Trip Report The "I can't believe we actually did it!" TR Oct 29th-31st 2012

[Tink'sMum]

Welcome one and all. The title of my thread refers to the fact that myself and my sister and 2 friends of ours actually went on a trip to DLP and left the kids at home. We had been talking about it for the last 2 years, saying we should go sometime together and leave the kids at home, so when the opportunity presented itself we all jumped at the chance and within a very short space of time the trip had been booked!
We told our kids little white lies that we were going on an education conference to Paris and might have the opportunity to visit DLP while we were there, to buy presents for them of course, no other reason! For 3 of us our kids go to the same school and the 4th one is the secretary of said school. I am also on the board of the school so the excuse for us all going sounded plausible enough.

So to introduce:
Me, 36, mother of 2 kids (5 and 7) who have been to DLP twice so far each.
J, my sister, 41, mother of 3 (10, 7 and 4) who have been to DLP what seems like a million times each, but probably more like 5/6 times and also been to Florida!
D, friend of ours, 40, mother of 2 (10 and 8) who were in DLP at least once that I'm aware of
S, the secretary and good friend, 41, mother of 2 Disney deprived teenagers (18 and 16) who have *gasp* never been to DLP but were happy to let their mother go and indulge herself for a couple of days.

J stayed the night before we left in Dublin with her in-laws as her kids and DH were staying there while she was gone. The in-laws were babysitting the kids while her DH went to work. The rest of us had to travel an hour to get to the airport so we had to leave by 4.30 at the latest for our 6.50am flight. I could not get any sleep the night before, wondering and worrying if the trip would go smoothly as I had organised it all. Also I was worrying if the kids would be ok. I had my alarm set for 3.30 but woke at 2.45 and couldn't go back to sleep., so I got up at around 3.15. I spent the next 45 mins pottering and packing the last few bits (phone charger etc) and was about to get a cup of tea at 3.55 when I got a text from D that they were outside my door! I grabbed my case and off we went.
We got to the airport, parked, found our terminal, found J and her DH who had drove her the 5 mins from his parents' house and we went straight through security. I then got a taste of what the next 3 days would be like when D and S headed straight into the duty free shops and started shopping!
We headed to our gate then and got on pretty much straight away. The plane was delayed from taking off for what seemed like 2 hours but was probably only around 30-40 mins. Finally got into the air. The flight was a bit bumpy which I experienced in the toilets funnily enough. The flight crew were laughing when I came out of the toilet, asking if I was ok.
We landed, came out into arrivals and I couldn't see anyone from Ezyshuttle with my name. I saw 2 other drivers though so I asked one and she found my booking and called our driver. He was there in 5 mins and off we went!

We got very excited at our first sight of ToT and we got a bit frustrated when we got stuck in traffic near the hotels. We had booked to stay at the Adagio in Val d'Europe but asked to be left at the parks as we couldn't check in until 3pm. We got out at the train station and left our bags in the station's lockers. Then we FINALLY got to go down to the parks to get in and see the magic..
I was worried that our tickets wouldn't work - they were the special offer FNAC ones, printed out ourselves. I needn't have worried. We got in fine when the CM scanned them in and then we headed in for our first glimpse of the Halloween dec's.

 

[MazdaUK]

Great nstart, and well done for getting it on the boards so quickly Can't wait to hear the rest - DH says hes "done" DLRP now but I really think I need to go in a girly group

 

[Mum to Belle]

I then got a taste of what the next 3 days would be like when D and S headed straight into the duty free shops and started shopping!

I imagine it must be a very different experience to Disney with kids?!!!

Looking forward to hearing more...!

 

[Tink'sMum]

Day 1 continued.. (warning, contains mention of bras and removal thereof! you have been warned!!)

We entered into the park and spent a good few minutes just standing there looking and listening and oohing and aahing. We all went to the toilet then (also to be a key feature of the trip apparently). We headed down Main St and saw the little Disney train thing coming. S started squealing when she saw it coming and she squealed even more when she realised there were characters on it. She waved at Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Donald and Daisy (from what I can remember). We then headed into the shops on the right and had a good browse. D bought a couple of tree decorations I think. She said last time she had been she bought lots of baubles and things and all had broken by the time she got home, so she was choosing carefully this time what to get.
Myself and J spent a bit of time looking at pins and lanyards but neither of us could find a lanyard that we loved so we left it. We browsed our way down through the shops until we hit the Cable Car place and headed in there for something nice to eat. J and D got the lemon muffins with tea and hot chocolate. S got coffee and a stripey donut. I got nothing as I was too wound up to eat or drink anything.
After this we headed into Discoveryland where we saw the queues for Buzz, Orbitron and SM2 were massive. We wandered on down, taking it all in, and decided to give Star Tours a shot.
S had said previous to the trip that she would be the one holding all the coats and bags while we went on rides. She doesn't really do rides. But she decided to take the plunge and after a seriously lengthy wait we all got onto Star Tours and had a blast. The screeches were something mighty. We had a bit of a browse in the Star Tours shop, I bought a big bag of Doritos and we munched our way over to Fantasyland. We saw Cruella de Ville and Malificient just heading in through the gates (ie disappearing) as we entered Fantasyland. We all screeched significantly at them.
Then we headed for Small World which was practically a walk on at under 10 mins wait. S does not do boats or water, but she was very brave and seemed to enjoy it anyway. I was confused as to why the x-mas overlay was (still?/already?) on it.
After Small World we took a wander to Peter Pan which had a waaaay too long queue to contemplate so we got Fast Passes instead. I can't remember what time they were for but I think we used them in the evening time, much later. It was definitely dark anyway. We kept meandering and ended up in front of POTC which we decided to go for. It wasn't a long wait.. maybe 30 mins or so, we got well down into the caves before the queue started.
S was putting on a very brave face on it, considering it was a boat again. We were all in spasms of laughter when D decided that her bra was too uncomfortable and took it off (under her tops) while still in the queue. At least it was dark down there so nobody knew what she was doing.
We got into the boat and set off on our Carribean adventure. I was begging D to hold up her bra for the ride photos but she refused as she thought we'd get kicked out.
J later reported that S had been very nervous "I'm on a boat! And it's going up a hill!!" but S said she did enjoy the ride and all the theming and she was glad that she had done it.

At this point I had started to realise how much more I was seeing of things without having the children with me. I saw stuff on POTC that I thought was new, but it turned out I had just never seen it before. When with the kids I am concentrating on them so much that a lot of it just goes past without me noticing it.

After we did POTC we walked down through Adventureland as we had decided to get a late lunch/early dinner in Café Agrabah. A first for us all.



Also, want to mention that I took very few photos on this trip - maybe 30 or so in total and most of them are poor quality. On my last trips I've taken hundreds so I wanted to just enjoy this trip without the camera and just used my phone. If I have a relevant photo at any point in the TR I will put it up though.

 

[julie 'o']

Loving your Girly Trip, sounds like you had lots of fun

 

[TotallyAngelic]

After so many trips to Disney with our offspring, as little kids, teenagers and now young adults, it is still totally different to go just DH and I, and just go as we please. As much as I enjoy travelling with the family ( ok .... with all the ups and downs, and moods and strops that go along with it ) it is so much more relaxing to visit Disney parks without them

 

[Mum to Belle]

Loving the bra removal mid-queue!!!

 

[Tink'sMum]

Day One part 3 (will it ever end?)

I wasn't sure if Cafe Agrabah was open or not as it was almost 4pm and I had it stuck in my head that it closed at 4pm. So we were a bit unsure of ourselves going in, but the nice cm on reception told us to go ahead on in. We went in and paid for our meals before being seated. Drinks cost extra, the other 3 ordered cokes and I stupidly ordered a Vittel as I was unaware that you could order a jug of tap water for your table.
We only had to wait around 5 mins before being seated which was nice. The buffet was... fab. I got a good plateful of starters of which my favourite was probably the chickpea salad. Then headed back for mains.. absolutely gorgeous kebab meat, pasta, aubergine thingy, mixed roast veg.. and I can't really remember what else. I think I may have gone back and had a second smaller plateful.
Then for dessert I had the chocolate mousse, some pancakes and a slice of around 4 different tarts, of which the coconut one was my favourite! :rolleyes

We stayed here for quite a while and didn't really want to get up, but finally admitted that we should really get a move on if we were to check into our hotel and get back to use our Peter Pan FP's, so we trundled on out of the restaurant. D and S had to use the toilet and myself and J had a quick browse in the shops nearby. We exited the park via Frontierland (I think) and headed for the train station.
We had no problems getting our bags out of the lockers but when we went down to get the train to Val D'Europe we were a bit unsure of what tickets to buy. So I went to the ticket counter and we bought 2 sets of 10 train tickets, thinking we'd use them up over the next 2 days. Big mistake.

We got the train to Val D'Europe and came out onto the street. We looked around blankly, I was hoping I'd just see the Adagio somewhere and that would be it. No such luck. Myself and J went to look at the map and there were 2 jehovah's witnesses there. 1 pointed to the entrance of the shopping centre, he obv thought that was what we were looking for. When I said Adagio? He said something like, ah yes Adagio, go over there and around the corner. So I was delighted and we all set off. We went around the corner (where hotel D'Elysee is) expecting to see the Adagio.. eh, no. After asking a few people who didn't know where it was I went into the Elysee Hotel and he told me to go to the end of the road, turn right and it's the last building on the right. So off we went.. turned right and saw a very long road ahead.
We finally got there and got checked in. The room tax was only 3.60 or so, compared to the 8.80 it was supposed to be. The receptionist explained that it had gone down recently. Good news for anyone adding themselves to a Disney hotel booking then! The receptionist also told us there was a free shuttle bus to the parks from the Adagio and gave us a timetable. He said the quickest way to the train station is to walk through the shopping centre but it closes at 10pm.
So our train tickets were useless to us then.. great.
We headed up to the room which was .. ok. Not luxury by any standards. There was a small bedroom with 2 single beds in it.. it looked like a bedroom out of a caravan. The beds were tiny. Then a separate toilet, a bath and sink in another room and the main room had a table and chairs to seat 5, a kitchenette area, a couch/single bed and a sideboard with a TV on it. There was a trundle bed under the couch/single bed.
We decided to make a cup of tea (D had brought tea bags) but needed to go and buy milk first. So D and I volunteered to go buy the milk in Auchan. It seemed like it was 10 miles away and the shopping centre seemed huuuuuuge.. but we were so tired and wanted our tea so badly we kept going and got the milk and some mineral water, coke and pastries and then headed back to the hotel. The receptionist looked very confused when we asked about a kettle but said he'd look into it. We went up and boiled up water in a saucepan and made our cups of tea. Aaaaaaaahhhh...
We got nice and settled watching TV (all about Ouregan Sandy) in 5 different languages and didn't relish the thoughts of having to walk again. However we all rallied at around 6.30 and got our boots back on and off we went.

At this point memory kind of fails me but I think we got the train back to the parks by walking through the shopping centre. When we got back it was dark and the park was like a different world, all lit up and sparkly.
We headed down Main Street and through the castle, up towards Peter Pan. I think we were a little late with our FP's but we got on anyway and D and S loved the ride. I found it to be very smooth this time with no stops or major jerks the way it was the last times I was on it. It was really enjoyable and I loved hearing S's oohs and aaahs as we flew over London.

After Peter Pan we headed for Frontierland where we convinced D and S to get on BTM with us. We persuaded them that it was really harmless and that it was only a little fast but not steep at all! We had to queue for quite a while, I think at least 45 mins and when it was our turn to board we got the front 2 rows. Myself and S were for the front. I tried to swap with D but she was having none of it. We had barely started to move when S started to screech and say "I want to get off". The it was one long screech fest from her and a laugh fest from me. I heard the same from behind and when we reached the peak J tried to distract D by saying "ooh look at the castle". D's reply was quite unrepeatable but involved telling J that she didn't care very much to look at the castle at that point in time.
It was the best fun, the best laugh. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Sadly we could not convince D and S to get on it again so we tottered off towards Phantom Manor, which was a walk on.
D and S loved this and myself and J enjoyed it very much too, doing it together for the first time. It ran really smoothly and the playful spooks didn't interfere at all!
With those 3 rides under our belts we wandered back out to the main plaza to find a spot for Dreams which was to begin in 30 mins. We had no difficulties getting somewhere, we stood at the fence on the way out from Frontierland and although we waited the 30 mins that night we agreed that there was no need to be there that early and 5 mins before hand was loads of time. Now if you wanted to be smack bang in the middle of the castle in the front row, then yes, you'd need to get there early. But we were happy enough where we were with a nice clear view of the castle and a (albeit cold) fence to rest our bums on.

Dreams was... absolutely stunning. We oohed and aahed our way through it and I tried to ignore how much I was getting shoved and distracted by the young family next to me. Also.. a woman stood a little in front of us with a toddler on her hip and smoked away good-oh.

Anway, back to Dreams.. I would absolutely recommend anyone to go to Disneyland purely to see Dreams. I came home and told my husband "You have to go see Dreams". It was the most magical show ever and while I didn't actually cry I came pretty damn close. I can't wait to watch it with my kids.

After Dreams we meandered back through the Arcades and through all the shops on the right hand side as you exit the parks. D was looking for the stuffed toy version of Frankenweenie as requested by her son, but it was proving to be a fruitless search. None of the cm's had ever heard of it, although it was online in the Disney Store.
We exited the park after a while and strolled back up to Disney Village. I can't remember if we shopped more or not, but we found our bus stop for the number 50 back to our hotel ok. We had about a 20 minute wait to get the bus. When we got off we didn't know where to go so we followed the crowd and one man helpfully told us "la bas".
Back to our room, pj's on, drink more tea and fall into bed, ready for the next day at Disney.

 

[MazdaUK]

Loving your report! Absolutely agree about Dreams - I've had some major issues over the past 12 months which ended with a complete career change (and at nearer 50 than 40 that's quite a step!) and I just watched with tears in my eyes thinking "I am actually very happy!!!" Sorry if that sounds but it was good, honestly!

 

[Tink'sMum]

Sorry for not putting up the next bit. I seem to have lost the scrap of paper where I jotted down what we did each day as soon as I got back and am completely clueless without it!

If it turns up by the weekend I'll put up Day 2 and if not I'll try to cobble together some memories so as to complete the report!