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Part 3 - 27th of July 2011

First of all I realised I forgot to include a photo of my Chicken Caesar Salad from Earl of Sandwich (taken with a different camera) - shame on me! Here you go:



On with the trip report and day 2 - our first full day of the trip... We were having breakfast at La Cantina at 7 AM and I knew I needed to do some shoulder exercises before breakfast, so I was waken by my iPhone at 6.15 AM - a little more than 5 hours after falling asleep. Normally this would be straight forward impossible for me to do, but when you are in a place like Disneyland it never seems to be a problem getting up early - I always sleep FANTASTICALLY well here, so while there 5-6 hours of sleep is more than enough.

Well after a bath and completing the exercises (to (re)train my shoulders) off we were to La Cantina for the first breakfast of the trip. Although the continental breakfast only just offers what's necessary it did seem like a breakfast sent from heaven after tuesday mornings lack of breakfast. The plate was filled with two croissants and a pain au chocolat (YUMMY!) and with a ball of fruit salad and a cup of tea for me and coffee for Kristian we were all ready to use the EMH  as we headed towards the Disneyland Park at 7:50 AM - it was a stunning, sunny morning that promised really good weather for the day







At 8.10 AM we were in Disneyland Park and not many people had found their way there so early - one of the reasons I love EMH. Main Street is very charming filled with people, but there is also something very charming about an almost deserted Main Street and Central Plaza. Of course we also used the time to try some of the opened attractions starting with Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast - I got a decent score of 135k - not great, but also not bad considering it as the first go of the trip. This was a walk-on and as was SM:M2 which we tried afterwards. We were seated in the back, which is pretty rough, yet I still enjoyed the ride. With the recent discussion of Mission 1 and Mission 2 on here I can say that I am very sorry for not having tried Mission 1 - the ride itself is the same I know, but it sure does seem as if the Mission 1 had the story and details that would make it an absolute top class WDI attraction. Mission 2 still seem a bit shallow, although some of the effects are quite nice.

After using 15 minutes to try two attractions which would normally take up to 2 hours we went towards Fantasyland passing by the castle in the beautifully refurbished Castle in the morning sun... Pictures show it better than words say it - it was just so BEAUTIFUL:















After studying the castle and visiting the dragon we headed to Peter Pan's Flight and as we got into the queue and near the loading station we both said that it smelled really burned and it was really warm just around the place where the ride vehicles "enter" the show building. We didn't think more of it, but noticed it the other mornings too. The ride itself was way too dark this morning, in London you could only see Big Ben and the details of Neverland were also hard to spot. These two scenes are - for me at least - a huge part of why this attraction outclasses Snow White and Pinocchio, so it was a bit sad to see them in this state. We slowly started to walk towards the exit as we just as last year wanted to get in the queue for WDS when they open the gates at 9.30 in order to get into the queue for Crush (crazy that this is necessary still - a clear result of low capacity rides). While walking out of the park I took some time to photograph details in both Fantasyland and once again on the beautiful Chateau de la Belle au bois Dormant. I was especially glad to see the Sleeping Beauty fountain inside the gallery working - it is a great little detail that really adds to the finesse and elegancy of the Gallery.













Before heading into the studios I had to stop by the Cable Car Bake Shop for the delicious Chocolate Cookies, which are by far the best cookies I have ever tasted (sorry Mum! ). I have to get those on a trip in order for it to be complete! I felt really sorry for the CMs in there, because their counters were filled with wasps - I think about 10 wasps were inside the counter buzzing around between cookies, doughnuts and cup cakes - it must really have been like paradise for them But poor CMs who - understandably - seemed rather scared....



We were in queue for the Studios at app. 9.20 AM and found the smallest queue, which of course was the slowest moving when the gates were opened 10 minutes later. When we arrived at Crush they had already opened the first part of outdoor queueing (the rope-queue that has taken over the beautiful oasis of the carpets making it a crammed queue line ) They were openening the queue line in 4 stages up until 10 AM sharp when the first people came out of the attraction. I tried this for the first time last summer and again this summer we would notice how different each ride is - this makes the attraction worth trying each morning. I am very sorry that the dark ride part isn't longer as it is very beautiful - I guess it would allow more cars on the tracks as well creating a bigger capacity, which is the rides main problem. I noticed that the amount of people before us in the queue actually wasn't very big - yet it still took us more than 20 minutes from the attraction was opened and we were seated in a shell. Big problem!

We went to Twilight Zone Tower of Terror to get a fastpass and for the first time of many we were behind people who wouldn't accept that their tickets (and/or the machine) didn't work. In stead of asking the CM for help they just kept trying and trying and trying creating a huge queue - each time people asked the CM it took them less than 2 seconds to print a fast pass ticket and the queues were kept at a minimum. But we got our fastpass tickets and some time to kill - off to the one tour in STT that you need on each trip. You only need this trip to see Catastrophe Canyon however, which is still an impressive set that makes the attraction worthwile to try, because it is not due to the rest of the ride, which gets worse and worse for each time I go... To name a few problems:

- Going to and from CC you see the same props
- The costume building has been gone for a long time, yet they haven't bothered cutting it out of the on board movie yet
- The removed RC Racer photo location prop is now placed among the "real cars" from movies - this is just a joke towards the seemingly real prop cars still there.







Before using our ToT FP we went to Toy Story Playland to take some video for the trip video - we decided to come back after ToT to try Toy Soldier Parachute Drop - the other attraction we wanted to try in TSPL. First of all it was time for ToT however - the CM at the entrance warned people about longer waiting times due to technical difficulties, but we decided to go on it still. It turned out that only one of the three shafts were working creating some massive queues in the boiler room - I didn't complain as this gave us loads of time to study this beautifully themed story building place - we had never been in a more fitting mood when placed in our service elevator. We already felt as being a part of the twilight zone! :lol:

After this thrilling drop it was time for the childrens' drop - Toy Soldier Parachute Drop. We knew about the single rider line and weren't really in need of sitting together. However being the first time on the ride we decided to go for the 45 minute "normal" queue line so we could see this. It is the best of the three queue lines in TSPL creating the best story of being in the soldier's training camp and especially the Pixar produced boarding video was really good and funny. However, the guest behaviour once again was not. How people can stand by watching their kids climbing on, beating at, falling from and wrecking the sets, which are placed behind bars, I still fail to understand. This is not just thinking about the sets but also the children - several children could have hurt themselves real bad falling from some of these sets! As for the ride itself it was quite smooth and offered a decent view of the park, but it was way more uncomfortable being afraid of heights than ToT is - this was clearly due to the fact that you are out in free air with your legs hanging under the seat. This combined with the fact that we didn't find it worth the wait meant that this was our only go on this ride. A decent part of TSPL, but not something that will make people come back (or at least I do not think so).

As we exited the ride the Green Army Men streetmosphere was on - this was easily the best thing about TSPL. Streetmosphere of high class with the three army men taking their time to entertain both children and grown ups. The only issue was that the entire Playland was blocked while the "show" was on, but it was really popular and rightly so!

That was a wrap for the studios for this time as we headed back towards Disneyland Park with Toad Hall as the first stop and with Tarzan le Recontre at 4.15 PM as the main attraction. While walking towards Toad Hall I was made so happy by two sights of great quality:

1. Main Steet Vehicles out in the middle of the day - I am so happy that this is now even more possible with the moving of Dance Express to the Castle Stage area. Nothing is better than walking down Main Street seeing the beautiful old vehicles coming slowly towards you with the Castle in the background. That should be the comeback of the Barber Shop Quartet if anything!

2. Scaffolding coming down on Col. Hathi's revealing a bright and amazingly coloured building which fitted into the greenery to perfection. Unfortunately the rest of the scaffolding didn't come down while we were there!

Once in Toad Hall we treated ourselves with the lovely Fish'n'Chips - I am always surprised at how early they close this restaurant (app. 7 PM) - in it's opening time it is always one of the most packed restaurants and I can easily understand why. Some of the best fast food available in both parks.







We had about 1.5 hour before we had to queue up for Tarzan and decided that BTM was the right ride for this amount of time. Another great ride on this fantastic attraction. But our heads were somewhere else - or at least my head was: The Chaparral Stage, where Tarzan awaited.

Although being an old show given comeback this was still a fantastic addition to the programme in my opinion as it a top class show which is based on a Disney story and with Disney music, but most of all showcases some amazing acrobatics and elegant circus tricks done by top class performers. I love the set too and as we waited for the show to begin I remembered my memories from the show from when I was younger - the fondest memory I had was the time I joined the Trashin' the camp session, but after seeing it on this trip the fondest memory is without a doubt the amazingly talented performers, who were absolutely terrific. I heard rumours earlier that the acrobatics had been made even bigger, better and more dangerous for this comeback season and one thing is sure - every muscle in the performers' bodies was used during the show! Fantastic!!























Afterwards both me and Kristian quickly agreed that we needed to see it again later on the trip! Still filled with energy we decided to once again switch parks in order to use the last hours of opening time in WDS to avoid the biggest queues and then head back to the hotel afterwards. On our way to WDS we noticed that BTM was once again closed due to technical difficulties - this time it seemed more serious than on tuesday as all trains were taken off the track and cast members were unable to tell people when it would be back on.

In the Studios we went to check the information board and according to the times we would be able to try Tower of Terror one more time and still manage to see Cinémagique at 5.45 PM. However we quickly realized that the queue was way longer than what the board had said. Being in the queue already we decided to stay put for another drop into the twilight zone and save Cinémagique for later. After ToT we had time to try RC Racer one more time - once again it was a boring 40 minutes waiting in the almost empty queue line and once again I got to think about the lack of attention to detail regarding the RC spare parts in the queue line. [spoiler:lkmyp6bc]One would assume that they are meant to be spare parts to the Racer, which is on the hot wheels track. However, none of the spare parts are of a size similar to the vehicle. Also some of the spare parts aren't even on the vehicle (for instance the felloes). I like the idea of using spare parts as props in the queueing line, but I would expect a bigger attention to detail from WDI. It's the same thing about the Barrel of Monkeys, which is no where as big as Rex, Buzz or RC in real life sizes, but in TSPL it is way bigger than all three. It can seem like minor details, but it is those who make the "Disney difference", when they have been made properly[/spoiler:lkmyp6bc] The following pictures are from monday and shows the queue for RC:







Well it was time to head back to the hotel and by now the high sun of the morning was gone and it started to rain heavily!!

Part 4 coming tomorrow - including the first night ride on BTM, a first time restaurant experience for me and an amazing late night visit to Phantom Manor!

[15MagicalYears]

Great Trip Report, I'm really enjoying it. & about the smell at Peter Pan, it's from the smoke from the chimneys, I only realised this as my old theatre group used the exact same smoke in their shows.

[jackieann]

Great photos again, looking forward to part

[DLP-Photos.com]

Great Trip Report, I'm really enjoying it. & about the smell at Peter Pan, it's from the smoke from the chimneys, I only realised this as my old theatre group used the exact same smoke in their shows.

Nice to know although it is a very strong scent though - and as a matter of fact I could have sworn the chimneys weren't working. Well they must have been... thanks for clearing that up!

[DLP-Photos.com]

Part 4 - 27th of July 2011:

Time for part 4 of the trip report and part 2 of day 2. This evening I didn't bring my camera, so this update will be quite text heavy. Having left the studios at closing time in heavy rain we were heading back to Disneyland Park at app. 7.40 PM - and now, luckily, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining a bit again - perfect timing!

We were looking for something to eat as we were getting hungry and we ended up in Frontierland and in front of Last Chance Café where I had never eaten before even though it was my 12th trip. We spotted some chicken on the menu, which would be a good yet quick meal allowing us to make the most of the evening. The café was very small but also very charmy filled with the Thunder Mesa atmosphere inside - the recently added/rebuilt outdoor section was a bit more plain but added some much needed seating, because the café was close to being full! After eating we had app. 3 hours left of opening time and as you will be able to see in this part of the report I think we managed quite a lot during these hours



We knew that Adventureland and Fantasyland would close at 10 PM due to the fireworks, so we decided to start the evening in Adventureland with another lovely trip to the caribbean - it was a bit more of a walk-on this time and it was clear that this corner of the park was getting empty - presumably also because both Toad Hall and Au Chalet de la Marionette were closed already. As on all other times on both POC and IaSW we sat in a boat queue for some minutes at the end of the ride. This makes for the huge capacity in the middle of the day, but in the end of the day when half of the boats are empty it feels a bit unnecessary to sit there with an empty boat in front of you and an empty boat behind you. This "problem" is way bigger on IaSW though as the area you are stuck in inside POC is way better themed!

We decided to stay in Adventureland a little longer heading for our first expedition with Indy - we went through Adventure Isle which will hopefully receive some attention too before the 20th - this was especially visible due to the low water level and turned off water fall. Weird to say but Adventure Isle was actually more beautiful back in december than now in July where you would think of it as being in blossom and very green, lush and beautiful. I beg for this to be refurbished - combined with the ongoing refurbishments of the galley and Tree House this would once again make Adventure Isle the most beautiful place in any Magic Kingdom style park in the world!

Indiana Jones was in contrast to this looking really good - it seemed like the queue line had been given some attention. Many of the ruins, sculptures and little details seemed brighter and clearer than ever making it a much better overall experience. As a matter of fact the ride itself seemed smoother than for a long time too, so all in all a very positive expedition with the world's toughest archeologist!

We knew we wanted to finish the day in Frontierland to try and see the fireworks from aboard BTM as we did three times last year. Heading to Discoveryland we noticed that it would be possible to try BTM one time before heading to Discoveryland, so in to the queue we went. Right behind us was a very "pushy" man, who with crossed arms kept bumping in to us sort of applying "move faster, move faster" at one point I was close to saying something to me when it was not just his elbows but also his stomach which was bumped in to my back. I somehow switched places with Kristian half way through the queue and he had the exact same experience with him. In the end it just gave us a good laugh and something to think back on when queueing on the rest of the trip :lol:

After having been let loose in the wild west on BTM we were ready to be let loose into space in Discoveryland and Space Mountain Mission 2. This would also be the only night with us doing silly on-ride photos like last year. Kristian had a hoodie on which could be zipped all the way over the face and he did this in both BTM and SM:M2 for the photos. In the end we didn't bother to keep doing this on the trip. This time we were placed on row 1 of a car in the middle of the train (row 9 I think it was) and these were without a doubt the best seats we had on SM:M2 during the trip - in fact it wasn't rough at one single point allowing you to enjoy the ride and the details inside the mountain - GREAT!



Exiting Space Mountain we were greeted by the beautiful sight of Discoveryland by night - the beautiful lake with Nautilus, Space Mountain and the newly refurbished Orbitron created a stunning sight for which I would have wished I had had my camera with tripod! Unfortunately I didn't and the time was close to 10.25 - the time for the start of Fantillusion and the last chance to cross over Main Street by Gibson Girl. We got there in time and was ready for some magical 30 minutes of night time Frontierland, which was almost completely empty. As we wanted to see the fireworks from BTM we headed to Phantom Manor and what would turn out to be the best CM experience of the trip...

When we arrived to the front door we were the only people there and when the doors opened we were just 7 people who were let in. The elevator opened and inside he stood! A seemingly hunchbacked CM wearing complete costume and tall hat with a silly yet true PM grin on his face. It was clear that he was meant to switch with the CM who had opened the door, but he just said to him "let me have this one" and the doors to the stretching room closed and we were in for a treat. He took his time creating the right mood for the show and interacting with each of us, before starting the pre-show with a perfectly timed snap with the finger. During the pre-show he creepily walked around playing with the 7 of us, but he stayed by the edge of the room with the 7 of us standing close together in the centre. By the time the light went out we knew he would want to scare some or all of us, but nobody had expected him to sneek his way in to the very centre of the 7 people group without any of noticing it. When the light went on there he was staring straight into the eyes of one the girls who was scared out of the stretching room. A magnificent CM and great to see at a time of the day when most CM's (understandably) looks like they want to go home!

We arrived at BTM with 20 minutes to the fireworks and a announced 30 minutes of waiting time - this however was more like 10 minutes, so we didn't see the fireworks on this time. However, we got to get an even funnier guest behaviour experience than previously that evening in the BTM queue - this time on the ride itself! We were seated in a car along a family of four with the son and father right in front of us and it was quickly clear that the dad would be hilarious to sit behind as we left the station and he started to make "whipping" gestures and make "whipping" noises. The son seemed to understand it equally as much as we did = no understanding at all! :lol: When the dad then screamed "Come on, Baby!!" while "whipping" the train we simply bursted into laugh - it was unbelievably funny although we were kind of sorry for the family as he was clearly embarrasing them, which was emphasized by the mum asking him "what the h*ll?!?" afterwards - his very honest response was simply "Oh, come on, you have to do a bit of screaming" :lol: :lol: Yeah, screaming - not encouraging the train to go faster by whipping it and screaming at it haha!

It was 10.55 PM and we queued up in hope of catching the fireworks - we were the very last in the queue meaning a very long waiting time as all trains except one would be taken off track during these minutes. When we were in our train the clock was 11.10 PM and when we exited the first lift hill all we could see was smoke and a lit-up castle. The first of three times trying to watch the fireworks from BTM wasn't a success!

We headed back to the hotel through Liberty Arcade and was probably in bed at 0.30 AM and once again we had breakfast at 7 AM. A fantastic first full day in the parks had come to and end giving us great experiences, funny guest behaviour, beautiful sights and one of the best CM experiences of all times!

We were completely ready for day 3, which would include an afternoon in Paris

To be continued.... (later today)

[ulak]

I very like your report style, words and very nice photos! Thank you!

[DLP-Photos.com]

Part 5 - 28th of July 2011:

**WARNING** Photo-heavy update coming up!

Up at 6.15 in order to get a bath and do my exercises - sorted!

Watch a couple of minutes of the annoying yet addictive "10 things to know before you go" film - sorted!

Breakfast at La Cantina at 7 AM - sorted!

Getting to the park for the EMH - sorted!

Yeah, the morning went according to the quickly established usual setup and we entered the worlds of history, discovery and ageless fantasy just after 8 AM. I noticed Minnie and Mickey in front of "Mickey's House" on Town Square but with no guests near them and when I got closer I could see just to children playing around with them and a professional photographer taking loads of photos using softboxes and more.. CM's guided people through Liberty Arcade and when at Central Plaza it was clear that the entire Main Street U.S.A had been closed off for this photoshoot - could it have been an initial session with Hugo Burnand or at least regarding this special limited offer?? Who knows and we quickly found our way to Discoveryland and started off in Buzz, where I got another decent score of 198300 - still not satisfying... When we wanted to try SM:M2 it was closed - probably due to early morning tech. difficulties... We went for another spin on Buzz where I got the amazing score of 10.000 due to the fact that I was filming the attraction this time

The Columbiad was still not firing anyone to outer space, so we decided to enter the world of ageless fantasy - Fantasyland. A lovely flight with Peter Pan was followed by a walk around Fantasyland in the cold and lightly rainy morning hours of this late july thursday - one would have expected better weather. Despite the weather I got to take some photos of lovely places like Les Pirouettes du Vieux Moulin, the new and very detailed Alice photo location and the cozy italian corner featuring Fantasia Gelati and Ristorante Bella Notte...

















And of course I once again had to photograph the beautiful Castle - this time with the equally as beautifully refurbished Castle Stage - I really wish they would use this for a top quality show next year for the 20th and get rid of the Central Plaza stage. That would be truly amazing!



We were well on our way to the queue up for WDS and Crush and noticed that Space Mountain had openend, so we decided to try it - oh how I wish we wouldn't done this... Remember how we yesterday agreed that row 9 was the best in the entire train? Well, this morning we were seated in row 10, which was just as bad as row 9 was good - in fact it was much worse... When I got into my seat I had quite a struggle fitting in my long legs, but I just succeded in stuffing them down in the train and getting the restraint locked and off we were. During the first loop my legs were forced down in the seat due to the pressure and this was not a good thing! When we arrived at the station I was unable to stand up - it took me more than a minute and some heavy struggling before I got out - it was quite unpleasant, but I got out and after a good stretch I was ready to keep going! People out there who are bigger than 1m60 - stay away from row 10 in SM:M2!!!!! :lol:







We got to the studios and once again we were in one of the shortest queues, which turned out to be the slowest moving of all 7-8 queues  and we were in an app. 20 minute Crush queue. This morning they opened the queue system at a quicker rate and at 9.50 the first persons were already coming out of the attraction, but then the inevitable happened - it had tech issues and the queue was not moving for 20 minutes at least. Once it got moving we oversaw a situation with a large woman that had me feel so sorry her. She was in a vehicle struggling to lock the restraint - the cm's (yes more than one) were pushing all they could to try and lock it, before getting her out only to make her try another seat! She had the same problems here and the entire queue overlooked this situation due to the fact that the cars had stopped. In the end they had to ask her to leave - I know it is stated that people of certain body shapes and sizes might not fit, but I just felt so sorry for her - it must have been so embarrasing in front of a filled queue line and your family

10 minutes later we got seated and we were in for the wildest surf we had yet experienced! We were seated in the front row - two rather tall grown-ups - and behind us was seated one little boy who was app. 7-8 years. As you all know the spinning is highly controlled by the weight distribution, so as you can imagine once the roller coaster part started the shell was spinning faster, wilder and crazier than ever before - it actually wasn't that funny and almost reached a state of being uncomfortable (at least for us, who deliberately stay away from attractions like the Tea Cups, Orbitron and Slinky due to their spinning :lol:)

After getting our heads back on track we left WDS - it was time for Paris!

First stop was Gallieni International Bus Station in order to visit Eurolines and hear if they found my iPad - my mum had an ongoing conversation with them from home, but we agreed it couldn't ruin anything dropping by and asking them. I had however not foreseen them being so unkind and unhelpful as they proofed to be... After waiting in line for app. 10 minutes I got to the counter and informed the lady about the situation including bus number and when we arrived in Paris and she said she had to make a phone call only to come back literally 10 seconds later saying: "I've talked to them and they didn't find anything - maybe some one has stolen it. Have a good day!" First of all, she never called anyone and secondly she could have at least told me if there was anything else I could do... I informed my mum who kept the conversation with going (via e-mail that was) and I decided once again not to let this ruin anything. Me and Kristian quickly got back into the metro with the first stop being Montmartre and Sacre Cæur!

I had only been there once I believe when I was very little and Kristian had never been there before - we both knew that it was a very beautiful place though filled with atmosphere and of course a lovely view over Paris. Let's just say the place didn't disappoint. At start it was quite cold and grey, but still the place was buzzing with tourists, locals and of course the inevitable street artists/tricksters of both good and bad kind.

- The people trying to lure money away from people with their stupid "where-is-the-white-dot-trick" honestly cannot make me angry. If people get cheated by those, they almost deserve it as their cheating is so easy to spot and easy to stay away from.

- The people who come up to you trying to attach some thread to your finger or "get your signature for a petition" on the other hand - they can really irritate me. The first mentioned because they are so pushy - one of them grabbed my hand and wouldn't let go! I was quickly named "Hey-tall-guy" by these "tricksters".. The people trying to get your signature irritates me, because they ruin it for people with an actual cause!

- There was many street artists of the bad kind, but certainly also many of the good kind. The many musicians and living statues help creating this special atmosphere. Especially one harpist (playing The Beatles, like you've never heard them before) and a living statue by Sacre Cæur were great experiences.







The Sacre Cæur itself was a very beautiful church on the inside and on the outside as well. It was filled with people and unfortunately photography wasn't allowed - on the other hand this allowed me to view the beautiful details of the church to the fulliest. The view over Paris was breathtaking as well and only got better after we exited Sacre Cæur and the sun came out - the place was now really hot all of sudden!! We enjoyed a sandwich at the foot of Montmartre before going on.. Just as parisian a lunch as last year, where we enjoyed a sandwich with a view to the Paris Wheel, Louvre and Place de Concorde... Paris is a lovely city!!!



























Before heading to the Champs Elysees we went past Moulin Rouge and down the boulevard on which it is located. Let's just say that this boulevard is not a place to bring your kids







Once on Champs Elysees we started some hours of shopping only stopped by rainy 10 minutes by Arc de Triomphe (the only minutes it rained on Champs Elysees - typical!!)

The shopping included: Paris SG (I bought the France National Team Away Jersey), Nike Store (huge!!), fnac, Virgin Megastore, Disney Store, Adidas Store and the Nespresso Store, in which we were given true VIP treatment. I bought two sets of cups as presents for my parents and my sister and her husband - in total "just" 50 €.. However, while they were gift wrapping them we were asked to take a seat in the "Club Nespresso" even though I'm not a member.. We were offered free coffee (I didn't take as I do not drink coffee - they must have been a bit confused :lol:) and sat there for 20 minutes in designer chairs along a few other customers, who were members of the club and spent at hundreds of euros buying new stuff during their "stay". I received the wrapped gifts which were carried all the way to the exit by the CM. A wonderful experience although it almost was too much considering what I bought and us just being "stupid" tourists! :lol:











Before going back to the metro station to get "home" we ended up visiting a small yet very exclusive arcade on Champs Elysees filled with rather special sculptures and pieces of art. Inside the arcade was a beautiful little courtyard, which could easily offer a wonderful getaway from the sometimes stressful atmosphere of Champs Elysees - the shops and cafés were a bit out of our budget and interests though...





The ride back to DLP went smooth while the rain was falling heavily outside! When we arrived at the Marne-la-Vallée train station, however, the rain stopped, and we could walk back to the hotel. We had ended up having a really hot and quite sunny afternoon in Paris, but it was clear that it had rained heavily in the parks as people were heading back to their hotels either soaked or wearing rain coats. We had clearly chosen the right afternoon for our detour to Paris. Back at the hotel we dropped of my shoppings and got ready for an evening in both parks...

To be continued with the evening of the 28th of July, which includes a encounter with our all-time favorite ToT CM, another new restaurant experience, an evacuation and much much more...

[Overdose]

Good God,
I love reading this report
Keep it coming please

[Angel_Ariel]

What a fantastic trip report! I am really enjoying it! I currently have one of your night time pic's of the castle as my screensaver on my pc as I love it so much! Fabulous photo's!

[Martin B]

Great report again.

How big was the woman on Crush.
I'm quite a large bloke so I'm worried about not fitting on to crush because I heard it was a bit of a squeeze compared to other rides.

Martin

[Pete's Dragon]

Lovin the report, and lovin the photos. Noticed a few that have been tilt-shifted slipped in here and there. :thumbs:

[traveller]

Great report and photos Nicolai, as always. I really enjoy your writing, you make me feel that I am there too  

If you don't mind, could you tell us please what kind of camera do you use (you might told us again before), I am interesting of buying a new one and I would appreciate your suggestions (camera, lens, etc).

[minnieme]

I love it!!! I feel as though Ive just been back! Excellent photos and amusing report. Brill.....looking forward to the next one!!!

[DLP-Photos.com]

@Angel_Ariel: So glad to hear that! Please tell me which photo it is and I will send you a high resolution edition for you to use. The photos in this report have a very low resolution...

@MartinB: She was VERY big - way bigger than the "average overweight" person. However, I would suggest to ask the CM at the entrance - mainly to avoid standing in the queue for up to 2 hours only to turned down at the loading station...

@Pete's Dragon: Thank you very much - yeah a few quick fake tilt-shifts have found their way so far

@traveller: Thank you - that is what I like in a trip report and it is also what I aim for, so I am so happy to hear that... I use a Nikon D90 with 4 different lenses in total: a 18-105mm standard lens, a 35mm f/1.8 lens, a 70-300mm telezoom lens and my newest addition a 14-24 wide angle zoom lens. For my night shots I use a tripod and remote control

@minnieme: thank you very much - I still have to do 4-5 updates + a trip video so lots still to come

I will finish day 3 (the 28th of July) later tonight

[DLP-Photos.com]

Part 6 - 28th of July 2011:

Once again I didn't bring my camera this night... So almost no photos..

Leaving the hotel at app. 6 PM we decided to head into WDS first and maybe just try Tower of Terror once. We got into the queue and after app. 10 minutes there we finally saw Cedric - our favorite ToT CM. He was so great last summer and I remember him from New Years as well and I know some on here has noticed him too. We had actually agreed that we were going to get a photo with him if we saw him, but he was waay to busy looking busy! :lol: We had our hopes now that we might be able to finally have him as our last CM before the drop as we are sure he will make a terrific "final speech"!

However we didn't get him and didn't see him inside the tower, but when we exited after a great drop he was at the entrance and the clock was 6.59 and he kindly asked everyone nearby to stop inside as this was the definitive last chance of the day for a drop. We - of course - couldn't withstand this offer and headed straight into the lobby with Cedric closing the gates just behind us - we were the very last in the queue and during the very long time in the lobby considering the small queue we witnessed the closing down of the outdoor ToT area - interesting to see and to stand in the lobby with the doors closed was a special feeling too. It just added to the being in a hotel illusion. They stuffed all of us into the library and when we exited the library Kristian and me got seperated with one of the last people to leave. The CM kindly asked us to use the lower floor service elevators as this would be to our own good compared to the upper level that we actually queued for - Kristian however didn't hear that message and we ended up standing respectively on the upper and lower level queueing for the final drop of the day. The CM proofed to be very right as I had been brought to the Twilight Zone and back for ages when Kristian finally exited the tower on 7.20 PM! The CM's outside were clearly getting impatient wanting the rest of the guests out of the park. We were some of the very last people to exit the park, when we left with Disneyland Park as our destination.

We started by visiting BTM to get a fastpass, which we easily got. It was time to eat and we decided once again to try a restaurant in which I had never had dinner before; Hakuna Matata. We both had the lightly spiced chicken with hakuna fries and I have to say that it was really tasty and that the size of the meal was much better than that of Last Chance Café the evening before, which was a bit too small. I liked the atmosphere inside the restaurant as well and would prefer if this was made the character based jungle restaurant and then Col. Hathi's could be turned into Explorers Club again. Two so similar restaurants are to much for such a small area - with the addition of the Rythms of the Jungle photo location this restaurant could be rethemed to fit in both Lion King and the Jungle Book should they insist on having both movies represented with a restaurant.



After this lovely meal it was time for Pirates of the Caribbean, which once again didn't let us down - as great as always. And we continued with Pinocchio which we had wanted to try the very first evening, when it closed with tech. issues. This time it didn't altough we had to wait for some time, because of the sweetest little girl in a wheelchair who was helped by the CMs in such a great way. Seeing people with such disabilities always brings a lump in my throat and then it always make me so happy to see the special treatment they get in Disneyland - the CMs do everything possible to make her stay the most magical and unforgettable ever and to make her forget about her state and this makes me so happy. Very nice to see!

When we left Fantasyland going back to Adventureland and Indy I saw something I had never seen before - a couple walking with a push chair surrounded by 3 body guards. It actually looked as though the body guards were concentrating fully on the push chair. I saw the same couple a few other times on the rest of the vacation with people getting their pictures taken with them - still with body guards. I however didn't recognize them at all, so I cannot help any gossip hungry people out there. Indiana Jones had more then 20 minutes of waiting time and it was around 9 PM - long time since I have experienced that and once again I had to say that the ride was way smoother than on my latest visits... If this can stay that way and they would some more and better effects to the queue area and attraction itself, it could be fantastic!

We wanted to check out Discoveryland before using our BTM fastpasses and as we walked through Adventureland I really regrat not bringing my camera - mist and a beautiful sunset created a magical lush atmosphere around the all of a sudden very green Adventure Isle and shores of Hakuna Matata. It was so beautiful and I did film it, so keep an eye out for this in the final movie (actually you can catch a glimpse of it in the teaser trailer). On our way we caught the back of the finale of Mickeys Magical Celebration[spoiler:lu1ee9t9], where it looked like Mickey fell very akwardly during the "disappearing"... Since I haven't read anything about an accident I suppose this wasn't the case.[/spoiler:lu1ee9t9]

In Discoveryland we did the one thing that we would come to regret the most on the entire trip - we tried Star Tours. After trying it last year we had agreed never to do it again before an update had been installed, because of it being so rough, but one way or another we decided to forget about this and try it....

Firstly we had quite a laugh over the extremely hilarious boarding video, which just looks so dated and so 80's that you have to have seen it in order to understand. The starspeeders themselves are so dated too - but not in a funny way. The seats are ripped, the cabin falling apart, the heat system not working and most importantly the movement is so rough! I have never been happier for restraint on an attraction as we were thrown around the cabin and mechanical and rough turns and movements. I'm sorry to say but at the moment I cannot recommend this to anyone - not even hardcore star wars fans.

It was time for our BTM fastpasses and once again it was a FP-walk-on - a great feeling when the waiting time is still 45 minutes. The ride was as enjoyable as ever with us even getting a bit wet by the on-ride photo location. However, we had no funny guests onboard the train this time, so the train didn't have to worry about being whipped

Remembering our amazing CM experience in Phantom Manor the night before we decided to try this great attraction one more time before trying to time our final BTM ride for the fireworks. This evening in Phantom Manor the CM from the night before stood by the gates and the CM within the stretching room almost fell asleep while giving the safety instructions - hence, no CM experience like the night before this time The ride however was still as enjoyable as always - the only thing that irritated me this time was:

[spoiler:lu1ee9t9]That the scenes where they use glass walls for the illusions (infinite hallway, ballroom) the glass walls were very clearly visible this time. I guess they won't be for a first timer, but for me they were and although I on one hand found it quite fascinating it was a little irritating.[/spoiler:lu1ee9t9]

Time for the last BTM ride of the day and we thought we had timed it better but no - when the clock was 10.50 we were leaving the station for a great funny ride in the dark. However, when we arrived back on main land the train suddenly stopped. I figured that we just had to wait for them to take another train off the track as the night before, but we kept sitting there when some very bright lights came on and two CM's rushed to us asking if everyone was okay (standard procedure) and I realized that we were going to be evacuated - another first for me... Nerdy as I am, however, I would have preferred my first evacuation to be more access-giving than having to leave BTM in front of the station two seconds before the end of the ride :lol: Well, luckily nothing serious had happened - but once again we didn't get to see the fireworks from BTM this night either with just one night left - hope was running out.. We decided to see the fireworks from the corner by Casey's and once again the fireworks display was very enjoyable. Unfortunately the humid weather prevented the smoke from clearing, so by the time the show had reached its climax the entire Main Street U.S.A area was filled with smoke!

We slowly exited the park getting ready for an hour of shopping in Disney Village - we didn't have that much to shop, but you just simply have to take an evening to visit all the shops of DV. In the Disney Store I witnessed a little girl getting the biggest Minnie plushie available - it was bigger than her. When the CM gave her the huuuuuge bag this girl went completely mad doing a celebrationary dance that I had never seen anything like before. Me, the CM and her dad was smiling and laughing a bit while she just kept dancing. :lol:

Having finished the shopping and getting to "our bridge" by Santa Fe we bumped into four teenage girls only wearing underwear and loose t-shirts looking quite embarrased. I didn't think the hotel pools would be open at this hour (00.00) and I wandered what they were doing going towards the Cheyenne then.. On the other hand it must be the only logical explanation or would it? :lol:

Off to bed we went - ready for yet another early morning with breakfast at 7 AM once again.

To be continued...

First update of day 4 (29th of July) coming tomorrow - once again I went without camera, so another text heavy update coming up