Hi,
Had a fantastic time, got everything done that we wanted to.
Was expecting it to be a bit more "Christmassy" to be honest (decoration wise). Main street has the tree and up by the castle, but enter any other land and it could be any time of the year (same in the studios). Halloween definately has alot more decoration all over the park. That said, it was still pretty. When the real snow fell Tuesday, it made the park look so much better as there was snow on the castle, thunder mountain, etc. etc. instead of just around a few trees near main street.
Got to parks around 4pm on Sunday, OMG the crowds (note to self.... only go weekdays), crowds much better Monday & Tuesday. Still a bit of a wait for some of the rides, but that's expected.
Used the EMH every morning as this gave us time to do the "kiddy" rides for my DD and left the rest of the day, to queue & queue again for Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain etc.
Was disappointed with the EMH though, I expected more to be open. It was only attractions in Fantasyland (not including It's A Small World) and in Discoveryland it was Buzz, Orbitron, Stars Tours & Space Mountain. Every morning there was "technical difficulties" with Buzz and it never opened til well after 9. TBH I think they were just saying that because they couldn't be bothered opening it, it was strange that it was every morning and for the same length of time.
Happened to walk into the Lucky Nuggett for a nose on Monday and asked would we be able to get in, without reservation. They asked how many of us were there (2) and unbelievably, we did!
DD was so happy when all the characters came out, managed to get pics & autographs with Tigger, Jessie, Pluto, Goofy. We flew through our lunch because I couldn't help feel like we were taking up seats that someone else had reserved. Not that anyone asked us to hurry up or anything. In fact, after we finished eating Jessie came out & when I asked one of the staff if we could go up to her for a photo instead of waiting for her to come around (because we were leaving), he said not to rush, take our time, which I thought was great. Wasn't too impressed with the food, 30 euro for me was absolutely ridiculous and choice wasn't great. (just my opinion)
Had dinner in Cafe Mickey on the Tuesday night, again brilliant, loads of characters and birthdays, we sang happy birthday 4 times (couldn't even see the birthday boy/girl/man/woman) but everyone sang, staff got up on counters and danced. Good fun. Food delicious.
Had Snow on Tuesday, it was fantastic. We went back to the hotel to change into wellies, etc. and headed back to the parks. Everyone seemed to be leaving, it was great, 5 minutes waiting time for BTM, etc. instead of the usual 70/80 minutes. It was funny watching people heading out on the train and coming back in looking like a train full of snowmen. We went back for a quick spin this morning before heading home, but of course "closed due to technical difficulites".
Didn't get to do Crush last year but queued for 90 minutes this time, half way through "technical difficulties" (I swear, I hate that phrase, in any language), I refused to leave the queue, some people did, but they managed to get it working again. It was great, but twice we went back and again "technical difficulties" meant we only got to do it that once.
DD not impressed.
Queued for what felt like a week for TOT, the FastPass queue was being let through 4 "lifts" for every 1 of the normal queue. and there was only one "library" being used for ages only when we got closer to the front did they open the other one. It was fantastic though, thought DD was going to wet herself (thought I was going to aswell)
Stitch Live is very good too. Went twice, the first time I was the "love interest" and the second time it was my DD he interacted with (she was over the moon with that).
Did the illuminations tour to Paris, I didn't think it was worth it. DD fell asleep on the way in and on the way out. It went passed things too fast, couldn't take a pic. Stopped at Eiffel Tower for 30 minutes (not enough time to go up), would have preferred to have stopped at a look out point that we passed (not sure if it has a name) as we would have got great photos there, but instead went right up to it and we were actually too close. Ended up just standing there in the freezing cold for 30 mintues with a pain in our necks looking straight up.
Am going to stop typing now as I am about to fall asleep and have to get up early in the morning for school run.
PS, stayed in the Newport Bay, booked the admirals floor and managed to get a room with a lake view and it was a corner room aswell so had windows on two walls & we could see the top of the castle from both (not that we spent much time in the room). Didn't have much dealings with the staff, just check-in & paying for the trip to Paris. It literally was just a place to rest our heads (and aching legs), but is a lovely hotel.
Had a fantastic time, got everything done that we wanted to.
Was expecting it to be a bit more "Christmassy" to be honest (decoration wise). Main street has the tree and up by the castle, but enter any other land and it could be any time of the year (same in the studios). Halloween definately has alot more decoration all over the park. That said, it was still pretty. When the real snow fell Tuesday, it made the park look so much better as there was snow on the castle, thunder mountain, etc. etc. instead of just around a few trees near main street.
Got to parks around 4pm on Sunday, OMG the crowds (note to self.... only go weekdays), crowds much better Monday & Tuesday. Still a bit of a wait for some of the rides, but that's expected.
Used the EMH every morning as this gave us time to do the "kiddy" rides for my DD and left the rest of the day, to queue & queue again for Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain etc.
Was disappointed with the EMH though, I expected more to be open. It was only attractions in Fantasyland (not including It's A Small World) and in Discoveryland it was Buzz, Orbitron, Stars Tours & Space Mountain. Every morning there was "technical difficulties" with Buzz and it never opened til well after 9. TBH I think they were just saying that because they couldn't be bothered opening it, it was strange that it was every morning and for the same length of time.
Happened to walk into the Lucky Nuggett for a nose on Monday and asked would we be able to get in, without reservation. They asked how many of us were there (2) and unbelievably, we did!
DD was so happy when all the characters came out, managed to get pics & autographs with Tigger, Jessie, Pluto, Goofy. We flew through our lunch because I couldn't help feel like we were taking up seats that someone else had reserved. Not that anyone asked us to hurry up or anything. In fact, after we finished eating Jessie came out & when I asked one of the staff if we could go up to her for a photo instead of waiting for her to come around (because we were leaving), he said not to rush, take our time, which I thought was great. Wasn't too impressed with the food, 30 euro for me was absolutely ridiculous and choice wasn't great. (just my opinion)Had dinner in Cafe Mickey on the Tuesday night, again brilliant, loads of characters and birthdays, we sang happy birthday 4 times (couldn't even see the birthday boy/girl/man/woman) but everyone sang, staff got up on counters and danced. Good fun. Food delicious.
Had Snow on Tuesday, it was fantastic. We went back to the hotel to change into wellies, etc. and headed back to the parks. Everyone seemed to be leaving, it was great, 5 minutes waiting time for BTM, etc. instead of the usual 70/80 minutes. It was funny watching people heading out on the train and coming back in looking like a train full of snowmen. We went back for a quick spin this morning before heading home, but of course "closed due to technical difficulites".
Didn't get to do Crush last year but queued for 90 minutes this time, half way through "technical difficulties" (I swear, I hate that phrase, in any language), I refused to leave the queue, some people did, but they managed to get it working again. It was great, but twice we went back and again "technical difficulties" meant we only got to do it that once.
DD not impressed.Queued for what felt like a week for TOT, the FastPass queue was being let through 4 "lifts" for every 1 of the normal queue. and there was only one "library" being used for ages only when we got closer to the front did they open the other one. It was fantastic though, thought DD was going to wet herself (thought I was going to aswell)
Stitch Live is very good too. Went twice, the first time I was the "love interest" and the second time it was my DD he interacted with (she was over the moon with that).
Did the illuminations tour to Paris, I didn't think it was worth it. DD fell asleep on the way in and on the way out. It went passed things too fast, couldn't take a pic. Stopped at Eiffel Tower for 30 minutes (not enough time to go up), would have preferred to have stopped at a look out point that we passed (not sure if it has a name) as we would have got great photos there, but instead went right up to it and we were actually too close. Ended up just standing there in the freezing cold for 30 mintues with a pain in our necks looking straight up.
Am going to stop typing now as I am about to fall asleep and have to get up early in the morning for school run.
PS, stayed in the Newport Bay, booked the admirals floor and managed to get a room with a lake view
and it was a corner room aswell so had windows on two walls & we could see the top of the castle from both (not that we spent much time in the room). Didn't have much dealings with the staff, just check-in & paying for the trip to Paris. It literally was just a place to rest our heads (and aching legs), but is a lovely hotel.
!!
