Trip report ~ 10-14 Sept

[milomummy]

Well, as promised, my full report. Hope it isn't too boring!

Cast...Myself, 29 and fan of all things Disney, DH 33 and not too sure, DS, almost 4 and loves Disney films (esp Toy Story!)


We actually left our home in Northern Germany on the Sunday afternoon, hoping to do the bulk of the journey then so we weren't too tired on the first day. This worked pretty well, thank goodness for portable DVD players I say, as DS was happy watching his films in the back. Our overnight stop off in Liege, Belgium was a bit dodgy...I know why it was only €43 now, but it was a place to rest and recharge so that was all ok really!

The drive from the stop off was great, traffic was minimal, and the sun was shining. Sally (our Sat Nav) took us through some very picturesque villages en route to Disney which was nice. And then, there we saw it...the Panoramigique Balloon bobbing in the sky. Excitement levels were not just through the roof, they were through the clouds! Finding our way into the cocplex and our hotel was easy as it was all signposted very clearly. Parked up in the Santa Fe reception car park, and filled in all of the paperwork, couldn't check in properly as it was only 1100, but the staff were all very friendly, gave us our passes, showed where left luggage was (didn't bother unpacking the car so didn't need it but still nice to be shown!). A quick loo stop for me (weak bladdered person!) and a shop stop to buy an autograph book and pen, got our first autograph from Pluto who was in the hotel foyer, and we were on the bus to the village.

We headed straight to Annettes as me and dh hadn't eaten and were pleading starvation by this point, the food was quick, hot and good! It was almost empty so we had chance to take stock and decided to go to the Studios first as we had promised ds that we would see Cars so that is where we went next. Once through the turnstiles, we saw Minnie by the limousine and there was virtually no queue so off dh and ds went whilst I got a park plan and tried to get my bearings. One autograph and photo later, we headed in and went straight to Cars. The wait was posted at 20 minutes so we joined the queue, the queue area is great and the attention to detail was captivating, ds did start to get a bit fidgety as the queue was more like 40 minutes....everyone was literally standing on top of each other in the queue which got me all flustered as I am very particular about my personal space. Hence, I found myself quite flustered for most of our trip as the 'space invaders' were everywhere!

Cars was a nice ride, I think it's a real shame that the cars aren't ones from the film, although I can understand why they aren't...with the entire area being so perfect, they just looked a bit out of place I guess. DS loved this ride and squealed throughout. I like how they move from platform to platform, it made it different from any other 'teacup' type ride. I was also surprised as to how fast it went!

We left here and went to where Luigi and Guido were....sad to see children clambering all over them, and parents laughing about it. Took Ds's photo with them and then wandered over to Flying Carpets. This was a walk on and we did it twice over, again, ds loved it. Then the Cinema Parade started so we stood by Carpets to watch it. DS was thrilled as Jessie high fived him, he was so happy bless him! I loved the little touches to the parade, Cruella had 'attitude' and all of the performers were true to their character, it was full of energy and a joy to watch!

After the parade me and dh took turns on Rock N Roller coaster. I was pretty surprised he loved it actually as he is usually a bit of a wimp with rides. I liked it too, it was different to anything I have been on before.

At some point, I can't remember when (blimey my memory is shot to pieces!), we popped back to the hotel to check in properly, this was very swift and pleasant, we were slightly disappointed with the size and shabbiness of our room but figured for a 2* we couldn't have expected too much!

Then we went to the Park. It was very special walking in and seeing Main Street with the Castle at the end. I can't remember what order we did things in but will list them in a second, we also collected our EMH wristbands from under the train station at 5pm:

Buzz..all of us went, it was a 10 minute wait, me and dh loved it but DS was scared of Zurg (!) so I had to hide his eyes whilst I played it, hence my terrible score!
Pirates of the Carribean...all of us went, DS was a bit afraid of the queue area (15 minutes), it was pretty dark in there! The ride was 'ok'.....I can totally appreciate the scenery and effects which were fantastic but the 'ride' itself wasn't as thrilling as I expected.
Indiana Jones....Me and dh took turns whilst ds was asleep. I loved it, found it a bit intense at times and got my head thrown about quite a bit. Dh cracked his jaw off the harness at one point and was in quite a bit of pain, so whilst we both loved it, we didn't ride it again as it was quite rough!
It's a small world....we all loved this one, and we are STILL humming the tune away! No wait for this.
Big Thunder Mountain...Dh did this alone as ds was asleep and the queue was fairly big. He didn't find it particularly thrilling.

The EMH kicked in but the park was still heaving, so after a while we sacked it and went out to the village to find some food. We ended up going into Billy Bobs, we didnt realise how much it was for the buffet and were horrified when the bill arrived...€75 for 2 adult buffets, one child buffet (for a child who literally ate nothing!), 4 cokes and an apple juice. DH made the most of his and had 3 shots at the food. I had 1 go as there wasn't much for a non meat eater, just lots of 'sides' like pasta, rice and stuff. DS had literally nothing and I was disgusted at the fact that the buffet price is for under 12's...surely they should have a seperate price for under 5's? No way is my 3 year ld going to eat €12 worth of food, or the same amount as an 11 year old. The worst thing is, the food wasn't even that good, it was pretty mediocre. Ah well, lesson learned! On the way out ds had a little boogy on the dance floor and then we headed back to our room, tired from the journey and me feeling grumpy cos of the huge bill for the evening's food.

I peeled back the coverlet on our bed and was disgusted to find that the throw had a number of stains on the underneath, luckily there was a clean duvet underneath the throw that we slept under. I was too tired to care by then!

 

[milomummy]

Day 2, and ds awoke at the crack of dawn as usual, oh how I long for a lie in!
Off we went to the Santa Fe restaurant for our breakfast. Maybe we were lucky because there was none of the 'scrum' that people have spoken of, although we were at the first sitting! Standard food, but plenty of it. Goofy was in the hotel lobby so we added his signature to the book. We decided to take a walk to the parks today, it was a very enjoyable walk and we chuckled away to ourselves at people who were running to get in. It's not like the parks are gonna run off is it?
We wandered around the village for a while and I spotted Disney crocs which I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED, alas, they had none in my size, so I had to stick to my bog standard boring black ones. I had hoped to at least find some disney jewels to liven mine up, but nope! Ah well. I was very happy to be in my crocs though, as so many people were hobbling around in their flip flops or sandals, I smugly strolled by in my comfy-but-ugly shoes It was a lovely sunny day again today

We entered the park and headed straight for Casey's Corner to meet Mickey. The queue was short, we waited about 10 minutes and ds was thrilled with meeting Mickey (so was I) and we actually bought the official photo as it was great.

The park seemed very quiet today, I like it A LOT! Again, I don't remember which order we did the rides in but this is what we done today:

Orbitron, wait was around half an hour but ds loved it.
Alice's curious labyrinth (loved the water jumping overhead, fab!)
Tea cups..walk on, ds's fave
Pinocchio, walk on ds was very scared. Some parts were a bit 'dark' and scary I felt for a kids ride.
Space mountain...me twice in a row and dh once (no queues at all). This had to be my favourite, although the queue area was very dark and I felt rather disorientated, the ride was just, WOW! My favourite bit was going through the tunnel with the red lights all around.
Star Tours..dh did this alone and wasn't overly impressed but liked the C3PO in the queue.
Peter Pan....DS was ok to start with then got scared, again, quite dark for a kids ride.
Carousel....just like any other carousel really!
Disney Railroad
Pochahontas play area
Saw the parade from Main Street which was fab.

We grabbed a lunch in Fantasyland which was ok, nothing special but we had Buffalo Bill's to look forward to in the evening so weren't too bothered by lunch really.

We had enquired at City Hall as to where we would find Woody and were told that he would be at the Cowboy Cookout between 3.30 and 4 and then 4.30 til 5 but lo and behold he didn't turn up. Luckily DS was happy to play in the pochahontas play area.

We had an excellent time in Buffalo Bill's that evening, although DS was a bit miserable throughout which is a shame as we thought he'd love it. The food was all ok, I had the veggie option which was edible! Started with a veggie chilli and then had a dish with loads of veggies and some cheesey pasta on top. I didn't like eating in the dark though, like to see what I am eating. They were quick to come wth top ups of drink and it was just a great night all round. They really put their all into the performance which must be physically exhausting.

Another busy day over and done with, very tired and crept into bed again. The room was really hot and I wanted to open a window, but there was no lock on it, it just opened wide and I was a bit worried about my son leaning out and falling from the first floor so kept it closed but the fan was good enough to keep us cool.

 

[milomummy]

So, day 3 was on us (Wednesday)

Today was our first GMF Breakfast, we were told to be at the gates for 8.15, so off we toddled, only to be told once we arrived that actually, the time was wrong and it was 9! Hmmph, grumpy and hungry and now feeling like a sad sack for being in the queue to get in (after laughing at people running to get in yesterday!). DH wandered over to the Relay shop to buy a paper and some cough sweets and we waited patiently, until about 8.50 when a group of people decided that queueing wasn't their scene and they just pushed right in to the front of the queue causing everyone to surge forwards. I wasn't expecting it at all as was blissfully reading my paper so was a bit barged about. I should have known then that today was going to be 'one of those days'.
It was lovely being one of the very first people into the park, it looked so fresh and clean, and we slowly walked along Main Street taking note of all of the details that are so often overlooked as people ran (yes RAN) to get to breakfast ahead of us. After we ate, we noticed that Dumbo was flying (albeit empty) so we went over and stood by it, the operator asked if we wanted a go so on we got and had 3 turns in a row all by ourselves which was fabulous. Went on the teacups twice too, although DH spun them too fast and made himself feel a bit sick
DH had a shave booked at Dapper Dan's for 1000 so off we trotted, it was weird because people were at the window gawping in and taking pictures of him having a shave. One thing that did annoy me was the fact that me and my family are gonna be in so many people's photos despite the fact that we did our best to stop if we saw pics being taken etc......Saw the Alphabet you are parade which was nice. As soon as any music came on ds got his groove on and it was lovely watching him!
After his shave we went on Casey Jnr which ds loved and then we grabbed some lunch in Bella Pizzeria...we all shared a pizza and garlic bread and had drinks. Saw a monkey (Singe) not too sure of what he was from but he signed the book anyway!
We watched the character express and waited patiently for Buzz to come off, OH MY GOODNESS, what a crush. It was just crazy and people were barging us from all angles, all I wanted was one picture. We were just about to give up when Buzz pushed the crowds back and beckoned our son forward, he signed his book and made people move so I could get a pic, thank you SO much Buzz!!! Smee did the same, pushed people away to get to ds. I was in a bit of a state after that as I couldn't believe the distinct lack of manners and respect for others being displayed. We decided to head on over to the Studios in the hope that it would be quieter...Wrong!

Studios entrance was great, Pluto and Goofy were dancing around and ds joined in so he was happy. Tac was also there and we got lots of interaction which was lovely. Then we went through the shops bit and it was heaving. I felt really claustrophobic and actually stopped stock still and shouted out 'will you just stop pushing me' to a group of girls behind me. I'm the wrongside of 15 stone, stand 5'8 tall yet was being pushed and shoved all over and I didn't like it. The girls behind all started laughing but soon stopped as I turned to them with pure anger in my eyes, they quickly scampered away. We saw Mickey again, and Ratatouille, then found where Donald, Daisy and Uncle Scrooge were and waited for them to get round to us. But, no, some bloke decided he just HAD to push,push, push away at us. DS was in front of us getting squashed and this guy was pushing away and in the end, hubby turned round and shoved him really hard back. I was a bit shocked as hubby is very mild mannered and I really thought he was going to hit him, funnily enough he scarpered and we got the autograph but it really upset me how so many people were happy to barge and push when small kids are there. Daisy had few people round so ds went and asked her to sign which she did, but scrooge was busy and ds refused to go incase the people squashed him (poor little dude).

DH wanted to do rnr again, so we headed that way and saw Cruella d'Evil who was just strutting around, ds went and asked her to ign his book and got fab interaction, she was asking him about his dog and wanted to know all sorts of things, ds was getting a bit worried what she planned so he ran off as soon as she signed, shouting thanks over his shoulder lol!

We went back to the Park after RNR and got our wristbands for EMH, pottered around, I did space mountain, dh did phantom manor, we then went back to Cowboy Cookout to stake out for Woody and Jessie, we weren't disappointed this time Out they came, and one little boy's dream came true, he was overawed and just looked up at them. He had pics with them both seperately then I asked the CM with them if he could have one with them together so we did that too. Ds looked up at Woody and shouted 'yeehaaaaaaa cowboy' and Woody was interacting with him. It was the absolute highlight of the trip undoubtably.

Wandered over to Adventure Isle and ds had a good play there and then went to the castle to watch Candleabration which was really lovely even though we didn't see the castle lighting up. We went on Buzz in EMH but again, too many people and too few rides open so we jacked in the EMH and left to look for food. Ended up in Mcdonalds, worst service of the entire holiday, it was just awful. Vowed not to return there in a hurry!

Walked back to the hotel, pottered around in the shop for a bit then back to the hotel.

 

[milomummy]

Day 4, Thursday

Our second GMF breakfast and we arrived at the gates for about 0845. Being one of the first in and watching the park 'wake up' is very special, I felt quite honoured. We were one of the first in again at breakfast (no running involved, just strolling!) and after that we had 3 turns on Dumbo without getting off, and one turn on the carousel. I decided to go and line up to see the princesses at about 0950, nobody else was there, I sat all by myself watching the people standing at the rope chomping at the bit to get in to where I was happily chilling out. I stood up and walked over to the front of the queue and seconds later the rope dropped. Well, I've never seen anything like it, people charged in, leaping over things, running like mad dragging their kids behind them whilst I looked on in amusement. Ds saw Cinderella and Prince Charming and they very kindly signed twice so he could give their signatures to his girlfriend (how sweet is that!), they were really lovely and didn't treat it like a conveyor belt, they both spoke to him and cuddled up with him, very lovely!
We left here and walked around the castle, it's beautiful inside (and out) and the attention to detail is stunning. We then went on Snow White which utterly terrified ds so much that he ended up almost inside me! We wandered back to Main Street and saw large crowds, quite a few characters were out but the scrums round them were a total no go, so no signatures here for us. We went out to the Studios and ds had a little dance around with Chip, Dale, Goofy and Pluto.
We went straight in to Animagique which was amazing, I loved it so much, and am so glad we decided to go to it. DH wanted to go on Armageddon so off he went whilst me and Ds queued for Sully. Got close to the front of the queue and then Sully had to go so me and ds just found a shaded spot to sit and people watch til dh came back. He wasn't impressed with Amrageddon and said that there was no way kids should have been allowed on it as he felt it was too adult for them.
We went on the Tram Tour which was ok, I wasn't thrilled by it but I do appreciate the effects and the work that goes into them. Probably didn't help that we had a very loud running commentry from the people behind us.

We decided that we had seen and done all we wanted to in the Studios so headed back to the park. Had lunch in the Market St Deli, I had a grilled veg sandwich which was lovely, ds had cheese and ham toasty and dh had a chicken and bacon baguette. We watched the character express from our table then wandered around trying to find something with small or no queue, to no avail. So, off we went to watch Lion King, WOW! This was just great, and now we would really like to go to the West End to watch it.
We walked into Fantasyland and sat opposite Bella Pizzeria in the shade, enjoying an ice cream, then watched the parade from here. I can't recommend it enough, the crowds were minimal, and you got to see the princesses and their princes dancing in the street. Fantasyland was heaving after the parade so we went out of there. DS was playing in Pochahontas again and I went on BTM. It was 'ok', but I wasn't amazed by it. Although I loved the attention to detail in the queue area.

We went to the Village as our reservation at Cafe Mickey was 1830. We arrived early and were seated upstairs overlooking the lake, had fantastic character interaction for ages as it was very quiet to begin with. Ds was dancing with Genie and pluto and goofy and it was just great from start to finish. Sadly, dh's food was awful, but they were great about it and did knock all of our drinks off the bill. And at the end of the day, it was more about the characters than the food I suppose!

We meandered around the village afterwards then walked back to the hotel and chilled. Very tired!

 

[disneyangel]

I'm glad DS got to meet his heroes

We really liked Car's too ! It is much more impressive as a ride than it looks and the queuing area is really well done.

The queueing or lack of it is pretty frustrating sometimes !

 

[milomummy]

Last day, Friday.

I hate to say it but by now I was feeling a bit fed up with all of the rudeness, bargingm etc and was ready to get up and leave for home, but couldn't deny ds one last morning so off we went again, after packing up the car and checking out, we arrived later than most for breakfast but I went in and got ours whilst dh took ds on dumbo. We sat outside and ate it then headed over to discoveryland as ds was desperate to go on orbitron again. So, we walked past the princess stage and I was really tempted to just saunter over and be first in line just to watch the faces of those straining at the rope, but I managed to resist my mean impulses and we walked over to orbitron. We were first on and had 3 rides in a row without getting off and ds was happy with that. We then walked back down main street hoping to catch a few last autographs but none to be found, so we just left, got in the car, and came home!

The drive home was pretty stressful, leaving DLP at 1100 and arriving back in Northern Germany at 2145.

On the way home, dh and I were discssing our time there and the fact that whilst we did enjoy ourselves, we wouldn't be rushing to go back in the next couple of years.

Some of our observations:
The character express scrums were hideous, as were others around the park. The organised meets were well mannered but take away that queue and bam, it's hell. Why don't they do either more organised meets or a 'ticket' system like they do at supermarket deli's...have each character in a booth and go along to each when your number is shown, taking away that awful rush. Surely it would be safer for the characters as well as guests to do this?

The toilets....were ok in the mornings but by the afternoons they were a bit grim. Here in Germany a lot of 'public' loos are maintained by a member of staff who clean it regularly and charge a small fee (usually loose change) to use the loos. I would certainly be happy to pay 20 cents to use a good clean toilet. Being weak bladdered, I certainly used literally every loo there!

The shops.....they all sold literally the same things so if you had seen one shop, you'd seen them all. And there were LOTS of shops! I would rather have had 'themed' shops.

On the positive side of things, the parks were beautifully maintained, no litter, (aside from ignorant smoking butts, grrrr) there were always people sweeping up. No bins were overflowing, all CM's were smiling and seemed to love their jobs (who wouldn't love working there!). It was lovely for those things, and of course, all of the disney details were amazing.

Anyways, I hope you have managed to read this far, and if you havem well done! As I said, we did enjoy it, just not as much as we had hoped.

 

[kevankiki]

Great trip report, you certainly packed a lot in to a few days!

I keep reading about the scrums for autographs and I am glad that I'm not visiting DLRP with young children. We managed to get all our autographs from DL California back in 1998 and 2000

I did get to meet my hero Chicken Little this year, though I felt like I was fighting for a photograph myself (it's almost like adults aren't entitled to one!), so I really do feel for the little ones.

 

[Mrs Stonfiesta]

i think we had the exact same holiday, we seem to have been in the same places at the same time!!! We left from the UK on Mon, got to Disney at about lunch and headed over to the Studios, my DP also commented on the children crawling all over the cars and that the parents seemed to be encouraging it!!! .

We were also disapointed with the Santa Fe, the room was tidy but very grubby, the over cover on both our beds were also dirty on the inside and out. We also came back early on the thursday to have a break as we had gotten a little sun burnt in the morning to find the beds stripped and the mattresses out in the hall and doors in the corridor left open and no cleaner anywhere!!!! Will def not be staying there again! Also the room was no smoking but people where smoking at the end of the corridor with the doors open and needless to say the smoke kept coming into the room. As non smokers we thought the smell was really stong.

 

[R.S.Winters]

lmao i arrived monday and went to the studios first too!!! and we used EMH on monday!! and we went on buzz during EMH haha (there r more similar incidents but those r the ones i picked out lol!)
haha haha lmao

 

[DLPdaft]

Brill trip report milomummy,

You've given me a few tips as well for our upcoming trip too . Like where to watch the parade, and "sauntering" over to the front of the princesses queue just before rope-drop .

I know you said the pushing, shoving, manners etc put you off, but the overall impression I've got from your report is that your ds had a ball, and your happiness for him meeting his heros especially shines out of your report.

Your report has put a smile on my face,

Elaine

 

[milomummy]

Oh we DID have fun, and it was all about our little man's enjoyment after all so I can't be too miserable, I think I was just overall disappointed cos I set my expectations way too high...don't forget, this has been my dream for 15 years...however, I'm no longer the 14 year old who was desperate to go, I am a married mum of one fast approaching 30 (eek!) so I suppose it is my own fault that I was hoping to see it through the eyes of a child, when, in truth, I have to finally admit (shock!!) I am a 'grown up' now!
I was looking through the photos earlier and they brought back fab memories already, and when i was talking to my friends and family, I kept remembering little bits that were brilliant, like DS insisting on grabbing his 'pluto' ears any time he heard music so he could strut his funky stuff. Little things like that were just so sweet and will stay locked in my heart forever, both myself and hubby said that we fell more in love with DS each day, if that is in fact possible when we already felt that we loved him with our entire hearts....!!!

Mrs Stonefiesta, which room were you in? We were in block 24, room 116 which was upstairs right by the walkway to the village and river. I'm very glad we had our car to stow our valuables in as our room had a connecting door to the next room that didn't seem secure.

Isn't it strange that we may have seen each other, passed each other in the streets or hotel lobby and not even known! If I knew how to add pics I would pop one of my ugly mug on so you could say if you spotted me lol!

 

[Mrs Stonfiesta]

We were in Block 40 room 18, ground floor, the nearest to the cantina that we could have gotten! Very convienent although may have been better for a family with small children! You do sound like you had a fab time in the parks and i suppose that is the main thing, i would say try not to let it put you off going back again, although maybe try a different hotel... we are thinking we might go back to the cheyanne for a last minute crimbo trip (to make use of the annual passes) and we have never had any problems there. Is very strange, we do sound like we were in similiar places at similar times!!!! I too have no idea how to put piccies on or i would send one of us as we probably passed each other at some point!

 

[Ware Bears]

Milomummy, I don't think you have set your standards too high ~ I too would have been disgusted if my room was dirty, and the character scrums are bugbears to all of us on here. Luckily my kids were much older than your DS when we started going to DLRP and understood not to bother with characters unless it's an official queue or at a character meal. Of course it's nigh on impossible to expect a young child to appreciate that, especially if it's his fave character.

I pick up many special moments in your trip report and hope that the bad memories will soon fade leaving only the good ones.

BTW, to post photos on here you need to upload them to a site such as Photobucket or our own DIS Gallery. There is a post on the Tech Board explaining how to do it much better than I can ~ let's just say, if I can master it anyone can!

 

[suzybear6]

Thanks for writing up your trip report so quickly and in so much detail. I'm glad your DS had a great time - that the main reason we are going - to give DD (5) and DS (4) a wonderful time
I guess we'll avoid Billy Bob's and Mc Donalds, but glad to hear that Annettes was good and Cafe Mickey no too bad as they are on our list of palces to try
I too would be dissappointed with the accomodation as you would expect more from Disney - well I do anyway!
I hope you are well recovered now from your long journey. any chance of seeing some of your photos?
Luv Suzy

 

[jillrobinson]

I am a married mum of one fast approaching 30 (eek!) so I suppose it is my own fault that I was hoping to see it through the eyes of a child, when, in truth, I have to finally admit (shock!!) I am a 'grown up' now!

Don't worry when you get to 41, you can go back to being the child, well I do anyway . LOL

It sounds like your son had a wicked time and for you that will provide some wonderful memories. There are however somethings that we all agree on and a reasonable standard of cleanliness being one of them, as for other guests and characters, we've all witnessed the problems, my DS's are older now and not so interested but I'll always stick to a character meal or 2 just to get that little bit of Disney fun wihtout the hassle.

 

[ynwa19]

Great trip report! I had an awful time in the Santa Fe in December 2005 when my room was broken into and alot of our things were stolen , so my view of that hotel is very very clouded anyway. Dirty rooms are not expected though and I dont think that DLP pay enough attention to the small details at this hotel.

Character barges are one of the most annoying things that happen at Disneyland and I really dont know wheteher anything can be done without it all seeming so regimented.

Glad that some of the holiday went well for though and that you will have some good memories from it.

 

[marcus.ka]

Thank you for your trip report!
But I can't sign what you wrote about the shops. Yes it is true that you can find the basics in every shop. But there are also so many unique things that you can only find in single shops. Like the Star Wars items in Discoveryland or things from Africa in Adventureland. Or the sweets store at Mainstreet and so on and so on. I have to have a look in every shop during every visit.

 

[jillrobinson]

I have to have a look in every shop during every visit.

Sometimes I secretly think that I'd like to go to DLRP alone, just to do this

 

[leebob]

That's the joy of taking my girlfriend. I can look around the shops and claim it's because she wants to.