The best autograph book ever - Trip report 02.01.12 until 08.01.12 UPDATE & COMPLETE

ThBa

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Jul 13, 2010
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The best autograph book ever – My trip report 02.01.12 until 08.01.12

Before I start let me say thanks to all of you here at this wonderful board. You made our stay with your help and tips once again magical.

My very special thanks go out to Otterpop and DoNatalie who designed wonderful autograph book pages for me.

Please excuse my bad English. I did not use a (online) translator, because I try to improve my English skills.

So…..let´s go

Day 1:

I decided once again to use the Thalys from Cologne, Germany for our travel. It was a very smooth travel to Gare du Nord and the price (29,- for an adult and 15,- for a child) is unbelievable. We arrived in 3 hours and 15 minutes and after a horrible experience with the RER last year I booked a private shuttle service in advance. John from EzzyShuttle recommends TIOShuttle, because he was booked out. The driver from TIOShuttle was in time and waited with a sign at the end of the platform. He was very friendly and helped us with the luggage. The car waited outside the station and it was very spacy and clean. He droves us to through the horrible traffic of Paris and we arrived the SQL in 45 minutes. It was a far better way to travel with 2 children and a lot of luggage than the RER. I´ve paid him 75,- and he told me that he will be back on Sunday at 10.00 am. I was satisfied with this service and would recommend them. The RER is a good way to travel too, but beware to avoid the Rush Hour!

The Check-In at the SQL was very good. I send them an email before our visit and the CM told my kids that Mickey welcomes then and that he received the mail. My daughters were very surprised and proud. This was the first of many magical moments! The CM was very helpful and friendly. In my email I asked for a refurbished room. She gaves us Room No. 2139 in the main building and it was an awesome room. We never stayed at the SQL and we were impressed about the atmosphere. It is such a wonderful hotel! I think it is fully refurbished now, because I did not see any workers or something like that. The hotel and the rooms are very clean.

We unpacked our luggage and went to the parcs. It is a very easy 10 minute walk around Lake Disney and trough the Village and we never used the shuttle bus.

Our first stop was at the Studios, because I knew that the Studio Tram Tour was only opened that day. The Canyon was fun, but the whole tour was out of date. In my opinion it is boring to see only some cars. It would be great to see more on this tour!

After walking around at the Studios we switch over to the other parc were we first stop for the rides which were not so full and easily to reach. The new refurbished castle looks great and better than ever. The whole parc was very clean and we were in the Disney spirit again at once.

The first day flew away and we walked through the exit. Suddenly my daughter saw Ariel outside the Auberge de Cendrilion. I made my daughters some custom autograph books before our trip with the help of the Diser Designers. My very proud daughters presented them to Ariel and the reaction was fantastic. Ariel looked at the autograph book….smiled…and said, that she never saw such a brilliant thing and that this is by far the best autograph book ever! She took the book and went inside and suddenly Snow White and Belle came too. We were surrounded by these princesses and other CM and everyone looked at the autograph books. You can not image the faces of my daughters. This moment was worth every effort of the last year and this is one thing that money can´t buy. To see my daughters proud and lucky infront of the princesses…..unbelievable. We have a lot of special character interactions the next days with this autograph book and I will write about it.

After this special first experience we walked back through the village. I did not book any table for that night, so we planed to visit McDonalds. It was a nightmare, because it was so full that I had to wait 40 minutes to hear that Hamburger and Cheesburger were sold out !?!. We bought us some other stuff and walked tired but happy back to the SQL.

The first night was very comfort and ok and we are all asleep immediately.



Day 2 later....much more to come

:wizard:

Thorsten
 
aw what a fabulous start, all those princesses :love:!
 
Oh I am looking forward to reading even more! Will you be showing us the autograph books? I really want to see them!!!
 
wonderful start, great start. I was reading and kept smiling. So wonderful Raelly want to hear more and I'd love to see those special autograph books.
 
Aw how lovely the characters reaction to your hard work! Xxx
 
What a great first day, I agree you get great interaction with special autograph books. I too would love to see some pictures of them.:goodvibes
 
more please!!! I love the idea of the autograph books - guess what I will be doing tomorrow - Hobbycracft here I come
 
Oh boy….I hate to be at work again after a Disneyland stay. So much work that I can not write my trip report. But here is Day 2 and 3:

Day 2 - 3:

After a very comfortable first night my kids wake up very early. I asked for a VIP breakfast at the check in and this was one of the best tips ever. It was very good to get breakfast when ever you want and not at a certain time slot. The lines at the two restaurants were very long, but I like it to be seated. We stayed at the Cheyenne before and the breakfast was sometimes very chaotic. It was better at the SQL and the variety of food was more to choose from. It was ok for us.

Our usually day began always at Salon Mickey. I was very excited to see the room again after one year and I feel home at once again. It gaves us always a VIP feeling and it’s a good start into your day.

The park was full. It was more than I expected. We like the park to be full, but not too full and it was ok. I guess it´s another feeling if you have to chance to ride Peter Pan or the other rides without any waiting time than to wait for them. If the park were not so full the excitement would be gone, when you could walk through each ride and do it again and again.

We did the usual days with all these fantastic rides…..Snow White, Peter Pan, Pirates, Big Thunder and so on. I do not know, but I thought that a lot of the rides were refurbished and they look better and with some other scenes at Pirates?

The castle looks great and we all were in the Disney magic again.

The only thing that makes us very mad was the toilets. My English is too bad to describe how ugly and dirty the toilets became during the day. It was a nightmare and I´m glad that my daughters did not get ill from them. I understand that the toilets are a problem at each park due to many visitors. I do not understand the behaviour of many adults who leave the toilets like a nightmare!! It was the biggest low during our stay and I hope that Disney will work something out. I will not imagine how the toilets look at the summer holidays. During the days we search for the best toilets and had to walk al lot for them. This is a “no go” with two little children who can not plan their toilets visits.

Due to the great experience with our self made autograph books my daughters looked for each character inside the parks. Our next step was the new princess pavilion. The waiting time was about an hour and I do not know if I like the pavilion. We waited a very long time to see a princess we already saw. My daughters were a little bit disappointed but our autograph book works once again and we get signatures from the other princess either. I guess the pavilion would be better if there would be a sign at the entrance which princess will be inside. This would reduce the waiting lines and the disappointment of a lot of children.

After that we switched over to the Studios again to do the rides there. The waiting line for Crush was too long, so we went to see some shows at the Studios. The day went by too fast and we tried to ride Crush in the evening and hope that the waiting lines would be less. I can not ride this, because I´m getting sick on it. I walked around a little bit, because I really like to catch the atmosphere inside the parcs at night and enjoyed it.

We walked back through the village and of course the shops to the SQL, because I ordered a table at the Hunters Creek restaurant. It was a buffet and the quality of the food was very good for the price we paid and it was way better than the McDonalds nightmare.

Here are some more pictures. I will post some photos from my autograph books later.

 
Great update! We waited long enough for it lol xxx
 
it was worth waiting. Love your TR. And so impatient to see autograph books :goodvibes
 
The best autograph book ever – My trip report 02.01.12 until 08.01.12

A nightmare this year with my trip report. I´m very late with the last part due to a complete PC crash and a lot to do at work. But everything has come to an end and here it is.

Day 4 - 6:

We enjoyed our usually days at the park with all these great attractions. I did not mention the new “shows”. My favourite one was “Follow the leader with Peter Pan”. It´s a great interactive possibility for children and my two daughters liked it very much. The character signed autographs backstage and you have the chance to get photos with them. Very good and nice CM!!!

I have to say something about the character meet and greet. The new princess pavilion is a good starter to do more of this. Why did not have each character a waiting area/line? I hate the chaos when everybody run towards a character for signatures or photo and the bad ones are the adults. It must be a nightmare for the CM, because they get attacked by so many people. We stand in line for Rapunzel for nearly an hour, but it was fun and Rapunzel took a lot of time for talking to my daughters and for pictures with her. Everyone was more satisfied about that and I hope that Disney will chance something.

Again….no comments abou the toilets.

I discovered the Nautilus and this walkthrough became one of my favourite. I think no other ride has such a fantastic theming and it’s a superb way to catch your breath when the park is full.

We had lunch at the Rainforest café and it was a good value for the price. The theming is very nice. Eating under a “rain storm” or beside of a gorilla is a must for children. We loved it and it was worth the money.

On Friday we visited “Buffalo Bill Wild West Show”. I bought the Billet Malin tickets on the Frensh website before our visit. It was a great price for 39, - € and it worked out very well. No problems with the tickets. The show was a lot of fun. Cheering and booing and the hats are great. The food was good and plenty of and we liked it. It was fun for everyone and my daughters liked Mickey and his friends. I would say that the show is worth a visit and if you use the Billet Malin option it’s a great option for a nice evening.

TIOShuttle took us back very comfortabl to Gard du Nord. The way back with the Thalys was good as always and we arrived at home with no problems.

Our stay comes to an end too soon. It was once again a wonderful and magical experience. Writing this I feel homesick again. We all like this park. We all feel in a complete other world when entering the gates of the Magic Kingdom. It’s a coimg home and we all are counting the days to go home again. With all the highs and lows I have to say once again: Thank you Disney !!!!

So….this is it. My trip report for 2012 and I can not wait to write one for 2013.

One more thing:

You asked me to show the autograph books. I will scan them but my scanner did not work at the moment.

I will post them as soon as possible.



 
Hope you do show I some pictures of your autograph book you inspired me to make one! X
 
A great trip report - your photos are lovely. :goodvibes

Looking forward to seeing photos of your autograph book. ::yes::
 












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