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Dreams of Memories - Pre-trip part

Here it is. The first installment in my double trip report telling the stories and sharing my photos from my two summer trips. Yesterday I returned from the first trip, which was easily named the "Dreams of Memories" trip. It was me and my mum and the trip was somewhat "impulsive" or that being said it was ordered already in April when we watched the Dreams premiere live on the internet. We asked each other how we could not be there together to celebrate their anniversary after having spent 10 previous magical adventures in Disneyland since going for the first time 1994. We wouldn't let that happen and a few days later a 3 days/2 nights stay in Hotel New York was booked. We planned that the trip should focus on all our memories, reliving them and of course creating new ones. This will be the story of this magical, unforgettable trip of nostalgia and true Disney atmosphere! Be my guest  :-D

Me, 22 years old - 13th trip:



My mum, 57 years old - 11th trip:



Before we would get to the dreams of Disneyland we had to get there and this would be with Eurolines coach. I have been travelling with Eurolines the last two summer trips, but it was the time for my mum. I had warned her that it could get quite chaotic - especially during the bus change in Hamburg in the evening. We were well prepared, but when saturday the 7th of July finally arrived we got something completely unexpected as the journey started. The journey from Aalborg to Hamburg went above all expectations and we actually arrived in Hamburg an hour before the bus for Paris should leave - I was shocked! Little did we know that the expected chaos was just around the corner and that this would actually be the biggest Eurolines nightmare yet!

When the bus for Paris arrived, we were told that there would be two busses this evening. First thought: great, maybe a bit extra room on the bus and we quickly got in line for the bus that was named as only going to Paris and not Brussels. I knew that people starting their journey in Hamburg would be in need of boarding passes, whereas we (as per experiences from previous years) should just give the driver our ticket. When the driver opened the bus a night of nightmares started. We were told to get boarding passes in the otherwise closed office of Eurolines. I went there, but NO we should not get any boarding passes but just give the driver the ticket. He still wouldn't accept it and now we had to go back to the office to ask which of the two busses we needed to board - of course it was his bus and reluctantly he had to let us in. We got a great seat in the front end of the bus and sat down as chaos was still reigning outside and on the bus. 40 minutes late we finally got underway...

... and now the nightmare really started! The driver was clearly irritated by all the problems in Hamburg and as soon as we were on our way he turned the radio on so the entire bus could hear it (this was at 11, so it was "okay" and we decided to let him do it to get some aggressions. The music only got louder and people started to look at each other - our eyes clearly asked each other whether we would get any sleep or not that night! But the driver wasn't done yet... Now he turned on the dvd at 11.40! Started a french spoken film with french subtitles. We now had Radio Türk on full volume and a film running! To finish it all he opened his window so the bus was freezing cold! The film naturally ended but the music was on for the entire night!! Now I don't care that it was Radio Türk - Tom Jones, The Beatles or any other artist for that matter would have been just as annoying... Ironically music helped me fall asleep as I listened to the beautiful album "Shallow Bed" by Dry the River all night!

We got rid of this nightmare of a driver in Brussels when he stood up in the middle of the bus yelling: "Jetzt habe ich Freiabend and I am finish with you!".... Seriously, what a tool! Leaving Brussels and the dreams of Disney started to help us and the bus journey went very well! Even though we ran into some serious traffic problems just outside Paris...



... we actually arrived 30 minutes early in Paris and headed straight towards Marne-la-Vallee with metro 3 and 2 and finally RER A from Nation! This part of journey always feels like only a few seconds because of the long bus journey - we could smell magic of Disneyland!



Dreams of Memories - Part 1

When we arrived at the RER train station we emerged from the concrete train station to the beautiful sight of the new World of Disney! A perfect welcome to what would be 3 magical days of dreams coming true every second. We took the bus to Hotel New York just to avoid taking all our luggage through Disney Village, which seemed pretty crowded! After passing through the x-ray security check outside the hotel (performed by a young lady almost asleep listening to her iPod, chewing gum... I would say a monkey from Jungle Book could have done the work just as good!). We entered the lobby and instantly noticed the famous apple smell of this hotel - you are immediately smiling and you just know that you are in for a treat. We couldn't get our room so we left the luggage and quickly explored the hotel before leaving for Disneyland Park.



We went through Disney Village enjoying the freedom given by the security check already by Lake Disney. We could now walk straight to both Walt Disney Studios and Disneyland Park without being checked again. This worked really well and gave a better user experience for the hotel guests! Way to go, Disney!

We came to World of Disney, which we for a long time had been prepared to miss out on due to the official opening being dated to the 12th of July. However, before we left we did see tweets saying that it was open - we were beyond excited!



I will give a full description/review later in the report, but I really liked this store. The exterior/interior is beautiful and classy - if this is the future of Disney Village I am very excited! The art deco and parisian department store look is stunning and detailed as only Disney can! The grand entrance is perfectly located and a fitting entrance to this classy store. The detail of the original New York Mickey and Minnie statues are amazing and to re-use them in this way is great!





A quick walk through and we realized that this would end up being expensive for us - especially the store exclusive merchandise was very appealing! However, we decided that it was time to head to the park as we were getting quite hungry having only eaten 3-4 buns each on the entire journey there! We headed for Disneyland Park and the "clear" view through the gates you get from not going through the security check was a fitting advantage of staying on site. A beautiful sight as it was originally planned out!



Walking through the turnstiles of magic you always get a bit emotional - you really get the feeling of coming home! This time coming home to a place filled in celebratory theming and I must say that I actually quite liked the look of the Main Street Station - I would still have preferred it to be left in it's original beauty, but the 20 sign was tasty and well made. It didn't just seem like some plastic quickly put on in the last minute. AND it was stunning by night!



We were getting more and more hungry and went for our favorite restaurant: Toad Hall. We just love the fish'n'chips! So does a lot of the other guests and as we arrived at the worst time for lunch (between 1 and 2) we were facing a looong waiting time for our food. This of course only made the meal inside the cosy sports room of the Toad Manor even better! Refuelled we were ready to start our days of reliving and recreating dreams.



We decided that no ride would be better as the first one than our all time favourite: Pirates of the Caribbean! We were really given a chance to enjoy this queue line as we were queuing up from the very entrance. I love this queue line; it is one of the best in the resort - for me only BTM, ToT and PM is given it noteworthy competition. From the moment you are in the queue you are in the Caribbean so to be able to explore this queue line once again was truly the perfect beginning:







The ride itself was in great condition with all major effects working. The swinging pirate was more active than ever and the swords of the sword fighting pirates actually touched each other a couple of times!   If I must say anything then the burning village scene seemed like it could need a bit of a brush up, but nothing major. A beautiful journey down the pirate filled waters to kick of our trip  

It was close to 3 when our room was ready. As we hadn't changed clothes or brushed our teeth after the long bus journey we slowly headed towards the hotel just soaking up the atmosphere of the park on our way walking through Adventure Isle...





... Frontierland, where we briefly stopped to listen to the great country trio playing inside the Fort Comstock filling the place with the true atmosphere of the west..





... arriving in Central Plaza we quickly enjoyed the beauty of the stage-free centre of the park. This does nothing but good to the park. You finally have a natural centre, recreating the original idea of the hub. And it is quite clear that our castle only gets even more beautiful as the foreground is now pretty flowerbeds in stead of a big clumsy stage:



As we left the park we were treated with one more view of the World of Disney...



... and also a look inside the new permanent christmas store taking over parts of the old Disney Store. This store was filled with both old Christmas decorations and the new 2012 range, which was mainly in purple and red. The music was Chante C'est Nöel and a lot of the other DLP christmas classics. If you are a sucker for anything christmassy as me and my mum this will be heaven for you, however, I could imagine the shop facing some problems, because it is so big in comparison to the christmas shop in the castle. A cast member told us that they had already asked their boss to play some "normal" music in between the christmas songs but that was not an option at this time. My recommendations: do not miss out on this shop if you like Christmas just a little bit!!





We got back to the hotel and I collected the key to our room (2203 in the Gramercy Park wing). I was told that our luggage would be taken to our room in just 5-10 minutes. When we opened our room door 2 minutes later we entered to this sight:



Now I do not know if they had been there ever since we left them in the when we arrived or they have some kind of secret hallway to quickly get to the rooms. No matter what this was great service!  :mrgreen:

Our room was big and very good! The only minor problem was the fact that we had to share one bed, but in stead we were given a great corner with a table, a sofa and a chair. The bathroom was quite big too with two sinks and LOTS of towels! Our view could have been more exciting, but we did have park view as we could just see the top of Space Mountain   One thing annoyed me and that was that they hadn't made a new "tips video" for the anniversary. This was still the annoying girl saying "sorted" in the most irritating way ever! haha Captain EO was also still mentioned in the video!







We got our teeth brushed, our clothes changed and were ready to go out into the parks again! The next part of the trip report will be online later this afternoon and it will feature a big photo report from World of Disney, Stars'n'Cars and Disney Magic on Parade as well as my very first viewing of Disney Dreams!!

[ilovedisneylandparis]

I love your photos and the trip report so far, v excited for the next section! Reading about it all has made me want to go back so much, and I definitely agree about getting emotional when you walk through the park gates, I think that's one of my favourite parts of the trip, feeling like you are finally home

[norhel]

Great report as always :-)
Doesn't sound good with the bus driver...

[DLP-Photos.com]

I love your photos and the trip report so far, v excited for the next section! Reading about it all has made me want to go back so much, and I definitely agree about getting emotional when you walk through the park gates, I think that's one of my favourite parts of the trip, feeling like you are finally home

Thank you very much - what I like about trip reports is how they make me want to go again or more excited about an upcoming trip, so I am glad that my report does that to you!

Photos are currently being uploaded for the next part - LOADS of photos in that part

Great report as always :-)
Doesn't sound good with the bus driver...

Thanks. Yeah it wasn't good - I am travelling with them again in August, so hope for a better experience then!! Our driver from Paris and back to Hamburg on tuesday was in many ways even worse actually! :O

[petals]

love all the pics and details of your trip

[DLP-Photos.com]

Dreams of Memories - Part 2

After a small break in our lovely hotel room we were ready to go out again for the evening. First stop: World of Disney!!

As promised I would give a bigger description of the store now: from the moment you see it, you know that no matter what they sell this a shopping experience of another class than the rest of Disney Village! The exterior is aestethic and majestic - this is the new "king" of Disney Village. Whether you are entering through the side entrances or the main entrance you are immediately walking into the big store that basically is just one big room. The main entrance has its own beautiful blue star ceiling while the middle of the store is dominated by the big blue ceiling and the iconic hot air balloon centre piece featuring Mickey, Minnie and Pluto traveling the world. Around the ceiling are the beautiful mural paintings featuring all the corners off the world represented by your favourite Disney characters! Absolutely beautiful and the interior in general is very detailed and classy. Take your time to walk the store without looking at the merchandise and you will see all these beautiful details.

Of course it is a store and the merchandise is a central part of the store. A lot of the merchandise is the "ordinary" stuff you find in most of the shops. However, you will also find a couple of lovely store exclusive series including the Disney by Britto pop art series and some World of Disney merchandise including currently four of the mural paintings in a limited numbered edition (500 prints of each - 69€ for each painting). This range of merchandise combined with the general look and feel of the store makes this THE place to do your shopping. It is very open and has a lot of space in between the merchandise, so you never get the Emporium-feeling of being packed like sardines in a tin. A nice, relaxing shopping experience, which in the end helps Disney, because it without a doubt leaves you with more desire to explore the store probably resulting in you buying more. A very fitting and beautiful flagship store for the "new" Disney Village! As promised here is a lot of photos of the new store:







































After walking the store and finding some stuff we wanted to buy on monday we continued on our way to Walt Disney Studios where we wanted to be until the Disney Magic on Parade began at 7 (and the Studios closed). Because of the new security check system you can now enjoy the Studios all the way from WoD - no tents or anything. Just the original gates and the view towards Studio 1:



Ready to behind the scenes we entered the park and just took time to enjoy the atmosphere of Place des Frères Lumière - this is probably my favourite area of the studios and in my opinion they should never even think of retheming this area. The perfect entrance to the studios - it has the pride and the atmosphere of the studios before you go behind the scenes. Also the area loop of this area is amazing - all the best musical scores of film history! This place is good...



... and so is Studio 1. Having just seen the country trio in Frontierland I had hoped to see a live band in Studio 1, but having completely forgotten about Stars'n'Cars that could be a explanation of the absence of live music. At least I told myself that







But yes Stars'n'Cars was just about to start and we had completely forgotten about it. I wanted to start off by trying RC Racer, so we quickly crossed the parade route before it started. We just got to the entrance of Crush' Coaster as the parade started - people stormed towards the parade route and we were kind of trapped in there. So I decided to use my height and new 70-200mm lens and take some photos of the parade. I have only seen it once before (with my mum in 2009 when it was as much a show as a parade)... I really like the cars, but I must say that is a bit short now that it is only a parade. However, the cars are very nice and people seemed to enjoy it in general

















Before the parade ended we walked towards Toy Story Playland to beat the worst queues following the parade. I must say with this land that it has grown a bit on me, but still my general idea of it is that we could easily be wihtout it. It takes bright sunshine for it to be really welcoming with its colour scheme. There is still some general illusion breakers along the way too, but the main issue is the capacity. Now I went to the single rider line of RC Racer with 7 in front of me and it took me 30 minutes - that of course is to be expected when taking the single rider line, but the problem was that there wasn't really that many people in the ordinary queue line (only half the house was filled) and yet it was still 45 minutes for those people. It's crazy! I really like RC Racer though - it is great fun. You can say that it is a bit too short - you could use a couple of more ups and downs, but think of the capacity if that was the case???  :lol:



We walked around the land a bit afterwards and had a look at the Ratatouille construction site. It seems as if the ground construction is getting closer to being finished - I would expect upwards building to start during the next couple of months...



They should put in a more permanent, themed construction wall for the barrel of monkeys (maybe a lid for the barrel??), because this sight is not that "Disney":



Biggest illusion breaker of Toy Story Playland: the barrel of monkeys! It is way to big compared to Rex, Buzz and RC:



We strolled around the park - the waiting times for Tower of Terror was until the closing of the park, when we wanted to be in Disneyland Park for the parade, so I decided to save ToT for monday. The queue for Studio Tram Tour was huuge (60 minutes), so we decided to just walk around for a bit - soaking up the atmosphere:





When coming back to Hollywood Boulevard, the waiting time for STT had dropped so we decided to queue up. Because of Catastrophe Canyon this is still a must-do attraction. BUT really that is the only reason, the rest of this ride has developed into a complete waste of time over the years. The props are outdated, the screens do not work, the London scene is boring after Catastrophe Canyon and it just doesn't feel like a real journey "Behind the Magic". This ride needs a new scene or two and maybe some new props. When Ratatouille comes I hope they do this and make a permanent new route - right now you see the same things twice when going to Catastrophe Canyon and London. Either that or they should think about what they could use all that land for in stead! That being said it would be sad to lose Catastrophe Canyon, because that was still awesome! Even more so in the dark, rainy weather we had at that time!  

Heading towards the exit of the Studios the sun broke through fromt the grey skies and when we walked under Main Street Station we walked into great sunshine and suddenly it was very hot. Perfect for the parade and we got a good viewing spot by the gazebo just 10 minutes before parade start   Of course we had a lot of people in front of us, but definetely a good spot without having been in Main Street for ages. A lot of children on parents' shoulders and we agreed that the parents should be more aware of the children. Not so much because people cannot see, but for their own sake. We saw several children whose pants ended up sitting very low to say the least. We felt kind of bad for these children!  





This was the first time we could really see how many people was in the park this day! Main Street U.S.A was packed and the atmosphere was really great during the parade. Much to my surprise, because Disney Magic on Parade is not as much a new parade as it is a downgraded version of Once Upon a Dream! The new opening float is very anonymous compared to its beautiful ancestor and the lack of the villains float is a disgrace! That was one of the best floats of all time... Finally the soundtrack is bad. 'Magic Everywhere' itself is actually quite a catchy tune (not a Dancin', but still), but it looses a lot by being repeated over and over again. One of the great things about Once Upon a Dream was the mix between the original song and the floats individual soundtracks. Overall the parade was very anonymous and certainly not as magical as earlier parades. That being said the new princess carriages were quite charming and the final float was majestic. A nice tribute to the fab 5!





























After parade we felt like the only people walking into the park. This was our way towards the castle



We got through the people though and got to the hub and decided to walk towards Restaurant Hakuna Matata. My mum had never eaten there, while I tried it for the first time last summer and really enjoyed it. However, the restaurant was closed so we ended up in our next favourite restaurant after Toad Hall: Col. Hathi's Pizza Outpost. We both enjoyed the Pizza Royale and Tiramisu for dessert. We quickly agreed that the pizza was of a higher standard than previously and my mum, who really loves tiramisu, actually said it was one of the best she had ever had! :O This has to be one of the best located restaurants - the spirit of Adventureland! And I really like how it still feels like Explorers Club (why didn't they just stick to that name?)





Now I always have a special theme for my photos during a trip (last year it was lamps) and sitting outside at Hathi's I decided on this years theme: water! More precisely it should be water in movement as I really wanted to take a lot of long exposure shots of the waterfalls around the resort creating a silk like effect out of the water. I didn't bring my tripod this evening but I still started the series with this shot:



The weather was very nice and Adventure Isle was very appealing in the low sunshine of the early sunset, so we decided to just walk around for a bit taking time to enjoy this area, which is the best in the entire park in my opinion. You can get lost in the beauty of this area - and especially in a warm, sunny summer evening. THIS is why we have the best Adventureland in the world:













Next shot of my series:


Captain Hook's ship is finally back to it's beauty after the long overdue refurbishment finally giving us with a beautiful ship again! The ship must never get in such a state again, because it really is one of the beautiful assets of Adventure Isle! It always help you produce good photos:













As we arrived at Pirates of the Caribbean and the waiting time was only 10 minutes, we couldn't say no to our favourite ride even though this would mean that 2 of our first 4 rides would be Pirates! It is quite simply just a WDI masterpiece and that alone is reason enough for you riding it all day!







It was now after 9 and as we wanted to get a good spot for our very first viewing of Disney Dreams we slowly headed towards Central Plaza. The castle closed 9.15 and all the attractions of Fantasyland at 9.45, so we knew that we could only manage to try one more ride and decided on Les Voyages de Pinocchio. A Disneyland trip is never finished without having been on all the Fantasyland dark rides! However, we almost decided to drop out of the queue, because right in front of us was three people eating there bavarian hot dogs from Au Chalet de la Marionette right in front of us. While the choice of restaurant and ride was a good match   you don't really need the smell of mustard and sausage in this queue line on a warm summer evening  :lol:

Having escaped from Pleasure Island and Monstro we finally ended up in the home of Gepetto and we were ready for the main part of sunday: Disney Dreams! We arrived at Central Plaza around 9.30 and got a great spot near the popcorn stand next to Plaza Gardens. We had decided that my mum wouldn't film it and I wouldn't take any photos of it; this evening was all about enjoying it for the very first time! This was our quite perfect view:



Already before the start of Fantillusion we noticed people sitting on the grass "hills" around Central Plaza, which is bad enough... However, this would be much worse on monday evening!

Before being breathtaken by Dreams, we enjoyed the great return of Fantillusion! I really like this parade and even more so next to Disney Magic on Parade. Fanti is a real Disney parade: it has a story line on it's own, it has all your favourite characters and most of all it has a fantastic score! I think this is the best parade score ever in fierce competition with Main Street Electrical Parade... I really like how they use the castle in parade - they already did it last year, but it seemed as if they took advantage of some of the Dreams technology to use the castle even more for colour overlays and light effects during the parade stops! For some reason the snake of the Jafar didn't work and I found that quite odd considering this was only the second night of service of this summer season.

We stood in quite some distance to the parade route but thanks to my new beloved lens I got a few photos of the parade:













And now people started to climb benches, lamp posts and flowerbeds, because... Dreams was about to start! Yes, finally 11 was coming closer and closer and then at 11: BOOM! Goosebumps for 22 straight minutes. A big, big, big THANK YOU to Steve Davison for giving us the coolest, most beautiful night time show I have ever seen from a Disney park! It was about time that we got our own all year night time show after 20 years, but Disney Dreams was definetely worth the wait  /

The projection effects are clever and mindblowing, transforming the castle in ways you wouldn't think possible! The fountains make it seem more immersive as it is somehow more "real" than the fireworks. Not that fireworks/pyrotechnics are bad in any way, they are just as amazing as the rest of the show. Dreams is not just the best show of it's kind, it it is also the most impressive fireworks display (even if was just the fireworks) that I have seen in Disney( and that includes the 2010-2011 New Years fireworks). Top it off with cool laser effects and impressive fire effects and you have the technical part of Dreams...

...That, however, is only one side of this magical story. Because this really is a story! It is story telling of the highest Disney class... It is great to see your favourite characters together in an original tale which has a great, heartfelt message that really is the essence of what Disney and Walt Disney as a person represents to me. A beautiful piece of art and the perfect celebration of our park and visions that is the very foundation of all Disney parks! I cannot wait to see it four times again this August, and I hope that I will get to see it many times in the future too  /

(Day 2 Part 2 will feature my view on specific scenes of Disney Dreams)

Still emotional from watching Dreams but also quite tired after the long journey we walked towards HNY wihtout any stops on our way. I set up my computer, transfered photos and got prepared for the second (and only full) day of the trip, which would start in just 7 hours!

[Epcot_Boy]

A fantastic read Nicolai :thumbs:  I agree with you about seeing Main Street after having not visited for a while, I too find it amazingly emotional, even at my age :oops:
I loved all your photos, no surprise there  but i really loved this one.........



..........it has a 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' look, lovely.

I'm off to DLP shortly, so you are setting up the trip nicely for me.......great =D>

[DLP-Photos.com]

Thank you Epcot_Boy - I am very happy if my report can make you even more excited! That is the best thing about reading trip reports

When are you off?

[Epcot_Boy]

Thank you Epcot_Boy - I am very happy if my report can make you even more excited! That is the best thing about reading trip reports

When are you off?

Couldn't agree more, I always read everybodies trip reports, I always enjoy them  I'm off to DLP on Sunday 22nd July for 10 days...........and probably because of 'Dreams' I really can't wait this time. So your trip report has come at a great time.........keep it coming  =D>

[DLP-Photos.com]

Thank you Epcot_Boy - I am very happy if my report can make you even more excited! That is the best thing about reading trip reports

When are you off?

Couldn't agree more, I always read everybodies trip reports, I always enjoy them  I'm off to DLP on Sunday 22nd July for 10 days...........and probably because of 'Dreams' I really can't wait this time. So your trip report has come at a great time.........keep it coming  =D>

Well then look forward to part 4 - includes my photos of Dreams, though I am not all satisfied with them... Dreams truly is amazing! I am sure you're gonna love it - I know how happy I will be when I am back in August.. Me and my friend has skipped the fireworks on 3 of 4 nights the last two years in order to try Big Thunder in the dark in stead. This will not happen this year - I'll be in Central Plaza every night!

[never2old]

I could look at your pictures all day Nicolai. Simply amazing. And as always it's a real pleasure reading your reports. I can't wait for the rest. And your next trip. And the one after that. And the one after that....

[esmeralda]

Very nice report so far! Absolutely looking forward to be continued! May i ask you if you stayed in a standard room, cause you had a couch! And you wrote there was only one bed...Probably this is usual for a 2 person room
Did you noticed if many of the counter restaurants were closed in the evening? Thanks for your answers in advance!

[BlackPearl]

Great trip report! Love your pictures   =D>
I can't wait to be there in 14 days. After reading your report and seeing the pictures I'm even more excited.

[DLP-Photos.com]

Very nice report so far! Absolutely looking forward to be continued! May i ask you if you stayed in a standard room, cause you had a couch! And you wrote there was only one bed...Probably this is usual for a 2 person room
Did you noticed if many of the counter restaurants were closed in the evening? Thanks for your answers in advance!

Thanks Julia!

Yes, we stayed in a standard room. It was clearly a 2 people bed room and I think that was a nice detail of the hotel. It was a perfect disney room for couples! But certainly enjoyable as a family too

Yeah I guess the counter restaurants in Fantasyland will close at 8 the latest, because Fantasyland closes at 9.45. Hakuna Matata was closed in the evening too, but Col. Hathi's and most of the Main Street U.S.A restaurants were open at night. I would guess that Cafe Hyperion was as well!

Great trip report! Love your pictures   =D>
I can't wait to be there in 14 days. After reading your report and seeing the pictures I'm even more excited.

Thank you very much! Another part with loads of photos will be added tomorrow evening

[esmeralda]

Dear Nicolai,
thanks for your very fast replies!! Read you (your report)  tomorrow ;-)