The Crawford's first time at DLP 18th-25th July 2009

Sounds like you are enjoying your trip. Hope you make it to Cafe Mickey soon:thumbsup2
 
nearly and not quite..... really thought yaaaaaaaaaaay when u said cafe mickey, and then ohhhhhhhhhhhhh when u left lol

really cant believe sum ppl - that woman and the streamer - so glad ur dd was happy with half..... and the man & photos - :lmao: good try tho!!

sounds like a good day tho - well done on gettin on crush - that is def to do if we ever get back lol

hope its cooler today (dh who is workin just north of dlrp says its a bit cooler today) and u get to cafe mickey...........
 
Loving your photos :thumbsup2

Oh so near but so far with Cafe Mickey!!! Hope you get soon!

Can't believe that woman with the streamer - what a horrible woman!!! :confused3:eek:
 
Wednesday 22nd July

Failed miserably to make it to the park at a decent hour.

Must have made it in at about 11.00.

The park seemed sooooo busy today. More like I'd imagined it would be every day.

Hadn't tried Star Tours yet so decided to get Fastpasses, but the machines weren't open. A queue of about 40 people built up for the machines.

Then realised it was the last day for Winnie the Pooh show, so rushed off to that.

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DD seemed to enjoy it, but I found it a bit dull.

Back to Star Tours. A major hit. Both kids loved it! So, we got more Fastpasses.

It was now 12.30 and we hadn't really had much breakfast, so off to Cafe Hyperion for lunch. The kids loved Cinema Mickey & could have stayed there all day.

Back to Star Tours to use Fastpasses.

Thought we'd check out Fantasyland next as we hadn't done Le Pays des Contes de Fees or Casey Jr. Both were closed. Why?:confused3

How about Alice's Curious Labyrinth? Huge queue & it was sooo hot, so we left that.

Pinocchio not open yet, Snow White over 30 mins, so we gave up on Fantasyland.

POTC was only a 20 min wait, & we had to ride something, so we decided on that. Then it broke down & the heat was unbearable in there. We stayed though & glad we did, as DD looked at everything this time & enjoyed it.

It was now a couple of mins to 3.00 so DH ran back to Pinocchio to queue for all of us & we'd catch him up. Queue already huge. Forget it!

Only 2 rides done & the amount of people was starting to get to us.

Decided to look for the Dragon, but I thought DD might be scared. But, she started blowing raspberries at him & laughing, so perhaps not:)

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Really couldn't think of anything to do now so we decided on 1 ride on IASW then back home.

Luckily it was a walk on. When isn't it?

As we were passing the Village I realised that I hadn't got a hope of eating at Annette's, so stopped for a milkshake instead. Yuuummmmmmm.

Little walk down to the lake to feed the carp & ducks & see if the balloon was going up but it was too windy:confused3 Seemed to us like there was no wind at all. Not a single leaf was blowing on a tree.

Booked Cafe Mickey for the next day:banana::banana::banana:

Back home to chill out. Not a great day. Strangely busy compared to the Sunday & Monday which was the opposite to what we thought it would be.

Totally poured down when we got back.

EMH tomorrow:woohoo:
 

Thursday 23rd July

Set alarm for 6.30, but I could already hear without looking that it was still raining heavily. Got up had a look out the window, & went back to bed.
After a few mins I thought I heard it stop. And it had, soooo back up & ready to leave by 7.45.

Grandparents decided they'd try the RER today & meet us later.

We were the 4th car in the main car park & made it in just after 8.00.

Kids wanted to do Peter Pan, so we did that 4 times, the Dumbo once.

Over to Buzz to ride it 4 times. Once without DH as he went on SM.

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DS was so chuffed that he got 170,000.

Over to Orbitron just as it started raining.

Back to Fantasyland to see if Snow White was open yet as we hadn't been on it. I think they'd opened it a bit early, as it was raining so much. So, we did it twice.

Decided to get fastpasses for BTM before heading off to Salon Mickey for breakfast. The CM seemed less strict today & didn't tell us we had to finish everyting there. Also, I worked out that Boisson Cacaotee (or something like that??) on the drinks machine means Hot Chocolate, so that was nice.

Back to do BTM. The kids really love this.

My Mum & Dad then rang to say that they were in the park, so we met up to go on Mark Twain Riverboat.

We hadn't really been round Frontierland much so we had a little wander.

Saw Gepetto & got autograph & photo:banana:Only the 3rd in the kids book.

Came across the River Rogue Keelboats so have a lovely relaxing trip on that.

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We were trying to find Woody's Roundup Village when we saw that Goofy's Summer Camp was about to start. I wasn't expecting much, but we all really enjoyed it. DD especially loved joining in the actions to the songs.

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Wished we'd been sitting on the end of a row though as they called kids on to the stage to help with the tug of war & we couldn't get her out in time.

Back to do BTM again, with fastpasses.

Found Woody's Roundup Village & queued to see Jessie & Woody. We were so surprised to come across Mickey, Pluto & Minnie first. The kids were made up.

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Came across more characters then, in front of the Cowboy Cookout. My kids are far too polite & shy when it comes to the 'scrums' so they nearly always wait for ages then have the characters leave without getting an autograph.
I keep telling them to not push in, but not to just stand there & let everyone else push in.

DD had wanted to do Dance time with Stitch at 4.30, but it was rained off. Quick go on Star Tours, then the kids asked to go to Cinema Mickey, so we killed time there till it was time for.............Cafe Mickey.

Talk about worth the wait. WOW:cloud9::woohoo::banana:

The kids didn't know where to look. We had a great table right in the middle.

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They couldn't stop smiling. We saw Captain Hook, Friar Tuck, Mr Smee, Tigger, Mickey, Eeyore, Gideon, Prince John, Pluto, Gepetto & Lewis Robinson:confused3Who??? From Meet the Robinsons??

Might do a review, but I didn't really care what I ate. Whatever cocktail I had, I have never had anything that strong in my life.

What a different day to yesterday. An early start really does pay doesn't it!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
 
:cool1::cool1: and you met loads of characters there too - brill!!!!
 
:cool1:yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay cafe mickey at last!!!!!!!!!!! and loads of characters & fun!!!

definately a good day - and good pics too - thanks for sharing, as its helping my 'missing disney' pangs......
 
Friday 24th July

Our last day.

Didn't set alarm today, but managed to leave at 9.00.

Today was going to be crush for Crush day as I just had to do it.

Grandparents took DD to the park while me, DS & DH went to the Studios.

In the queue to get in to the Studios at 9.25 & were let through at 9.30.
I thought I'd remembered from someone else's TR that you then had to wait inside Studio 1, so we ran, expecting to wait there, but no, we were through all the way to the Crush queue. Ride opened at 10.00 & we were off by 10.15.
I loved it:thumbsup2 And, there was no crushing or pushing at all.:banana:

Went to get TOT Fastpasses, then to RNRC as this was DS favourite. It was a walk on.

It was now 10.35, and we noticed that the queue for the stunt show was getting quite big, so we joined it & rang Grandparents to ask them to come over to the Studios to watch it with us.

They took ages to get to us & we thought they were going to miss it, but they were still letting people in at 11.20 when the show had already started.
We found it good, but it didn't really need to be so long.

DH & DS then went back on RNRC while the rest of us went to the Buzz meet n greet.

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Used TOT fastpasses while my dad took DD back to Animagique as she loved it & wanted to see it again.

Had been dying for a Croque Monsieur all week so we went to Blockbuster Cafe, while DH & DS went on RNRC (again) & DS met Cruella on the way.

It was now 2.00 & there were a few things we hadn't done yet in the park, so we crossed over to there.

Straight to Fantasyland to do Le Pays des Contes de Fees & Casey Jr as they had been closed Monday (or Tuesday) to Thursday.

About a 15 min queue for each. Both were quite peaceful & felt a bit more away from it all than the rest of the park.

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Alice's Curious Labyrinth next & what I'd taken to be a big queue a couple of days ago was just slow entry through the turnstile & actually quite fun as DD kept hiding.

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Just as we came out, it started raining quite heavily so we camped out in a cafe.

The kids were hungry & we hadn't tried McDonalds yet, so when the rain got a bit lighter, we made it over to the Village. Quite quiet, as it was a strange time to eat. Happy Meals only 4 euros. Same as the rest of France.

It had stopped raining so back to the park, & Minnie's train was there & so lots of scrums for charaters.

Got autographhs but no chance for photos.

Stitch Dance thingy next at 5.30. I had told my kids that they would need to find a spot & follow what colours to jump on & they were both enjoying it, but most people didn't seem to have a clue what was going on, & thought they only had to watch. So many people came & just stood on my kids spots, not even noticing that there were spots on the ground. I gave up trying to explain & ask people to move.

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We watched most of the Mickey & Friends show at 6.00 before it was rained off.

We hadn't seen the OUAD parade yet & it was raining quite heavily with only 45 mins to go. Everyone else wanted to go home but I just couldn't. I declared that we had to go to the Bella Notte restrooms. Why? Because DIS says so. 'Why there?' DH asks. 'Because I've got it written down' I say, producing my notes from DIS with 'OUAD parade Bella Notte restrooms' on it.
So everyone followed. We went inside the restaurant & 20 mins before the parade was due to start, the rain stopped & the sun came out.

What a magical end to the trip. DD was on DHs shoulders & when Ariel saw her she pointed at her & waved. The look on DDs face was priceless. She gasped & said 'She remembered me from the other day', meaning the Princess meet & greet. It wasn't even the same Ariel, which of course I didn't tell her.

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When it had finished & we were walking out of the park I found it hard not to cry.

We dashed through the arcade trying to get out & couldn't as we were met by the start of the OUAD parade. Soooo, we watched it all again, but from the other side of the floats.

Knowing we will be back for Halloween makes it easier, but I really will miss being here.

Off for another 2 weeks in France in a gite, with a swimming pool. Very relaxing. I hope I won't be lying on my sunbed wishing I was at Disney.

Night night.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
 
Great trip report!

Lucky you getting on the storyboats and casey - we were only there sun-wed, which is why it was probabaly closed our whole trip.

Your dd is lovely - how sweet for her to be so happy that Ariel waved to her.
 
I've just read this right through in one go and it's lovely to read such a positive review. Makes me very excited for next month. :banana:
 
Glad you had such a great time and you finally got to Cafe Mickey, LOL!
 
Fantastic trip report!:goodvibes I love reading these and the tips are great! (I now will be making my family wait by the restrooms at the Belle Notte!!:lmao:)
 
Fab trip report!:goodvibes Photos are ace!

Very glad that you got to Cafe Mickey in the end! :yay:

I got a bit teary when your Ariel waved to your daughter (I am hopeless!)

So what is the DIS secret about the Bella Notte restrooms...??? Clearly I've missed this thread... :surfweb: off to look now
 














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