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[amyvs7]

Hi all!

My name's Amy and I know this is a year behind, but this is my trip report on my first holiday to Disneyland Paris, that i took with my 18 year old sister Rosie, and my 3 best friends Jennifer, Becky and Jess (all 20 years old) for my 21st birthday!

DAY 1:
We flew from Bristol airport to Charles De Gaulle airport, it was Becky's first time ever flying but she loved it! We arrived at around about 9:30am and got on the VEA Shuttle to the parks which dropped us off at Santa Fe where we were staying for the 5 days. Got in the huge long queue for check-in and Goofy was in the line giving everyone hugs! Which was very nice as we all got a photo and a hug with Goofy within minutes of being in the resort!! We got checked in and put our bags in the holding room area as our rooms weren't ready yet, and so we hopped on the resort shuttle bus to get to the parks. We decided to check out the Disney Village first and headed into the gift shops and myself and my sister bought Minnie Mouse ears, Jennifer bought Princess & the Frog ears with the veil, Jess got Fantasia ears and my other friend becky bought a Tigger hat. All kitted out in our necessary Disney headwear, we ventured to McDonalds for a bit of an early lunch, before heading into the Disneyland Park.
We were all so excited to see the Castle and spent ages taking photographs, then we headed to Fantasyland and made a beeline for Mad Hatter's Tea Cups, we saw Rapunzel walk past us with a Cast Member in tow. And we saw Cinderella, Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse from a distance. We were slightly concerned about the weather, it was a very windy day and overcast, it looked like it was about to rain so we went on It's a Small World, the music stopped halfway through which was a source of great amusement for everyone on our boat, as we started singing the song for a few moments before we all started laughing, it came back on after about 30 seconds so it was all good When we came back outside it was raining, but it was a very small shower and it was the only rain we saw for the whole 5 days!!  :thumbs: Then we went on the minature storybook boat ride (which was disappointing really) and the Casey Junior train which wasn't bad, and then had a bit of fun in Alice's Labyrinth and on the Dumbo ride.
By this point we were tired and it was after 3pm so we went back to the hotel, had a bit of a look around the hotel and chatted with the guy in the gift shop who called us "Girls Aloud" everytime the 5 of us went in there! Lol. Then we retrieved our bags and got into our rooms. We had two rooms with an interconnecting door which was fun. Myself, Rosie and Jennifer were in one room and Becky and Jess in the other. Becky hadn't slept all night as we had to get up at 2am to travel to Bristol for the flights, so she fell asleep. I was doing ridiculously well on 2hrs & 15mins sleep! I was running on pure excitement and adrenaline i think!!    We settled in and unpacked and watched some of the disney specific stuff on the tv lol before deciding what to do for tea later on. Jess and Beck were so tired that they decided to skip tea and they just went to sleep; so myself, Rosie and Jen walked back into the park and to the Disney Village, it was dark by this point and the place had such a brilliant atmosphere with everything lit up and the music playing! We went to Billy Bob's for our food with our meal vouchers, which was pretty good did a bit of shopping and wandered slowly back to our room for sleep.

DAY 2:
Woke up and headed down to breakfast at about 8am, as the Studios opens later than the other park we thought we'd sleep a tad longer. There was quite a queue at 8am, i'd advise going much earlier! But we eventually had our breakfast, typical continental as we expected, and i made lunch with the rolls and ham from breakfast and put them in sandwich bags which i had brought with me. (I'd read this on DLRP and this saved us a lot of money and i would recommend everyone do it!). We decided to change our breakfast time cards to an earlier time slot (although we didn't really need to, the person letting us into the restaurant didn't take much notice to the times, most of the time we were early or late compared to the designated times on the cards and they just let us in anyway). Anyway, back to Day 2. We saw Mickey Mouse again and we queued up to meet him for a picture but within seconds of queuing he left and was changed to Pluto, so we had our photo taken with him instead We then headed straight to the Disney Studios and walked relatively fast towards Crush's Coaster (i'd done my research prior to this trip and i knew how popular this ride was!) and everyone was right, the queue was huge! I'd say a good 30/40mins we waited. But well worth it I thought, one of my favourite rides of the resort! No one else agreed with me though lol.
We found Mickey Mouse and had our photos taken with him. Went to Toy Story Playland (amazing theming of the area! Just wow!!!) And we went on the parachutes ride (i couldn't get out of it for a minute afterwards, my seatbelt got stuck and my sister and I had to literally shout for a Cast Member to get me free lol very embarrassing!) and we went on the slinky dog ride, no one wanted to go on the RC Racer so we skipped that. We went on the Cars ride which looked rather dull from an outsiders perspective, but you get on it and it was so much fun! We must have gone on that ride at least 5 or 6 times during our trip! Disney's Art of Animation was up next – so interesting and had such a good time in there!
We headed to the Disneyland Park then and browsed in the shops for a bit before we got our place ready for the parade which was brilliant! Tigger came bounding over and pulled Becky's tigger hat down over her face before rushing off – we were in hysterics! After the parade had finished we headed to Annette's Diner for our tea. We had gone their first thing in the morning to ask if we needed to reserve a table and we had a nice french guy who worked there who said that we didn't need to reserve a table, if we turned up at 6pm it would be quiet, as he said the French don't eat till quite late lol. So we got there just after 6pm and we were seated upstairs, the food was good, great atmosphere when they played music and the staff started dancing on the tables!  / We of course got up and were dancing too! Our group and a family of 3 who were seated next to us (who we had become friendly with) were the only ones on the top floor who got up and danced – everyone else stayed sitting down. Great evening though and then we headed straight back to the hotel and got showered and chilled out before bed.
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DAY 3:
It was Wednesday and today was my "birthday". Now I say it like this because my actual birthday was the week after we were in Disneyland, but because of Uni term date starts we had to go the week before, so I decided before we got there to make the Wednesday my birthday So we had decided the night before to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours and we got up really early and were having breakfast by 7am. It was really quiet at breakfast at this time.
We headed to the park and it was like a ghost town!! Beautiful morning and Mickey Mouse was being driven down Main St. and he waved at us as he drove past. We headed to Discoveryland and rode on Orbitron and Buzz Lightyears Laser Blast, the latter of which was sooo much fun! We actually went on it twice as there was no queue! Myself and Becky grabbed some fast passes for Space Mountain: Mission 2 that we were to later use. We then decided to have a proper look around the Castle as the other times we had just walked straight through. It's such a beautiful castle, it really is <3 We went on the Carousel, before going on Space Mountain which was amazing!! Luckily I didn't get a headache. We went on all the rides that the Extra Magic Hours permitted us to go on, a few of which were broken down, including Peter Pan's Flight, which I was dying to go on as Peter Pan is my favourite Disney film. So we couldn't do much but wait around in Main Street for the park to open properly, but it was a gorgeous morning with the sun shining! But we wandered around again and saw Peter Pan's Flight was just opening, minutes before the park was due to open, so that was lucky! We got straight on and I loved it!!
When Adventureland opened we headed straight to Big Thunder Mountain to get fast passes, but there was a problem, the ride was broken and they wouldn't allow anyone to get fastpasses. So we just wandered around this area of the park for a while, taking in the scenery and looking around the shops, we found out that the ride wouldn't be working till 11am! So we headed to the Haunted Mansion which wasn't all that scary but enjoyable nonetheless. We checked out Woody's Round Up and finally got to ride Big Thunder Mountain after getting a fastpass, my favourite ride of the entire trip! Just loved it!
Jennifer wanted to go and see what Winnie the Pooh characters were doing Meet and Greet so we headed back to Main St. and as her luck would have it Winnie the Pooh was doing the pictures, Jen was dying to have her photo taken with him so we queued for about 45mins! (Longest Character Meet and Greet we had). And by this point in the day it was lunch and it was baking hot! So very hot! We had some lunch (pre-made again by me at breakfast) then we decided to go back to the Studios and had a Meet and Greet with Minnie Mouse (My sister was beside herself with excitement as she was the character she was dying to meet the most!). We then ride the Backlot Tram Tour which was so much fun! We rode Cars again, Aladdin's Magic Carpets. Then my sister and friends surprised me with something!
My sister had organised for us to have a Tea Party with the Disney characters for my Birthday! I was very touched by the gesture and we got there and filled up on the cakes and pancakes and doughnuts that they had, but it turned out my sister had forgotten to pay the deposit for the birthday cake, hence why I never got one when all the characters went to all the other tables to sing Happy Birthday, so the Cast Members very nicely put 5 doughnuts on a plate, stuck a candle in each one of them and Pluto and Minnie came over and sung Happy Birthday to me! Very embarrassing but funny, Minnie kissed my head and made the famous Minnie kissy noise <3 Our table was in an awkward position so the characters couldn't really get to us, so we got up and went to them and had many photos taken, a very funny one was when Rosie wanted a picture with Minnie and Mickey, Mickey was ready but Minnie wasn't and Mickey was being funny tapping his wrist pretending like a watch was there, and my sister said to Mickey "It's always the women who take forever isn't it?!" Mickey bent over laughing and nodded his head and gave her a high five and a hug! Lol it was very funny. After our tea party we had an explore around Adventure Isle, went straight on Pirates of the Caribbean which was a blast! Literally no queue, we went straight into the boat! Then we were about to head back to the hotel when we saw that everyone was gathering in Main Street (I was wondering why Adventureland was SO QUIET) it seemed everyone was there!! We found out that they were doing a show on the main stage so we stuck around and the Princes' and Princesses were doing a show with Mickey and the Fairy Godmother, it was good apart from the sun being in our eyes the entire time, as where we had managed to find a spot was not best for viewing but apart from that it was an enjoyable show. We had McDonalds again as the snacks from earlier hadn't filled us up, but we ate them in our hotel room this time. Hehe sneaky.

DAY 4:
Thursday we were using as our day to do the rides we missed out previously. So we started with Snow White and Pinocchio which were short and sweet, well actually not that sweet they were a little scary those rides! We decided to ride the Rail Road that goes all round the park, and got off to go on the Indiana Jones ride, well me and Becky did anyway, we are the thrill seekers in the group  :thumbs: We walked through the Aladdin's Cave place, then headed to Autopia which was very good fun! We walked around Main Street a bit more, this place is so detailed and we had fun looking through all the passageways and little shops. Then in one of the corners of Main Street we found Princesses!! Aurora, Belle and Tiana signing autographs and taking photos. We didn't take photos with them but we took photos of them lol saved time. We had just enough time to rush over to the Studios to catch the Stars in their Cars parade which was great fun, it was boiling once again! Bert even winked at me whilst he was sat on the carousel horse in the car. Lol!
Becky and I went on the Tower of Terror which was incredible! I can see why everyone loves it. Then we all went on the Armageddon ride which was awesome! Really enjoyed that! Then it was on to the Motor Action Stunt Show which was amazing, and definitely one of the highlights of our trip! My sister even got on the big screen when they randomly pick a person and show them on the screen, she was so embarrassed! Lol. We decided to head back to the hotel, we wanted to get showered and changed and we got dressed up and headed back out to the Disney Village to go to the Steakhouse they have there. It was very quiet and there were only two other families in there when we arrived. Gorgeous setting, gorgeous food and great staff – one of which we became friendly with, he was French and he was talking to us about how he used to work in England and he told us about the origins and name of Creme Brulee as my sister didn't know what it was. He was really nice!
After the meal Becky was really tired so she headed back to the hotel, it was still light outside so the rest of us walked all the way around Lake Disney, then Rosie and Jess walked off and found these Cycle things, so they hired two and Jess and I had one and Rosie and Jen in the other and we cycled around Lake Disney which was brilliant fun! People even giving us a push up the hills lol. Such a beautiful place and the sun was setting it was just stunning! We then walked back to the hotel, did a bit of packing and filled out the comment cards and went to sleep.

DAY 5:
It was our last day at Disneyland. We packed the last of our things and checked out, left our luggage in the holding room again and headed to the Disney Village for shopping! Went to the Studios – did more shopping! Saw Lilo but no Stich. Had our photos taken with Sully. Then we saw loads of Disney Characters congregating near the Stunt Show area, and I spotted Chip and Dale who I had been wanting to meet for the whole trip, and I literally ran over! I ran!!! And got my photo taken with them, and we saw Woody, Jessie, the Incredibles, Remi and Remi's brother. We had one spare meal voucher left as we hadn't used it on the wednesday, so we had lunch in the Ratatouille restaurant which was lovely and that was it, we said our goodbyes to the Disney Studios.
We headed back to the Disneyland Park for a bit more shopping in Main Street, we had time for one more ride and so we went for Mad Hatter's Tea Cups, we were tired with all our shopping and it was boiling so we wanted some shade. We were sat down near a restaurant area that had tables underneath these like wooden beams but it was near a load of rocks and there were about 6 kids and a few adults by a rope with autograph books but I thought nothing of it, next minute the entire Peter Pan cast (who i had seen from a distance whilst waiting in the queue from the Dumbo ride on Monday!) came rushing in and you should have seen my excitement! lol.
The pirates got very friendly with me and my friends, taking one of our umbrellas, our park maps, messing with my friend's hair and stealing mine and Rosie's Minnie Ears and Becky's Tigger hat lol my sister pushed a pirate off her chair at one point lol was very funny. I saw Peter and Wendy signing autographs and taking pictures so i headed over with my sister to meet them!
I must explain that my sister surprised us all at the airport on the Monday with the gift that she had had made all personalised Disneyland Paris tops with our names on the back and on the front it said 'Disneyland Paris 2011' and in the corner it had each of our favourite disney characters, mine had Peter Pan on it. He spotted it immediately and said: "Oh look i'm on your top! Wow that's cool! I like that!". He then asked my sister if he was on her top and she showed him that her top had Minnie Mouse on and he was like "Why aren't I on your top, I should be on there!" lol. And we had a nice picture Peter went off to take more pictures and Wendy was by herself so I had a picture with her too.
To continue the story, my sister and I went to sit back with my friends and the pirates were still messing around until they were all called on stage, which was next to the restaurant outdoor seating area, which was pretty quiet actually. We watched the 'Follow the Leader with Peter Pan' show from behind the scenes as the crowd was ridiculous round the front. One of the pirates took a shine to Jenny and kept calling "Babes, babes I miss you babes! Come back!" all the times he quickly had to nip off stage or he was on stage, but could get away with giving my friend sad looks that she wasn't coming over to see him lol. Jenny was so embarrassed bless her lol. But for the rest of us it was the funniest thing, and the highlight of our trip for us all, well maybe not Jenny's hehe. John was great too, he asked us all about our tops and learnt where Wales was and promised to fly by there some time and he also saw my top and gasped "You have Peter on your top! He's my friend y'know." He took some photos with us before we said goodbye and as we walked off he literally shouted "Girls from Wales, hope you have a magical day!"

Sadly we couldnt stay any longer as we had to leave to get the bus back to the hotel before we had to leave for the airport. I had the most amazing birthday ever and I really want to go back to Disneyland very soon!

Sorry for the mega long trip report, if you have any questions then just let me know ?

[BlackPearl]

Hi, Amy. Nice trip report (better late than never    )
Would love to see some pictures, especially of Peter Pan and the pirates.
I've never seen the show.

[TammyHughes]

Seems a hilarious journey.