The Magical Recovery Do-Over Trip!!!! Day 2 added...finally!

[Booknut]

Hi everyone

I haven't been on the dis that much over summer so i'll introduce myself and my family:

DH, Phil, 44 (or 30-14 as he likes to say), he loves Disney and is especially fond of Florida and WDW, wasn't that keen on DLP last November but is excited about this trip. Is a huge fan of Baloo, Tigger, Donald and Grumpy who he feels is his soulmate Here's a photo of Phil and Matilda taken this summer in Bournemouth:

DD, Matilda, 22 months when we go next week, she's a Mickey, Minnie and Donald fan, loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and loves to say 'og dog' translation: Hot Dog She is our little princess She makes the loveliest Snow White although she hasn't quite mastered the graceful sitting position yet

Me, Eloise, 36, love anything Disney, love planning, DIS'ing and currently am totally in love with Porcupine from Tigger and Pooh, how cute is she?!!! Am also a huge WDW fan but have a feeling this trip to DLP will be our best trip to ANY Disney park

I was just going to call this trip report the do-over trip because we really wanted to make up for our last trip. I think partly because of bitter cold and Matilda not really enjoying it (why would she, she was only 12 months and freezing most of the time!) and making unfair comparisons to WDW kinda ruined the trip for us and we are determined that this time we are going to just enjoy DLP and have a fabulous time sharing the magic we love with Matilda

The reason i've used the word 'recovery' is that for the last few months our lives have been very stressful. First we were very concerned about Matilda as she seemed to be regressing a bit and wasn't hitting some of her developmental milestones and seemed quite often to be in a world of her own. The fear of autism was just paralysing for us at first. We've been to see a developmental paediatrician, health visitors, had to endure the pure agonising pain of watching someone take blood from her little arm as she cried her heart out (they needed to check for any genetic abnormalities, thank goodness there weren't any) and speech and occupational therapists. Matilda bless her was just brilliant through most of this. And then at the end of July my sister Claudia got a chest infection, took some Tamiflu which reacted badly with her and ended up with a life threatening lung condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome. She came within hours of dying and had to be induced into a coma for weeks. It was so scary

So really the last few months have been a bit of mare and this is the reason I haven't been on the boards that much but the GREAT news is that Matilda seems to be improving quite drastrically, is babbling away like mad, has been saying mummy and daddy all week and although she will still require speech and occupational therapy for some of her sensory issues she is a happy little girl who does not seem to be autistic (its still early days though but we're hopeful!). And my sister pulled through being the tough fighter she is and although it will be months before she can walk again normally she is making progress each day.

Phew...sorry that was so long but I wanted to explain what's been going on and also what the title of my TR meant!

For us this trip is a magical celebration and a way to just relax and recover from what life has thrown at us over the last few months.

Now for the good stuff!

We're leaving for Ashford late afternoon on the 29th, staying at the Holiday Inn, got a great rate of £56 on hotels.com (plus money back from Quidco!). We're off on Eurostar the next morning and i've booked the Magical Express service so we can go straight to the parks!

We're staying 3 nights at the Hotel New York, got a great deal again on the 40% promotion. Originally we wanted to book the Sequoia because we love the theming of it but oddly enough Hotel New York came out only at another £30 or £40, can't remember the exact amount but not a huge difference so how could I say no??

The only meal i've booked us is Cafe Mickey for lunch on Friday 2 October. We aren't too sure how Matilda will deal with the characters up close so if we see she isn't that keen or is scared we will probably cancel this meal and leave it for next year. Matilda's at that age where sitting in a restaurant for over 10 minutes is boring and she wants to run around and explore so sit down meals are probably not going to work for us this time so i've been pouring over the menus of the counter service places - may even swing by McDonalds! Do any of you have any favourite counter-service places you can recommend?

I haven't gone too crazy planning our days, it will be easier to just be guided by Matilda and what she loves. I imagine we will do most of the shows and parades and we'll see how she copes with rides. As long as I get my ride on the carousel i'm a happy camper

Oh, almost forgot, I recently found out about the Starbucks in the Village, HOW HAPPY WAS I??!!!!!!!!! So every day i'll be walking into the parks with either a strong skinny cappuccino or a coffee frappuccino, Disney doesn't get much better than this

So that's it, will update from DLP from my phone if I can, no idea if they have wi-fi at the hotel, might bring our laptop if they do. Thanks for reading and i'm sorry it was so long!!!

 

[Verity Chambers]

Can't believe that your trip is nearly here, where has the time gone?? So hoping that you have a wonderful time: A Because you deseve it, B because you are my pal, I love ir so you MUST and C you can't be a true Disney freak like me without loving DLP

xxxx

 

[A Small World]

Sounds as though you really deserve his trip

There is wifi at the hotel but its not free and only in the public areas I think

There is however free wifi at McDonalds

We like the Market House Deli and Cowboy Cookout

 

[Verity Chambers]

PS would highly recommend cowboy cookout as well. x

 

[mommy2ash]

wow if anyone deserves to have a wonderful trip you do. i cant believe matilda is so big. am i thinking right that you were there for her birthday last year? i seem to remember pics of her crawling around the hotel room? i would love to stay at the hny. it looks lovely. we love toad hall. for 10 euro you get fish and chips (chunky ones) a drink and tomato soup. we have ate there on both our trips. ash loves the chicken nuggeets in caseys, she wouldnt eat the ones in annettes or the rainforest, dont know why lol.

 

[mummybear]

Hope you have a Magical Trip

We also highly recommend Cowboy Cookout. Also, Colonel Hathi's. We like the fact that you can get pasta here, and my 2 girls love it. They also do pizza and garlic bread. The great thing with here, is a kids meal fills me, so it's nice and cheap

 

[Booknut]

There is wifi at the hotel but its not free and only in the public areas I think. There is however free wifi at McDonalds

We like the Market House Deli and Cowboy Cookout

Not sure im going to want to lug around a laptop to the lobby! I'll leave it behind then, thanks for the tip and the counter-service recommendation

PS would highly recommend cowboy cookout as well. x

OK, we'll definitely go there

i cant believe matilda is so big. am i thinking right that you were there for her birthday last year? i seem to remember pics of her crawling around the hotel room?

Wow, you have a great memory! yes, she was still crawling around when we last went for her first birthday, you can't stop her now, she's a little Stitch!!

Hope you have a Magical Trip

thank you

And thanks for all your recommendations, keep them coming! Kids meals sound like a good idea. Matilda currently seems to enjoy pizza, pasta and soup the most plus anything sweet...how shocking

Does anyone know if the Starbucks in the Village does sandwiches and cakes like here in London?

Today I purchased some more Disney clothes for Tilda to wear, a cool Minnie Mouse t-shirt and a Daisy t-shirt from Asda, they had quite a few nice bits of disney clothing at great prices. Am so glad they sell online now as we don't have an Asda anywhere near us which is a shame.

 

[Verity Chambers]

will add "visit asda" on list of things to do when Eloise visits!

 

[Booknut]

will add "visit asda" on list of things to do when Eloise visits!

That's hilarious but not a bad idea, now that petting farms seem out of the question it sounds pretty good, can we get a coffee there?!!!

 

[Verity Chambers]

Or at the pub opposite!

Yes there is a nice big starbucks now in Disney Village, didn't go in and take a look though.

 

[Booknut]

Am trying not to panic but my childminder's daughter has chicken pox!!! I kept Matilda home today and we're now on 'chicken pox watch' waiting to see if Matilda has it or not. I wouldn't mind as its a lot easier to deal with at this age then later on (I had it at 17 and it was HORRIBLE!!). But just not this week!

She seems ok, at least our travel insurance company was cool about it and said we would be covered so that's one worry out of the way.

Fingers crossed she doesn't have chicken pox please, otherwise this PTR will be a very long one as it will probably go on until April!

 

[Verity Chambers]

Not long now!

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

Maltida looks so grown up now compared to your first trip, bless her.

I hope you all have a truly magical time.

Can't wait for the TR when you get back.

 

[scampbunny]

hiya
firstly i hope that the magic hits u when u arrive and more than makes up for last yr!!!!!!!!!!! i will also keep all crossed that mathilda has skipped the chicken pox!!!!!!!!!

re the autism, the signs are looking good for u, and she is very young to have even been considered for it - espec havin blood taken, poor lil one...... its good that shes babbling, as my ds didnt do that at 22m, in fact, its only very recently we are getting any communication from him (hes 45m now!!!). hope she keeps on improving and that everything works out, certainly dont wish autism on anyone, but its not as bad as u think (says she who is currently stressed bout life in general atm lol)

will keep hoping that its nice warm and dry for ur holiday, with blue skies and fab character interaction (and baloo for daddy )

look forward to ur report & lots of pics!!

 

[Mum to Belle]

Hope you have an amzing trip!

We've just got back and I'm missing my Disney magic!!! Your DD will love the Playhouse Disney Show - it's brilliant, and makes up for the fact that there is no Playhouse Disney channel in the hotel rooms!!

I agree that counter service is the way to go with little ones, they are just too excited to sit still for any length of time!!

Looking forward to your trip report!

 

[Booknut]

Not long now!

I know, i'm so excited and so RELIEVED that Matilda doesn't seem to have chickenpox (yet - am taking Calomine lotion just in case!). Will text you when we get there

Maltida looks so grown up now compared to your first trip, bless her.

I know! She definitely takes after her daddy, she's already 92cms which is pretty tall for a 22 month old!

re the autism, the signs are looking good for u, and she is very young to have even been considered for it - espec havin blood taken, poor lil one...... its good that shes babbling, as my ds didnt do that at 22m, in fact, its only very recently we are getting any communication from him (hes 45m now!!!). hope she keeps on improving and that everything works out, certainly dont wish autism on anyone, but its not as bad as u think (says she who is currently stressed bout life in general atm lol)

Thanks for that, I really appreciate it. We actually now think most of what has been going on with her is due to a sensory processing disorder, the occupational therapist says there are definitely sensory issues there and it was just blaringly obvious during her last session and it explains a lot of her fears and odd behaviours. But she's a lovely happy little girl and we are very lucky to be her parents

Looking forward to your trip report!

Thanks, I loved reading yours, hope we also have a great time

We're off this afternoon to Ashford and then off tomorrow morning, see you all when we get back!!!

 

[Booknut]

Sorry for the delay in getting this out, i'm just terrible at doing timely trip reports!

I have my notes that I took and am all ready to get started on this, sorry if the title is misleading, will be adding days 0 and 1 tonight or tomorrow. Am having issues with photobucket, anyone else getting virus warnings off their website?

We had a marvellous time on our trip, so different from the first trip and it really was a magical time for all of us and I can't wait to go back!! We had a few moments of pixie dust, a couple of slight downer moments and one downright icky moment but all in all it was brilliant and we took some great photos, will try to post a few throughout my trip report.

Thanks for sticking by and I hope you guys like the TR!!

 

[Booknut]

As its my very good friend Verity's birthday today - Happy Birthday!!!! - I thought i'd make the effort to post the start of my trippie which i've been promising for ages! Will try to add some photos later, haven't got that many uploaded onto photobucket yet.

Travel day:

We set off around 4pm on Tuesday afternoon for Ashford. Our suitcase was stuffed to the gills, you could not have packed a paperclip in there! We thought bringing only one suitcase was a good idea and we brought our 'long-haul' gigantic suitcase which has seen better days but still did the job

We got to Ashford 90 minutes later and immediately got lost. We don't have a Sat Nav, I'm the Sat Nav and I'm rubbish at it sometimes so we ended up driving around Ashford until I just rang the hotel (the Holiday Inn) and asked for a bit of help. We finally arrived and went to our room. The hotel feels a bit like a hamster maze, we kept going left then right then left again, one more right and then we were in the section of our room.

The room was nice and very spacious. They didn't set up a cot like I had requested but had set up 2 extra single beds, one for our suitcase (so kind of them lol!) and one from the sofa. The sofa had a trundle bed underneath so Phil pulled that out and we requested 4 extra pillows which we used on the trundle bed and Matilda had her first night in a grown up bed. She slid off the bed around 4.30am, I was worried about her so I kinda slept with one eye open and watched as she slid down the bed like she was on a slide, it was so cute. She landed on her bum and was sleeping sitting upright I gently picked her up and put her back in bed and she slept happily until 7.30am when we finally had to wake her. I think she will do well when we move her to her junior bed this Christmas.

Quick photo of the beds, didn't take one of the made up sofa but there was heaps of space in the room:

The night before we had dinner in the bar of the hotel, it was pretty good, Phil had a BLT sandwich, I had one of the nicest steak and onion baguettes ever, so delicious! Matilda had a kids pizza – well, two whole bites, the child does not have my appetite! We went back to the room and watched a bit of telly before turning out the lights and whispering for a while in the dark about Disneyland and the rides we wanted to do

Day 1
Next morning we hurried out of the hotel - breakfast was a bit pricey so we drove to the McDonalds and got breakfast there. Besides, who can resist a Bacon and Egg McMuffin, it’s the perfect meal ;-)

We then drove back to the Eurostar terminal around 9.15am, couldn't believe how straightforward and easy it was. Parked in the main multi-storey parking lot on the 5th floor, got our ticket and went inside, they were checking people in already, so we went through security and OF COURSE they wanted to see in our bag because 'it was so busy'. Sigh. Of course it was busy, do you have any idea what its like to travel with a toddler?!!!! Never mind, they rifled through our personal belongings and somehow managed to put everything back where it was and off we went feeling duly chastised for over-packing. LOL! We then went to the Disney desk to check in and get our tickets and tags for the suitcase. Matilda got a small bag with a puzzle and crayons in it, she didn't use any of it but it was nice to have

About 5 minutes later we were allowed to go down and get seated on the train. How easy was this?!!!! We were lucky in that no one sat with us so we had all 4 seats to ourselves. We were also in the 'mini-carriage' with only 16 seats at the end of the carriage so we could let Matilda run back and forth and were also near to the changing room and loo so all in all I was incredibly impressed with Eurostar. Matilda was too, for the first 15 minutes. Then she succumbed to the gentle humming…

In no time at all we seemed to be there, it was so cool seeing the castle and Space Mountain from the train, I was getting so excited now! We quickly dropped off our suitcase with Disney Express and hightailed it to the park.

I love seeing that gorgeous pink palace

Yet again, Matilda was asleep when we walked in and down Main Street…if you read my trip report last year you'll know that she was also asleep her first time ever in the Magic Kingdom. Never mind, we were awake and loving the hot weather. It was so sunny and warm, felt a bit like we do when we're in Florida. We caught a bit of Mary Poppins and Burt doing their little song and dance which was brilliant and we headed up Main Street for Fantasyland.

We decided to buy Matilda a balloon of Minnie Mouse for when she woke up, they are so big and lovely

As you can see from this photo she LOVED IT

Matilda has been such a fussy eater lately and has been eating very little which is of course quite upsetting for any parent but she seems to like pizza so we walked to Pizzeria Bella Notte and I ordered us some lunch. We shared a Pizza meal with a large cheese pizza, salad and an ice cream and drink plus a kids meal of pasta, milk and a fromage frais. It was all delicious and plenty of food for all of us. Matilda loved her milk LOL!

After we'd eaten we felt up to doing a few rides so we walked over to the Carousel and then to It's a Small World which Matilda adored

First time on IASW

We wanted to do Alice's Labyrinth but it was closed as was the Contes des Pays de Fees, only open from 11am to 3pm and it was now after 3 Never mind.

We decided to try Frontierland instead.

I love Frontierland, its probably my favourite land, I love the theming of it and although I desperately miss my Splash Mountain its still a beautiful place for me We decided to take a chance and ride Phantom Manor with Matilda. We had no idea how she would react to a dark scary ride but we figured she's too young to be scared – or at least that was our rationale!

She didn't seem to enjoy it very much but she didn't cry or look upset or scared so we thought that was a success The ride is definitely a bit creepier than its Florida counterpart, I loved it. Phil wasn't as keen.

We walked around Frontierland for a bit, then headed for Hakuna Matata for an afternoon snack and Mickey Brioche. Matilda decided to pitch a fit and start crying and kicking and generally acting like a very angry octopus with legs and arms all over the place. This lasted a few minutes and was tremendous fun! LOL!

We then walked over to Adventureland and decided to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Again, we hesitated because of the dark and the drops but wow, the ride was so much fun! It's much better than the one in Florida and Matilda LOVED it! She was clapping and swinging her legs to the music, it was so much fun, we knew we'd have to go again! I was trying to not spend much and didnt buy the photo of us on POC but I regret it very much now as this photo is rubbish

After doing the rides we decided to walk over to our hotel and finally get to see our room. We checked in, Goofy was in the lobby and nobody was there with him so he spent a lot of time with Phil and Matilda. At one point, as I was checking in, he came up behind me and put his arm on my shoulder, I nearly screamed as he scared the heck out of me!!! LOL!

Now our room was the only thing that disappointed me a little bit, it was sooooooooooooooo far away from the lift/lobby, at least a 5 minute walk which after a long day in the parks with a tired toddler was a bit hard. To be fair though I rang from the room to see if we could get another room and they did ring back 10 minutes later to say they could move us but by then Phil and Matilda were happy and comfortable so we decided to stick with our room. It was a lovely spacious room – large beds although I didn't think they were as comfortable as the beds at the Santa Fe (but I like a hard bed and these were kinda bouncy). The playpen/cot was positively hard as a rock, we had to pad it with the covers from the beds so Matilda could get comfortable.

We had stopped in the Village to get some dinner at the New York sandwiches place. We got a ham and cheese panini with fries, a chicken tenders with fries and a coke, came to around 16 euros with my discount. We also stopped and got Frappuccino's from Starbucks as it was so hot and we really wanted something to cool us down. We didn't know what to feed Matilda as she's not keen on chips and is a bit picky so we decided to order room service for her. It was 13 euros and we ordered the spaghetti Bolognese for her. Well this turned out to be the best thing during the trip, room service was very affordable for what it was and what you got. They sent up a gigantic portion of spaghetti Bolognese with 2 rolls and a mini baguette, butter, 4 petit filous for dessert, a drink, some milk for her bottle later and a free toy (some Disney movie cards). All for 13 euros! Here's a photo for you foodies (her juice, milk and desserts are off the tray as is one of the buns which Phil ate and pronounced was yummy):

After having our dinner and unpacking the suitcase we settled Matilda in and once she had fallen asleep we read for a bit and talked about our day tomorrow. We were actually quite thirsty and neither of us could convince the other to go downstairs to get a drink so we ended up doing something very foolish...we opened the mini-bar. Phil had 2 beers and I had a bottle of water and a can of Nestea iced tea...the grand total was... 21 euros

We couldn't wait to get into the parks early morning!!! We probably wouldn't have been in such a rush had we known what was going to happen the next day… ;-)

 

[CRITCHK]

Enjoying your TR so far. Looking forward to the next bit.

Did you stay at the Travelodge at Ashford?

 

[Verity Chambers]

Thank you Eloise, very honoured!!!!

Really enjoyed the start of our reports, it sounds like you had a really lovely time on your first day. The room service looks great! I have to agree with you on how easy the eurostar is and sooooo relaxing! Any photos of the hotel? xxx