Trip Report 20-24 DEC

[AZDisneyDan]

We are Americans living in London and made a last minute decision a couple weeks ago to head over to Disneyland Paris for a long weekend just before Christmas. We have been there three other times since we've been over here and always stay at a Disney resort, but this time we decided to try the Holiday Day Inn which is a nearby resort just a few minutes shuttle ride from the parks. The following is the beginning of my trip report. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for all the kind words and I look forward to sharing the magic with all of you and will definately post pictures for your viewing pleasure.

The plans thus far for the trip involve me racing home after work (I live in London, but work about 25 miles outside) changing my clothes and walking to the tube (for those that don't know, that is the term used to describe the London Underground or subway system) and taking it about 5 stops to the St. Pancras station where I will meet my overly excited wife (who will be coming from her temp job) and we will board the Eurostar train with direct service to Paris. They just moved to this train station as they have laid down some new track and can go faster cutting about 20 minutes off the journey (it's about 2.5 hours now). Now there is a train that does directly to the Disneyland Resort, but there is only one a day in the morning and the price was way higher, so we will have to go to paris and get on their commuter train (RER) to DLP which is about 35 minutes.

DLP has several resort hotels on property, none of which are as nice as the ones at WDW, with the exception of the Disneyland hotel which is located at the entrance to the park and you can get views that look into the park. We have not stayed there yet, but vow to stay there before we move back to America. We have stayed at the Sequoia Lodge which is very similar in themeing to Wilderness Lodge, however no where near as nice. We have also stayed at the Hotel New York which you I bet you can guess what the themeing is there. We really enjoyed our stay there as we had a nice room which looked out towards the Disney lake and Downtown Disney area and in the distance was Disney Studios Park. The hotel is marked as a 4 star and is their second most expensive hotel after the Disneyland hotel, but I think it is closer to a WDW moderate.

For this trip, since we are trying to make it as cheap as possible we are staying off property at the Holiday Inn, which is one of several hotels located just off property. There is a 5 minute shuttle to the park, so we will be testing this out for the first time. We won't be checking in to the hotel until about 11:00PM on Thursday so we will most likely check-in and head right to bed. We will be playing in the parks on Friday thru Sunday and then for half a day on Monday, which is Christmas Eve, because we have an evening train home.

We plan in seeing all of the Christmas stuff offered in both parks and of course hit Tower of Terror as many times as possible as well as Crush's Coaster which is a new attraction that opened this past summer and is very cool. It is like a combination dark ride in the begininng and a roller coaster at the end. You are basically grabbing shell dude on Crush's back, which are the ride vehicles and you start out by going through some fantastic dark scenes with Nemo and friends and then you race up the lift hill where you see the fish are friends not food shark and then Bam, you are in this really dark building, like space mountain, and your ride vehicle, which is like the Primeval Whirl where the shell spins and you race around some pretty decent special effects and it feels very similar to what you imagine it would feel like if you were really in the EAC. It's loads of fun. Of course we will enjoy all of our other favorites along the way and I will do my best to report on our activities for you and share some photos as well.

More to come, stay tuned.................

 

[Ware Bears]

Looking forward to this.......

 

[kevankiki]

Looking forward to the photos!

We stayed at the Holiday Inn too, and felt it was nicer than the Kyriad, which was where we stayed last time we were there.

 

[Perdie]

Looking forward to hearing the rest of your trip report...so I can relive the magic!! (I am AZDisneyDan's wife!!)



here is a little taste of what I am sure you have to come......

 

[AZDisneyDan]

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but while on my Disneyland Paris trip I picked up a nice little cold, Well, without any further delay here is Day 1 of our trip, enjoy!!

Day 1

Up and at ‘em nice and early today as we new we had to take time to handle our ticket situation. We had annual passes that expired back in October and the problem is that Disneyland Paris seems to think that only the French get annual passes as there is no information in English and the UK is only a two and a half hour train ride away. We never received anything in the mail or via e-mail about renewing so our passes expired and there really isn’t anyone to call or e-mail to find out. Needless to say, we had to take time in the morning to sort out our tickets so we can forget it and enjoy our time in the magic. We heard that the Holiday Inn was very good, except for the food, so we had very low expectations for breakfast, but it’s included and when you are on a Disney trip and there is opportunity for something for free, I think most of you would agree, you take advantage of that. Well, the breakfast was very good, with a mix of hot American/British fare and typical European continental options. I had some bacon, sausage, potatoes, chocolate croissant, orange juice and some coffee. Becca had some sausages, cereal, croissant with nutella, potatoes, and apple juice.

After our fueling we headed to the shuttle bus stop where we only had to wait a few minutes. After one stop at another hotel we made the five minute journey to the resort area. It was about 9:00 and the park was not open until 10:00, but it was early entry day for resort guest and annual pass holders, but ours were expired, so we thought we might have a problem as they were checking ID before you even get to bag check. Fortunately for us the cast member was busy talking to some guest and we kind of slipped right passed her, score!! We made our way to Guest Relations just outside the park entrance and there was no wait and explained our situation to the cast member, who told us the only benefit of renewal is 4 extra months as there in no renewal discount. So we bought two new annual passes (ouch, expensive) which cost just a little more that three day park hoppers anyway.

We used them to get into the park and to our surprise we got to take advantage of an hour of fun before the park officially opened and we actually got a lot done. First of all, we took in all the beautiful Christmas decorations all over Main Street. Becca’s favorite part of any Disney trip is that walk up Main Street for the first time as she gets that shot of magic which consumes her and puts her into such a child like state of euphoria that it gets pretty contagious, let me tell you. We walked straight through the most beautiful castle of all Disney Parks outfitted with 15 golden characters with birthday candles for the nightly Candlebration ceremony, which we will get to later. The first attraction in Fantasyland on the left is Snow White which had a very small wait. This attraction is very similar to the one in Florida, but with French spoken throughout (this is very common here, but hey it’s France right?). It fascinating to see how they intermix French and English in the attractions and shows, it really works. After Snow White we hit the next door neighbor, Pinocchio then made our was across for a ride on Peter Pan, which like it’s American counterparts gets a long line shortly after park open that never lets up until just before park close. We love this Peter Pan which is essentially the same as the ones in America, but the Pirate ship scene at the end is much more detailed and uses cool fiber optic lighting in a couple of spots. As with many of the attractions at Disneyland Paris, it’s like they took what was a great attraction and made it even better and fresher here.

After Fantasyland we headed over to Tomorrowland and jumped on Buzz Lightyear, which is like the one in California. For some reason the house lights were on throughout the ride really taking away from the experience, but we didn’t let that slow down our mission of defeating the evil emperor Zerg and as usual I soundly kick my wife’s you know what. As the park had now just opened (see, I told you we did a lot) we decided to jump on Space Mountain before the line got any worse. We just about walked onto Space and had a rough ride as this version really beats you up with the speed and twists and turns. One of the best versions as far as special effects and thrills, but it makes it hard for consecutive rides as you really need a break after a ride, makes us a little dizzy. Just around the corner from Space is Star Tours, now Becca has not been on the Paris version as it’s exactly the same as the others, except in French, which is why I wanted her to try it. She hates this ride because it seems the motion simulator rides make her nauseous and for some reason she always avoids that feeling. She recently bought some ginger pills to help with this and is trying it out for the first time on this trip, so I was able to talk her into giving another try. The result? Well, the first thing she said when it was over and it was time to release our seat belts and I was still screaming out the star wars theme song was “I don’t ever want to go on this ride again.” I guess the ginger pills didn’t do much good yet. Oh well, it was time to head over to the passport office to have our picture taken and get our passes laminated, etc. Of course we got the lady that didn’t speak any English but she was very nice and was humming Christmas tunes to herself since small talk was out of the question. We got are new pictures, much more acceptable then last years, and we were on our way.

After the Annual Pass we figured we should head over to Walt Disney Studios as I had been hearing that Tower of Terror was in full preview mode as the official opening was supposed to be the next day (Saturday December 22). Once we got into the park and saw a very strange Goofy (our favorite character that you will find we are kind of obsessed about) dressed in a puffy pink shirt with white pants, kind of like Elvis. We made our way through Studio One (the WDS “Main Street”) which is indoors and the least impressive entrance to any Disney park, even worse than California Adventure. Out the other side we saw the completed Tower staring us right in the face. This will now unofficially become the icon for this park and it is very impressive with a nice new Hollywood blvd. area in front and along side the attraction leading to the sorry Studio Tram Tour. We saw the infamous Bell Hops standing in front of the attraction and got really excited and ran over only to find out they were not doing any previews today. What?? You have to be kidding. We had been waiting for this and could not believe they were not going to run any previews on the day we arrive. One Cast Member kept saying “try tomorrow” which we new was the official opening even know they said the official opening is not until January.

Well we had to fight back the tears and try and make ourselves feel better so we headed over to Crush’s Coaster. When we got over there a huge crowd was gathered in front and we noticed a rope up with nobody being let inside. The ride was not operating due to “technical faults,” which is the term they use here instead of technical difficulties. We happened to be standing in the front at the right time as we were trying to get the information on how long it would be down when the cast member removed the rope and we walked right in almost all the way to the ride. After about five minutes we were on board one of my new favorite rides. I really love the combination of dark ride and roller coaster and think the imaginers did a great job with the themeing in this ride. You really feel like you are riding in a currant during the second half of the ride. The only problem is with all the spinning, Becca tends to feel a bit sick after and this time was no exception as it seems the ginger pills have not kicked in, although she has been able to recover pretty quickly.

After stomach turning Crush we decided to work on our appetites and have some lunch. We grabbed some chicken nuggets and french fries at the Hollywood Brown Derby inside Studio One. After the decent food we decided to do a little “retail therapy” in the shops inside Studio One and let our food settle. After we had exhausted browsing all the same merchandise we’ve seen everywhere else we decided to crank up the adrenaline at Rock N Roller with Aerosmith. The ride is very similar to the one in Florida except it has less prop sets inside the building; instead they opted to have more lighting effects from rock concerts which were in sync with the music. Not bad, but I still prefer the Florida version.

After Rock N Roller and final check to make sure Tower of Terror didn’t open we decided to head back to Disneyland and do a little bit of shopping on Main Street, just browsing this time no actual purchases. Then we made our way over to Frontierland and rode Phantom Manor. The house, very reminiscent of the Psycho house, ominously stands atop a hill overlooking the rest of Frontierland and affords great views while you wait to enter. This is a wonderful ride and is another example of an attraction that was taken from the US parks and made even better. The story is a bit different and while it’s still not scary, this version is a bit darker. The stretch room voice over is done in French, but we can imagine what they are saying. The one thing this attraction is missing, even know it would be in French, is narration. After PM it was parade time so we headed over to the hub, which was packed, so we walked towards Small World and found a great spot to catch the parade. Right before you enter Fantasyland there are two stone wall towers and if you cross the parade route and stand next to the tower on the left you have an unobstructed view of the parade (great for photos). We walked up and stood there literally as the parade was about to pass and we got great pictures and had a couple funny encounters with some of the characters and parade performers.

After the Parade it was time to use our FP for Big Thunder and let me tell you, even in the bone chilling cold, this is the best version of this ride and possibly the best attraction at the resort. I love the fact that the best and most thrilling part of the ride comes at the end at as you pass into the tunnel (aka bat cave) under the river and back to the load station. As we were heading into the FP queue we got a whiff of some fresh popcorn and agreed to beeline it over there after the ride. We scarfed down a small popcorn and walked over to the new Woody’s Roundup and checked out the little Christmas village they erected. Father Christmas (aka Santa Clause) was inside a building with what appeared to be a really neat model of a village along with a couple of audio animatronic elves. The line was long to get inside so we sort of observed it through the window. We took a couple pictures inside a couple Toy Story 2 sets and then meandered over to Adventureland and a ride on yet another Disneyland Paris masterpiece, Pirate’s of the Caribbean. We really love this ride, from the façade to the queue to the tremendous detail and creative storytelling. I love the way the ride takes you through a nice quiet harbor scene and by a restaurant (very similar idea to Disneyland’s Blue Bayou) and then up to the top of the Spanish fort where we feel part of the town being pillaged (the infamous prisoner’s fetching the key scene is here) and then we are dropped right into the battle and through the town ending after a final drop in the caves with all the jewels and skeletons. It’s done very well as the imaginers really thought their way through this one to keep the integrity of the experience but take it to the next level.

After Pirates we walked through Fantasyland and jumped on It’s a Small World, which we love here because it’s shorter (in a good way, just enough of the song) and the scenes are tighter and closer together. Then it was time for the Holiday Candlebration which is a nice little show leading to the lighting of the castle and the candles which adorn for the 15th anniversary. The hub was jam packed and we got a spot just in front (by the curb) of the stage set-up in the center of the hub. It was hard to see as many parents started putting their kid on top of their shoulders and blocking everyone else’s view, but we just rolled with it, which is something you must do in a Disney park on a crowded day. The show was fun as the characters jump around and dance and sing Christmas music and then Mickey arrives and the show turns into the normal show for the 15th and the breathtaking lighting of the castle concludes the show. They use special lighting in and around the hub and on the lampposts along Main Street and the cherry on the top of the whole thing is the “snow” (aka soap suds) on Main Street. We decided since it was an early close and there wasn’t much time left that we would head over to the area next to the castle where the parade passes and sit on a couple of benches which happen to be the very front row for Fantillusion. We sat in the freezing cold for about 30 minutes until the parade came by and we took pictures and love every minute of it as the nighttime parades always inject us with a serious dose of Disney Magic.

As we made our way out of the park we did a little shopping and then went to the Disney Village for dinner. We think the best place here to eat, although grossly overpriced, is Annette’s Diner. We had to wait about 30 minutes in line to get a table, but once settled we ordered burgers, fries, and milkshakes and watched as the wait staff attempted to dance to a Grease Lightening. The food was very good, but for a 12 Euro cheese burger I would expect enough beef to cover the diameter of the bun, but instead I got the amount of meat you would expect on a child’s burger. A bit of a rip off, but hey it’s Disney and it wouldn’t feel right if they didn’t, right?? After our food it was time to take the shuttle back to the Holiday Inn and after walking down to the very end of our hallway on the second floor our key would not work as it was demagnetized and we had to go get a replacement, which after a day at the parks is a huge chore. I actually considered just sleeping in the hallway, but then I took one look at Becca and realized that was not going to be an accepted response to the situation at hand. Once we got into the room it was not long before we collapsed on the bed and fell into a deep coma that only a day at Disney can cause.

More to come soon: Day Two and the official opening of Tower of Terror…….

 

[thelittlemermaid83]

That burger at annettes looks well tasty
Your pics are great and cant wait for more.

 

[DLPdaft]

Great report, and great pics!

Elaine

 

[Ware Bears]

Great report!!!

Your photos are fabulous.

 

[Perdie]

Can't wait for day 2!!!!!!!!!

 

[Danauk]

Excellent report, can't wait to read more!
BTW, I agree that the DLP BTMRR is the best version of the ride in all the Disney parks!

 

[AZDisneyDan]

Thanks for the nice comments, here is the report for day 2, enjoy!!

Day 2

After being awoken from our deep coma by one of my very annoying mobile ring tones it was time to enjoy are nice shower and pack up for our second day of Disney magic. We went down to the breakfast room which was more crowded, but still manageable. We jumped on board the shuttle and got to the resort at about 9:30, thirty minutes before opening. We new this was supposed to be the “official” opening of the attraction to day guests and since there was no soft opening yesterday we decided to head straight the Walt Disney Studios. Upon entering the park we flew right through Studio One and outside in front of the looming tower. There was already a decent size crowd standing behind a rope keeping people from entering the Hollywood Blvd area. We decided to line up with the crowd so we could be part of the initial rush to the Tower after opening. Little did we know there was going to be a little ceremony before the official opening. About 15 minutes before park open the well place sound system starting playing Twilight Zone music and an announcement in French began. Just on the other side of the ropes all of the Bell Hops were lined up and there was one dressed in a different lighter red costume that did a great job acting creepy while making some comments, again in French. Then they introduced some Disneyland Resort Paris executives who were driven up Hollywood Blvd by some cool antique vehicles. They made a few speeches along side a couple of scripted bits, one involving a telephone ringing and the creepy bell hop dressed in light red pulled out an old phone answered it, then handed it over to the resort Director. It was all in French so I have no idea what they were talking about, but it was
still cool. At some point during this presentation I turned around and realized the crowd had grown quite a bit and we were going nowhere.

With about 10 more minutes before the official park opening, they pronounced the attraction open and removed the rope as we were herded, and when I say herded, I mean herded towards the attraction. It felt like being in Time Square for New Year’s Eve. We just took a deep breath and waddled our way through a couple of the really bad bottle necks entering the queue and within five minutes were inside the lobby, which just like its cousins in Florida and California was incredibly detailed and you never get enough time in that part of the queue. I was snapping pictures like crazy trying to capture some of the great detail, and then we entered the library to watch the pre show video which was the same as in the states except it was entirely dubbed in French. This version of the ride is a carbon copy of the California version where there are two levels of elevators and our first ride had us climbing to the second level of the boiler room. After a few minutes we were lined up and ready to hop aboard our awaiting elevator for our first trip to the Twilight Zone. The ride was great as usual and the view from the top is probably the best of any Towers as you can see the front of the studios, but also most of Disneyland which was really cool to see from that vantage point. After several plunges we exited the ride and checked out the gift shop where we spotted a bell hop Goofy that looks a little different than the one we have from Florida.

On our way out we stop and chatted a little with one of the manager/executives outside the exit and got our picture with the bell hop dressed in light red. They were very friendly and told us that they used the California version because the capacity is much higher as they have three shafts and two levels so they can run six elevators. When one level is running through the attraction the other one is loading, which made perfect sense when he explained it as I never could figure out how the two level system worked.

With the park just about 10 minutes or so into opening we decided grab a fastpass for TOT and bee lined it over to Crush. As we approached the attraction we noticed the line was coming out of the normal area and was not moving. We heard the ride was broken, again, man this became a theme with this ride over the weekend. They really have technical problems with this ride a lot. Anyway, we decided to wait and within about five minutes they started to let people in the queue area outside the building, which is not very well themed at all. During the ride we stopped at the top of the lift hill before the jaunt into the EAC. We thought the rode broke again, but then we were released and coasted through the rest of the attraction where there didn’t appear to be any other turtle shells and many of the effects where not working, it was very weird. I expected the ride to be down when we reentered the load area, but it was still going so I have no idea what was up with that.

After Crush we realized a showing of Animagique was about to start so we ran over and grabbed a couple seats towards the back of the theater. We enjoy this show even know it could be a little longer. It’s kind of similar to the Little Mermaid show in Florida where black light effects are used and the performers where black so you can’t see them, which works most of the time. There are also some characters used throughout the show. The basic storyline is Mickey and Donald are working in an animation studio and Mickey is doing great as Donald struggles. Mickey talks off for whatever reason and leaves hit key to the animation vault which nobody is allowed to enter. Donald of course grabs the key enters the vault and the several Disney classics come to life in a few musical numbers. Scenes include Jungle Book, Little Mermaid, Lion King, and Dumbo. He returns to the studio and few of the characters follows Donald back and Mickey doesn’t seem too upset and they break out into a final musical number. The effects aren’t anything too advanced and the story could use some work and be a bit longer, but it’s still a good time.

We ran over to TOT as we only had a little time left on our fastpasses enjoyed our second ride very much and then it was time for some sustenance. We decided to have lunch at a new restaurant we discovered the day before which was new since our last visit, a buffet themed to Ratatouille. The all you can eat buffet was pretty good and offered a whole array of different kinds of food. We made several trips to the buffet and enjoyed the various salads, meats, pizza, pasta, and yes, they actually had ratatouille. We finished with an assortment of deserts and walked out filling pretty stuffed and satisfied. As we were heading out of the park, not much left to do here, there was a show we wanted to catch with Goof as the master of ceremonies at the stage outside of Cinemagique (which we didn’t see this trip). The show had goofy dressed up in his holiday best and he was the conductor for six performers who sang Christmas carol acapella style. They were very entertaining and Goofy was a hoot to watch and our baby goof loved the performance.

Time to zip back to Disneyland to enjoy the afternoon and evening as the park was open until 10:00PM. The first mission upon entering a park you have not been in for a while or for the day is to collect a FP and this time it was BuzzLightyear. But, as soon as we entered town square we noticed Santa Goofy was on his sleigh and he must had just gotten there because we walked up and got to take a picture with him before the line got real long. It was a magical moment as we love Goofy and are like little kids when we get to see him. As we walked through the park we really noticed a jump in the crowds compared to the day prior. We walked over to Small World and saw that they were so many people that they were using a portion of the queue that we have never seen used. We immediately took a seat to reassess the situation. We decided since it was mid-afternoon and the crowds were huge we should head back to the hotel and take a break. We jumped back on the shuttle to the hotel and once we got into the room and hit that comfy bed to “lay down” we fell fast asleep and for about and hour or two and woke up feeling refreshed and ready to hit Disneyland at night.

At about 5:30 we were back at the park and immediately collected FP’s for Big Thunder. Since we were in Frontierland we hit Phantom Manor and then up through Adventureland for a ride on Pirates. With that side of the park complete we shifted over to Discoveryland and used the FP we got earlier for Buzz. Now, since this was our second ride on the attraction this trip I was to get on board first as Becca is convinced that if that the left side is at some kind of disadvantage in the game. I obliged convinced that it would make no difference and I would run the score up on her once again. Well, she must have luckily hit a few high point targets because she ended up beating me pretty handily and so ended my winning streak on that attraction, not a good feeling.

Since we had such a big lunch we decided to have a quick service for dinner and decided on Casey’s Corner for some hot dogs and fries. This place always holds a special place for me no matter which park as I worked at the one in Florida when I was on the College Program back in 1996. The cheese dogs and fries hit the spot as we sat on the edge of the arcade of which there are two that flank Main St. and allow you to zip up and down Main St. in a very themed area quickly during busy periods. We could see, from a distance, the Candlebration show again which was fun and then we sat and enjoyed watching throngs of people head down the arcade and out of the park. We made our way back to where we had left off before leaving earlier and rode Small World, with a fairly minimal wait. Then it was time for Space Mountain as we hadn’t had a chance to get the crap kicked out of us today and it was great as usual. We the wobbled over to Pirate’s to begin one last swing through the big three on that side of the park and had a great ride. There was no line and we the boat came back into the load/unload area the cast member asked if everyone on the boat wanted to ride again and the people behind us left and we went again and had the boat to ourselves. What a magical moment to be able to ride such a great attraction on such a crowded day all by ourselves. Loved it!! The next stop was to use our FP for Big Thunder, but when we got to the FP return there was a cast member standing there who informed us that the ride was broken down and would not reopen as there was only 20 minutes left before park close. We hung our heads as this ride is incredible at night and we missed our chance, but then made our way over to Phantom Manor for our last ride of the night. On the way out we stopped at the collectibles shop on Main St. and bought a new piece of artwork, a small canvas of Donald and his nephews on a boat which adds to the two Goofy ones we bought last trip. I also bought a great book that I recommend to anyone interested in the creation of these great theme parks titled “Disneyland Paris: From Sketch to Reality” by Alain Littaye. This great coffee table book has great photos and text describing the creation of the park and great attraction within.

We experienced one of those special moments that just sets Disney parks above and beyond all of the rest. It always seems it’s the small things that really give you that special magical feeling. On the way out of the park Mickey Mouse was standing on top of the platform if the train station and was saying goodbye to everyone as they headed out of the park. He waved and there were various prerecorded spiels were Mickey would wish everyone well and thank them for coming. I could have sat there all day and watched people’s reactions when they looked up and saw Mickey up there when they were leaving. Some people starting cheering and chanting Mickey to him and he hammed it up with all those people. We walked out of the park with such a great feeling and as usual by the time we finally caught the shuttle and got back to our room we dropped like a couple of heavy brick into that bed and drifted into another deep slumber dreaming of our magical day.

More to come as we head into our last full day at the parks and the crowds grow even bigger, stay tuned………

 

[Cyrano]

Just caught up with your report.
Great photographs and a score getting on ToT

 

[Perdie]

Great Report!!!!!!
Baby Goof and I love reminiscing with you!!!
keem em coming!!

 

[Leanne1977]

Really enjoying these reports! I love your attention to detail. Can't wait to ride TOT and BTMR in Feb!!

Looking forward to your next report.

 

[AZDisneyDan]

Sorry for the delay, but I have found myself incredibly lazy in recent weeks, but I don't want to leave something unfinished, so here is the details for Day 3 (Christmas Eve Eve, aka 23 December)

Day 3
The alarms went off and we quickly realized this would be our last full day at the parks and we better get going even know I felt like I could sleep for a week. We got ready and headed down to breakfast and when we walked into that room it became very apparent this day was going to be a very crowded affair. It was an absolute madhouse in the breakfast room as people were everywhere and there were no tables to be found. We got our food and walked to the very back of the restaurant we didn’t even know existed and shared a table with another party while we scarfed down our usual fare.

We took the shuttle to the parks and fortunately got through security and into the park just as they were dropping the ropes. We made our way up Main St. and turned right into Discoveryland to grab FP’s for Space Mountain. We jumped onto Buzz Lightyear as this attraction gets very long lines and it always good to hit it in the morning. Becca somehow managed to whip me once again and I was beginning to get concerned as I had lost my touch and she was on a streak. Oh well, I’ll get her back. We then used our FP for space and while the first meteor effect appeared to not be working the ride seemed much darker and the music louder. It was a great ride and got our adrenaline going so we walked around to Fantasyland and saw they had just opened Small World so we took a ride and got a FP for Peter Pan another ride that gets ridiculously crowded and stays that way all day. Right next door into Adventureland was Pirates and we took another turn at rifling and pillaging the Spanish village. What a good time and considering the crowd levels we had done pretty good and it really proves the point that you have to get going early if you want to accomplish some attractions before the waits reach a point where you feel like giving up and running away.

We went over to Big Thunder to try and use the FP that we had from last night that we couldn’t use because the ride was not operational. Well, as luck would have it, the ride was down once again and we were told to try again later. When you are over in this part of the park and Thunder is not working, then you really only have one other choice, Phantom Manor. After another creepy ride amongst our favorite gooley haunts we checked back with Thunder and it was open for business. We cashed in our FP’s and took another journey on the wildest ride in the wilderness. All these amazing journeys around the park had left us pretty hungry and we decided to have lunch at the quick service cowboy barbeque located in Frontierland. The food is pretty decent for a French attempt at good old American BBQ, but when we walked in we immediately regretted not eating sooner as the place was overrun with like minded tourists and it was a challenge to find a seat. Becca and I went right into our crowded lunch time routine where one stands in line and gets the food while the other stakes out for a seat. Becca decided to handle the food purchase while I went on search for an available seat which I scored pretty quickly. Becca on the other hand had to deal with a new person who appeared to have no idea what to do and had to have a colleague come over to assist and handle several problems and I must have waited about 30 minutes, warding off others who wanted our space, for her to return. By the time we concluded that most exciting dining experience we headed over to cash in our Peter Pan FP.

The crowds had swelled as we approached the busiest part of the day and so we decided to head out of the park for our midday break. On the way out we decided to take in an attraction we had never done, the Legends of the Wild West which is basically a walk through a fort with several sets highlighting life during the gold rush days in the old west. It’s a cute little walk through and you get a nice view over the whole thunder mesa area with Big Thunder and Phantom Manor. We grabbed some popcorn in the hub and strolled down Main St. toward the exit for our much needed break. We enjoyed another nap in our very comfortable bed. I think we really took advantage of the nice bed during this trip, but it helped us get through the days.

It was back to the parks by 5:45 and we decided to hit the Studios to experience Tower of Terror at night. After a very slow moving 45 minute wait we got into the Tower and had some very fun bellhops and the view was unbelievable as we looked out over the Studios and Disneyland at night. Before we left to head back over the Disneyland I wanted to get a ride on Crush, but take a wild guess what happened when I approached the attraction entrance. Not operational. Unbelievable. There was really something wrong with the technical performance of Crush during this visit and it was very annoying. Oh well, we made a couple retail therapy stops and then back to Disneyland where we got stuck in a line at the entrance that had serious problems. Someone got their ticket stuck and it caused a major delay and of course we were too close to get into another very long line. The cast member had to close the line and open a new one and everyone ran over causing a bit of a chaotic situation. We were hungry at this point, but first checked Big Thunder to see if there were any FP’s left. There were none. We walked through the hub and over to Bella Note for some pizza and pasta. On the way to dinner we stopped right next to the castle and watched the end of Candlebration and what a magical angle we had. It was later in the evening and we had a much quieter dining experience than at lunch.

Since we were already in Fantasyland we jumped on Pinocchio and Snow White with pretty minimal waits. We dashed off to Adventureland and walked right on to Pirate’s with no wait and they let us right a second time without getting out of the boat, which is such a treat. We went over to Big Thunder and the line was pretty minimal so we were able to get two straight rides and this really is an amazing ride at night as you get great views of the park as you are whipped around on the runaway train. For our last ride of the night we had just enough time to get on Phantom Manor before the park closed. Since it was our last night in the park we really took our time leaving, enjoying the atmosphere of the beautiful park at night and at Christmastime. We took the time to sit on a bench in the hub and just people watch and stare at the castle. We watched Mickey saying goodbye to all the guests at the train station before we reluctantly left the park for the night. We stopped at Annette’s for milkshakes to top off our wonderful evening and then back to the Holiday Inn to collapse one last time into our great bed.

Stay tuned for the conclusion as we spend half a day at the parks and then back to London……

 

[mulan1]

What a fantastic trip report, and lovely photos, I like the ones of the castle at night!
thanks for taking the time to wrtie and share your experience with us all!

 

[Ware Bears]

Shame about the ride breakdowns but you still had a lovely day. Your photos are

 

[KimAshton]

Just love this. It's so interesting to see Disneyland Paris since I probably will never get there.