The Graduation Trip Report Days 1, 2 and 3

[loladelorean]

Day 1 – Wednesday 15th June 2011

Katie had stayed at mine the night before, so we picked up Aimee and drove to Glasgow airport for 7.30am. I was trying not to overload the girls with Disney excitement at this point!
Short and uneventful flight landed at 11.45am, and I had booked the TGV for 1pm. We were at the train terminal in 15 minutes – would book an earlier train next time. The TGV was fab as usual, got into DLP station at 1.10 and it was time to head to Sequoia Lodge!
Having always stayed in HNY before I was wary about booking SL, and many of you know I had emailed them 5 days before our stay asking for a nice room not too far from reception etc. At check in we got a VIP breakfast pass, and our room was ready. We were in room 2356 which was actually quite a trek from reception, in the far end of the North Wing. But it was right at the stairs to the fire door – we quickly realised everyone was going in and out of this door. This meant we were on the lakeside path in about a minute from our room so a fantastic location.
The newly refurbed room was beautiful. I was so impressed – fresh décor, gorgeous colours, and the Bambi touches are very tasteful. We also had a view of the lake (through some trees but still!). The girls were so far really impressed with the hotel and so was I – it was already surpassing my expectations.

After a quick change it was park time! I think I kept looking at the girls anxiously, hoping they were excited and that they were “getting it”. They were both excited to see the castle, and were immediately impressed by the scale of Main St and the park.

First stop – a tradition for me – Cable Car Bake Shop for lunch! Baguettes and juice taken in the arcade, where the girls marvelled at the detail. Delicious food as ever.

The first order of business was supposed to be picking up BTM fastpasses, but the info board told us it was shut. No matter, on to the castle!

The front of the castle is looking spectacular, they have done a great job on the refurb. There was still a lot of scaffolding up and work being done on the back while we were there, and the upstairs was shut which was a bit disappointing. But its exciting to know its going to be 100% beautiful for the 20th anniversary.
We went to see the dragon, all effects working brilliantly.

I thought it would be best to go to Fantasyland first, since it’s the most obviously Disney element for newbies. Passing the Snow White ride it was showing a 15 minute queue, so we went on this. The girls were starting to be as excited as me now, and it was great to see the park through their eyes.
Next, IASW – it was a walk on. After a few minutes I was thinking “oh no, are they going to think this is just the cheesiest thing ever?!” but I looked around and their faces were full of delight! I’m not a great fan of IASW but they loved it, especially Aimee.

I was still hankering after BTM so we headed towards that now – fastpass machines were out of order and queue time showing 65 mins. No thanks! But the big boat was just loading up so we jumped aboard for a sail around BTM. Everyone wanted a bit of adrenaline though, and with SM shut for refurb our only choice was Indie – quite fun but its just so forgettable!
We saw the Peter Pan “happening” going on in Adventureland but couldn’t get close enough for a good view, also couldn’t follow what was meant to be going on. After ten minutes we drifted off. These might be better for kids but we weren’t impressed with the set-up.
Time to get in position for OUAD parade! We had vouchers for free drinks between 3 and 5.30 from Cable Car earlier – since it was roasting we opted for refreshing juice from Bella Notte and waited for the parade just outside it. This was a great choice because the princesses and princes got off to dance right in front of us! It is great that they get kids involved in the parade now. Both girls loved the parade and Just Like We Dreamed It, already asking me to make them a Disneyland CD. We all welled up at Circle of Life for some reason. The sun was shining, the crowd was dancing and it was a wonderful parade as ever.

We had Blue Lagoon booked for 6pm, so time to ride POTC beforehand, also a walk on. We all LOVED it, its looking amazing after the refurb and the girls were blown away. I was delighted at this point that they were loving everything so much – I did feel responsible for them enjoying DLP!
We were seated at Blue Lagoon straight away, quite near the door and I was delighted to see Gregory was our waiter, who had been excellent last year. We ordered cocktails (2 Mai Tais and a Glowtini) and they appeared on little plates full of dry ice. Another waiter (Salem) poured water onto it and our table was full of mystical smoke. A fantastic touch!

I had the sea bream with plantain and coconut rice; Katie had the flambéed ostrich steak (set on fire at the table in spectacular fashion) and Aimee had veal medallions. We shared a crème brulee (just wanted more fire). Everything was delicious, although Katie’s vegetables were too peppery and I was a bit freaked out by my fish having a face and wee pointy teeth. But I just covered its head with my napkin – I’m a wimp!

Gregory and Salem were super attentive and very funny throughout the meal, having a great laugh with us. Gregory stole Katie’s cocktail and took a seat with it at another table. Just the start of fantastic cast member experiences on this trip.

I was determined to try and get on BTM today so we passed it on the way out – wait time 20 minutes at 7.30pm. We decided to go for it and I’m so glad we did, there’s a reason this is my favourite ride. The others loved it too and couldn’t stop laughing as it went around.
The park was closing when we got off so we headed back to SL to shower, unpack and change. When we got back there were a few lovely surprises waiting for us – robes and slippers, a fresh orange rose, 2L bottle of water, chocolate coins, and a letter from the manager wishing us a lovely stay. Wow! This must be because I sent that email, so it is definitely worth doing.

We went down to the Redwood Bar for more cocktails. Sadly the fire wasn’t lit but it was so sunny that I suppose it would have been silly. Then we wandered down to the Village to look at the shops. Safe to say that both of my friends were truly caught up in the magic by this point, loving it all even more than I expected. We ended the night in Starbucks, where we got an unexpected 30% discount when we showed them our UK Starbucks cards. A fantastic first day with lots of little perks and a fair amount of pixie dust.

 

[LoodlesNoodles]

Fantastic! Glad your newbies caught as much magic as they could.
It was most definitely you that I saw I BL, I remember your top as I liked it.


The Sequoia refurb looks fantastic! I'd be excited to stay there again once it's all complete.

 

[DLPdaft]

Brilliant first day for you all, and what a great way to celebrate your graduation .

 

[rottie155]

Yay you've started the TR!!!

Amazing first day... I would actually CRY if I had a dead fish on my plate that was still looking at me... the Ostrich steak looks very yummy... hmm, I may have to investigate this further!!!

Cannot wait to read more!!!

 

[Kazzabelle]

What a great first day,I am so happy your friends have soaked up the magic
The SL looks lovely with the bambi theme. and woo hoo on the little extra's in your room , Looking forward to reading more

 

[annichan]

Glad to hear you are starting another trip report - I have only recently discovered and read your other ones, and very much enjoyed them. (I'm now so much looking forward to our own next DLP trip in September!)

I have one question about the refurbed room at the Sequoia Lodge -was this a standard room or did you book a Montana room? I have booked us a Montana room for September, and I just want to make sure that we get one of the recently refurbished ones. Might be a good idea to e-mail them in advance and ask about it - would you still happen to have their e-mail address at hand?

Thank you, and looking forward to the rest of your report,

Annika

 

[Ms Poppins]

Great first day! So glad your friends found the magic quickly!! I know what you mean about feeling responsible for them liking it.

SL looks lovely too

 

[jothp]

What a great start to your trip. It is good to see the Sequoia lodge looking so good, we are thinking of going back there on our next trip

 

[loladelorean]

Thursday 16th June 2011

This was our only full day at DLP so we were determined to make the most of it. Mickey woke us up at 6.45, and we were down to breakfast at 7.15. We were seated straight away by a very cheerful CM in the Beaver Creek tavern. Breakfast was another thing I was a bit concerned about – would I miss the hot options from HNY? Although I do like the wee sausages etc at HNY, again I wouldn’t say the difference is worth the difference in price. I certainly managed to eat my fill at SL with cereal, fruit, yoghurts and pastries. We all enjoyed a big, leisurely breakfast before leaving at 7.50 for EMH.
We hopped on the double decker bus to head down Main Street

then headed straight to Peter Pan. This is Aimee’s favourite Disney film so I knew she would love this magical ride. The girls were even more giddy this morning, well and truly caught up in the Disney bubble. While we spun round on the teacups, Aimee said “this must be what drugs feel like!” which kind of sums up the teacup experience! We were all giggling afterwards, and the girls were declaring that if everyone would only visit Disneyland the world would be a better place. Amen.
Carousel next, which Aimee was very excited about – Katie and I were a tad bored until we noticed her delighted face in front of us haha. That must be what it feels like taking a kid to DLP!

The queues were building up a little for Dumbo by this time but we only waited about 10 minutes, the girls were delighted by the up and down controls. See, just like taking children!

Lastly for EMH, Buzz – Aimee sat herself in front of us and seemed to be loving it until she realised her score of 6900 was rubbish, dunno what she was doing wrong to get a score that bad lol, but she declared the ride “stupid” after we trounced her
It had been Katie's 23rd birthday a few days before our trip, so the trip was a bit of a birthday celebration too. I convinced her to pop into City Hall and say it was her birthday to get a badge! Gregoire behind the desk was about our age and thought it was really funny she wanted a badge, but wrote one out for her. He then asked if the other big kids would like a name badge too so Aimee and I got them as well. This was all a good laugh and Katie was chuffed with her happy birthday badge. As we were about to leave he called us back, and asked Katie what she would like for her birthday present, a balloon, a special dessert or a pin. She chose a pin and he made out a voucher for her to get a free pin of her choice in any of the boutiques. More pixie dust! She chose a Merlin pin later in the Disney village and says she will always keep it and remember that Disneyland gave her that for her birthday.

Time for Salon Mickey before heading to the Studios. We had the salon to ourselves and enjoyed a coffee and a pastry each, taking a couple of bottles of water for the rest of the day. Those hazelnutty/chocolatey pastries are the tastiest thing in the world. Mmm.

Studios time! We arrived pretty much bang on 10am and headed straight for Crush. It was already showing a 55 minute wait but we just decided to go for it. I really wanted the girls to experience this one. After queuing for about 15 minutes I suddenly thought that we should check our exam results, which had been due the day before. I’ll probably die when I see the data charges on my phone bill from checking these online, but I found out that I got a first and Aimee found out she has passed diploma! This also meant that we both have our jobs secured (they were conditional offers) for September and will be able to pay for the swanky flat we are moving into next week. Lol. We will always remember getting this amazing news in the queue for Crush! The time passed quickly phoning home and generally being excited. This is our vistory photo:

Crush was amazing! I wish the queues weren’t so bad so that it could be ridden more often on a trip, but it is actually worth the wait.
Tower of Terror was next on my list, but Katie was a bit freaked out by it and we just picked up some fastpasses so she could have think about riding it! We headed to RnRC next which was just a 10 minute wait. We are all big Aerosmith fans but I didn’t want to big this ride up too much as it has disappointed me in the past with its music malfunctions. Sure enough, we rode round in total silence. It’s horrible, the ride just feels awkward without music, even for my pals who had never experienced it before.
A bit deflated, it was time to take on ToT. It wasn’t our fastpass time yet but the wait time was only 15 mins so we dragged Katie on. The CMs are always brilliant on this ride but our CM, Yannick, surpassed himself by picking on Katie (we are cruel aren’t we?!) and even serenading her. She was visibly shaking by the time the ride started, and while Aimee and I loved it I think she was a bit traumatised. Here is a snap of the ride photo…

It was our fastpass time then and Aimee and I wanted to go straight back on, we were so pumped from the first ride. We kind of forced Katie to go back on as well, but I felt terrible by the time we were sitting down as she had tears in her eyes and was muttering that she would never speak to me again. Thankfully she enjoyed it more the second time, because she knew what was coming! This is definitely my favourite thrill ride, and Aimee loved it too.
Time for lunch at Blockbuster Café, where we all had the meal deal which I think is reasonable value for 10E95, and we got more free drink vouchers for later. We ate in the Pirates side, of course.

Cinemagique next. I kept annoying the girls throughout the trip by refusing to tell them what things were before we went to them, but they were always glad I hadn’t ruined it afterwards. Cinemagique was the best example of this, I wouldn’t tell them if it was a film or a show or what, and they didn’t even know if they wanted to go. Of course, they absolutely loved it and Aimee even says it is her favourite thing about the whole trip, she wants to have it on DVD!
Stars n Cars parade next and we got a spot just outside Cinemagique. The parade is nice but I think – as I thought last year – that it is a bit of an anti climax. It seems to be over far too quickly.
After a wander through the animation gallery

It was time for the stunt show! We arrived half an hour early and this did seem like a long, boring wait. The show is worth it though, again the girls had no idea what to expect and thought it was amazing. The only low point is the cringe worthy inclusion of Lightning McQueen. I am a fan of Cars, and it is fab to see the “real” Lightning, but that section of the show just does not work. It’s shoe horned in, and is meant to be a chase but the 2 “cartoon” cars go ridiculously slowly compared to the stunt cars. The atmosphere in the auditorium just disappeared, even the kids were looking around themselves disinterested….it just doesn’t work. However, the real show resumed and concluded in spectacular fashion as usual.

RnRC was only showing 5 min wait when we got out so we gave it another chance, I'm so glad we did because everything was working perfectly! This is the first time that this ride has been on form for me, and wow it is really amazing when it works. But why doesn't it work all the time?! Surely its not so hard to maintain some speakers? :S
Back to the main park to take in another couple of attractions before the Magical Moments hub show. BTM-obsessed as ever, we swung past it first, but the queue time was over an hour and the fastpass machines still weren’t working. So we got our free coffees in Fuente del Oro and sat in the courtyard for a quick rest. We then spent quite some time messing around in the Labyrinth, which was a great laugh.

Then we went to Captain EO – the girls are both MJ fans so really enjoyed this.

Hub show time – I hadn’t been too impressed with this on YouTube and it wasn’t much better in real life. While, like many others, I am not convinced that the hub stage is a great set up, I do think that the 2009 and 2010 shows worked pretty well and I always enjoyed them. This new show however, is incredibly lazy. There are just the 4 fairly random characters, and the “story” gets lost in translation. Even making the songs into bigger production numbers with some backing dancers would help, but the characters look a bit lost on the big stage and it is definitely only intended to be viewed from the front which is ridiculous for a circular stage. Then all the princesses and princes appear, er, why?! Their waltz is nice and all, but the show has no coherence and the audience was bored. Another magical moment fail, in my opinion.

We were far more entertained by another outstanding CM who was directing crowds right in front of us, Lionel. He had much better choreography and expression for all the numbers than the show itself, and everyone in the immediate vicinity was watching him instead! He clocked us and involved us in his dances, it was hilarious. Campest man alive, we loved him.

We headed back to the hotel, via the DLH lobby to fantasise that we were staying there. Turndown service had been done in our room, but the towels hadn’t been changed – this was probably our fault for not putting them in the bathtub though. I phoned reception to ask for an iron and less than a minute after I hung up, there was a CM at the door with it. No idea how he got there so quickly!
Café Mickey tonight, for which I wore my special Mickey waistcoat. My cousin found this in a charity shop for £4 and bought me it for a laugh, she didn’t believe I would actually wear it. I showed her

And Mickey LOVED my waistcoat:

We were seated in the terrace section, in the exact same table I had last November. Our waitress Aissatou was very smily and friendly and almost as soon as we were seated dragged us up to dance to Think. When my sister and I have danced to this before we have felt a bit awkward, but this time the entire restaurant was up dancing and the atmosphere was fantastic.

After this fun start to the meal, we got stuck into some wine.

Dale came along while we waited for our order to be taken and took the empty seat at our table! He wanted to order the Chip n Dale Fish n Chips.

We got loads of characters: Chip, Dale, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Eeyore, Smee.

We shared two pizzas and a pasta – the Italian chicken on the pizzas is delicious!
As usual for me in Café Mickey we made friends with all the tables round about – an older couple gave us some of their birthday cake, and Katie gave a little Spanish girl a loan of her Minnie ears to take a photo with Minnie. The wee girl was so cute, and when the music started up next treated us to an impressive bit of breakdancing. The whole night was hilarious and we were also pretty tipsy by the time we left.
Aimee has always wanted to go on a hot air balloon and was very excited about Panoramagique.
We watched it going up all through dinner, and had checked the night before to see that it closed at 11pm. So we left Café Mickey at 10.35 and went straight to it, there were about 10 other people waiting too. But the guy told us it was closed and there would be no more rides. Aimee was gutted ☹
We had another wander round the shops and Aimee and I bought a couple of nice things for our flat, a beautiful wooden photo frame and some tinkerbell plates. I was quite impressed with the homeware merchandise this time around.

We popped into HNY on the way past and I did get quite wistful at not staying there! That smell! I think I will have to go back there after all.

 

[loladelorean]

Fantastic! Glad your newbies caught as much magic as they could.
It was most definitely you that I saw I BL, I remember your top as I liked it.


The Sequoia refurb looks fantastic! I'd be excited to stay there again once it's all complete.

Aw thanks, the top is from *cough*Primark*cough* - so wish you'd introduced yourself!

Brilliant first day for you all, and what a great way to celebrate your graduation .

Yup, the whole trip was a real celebration which made it even more special. Having just finished exams we are now getting organised for moving so the break from reality was much needed.

Yay you've started the TR!!!

Amazing first day... I would actually CRY if I had a dead fish on my plate that was still looking at me... the Ostrich steak looks very yummy... hmm, I may have to investigate this further!!!

Cannot wait to read more!!!

Ahaha I am very freaked out by fish with faces, much as I love eating fish. Aimee realised about halfway through the meal how scared I was of my dinner and started jabbing at its wee googly eye to wind me up AAAAAHHH I was nearly sick.
Please don't let it put you off the blue lagoon though, poor wee alfred the fish was delicious (the others named him, not me)

What a great first day,I am so happy your friends have soaked up the magic
The SL looks lovely with the bambi theme. and woo hoo on the little extra's in your room , Looking forward to reading more

I know I was so chuffed to get a wee bit of pixie dust, it made us feel like VIPs! The new theming really is gorge i can't stop singing the praises of SL, unbelievably nice for the money.

Glad to hear you are starting another trip report - I have only recently discovered and read your other ones, and very much enjoyed them. (I'm now so much looking forward to our own next DLP trip in September!)

I have one question about the refurbed room at the Sequoia Lodge -was this a standard room or did you book a Montana room? I have booked us a Montana room for September, and I just want to make sure that we get one of the recently refurbished ones. Might be a good idea to e-mail them in advance and ask about it - would you still happen to have their e-mail address at hand?

Thank you, and looking forward to the rest of your report,

Annika

Oh how nice, I'm glad you enjoyed my other trip reports
We booked a standard room, and got the nice refurbed one. I should think nearly all will be refurbed by September and I think all the lodges are already complete. If you've paid the Montana premium you should definitely get a refurbed one, but you should email them too. I will PM you with the email address.

Great first day! So glad your friends found the magic quickly!! I know what you mean about feeling responsible for them liking it.

SL looks lovely too

It was a totally difference experience going with newbies but in some ways I loved it more because it reminded me just how amazing everything is. They were glad to have a disney nut with them though, they said they didn't think they'd have enjoyed it half as much without me being so organised, because lots of things they loved they probably wouldn't have tried.

What a great start to your trip. It is good to see the Sequoia lodge looking so good, we are thinking of going back there on our next trip

You won't be disappointed if you go back, the refurb is fantastic. Thumbs up Disney!

Thanks everyone for your nice comments. Blonde moment - anyone know how I update the original thread title?! I've included Day 2 now.

 

[LoodlesNoodles]

Another great day! And you look amazing in the waistcoat! Charity shop or not
Congrats your first!

I watched the show on youtube when I got home and I'm sort of glad I hadn't seen it now. It definitely gets lost in translation I think.
However, it is exciting to see Merlin in the parks! I adore The Sword in the Stone.

 

[loladelorean]

Another great day! And you look amazing in the waistcoat! Charity shop or not
Congrats your first!

I watched the show on youtube when I got home and I'm sort of glad I hadn't seen it now. It definitely gets lost in translation I think.
However, it is exciting to see Merlin in the parks! I adore The Sword in the Stone.

Haha I love my waistcoat, my next challenge is to wear it in the real world. Determined to try!
You can't beat charity shops for amazing finds like that, it is actually of fantastic quality. I wonder who it belonged to before?!
I LOVE sword in the stone too, as does Katie (her dog is called Merlin) so we did like seeing him, but other than that the show is pants.

 

[loladelorean]

Friday 17th June 2011

Excitement and a bit too much wine meant that we hadn’t quite got round to packing the night before, so there was a bit of a mad rush to pack this morning and we didn’t make it down to breakfast until 8ish. We went back to the room after breakfast (very enjoyable once again, in the Hunters Grill which offers more pleasant surroundings than the Beaver Creek), got our bags and checked out. We left our bags in the luggage store, easy peasy, and back to the park. It was about 9 by this point, and we decided not to bother with any of the Fantasyland EMH rides but just to be fully prepared for rope drop and try and get ourselves on to BTM one more time. This decision made, we headed the long way round the lake, popping into Newport Bay so the girls could see it and Aimee decided this was her favourite hotel. We stopped briefly at Salon Mickey on the way in too, then quickly rode Star Tours. Another one that I hadn’t explained to them, they liked it too! I always forget how much fun this is. I must admit I really missed Space Mountain in the mornings this trip ☹

We were at the Frontierland rope for 9.45. I have read about rope drop, but I was NOT prepared. At the point of the rope dropping, the docile crowd turned into animals, stampeding and whooping – including us! There is a strong chance that we trampled over people, it is all a mad blur. All that Race for Life training paid off, Aimee and I were among the first to reach BTM and Katie wasn’t far behind, although she was a bit mystified by our insane behaviour. We walked straight on to the ride and it was amazing, particularly following the rope drop hysteria. We went on Phantom Manor next which was another walk on and another surprise favourite for my friends. This trip really taught me not to take Disney detail for granted. For newbies like my friends who are used to theme parks like Alton Towers which are nice but where rides are just rides rather than stories, Disneyland is a complete revelation.

We decided to pop back to the Studios and ride RnRC again, since we had liked it so much the day before. It was great again, thankfully. We had been hopeful about getting on the Parachutes – these were not scheduled for refurb but were inexplicably closed the entire trip. RC Racer was also shut, but we had known about that. So TSPL was a bit of an embarrassment. Crush queue time was something mental like 80 minutes and our return to the Studios was feeling a tad pointless, so we went on the tram tour. Yet another surprise for my pals, they got a shock at the canyon scene, although I wish the tellies would work!

We then rode RnRC one last time (Katie’s absolute favourite thing at DLP, apparently) – wish we hadn’t as the music failed again. We made up for it this time by bellowing Walk This Way as best we could.
Back to the main park! We hadn’t seen or sought out any characters in the parks, but were determined to meet Captain Jack, so we turned up 15 mins early for his 12.30 meet and greet. There was a reasonably orderly queue, but once he appeared, all hell broke loose. You all know how the scrums are, but this was the worst I’d ever seen. Two parents got into a proper roaring argument (in Spanish, which I speak, and trust me you don’t want to know what they were calling each other), children were squashed and crying, other parents complained to the CM who shrugged and gestured as if to say “what can I possibly do about this?” To his credit, Jack himself was trying to see the children in the right order, and keep the rest at bay but it was an impossible task. After about 15 mins the other two managed to jump in for a quick photo and then we escaped.

Horrible stuff, we felt really sorry for parents who spend an entire DLP holiday hunting down characters and going through that!
We didn’t have long now to get to the 1pm Tarzan show, but the Chaparral theatre wasn’t far to jog, and we made it. The show is incredible, the gymnasts are fantastic and the whole thing has such energy. I think the Tarzan score is one of the best in any Disney film, and there is a fantastic interactive Trashing the Camp section for kids. Slight downer – Tarzan himself seemed really nervous and had a couple of shaky landings. Shame! But this was only the 4th day of the show so there were bound to be teething problems. It didn’t spoil it for us at all.

Time for one last attraction before leaving and we all agreed on POTC. It is really looking amazing right now following its refurb, another fantastic ride. And then, after what felt like no time at all, it was time to leave DLP ☹

I had booked Walts for lunch on this day, but the other two really wanted to go to Annette’s so we switched to that. I love Annette’s too, I can’t say I was upset! It was very quiet at around 2.30pm when we arrived, and our food came really quickly. We had milkshakes, I had my usual onion burger, Aimee had a hot dog and Katie had a chilli dog. We looked at all the photos and had a good laugh at everything that had happened so far. I wasn’t feeling my usual end of holiday blues because of course, the holiday wasn’t ending, we still had two days in Paris to come.

We collected our cases from the SL luggage and got the shuttle bus back to the train station as it was raining by this point. Getting the train to Paris was ridiculously easy, and we were there in half an hour. Our hostel was just off the Place Republique and very easy to find. It was tiny, and we burst out laughing when we saw our little attic triple room – we could only just stand up in it and the beds were like kids beds. However, we knew it wouldn’t exactly be luxurious for the stupidly cheap price we paid for it and the main thing was that it was so central. We stopped caring about the tiny room when we realized we could see the Eiffel Tower from our window. (its far away but its there....)

We couldn’t really unpack as there was nowhere to put our stuff, so we took a couple of hours to shower and change before heading out for food. We found a cute little Italian near the hostel with cheap wine, and the food was actually really good. Our waiter was a laugh as well. We sat there for a couple of hours getting drunk, oops, and I’m pretty sure the conversation turned into an argument about religion and politics, as it always does with me when there is enough wine flowing.

I don’t quite recall travelling to it, but next thing I knew we were at the illuminated Eiffel Tower. I know the French hate the lights and they probably are very tacky but to 3 drunk bedazzled tourists it was spectacular.

It was nearly midnight but the tower was really busy with loads of people taking photos underneath. We went for a walk, taking in the tower from all angles, and eventually got a taxi back to the hostel. I think. Apologies that the Paris section of my trip report is slightly less respectable, the wine really was criminally cheap.

 

[mania]

Wow that's a great (and detailed) trip report, i really enjoy reading it! I love the Paris pics too, the illuminated Eiffel Tower looks stunning! And of course i'm so jealous of your nice room you got at SL, please could you pm me the e-mail address too, we are going in August with friends and we have booked 2 Montana rooms, it would be so nice to get refurbished ones at the main building! (it's their DD first time in DLP and poor girl she was waiting and waiting for this trip for over 5 years!!!)

 

[Princess Clayre]

Fantastic trip report. You guys had soooo much fun!

Congratulations on your exam results too

 

[DLPdaft]

fabulous - I love your trip reports, and you're so right, DLP is so much more than rides, no matter what age you are .

 

[MichelinMan]

Love the photos - lots of piccies of 3 dressed up hot chicks!

Did you ever get a response when you emailed the hotel - I've emailed a couple of email addresses for my stay at the DLH, but not had a response, so can't be sure if they got it.

 

[kizzabel]

Hiya Lisa, was certain Id replied earliar but my broadbands been tempermental this week.
Great TR (is there more on Paris or am I getting too spoilt with your brill TRs?!?!)
Re ToT, I too am the meanie that drags her freaked out friend on this ride! She loved it though!!
Whats the VIP breakfast pass?

 

[loladelorean]

Love the photos - lots of piccies of 3 dressed up hot chicks!

Did you ever get a response when you emailed the hotel - I've emailed a couple of email addresses for my stay at the DLH, but not had a response, so can't be sure if they got it.

I got a response two days before we arrived, a few others have said the same, so I think they don't deal with the requests at all until they get to the stage of allocating rooms.

 

[loladelorean]

Hiya Lisa, was certain Id replied earliar but my broadbands been tempermental this week.
Great TR (is there more on Paris or am I getting too spoilt with your brill TRs?!?!)
Re ToT, I too am the meanie that drags her freaked out friend on this ride! She loved it though!!
Whats the VIP breakfast pass?

You'll be glad to know I only have access to 2/3 of the photos as Aimee is yet to give me copies of hers so I'll be adding more photos when I get them! Not really got any more trip report on Paris, I'm ashamed to say we drank wine more or less constantly and had a ball - we went up the Eiffel Tower but other than that we just walked around taking in the main sights, and kept stopping to eat and drink.
VIP Breakfast pass just means you dont need a time slot, you can turn up whenever you fancy.