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
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