The 'I can't think of a suitably magical title for this TR' - TR Half Term June 2012

[ROBEAR84]

Well we're back! now I have my feet up resting, the washing on and a cuppa firmly at hand and to try to ease the sadness of leaving our happy place I thought I'd make a start on my first trip report! I apologise in advance if I ramble on but I have a tendency to type as I think so just go on and on and on....



Day one - Sunday 3rd June 2012

We travelled from Somerset to Ashford the day before and stayed at the Ashford Central premier inn. Unfortunately we had a rather noisy family in the room above us playing hide and seek and running round their room til 1am! I wound up getting 3 hours sleep so was not feeling quite so excited for our 5am get up than I'd hoped to!

We made our way to the tunnel and after a stress free crossing we were in France by 8:30 (French time)

We were eager to get a photo of the Disneyland signs en route but I kept getting the focus wrong. We then obviously weren't looking at the signs as we should as we got lost!! Wound up over shooting the exit and driving round Marne la Vallee for half an hour before getting on my phone to find the Sequoia post code for the sat nav (DH had stupidly just put in Marne la Vallee)

We had made good time so still arrived at the Sequoia by 11am even with the detour. The lovely CM checking us in asked if someone had a birthday and I explained it was DHs in a couple of weeks. She wished him a happy birthday and explained the hotel, breakfast etc, we were given VIP breakfast slots so didn't need to book our times which was fantastic and then DH asked which lodge we were in. She said Oh no, you're in the main building! we were so happy! I'd explained on my email to guest communications that there were no montana rooms available when I booked but if any were I would considering paying on arrival but they'd never said anything about it on there reply email.

As we were so early we had to return for the key later so we headed straight to Earl of Sandwich for lunch as we were all famished by this time! DH and I split a Hawaiian Barbecue and a Full Montague which were both lovely but the FM was my favourite! The children split a ham and swiss and seemed pleased enough!

We always head straight to the Disneyland Park upon arrival but the kids were insistent for days that the first thing they wanted to do when the got there was the Parachutes. Surprise Surprise when they got there they both chickened out! Grrr! The queues were pretty heavy and as there wasn't anything we really wanted to do we headed to the Disneyland Park.

As we headed up Main Street it felt as if we'd never been away. We were home!!!

We were so tired that I've sadly forgotten exactly what we did that afternoon - it's a bit of a blur!! but I'm pretty sure we went on IASW first as that's usually our 1st ride. Then just had a leisurely stroll around taking everything in until it was time to get our room key. We'd left the camera in our room so unfortunately don't have any 'first day in the parks' photos. I certainly made up for it later so hopefully the latter days reports will be more...colourful!

We were so pleased with our room!! It was a long walk from the main foyer of the hotel but had a lake view (just about) and you could just about see Panoramagique through the trees. Loved it.

There was also a soft Donald Duck on each bed for the children which was such a lovely addition and they were very pleased!!

We all wound up falling asleep for a couple of hours which was desperately needed after the previous nights lack of sleep and early start. We got up just in time to head down to Buffalo Bills Wild West Show which I'd bought on the e30 offer that I'd seen on here. Thanks to whoever posted that as we all had an amazing time!! The food was better than I'd expected and the kids loved the unlimited coke (I'd allowed them one glass as a treat as it was that or water - not realising that they get continually topped up!! lucky we were at disney so they could run the excitement off! )
Loved the show and the kids talked about it every time we passed it for the rest of the trip!

After the show finished we dropped our hats back at the hotel, picked up our coats and headed to the disneyland park. We persuaded Skye to try PoC (she wasn't keen on the drops last time) and she still didn't like 'the slides' as she put it. Despite me saying she liked slides at the park! (well, it was worth a try!) I could see we were going to have to work on this as it's Cole and I's favourite ride!!

We rode Peter Pan and IASW again got to Main Street just in time for Dreams. Unfortunately we didn't find a good spot that night (I tried but DH, tired and grumpy couldn't really be bothered) DS sat on my shoulders and DD on DHs. I spent the whole time trying to find spaces to get a view (I'm a short *** and tall people seem to be drawn to the space in front of me where ever I go!!) and uncomfortable from my fidgety son!! I did love what I saw though and the children were in awe of the whole thing!

Once we'd walked back to the hotel we sank into our beds and everyone was asleep in two shakes of a certain mouses tail!

 

[DLPdaft]

great start, for you all being tired you did loads on your first day, lunch in the Village, visited both parks, BBWWS, and Dreams - I'm impressed !

 

[tinks_1989]

Loved the first day wow two Donalds DD loves Donald and our little guy is always in the push chair!

Keep it from a fellow Somerseter

 

[Ms Poppins]

Lovely first day! We loved BBWWS too - great to do that on the first night, you all must have been exhausted!

The room at SL looks lovely - Donald Duck's a nice touch

 

[bonhoga]

Lovely start Isn't BBWWS just the best . Thank you for posting, love the photo of your view from your room, it makes it appear as though you were in the middle of a wilderness!

Kaye

 

[bonhoga]

PS I love the title of your trippie, it made me smile this morning

 

[SleepingX3Beauty]

Lovely start! I'm curious for the rest of your TR!
And as to the chickening out part, I always chicken out right in front of Tower of Terror after having shouted for months that this time I WAS going to ride it again! Yet this time I honestly will ride it again, I just have to give it a second chance!

 

[sammie1884]

Sounds like you have a fab first day love the donalds on the beds what a fab thing for the children to walk in an see! Adds even more magic!

 

[ROBEAR84]

great start, for you all being tired you did loads on your first day, lunch in the Village, visited both parks, BBWWS, and Dreams - I'm impressed !

Ha! thanks! WDS really was a complete waste of time though, we literally walked to the Parachutes and then straight back out again!

Loved the first day wow two Donalds DD loves Donald and our little guy is always in the push chair!

Keep it from a fellow Somerseter

Aw, my two have never been that fussed with Donald but now DS loves him! He got all excited when he saw him sat on the back of the last float in the parade!

Lovely first day! We loved BBWWS too - great to do that on the first night, you all must have been exhausted!

The room at SL looks lovely - Donald Duck's a nice touch

Yes we were but the nap before BBWWS was just what we needed! Loved the show! I'm not sure we'd pay full whack for it but I'd definitely go again if there was a similar offer! It was great to just sit and relax after such a hectic day and before heading back for Dreams.

Lovely start Isn't BBWWS just the best . Thank you for posting, love the photo of your view from your room, it makes it appear as though you were in the middle of a wilderness!

Kaye

Lol, it does!! The red glow in the water is the reflection of Panoramagique. We were so lucky!

PS I love the title of your trippie, it made me smile this morning

Thanks! I really am rubbish at titles!

Lovely start! I'm curious for the rest of your TR!
And as to the chickening out part, I always chicken out right in front of Tower of Terror after having shouted for months that this time I WAS going to ride it again! Yet this time I honestly will ride it again, I just have to give it a second chance!

Aw you wouldn't catch me on ToT! I am such a chicken! I think DD takes after me unfortunately although she came round eventually! I made some terrible excuse about wearing flip flops so I could abstain from the Parachute drop anyway!

Sounds like you have a fab first day love the donalds on the beds what a fab thing for the children to walk in an see! Adds even more magic!

Thank you! It really was a lovely first day... when I started writing this I didn't think there would be much for day one!! I can't believe it was only 6 days ago, it seems like so long ago now!


And so on to day two (which funnily enough I really am struggling to remember!)... bear with me!

 

[ROBEAR84]

Day two ~ Monday 4th June 2012

I forgot on my day one post that when we came out of BBWWS DH was streaming! Seems he was rather allergic it! It didn't even seem particularly dusty or anything but that was the reason we went back to the hotel in between the show and Dreams so he could wash his face and change his top! Thankfully he'd just about recovered by morning but we'll definitely have to pack some antihistamines if we do that again!! whoops!

Anyway, on to day two...

We were going to go to Paris on this day but as we were so tired we decided to go back to the original plan of Paris on Tuesday.

We woke early anyway as I'd set our alarm for 6:45 (unfortunately our phone didn't work so I couldn't set a wake up call) and pulled the sleepy children from there beds to get down to breakfast. We ate in Beaver Creek and really enjoyed breakfast. It seemed a lot nicer than the one we remembered from the Cheyenne. I ate croissants with Nutella every morning for the rest of trip! Om nom nom! I could eat them now! We needed to pop back to the car and grab some things that we hadn't taken up to our room the day before including all our comfy shoes (Skye wound up with a nasty blister the day before from wearing her sandals and was very happy to be back in her 'biker boots' ) Once we'd wandered through Disney Village we didn't get to the parks until around 9 which meant we'd missed the quietest park of EMH.

Dumbo was really busy already so we went on Peter Pan (one of the kids favourites!) followed by the tea cups - I focused on taking pictures here as I hate spinning!! DH and the children take great pleasure in getting it to spin as much as possible!!

We then headed to Small world, Buzz, DH had a quick ride on Space Mountain whilst the kids and I wandered round Discoveryland and then later to Pirates and Phantom Manor. Skye had to bribed onto Pirates with the promise of sweets later! She seemed to enjoy it slightly more this time but still wasn't convinced!

We wanted to go to Salon Mickey and it was already past 11 so then headed out of the parks to enter. Knocking on the door for the first time was a very strange feeling! Almost felt like we had a secret entrance whilst the queues were tailing back from the gates.

Unfortunately they were all out of pastries/cookies but we all had a hot chocolate each and our feet enjoyed the welcome break.

We headed back out into the Disneyland park at closing time for Salon mickey and Cole promptly fell asleep in his buggy! We wandered round to Discoveryland and DH coaxed an unsure Skye onto Star Tours. The wait time stated 20 minutes so I wandered into the Videopolis and sat watching a british vocal group (Ursuline voices) singing as part of the Disney Magic Music day that was being held. 45 minutes later and still no sign of DH and Skye, Cole woke up and was in a very groggy mood and needing the toilet. Due to the music finishing the queues were horrendous so we wandered over to Star Tours to see if there was any sign of the others. Couldn't find them so headed back to join the toilet queue and then the Mickey cartoons were starting so I managed to subdue Cole with cartoons for a while. Around and hour and twenty minutes after they entered the queue DH and Skye finally appeared!! They'd been in the queue for well over an hour in the end and the family in front of them had missed their fastpass time for Buzz Lightyear because of they highly inaccurate time. DH had told them to try their luck in the Buzz FP queue anyway seeing as it wasn't their fault so hope the CMs let them on! - Skye had loved Star Tours though!! It was change Cole is such a shorty like his Mummy as he'd have loved it too. Can't wait for us all to be able to go on it.

We were all ravenous by this point and DS was getting grouchier by the minute so we headed to the Disneyland Hotel for the first time ever!!! for lunch at Inventions.

WOW!! I so want to stay there now, love the entrance/foyer, amazing! Due to our nap on day one we'd missed the only 4pm DLH character dance/meet of our stay so that will definitely be one of the must sees of our next trip as I can imagine that it would be fantastic to witness the characters coming down those stairs!

One funny thing... I loved the smell of the place which everyone comments on. DH however, he wasn't keen and said it smelled like a toilet!! surely a very clean, lovely disney toilet, but yes, a toilet!! I laughed at him and explained what everyone on these boards think of the smell he laughed and said that his comments would be straight on here then! er.. Yep!!!

Unfortunately Cole got a massive nosebleed which failed to stop until AFTER we'd finished eating. Due to trying to eat in between holding tissues to his face I didn't have a chance to take any photos. I feel so sorry for the family next to us if he put them off their food!!! He's had a few recently as he's had a cold and when he gets them they're very hard to stop!

Despite everything we had a lovely meal though. The food was delicious and I'm so glad we went there. I had the lamb, dauphinoise potatoes and mixed green beans for main and it was amazing!! I could have eaten that meal every day of our trip! Infact that would definitely be my 'last meal' of choice now! The children enjoyed the food and we were never charged for Cole (he does look under 3 so perhaps it was that or they felt sorry for him as he barely had a chance to eat!!)

By the time we dragged our very full bellies from Inventions it was past four o clock so we walked over to the studios. The Stars and Cars parade was imminent but DS still wasn't particularly happy so we decided to give it a miss especially as we've seen it so many times before and weren't that fussed.

ETA: At some point we finally watched Cinemagique for the first time EVER!! I can't remember exactly when but I'm pretty sure it was day so I'm editing it in here!! We did love it though! we were never sure before if the children would sit through it which I don't think they would have last time. They loved too though! although DH got his grumpy face on when the rain began!!

DH attempted to coax Skye onto Crush but although she went with innitially she saw one of the shells whizz past with people screaming and quickly changed her mind!! She decided she wanted to go on Slinky dog zig zag spin so we queued for that. DH got angry (not that he ever says anything just moans at me!) about some older children queue jumping. They were calling mum! mum! squeezing past everyone in the queue but he kept his eye on them and the wound their way straight to the front and onto the ride - alone. He was not happy! The exact same thing happened to us on the magic carpets last time! He does make me laugh though as he gets so cheesed off but never says a word, just stands there steaming!

After slinky we went on cars, always a favourite with the children as they giggle their little heads off on it!

By the time we left the park was just about to close, we headed straight back to the Disneyland Park and queued for Casey Junior which we got onto with minutes to spare for the parade to start! The storyboat ride was walk on and in hindsight we should have got on then but we didn't realise they close that part of the park at 7pm and never managed to make it back there. The children do love Casey Junior though!!

We made it to the start of the parade with minutes to spare so unfortunately our view was much like it was for dreams, ie: top bit only! I couldn't see any of the dancers etc and Cole was battering my shoulders again! we decided to get there earlier next time as there was only one other day we'd get there for the parade.

We followed the parade down as far the annual passport office and then made a quick escape onto Buzz before heading back to the Sequoia as we were all in desperate need for an early night!!! After baths and snacks that still wound up being gone 10pm though.

Apologies for the lack of photos for this day! Although I took over 500 on this trip I seem to be distinctly lacking in Monday pm pictures!!

 

[ROBEAR84]

Day three ~ Tuesday 5th June 2012.
PART ONE

We woke early again as although we were going to Paris we wanted to make the most of EMH as we had decided against going up the eiffel tower as our legs were already very sore by this point and thought of 100s of steps or a ridiculously early start to get there to queue for the lifts was not very enticing!

After eating at Hunters Grill we strolled through the village and got to the park at around 8:15. Thankfully the queue for Dumbo was much shorter this morning as we'd got there much earlier and so Skye was happy (Dumbo is one of her favourite rides and the first she ever went on, on our very first trip!)

After the rest of our usual EMH routine of Peter Pan, Small world, Tea cups and Buzz we headed down to Salon Mickey. The children were much happier this morning as they had cookies with their hot chocolate! After that lovely break we headed to the train station to head of to Paris.

I purchased our tickets, Mobilis for me and DH and although I explained I just needed a return ticket to Trocadero for Skye she still gave me a childs Visite pass. I couldn't be bothered to challenge it but it was a waste of money as in the end we didn't even bother getting the connecting train to Trocadero. We got off at Charles de Gaulle Etoile and ended up on the street rather than the metro. Skye was in awe of the Arc de Triomphe (or the arc the trumph as she calls it!!)

We walked from there down George V Avenue and eventually the Eiffel Tower came into view!! It wasn't too long a walk and even Skye didn't complain (well, not until the walk back at least!)

We walked round to the Vedettes de Paris ticket office and exchanged our clubcard voucher and bought the additional tickets. Luckily we were just in time for the next trip.

I look awful in this picture as was so tired but thought I'd better put at least one of me on here or DH'll be moaning!

It was really nice to just chill out for an hour, the kids loved it and we had crepes on board which they also loved (although I thought they smelt far better than they tasted!!)

Once we disembarked we wandered round underneath the tower and the children were happy just to look up the inside. I'm so glad we decided not to go up, the queue was horrendous, snaking all round the underneath of the tower! I'm glad we knew in advance as I'd have been really disappointed but as it was my legs were so tired I was happy just to be there!

We then took the walk back along the river and back up George V Avenue back to the train station. It wasn't the most value for money trip to Paris as we didn't stay long but we saw what we wanted to see with the children and they were happy! I can't wait until their older to spend much more time there. J'adore Paris!!

Cole had fallen asleep on the walk back and stayed asleep until we had to get off the train at Noisy le Grand (we hadn't realised it wasn't going all the way to Marne la Vallee!! luckily another passenger noticed us and warned us that it was the last stop!!) he then cried pretty much the whole way back as he'd been rudely awaken by us flying off the train!

It was around 3:30 when we got back so we headed to WDS for a late lunch
at Restaurant des Stars. I wasn't that keen on the food but it was nice enough and I loved Remy coming round the tables!! Although Skye told his chef friend that she didn't know who Remy was!! (she does the little minx but they haven't watched Ratatouille for ages!) He told her she must try the Ratatouille! which she did!

 

[ROBEAR84]

Day three ~ 5th June 2012
PART TWO

Once we finished our meal we wandered back out of the studios and DH said he was definitely too tired for Dreams that evening so Skye and I headed back to the hotel for a much needed rest before Dreams whilst he and Cole went to the disneyland park. Got to our room and thought DH had the keys so sat outside the room for 10 mins before finding them and the bottom of my bag. They didn't work though so after another 10 minutes of trying to get in we headed back to reception where there reactivated the keys. He asked if it had been near my mobile which it probably had at the bottom of my Mary Poppins bag (DHs words!!) oops!

We rested and Skye watched French Disney Junior until it was time to head back to the park to meet the boys in front of the castle. Unfortunately we must have missed them walking through t he village so DH walked most of the way back (they'd tried to intercept us enroute as thought we weren't leaving til 8 but we left early) before coming back to the castle to meet us. DH fault for not taking his mobile!!

Skye and I then said goodnight to DH and Cole and waited for Dreams to start. Yes! from 8:30! I really should have taken DH up on his offer of refreshments before he left!!
We sat on the bench in front of the castle until about 9:30 when we moved to the front by the pavement as Skye was worried she still wouldn't be able to see with people in front of her and I can't lift her onto my shoulders! It began to rain but luckily I'd taken DHs raincoat in my bag incase he changed his mind about dreams so we sat on that and waited for the show to begin!

Come 10:45 Skye was beginning to get bored, she had done so well and I wasn't expecting her to wait so well! thought we'd have been back on rides by 9! I told her she just needed to wait a little longer!!

And so the show began... Clochette?!!! Clochette?!!!
Being so close does distort your view slightly and we were too one side so couldn't see the other fountain at all but Skye adorded it!! She was so pleased that she could see properly and sang along with everything. The Rapunzel part was both of our favourites and I videoed it so we could watch it back - which she did 3 times before we even left DLP!!

I'm so glad we waited and watched from there. Unfortunately we got a little lost getting back to the hotel! what?! yes really!! The queues into the village were enormous so I thought I'd try to be clever and walk up round the cinema, I didn't realise there's no route in until the car entrance of the Newport Bay! Poor Skye was crying as she needed the loo desperately! we tried to find them in the Newport Bay but couldn't so practically ran the last bit along the lake! She did stop to look at the lighthouse flashing though! she loved that

We finally fell into bed at around 12:30. Cole was taking up an entire bed (he's so little that I just do't understand how he does it!!) so I didn't get to sleep until 2! but we did go to sleep with sweet disney dreams

 

[ROBEAR84]

Day four ~ Wednesday 6th June 2012
PART ONE

As we had VIP breakfast passes so no time restrictions we had decided to give EMH a miss this morning (for the first time ever!!) and slept in til 9:30 which was so needed!!

We ate in Hunters Grill again as Beaver Creek was already closed by the time we went down. After breakfast we walked straight to the studios where we were just in time for the Moteurs Action Stunt Show which Skye wasn't keen on (she got bored last time too!) but sat through for the sake of the boys!! Lightning McQueen was a welcome addition for Cole, however I thought that that part of the show definitely lacked something and was no where near as entertaining as the previous Herbie routine.

There weren't any upcoming english showings of the other shows and the few rides the children can go one had quite long waits so we took the obligatory 'Walt & Mickey' and 'trying on hats' photos and after a wander round the shops we headed back to the hotel for a swim.

We walked round to the pool to see where it was and we were told it wouldn't be open until 2pm which was fine as gave us 20 minutes to pop back to the room to get our things. Once we came back though they said it would now be 2:30! not sure why? perhaps they were waiting on staff or something?

We had a fantastic afternoon though. DH and I took it turns taking Skye down the flume but she was soon whizzing down by her self (although we still took our goes too!!) and Cole had one turn but was more content floating about on the floats there.

After our swim we popped back to shower and change and then headed back to DLP once again!

We went straight to the Agrabah cafe as the fun in the pool had made us all famished!

It was nice and the kids ate plenty but I wasn't quite as impressed as I was last time. This may be partly to do with us being out in the open rather than in the main restaurant as I found it much cosier in there but I also didn't like the starters this time. EVERYTHING had or tasted like olives and I can't stand them! I know there are going to be lots of dishes with them in in a restaurant like Agrabah but seriously there wasn't one thing I liked.

The mains and desserts were lovely though! I had a lamb kebab and moussaka which was as delicious as I remembered it.

Once we had finished our meal we decided we had enough time for a quick ride on Pirates so we walked over there. We walked right to the gates but then disaster! Something happened, I don't know whether it was technical or not but most of the CMs dashed into the tunnels I'm guessing to retrieve stuck people! We waited around 20 minutes but at 6:30 we decided we had to get to the parade start as we wanted to get a good view today.

We got over to the parade just in time to tag onto the end of the front line. I was surprised to see people pushing their little ones to the front, telling them to sit down and then walking off to wait behind the crowds though!! Skye was having a rather amusing conversation with a french girl though which mostly consisted of Skye giggling as the little girl spoke to her!

The parade started and about 2 minutes in it began to rain, not too heavy but it was difficult trying to photograph with my coat over my head and camera!! I missed most of the princess carriages as I was trying to cover the camera!

Cole was waving frantically to Buzz and Woody and Woody noticed and waved straight back to him. hurrah!! Cole was so happy!

 

[ROBEAR84]

Day four ~ Wednesday 6th June 2012
PART TWO

Sad that we are we got quite excited as we spotted the two british dancers that featured in the channel 5 programme a few months ago!

Skye and her little friend were shouting out for Minnie and I said look Skye there's Duffy too!

Dougy!!! she shouted! "no Skye, it's duffy" I replied... Buffy, Puffy.. she went through them all!! ... DH laughed when I told him and said he'd told Cole it was Billy bear!!!

Once the parade passed we headed straight to Small world. As we exited the boats the heavens well and truly opened! Crazy rain!! DH ran to get the buggy and we waited for a bit but it showed no sign of stopping so we made a run for it. I ran to a stall and bought Skye a Disney poncho which I really begrudged paying e7 for but she'd ripped holes in all the poundland ones so it wound up better value for money anyway! (still wouldn't buy them for us all though!) We walked up to PoC as we figured even if the queues were bad there at least it was all covered as all the fantasyland queues were backed out in the open. I got soaked feet as was wearing flip flops, once I'd got used to the freezing water it was rather nice sploshing through the puddles though and definitely soothed my sore feet!!

We went round PoC twice as since our afternoon in the pool when Skye had asked whether the PoC slides were smaller than the flume there (I may have fibbed a little!) She was sold on Pirates and wanted to go round and round! we literally had to prise her away!! We did have fun making silly faces for the camera though!

We then had two goes on Phantom Manor as Skye wanted to swap partners!! then somehow Chris managed to talk her into going on BTM with him!! (I may have bribed her with candy floss! - it's not good all this bribery is it?! ) she came off absolutely LOVING it!! and she was telling me how she couldn't wait to tell Grandad that she'd been on his favourite ride (DH and his family have been to Florida pretty much every other year since he was 12, he last went went he was 20 but we're hoping to go in 2014 with them!)

Her face on the picture is priceless! believe it or not she loved it though and can't wait to go on it again next time! ... she got her candy floss too!!

We then had two goes on Peter Pan and then wandered round to Buzz where we had just enough time for yet another battle before Dreams started!

We watched dreams from the path between Plaza Gardens and Discoveryland. It was deserted as most people try to cram into Main Street and we had a really good view. The only slight problem was that Cole didn't like the noise as the speakers were right behind us somewhere and it was super loud!! He wound up hiding under his blanket with his ears covered for most of it!

My pictures are rubbish as I filmed mostly on this evening but it gives you a rough idea of the view.

I was really sad that it was our last viewing of Dreams (for this trip at least!) especially as DH decided for all of us that we should make a run for it down the arcade before it finished. Grrr!!

The kids fell straight to sleep once we were back and me and DH figured we'd better back as had almost forgotten we needed to check out in the morning! Once that was done we fell into our beds for the last time

 

[ROBEAR84]

Day five ~ Thursday 7th June 2012

Waking up for our final morning was a bittersweet day. Although we honestly felt so worn out that I don't think we could have managed anymore, we really didn't want to go home!!

We got dressed, checked out, packed the car and then headed to our final breakfast, the CM when we entered said good morning Princess to Skye as she was finally wearing one of her princess dresses!! ... I'm still craving croissants and Nutella, think I may have to pop to the supermarket!! anyway...on we go...

We got to the parks early and it felt so sad on our final morning stroll up Main Street!

We had our final goes on Peter Pan, Tea cups, Small World and Buzz. We wanted to buy the photos from Buzz as still had 4 photo passes to use after buying the pack the previous night when we bought Skyes BTM photo (really should have bought the photo pack before!) so we decided we'd have to come back later for buzz pictures (stupidly didn't jot the numbers down of previous rides) and headed to the Studios for opening. We decided to give Salon Mickey a miss as wanted to spend every minute we could in the parks.

When we got there we had a quick look to see if the Studio Tram tour was open as it had been closed all week which disappointingly it wasn't and then wandered back to the front lot to queue for Minnie as we had been really unlucky with characters this trip and not met a single one!
DH decided to go sit down as he was feeling unwell and I queued up with the children. Cole was hilarious, ever since our halloween trip in 2010 when Minnie told (or signalled!) that she loved him in his Dumbo outfit, he has had a real soft spot for Minnie! He went all shy and giggly and hid behind Skye!

We then headed into the studios, DH following as best he could but he was feeling really rough!!

The children had a good shout into the Monsters Inc screamy things and then we headed down to wait for the english showing of Playhouse Disney. We waited by the entrance and then went to queue up but realised there were two queues. We'd joined the one closest to where we were waiting but then DH realised that the other one snaked all the way round up by Cinemagique! Awkward! We'd been waiting age a good 40 minutes but the poster boards had obscured the queues and we thought that they were for Cinemagique! Some people in the longer queue joined behind us as I don't think anyone had realised there were two lines and had just joined behind! I felt really bad as when we were going in it was clear a lot wouldn't get in. They closed the doors with 25 minutes til showtime still to go!

There was a distinct lack of english showings the whole time we were there. We really wasted loads of time in the studios as we were in and out of there alot as there'd be one english show and then nothing for hours. Considering the sheer amount of british visitors you'd have thought there'd be more english showings. Annoyingly we never saw Stitch Live as on our last morning I asked the CM by the wait times board when the next english showing would be and she said around 13:00. When we walked down to Playhouse disney they were letting in for an english showing (about 11am!) but there were only 8 seats left so we were too late. We'd have rather seen Stitch than Playhouse Disney too.

Playhouse Disney was good but it does seem so out of date now. Cole had no idea who Darby was!! and Skye kept asking why it wasn't Disney Junior!


After we left the show we decided to forgo Walts (our planned final dinner) and instead go to Cafe Mickey as the children really had missed out on the character interaction - Our lovely meet with Minnie proved that! -

We arrived at CM at around 12:30 and were seated immediately in the conservatory. Chip and Dale came thundering along almost immediately and were tickling Cole in my arms who was beside himself giggling! Unfortunately we hadn't even sat down let alone got the camera out so we missed out on photos there.

Skye was so so tired as shown here...

Once we'd sat down along came Goofy, Coles favourite character it seemed for this trip! DH cut Skye out of all the pictures! thankfully I took over the photography afterwards!

Then along came Minnie... and along came bashful Cole again! he offered her one of his chips but she said she was full already! she was brilliant!!!

Then along bounced Tigger who preceded to tickle Skye right of her chair into his lap! so funny!

Then the main mouse Mickey himself!! Cole tried to feed him too!!

Thankfully Chip and Dale returned for a photo!

The food was nice but the service was so slow!! One childs meal came out 10 minutes before the other and our starters and the children had finished their meals before our main meals arrived! We had to wait ages for our dessert, I actually had to ask if it was coming and mine was more trifle than tiramisu but I didn't want to take up any more time by saying anything by that point! It also took ages for them to sort our bill, although they did waive a childs meal for us - maybe as it took so long!!
It really wouldn't have mattered if it had not been our last day but by the time we left it was almost 3 o clock! 2 and a quarter hours!! we were aiming to leave by 4pm and still needed to go on Buzz and get our pirates pictures from the night before printed (luckily i'd jotted them down!) and do our shopping!!

Unfortunately the queue for Buzz, although stating 20 minutes was out into the pathways so we didn't want to risk it. We walked to PoC instead for one last ride and to get our pictures. Unfortunately it meant we had 2 photo passes unused but our friends are going next week so I've given them to them to put to good use instead.

We had about 20 minutes to grab the things we wanted to buy as we'd left our shopping until the last day on purpose. We had more money left than we thought we'd have thanks to our couple of free meals for Cole so it was actually a struggle to spend it in the time we had and we only had time to go to one shop!! ~ We managed ok in the end though! Skye got her Rapunzel doll she'd wanted for the whole trip (blooming thing's hair was matted by the time we got back to England!!) and picked up some other bits and pieces for Cole in addition to the pirate hat and sword we bought at PoC as he'd fallen asleep!!

The heavy rain had returned whilst we were in Cafe Mickey so I was soaking wet for the journey back but the clouds broke just as we were leaving - typical!! -so I just managed to get one photo of the castle with a blue sky!! but it looks like I've taken someone elses picture!!

It was a race to get back to the car and poor Skye was crying from poorly legs but we had no arms left to carry her!

After a crazy afternoon we were glad to be in the car but it was sad seeing DLP vanish from the rear view mirror as we headed off.

We had a rainbow behind us on the autoroute - literally!! it was as if some magic was trying to follow us home!

I wish it had!!! a disgusting experience in a layby toilets (flies everywhere in the mens and truckers cleaning their smalls in the ladies! barf!!), a nasty soggy 5e sandwich from the whsmith in the terminal as we'd run out of time to grab an EoS as intended and getting delayed and then moved onto the next train as the one we were supposed to be on was full meant our trip home was anything but magical!!!

We were glad to be back at the Ashford Premier Inn and crashed into bed with the memories of our lovely trip filling our dreams.

Heres one or two last pics of the children with their goodies (and some of ours!!) once we were home!

We really did have a wonderful trip despite the few little niggles. It's shame we didn't get more done as there were lots of rides closed for certain parts of the day which always seemed to be when we were there! and the lack of characters was a shame but it's just made me all the more determined to return in December!! Counting the days!!

Hope you enjoyed reading!

Ro xx

 

[DLPdaft]

I loved reading that ! a TR done at impressive speed, but, apart from your last day, it all seemed to go at a lovely easy pace.

You're very descriptive (I just laughed out loud at the ladies toilet en route escapade ).

 

[ROBEAR84]

I loved reading that ! a TR done at impressive speed, but, apart from your last day, it all seemed to go at a lovely easy pace.

You're very descriptive (I just laughed out loud at the ladies toilet en route escapade ).

thanks!! It was horrendous! He just gazed up at me. The only cubicle was occupied, god knows by who!! So I ran out and made DH take Skye in the men's - must to his disgust, he'd barely come out alive with Cole! Then scrubbed the kids with copious amounts of antibacterial gel!! I will take a potty in the car next time!! got to laugh haven't you!!

I started day 2 at about 10 this morning and have just finished' DH has been veged put in front of the football all day as he's still unwell with a stinking cold and the kids have been happy to have their toys back!

I'd really better finish the washing now and feed everyone though!

 

[rugrats]

Fab trip report! Thanks.

 

[JustJonathan]

Day two ~ Monday 4th June 2012

This is a very odd picture, mainly because when you took it - we're the window under the fully open one on the 5th floor (we were 4th floor down and in the middle, slightly open window).. curtains still drawn because we had a lay in each day!

Good trip report - We found that dumbo seemed to be manic every day we were there, so we used our VIP fastpass and settled for the flying carpets in the studio's instead... it seems strange to me that they can fastpass the carpets but not dumbo? - Though I must admit, I wish a few more attractions did have the fastpass feature... hopefully the new studios rides will have as well.

 

[mummybear]

Thanks for sharing your trip and photos with us (your children look adorable) it sounds like you all had a lovely and eventful time