Day 4 - Disneyland Paris Trip Report

Day 4 at Disneyland Paris - Wednesday 12th February 2014

Not a good start, I had a terrible nights sleep - I had a horrible earache and sore throat and was up for about 4 hours in the night trying to find something in my huge 'medicine bag' that would stop it all hurting. L laughed at me when I first unpacked my stash of medicine (there's no pharmacy / dr at DLP) but I was extremely grateful for it all during this week!

I must have dozed off at some point because the next thing I knew it was 9am! We missed breakfast and got ready to head into the park - I was in a bit of a dazed stupor from the lack of sleep and medicines but we made it into the main park just after 10am and queued to meet Winnie the Pooh at his usual spot near Casey's Corner counter service restaurant. Whilst we were waiting we saw Tigger and Eeyore outside the Plaza Gardens restaurant on the opposite side of Main Street doing a M&G so we headed over there straight after meeting Winnie - this was a fabulous spot! It was a stunningly beautiful morning and the characters stood so that the castle was in the background of photo's - the Cast Member's very kindly took a photo of the three of us with both characters and it's one that I will treasure forever; just really sums up Disney and our trip to me in that shot!

We took L to Sleeping Beauty's and went upstairs to view the stained glass windows - we've never been outside on the balcony before as it's always been closed on our trips so it was a novelty and we had a lovely view out over Fantasyland. We then decided to have a look round Mickey's shop in Fantasyland (by the carousel - I can never remember what it's called!) but still there were no Frozen cuddly toys . As we left the shop we saw Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum opposite the entrance to Alice's Curious Labyrinth so ran over for more photo's and autographs. E thought they were absolutely hilarious because they pretended to pick their noses and flick bogies at him - boys are revolting, even at this age!!!

It was then time for another ride on IASW as E was having withdrawal symptoms hehe, we saw Rabbit and Piglet doing a M&G but their queue line was closed so the Cast Member told us to come back at 12:15, which was only about 20 minutes away. We had a lovely ride round IASW in a quiet boat but I realised when we got off that I must have dropped my hat in the boat - it's a good job that it wasn't too cold that day! We waited for about ten minutes for Piglet and Rabbit but there was no sign of them so we gave up and wandered back the way we'd come - Dee & Dum had gone but Alice was there instead - yay! We queued and got her autograph, she was really lovely chatting with E and thought it amusing that their names were very similar - I got some great photo's of them together. As we were so close to the maze, E insisted that we had another go round and we had a fantastic view from the balcony as it was such a beautiful day.

We wanted to try and see if Peter and Wendy were out again today so headed towards Adventureland but stopped at the loos for L - whilst we waited for her Hook and Smee walked past and Smee rubbed E on the top of his head to say hello, I had one  very very happy boy even though they were obviously the last ones out at the photo location because there was no Peter and Wendy sadly. E was desperate for more Baloo cuddles (I think we have a new favourite in this family now haha) so back round we went and he was there - yippee!

By this point I was really flagging - everything was catching up with me so we just wandered around taking in the atmosphere and did some 'people watching' for a bit. After an hour or so we walked back to the Hotel Santa Fe and rested for a while. We had a sandwich in the bar at the hotel before heading back to our room.

Very frustrating day as I so wanted to do more, especially on a glorious winters day but it just wasn't meant to be - very early night instead!

AFUK x

Day 3 - Disneyland Paris trip report

Day 3 of our Disneyland Paris trip report - Tuesday 11th February 2014 

E woke up at 6am - very, very unlike him on one of our DLP trips as usually we all sleep later from all the excitement and walking about; it's one of the things I love lol. On this trip there was only Extra Magic Hours (EMH) on two of our five mornings and this was one of them but typically, not expecting to be up and ready, we had booked to have a character breakfast at the restaurant Cafe Mickey (CM) in the Disney Village. We decided that it would be too much of a rush to do an hour in the park and then back to CM in time for breakfast so instead we had a relaxing couple of hours having showers, getting ready etc and left the hotel just before 9am to walk to the village.

We arrived early but they let us in and before we'd even taken our coats off and sat down Gepetto from Pinocchio came over to give E a cuddle. L was very impressed with breakfast and we all enjoyed the hot buffet.  We filled up on the pastries and fruit (no croissants though, they'd run out unfortunately) to prepare us for the day ahead. Before our trip E had said that he wanted to find Chip & Dale because we couldn't find them on our Christmas visit so he was absolutely over the moon when they were at breakfast - he couldn't stop cuddling them and was saying 'look Mummy, they remember me from when I saw them on my first holiday'; he was only 2 on his first visit so I was amazed he remembered so much about it! He also saw Mickey, Goofy and Pluto before we left at 10.20ish and walked to the Studios park.

It seemed really busy in the Studios that morning but I think it was probably because Crush's Coaster, one of the most popular 'thrill' rides, wasn't open yet (technical issue I think) so there was a huge queue snaking across the central section of the park between two of the theatres that took some negotiating!

We had a wander round past a little area where Buzz Lightyear & Mickey Mouse were doing M&G's (big queues, we decided to leave it for another day) and headed to Toy Story Playland - this is a fairly recent addition to the Disney Studios and, as is fairly self explanatory, is themed around the Toy Story movies! E wanted to see the giant Rex the dinosaur but he still didn't want to go on any rides so we just showed L around and E had fun pretending to drive the RC Racer remote control car in his 'car wash', which is basically just another little area to take copious amounts of photo's! 

We walked over to watch one of the theatre shows, Cinemagique, but I hadn't read the programme properly and hadn't realised that it actually closed today for the DLP AGM but all was not lost as just as we arrived Remy, the rat from the Ratatouille film, came out for a M&G. We rushed over and were second in the queue - yippee! We had quick cuddles and he signed E's autograph book, which he was very happy about. As we were having our photo taken more characters - Mushu (the dragon from Milan), Lilo & Stitch, Daisy Duck and Woody from Toy Story - came out from behind the scenes.

Remy from Ratatouille

We had great fun queueing to meet them all except Mushu who we missed as by the time we'd seen the others his queue line was closed. E loved meeting Woody - he was totally in awe and completely dwarfed by him as he was so, so tall. 

I always feel a little bit lost in the Disney Studios Park as it doesn't have the same magic for me as the main park so when E said that he'd had enough and wanted to leave we popped to the shop by the entrance for a look around. L bought E a lovely china plate and little cup for home which we arranged to have sent back to the hotel to collect later on in the day and we then left the studios (with high fives to the funny cast member at the gate lol) and walked over to the main park instead.

When we got into the park we walked past Goofy, Minnie & Duffy and decided that we'd start by purchasing the soft toys that E wanted. When we visited in November we bought him the soft toy versions of Anna and Olaf (characters from the Disney Frozen movie) and, in addition to that, he got the Elsa one for Christmas so I'd promised that we could get Sven & Kistoff on this trip to almost complete the set - he'd seen them in the shops on Main Street in November but being the mean mummy that I am I'd said that he couldn't have them all so he chose Anna & Olaf. An hour into our search we've scoured all the shops along Main Street and I have that horrible sinking feeling in my tummy when none of them have a single Frozen soft toy for sale. Plenty of other merchandise (although the clothing is all for girls - very frustrating!) but not the ones we wanted. Uh oh! I distracted E by telling him we'd try some other shops later on and we headed to Frontierland to have a look round. The queue times for rides were very short most for most of this week as it's a quiet time of year to go - this morning it was only a ten minute wait for Big Thunder Mountain, which is another popular thrill ride. As it was only me that wanted to ride anything we didn't stop - one day soon I'm just going to go and do all the rides by myself haha!

We enjoyed showing L the lake around the ride and where the paddle boats normally are (they were being refurbished so weren't running, which is a shame) and showed her the Pochohantas Play Village for younger children, which was also closed (apparently due to the weather although it was a beautiful sunny day!) and then headed across towards Adventureland. As we went past the Hakuna Matata restaurant on our left we saw King Louis from the Jungle Book doing a M&G on the right - he gave great cuddles but E was a little disappointed that he couldn't sign his book lol. Usually at the Cast Members are able to stamp the autograph books for characters that can't hold a pen or are unable to sign but there wasn't one for King Louis unfortunately.

E wanted to see if Peter Pan and Wendy were out again today so we headed over to their M&G and saw Captain Hook - he makes E very nervous so he was not sure about him but the Cast Member explained that he was just closing the queue for Hook but if we wanted to join it and wait a few minutes Peter & Wendy would be along, so we waited. We chatted to some people in the queue whilst we were waiting who were also character hunting today - we had good fun comparing who we'd all met and then Peter & Wendy arrived! All of a sudden E was very shy - so far, none of the characters he'd met had been 'face' characters so hadn't spoken & he was thrown a bit that Peter & Wendy wanted to chat!! They were absolutely fantastic with him, really brought him out of his shell by asking where he lives and if it was near Neverland etc They signed his book and had photos taken with him and then they said that Tinkerbell had been to sprinkle fairy dust on him and 'flew' him down the steps back to me - it was just magical and since we got home he's not stopped telling people that Wendy & Peter taught him how to fly up in the sky, brings a lump to my throat every time!

E decided that he could actually go on a ride now and wanted to go on the 'big dragon horse' on the carousel so off we went and I lifted him onto this giant horse on the outside of the carousel - for a child who is scared of everything I have no idea how he was happy sitting that high up!! We had fun going round and waving to Nanny each time we saw her. After that he said he wanted to do IASW again but L needs the loo so we headed there first - whilst we wait for her (couldn't possibly go in, what with all those flushing toilets lol) E said he was really cold and wanted to get in the buggy so he sat down and I wrapped him up in the blanket that I keep underneath it - he was asleep within seconds! Bearing in mind he hasn't used a buggy at home for about two years it felt very odd having him nap in it. 

We decided that as he was asleep we'd have a nosey around the shops that we had missed out earlier - Tigger & Eeyore were doing a M&G outside the Plaza Gardens restaurant but we didn't want to do it without E so we walked past. We went down Discovery Arcade (covered walkways down each side of Main Street) and headed straight for Harringtons - I love this shop so much, it sells beautiful glassware, crystal and other trinkets but I don't ever dare take E in it when he's awake as he would want to touch and pick everything up! L bought a glass for my niece and we watched whilst her name was engraved on it. She also bought her a beautiful tiara in there and it was only 15 euros - she's 10 years old so maybe a little bit old for a tiara generally but she's an Irish Dancer and has to wear one when she's in competitions so should be perfect for her.

We left the park and wandered round World of Disney megastore before heading back to our room for a rest. It turned out to be an extended rest as E slept for 3.5 hours!! Unheard of! I think the few days of being poorly and the early start had finally caught up with him.

When he finally woke up we decided to go back to the park to watch Dreams, which is a light and laser show projected onto Sleeping Beauty's castle, and then go to our reservation at Cape Cod in the Newport Bay hotel but as we walked out of our room it was absolutely pouring with rain! We started to walk along the river but we hadn't taken the buggy and L was really struggling against the weather so we diverted into the Sequoia Lodge hotel instead of going to the park and decided on an early dinner in Hunters Grill restaurant instead as I love this buffet.

It was lovely and quiet and the food was brilliant as always - the only down side was that I wasn't paying proper attention when I was using the food tongs and lifted my hand a bit too high, burning it on the heat lamps that kept the food hot. I took an ice cube out of my drink and wrapped it in a napkin but it was very quickly apparent that I needed something more substantial on it so I asked the waiter for some more ice and he brought me a large cup full with a stack of napkins - very embarrassing!! I had to sit through the whole meal with it wrapped up, repeatedly changing it as the heat from the burn kept melting the ice! We had a really enjoyable meal other than that and when we were finished we popped upstairs to look round the hotel boutique (still no Frozen soft toys - eek) and sat by the fire in the bar. More and more people were coming back to the hotel soaked from the rain that didn't seem to be letting up so we decided that we should head back to the Hotel Santa Fe, we needed to collect L's shopping from earlier in the day and E wanted to FaceTime Daddy again so we went to the bar via the shop.

Another day was over already, time flies when you're having fun!!

AFUK x

Day 2 - Disneyland Paris trip report

So, onto Day 2 of our Disneyland Paris adventure - Monday 10th February 2014

We all have a good nights sleep and woke up at about 08.30 - if you stay in a Disney hotel you are entitled to use Extra Magic Hours (EMH), which basically means you get an extra two hours in the parks first thing in the morning before they open the gates to the general public, however this wasn't in use today so no need for us to rush thankfully. We got ready and headed to breakfast at 09.45ish - we've stayed at the Hotel Santa Fe before but have always avoided breakfast as I hate crowds and it is a bit of a scrum but I was very pleasantly surprised this morning; there was no queue and although it was busy it was very civilised. We had to hunt for bowls & plates but the food was fresh and it was a very easy, simple service.

Tummies full, we collected the buggy from our room and then take a leisurely stroll along the Rio Grande river towards the Disney Village - very happy to say that we didn't get on one of the free shuttle buses (think sardine tins) at all this trip!  Little man is four and a half now so hasn't used a buggy at home for a couple of years but there is so much walking and, usually, long days here so a buggy comes in very handy and gets more use that you'd think!!  It was a lovely morning and the wind had died right down so was a lot more pleasant today. We arrived at the park and saw Goofy outside one of the boutiques - E was ecstatic to see him and I was equally pleased to see organised queue lines; being a good old Brit, the thing that annoys me the most is the lack of queuing in Europe! Quick pose with Goofy and we then crossed over to see Minnie & Duffy who were doing a joint Meet & Greet. There's a bit of a queue here but it was lovely watching all the little children interact with both characters at once - it's the first time I've seen them both together here and it made it seem that little bit more special.

First few autographs in the book and we were off to a great start. Off next to show Nanny (L) the castle and try to pull the sword out of the stone - another first as E has never noticed it before so we had a couple of minutes of fun giving it a go before heading to Alice's Curious Labyrinth. It's one of the only thing's that E was insistent we did this trip as he remembers it really well from November. We spent a good half an hour wandering round and having fun trying to find the castle in the middle again before leaving. As we left we saw the Mad Hatter doing a meet & greet at the photo location just outside but E thought he looked a bit scary so we didn't stop and instead walked round towards IASW (It's a Small World ride). As we got nearer we saw that Pinocchio and Gepetto were outside one of the restaurants so we queued to meet them (love a good queue!!) and whilst we were waiting Cinderella walked past and said hello.

No wait at all on IASW so a lovely quick ride round and as we came out Belle was just walking into the Princess Pavillion (where you can queue - for hours sometimes - to meet one of the princesses) and said 'Bonjour' - we felt like we were surrounded by characters at this point and E was in his absolute element! Whilst chatting excitedly about Belle we spied Tigger - yippee, more meet and greets (M&G's)! He was right opposite the teacup ride so we left the buggy locked up and wandered over - there was no queue line here but he was going from left to right of the crowd and the Cast Member (that's what they call the staff here) repeatedly told everyone so there was no pushing or shoving. E found Tigger hilarious, especially when he leant on his head to sign his autograph book lol.

We collected the buggy (another tip - always lock it up, they go missing!) and decided to head to Adventureland where we spotted Peter Pan & Wendy but their queue line had just closed so we decided that we'd try and catch them later in the week. Lots of explaining to L what all the theming is and she loved the pirate ship on Adventure Isle. We carried on walking around and saw Baloo with hardly any queue at all so ran over for cuddles and autographs - I have never seen so many random M&G's before and felt like we had a very productive few hours. As we've been poorly we decided not to push ourselves and headed out for a late lunch and planned to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon. When we walked back out onto Central Plaza in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle there were lots of Cast Member's in the middle who were playing with skipping ropes with some children and they also had some hoops & balls etc to interact with guests - it really, really appealed to me and although it was something really small it felt like it made a big difference to the magic and enjoyment of everyone around.

We ate in Annette's Diner in the Disney Village, it's like a proper American diner so a novelty for us and we all, L especially, loved it - she was really taken with the decor and the waiters on roller skates. The food was really nice, very hot and tasty and great service so felt like we got good value for money at 56 euros for the three of us - it's not cheap to eat at Disneyland but it doesn't have to be as expensive as lots of people make out. It's no different from most theme parks in fairness.

It's about 4pm now and we take a slow walk back along the Rio Grande river to the hotel. We rest for a bit and then go to the petrol station just outside the hotel to pick up some snacks & drinks before heading to the Rio Bar for a well earned cup of tea (yup, there's that English thing again!!) and connect to the hotels free wifi for FaceTime with Daddy at home. We head back to our room at 7.30ish via the concierge to book a character breakfast at Cafe Mickey for the next morning.

Early nights all round and more to come soon :)

AFUK x