The Dutchies first time to Orlando! *UPDATE 7/27 on pg 11; The end (with surprise!)*

[Disneyanajc]

Ah, that explains a lot! It would be great to get some! I already sent you a PM back, thanks for offering!

Hi Marjol,

The LGMH are on their way to you! Sent airmail.
JC

 

[Marjol]

We have exactly 7 weeks to go from today! Only 7 weeks!
When we started counting we had something like 25 weeks to go! It's going really fast!

To get in the mood, I'm going to write a small trip report about my last trip to Disneyland Paris in october last year Here's day 1 of 3

Cast: My sister (28), brother in law (30), niece (almost 3 at the time), nephew (19 months at the time) and me (26).

After waiting 14 months since our last trip to Disneyland, it was finally the day we were going back!
But it didn't all go as nicely as planned....
I stayed at my sister's house the night before we went. My nephew had been sick the whole week, but he was getting better. At least... so we thought!
He cried (ehm, screamed) all night, we even went to the pharmacy at 11.30 pm to get some medicine for him. I stayed up with him all night, so my sister (who had to drive!) could sleep. He finally fell asleep at 3.00 a.m, and we got out of bed at 4.00 a.m. I was so tired, but also quite happy my nephew looked well enough to go Disneyland with us!
My brother in law wasn't feeling well either, but anyway.. we got in the car at about 5.00 a.m and were off to Disneyland!
The trip to Disney went perfectly, we didn't hit any traffic jams and we arrived at our hotel, Sequioa Lodge, at 10.00 a.m. My nephew (and niece) slept the whole trip!

I checked in and we got our tickets for the parks. We left our luggage in the car, because the room wouldn't be ready untill 3 pm.
We decided to take the bus to the park, although we could also walk. This was our only time in the bus, walking turned out to be a lot faster!
We finally got to the park at about 11 a.m. and were immediately amazed by the wonderful Halloween decorations. Last time we were here at Halloween (1999) the decorations were limited to Frontierland, this time they were everywhere. We took some pictures of the decorations

We headed to Tomorrowland to try the new attraction Buzz Lightyear. I really enjoyed it... and definately beat my sister and brother in law
After the Buzz, we toured Fantasyland for the kids. They really loved it. There were no long lines, we waited 20 minutes tops for the flying Dumbo's, and less for everything else. My niece especially enjoyed the merry-go-round

When we finished everything in Fantasyland, we visited Frontierland, where we enjoyed the decorations. We had some lunch and went back to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain without fastpasses. The wait was only 10 minutes!

We noticed it was 3 pm now and our room should be ready. Because the kids and my not to healthy brother in law could use a little break, we decided to walk back to our hotel to check out the room. To our surprise, we got an upgrade to a main building room, which looked spacy! Much, MUCH better than our room in the Santa Fé last year! We also were besides an elevator and right above the reception!

After a short break, we went back to the park and visited some Frontierland and Adventureland attractions. Unfortunately, our favorite, the Big Thunder Mountain was closed because of a technical problem... We would definately hear that again the next two days!

We visited Fantasyland again and the kids loved Alice's labyrinth We ate some hotdogs and took some more pictures of the Halloween decorations!

When we were almost ready to leave the park (it closed at 7!), we decided to go by the BTM again and it was running!
We rode it with a line of about 25 minutes and did the baby switch, since the kids were to small to ride. It was past 7 when we left BTM. I took another picture and we were off to our hotel.

We decided to have dinner in the hotel restaurant, "Hunter's Grill". We got a nice Dutch speaking waitress and enjoyed the buffet. The kids were pretty tired (and so was I, with no sleep and a long day of walking!) so we went to our room after dinner. We were all sound asleep by 9.30. And what about that little boy who screamed the whole night before? He was also sleeping....

Up next: Day 2!

 

[jess98ac]

Sounds great so far and we'll be there at the same time! I can't wait to read your actual trip report and compare notes!

 

[Patnl34]

Great Pre-trip report so far, Marjol

can't wait to read about your Orlando trip, and Might I add, I am a bit jealous because we are not going this year, sigh
I might even write down my trip reports of the last 2 trips we made to Orlando in english for others to read
I hope you will have a great time there and I might PM you later with a small request


oh, and the Texel subject, I live so close to texel, I can see it across the sea after a 10 minute bike ride, so I bet you can guess which town I live in

See ya on the boards, greetings from Pat

 

[Marjol]

Sounds great so far and we'll be there at the same time! I can't wait to read your actual trip report and compare notes!

Thanks for reading! It would be great to compare notes, especially since we're going to be in the same parks on some days!

Great Pre-trip report so far, Marjol

can't wait to read about your Orlando trip, and Might I add, I am a bit jealous because we are not going this year, sigh
I might even write down my trip reports of the last 2 trips we made to Orlando in english for others to read
I hope you will have a great time there and I might PM you later with a small request


oh, and the Texel subject, I live so close to texel, I can see it across the sea after a 10 minute bike ride, so I bet you can guess which town I live in

See ya on the boards, greetings from Pat

Hi Pat, thanks for reading my trip-report! I must say writing in English is a lot more difficult for me than writing in Dutch, but it's an excellent practice!
I'd love to read your trip reports! Did you write them in Dutch? And do you have them on a website anywhere?

I'm positive I'll have a great time! I'm curious about the small request you will be making!

And I guess you live in Den Helder...
I'm from Den Bosch!

 

[Disneyanajc]

Marjol...love the trip report on Disneyland Paris...A place I would love to visit.
And may I say.....what a cute niece and nephew you have....Wonderful pictures. Have you started to pre-pack for the trip
I hope your package arrives this week.
Janet

 

[Marjol]

Marjol...love the trip report on Disneyland Paris...A place I would love to visit.
And may I say.....what a cute niece and nephew you have....Wonderful pictures. Have you started to pre-pack for the trip
I hope your package arrives this week.
Janet

Disneyland Paris is wonderful, I've been there 9 times But I think Disneyworld is going to be even more magical

My niece and nephew are very cute indeed, thanks for noticing!
And no, I'm not packing yet...
I'll let you know when I recieve the package!

 

[Marjol]

Disneyland Paris, day 2, friday october 20th

After a real nice (and quiet!) night, we got up at 7.45 a.m. this morning. We had reserved a Fantasyland breakfast (you get a free breakfast at your hotel, but you can use it in Fantasyland if you book early enough! ), so we had to be in the park at 9 (the park officially opened at 10)
When we got down to the lobby, Mickey Mouse was in the photobooth and there was a very short line, so we decided to get in line to get our picture taken with him. My niece was very scared of him, as you can see!

After that, we walked to the park. We were there before 9 and after a few minutes of waiting, they let us in and we walked straight to our restaurant. Because we walked pretty fast, we were the first ones in the restaurant and the first ones at the buffet We got a nice table and enjoyed our breakfast.
But the best thing about this breakfast was, that when we finished at 9.20, we had 40 minutes of Fantasyland time for just a few visitors before the park officially opened!
We rode just about everything in those 40 minutes, and without any lines! We even got to ride the Dumbo's twice in a row!

When the park opened at 10 am we walked towards the exit, to visit the Disney studios. When we walked through Main Street, we ran into a opening parade, which was fun, so we stayed and looked! All the characters were in Halloween costumes!

My nephew and niece were OK about the characters, as long as they didn't come too near... My niece liked Chip (or was it Dale?) though, he even got a finger!

When the parade finished, we finally walked to the exit and walked to the Studios, which looked (and turned out to be!) pretty quiet.
We spent the next hours there. We got our picture taken with Nemo and friends.

After that we rode Rock&Rollercoaster. Because there were no waiting lines at all, we didn't do the baby switch. I just waited untill my sister and brother in law got out and after that I rode with my sister.
My nephew proved touring theme parks can be very tiring, by falling asleep:

We rode the Magic Carpets, had lunch, did a Mushu drawing and visited the Animagique (Disney characters on stage) and Cinemagique (a very nice movie with lots of famous scenes inmovie history) shows. Because it was very quiet, we saw a lot of characters and had our pictures taken with some of them, like Chip 'n Dale.

We tested our screaming skills at the new Monsters Inc corner, where they put up scream-o-meters My niece turned out to be quite a screamer

When it was a quarter to four, we had done everything in the studios and walked back to the Disneyland park. I took a picture of the rest at the main entrance:

We watched the Villain parade. I really loved it, I've always liked the villains. My nephew and especially my niece would have rather seen princesses though
The floats were really nice, like this Little Mermaid (or should I say Ursula) float:

After the parade, we did the Buzz Lightyear attraction again, my sister and brother in law rode Space Mountain and we went to Fantasyland again. At 6.15 pm we walked to the exit, to grab a bite in Downtown Disney. We decided to try Annette's Diner. It was really nice, but the kids were tired, so we only ate a main course.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel. My brother in law stayed with the kids and my sister and I decided to take a swim in the hotel's swimming pool. It was a nice pool! After that, I wrote some cards in the hotel lobby and we went back to the hotel room, where everyone was sound asleep. We joined them soon after

Up next: Day 3 of 3!

 

[Marjol]

Day 3, Saturday october 21st

We got out of bed extra early today, because we had 7.30 am breakfast tickets This time we had breakfast in the hotel, which turned out to be the same as in the park, but without all the perks

After breakfast, we packed our bags and put them in the car, so we didn't have to go back in the hotel when we wanted to go home. We walked to the Disneyland park again, for the last time

We were there way before rope drop, and stood in line for Frontierland to go on our favorite ride, Big Thunder Mountain, one more time. When the rope dropped, my sister and I walked pretty fast to BTM, while my brother in law went to Adventureland with the kids.
But when we got to BTM, it was closed again due to technical problems (where did we hear that before? ) We got a fastpass hoping that it would be fixed by then.
We find the others pretty soon and went to Pirates of the Caribbean. There was absolutely no line (I LOVED the lack of lines !) so we went twice
After visiting the Pirates, we went to Fantasyland again, where we finally rode my niece's favorite ride: It's a small world. It had been closed the other two days, so we had to ride it three times.

Meanwhile, we checked on BTM, but it was still closed. We then rode Mad Hatter's teacups and my niece got here picture taken with Esmeralda.

Because my nephew really wasn't feeling well this morning (thank god he wasn't like this the other two days ), we decided to leave the park early and to head home. We did some souvenir shopping on the way to the exit and had a meal at McDonalds in the Disney Village.

It was around 1.30 pm when we got to our car. The drive back home was a quiet one... besides my sister and I, everyone was asleep....

We had a great trip, loved the Halloween decorations, and we'll definately go again around this time of year because of the lack of crowds

the end

 

[crossfamily]

Your stories are great... I love to hear about Disneyland Paris... If only I could convince my husband to take me someday.. It was so cool to be able to show my son the lady that sent him the UN-Birthday present.. He was so happy.. I hope you have a great trip in May.. Disney World is so much bigger than anywhere else.. So much to do.. Here is a link to my Trip Report when we were there this past August.. We did so much while we were there.. Thanks for sharing all the fun with us and I can't wait to hear more..

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1191333&referrerid=&highlight=crossfamily

Keep up the great work.. I all the pictures..

 

[Marjol]

Your stories are great... I love to hear about Disneyland Paris... If only I could convince my husband to take me someday.. It was so cool to be able to show my son the lady that sent him the UN-Birthday present.. He was so happy.. I hope you have a great trip in May.. Disney World is so much bigger than anywhere else.. So much to do.. Here is a link to my Trip Report when we were there this past August.. We did so much while we were there.. Thanks for sharing all the fun with us and I can't wait to hear more..

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1191333&referrerid=&highlight=crossfamily

Keep up the great work.. I all the pictures..

Hi! Thanks for reading my Disneyland Paris report. It is indeed a magical place But I expect much more from Disneyworld! Only 44 days to go from today, it's getting really close!
I'm glad your son enjoyed the gifts I sent him... and I read your trip report and loved it!

 

[crossfamily]

Hi! Thanks for reading my Disneyland Paris report. It is indeed a magical place But I expect much more from Disneyworld! Only 44 days to go from today, it's getting really close!
I'm glad your son enjoyed the gifts I sent him... and I read your trip report and loved it!

Aww thanks... You are gonna have so much fun in DW...

 

[Marjol]

Aww thanks... You are gonna have so much fun in DW...

I really hope so!

Hey, you know what.... we have only 6 weeks to go from today!!!! In 6 weeks we'll be in a plane somewhere above the Atlantic It's getting so close! So, it's time for an update!

We've ordered express passes for our two Universal parkdays. These passes provide one express entrance per attraction for only $15 each. That's very cheap, when you compare them to the Front of Line passes they sell in Hollywood, which were $40 each. Back then, they were SO worth it, so I hope they will be again

Right now, I'm trying to find some nice restaurants outside Disney, to eat on non-Disney days. We like steaks, burgers, shakes, pasta's, pizza's... Right now the list says: TGI Fridays, Outback Steakhouse and Shake & Steak. Are they any good? Does anyone have any other tips? And what about the counter service restaurants in the parks? Are there any that are worth a visit more than others?

Some really nice people from these boards were kind enough to send me some Focking stuff, so others can spot me in the parks I'm a pretty shy person though, so I hope I'll see other Dissers, but that they won't notice me

And besides recieving nice LG stuff and planning the restaurant, I'm just basically waiting... We should recieve our Disney tickets in about two weeks, so that's something to look forward too.

I have 27 more working days... to keep me from dreaming about Disney too much....

 

[punkin413]

wow....i'm really impressed with your english-writing skills! you write better than most americans! i'm a court reporter and i basically "live" punctuation and grammar for my job, and i'm telling you, i'm very impressed!

it's so cool that you guys are going to be at MGM and epcot the same days as we are! seriously, if you happen to see us (and you know what we look like from my pre-trip report picture), feel free to say hello! don't be shy! i'm from the south (as in tennessee/georgia) and we're really friendly here!

 

[Marjol]

wow....i'm really impressed with your english-writing skills! you write better than most americans! i'm a court reporter and i basically "live" punctuation and grammar for my job, and i'm telling you, i'm very impressed!

it's so cool that you guys are going to be at MGM and epcot the same days as we are! seriously, if you happen to see us (and you know what we look like from my pre-trip report picture), feel free to say hello! don't be shy! i'm from the south (as in tennessee/georgia) and we're really friendly here!

Thanks for the compliment

Well, you also know what we look like, so maybe we'll see each other!

 

[CriminyCrafft]

Wow, I just found your pre-trip and DLP trip report. I would LOVE to visit DLP. I really want to ride Space Mountain: Mission 2 there. How is it? Amazing? I want to plan a trip there next summer!! Can I ask you about hotels if and when I book?

I'm glad you liked your trip to the US. I hope all our folks were nice to you. I'm sure your Walt Disney World trip will surpass your wildest dreams. I've been to Disneyland in California, Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea, and Walt Disney World blows them all away - bigger, better, WAY more magical in my opinion. It's the most magical place on earth, in my opinion.

I'm sad that you have no ADRs but I understand - Disney dining is expensive! But the food is so good. I bet, though, if you had some time and money and just showed up at a table service restaurant that you would get seated! They would probably sprinkle some pixie dust on a foreigner! My favorite is Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom - Pooh characters and DELICIOUS food! It's really not that much more expensive than counter service ($24 US per person for dinner when I was there in October).

Anyway, I can't wait to read about your experience in WDW. I'm so glad you liked our country enough to come back. I have a feeling you'll want to come back AGAIN once you visit Disney World!

Thanks for sharing with us!

 

[Marjol]

Wow, I just found your pre-trip and DLP trip report. I would LOVE to visit DLP. I really want to ride Space Mountain: Mission 2 there. How is it? Amazing? I want to plan a trip there next summer!! Can I ask you about hotels if and when I book?[//quote]

Hi and thanks for joining my pre trip report!
Mission 2 is very nice, but I also liked the first one
And ofcourse you could ask me about hotels, although I stayed in just 2 onsite resorts, I can give you tips. The hotels are all pretty close to DLP! A maximum 15 minute walk!

I'm glad you liked your trip to the US. I hope all our folks were nice to you. I'm sure your Walt Disney World trip will surpass your wildest dreams. I've been to Disneyland in California, Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea, and Walt Disney World blows them all away - bigger, better, WAY more magical in my opinion. It's the most magical place on earth, in my opinion.

I'm sure I'll LOVE Disneyworld. And all Americans I met, were pretty nice to me!

I'm sad that you have no ADRs but I understand - Disney dining is expensive! But the food is so good. I bet, though, if you had some time and money and just showed up at a table service restaurant that you would get seated! They would probably sprinkle some pixie dust on a foreigner! My favorite is Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom - Pooh characters and DELICIOUS food! It's really not that much more expensive than counter service ($24 US per person for dinner when I was there in October).

I will think about it, but I don't really like to plan my eating... Maybe we'll try a table service restaurant while we're there. I heard from other Dutch people that they tried that and were succesfull!

Anyway, I can't wait to read about your experience in WDW. I'm so glad you liked our country enough to come back. I have a feeling you'll want to come back AGAIN once you visit Disney World!

Thanks for sharing with us!

I think so too
Only 38 more days to go, it's getting really exciting!

 

[Disneyanajc]

Marjol you are getting so close...37 days and you will be at the most magical place...have safe trip.
JC

 

[Marjol]

Marjol you are getting so close...37 days and you will be at the most magical place...have safe trip.
JC

I know! It's only 36 days from now, almost down to a month!

I really can't wait, I even counted how many days of work I have to go (which is 22 )

 

[Disneyanajc]

I know! It's only 36 days from now, almost down to a month!

I really can't wait, I even counted how many days of work I have to go (which is 22 )

Marjol...
U hebt enkel 30 dagen tot de magie

I hope I did this right....I used a translator.
Janet