Cast
Bonnie (26) and partner Claire (29)
Em (24) and husband Eddie (24)
August 26th 2008
Claire and I got up at about 6.00am after a terrible night's sleep in the Travelodge! There had been a group of people chatting, laughing, crying (!!!) and slamming doors in the corridor outside our room until 4.30am.
So we'd woken up every half hour or so and were very grumpy by this point! We walked down to St Pancras International and arrived there at 7.00am. We'd arranged to meet Em and Eddie there at 7.30am (train wasn't until 8.32am but we were paranoid!) and they were already there. 
We are so like them...
So we checked in early and had some breakfast. The Eurostar departure lounge is similar to the old one at Waterloo but seems a bit smaller. There was a Disney brass band there, playing tunes from Snow White, just before we boarded the train.
We were all sitting together around a table so we were able to chat easily. The journey to Paris Gare du Nord lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. When we arrived, we looked around for the RER ticket machines and bought four single tickets for Marne-la-Valée Chessy (about 25 EUR for 4 tickets) and then caught the Métro to Chatelet-les-Halles (one stop) followed by the RER to Disney. This second journey took about 45 minutes and was 14 stops away. Upon arrival we paid for a large locker (about 9.50 EUR) for all of our bags - just the right size!
We then headed to the park, which was busy and very warm as well. We ate lunch at the Market Deli on Main Street and then wandered through the park. Queues for rides such as Space Mountain, Star Tours, Buzz, Peter Pan, etc. all topped 1 hour and we didn't want to queue for anything as we had planned to meet some other friends at 3pm. So we wandered through the caves (which for some reason always smell like a public loo!) for a while and looked at Captain Hook's ship, before making our way over to Pirates and waiting for our friends.
When they arrived, they had got us some FastPasses for Big Thunder Mountain, so we followed their lead and all went on BTM as our first ride - which was fantastic. It was really good fun going on it as a big group and we screamed all the way around!
We then headed over to Discoveryland and went on Buzz - it was great fun (we had only been on it once before and I'd forgotten how fun it is!) We then walked over to Pirates of the Caribbean and queued for that. It was quite a long queue but a good ride.
We then had a drink and a loo break, walked through Aladdin's passage and then looked at the dragon in the castle, before wandering back down Main Street and into the Village for dinner at The Steakhouse.
I had the curried chicken, two of our party had the brochettes (shown in the picture below), two had burgers, another had New York Strips, one had steak and another had ribs. The kids also had puddings - the cheesecake (which looked yummy) and the black and white dessert, which was mostly cream!
Although the Steakhouse is quite expensive, it made a nice change as we've never been there before, and it was quiet and relaxed. The themeing is lovely and we saw Buffalo Bill's parade going through the village as we waited for our food, as the side of the Steakhouse has large windows. It was great to sit down and chat after a long day!
After that, we said our goodbyes and headed back to the station to get our bags. It was about 8.00pm by now and we were all quite tired! We collected our luggage easily and took the shuttle bus to the Cheyenne, where I checked us in, completely in French! I was really happy to speak some French and told the CM (Danéal, who was lovely!) that most people launch straight into English when they detect my accent, but he said it was great that I spoke French and let me continue. He wasn't even patronising with it. I love any opportunity to speak French so that made me really happy. I requested GMF breakfasts for Wednesday and Friday (as we'd decided we'd have breakfast in the hotel on the Thursday, before going to the WDS park) but he didn't have any left for the Wednesday, so we got them for Thursday and Friday, and decided to do WDS on the Wednesday instead.
We then went to our rooms to unpack, and the others had a little sleep. We had adjoining rooms, which was nice - it was like staying in a two-bedroom/two-bathroom apartment as we could just leave our doors open and then shut them if we wanted some privacy.
We walked back to the Disneyland Park for 10pm and bought drinks, then gathered near Central Plaza and waited for Fantillusion to start. We had quite a good view of the parade as once the CM had cleared the area of people passing through to Discoveryland, he allowed us all to move forward, so we were quite close to the front. It was absolutely packed, though - I couldn't believe how many people there were! I have never been in summer before.
Fantillusion was really lovely - the music is great and some of the transformations of the evil floats are fantastic. We found the dark hooded walking figures (which turn into red/orange evil beings!) quite scary, as were Jafar and Maleficent!
After that, the ropes were taken away and we were all able to move forward to the front of the castle. As we had been close to Central Plaza, we were very near to the castle as we waited for the fireworks to begin. Mickey and Minnie came out of the castle and then we saw Candleabration, which was much better in the dark than it had been last year in daylight! We were particularly impressed with the special effect of pixie dust coming out of the top of the castle - it looked amazing close up. Then the fireworks began, set to the music from Enchanted, and we had a fantastic view from very close to the castle. It really was lovely and the music was great!
We then headed back down Main Street (at a very slow pace!) with the rest of the crowds, got back to the hotel at about midnight, then had showers and finally went to bed at about 1.00am after a very long and tiring day!
Bonnie (26) and partner Claire (29)
Em (24) and husband Eddie (24)
August 26th 2008
Claire and I got up at about 6.00am after a terrible night's sleep in the Travelodge! There had been a group of people chatting, laughing, crying (!!!) and slamming doors in the corridor outside our room until 4.30am.
So we'd woken up every half hour or so and were very grumpy by this point! We walked down to St Pancras International and arrived there at 7.00am. We'd arranged to meet Em and Eddie there at 7.30am (train wasn't until 8.32am but we were paranoid!) and they were already there. We are so like them...So we checked in early and had some breakfast. The Eurostar departure lounge is similar to the old one at Waterloo but seems a bit smaller. There was a Disney brass band there, playing tunes from Snow White, just before we boarded the train.
We were all sitting together around a table so we were able to chat easily. The journey to Paris Gare du Nord lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. When we arrived, we looked around for the RER ticket machines and bought four single tickets for Marne-la-Valée Chessy (about 25 EUR for 4 tickets) and then caught the Métro to Chatelet-les-Halles (one stop) followed by the RER to Disney. This second journey took about 45 minutes and was 14 stops away. Upon arrival we paid for a large locker (about 9.50 EUR) for all of our bags - just the right size!We then headed to the park, which was busy and very warm as well. We ate lunch at the Market Deli on Main Street and then wandered through the park. Queues for rides such as Space Mountain, Star Tours, Buzz, Peter Pan, etc. all topped 1 hour and we didn't want to queue for anything as we had planned to meet some other friends at 3pm. So we wandered through the caves (which for some reason always smell like a public loo!) for a while and looked at Captain Hook's ship, before making our way over to Pirates and waiting for our friends.
When they arrived, they had got us some FastPasses for Big Thunder Mountain, so we followed their lead and all went on BTM as our first ride - which was fantastic. It was really good fun going on it as a big group and we screamed all the way around!
We then headed over to Discoveryland and went on Buzz - it was great fun (we had only been on it once before and I'd forgotten how fun it is!) We then walked over to Pirates of the Caribbean and queued for that. It was quite a long queue but a good ride.
We then had a drink and a loo break, walked through Aladdin's passage and then looked at the dragon in the castle, before wandering back down Main Street and into the Village for dinner at The Steakhouse.
I had the curried chicken, two of our party had the brochettes (shown in the picture below), two had burgers, another had New York Strips, one had steak and another had ribs. The kids also had puddings - the cheesecake (which looked yummy) and the black and white dessert, which was mostly cream!
Although the Steakhouse is quite expensive, it made a nice change as we've never been there before, and it was quiet and relaxed. The themeing is lovely and we saw Buffalo Bill's parade going through the village as we waited for our food, as the side of the Steakhouse has large windows. It was great to sit down and chat after a long day!
After that, we said our goodbyes and headed back to the station to get our bags. It was about 8.00pm by now and we were all quite tired! We collected our luggage easily and took the shuttle bus to the Cheyenne, where I checked us in, completely in French! I was really happy to speak some French and told the CM (Danéal, who was lovely!) that most people launch straight into English when they detect my accent, but he said it was great that I spoke French and let me continue. He wasn't even patronising with it. I love any opportunity to speak French so that made me really happy.
I requested GMF breakfasts for Wednesday and Friday (as we'd decided we'd have breakfast in the hotel on the Thursday, before going to the WDS park) but he didn't have any left for the Wednesday, so we got them for Thursday and Friday, and decided to do WDS on the Wednesday instead.We then went to our rooms to unpack, and the others had a little sleep. We had adjoining rooms, which was nice - it was like staying in a two-bedroom/two-bathroom apartment as we could just leave our doors open and then shut them if we wanted some privacy.
We walked back to the Disneyland Park for 10pm and bought drinks, then gathered near Central Plaza and waited for Fantillusion to start. We had quite a good view of the parade as once the CM had cleared the area of people passing through to Discoveryland, he allowed us all to move forward, so we were quite close to the front. It was absolutely packed, though - I couldn't believe how many people there were! I have never been in summer before.
Fantillusion was really lovely - the music is great and some of the transformations of the evil floats are fantastic. We found the dark hooded walking figures (which turn into red/orange evil beings!) quite scary, as were Jafar and Maleficent!
After that, the ropes were taken away and we were all able to move forward to the front of the castle. As we had been close to Central Plaza, we were very near to the castle as we waited for the fireworks to begin. Mickey and Minnie came out of the castle and then we saw Candleabration, which was much better in the dark than it had been last year in daylight! We were particularly impressed with the special effect of pixie dust coming out of the top of the castle - it looked amazing close up. Then the fireworks began, set to the music from Enchanted, and we had a fantastic view from very close to the castle. It really was lovely and the music was great!
We then headed back down Main Street (at a very slow pace!) with the rest of the crowds, got back to the hotel at about midnight, then had showers and finally went to bed at about 1.00am after a very long and tiring day!
I booked because I had heard all good reports but I hadn't realised it would be quite so many Euros!
