The Painted Faces Halloween trip report days 1 and 2

[DLPdaft]

October 6th to October 9th 2010

The cast - me and DD(9) my constant DLP companion.

Day One 6th October

We were up and out of the travelodge Luton by around 4am (absolutely fine for a nights sleep before an early morning flight ), and 10 minutes drive later we had dropped off the car and were on our 5-minute journey to the airport.
Flight left on time at 6am, and an uneventful flight, short TGV journey, and a hop on to the Santa Fe shuttle later, we arrived at reception at about 9.30. By 9.50am, we'd got our park tickets, room key, GMFB voucher for Saturday morning, I'd added DD's name to the hotel room, dumped our cases in the luggage store, and were on the shuttle to the parks .

First stop was City Hall to make our dinner reservations, and by 10.15 we were on BTM . We got fastpasses to do it again, then wandered near the Cowboy Cookout, where there were facepainters out in force, so we both had our faces painted Halloween-style -

back to BTM with our fastpasses, then POTC (which was a walk-on every time we rode it this trip), then Peter Pans flight which we'd got fastpass for before we rode POTC. Its still only just after 12noon at this point, so we did teacups then found these 2 larking about near the shop at the Carousel -

Off for lunch at Toad Hall next, the restaurant was quiet and we didn't have to wait longer than about 5 minutes to be served and get our food. We ate in the conservatory bit of the restaurant, how come I've never noticed before that there are toilets between Toad Hall and the pathway to the Fantasyland railroad station ?? When we came out of Toad Hall, we met Ariel near the Festival stage building -

She was lovely, but I don't think she knew what to say after she'd asked my DD who her favourite princess was and she answered "Tiana" !

Speaking of Tiana - she was next as her scheduled meet n greet was due to start and so off we went to the bandstand to meet her. There was an adorable little boy in front of us who was matching Naveen in his posing .

It was getting very warm while we were waiting, and it only got warmer as the days went on.
Next up for us was Buzz Lazer Blast (again a walk-on at 1.30pm) then we thought we'd go see the Captain EO show.
Oh dear - now to be fair the actual 3D show in the theatre was okay, but the pre-show went on forever, I honestly nearly walked out it was so boring. Safe to say we won't be doing that again .

 

[mommy2ash]

great start elaine. your dd looks so like you!! love the face paint.

 

[DLPdaft]

Day One 6th October continued ...

On our way from Captain EO to Frontierland we caught the end of the Character Express where there were loads of great pumpkin men and ladies around -

We then made a beeline for Phantom Manor, where there were Villains aplenty -

DD was very excited about meeting Maleficent, but didn't want to go anywhere near the Hag (who was completely in character and scaring small children as well as a few adults!). Sherriff of Nottingham and Prince John were also out and about.

We were both beginning to flag a bit now after such an early morning, so we bought a cold drink and found a seat beside the Castle to watch the New Generation show at 3.45. After this, at around 4.15 we left the park and headed back to our room at the Santa Fe to chill for a bit and unpack.

After an hour or so we left the Santa Fe and went off to the Sequoia Lodge for dinner at the Beavers Creek Tavern. I've reviewed this in the restaurant thread, well worth a visit in my opinion . In the Redwood Bar afterwards I bought DD a cocktail shaker cocktail, which was very sweet (orange juice and bubblegum syrup) but nice all the same .

It was a dark still evening when we left the Sequoia Lodge, and I noticed while we were outside reception there that the soft music and birdsong makes the atmosphere lovely and peaceful . I also noticed when we were leaving the Santa Fe earlier that they play Cars music outside the reception block now (it was "our town" I heard and that song always gives me a bit of a lump in my throat).

Back at the Santa Fe, we're exhausted, so just time for showers and bed (but I remembered to set the room phone alarm for next morning ).

 

[mommy2ash]

i cant blame her for not wanting to meet the hag, she was really scary. she walked up to ash and cackled at her and frightened her silly. ashleigh said she isnt fun scary just scary scary lol

i think i will have to try beaver creek tavern at some stage. it sounds lovely.

great first day i cant wait for more

 

[DLPdaft]

lol Sonya Ash was right with the scary scary!

 

[mommy2ash]

lol Sonya Ash was right with the scary scary!

when she says it she reminds me of animagique not scary dark just dark dark

 

[DLPdaft]

Day Two, 7th October

Mickey woke us up, we got ready and onto the shuttle for the parks for 9am. First stop was Salon Mickey for breakfast - we were the only ones in there for a good 15 minutes or so .

When we left, we went to the Studios, where at 9.30 the turnstiles were open, and most of the rides were too (including Crush, Cars, Flying Carpets, and the Toy Story Playland rides ). We did the Slinky ride (very tame toddlers ride in my opinion) and took some photos, it was great wandering around and seeing Crush with no line at all and not even showing a 5-minute wait (this shot right up to 35 minutes at 10am!) -

DD looked at the Parachute Drop ride, but wanted time to think it over, as she thought it looked really high (she felt the same about RC racer, but I was quite happy about that as I really wasn't keen on going on it - the motion makes me feel sick). We raced onto Cars (ie skipped all the way through the pre-ride area and straight onto a car ) then shopped for a bit (we'd checked for Stitch Live, but an English language version wasn't starting until 11am today) then went to the main park, and were there by 10.30.

On our way to our first ride of the day, BTM, I spotted Sonya, Emma, and their 2 little princesses meeting Jack Skellington - those are 2 truly lovely little girls, and they were obviously having fun with Jack . It was great to meet them .
Got a fastpass for BTM, then off to see what the facepainters were up to. We found some right beside Woodys Roundup, it seemed busier for them today, so just DD had her face painted -

BTM then POTC for us, then we watched the 12.45 Halloween Villains showtime on the hub stage - great show, Dr Facillier is spookily good in this -

We had a piping hot lunch at the Bella Notte around 1.30, then as we were finishing we saw a lot of characters at the gates near IASW, so DD got some more autographs -

DD went off on the carousel then (no line at all at 2pm! - in fact it was weird really, as there did seem to be quite a lot of people in the parks, and the hub stage shows always looked to have quite a crowd, but there didn't seem to be many lines for the rides, or scrums around the characters ).

We explored upstairs in the Castle (and we found the snoring suit of armour )

 

[DLPdaft]

Day Two 7th October continued ....

From the Castle we waited for the Character Express - lots more photo ops with no scrumming at all really -

We did Nautilus next, a first for us both - I liked it, but DD wasn't impressed, she didn't like the area going into, or coming out of, the attraction (right enough it is dark and I can see her point) so she couldn't wait to get out of there and back into the sunshine!

Chilled out for a while in the Videopolis theatre then, watched old cartoons until it was time for the New Generation festival show at 3.45. We started off just before the show at the side of the stage where all the characters come from Fantasyland -

I do like this show much better than the Mickeys Magical Party one from last year . It was baking hot around the hub stage, no shade at all while watching the show, and as soon as it finished we walked around to that same side of the stage. Donald Duck saw DD's Angel facepaint and brought Angel over, which thrilled DD to bits -

 

[mommy2ash]

awww another great day elaine. it was so lovely to meet you and your dd too. i love your dds facepaint, ash would be so jealous. you got to meet so many characters that day, you werent kidding when you said you met loads lol

 

[first trip]

I'm loving your TR, looks like you and DD both had a fab time

 

[DLPdaft]

Day Two 7th October continued some more ....

After the show, we went off to POTC, then picked up a cold drink from the Bella Notte before settling in our spot nearby for the Once Upon a Dream parade at 5pm. There is no Halloween pre-parade this year, the Trick or Treat float is tagged on at the back of the parade with some Pumpkin dancers. While I liked it, I definitely prefer it when its 2 somewhat separate parades, and I'm looking forward to our next trip in March, when its not a "season" at DLP and I can see the parade stops again.

After the parade had passed, we waited 5 minutes to go on the Pinocchio ride, then window-shopped our way from the Snow White shop all the way down Main St and out of the park .

 

[DLPdaft]

Day Two 7th October the evening ....

We reached Cafe Mickey (had a reservation) at around 6.15 and were seated in about 5 minutes, upstairs. Loads more characters to meet -

Captain Hook and Chip n Dale were also there, but we just missed Chip n Dale as they were on birthday cake duty .

There was a family next to us with 3 kids, the youngest was probably about 3 and just soooo excited when the characters came to see him - it was enchanting to watch him . Stitch got down on the floor with him and was pretending to be his dog, fabulous stuff .

DD and I took some pics as we walked from Cafe Mickey just after 8pm through the Village back to the shuttle buses -

Back at the Santa Fe I picked up our shopping from earlier in the day at the gift shop, and by 9.30pm we were showered and ready for bed - planning on EMH tomorrow, and its MNSSHP tomorrow night !

 

[DLPdaft]

awww another great day elaine. it was so lovely to meet you and your dd too. i love your dds facepaint, ash would be so jealous. you got to meet so many characters that day, you werent kidding when you said you met loads lol

I know, like I said, I was quite surprised how scrum-free everything except the shows appeared to be .

I'm loving your TR, looks like you and DD both had a fab time

we did , and the good weather really surprised us, it was much warmer than I've experienced in our previous 2 early-October trips.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

Thanks for sharing - nice trip!!! Halloween looks like a very festive time to go. And what great photos you got!

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Looks like a bunch of fun!

 

[Ware Bears]

Two fabulous days so far I love the face painting and how nice to meet Sonya and Emma.

 

[kizzabel]

great TR so far, cant wait toot over and read the 2nd half.

there must always be a few DISers in DLP!! thats nice that ye met up. The face painting is fab. i really think the girls that do it are so talented.

great to hear the park wasnt manic. im planning a trip for the same dates next year with my lil man, it'll be his 1st trip so i dont want to bring him when the crowds are huge!

the halloween costumes and extra characters are brilliant... im getting all excited and nothings booked yet.

love that feeling you get when reading a TR

 

[DLPdaft]

thanks guys - Halloween season this year certainly was a fun character-packed experience for us .