The cast -
me (40) DLRP daft
DD (7) apprentice DLRP daft
Dsis (39) 2nd trip to DLRP
Dbil (39) 2nd trip to DLRP
Dnephew (11) 2nd trip to DLRP
Dniece (8) 3rd trip to DLRP
Day 1 - Monday 6th October.
Up early, journey by car then plane then bstransport all smooth and on time.
Arrived at our hotel, the Santa Fe, at around 10am. We could see Mickey Mouse doing his meet n greets on the stage there, so the kids headed off with Dsis to see him while Dbil and I started checking in. Our CM started sorting through our paperwork, then stopped and said "we have a special offer for you - your whole party of 6 can stay in the Newport Bay Club if you wish, at no extra charge". After I'd picked my chin off the floor I said yes please
.
Our CM arranged for our luggage to be taken to the NBC, she gave us our park tickets, easy pass ID and half board/meal vouchers, and off we strolled to the parks, all grinning from ear to ear. 15 minutes in the resort, and we'd got the Main Mouse's autograph, and been upgraded!
At the park gates, I stopped at Guest Services to pay for DD's new AP, then we were in and checking out all the Halloween decorations. We walked up Main St USA, then into Discoveryland, and onto Buzz with no queue. Then the coaster fiends (ie Dsis, Dbil, and Dnephew
) rode SM2, with only 5 minute wait, while the girls and I did a little window shopping. Dsis professed SM2 to be her favourite ride, and stuck with that opinion all the way through the trip.
Then we headed to Frontierland, to find BTM with a technical fault, and a train full of passengers stuck right on the island. The coaster fiends went to do PM, girls didn't want to, so we took a walk to Boot Hill - and found a very friendly pair of Halloween stars -
We also saw the Splatchmobile passing by
We wanted to see Minnies House, but unfortunately it had been changed to fit in with the Halloween theme. We saw Jessie and Pluto at Woodys Roundup though, so got some more pics and autographs. On the way back out of Frontierland, we found Goofys Magic Pot -
It was 12.30 now, so we headed for Caseys Corner for some lunch, and ate it outside while we waited for the Character Express to come up Main St. Casey Jnr looks lovely all splattered up for Halloween -
After the Character Express had gone by, and we'd finished eating, we went through the Castle and into Fantasyland. It was busy at this time though, so we went to POTC instead, which we rode about 4 times over the 3 days, and never queued more than 5 minutes for. Then we did IASW for the first time this trip. I then took DD to get her permanent AP sorted out, while the others went to do Buzz again. At the AP office, I handed over the 18-months for the price of 12 letter DD had been sent, and they honoured it without a murmur, even though DD's pass ran out 4 days before I renewed it, and I was downgrading her pass from a Dream to a Fantasy
.
We met up with the coaster fiends again, and decided to stake out our parade spot. We chose near the bandstand, but on Main St, as we were hoping to be in the right place when the Peter Pan float stopped. I nipped off for hot drinks to keep us going, and was back in position for the Halloween pre-parade - which I though was absolutely brilliant, and the tune is completely addictive
The main OUAD parade was, as always, amazing. And we were in the right spot for the Peter Pan stop - which was really good fun
After the parade was over, we went to the Studios. We did Cars all together, then the coaster fiends went off to ToT, while I took the girls on the Flying Carpets. We browsed in the shops after that, and about 6pm went back to the Park, as we wanted to see Candleabration. We had time to do Buzz yet again before that though. Candleabration was lovely, but it wasn't quite dark enough at 7pm to really get the best effect of the candles being lit on the castle. We were all really tired by this point, but glad we had stayed to see it. We left the park with the crowds, looked to see if Mickey was waving at the train station, but no sign of him today
.
We strolled through the Village to our new hotel - wow its so beautiful from the outside. The public areas are gorgeous too. I've done a separate review of the NBC in the hotels FAQ, and whilst I really do appreciate the upgrade gesture from DLRP, lets just say, I'm glad I didn't pay the NBC prices to stay there
. After we had eventually got checked in, we headed off to the Cape Cod restaurant there, where we had a reserved table for dinner. The food in this restaurant is very very good, best meal we had our whole stay, and thinking back, probably the best meal (choice wise and quality) I've had in all our visits to DLRP .
After dinner, we grabbed our cases from the conciergerie, and trekked to our rooms. After having to get a maintenance guy to sort a couple of things out in my room, we finally got to bed around 11pm. You can bet we all slept well tonight
.
me (40) DLRP daft
DD (7) apprentice DLRP daft
Dsis (39) 2nd trip to DLRP
Dbil (39) 2nd trip to DLRP
Dnephew (11) 2nd trip to DLRP
Dniece (8) 3rd trip to DLRP
Day 1 - Monday 6th October.
Up early, journey by car then plane then bstransport all smooth and on time.
Arrived at our hotel, the Santa Fe, at around 10am. We could see Mickey Mouse doing his meet n greets on the stage there, so the kids headed off with Dsis to see him while Dbil and I started checking in. Our CM started sorting through our paperwork, then stopped and said "we have a special offer for you - your whole party of 6 can stay in the Newport Bay Club if you wish, at no extra charge". After I'd picked my chin off the floor I said yes please
. Our CM arranged for our luggage to be taken to the NBC, she gave us our park tickets, easy pass ID and half board/meal vouchers, and off we strolled to the parks, all grinning from ear to ear. 15 minutes in the resort, and we'd got the Main Mouse's autograph, and been upgraded!
At the park gates, I stopped at Guest Services to pay for DD's new AP, then we were in and checking out all the Halloween decorations. We walked up Main St USA, then into Discoveryland, and onto Buzz with no queue. Then the coaster fiends (ie Dsis, Dbil, and Dnephew
) rode SM2, with only 5 minute wait, while the girls and I did a little window shopping. Dsis professed SM2 to be her favourite ride, and stuck with that opinion all the way through the trip.Then we headed to Frontierland, to find BTM with a technical fault, and a train full of passengers stuck right on the island. The coaster fiends went to do PM, girls didn't want to, so we took a walk to Boot Hill - and found a very friendly pair of Halloween stars -
We also saw the Splatchmobile passing by
We wanted to see Minnies House, but unfortunately it had been changed to fit in with the Halloween theme. We saw Jessie and Pluto at Woodys Roundup though, so got some more pics and autographs. On the way back out of Frontierland, we found Goofys Magic Pot -
It was 12.30 now, so we headed for Caseys Corner for some lunch, and ate it outside while we waited for the Character Express to come up Main St. Casey Jnr looks lovely all splattered up for Halloween -
After the Character Express had gone by, and we'd finished eating, we went through the Castle and into Fantasyland. It was busy at this time though, so we went to POTC instead, which we rode about 4 times over the 3 days, and never queued more than 5 minutes for. Then we did IASW for the first time this trip. I then took DD to get her permanent AP sorted out, while the others went to do Buzz again. At the AP office, I handed over the 18-months for the price of 12 letter DD had been sent, and they honoured it without a murmur, even though DD's pass ran out 4 days before I renewed it, and I was downgrading her pass from a Dream to a Fantasy
.We met up with the coaster fiends again, and decided to stake out our parade spot. We chose near the bandstand, but on Main St, as we were hoping to be in the right place when the Peter Pan float stopped. I nipped off for hot drinks to keep us going, and was back in position for the Halloween pre-parade - which I though was absolutely brilliant, and the tune is completely addictive
The main OUAD parade was, as always, amazing. And we were in the right spot for the Peter Pan stop - which was really good fun
After the parade was over, we went to the Studios. We did Cars all together, then the coaster fiends went off to ToT, while I took the girls on the Flying Carpets. We browsed in the shops after that, and about 6pm went back to the Park, as we wanted to see Candleabration. We had time to do Buzz yet again before that though. Candleabration was lovely, but it wasn't quite dark enough at 7pm to really get the best effect of the candles being lit on the castle. We were all really tired by this point, but glad we had stayed to see it. We left the park with the crowds, looked to see if Mickey was waving at the train station, but no sign of him today
.We strolled through the Village to our new hotel - wow its so beautiful from the outside. The public areas are gorgeous too. I've done a separate review of the NBC in the hotels FAQ, and whilst I really do appreciate the upgrade gesture from DLRP, lets just say, I'm glad I didn't pay the NBC prices to stay there
. After we had eventually got checked in, we headed off to the Cape Cod restaurant there, where we had a reserved table for dinner. The food in this restaurant is very very good, best meal we had our whole stay, and thinking back, probably the best meal (choice wise and quality) I've had in all our visits to DLRP .After dinner, we grabbed our cases from the conciergerie, and trekked to our rooms. After having to get a maintenance guy to sort a couple of things out in my room, we finally got to bed around 11pm. You can bet we all slept well tonight
.
