Jordanfamily
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2003
- Messages
- 35
Ok, this is my first trip report, so sorry if it's either too long or too short. Anyway the cast is.
Me - 42 years old (ouch!)
Wife Denise also 42 (heh heh) I think we refer to her as DW here
Son Tom almost 12, DS?
Daughter Rebecca (Becky) 10 going on 19, and therefor DD
So here we go - Day 1
In order to continue our very own Disney decade, I persuaded my long suffering DW that we should try DLP at Halloween for the first time. So far we've done WDW in 2000, and DLP in December in 2001 and 2002, so we've done Christmas and wanted to go when it was bit warmer, which it wasn't, does it ever get above freezing in Paris?
So we were picked up by my mum and dad at about 6.30 on the morning of Sunday 26th October and travelled down the M1 to London. After spending some time enjoying a tour of the capital's road works we arrived at Waterloo Station for our first trip on Eurostar.
Previously we've driven down to DLP and stayed at Davey Crockett's Ranch but I didn't fancy the drive this time, and we wanted to stay in a hotel. I have to say Eurostar is brilliant. At least I think it is, having slept virtually the whole way I couldn't be sure.
So we arrived at Marne-La-Valee Chessy (DLP station) and made our way to the bus stop to catch our bus to the hotel. At this point I must thank my DW for packiing so lightly. Just 2 full suitcases and one sports bag packed to the rafters, how many pairs of shoes can one person wear in 5 days?
After about a 15 minute wait in Paris' Siberian climate the bus arrived and after about 1 and a half minutes dropped us off at the Hotel Cheyenne. Check in went smoothly and we were soon off to our room in he Jesse James building. Anyone still with me who hasn't seen the hotel, it's themed on a Hollywood Wild West cowboy town, and looks great, although a coat of paint on the buildings wouldn't go amiss.
The rooms though were clean, and looked to be in good upkeep. They're not that big, but the bunkbeds allowed for some extra space. the fact the hotel has bunks was one of the reasons we chose it. I can never understand why Disney insists on putting 2 double beds in most rooms, I would have thought most visitors are families, and to me bunk beds are far more satisfactory than trying to get the kids to share or more likely one parent and one child sharing.
After unpacking we made our way to Disneyland Park and had our first look at Spooky Street (Main Street USA) The christmas lights arches are up but are painted partly in orange, by the hoards of pumpkin head men on the street, there are also mock blobs of paint on the buildings, the benches and the pavement. It certainly gave main Street a new look and there are plenty of photo spots, quite why we needed to use every one of them for pictures of the little darlings is a question best directed at my DW.
After a look round it was almost time for the Halloween Parade. Although the floats were same one used time and time again, they were adorned with Disney Villains instead of Princesses and heros, and there were other smaller Halloween vehicles and characters. Plus the parade had its own music, so we felt enough had been done to give the impression of a new parade.
After the parade we became aware just how busy the park was, I've never seen DLP as busy as this with the queue board reporting 2 hour waits on Big Thunder Mountain, and 45 mins to an hour on others such as Space Mountain, Pirates etc.
We decided to take it easy and walked down the Discovery Arcade to the castle and explored upstairs where the story of Sleeping Beauty is told in a series of stained glass windows, tapestries and books. the castle is breathtaking and the detail is astonishing, we especially like watching the window that changes from a rose to a pair of doves.
After that it was down into the dungeons and a meeting with the Dragon, another superb example of Disney at its best, and for DS a chance to show how grown up he is now, having been terrified during earlier visits when he was about 6.
At this point we decided to retire and get some food in Disney Village before the masses followed, so it was over to Annettes' Diner, one of our favourites, for burgers and chips all round.
After that a walk through the Village round the lake past the Hotel New York and back to the Cheyenne for an early night.
One great thing about Disney Hotels is the beds, once you're in it's almost impossible to stay awake, so within minutes the cast of 4 were sound asleep looking forward to an early start the following morning.
Me - 42 years old (ouch!)
Wife Denise also 42 (heh heh) I think we refer to her as DW here
Son Tom almost 12, DS?
Daughter Rebecca (Becky) 10 going on 19, and therefor DD
So here we go - Day 1
In order to continue our very own Disney decade, I persuaded my long suffering DW that we should try DLP at Halloween for the first time. So far we've done WDW in 2000, and DLP in December in 2001 and 2002, so we've done Christmas and wanted to go when it was bit warmer, which it wasn't, does it ever get above freezing in Paris?
So we were picked up by my mum and dad at about 6.30 on the morning of Sunday 26th October and travelled down the M1 to London. After spending some time enjoying a tour of the capital's road works we arrived at Waterloo Station for our first trip on Eurostar.
Previously we've driven down to DLP and stayed at Davey Crockett's Ranch but I didn't fancy the drive this time, and we wanted to stay in a hotel. I have to say Eurostar is brilliant. At least I think it is, having slept virtually the whole way I couldn't be sure.
So we arrived at Marne-La-Valee Chessy (DLP station) and made our way to the bus stop to catch our bus to the hotel. At this point I must thank my DW for packiing so lightly. Just 2 full suitcases and one sports bag packed to the rafters, how many pairs of shoes can one person wear in 5 days?
After about a 15 minute wait in Paris' Siberian climate the bus arrived and after about 1 and a half minutes dropped us off at the Hotel Cheyenne. Check in went smoothly and we were soon off to our room in he Jesse James building. Anyone still with me who hasn't seen the hotel, it's themed on a Hollywood Wild West cowboy town, and looks great, although a coat of paint on the buildings wouldn't go amiss.
The rooms though were clean, and looked to be in good upkeep. They're not that big, but the bunkbeds allowed for some extra space. the fact the hotel has bunks was one of the reasons we chose it. I can never understand why Disney insists on putting 2 double beds in most rooms, I would have thought most visitors are families, and to me bunk beds are far more satisfactory than trying to get the kids to share or more likely one parent and one child sharing.
After unpacking we made our way to Disneyland Park and had our first look at Spooky Street (Main Street USA) The christmas lights arches are up but are painted partly in orange, by the hoards of pumpkin head men on the street, there are also mock blobs of paint on the buildings, the benches and the pavement. It certainly gave main Street a new look and there are plenty of photo spots, quite why we needed to use every one of them for pictures of the little darlings is a question best directed at my DW.
After a look round it was almost time for the Halloween Parade. Although the floats were same one used time and time again, they were adorned with Disney Villains instead of Princesses and heros, and there were other smaller Halloween vehicles and characters. Plus the parade had its own music, so we felt enough had been done to give the impression of a new parade.
After the parade we became aware just how busy the park was, I've never seen DLP as busy as this with the queue board reporting 2 hour waits on Big Thunder Mountain, and 45 mins to an hour on others such as Space Mountain, Pirates etc.
We decided to take it easy and walked down the Discovery Arcade to the castle and explored upstairs where the story of Sleeping Beauty is told in a series of stained glass windows, tapestries and books. the castle is breathtaking and the detail is astonishing, we especially like watching the window that changes from a rose to a pair of doves.
After that it was down into the dungeons and a meeting with the Dragon, another superb example of Disney at its best, and for DS a chance to show how grown up he is now, having been terrified during earlier visits when he was about 6.
At this point we decided to retire and get some food in Disney Village before the masses followed, so it was over to Annettes' Diner, one of our favourites, for burgers and chips all round.
After that a walk through the Village round the lake past the Hotel New York and back to the Cheyenne for an early night.
One great thing about Disney Hotels is the beds, once you're in it's almost impossible to stay awake, so within minutes the cast of 4 were sound asleep looking forward to an early start the following morning.
