St window shopping instead, and took up position for the Tree Lighting.

(For all parades etc we saw this week, my wife continued to be annoyed at the shoving and pushing of people to get position. If you want a good position, get there early etc. I try to keep a “Assume its not rudeness, but people who may be here just one day, desperate to see something they will otherwise miss...” attitude - but some people can be royal ar**s. I’m patient, but don’t push me when I have a rental buggy, I will remove your Shins with it. )

Where was I... Tree Lighting! MARVELLOUS.

It’s hard to knock Christmas music, a massive tree being lit by ‘magic’, followed by a Massive sudden ‘snow’ fall. This Is Christmas, it really does capture the feeling you think about when you picture celebrating Christmas.

Fought our way to Central Plaza for Aurora, got position next to inner fence. Oddly, it was my turn for a headache, something about trying to stare past the badly aimed spotlights (Outwards? Really?!?) triggered a migraine that came on incredibly quickly.

The show and the castle lighting were good... I think. By the end I could barely stand up.

After a quick sit down at a cafe, while I was determined to see the Fantilusion, I couldn’t realistically stare at any light for a few seconds, let alone a lit parade, so we called it a night (leaving me feeling guilty...)

Back to hotel, I tried to lay on bed to calm my head while Amy went to play in Grandparents room. Apparently, I passed out! (for the record, I don’t drink alcohol!) Woke a couple of hours later with Amy asleep and my wife staring daggers at me. My head was now back with me enough for me to realise that I’d fallen for the same thing as summer - dehydration! In this cold! We ran about so much today, I didn’t stop to drink enough. Drank as much as I could - and let myself pass out again to recover...

 

[Jakaru]

Trip Day 3

Woke up at 4.30am and continued to force drinks into me until I felt normal - if somewhat like a balloon.

Apparently the family had spent the previous night (while I was unconscious) complaining about me booking 7am breakfast slots (explains the daggers). Do I care? Nope. Parks open at 8am, and we Will be there. The alarms accordingly were set for 5.30am!

Found myself now for the first time fully awake and present, at 4.30am, and in the room with time to kill to actually look at things. As my mother had remarked the previous night, these are lovely rooms.

I'd made a chancer email to try and ensure decent ones, so these are 2nd floor refurbished, but obviously the layout and room position will always have been good! Nice view etc.

(Oh by the way, reception is 2nd floor, if like us you didn’t know. When we checked in we got keys, got told 2nd floor, and went to the lifts to find a group of people Not getting out of the lift when it opened, then going up, then back down, before finally coming out looking puzzled. We then did the Exact Same Thing. You get in the lift, 2nd floor button says lobby, much confusion, you get back out. It’s rather embarassing.)

Furniture is country-ish without being rustic, subtle bambi in wallpaper trim to match large bambi wall picture. It has to be noted however that, for refurbished rooms, they've already taken a beating.

The security/privacy lock-bolt thing was still on the door frame, but broken off the door, so its useless. There are signs of tile repairs and grout patching, a hook by the toilet is for god knows what, makes me wonder what was broken off it. Edges of door frames etc all seem to have had a kicking. Adjoining doors only lock shut, they don't simply push themselves open if they aren’t locked.

I note Mother complaining about the heat, go in to check her air-con and find that unlike In our room when the fan is notably on by it's sound, I get nothing. Could be working better than ours, or not at all. Not major issue in this weather (my mum just likes rooms cold) but not great in summer...!

The position of the rooms gives a nice tree view (better then the HNY roof panorama!) though I think mid-side-block would be better again than right on the inner corner.

Tap in bath/shower is an oddly inaccurate thing... I dare you to get the same temperature/pressure twice!

Bottle of ... Hang on! Shampoo-shower combo, one PINK liquid in a Disney bottle (similar to the body lotion ones with white liquid we got in HNY), no mickey-ear lid. I wasn't expecting to collect toiletries this time around, we don’t have any of these! Damn it...

Anyway, all in all, it's good. Sink separate from bathroom good for practicality, bad for anyone who doesn't want kids questions during a shave etc! Digital safe... Nice... For anyone who manages like me to get it to lock itself open (ahem... I was ‘testing’ it), close it as much as u can and put the code in, it will pull the lock bolts back in.

Breakfast was largely similar to HNY but, in an odd way, better for simpler or maybe more british palettes (sliced bread and a toaster, standand looking ham rather than fancier cuts with coatings etc) so suited us perfectly! The toaster however was perhaps more suited to creating sun dried tomatoes than anything so rapid as toast.

EMH, nippy and foggy, so at the gates to the park Mother decides to go back and change! It's Not a

Surprise it is cold, we did know this! We went in to buzz anyway, many many times while the grandparents were gone 50 mins, but this still annoyed us as it stopped us taking full EMH advantage.

So, Buzz with us all, then quick castle roam (Where is the damn dragon bit?!? Couldn’t find it last time either!) across to the carousel and to the now too crowded Peter pan, so we did Small World instead. Was good to see the Xmas bits in small world, all adds to making this holiday different than May. Princess Pavillion was now opening, but by the time we got there, it had a 60 minute wait time! Forget that, we’ll be there early tomorrow...

Off to do Star Tours, then stumbled into Goofy meet on way out! Then Grandad wanted to see the car stunt show, so off to studios for the late morning show. It’s still badly paced and largely boring.

Came out of there with some time left before lunch booking, so Armageddon (yeah, enough with the video, just show us some fire already), then off to Cafe Mickey, to fulfil Amy's birthday cake with character need! (Stopping off only to book Buffalos for tonight)

Typically ok meal with good character interaction, Mickie, Goofy, Pluto, Gepetto, Chip, Dale, Minnie - highlight of course being the 3 characters dancing around Amy when she got her Cake. Job done!

Back to hotel for quick break etc to get back out for the 5pm parade. Park is a lot quieter than yesterday, so got a decent view.

Ummed for while and then decided to go see what the Magic Lamp thing in the schedule was, great trouble finding it, but ran into Aladdin and Jasmine so followed them to where it was! It was a fairly straight meet and greet, and we had no autograph book with us! Argh. Good and unusual photo op though.

Now we had to get to Buffalos, but as we were passing the castle I had to look for dragon lair, finally worked out how to get there, to find entrance boarded up! Pfff.

Buffalo bills, for me this was a see once experience, I didn’t get my mind changed.

Got there earlier this time than last, so instead of being straight to a seat we were sent to a back room, all a bit mystifying as to what we were supposed to do at first, it was never really explained. Eventually led into seats by a very bored looking group of people. Orange served, then Cola or Beer served, can we have some lemonade (this places waiter was my dehydration god send last time). Non. Try next waiter. Lemonade? Lemonard? (now come on, u know what I mean, don’t try it on!) Sprite..? Kinda stares at me and goes. Annoyed now, I climb out of seat and go to the three more senior waiters (ie the ones stood doing frig all), got my Yes, lemonade delivered, eventually.

I as usual refused the chilli stuff, and so began this mockery Dance of me trying to hand the pot back with the ones they are collecting from kids. It gets delivered back. I put my grit(?) in it to get it off my plate ready for main, waiter grabs it, tips grit it back into plate, walks off with pot, then brings me back what I assume is a clean one.

Now I'm totally pi**ed off. I am a grown adult, and I can refuse the damn chilli if I want to! Man goes around giving the main course to the kids (no adult Chilli at this point!)

I ask if I can just get my main now, guy says no, walks off.

My daughter is now bemused as to why she has a plate of food, Dad can't get any, Mum is waiting for some thing for a pot, and I'm ready to take the pot and throw it at the next waiter. Ultimately I'm not really hungry, I'm just annoyed at people making something simple needlessly hard.

(If you are tempted to defend this with them being busy, ALL the tier 2 seats were empty, that means they are around 60% full only, and were massively over-staffed.)

It's notable that only the tier one seats are filled of course, it doesn’t help the atmosphere. Is it the season? The amount of free night time parades etc to see instead? The grumpy hard-to-get-a-word with staff stopping people wanting to come back?

Anyway, I was determined not to let this spoil watching the show (or even my oddly tired and down 5 yr old next to me), turns out, that was fruitless. There was an obvious lack of atmosphere, lot of people watching with their head rested on their hands around the arena.

I think the show was still enjoyable for those of us that hadn't seen it, but I'll never go again if it can possibly be avoided.

Amy had been promised a certain toy, so she really just wanted it to end and go buy it and play with it in the hotel.

Quick bit of shopping, Amy got spoilt with double what she was after, and we were back relaxing in hotel just after 9pm

Two Disney days, it feels like we've done nothing! We had a list of things missed to do, and we have barely scratched it! Only got two more! Aargh!

Cheered myself up by stealing the hotel shampoo... some speculation as to whether the cleaner has been in today?

 

[Jakaru]

Trip day 4

Usual breakfast, Grandparents skip it in order to drag their feet.

We get to EMH a bit after opening, Peter Pan the first thing, twice, then as Dumbo was shut for repair we decided to give Small World another run (we are also buggied up today for speed) one Buzz, then to Frontierland to try and get in early on the Santa queue. We were not alone...

Luckily a lot were Big Thunder queuers, and with some mad dashing we got relatively early in the queue (just outside the first hut you go in, for those that have seen it). Madly, was stopped from having the buggy in the line (I saw no practical reason why) - seats & kids is a good queue combo! We were stood queueing for 30-45 mins when there was maybe 12 families/kids in front of us. It's a good meet, all take their time, but they are creating a totally ridiculous queue problem.

I've been at Santa places before where they cleverly made the entrance split across multiple rooms so they could have more than one Santa, DLP badly needs to do this next time. It just takes way too long.

Headed back out to Frontier land, iPhone app tells me that Phantom Manor has mini queue, so we go in there.

Then out and into Walt Studio, leave Amy and the women to queue for face painting while men go to Cinemagique in peace!  A good call, it was ok, but of little interest to less movie buff types. And seriously, is that blokes wig supposed to look like Martin Shorts hair? Eesh, it isn't That dark.

By the time we find the others I realise we can make Animagique at 1pm, but the route there goes past the 12.45 characters coming out for meet. Quite annoyed we couldn't keep up with who I beleive was Scrooge McDuck (given the season!), but got Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and then dashed into Animagique (which is still a quality production).

The wimps then wanted food, but I pointed out the cars parade we hadn't done yet was being roped off. We chose to watch them pass and not head for central area but instead take the opportunity to get on Cars and Slinky while queues were low (the others refused to take the very good 30 min queue for Crush though! And that’s something we’ve not done at all...)

Wimps still want to eat, Studio is packed, so head back out to village and decide on Rainforest Cafe. A good choice I think (given Mickey is near end of character time).

Given the mornings bitter cold wind, the others wanted a hotel break to dress warmer for parade (as we intended to see fantilusion at 7pm too). More time wasting...! Got back into main park to catch end of tree lighting, then got buggy and snack food so others could shop while I camped Main St from 6.30 with Amy.

Ended up less far up the street than ideal, but decent kerb side position. Hard parade to photograph well without a DSLR really.

Then that was that, Amy wanted yet another doll set so she was treated at world of toys on way back to hotel.

Wife wants a sandwich and some biscuits for the room but station shop is closing. In the end I get them into room and head of in search of the heard about service station.

Heading towards HNY, I turn right thinking this is as good a route as any. Holy hell that's a walk and a half!

Eventually found my way through to front of Santa Fe, and with some effort (it's very dark!) work out how to get into Esso. Good shop, lot of British chocolate, sandwich selection, generally a decent place and moderate prices (90 euro smarties versus 4.50 euro 3 pack inside Sequioa). Milk is in a fridge, but is not the recommended type, avoid!

Decided to try the outer road route back to hotel, slight mis-turn working out which way to walk, but got there in the end.

Road signs at first junction didn't make it clear if I should turn or not, but as turning I knew was HNY, then I figured that was a safe bet either way. Wrong! God that was a long walk, past the back of Sequioa, over the top of the path I came in on, round the back of HNY car park, and went through reception and back out to get to Sequioa. (I found out when we left via taxi, that had I not turned right towards HNY, I’d have been at the back of the SL in minutes...)

Got back only to have it pointed out to me I should have looked for headache tablets too... I didn't really look in detail, but the station seemed as equally empty if that type of pharmacy stuff as other places, it would be good if anyone could confirm that?

All in all 40-45 minutes of a fast march round trip required, I think it could be a lot quicker once route via back of SL was confirmed. Both routes at gone 8pm were though a liitle too either dark or isolated for comfort walking alone.

Wife had bathed Amy in the grandparents bathroom while I was out (as our bath had no plug! Add it to the ‘Refurbished? Really?’ list)

Used the Disney tv audio fairytale thing to get Amy to sleep (very effective unfortunately, as I was rather enjoying beauty and the beast and was then made to turn it off!)

 

[Jakaru]

Trip day 5

No EMH today as we will check out early to save coming back until 6pm for the the taxi. Late to breakfast at 7.30, but we are intending to go straight to princess pavilion at 10-10.30, so it will be fine.

Minnie in woodland outfit in reception at 8am, so stopped for that, and realised I had never done the Mickey birthday phone call with Amy, so took her to reception and they put Mickey on the phone for her. Amy kinda bemused by it but pleased...!

So today needs princess, Belles Xmas village (next to pavilion, and both open at 10.30), Crush, ideally check dragon, Autopia, Dumbo, Captain EO, ride either or both trains, won't get to do rapunzel meet as we have to be back for taxi at 6, hoping to maybe mickey Xmas meet in studios, perhaps see army men show.

Well, Erm... Didn't go to plan really...

Got to park around 9.30am, into salon mickey. When we went to leave, woman pointed out that two of our five park tickets were 3 day not 4, so were used up (this shouldn’t be the case). She had the sense to realise this was an error and let everyone into the park anyway, and me back out the front to sort it out with guest relations.

Now, I'm already annoyed to be faffing on our last day and this delay meaning I might miss the Princess Pavilion with Amy, particularly as we had last day ticket issues last time we were here.

Woman at ticket counter tells me I only booked 3 days for those two people, er, NO.

We continued to argue the point, as they were taking the approach that the computer said that, and so it was just basically tough. My option was to buy new tickets unless I could show them my confirmation.

(Now, bear in mind at this point I still have three active tickets, and the rest of us are already inside, so I could just tell em to go ?!^&^ themselves, but I knew we wanted to go to studios later, which we then couldn't, and it's the principal, I paid for those tickets!)

Now, we are checked out of hotel, as the fact its our last day and are at the parks made obvious. Luggage is in baggage store 40mins round trip away, and I was apparently a liar unless I could prove otherwise!

English (I guess) fella came out to see me (i.e. get the irate person away from the crowd) called Simon. Nice, helpful and undertanding, but all he could do was make sure I got low price tickets! (he originally wanted to take me to a computer to log onto my email and get my

Confirmation, not in this case practical (not that I'd log onto a primary email account from a strange place anyway..))

So bought 60 euros of tickets and took his card with details I where to send a complaint.

So, queued behind entrance where much messing about was going on, got inside to see the rest of the party having not gone to princess as they could see there was a problem! Marvellous, that means they wasted all our time!

Then, in timing I admit was bad, I remembered that while I couldn't root through my email (I'd totally eaten my data allowance!) i might have the PDF confirmation in my dropbox! (online file storage)

I did! Never one to let it lie, I went back to the entrance gate to go see Simon again, knocked on entrance booth explained if just been speaking with Simon, could they either let him know I needed him, or let me through to knock on the salon again. Unusual request I admit, but not exactly rocket science.

Very off the cuff with me, rudely told me I could go to the exit. They made me walk across the entrance, out, and then back across again... They really should have considered what mood I would be in when they saw me on the other side again... customer service, anyone? NEXT DOOR to guest relations?

So went around and saw Simon again, showed him the document on my phone, he admitted it was their error (apparently they have 100% faith in their computers until they are shown an easily fakeable document, then they happily admit error. Really? ARGH!)

However, to refund the tickets (as I think I used one of the new ones to get back in the park) he'd have to have me fill forms, check ID (as of course NOW they need me to prove who I am?!?) and generally waste more of my time. He suggested I go with the original plan an complain to Disney for refund when I get home.

I asked if he wanted me to go through the jobsworths Gate again, or did I need to walk around another building? Needless to say, I was let out through the salon entrance, still fuming, but with a sense of satisfaction that I’d proved I wasn’t a liar!

THAT was the best part of an hour of 5 people's times wasted, making our early start to be at princess pointless. Princess therefore had 45 minute queue when we got there!

Quite annoyed that you only get to meet one princess (we didn't realise beforehand, and so didn't ask who was in, as we would have liked to choose, as I think some people may have (who could ask in French!))

Hoped to see belles Xmas village, but it was still shut, let me know if it ever opens for anything!

Walked through for follow the leader with Peter Pan, glad to catch that this time.

Then, out to studios, to try Crush out...

Quick stop to do unusually quiet Mickey and Goofy Xmas meets in front lot, then ran into... argh, small gap in my notes here, think this was when we grabbed a meet with Captain Hook.

*Rant*

If you are British, and also saw Captain Hook at that time, then you were stood next to me... be ashamed of yourself. We expect the pathetic pushing ahead of a queue from other countries, though even then they only get So much tolerance, the British know how to queue and take their turn. If you were the ‘ADULT’ who, after showing up at the meet after everyone else there, was trying to shove ahead of my patiently waiting 5 year old (who was growing ever more upset at the people shoving in), then you should be ashamed of yourself, pathetic behaviour. Make your presence known, shuffle forward with determination, and you get your turn EXCEPT when people like you are around spoiling others experiences.

*Rant Over*

So, Crush. 30 min wait ties in with hoped for quiet time in run up to parade. It was more like an hour though, as I think there were some brief tech issues. Also there was a notably shortening of the queue behind us after the first 15 mins, so it may have been they put up a long wait time outside to stop people coming in.

Crush coaster is woefully misavertisied!

I'm not a coaster fan, frankly mild log flumes are the maximum I tolerate, but the ad on Disney TVs shows a fairly surrene thing, bar the odd bit of speed, some spinning in a water tunnel while the family casually glance and point at stuff around them.

The real experience? Starts off with the sharp speed up you see from the outside, but you are expecting that, so ok, build up a bit of momentum. Then you go past the footage of nemo, oh look, that’s nice (the wife won’t be happy she is in the back and not seeing this as well...), an oh here are the jellyfish (hope the wife is liking this, Amy seems to be), and now we are going up a slope...?

Oh Hell. It’s going to kick into a Roller Coaster, apparently in the Dark... The wife is going to kill me.

My mother may be dead before the ride even ends.

It's breakneck at times, frantic turns in near darkness (though I confess there may have been periods where my eyes were shut in fear, hard to tell when all is black)!

I'm guessing that a lot of the effect of the ride is literally effect and that it's not quite as fast and sharp as it seems when you've no point of reference. Beyond a sign we saw half way down the queue that have me the feeling the ride might be more than we really wanted to experience, there was no indiciation that this ride was SO severe.

There was no Gentle Spin while Pointing at stuff!

The ends pretty quickly after the terror, I got out trying not to shake at the knees from the adrenaline rush!

Amy bless her, took it all in her stride, “You know me Dad, I like the rides to go fast.”. She doesn’t actually, I’m still amazed she wasn’t in tears. The wife was not impressed at doing this ride backwards. My mother still had her eyes shut when being helped shakily out of the carriage - we all could just about walk to the exit, expressing our amazement that the ride is like that!

That was the last thing we did in the parks... oddly enough. Early or not, we left to go sit down and have lunch (not that we really were up to eating either...!)

Out to village for Rainforest Cafe, as the food there the other day was Wonderful (the Breadcrumbed fish, which you naturally think of as some kind of fillet thing, is basically Giant fish fingers, but wonderfully done). Didn’t enjoy today (steak) as much, don’t think anyone of us did really, stomachs still protesting about Crush.

Back to SL a bit earlier than intended, but checked out and got the baggage anyway, and then managed to get seated by the only just lit log fire - first time we’d seen the seats free!

It made for a very relaxing, warming end to they day to just sit around for an hour, check everything was packed up ok, have a drink etc. And of course, just felt really Christmassy with the log fire and what not.

John from Ezyshuttle was there in plenty of time (of course), and informed us that due to traffic problems we’d be taking a more Unusual route to CDG, country lanes and what not! We of course were there in good time, with all sorts of narration and tidbits about his observations on Disney etc, right to the door we needed to be in (John even advising which way to turn to get to our check-in desk, you can’t help but be impressed!).

The Easyjet gate is basic, definitely a budget thing, and we thought we saw a sign saying No Toilets, but that seemed so unlikely we thought it meant just the security area. Nope. Once you go through security to your gate - no toilets. Vending machines, but no toilets. That could be interesting with a long wait...! Worth bearing in mind if you have young kids with you, or if you’ve had a long journey to CDG. Certainly use of the plane toilet (sat near the front, high traffic area!) was pretty much constant most of the journey home.

John & the plane staff had informed us of strike action in the UK, and possible border patrol delays etc. When we got in though, all border desks were full of smiling people, and we got through pretty much first, so had no trouble. We all felt they were ‘chatting’ more than usual, like they were making a point that they Could take their time if they wished! Very odd.

Straight into Liverpool airport multi-story, and home for about 10.15pm. Phew...

 

[Jakaru]

The days after... and some other random thoughts I missed out...

Tea Bags - the grandparents didn’t take their own supply of theirs either, so I didn’t have enough. I like Tetley, and did find Tetley English Breakfast in the Val supermarket, which were passable. There were various other Tetley blends too. Always good to know if you forget to pack em!

Cups - I asked for some Cups with the Kettles brought to the room. They brought Paper ones.  Bless em. They did ok though, they lasted. Except, leave em out anywhere and the cleaner might just Bin em. No other tea-making facilities, but I had ‘liberated’ a spoon from somewhere I won’t incriminate myself by saying.

SL Cleaning - pretty sure no-one came in first day. One day we knew the towels had been changed, and our rubbish taken away, but beds were left. One day the towels and rubbish were left alone, but the beds were made. Some days the Soap etc was replaced, some it wasn’t. What’s all that about? Such things, like the wear and tear, could be worthy of writing to Disney I know, but when you are there, frankly, its just hard work and a waste of valuable time and energy, and shouldn’t be necessary.

If anyone else stays in room 2303 - I left a test for our not-thorough cleaners - I hid our remaining tea making stuff in the panels by the TV (press on them and they spring open) for future visitors. There is Sugar, Tea Bags and a Spoon. Let me know if they are still there.

Oh my god, the UK is NOT Christmassy. At All. This feels awful! The Blackburn Christmas lights were turned on by Peppa Pig! Our bar for people in costumes turning lights on is pretty high! Everything here feels dull, depressing and not even wintery really. I’ve not needed to wear my scarf since getting back, its more wet and hail than winter chill.

I’ve said it already, but I really can’t recommend going to DLP at Christmas enough. That shot of, albeit fake, Christmas Spirit and feel, in the way you picture Christmas should be is just great. December would perhaps be better, but we’ve found that we’ve had to leap into getting our decorations up and what not the moment we got back, as Christmas seems awfully near, I can imagine a December trip increasing that pressure!

Amazingly, I think I’ve finally ran out of things to say....

 

[DLPdaft]

I love reading your trip reports - so amusing (even when things aren't going to plan ).

5.30am alarm calls? every day? are you mad??? thats the middle of the night man!

Bless you heading for the HNY to get from the Santa Fe filling station to the SL as well . I'm with you about the heading back to the hotel in the afternoon when the parks are only open until 7pm - push through it people, things to do, Mickeys to see!

Sounds like the relax in the SL lounge on your last day was the right thing to do though, and all the family clearly enjoyed their Christmas trip to DLP.

 

[Jakaru]

To be fair, 90 minutes is about the minimum for my wife getting ready in the morning, I could get up at half 6.

The esso station - an in the middle of nowhere, in the dark, unclear signs, 50/50 left or right choice type of things, both get me back, one being a long way, one being short. (I was already maxing out my phones data usage, google maps would have been an expensive way to get back!)

Really, I never had a chance of picking Short, my life just ain't like that!

Looking forward to doing the walk in 10 mins next time! (Or, staying at the Santa Fe and having a lovely convenient shop to go to!)

------

Quick Update: Disney have asked for copies of my Tickets to pursue my complaint and refund... only emailed yesterday, so not too shabby.

 

[Sarah28]

Loved your TR! very funny, even when things aren't supposed to be funny Sorry to hear about the ticket problem, hope you get it sorted soon, sounds like you had a great trip despite this. we absolutely love going at christmas too.

I've often thought the Crush advert was misleading too - I think the signs before the ride do give it a bit of a better description as to what it is, but I do agree with you (It's one of my fav rides at DLP though )

 

[disneykid123]

Brilliant trip report, sounds like you had a lovely time! I haven't been there for the Christmas season for a good few years, I'd love to be able to see it all again sometime soon

 

[Jakaru]

Quick update: Disney were apologetic, and are refunding the tickets i had to buy.

I didn't push for anything extra for the inconvenience, but felt that the fact they never offered anything in any way shape or form for the annoyance, embarrassment and wasted time didn't reflect well on their level of customer service.

Personally, I think if you've had a family visit twice in a year, and you've messed up their park tickets on both occasions, you should make up for that in some way...

 

[Ms Poppins]

I've just caught up with this - what a great trip report! I love all your comments...is your poor mum ok after Crush

What a carry on about your tickets.....it's so frustrating when you are just completely blanked like that - it's the whole 'computer says no' thing. I agree you should be compensated in some way.

I'd love to know if anyone ever finds your tea stash

Please post some photos if you have time

 

[tinks_1989]

So you had a good trip in the end? X

 

[Jakaru]

Ooh, didn't expect this thread to ping back to life.

I may never get to know about the Tea Stash. Unless we go back and request the same room.

I did completely forget to add photos. Won't add too many here, as I made a decision on this holiday that we'd already got photos of most of the place, so would only take pictures of Xmas stuff and the Meets. You can become just the person taking pictures, and not one of the people spending time enjoying the holiday.