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[littlemermaid83]

Throughly enjoying your tr Pete. Your family are adorable!

[Pete's Dragon]

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Day 4, Sept 13th - "Farewell, my friends. I go on to a better place."



Now for the most disappointing part of the holiday - Cafe Mickey. Yes you read correctly. My favourite restaurant for so many reasons was a stone's throw away from being a complete nightmare.

First of all, the lady at the desk charged for 5 adults. I pointed out that the 2 short members of our group were not dwarfs or people walking on their knees, but she charged us full price for them anyway.

We got our table and I went up for some yummy sausages, bacon and eggs. Hmmmmmmm :-). Wait a minute, where are the sausages? And why is the bacon cold and slimey? And why dont the staff seem to be doing anything about it? I could see the *cough* chefs in the kitchen and they were doing absolutely nothing. I'm sure that if they had been allowed to smoke, they'd have been smoking. So a grabbed a croissant to keep me going. Went to get some orange juice and Both machines were nearly empty.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Hakuna Matata. Sat down and waited for the sausages. 30mins it took them, and they weren't even properlly cooked. There better be some characters soon.

First up was a rare appearance from Rabbit


Then all hell broke loose. Mickey Mouse appeared and Every Single Table rushed him. Poor Mickey tried his best to ignore them and continued from table to table, even with all the customers contantly tugging at his arm. The crowd got so bad that people returning from the buffet with their undercooked pork products couldn't get to their seats. Eventually a CM sauntered over and got most of them to sit down. I say most because the Spanish families stayed.

N.B. Time-Out. Up until now I've been trying to show the positive side of our holiday. But while I'm venting about the poor quality of Cafe Mickey I might as well get this all off my chest. Firstly I dont' mean to group all Spanish visitors together, I'm sure that most are well-mannered and generally pleasant people. But for the 3rd trip in 4 years - everytime there has been someone pushing in, or shouting, or smoking in the queues, or being completely ignorant to every single other visitor - they've been Spanish. Even my brother-in-law pointed this out to me, and this was his first ever visit. As I've never been to Spain I don't know if this is common behaviour or if they leave their manners at the main gate. To all Spanish members of the Forum I apologise for bad-mouthing your fellow countrymen, but it's happened to often to me to be a coincidence.

Anyway, Mickey finally got to our table. When he saw Elisha in her new Princess Tiana dress he bowed. Elisha loved this and giggled. It was nice to see that in the midst of all this, that the CM playing Mickey was as professional as they come. He was brilliant, really involving with the kids and parents alike.





Shame the same couldn't be said for Geppetto. Hello, where's the camera, cheese, bye.


Somehow I managed to get Sujit up for a photo


By now we've finished our sad excuse for a breakfast (and they'd only managed to fill 1 OJ machine) but we couldnt leave until Tigger made his way around. In Elisha's autograph book he wrote 'Nice Dress, Tigger' which again made Elisha really happy (especially as she almost blew her entire spending money on the dress, tiara and gloves)





We left and thought about going on Panaramagique but quickly decided against it. The balloon was swaying back and forward really violently and it took a good 10 minutes to land.

Tip #2 : Never complain if it says it too windy to fly. OMG, at one point the balloon cord had tilted more than 45 degrees



Time for Wal Disney Studios !! Animagique was just starting so we ducked in. as good as always. The Cm patrolling the crowd was really strict, the slightest glow from a cell phone and he was over like a shot.

After a quick go on the Flying Carpets it was time to try out the new rides in ...


Slinky Dog is alright, that's about all I gotta say about that.
RC Racer was great fun, sadly only Joshua and I went on it and everyone else chickened out (what would turn out to be a running theme throughout the holiday).
We skipped the Parachute drop for now as the queue was 50mins!!

I can understand the reason behind the theme of TSPL, but it looks wrong in the flesh. It's a theme suited for indoors i.e. a kids bedroom. But having it outside in the middle of trees and bamboo make it look a mess

Next it was time to check-in ......... to the Twilight Zone. Again, it was only Joshua and I who were brave enough to enter. Joshua got really nervous, mainly because the themeing is so well done. While everyone else was screaming and whoopingafter the first big drop, Joshua had a really, puzzled look on his face. I asked him if he was ok, and he turned to me and said 'Is this it?' OMG, 8 years old and ToT is too tame for him  :?

Headed around for the stunt show only to run into our first Characters, and my biggest dilema ever - Stitch, or Chip and Dale. Ahhhhh dont make me choose. Luckily the kids had already bolted for Stitch.



Stitch was great. The kids kep crowding him, so he stopped and made them stand in a big circle. Then made a gesture that he would go around the circle in a nice orderly fashion. Of course one kid kep tugging at him. Stitch spun quickly and growled at him - scared everyone - and after that everyone waited their turn.

Grabbed the kids and ran for Chip and Dale (or Tic and Tac ??) and tried not to go too crazy.



Lights, action, Lightening McQueen  :? It's so obvious he's there to promote Cars 2 as he brings nothing to the show. Forward a bit, back a bit, drive round, spot enemy car, drive a bit more. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz



Perfect condition for high speed shooting. Loved having the x30 superzoom














As the show finished, once again Me and Joshua raced off to Rock and Rollercoaster before the crowd landed. Joshua loved it more than Space Mountain 2. Met back up with everone and headed to Tram Tour (which it a weird double-backing mess, but still fun). The a quick stop with Stitch. A total of 4 kids in the showing, so Elisha got picked out to be Stitch's girlfriend and Joshua got the best monkey!

Time for one last ride. Gave the Parachute Drop a go. Elisha liked it to start with, but soon changed her mind. It's a good way of testing whether or not you're ready for Tower of Terror. Didn't see the point of heading to the Park for an hour so we got the bus back to the Val D'Europe and had a great meal in the Italian restaurant Prego in the Place De Toscana.



The kids asked for a go on the Carousel. I think after the thrill rides they were a bit bored with this.

Boring


Time for bed and an early night. Joshua, Sujit and I were starting to complain about the onset of Man-Flu. Decided to head back to the Studio tomorrow, which is a testiment to how far the 2nd park has come on. The first time I went 1/2 a day was enough, and now we were going back for a second day. Although I think the 40-50min queues have more to do with it than anything.

[Martin B]

Really enjoying this report!

Keep it coming!! :0)

[AislingM]

great report! Really sad to hear about cafe mickey , although I didnt find the service there that great either , its as if they know they`re gonna get the crowds in because of the characters so they just dont bother about anything else. Love your daughters Tiana costume , its so pretty!

[dagobert]

Thanks for your great trip report so far.

I'm very sorry for your bad experience at Cafe Mickey. We have been there twice but only for a late lunch i the afternoon aroound 2pm. Then there aren't so many people in the restaurant, the food is always hot and you get enough time with Mickey & Co. Friends of ours dicribed exactly the same like you did. They  also didn't get warm breakfast items. I think you should write a complaint, because it seems to happen very often and Disney should be aware about their bad service, even when the restaurant is operated by Group Flo.

I'm also sorry for your bad experiences with the behaviour of certain citizens.

[Pete's Dragon]

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Day 5, 14th Sept - "This is so much fun, it's freaky! "



Left the camera in the apartment, so all photos were taken either on my phone (Galaxy S2) or by Sujit. Back to finish off the Studio, just as soon as the kids got their faces painted.





Got to Crush only to find it broken :-( Had a quick go on Cars instead. Luckily Crush was fixed by the time we got out and the queue was only 30mins ! Mine. Mine. Mine !



I was worried that Elisha wouldn't like the sharp drops, but surprising she really enjoyed it. Sadly, once again I had to sit backwards. Made a point that next time I was sitting on the front of the shell.

Next we went to the Art of Animation. Seriously, if they are gonna make you wear headphones then kill the other noise. So annoying trying to listen to the English translation when the normal sound is louder. Bumped into Peter Pan and Wendy whilst the kids were exploring the interactive drawing part. One weird thing was that Peter was 100% American, accent and all, and couldn't speak a word of French. This lead to a sureal conversation were 4 French tourists tried to ask him were Tinkerbell was.





Decided to let Joshua have another go on RnRC, but we bumped into the characters again. Luckily it was the exact same ones as yesterday so there were only a few we had to queue for.







Minnie was smacking me in the face. It wasn't until after this photo I realised she wanted a kiss


No autograph? Why not, she has fingers??


Went from RnRC to Armageddon to Stitch ( spoilt because the 3 kids he chose didn't understand English, which lead to long silences. Shame they cant do it in 4 languages ). With the Studio finished we did a whirlwind tour of the main park. Carousel, Snow White, Big Thunder Mountain (twice), Pirates of the Caribbean (Elisha and Sujit's favourite), Peter Pan and finally round to Dumbo.

I dont know what the policy was for hiring this year, but I think being a little crazy actually helps your chances. This CM below tried to get 2 people to come over. When they didnt move, he climbed in himself and waved to the queue all the way round. Brilliant.





6.30pm : time to leave and get a seat at Rainforest Cafe. Headed back to the Val D'Europe as we needed more supplies from Auchan. We had promised Elisha that she could meet a Princess tomorrow. Joshua had been promised another go on Space Mountain. And Sujit had been promised a long sleep in (noob !).

[MrsPirate]

Loving your trip report.

[Angel_Ariel]

Great report! I am really enjoying it!

[jackieann]

love the trip report!!  looks like the park was pretty quiet when you were there!!

How was the rainforest cafe??, thinking of going when we visit in 2 weeks and 5 days (so excited, more so than my 2 kids)!!!

[kiki_304]

Fab report, lovely pictures.

I am enjoying reading it and it is making me get more excited for my trip.

[Pete's Dragon]

love the trip report!!  looks like the park was pretty quiet when you were there!!

How was the rainforest cafe??, thinking of going when we visit in 2 weeks and 5 days (so excited, more so than my 2 kids)!!!

It's good. Has a nice selection and the staff are always very helpful. Prices on par with the other table service retaurants.

[DLP-Photos.com]

Great, great, great trip report!

Everyone seems so happy and your comments are short but very describing - they almost make me feel like I was there with you in the moments you tell about

[Pete's Dragon]

Great, great, great trip report!

Everyone seems so happy and your comments are short but very describing - they almost make me feel like I was there with you in the moments you tell about

The comments are short cause I've said it all before, glad you are enjoying it though  :thumbs:

[big disney kid]

glad you had a great time brian . how many times have you been to disney in total i bet its around 6

[Pete's Dragon]

glad you had a great time brian . how many times have you been to disney in total i bet its around 6

5 times to DLP and 1 to WDW = 6. Nice =D>