Originally Posted By u k fan I just got back and I'll try and get a report up tomorrow. We spent all day yesterday at the Disneyland Park so didn't see too much of the new openings, but that was a conscious decision!!!
Originally Posted By leemac Sorry to miss you ukfan - although I was in the Studios all day Saturday for the Tower/Stitch events. Hope you had a great time despite the fact it was absolutely freezing. Snow in April just isn't funny.
Originally Posted By u k fan We missed the snow at DLP, but drove through it on the way to Calais. In fact we ate ice reams while we watched HSM2 yesterday! If I'd have known how to get hold of you Lee, I would have done. I haven't seen you for ages. Knowing that the Studios would be packed we hit DL park and it was really quiet for a saturday for some reason!!!
Originally Posted By sarahwithbaloo If you made the concious decision to avoid the openings this was probably the perfect weekend to go with most people going to the studios or staying away assuming it would be mad busy.
Originally Posted By u k fan Considering it was a saturday in April we got lots done. We even broke off for a few hours to visit the hypermarche and book in to our hotel. And there were characters everywhere. Just walking the streets saying hello to people. It's very bizarre to be walking around Adventure Isle only to stumble upon Peter Pan and Wendy walking the other way. Not doing anything in particular - just saying "Hi" to people as the pass them. And then 30 seconds later to do the same thing with Jack Sparrow. It really adds to the magic to just find these characters wandering around as if they do it everyday. It makes Adventureland more real. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself! Back later!!!
Originally Posted By u k fan Ok, so here's what will most likely be the first part of my trip report. So I'm sitting at work on Friday when at 4pm my sister phones and says that my nephew has had a bad day, she's had a bad week and that she'd love to take her and the kids to DLP. 5 minutes later I called her back with a prices of £125 each +petrol and the next thing I know I'm rearranging my weekend to fit in a trip to DLP. In order to maximise our time we booked ourselves onto a 3am ferry and decided to drive through the night. We left home at midnight. So after a quick KFC, two episodes of Torchwood and a quick trip to the supermarket I was ready to go. The journey was fairly uneventful and we arrived at DLP just after 9am to find that the weather could best be described as drizzly. We packed a bag full of clean clothes and toiletries and washed and dressed in the disabled toilet in the car park (I stashed the bag at left luggage at the park entrance). Knowing that the Studios would be busy because of the events we headed to DL park for a quick breakfast of muffins and brioche at the Cable Car Bakery. By the time we were ready to go it was probably gone 11 (maybe later). One of the things that my neice really wanted to do was meet Jessie and Woody so we headed into Frontierland to see them first. Along the way we passed Chip and Dale, Pluto and Kenai (and possibly Goofy). They were attracting middle sized crowds so we kept moving. The farthest end of Frontierland was dead and we found Jessie at the new meet n greet area with no queue at all. We spent some time with her and then decided to ditch our stroller and hop on a train to Fantasyland. While we were waiting for the train (which also had no queue) Woody came out so we took a chance and went to see him as well. He had a very small queue and just as we wrapped up with him the train arrived so we caught the train and headed into Fantasyland. We decided to visit IASW and as we walked past Alice's Labyrinth we bumped into Alice, The Mad Hatter, The Queen of Hearts and Tweedles Dum and Dee. We said a quick hello to Alice and off we went. Once again there was a whole aisle of the IASW queue not being used so we were quickly on our way. I was pleased to see that the missing dolls from my last visit were back, but my favorite AA (the Happiest Leopard on Earth) was gone and a couple of background pieces weren't moving. Very minor things that no-one else would notice, but all in all it was in pretty good shape. I tried to picture where the characters might go in this version. I'm not keen on the kids dressed as characters idea, but mightn't be opposed to them being toys in the background. I'm still not convinced though. Nephew had decided to buy a hat in each land (having picked up a cowboy hat in Frontierland) so we headed off towards the shops to see what they had. He actually gave up pretty much straight away so he now just has the cowboy hat! As we passed through Fantasyland we came upon Gaston who was scowling his way past us. This led to an amusing exchange with nephew who had forgotten that not all characters are rubber heads and wondered why someone would dress as Gaston! We then headed over to Adventureland for a ride on POTC. This also looked good and sounded amazing. The swinging pirate was right on cue as was the sword fight. The only thing I spotted was that the cat in the water wasn't moving, but at least he was there. Again so trivial it's barely worth noting. We then had a quick tour through Adventure Isle where we bumped into Peter Pan and Wendy and then decided it was time for lunch. Mickey pizza is always a winner so we headed to Col Hathi's and on the way we passed Captain Jack Sparrow and Genie. As we finished lunch our fastpasses for BTM became active so we left sis and neice and headed off for the wildest ride in the wilderness. Nothing much to report here, it was as good as always. We then picked up our stroller from the Woody meet n greet area and went back to Hathi's. We decided that this would be a good time to go and check in at our hotel and we wanted to visit the hypermarket in Val d'Europe which is closed on Sundays so we headed out of the park, leaving our stroller by the toliets at the exit hoping it would be there later. As we got back to the car we realised that we'd left the bag at left luggage and that it had our reservation details in it. Rather then walk back we drove to the DL hotel and I walked back to pick it up from there. While I was doing this it started to rain again. The drizzle had disappeared about the same time as we entered the park, but this was now proper rain. Thankfully it was gone withi an hour or so. We stayed at the Hotel Elysee which is one of the "Good Neighbour" hotels. We had stayed in the Elysee a few years back and had been impressed. Sadly, our room was in a pretty sorry state. The plugs looked like they could fall of the wall at any moment and there was mould on the ceiling in the bathroom. Considering we had booked less than 24 hours before we arrived and had payed bargain bucket prices we didn't complain, but I might have if we'd payed top whack and were staying longer. I'll certainly think twice before booking again. The staff were fantastic though. After dumping our stuff we headed across the road for a quick shopping trip. The Disney store near the hypermarket was a disappointment as it's usually quite good, but we were soon headed back towards DLP so we didn't care. Knowing that we would want to shop in the village after the park closed we parked at the New York and walked in from there. We had missed our only chance to see the parade, but the crowds were now thinning nicely and the park still had several hours before it closed. Neice wanted to see the castle and more of Fantasyland so we headed there first. After seeing the castle we headed to the caroussel and the rode Snow White. Neice had never ridden SW before and sis and nephew said they hadn't either, but I'm not sure. Anyway, there were a few moments when neice (who's 3) got a bit fretful so we left Pinocchio for next time. IMHO, Pinoke is nowhere near as good as SW and is just as dark. We then had a quick ride on the Teacups. I was keeping the speed down to a dull roar, but neice wanted to go faster so what could I do? After that we headed over to the Pizzaria Belle Notte for a bite to eat (pasta this time). As we left Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and one other (Donald perhaps) passed by. By now the park had maybe an hour or so until closing so we headed into Discoveryland for a quick trip with Buzz. I can't remember if I got to level 3 or level 4, but I won so who's counting?! We had wanted to hit Star Tours or "The Rocket Ride" as we billed it to neice, but she was too short to ride so "The Rocket Ride" became the Orbitron instead. She absolutely loved it and it more than made up for the fact that we hadn't ridden Dumbo. By now it was dark and Nephew and I decided to have a quick trip on Space Mountain. I don't know if they've done something to it, but it seemed wilder this time. It may just have been the fact that they'd been having technical problems so I was waiting to fall out, lol! The park was now closing so we headed down Main Street and off to the village for some shopping. As this was a quick trip I wanted to get a couple of cheap souviners for the kids back home and a couple of specific presents for a birthday and an anniversary I have coming up. I was very underwhelmed by what was on offer. Maybe if I'd been shopping less specifically I might have found more, but I really struggled. Thankfully, my wallet has breathed a sigh of relief, but it was very disappointing for a person like me who likes buying Disney tat and enjoys buying gifts as much as some of the attractions to not find much I wanted to buy. We got back to our car just sfter 11pm and headed back to the hotel. We planned to get up early to take advantage of the EMH the following morning and as we hadn't slept (the adults at least) since we got up on Friday morning it wasn't long before we were all out for the count. Oh, and in case you're wondering - our stroller was still there by the toilets 3 hours later!!! Most of the parked looked great and was mostly litter free, but my goodness some of Fantasyland needs some work. The caroussel needs some TLC straight away. It wouldn't look out of place at a rundown seaside park. This was a definite low point for me. I actually felt sad seeing the hoses in the condition they wre in. I'm happy to say that I was very impressed with seeing so many characters in the park and with the exception of the characters in Frontierland at the start of the day they were just wandering around the same way you or I would. It may well have been because the place was swarming with press, but either way it was great. Please keep it up Disney! Tomorrow, WDSP and my official reviews of two new attractions!!!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Thanks for this Kiz, cannot wait to read the reviews. Unbelievable the number of characters, especially so many face ones, wow! Shame to hear about the carousel though. And I agree, so much retail space, so little to care about. I love the 15th anniversary range, but there is so little on offer, especially for adults.
Originally Posted By u k fan Thanks guys. It was great to see so many characters out and about. And I completely agree Dave about the shopping. I was struggling to find anything to buy for children as well. It probably didn't help that all I wanted was something small, but I didn't get anything for myself. Mind you, I'm hoping to pick up my WDCC Frollo at the weekend so I can't complain!!!
Originally Posted By u k fan One other thing I forgot to mention was that we didn't wait once to be served for food. I can get that at the Bella Notte because we ate late, but we ate at Hathi's just after 1pm and was greeted by a CM at the door who asked how big our party was and then lead us to a waiting CM who took our order immediately. We were eating within a couple of minutes!!!
Originally Posted By irishfan >>and was greeted by a CM at the door who asked how big our party was and then lead us to a waiting CM who took our order immediately.<< A greeter at a non sit down restaurant? At DLP?
Originally Posted By irishfan I know!!!<< The cynic in me would put it down to the fact the park would have had a lot of media strolling around.
Originally Posted By u k fan Me too, but either way I'm not complaining. The service was excellent this weekend and with a few notable exceptions the park looked fantastic!!!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Interesting, it's like when Michael Eisner was in, there was always more entertainment on and a full compliment of floats and dancers in the parades. Thanks for sharing Kiz, please do write up your review of TOT and Stitch.
