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[Lani]

Trying to find time to write out a proper account for our time at disney! I've already posted with pictures of the food in the relevent thread but I hope to be able to expand a bit in this post.

So we set off at about 6:40am for Pitsea train station for our train at around 7:30. Got there, got tickets and had an extremely cold and icy wait at the platform for about 20 mins. Boyfriend was a bit miserable as he hadn't managed to get much sleep before and I was starting to worry if he'd perk up in time for our arrival in France!
Headed into London on the train and got a cab from Fenchurch St to St Pancreas for about £14 but £15 with tip.
Headed to the Eurostar check in service and went and had some breakfast at the small coffee/cafe place, I've forgotten the name, I do remember I had a lovely yoghurty oaty compote thing. I was expecting a scrum when it came to our train boarding (we got the disney express service with luggage transfers) but it was a bit more civilised than I expected (can't say the same about the return journey however!)
Once in our Standard Premier seats (the only ones that were left when it came to our booking) the train departed and I had a bit of trouble with my ears going through the frequent tunnels leading up to the crossing. However, the actually tunnel was relatively easy, may of helped that we'd just been served our continental breakfast after departing from Ashford station. The breakfast was passable, included a breakfast roll (wholewheat I think) a croissant a pot of tiptree marmalade (a nice touch for us as we live relatively close), butter, salt and pepper, a pot of yoghurt and a tropicana drink. They also came round and offered pain du chocolats and hot drinks. (I'm not keen on croissants and pain du chocolats that haven't been warmed as they don't taste right to me)

After arriving we used the direct luggage service which went smoothly and we'd already recieved our tickets and all other paperwork apart from our room keys. We headed straight over to the studio's as armageddon and art of disney animation were both going to be closed every other day of our trip. Was amazed at how empty everywhere was, walked almost straight on to armageddon. Was a bit dissapointed in this ride, not just for the fact that the compere guy spoke entirely in French and the subtitles didn't do the intro any justice as for one, I'm a bit on the short size and had to stand on tip toes and it didn't quite capture the essense of what the guy was saying (from my sketchy knowledge of french).
So after a bit of a dissapointing first ride which felt a bit dated to both of us we decided to try the Rock and Rolla Coaster and we picked up fast track tickets for 2 hours on. After walking away from the machines a helpful man offered us his and his daughters fasttrack tickets which were for in an hour.
After pottering around for a bit and taking full opportunity of the photo ops...

We then queued for the ride. After a brief fumble trying to work out the time we realised my boyfriend had forgotten to change the time on his phone and realised the fast track lady had been quite gernerous letting us on as we must of missed our slot.
It was once we boarded the ride and went through the opening 0 to 60 acceleration that I went to pieces! I don't know what happened but something about that part scared me into not breathing for most the ride and my legs were actually shaking when we got off the ride! Once off the ride I cheered up a bit and we headed off for the decidedly more tame art of Disney Animation and got to see a clip of the next release, Tangled, which looks fab I must say. Then saw the stars and cars parade and got a couple of pictures:

and another photo op

Then got a picture of the Tower of Terror (which I was secretly terrified of facing)


We didn't do much else that day but look around the shops (where I brought my first pin set and lanyard ( a pink princess one) And later on we ate at Rainforest Cafe wich was lovely ( I especially liked the rain storms, although my boyfriend mentioned how in all the other rainforests he's been to the animals perk up and make noise during the storm which they didn't really do whilse we were there. Boyfriend also wanted to order the Volcano but I refused as I was feeling a bit sick by that point!
 Last thing that day before heading back to the hotel was to see the tree lighting ceromony. We didn't get a great position and couldn't see the characters so we settled for standing on the gazebo and just watching the tree, it was so pretty and I got a couple of picture before the lighting:

^ the decorations around the gazebo


And so I'l start on day two in a minute!

[bekiboo26]

wow what a brilliant report! looking forward to the next bit!  =D>

[brenjo]

great start - lovely photos!  Can't wait to read more  

[Lani]

Has taken me longer than I expected to get around to finishing off this report what with UCAS uni applications and coursework and whatnot but I feel I can add to it now

After waking up after our first night in the Cheyenne I ran to the window to check the weather and low and behold at 6:30am there was a completely untouched blanket of snow outside! It was also pretty dark and I could see some shapes moving in the snow which turned out to be a family of rabbits! I even got a photo when we left for breakfast at the Chuck Wagon of the marks they'd left

Being a massive animal fan this made the start to my snowy magical day all the more special as today was going to be the first day in the actual park.
After a hurried breakfast in a decidedly empty Chuck Wagon (it definately pays to get up early! Glad I read up on these things beforehand) we left to get the shuttle into the park and arrived at the entrance at 8:05am and the place was deserted! We got to the castle (as i'd made a beeline for it!) just as a castmember was taking down some kind of rope and asked him to take our photo,

Many, many attractions were closed in the early opening hours as a couple of the ones I believe are normally open in Fantasyland were closed for maintainence. We headed over to Discoveryland and headed up to Space Mountain (which I was a bit worried about after yesterdays experience haha )
Waited at the entrance for about 2 minutes before the cast member started letting us in. Asides from myself and my boyfriend there was only one other couple and a single rider. So only 5 of us took the first space mountain ride of the day and by this point I am LOVING early opening hours! I think it was a combination of the cold/snow and the fact it was a monday but this first day we were there it was so empty. Absolutely loved the ride but was a bit worried about my hair as it got all knotty were I wear it loose (so that was a note to self to put it up on subsequent rides)
Took this photo whilst walking around afterwards:

The next ride we tried was Buzz's Laser Blast and although it broke down twice (this was a common theme while we were here, same thing happened on many rides may of been due to the extreme weather?) it was still a great ride, another favourite. Because again there was only 4 of us on the ride I got a good photo of the Buzz you encounter on your way in


Walked back to fantasyland and got another good photo op


and some of the lovely sights



Back to main street (big rides still not open)



Next went on Peter Pan's and I was a bit disspointed as it didn't quite live up to the memory I had from when I was a kid but I gues that's to be expected. Still loved seeing the little cars down below! Also a bit of a warning, I got some oil/grease on one of my boots whilst on this ride so if like me you have expensive boots :@ be careful on that ride!
Next tried the Dumbo ride,


By this point my boots had also got soaked (dont ask me why I thought I could get away with Uggs in the snow) so we did I quick scan in the shops for pins, got some hot chocolate and snacks and headed back to the room for a bit to change and get warm. We then tried the bar but it was shut even though it should of been open according to the opening times. We went to the (very helpful) resteraunt reservations desk with the intention of booking a meal at Walt's parade time but was told they last served at 3. We then decided to book Auberge de Cendrillon for 3 and then headed back out into the park and headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean (my most anticipated ride!) and I got this shot on the way there (I think this gives you idea of how much snow there was!)

We queued for fasttrack thunder mountain before being told that the rails had frozen and needed to be cleared.
LOVED PotC and vowed to come back another day, was a bit surprised at getting splashed though! After that we went over to Phantom Manor (they had been shut when we had tried previously) This was another ride that broke down 4 times on our route and I have to say, it did kinda ruin it for me. As well as the whole story being in French which, compared to the last time I went when everything seemed to be in English was a little dissapointing. Enjoyed looking at the graves in boot hill afterwards though
Headed over for our meal and was told as we were about 15 mins early Cinderella wasn't currently avaliable and if we could come back in ten minutes which we did after having a look in some of the shops nearby. When we returned we were informed she still wasn't here but we were welcome to wait inside and I was having a great time looking at the absolutely charming little decorations on the tree they have up in the lobby, it had little tiny old fashioned chairs and everything
Then Cinderella returned and after a photo we were shown to our seats. Now, I'm quite the foodie (I'm hopefully following a cookery training course next year) and I know nice food and I was 100% impressed with the menu and presentation and just about everything! I can see that If you had children, or weren't a great appreciater of fine dining why you may feel ripped off but this meal absolutely made our(my) trip! I had photos with not only Cinderella but Ariel, Princess Aurora and Belle. Unfortunately I didn't really like the photos of me but heres one that's not as bad as the rest (I blame my boyfriend for the terrible angles he takes photos from)

We didn't do much else on this day! Neither of us felt that great because of the cold and we wanted an early start for the next day.


Now this day, I confess, I left my camera in my room. I took some photos on my boyfriends camera which he has yet to send to me but I still recorded most of what we did:
We headed in for another early opening hours but tried the studios instead only to find out it was only open from ten....so it was back to Buzz for two rides round!
We then went on the carousel and then went back to Thunder mountain this time queuing for about 15 mins before getting on. Was an awesome experience in the snow, the little animals in the middle were absolutely covered! Was so so cold when we got off! Headed back to main street and the shops before getting the train around and getting off for lunch at the cowboy cookout resteraunt. They weren't serving food for another 20 minutes so we took a seat around the recently lit fire although it failed to give out any heat had a half smoked chicken for lunch and it was gorgeous and the decor was right up my alley. After this we checked out the santa's grotto area and then walked back to the shuttles and went home for a nap (I know, we're quite lame) Then we headed out to disney villiage and went to Ludwigs for another steak set meal (this one cooked infitately better) and used our 20% off voucher we'd gotten from rainforest making this a very affordable meal. After a lovely meal we went pin searching in the shops and got some good ones I was collecting princess's so we were on a scout looking around all the shops for cast members.

On our last day I vowed to do Indiana Jones and the rides in the Studios. I also wanted to see the christmas villiage so we headed their first and did the villiage, and then the maze. We also saw a parade, the all stars one ?

Next was the toy story area and the ride I'd wanted to go on, the parachutes was closed due to the weather so we didn't go on any of the rides here.
Instead we went over to the Tower of Terror and in retrospect, I enjoyed it and loved the decor, idea, theming, and even watched the 1997 movie based on the ride when I got home but at the time I was so very scared!

After this we went into Liki Tiki (?) for lunch and I had some nuggets which were horrible so I didn't really have much for lunch.

After this we went over to the park with the intention of riding Indiana Jones but it was still closed (we'd tried on previous occasiosn) and apparently the mechanisms had frozen? Or something like that.
Decided to ride PotC again and there was no arguements from me!
Next tried out Captain EO but was a bit dissapointed, but loved the hydraulics in the seats.
Went back to do Space Mountain again and was every bit as good (and empty) as the first time! We then saw the star wars characters coming out and got a photo with Chewbacca

(again not a great photo, chewy messed up my hair!)
Next we went on Nautilus which was great! One of my favourite bits, loved the old fashioned diving suit.
Only one thing left after some more shopping and that was the parade! Got there (maybe a little too) early and by the end of the parade I was so cold I couldn't press down on the camera buttons.

[Lani]

Some extra photos...

[kelly.dylan]

Lovely photos and great report so far :thumbs: The snow looks very pretty but i really hope it holds off until we have been x