Trip Report Remy, Marie, and Me - DLP PTR June 2018 - TR Link up!

[missangelalexis]

What a bummer about Phantom Manor and Space Mountain! But all the other rides are your list sound great! I have heard such great things about Ratatouille and Crush's Coaster!

 

[amazingact21]

What a bummer about Phantom Manor and Space Mountain! But all the other rides are your list sound great! I have heard such great things about Ratatouille and Crush's Coaster!

You should just come join us in June and try them out yourself....( I'm just sayin', there's quite a few of us that are taking over the park this summer. )

 

[Lesley Wake]

What a bummer about Phantom Manor and Space Mountain! But all the other rides are your list sound great! I have heard such great things about Ratatouille and Crush's Coaster!

You should just come join us in June and try them out yourself....( I'm just sayin', there's quite a few of us that are taking over the park this summer. )

I agree! Epic DLP Dismeet!

 

[missangelalexis]

You should just come join us in June and try them out yourself....( I'm just sayin', there's quite a few of us that are taking over the park this summer. )

I agree! Epic DLP Dismeet!

Oh my gosh I SO wish! That would be awesome! For now, I will have to live vicariously through you guys!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Update 4/3 - Paris itinerary getting together

So, first, I think I figured out a solution to the Hyperspace Mountain refurb annoyance and I'm going to run over there for a Disney morning while the family is in Paris. I'm definitely not telling Mom though - she would not be impressed! But I figure, going alone lets me move quickly. But, it wasn't necessarily Hyperspace Mountain that pushed me over the edge. See, I realized, if I go by May 31st, it will still be THE FESTIVAL OF PRINCESSES AND PIRATES! I've been watching the youtube videos, and well, it looks spectacular!

The big draw is the "Make your choice" show/parade. They have a Princess float unit (with the ladies all in special festival outfits with flowers and spring decorations) and a Pirate float unit, and they start at either end of the parade route, meeting in the Hub for a little show. They also do a show at the Castle Stage (which is off to the side of the castle; sort of where Merida meets at WDW), and the center of Main Street. The colors are just so bright and fun (it's supposed to be as if a kid colored a pirate ship and princesses) These videos are from ED92TV, and I can't wait to see it!

I will probably be going on Thursday, May 31st. It's the last day of the Festival, and buts up on FanDaze (a special DLP event that weekend) but just fits best in my schedule, so I will work with it. I figure, I will leave Paris early and plan to get to Disney well in advance of rope drop at 10am. Go direct to Hyperspace Mountain (DLP has Early Magic Time every morning though, so it won't be empty, but hopefully I can get in a couple rides, maybe grab a FP too, and maybe Single Rider?). Then catch the first Princess vs Pirates show. Then head back to Paris and meet up with family/do whatever!

So, some other Paris Itinerary updates:

Sunday, May 27
-Flight arrives around 5:30pm, and we will need to get over to the Airbnb and get settled. I doubt anything major that evening, probably just dinner and sleep!

Monday, May 28
-Since this is our first day we will try to stick together as a family.
-Mom and Lauren don't want anything specifically scheduled this day because they want to make sure they aren't feeling sick from jetlag.
-I'd like to do a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus. I know they can seem tacky, but I think it'd be a great way to see the city more. Does anyone have any good (or bad) experiences with particular companies?
-I'd expect we will probably do Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur as a family. I've told the family they should visit Sainte-Chapelle (gorgeous royal chapel about a block away from Notre Dame), but since I've been, I'd like to see Conciergerie, which is the former prison where Marie Antoinette was housed (it's next door to Sainte-Chapelle).
-I also organized the various museum hours and even though a lot of guides say museums are closed on Monday, it actually doesn't seem to be that bad, so plenty of places to see!
-Maybe also try to see the Eiffel Tower light show, but considering how sunset won't be until 10ish, we'll have to see how we're feeling!

Tuesday, May 29
-Another full family day
-Versailles day, with fountains!
-If I was by myself I'd try to see the French miniature "theme park" which is a short train away from Versailles (I looove models/miniatures), but I don't know if that would be possible with the family.
-Nothing else planned; if we get back into Paris early though, could try to see other museums?

Wednesday, May 30
-Split family day-Originally I considered doing the Disneyland Paris morning this day, but then I realized doing it Wednesday could give me a tight timeline to get back to Paris in time for our Eiffel Tower tickets. If schedules worked out as planned, then the timing would be fine, but when does anything happen according to schedule? So I would probably be super rushed and flustered the whole morning at DLP.
-So probably do Giverny that morning. I found a mini-tour which is 5 hrs, including a minivan transport there and back, plus audio guide. It seems simpler than trying to take metro-train-shuttle and deal with all that! This tour will just pick up/let out in front of the Louvre, which is walking distance from our place. The tour would return back to Paris around 1:15pm.
-Mom is interested in Giverny, but is just not sure about scheduling. So, it could be just me, it could be me+Mom, it could be me+mom+dad. Everyone else isn't interested.
-The whole family has tickets for Eiffel Tower at 3pm.
-That evening, both the Louvre and Grand Palais stay open until 10pm, so I think that could work well to do after Eiffel Tower.

Thursday, May 31
-Do our own thing?
-This will be my Disneyland Paris morning. I don't plan on spending a long time, and it could be based on timetables for the Princess/Pirate show, as well as crowds.
-Museums in the afternoon. A lot of places are open late on Thursdays, so I may be able to see several. This was also one of the strategies behind the Giverny scheduling; if we did it Thursday, they only do afternoons, so we wouldn't get back until close to 7, so not really time to take advantage of the late hours.

Friday, June 1
-Partial family?
-I think this day will depend on what everyone still wanted to see in Paris, so could end up splitting up more.

Saturday, June 2
-Travel to Loire Valley via train. I'm thinking TGV (high speed rail) around 12:30. That will take us about 90 minutes and is a direct route, rather than a lot of others which had connections. But I checked online and realized we really need to book these in advance to guarantee seats on the train, so Mom and I will figure out exactly what time.
-Nothing in Paris that morning besides maybe a relaxing breakfast and check out of Airbnb.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Update 4/9 - Transport and a rant

Transportation in France

One quick change to the family part of the trip. We were originally planning on going from Paris-Tours via train, then renting a car in Tours, using that in Loire Valley and Normandy, before returning it to Charles de Gaulle airport the day before my parents leave (and the day when I head to Val d'Europe and the siblings head to Brussels). Now, I don't know if any of you are following the goings-on in France, but a rail strike just started in France . (Though I don't currently have an opinion on who is in the right: rail union vs government.) And that strike is scheduled to keep going until the end of June ! (https://www.thelocal.fr/20180409/fr...ervices-and-leaves-sncf-with-100-million-bill) At least they've decided to schedule strike days in advance, so it goes 2-days strike, 3-days normal, 2-days strike, etc. Of course I checked the schedule and, surprise, surprise, one of the strike days is the day we were supposed to get to Tours! I started looking into what that meant.

If we decided to stick with the train, we would still need to book our tickets in advance (they tend to sell out), BUT we wouldn't know until around the day before if our train was cancelled (it would depend on whether the rail workers called out or not). Even if our train wasn't cancelled, it would be pretty chaotic in the station, with reports last week of people pushing their way onto crowded trains thru the windows (https://www.thelocal.fr/20180404/vi...imb-through-windows-to-get-onto-packed-trains)! Oh, hell no!

Next best option (and what was recommended by more experienced Dissers), was to take the bus. There are several direct buses from Paris to Tours per day, though definitely take longer than the train (3 hr bus vs 1.5 hr train), and the bus stations weren't as convenient to our Paris location. Cost definitely was better vs the train, but I still wasn't as happy about the idea of a bus, as for me, trains just seem more European!

But then, I also decided to check with my dad about the rental car reservation. Mainly, could we change the pick up location to Paris, meaning we don't need to get to Tours at all. I was worried his original reservation was non-refundable, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask. Well... he was able to do it! And it saved $1,000 on the rental car cost ! Adding the train tickets, mean it probably saves us $1200 total! Plus, getting a car from the airport means likely more vehicle options (we have a minivan with automatic controls booked, but there was always the worry we could get stuck with a manual shifting). I don't know why we didn't look at that option earlier-I think partially because we didn't want to drive in Paris, but at least the airport is far enough in the outskirts that we can avoid city streets and stick to highways to get down to the Loire Valley! So, at least that's taken care of!

And a rant...

So, I'm just posting this here because I figure you guys may understand somewhat of where I'm coming from.

During all my planning I asked Lauren multiple times if she and Joey wanted to come to Disneyland Paris with me. Not necessarily for my whole stay, but maybe a day or two. Well, she was adamant about not being interested. Hey, I let it go, and actually was ok with it, since it would mean I wouldn't have to deal with her snarkiness (it's gotten really really bad lately). I did mention to her about my plan to go to DLP for a morning when the family is in Paris to ride Hyperspace Mountain, but more just because I needed to tell someone and there's no way in hell I'm telling mom!

Well, then Lauren, Joey and I are at Disneyland on Saturday, and she brings up DLP and says, hmm, maybe she and Joey will go for a day... Seriously! So, now I needed to consider that in my plans. We briefly went over the available dates, and really its only Monday, Thursday, or Friday (for the record, I had planned on Thursday). Lauren has been starting to think Monday would be the best for them to go... which, no, no no. First, that would be our first day in Paris, and I know Mom would not be happy if we all split off on our first day, especially for Lauren and Joey to go to Disney. Second (and this is totally just selfish on my part), I don't want them to go to DLP first! That would just not be fair, right!?! She's still trying to consider the best dates, and I may have helped push her towards Thursday; the original reason for her not picking Thursday was because many museums stay open late on Thursday, so she was thinking it'd be best to stay in Paris, but then I brought up that she may not even be interested in those museums, which she said was true. I mean, this is the girl that spend several days in Florence, and never once went to see the Statue of David! Like, seriously?

Anyways, my DLP ADR days are this week (they are a 60-day from each day rather than 60-days+length of stay). If I was to wait for all to open, it would be on Saturday, and I'm not sure if they are open (plus I have more Disney plans on Saturday), so I will probably call Friday morning for my first several days, then Monday morning for my last day.

 

[Raeven]

Of course I checked the schedule and, surprise, surprise, one of the strike days is the day we were supposed to get to Tours! I started looking into what that meant.

Oh no that sounds awful. But I'm glad you found a solution that also saves a lot of money.

Good luck with Lauren and the DLP stuff, I hope she listens to you!

 

[missangelalexis]

Glad you're squeezing in extra time at DLP to do Hyperspace Mountain and see the festivities!

Your Paris itinirary sounds fun!

I'm sorry your sister is putting a hiccup in the plans! Hopefully she steers in the direction you're pushing her in

 

[scrappinmom]

I am so happy I found your report! We will be in Paris 5/27-6/7 & I just changed our 2 DLP days to 5/31 &6/4 (not staying there)

 

[Lesley Wake]

Oh no that sounds awful. But I'm glad you found a solution that also saves a lot of money.

Good luck with Lauren and the DLP stuff, I hope she listens to you!

I think it will work out best in the end with the rental car! No need to try and keep track of all our suitcases on the train. We did a similar thing when we did the family trip to England, where we took a train from London to Southhampton, where we got a rental car for our time in the New Forest (where my grandma's ancestors lived). But when we got to the Southhampton airport, our stop, a lady got up in the aisle and wouldn't move so we missed our stop! We had to take it one more stop, get off, and send my parents back the other direction to get the car from the airport rental while Anthony and I watched the bags at the rail station! Definitely caused a lot of stress and aggravation!

I think for Lauren, it's more like she just always needs to be different! So, when we booked our airline flights she just was being a pill, so my mom and I just booked the flights for the rest of us and left Lauren and Joey to figure it out later (they eventually got on the same flight as us). Then when she booked her return flight, rather than waiting to leave until Friday at the same time as me, she instead decided to leave on Wednesday (no particular reason why, just because), which means my mom will probably end up driving to LAX on both Wednesday and Friday evenings!

And she just gets in horrible moods, so lots of "Well, I don't want to do that" or "That sounds so stupid". ARGH! I made up a mini-guide for Paris, which has a map showing lots of museums/gardens/monuments, and broke it down by area, for each place including the opening days/hours, price, some photos & description from the Paris Tourism website. And of course, Lauren immediately has to make a horrible face and say very loudly "Well! I WILL NOT BE USING THAT!", after I had gone to the trouble to include things she would like (Wine museums, fashion museums, etc). It just gets frustrating; at least my mom also agrees that she is just being very b****y lately!

Ok, rant over!

Glad you're squeezing in extra time at DLP to do Hyperspace Mountain and see the festivities!

Your Paris itinirary sounds fun!

I'm sorry your sister is putting a hiccup in the plans! Hopefully she steers in the direction you're pushing her in

I am really looking forward to the whole trip! I hope it all goes well!

I am so happy I found your report! We will be in Paris 5/27-6/7 & I just changed our 2 DLP days to 5/31 &6/4 (not staying there)

Welcome! I know I saw your posts in the DLP board, but wasn't sure your actual travel dates!

 

[Lesley Wake]

39 days until we leave!
44 days until DLP morning
54 days until Disneyland Paris! ​

ADR Success

I hit 60-days last week, so was able to call in and book my ADRs. It is so painless with their system (well, once you get through), as you don't need to give a credit card guarantee. I also thought they only did 60 days out, so tried to time it so I would limit the number of times I needed to call, but the person was able to book all days, even 61 days out! I did have to call an international number, but the whole conversation ended up being only 4 minutes, so not too bad (also, my company pays for my cell phone...so I didn't even pay, but I figured with a large charge they'd get suspicious)!

So, here's what I have booked:
June 10 - Inventions, 8pm
June 11 - Chez Remy 12pm

- Plaza Gardens, 7:30 pm (I think...it could be 8pm... problem is my ADRs aren't linked online so I can't double check!)​

June 12 - Captain Jack 12pm (I planned for Walt's, but turns out they are closed on Monday/Tuesday)

- Hunters Grill 8pm (a back-up; I am not sure if I will actually use this one)​

June 13 - Walt's 12pm

Maybe modification to Giverny?

Mom was talking to me and mentioned how Giverny is on the way from Normandy - Paris, so brought up the possibility of doing it on our return trip (June 9), rather than having to go from Paris - Giverny, which is a hassle and takes time and money. I actually really hope this works out because it would free up more time in Paris to see other things! Lauren, Joey, and Anthony aren't really interested, but we thought they could either just go to a pub, or maybe even catch a train into Paris to go onto Brussels. Depending on the timing, it may even be possible for me to just take a train to Val d'Europe from there, but it seems there are limited trains scheduled right now, with timing that may not be convenient, so I will have to see!

Besides that, no more updates!

 

[scrappinmom]

LOL - I actually switched my day after reading your hyperspace mountain post! But now that you point out the late nights at museums, maybe I'll switch it again.

Oh heck - I'll just send you my wish lists & what I've already booked & you can plan it all! I need to do the calendar thing you did. Between museum closures, the rail strike, fountain days etc...I am 110% scattered!

 

[missangelalexis]

Glad you got the ADRs you wanted so easily!

 

[Lesley Wake]

LOL - I actually switched my day after reading your hyperspace mountain post! But now that you point out the late nights at museums, maybe I'll switch it again.

Oh heck - I'll just send you my wish lists & what I've already booked & you can plan it all! I need to do the calendar thing you did. Between museum closures, the rail strike, fountain days etc...I am 110% scattered!

Honestly, let me know if you need any help! I'm totally happy to do so!

 

[reyasmommy]

Hello !

Your trip sounds AMAZING!! We are going to Europe this summer as well. We'll be in Paris from July 3rd-July 8th, DLP from July 8th-July 11th, and London from July 11th-July 17th.

I'm really freaking out abut the Rail Strike in France. The strike schedule is only showing till the end of June, so I have no way of knowing whether it will still be going on or not? If it is, what days? If I knew for sure I could plan around it. I'm not to worried about getting to Disneyland, if I have to take a bus or even hire an UBER, I will. I'm mostly worried about our trip into London. We have tickets on the Eurostar to take us into London, and I have no idea what we'll do if they cancel or train. My husband tells me not to worry, but of course that's hard for me to do. I plan everything down to the minute sometimes and this situation is giving me major anxiety.

I am soooooo bummed that Phantom Manor is going to be closed. I think I was looking forward to that the most. I'm not sure what else will be down when we're there? I'm mostly looking forward to the rides we don't have here .... Ratatouille, Crushes Coaster, Space Mountain and my American Favorites ... POTC, MTMR, ToT !!! The park looks absolutely gorgeous and I'll be happy just walking around and taking in all of the ambience. Our kids won't be with us so we can take our time and smell the roses!

I can't wait to hear about your trip when you get back, it might help me a little bit with my planning.

I also saw you're going to Mont St. Michel ! I can NOT wait to see it, I'm so excited! Take lots of pictures!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Hello !

Your trip sounds AMAZING!! We are going to Europe this summer as well. We'll be in Paris from July 3rd-July 8th, DLP from July 8th-July 11th, and London from July 11th-July 17th.

I'm really freaking out abut the Rail Strike in France. The strike schedule is only showing till the end of June, so I have no way of knowing whether it will still be going on or not? If it is, what days? If I knew for sure I could plan around it. I'm not to worried about getting to Disneyland, if I have to take a bus or even hire an UBER, I will. I'm mostly worried about our trip into London. We have tickets on the Eurostar to take us into London, and I have no idea what we'll do if they cancel or train. My husband tells me not to worry, but of course that's hard for me to do. I plan everything down to the minute sometimes and this situation is giving me major anxiety.

I am soooooo bummed that Phantom Manor is going to be closed. I think I was looking forward to that the most. I'm not sure what else will be down when we're there? I'm mostly looking forward to the rides we don't have here .... Ratatouille, Crushes Coaster, Space Mountain and my American Favorites ... POTC, MTMR, ToT !!! The park looks absolutely gorgeous and I'll be happy just walking around and taking in all of the ambience. Our kids won't be with us so we can take our time and smell the roses!

I can't wait to hear about your trip when you get back, it might help me a little bit with my planning.

I also saw you're going to Mont St. Michel ! I can NOT wait to see it, I'm so excited! Take lots of pictures!

Yay, welcome to the pre-TR! I hope you have fun on your trip too!

I know, the rail strike is certainly worrying. I think it's just scheduled until June and I was checking online and I guess they are rare in July and August. I guess rail workers don't want to be inconvenienced when it's time for vacations! Even if the rail strike does get extended, at least 80% of the eurostar trains have been running. And if it's absolutely not possible to take the train over, at least there will be ferries, and even inexpensive short flights (we are flying from London-Paris). So, if I were in your shoes, first, I wouldn't be as worried about the rail strike still happening during my trip. Second, I would cross my fingers that my train wasn't affected, but third, I just wouldn't schedule any nonrefundable activities on that travel day, in case you get in later than expected! But I totally totally get the stress with planning! But we can survive WDW planning, of course we can survive a simple European vacation!

I know, I was also really bummed about Phantom Manor. I guess my next trip (maybe after they expand the studios park) will need to be planned when it's open! I've been following the various DLP twitter accounts and at least it looks like most of the landscaping is done, so its not a dirt heap anymore! I know I want to just see all the details and special areas, and I'm definitely happy I'll have the freedom to do as I please!

I'll definitely try to give some advice once I get back-probably won't get the full trip report completed for a bit though!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Update 5/15 - Throwback to my first France visit!

11 days before we leave! Eeepp!

Also, want to know the most sure-fire way to get more work? Announce you are going on vacation. I've been more busy the past week than I have all year and I know it won't let up until I leave!

No new updates on the actual trip planning. One minor incident with Lauren, when I asked her, innocently, if she wanted to visit any wineries in the Loire Valley. She looks at me, confused: "I thought that's all we were doing when we visited chateaus." Me: "Um, no, chateaus are more about looking at pretty historical palace/mansions and gardens, not wine." Lauren: "What the he**? Why the f*** would I want to go there?!?" Yeah, so that was fun... Maybe if she, you know, actually looked at any information I printed out and has been sitting on the kitchen table for a month, she would know these things!


So, I thought I'd share pictures from my previous trip to France! Especially since I think we'll be revisiting most of the places I already went!

Some basics: This was a trip organized thru a student travel group and coordinated by my French teacher. There ended up being 6 students from my high school going, myself, three other French students in my year (we were friends/friendly...and I may have had a huge crush on the guy), another student my year who wasn't taking French but was friends with the other guy, and one guy the year behind me. It was in between my Junior-Senior years, so I was 16. We all got along pretty great and it was a fun trip for us. We had expected we would be meeting up with other school groups, but it ended up being just lots of older folks (teachers, friends/family of teachers), which was pretty annoying! There ended up being 3 other teenagers (2 of which we made friends with and the last one we didn't end up clicking with), so our group would often split off from the main tour group wherever possible.

And it was a whirlwind tour! 9 days, including travel. For London, Northern France, and Paris! So no real time to relax and enjoy places, just get in, see some stuff, get out and go. After I got back my mom asked me to make a scrapbook, and I was able to pull it out of storage after we decided on going to France with the family.

Some notes on photos: this was before I had a digital camera, so I couldn't tell how blurry photos were going to be until I got home! I also took a lot of photos, and despite bringing plenty of rolls of film, I still bought a bunch more on the trip!

Day 1: Travel

Days 2-3: London. Obviously very rainy!

Day 4: Stonehenge and take ferry to France. Of special note: one of my classmates left his passport in the hotel and didn't realize that until we reached Stonehenge! We tried to figure out what to do, but thankfully my dual citizenship (US and Canada) and traveling with 2 passports helped, because the border agents were so lazy the just counted the number of passports and number of people in our group! My teacher and the guy ended up spending a couple hours at the US consulate in Paris to get a replacement passport.

Day 5: Normandy and D-Day beaches in the morning; Mont St Michel in afternoon. Yeah, seriously we did both of those in 1 day! For comparison, my family will be doing 1 whole day of D-Day beaches/museum/monuments and another day for Mont St Michel.

​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Day 6: Loire Valley, with Chenonceaux, Villandry, Chambord. Turns out we also drove by Amboise, so I have a photo that may even show our Airbnb! My family will be spreading this out into 4 nights, including amble relaxation time. I also don't know if we will bother with seeing Chambord, since we will be visiting Versailles.

Day 7: Chartres cathedral, entering Paris, including The Louvre. We only had, max 1 hr at the Louvre. Yeah, nothing. We basically ran to look at the 3 biggest draws, then had to leave. That evening we did get to the Arc de Triomphe

Day 8: Paris. So we had 1 day in Paris, so our group left the big group entirely. We had to spend several hours outside the Consulate (I think one or two of us left the passports in the room, so we weren't all allowed in), before we split off and agreed to meet at Notre Dame... of course, we ended up taking a wrong turn, so the teacher and last guy actually arrived at Notre Dame before us! At least we ended up visiting Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, Eiffel Tower, and catacombs. Everyone else ended up going to the Sacre Coeur, but I went back to the hotel. My introvert head was really not doing too well with being around people 24/7 for the past week and a bit, so I spent my last evening back in the room packing.

Day 9: Travel home

A crazy trip, but at least I'll be able to repeat my favorites now! My favorite places were Normandy and the Loire Valley, so that helped guide this upcoming trip! ​

 

[Lesley Wake]

Checking in from Paris! We all arrived safely and the Airbnb is working well. It is very warm and humid in the city though, so it can feel pretty sticky!

As for the trip itself...it’s going. Let’s say lots of annoyance and drama between almost every person in the family at one point or another. Hopefully it gets better as we overcome jet lag and get accustomed to things!

I’ve also discovered I’ve been totally spoiled by solo trips! Too much needing to check in with everyone and work with everyones schedules. Like today, if it was me alone, I probably would have visited twice as many places as we will end up doing. I doubt we will do any more of these trips that require advance planning; I could see us on relaxing things (Hawaii, Possibly a Cruise); and I know we will NEVER go to WDW together! No chance in hell im putting myself, and them, through that! Oh well! Versailles tomorrow, Eiffel Tower Wednesday, brief stop at DLP Thursday and the rest of the day solo, probably split up for most of day Friday.

 

[Karin1984]

I love the pirates and princess festival and right after I went in April, I thought I have to go again! They really did such a good job with the music, the costumes the entire set up of the shows with the two floats. Love that Mickey is with the princesses and Minnie with the pirates. My biggest downside is the rap part of the song being in French, it goes too quick for me (even for some native French!) to understand what they sing. I had my trip planned out to go today and tomorrow, but then a sad family event happened and I had to cancel. I have a very sweet friend who immediately offered to ride me to DLP on Thursday to make up for it. Not sure if I will, if I am and I see you run by, I'll wave

Some tips:
- They alternate the shows. When I was there, the first show of the day was princesses on castle stage, and second was pirates on castle stage, etc.
- The preshows at castle stage and in Main Street take about 10 minutes. If the program says it starts at 11, it's around 11.10/11.15 at the hub.
- If you want to make a choice on the hub, if you stand in the middle of the stages in front of the castle, with the castle being 12 o'clock. Then at 2 o'clock, you have Smee & Captain Hook, at 4 Wendy and Peter, at 8 classic princesses, at 10 modern princesses.
(sorry, not entirely sure about the pirates, I'm a princess! )
- If you have time to squeeze in the mini parade with Sophia and Elena, and you like to make pictures, be aware this parade moves fast and I found it very hard to make pictures.
- If you are running around DLP and you find yourself in Fantasyland and you want to make it back in time for the Castle stage, don't try to take the shortcut next to the sweetshop, it's closed shortly before the show for preparation. Go via castle bridge, or all the way around via Small World (this is a long detour, don't do this when you are short on time ;-) )
- There is hardly any merchandise for this festival, don't get your hopes up.

Last tip:
Hyperspace Mountain has a single rider's line, but it's not always open.


HAVE FUN!