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[Festival Disney]

Hey guys, just got back from my latest trip. Am in the process of uploading my pictures to a hosting site to do a trip report (I will actually do one this time   ).
I guess until then I could give some info about the trip... I went with my Disney mate Chud (Richard) again and we took too much money as opposed to not enough last time) Trip lasted 4 days, from Saturday 15th to Tuesday 18th December and we stayed at Newport Bay Club on the Admirals Floor.
Highs of the trip were:
Seeing World of Disney - Amazing and beautiful shop!!
Dinner at Walts - never fails to disappoint
Buffalo Bills Wild West Show - Never seen it before and it was great! Didn't quite get why Mickey and Friends were in it though!
Parks were nice and empty Monday and Tuesday
Christmas Cavalcade was really good! Nice to see a separate little parade for Christmas
There were many other things too but I can't think of them at the moment!

Low's were (not many)
Smoking in queues - speaks for itself
Quite a lot of lights not working properly
Some of the attractions and buildings look quite sad and in need of some urgent TLC!!

For now, I'll just show you what we bought from the Resort!

Xmas CD, lots of pins, Mouse Mat, 2013 iPhone case and a Mickey keyring.


Stitch Plush, 20th Anniversary fleece, WoD Lion King Fresque, Moteurs Action Vinylmation


And for Christmas... A Limited edition bauball (1992 were made ) and a tin of biscuits

[SwipatronSparks]

cant wait to read your report especially your views on the admirals floor, busy pricing for my trip next year and admirals floor is an option so interested to see what you found =]

[jonathan]

Did you find it cold on Tuesday? We found it bloody freezing!  My boy couldnt even walk it was so cold

[Festival Disney]

It was probably the coldest day yes! Nothing compared to the cold on my last christmas trip in 2010 when it was snowing constantly!

[disneydreamer_x]

Yes we found it cold on Tuesday too and it was my daughters 10th birthday on that day too.

[Festival Disney]

Here goes...
Day 1 - Saturday 15th December
The day started at 05:00 with the awful sound of the alarm! Never mind though we were off to Disneyland so tiredness was irrelevant  / . We left the house for half 5 to walk to Manchester Airport train station. We arrived just before 6, bought tickets and got on our train to Piccadilly. The train got us to Picc for 25 past 6, so we had half hour before our Pendolino train to London Euston. The platform was announced and we boarded the long silver and red train, first class  

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The train took just over two hours and was very comfortable, with refreshments served at our seats.

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After arriving at Euston, we enjoyed the short walk over to St Pancras, before entering the station through the old main entrance.

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Although a tad chilly, it's such a nice place to be and such a step forward from other British train stations.

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We printed our tickets at the self serve machines and checked in straight away. After a short wait in the departure lounge (including coffee and toasties at Cafe Nero), we boarded our Brussels bound Eurostar and headed off down the short spur of Britain's high speed railway.

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After a short stopover at a freezing Lille Europe, we were on our TGV to Disneyland and around an hour later we had arrived We left the station and walked our into the resort hub. World of Disney - wow! I'd seen it twice before under construction but seeing it in its finished state was marvellous. A truly beautiful shop. More of that later though! We walked through the village and around the lake to our hotel. Newport Bay Club.

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I can't decide whether or not I liked the hotel. Although the interior was nice and the theme was spot on, the hotel form the outside almost looked derelict when close up. Boards missing off the building, paint peeling and everything just looked generally tired. There is definitely a need for the imminent refurb, especially on the exterior.
We headed for the quiet check in for the Admiral's floor. (We had planned to stay at Sequioa Lodge originally but the website offered us Admiral's Floor for €25 more. In hindsight that was a mistake seeing as the Sequia has just had its refurb!  ](*,) Ah well, guess we can stay there next trip  

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The lady on check in offered us a "VIP Breakfast" for each morning between 0800 and 1000 at the Captains Quarter, with special treats such as Sausages, bacon, eggs, pancakes and all that sort of fare, but for an additional price of €25 per day! No thank you, we can deal with cereal and croissants! We got breakfast each day at 0700 and armed with all the usual tickets, maps and room keys headed up to floor 6. We got to the room and dropped our stuff off, and considering the 20 years of usage the room didn't look too shabby! We had the usual plug hanging off it's mounting and some of the sealant in the bathroom was black in places but other than that it was nice! We pulled back the curtain to reveal a balcony, although all that was outside (apart from the cold) was more sights of peeling paint and below us, a net over a small service area with bits of the hotel that had fallen off  :-s At least they recognised the hotel is falling apart but surely instead of erecting a net it would be a better idea to fix the hotel before bits of it start dangerously dropping to the ground!!
Hotel aside, it was time to head for the parks  /  

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The new security tent set up before entering the Village, much much better in my opinion now that there's no void between the resort areas  :thumbs:


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Of course we had the obligatory stop at Earl of Sandwich!

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I couldn't resist a quick look inside the World of Disney store, and the interior is perfect and beautiful! Definitely my favourite shop ever!

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As we headed back outside, I noticed the new fences around the two statues. They match wonderfully with the statues and I'm happy to say they do their job wonderfully of keeping children off!

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One last picture before heading to Disneyland Park!

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(anyone know why there are (or were) temporary barriers around the vent grate on the floor :?:

The sight we all yearn for!

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In we go...

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The decorations were very tastefully done this year. Nothing over the top or tacky.

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As we approached the train station, magic everywhere could be heard and as Town Square came into view we saw the parade floats! We scurried over to City Hall and booked Walt's for tomorrow (Sunday) evening before heading next door to the storybook store to find the xmas Cd. Thankfully there were loads left!

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To avoid the crowds, we headed through Liberty arcade (no gas lamps lit at all :?:  ) and stayed left for Frontierland!

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Inkeeping with my Disney Tradition, Phantom Manor was to be the first attraction  :twisted:

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You could tell it had been a busy day, the PM queue was back near the small gazebo and inside the queue lines the bins were overflowing  :roll:

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Nice to see this fountain on though! Although all lights apart from one had blown!

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Into the Manor we go!

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After PM, we headed towards Central Plaza to catch the Castle lighting ceremony. A nice little surprise show! Everyone apart from us was taken completely by surprise  :mrgreen:

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It was then time for a quick trip into Space  :-"

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The effects on Space Mountain were great after its refurb. Smoke in several parts and great lighting. Still rubbish sound system and still the cannon remains completely and hopelessly broken! Is it becoming Discoveryland's version of the geysers?!

Ahh well! It was getting late and before Dreams we wanted to get some food. But first, it was time to see that dragon!

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Now, on the restaurant front... Baring in mind this was a busy Saturday, Lucky Nugget had a 30 minute wait while Fuente del Oro and Cowboy Cookout were both closed.  :roll:  So we ended up having to have a drab pizza at the old Explorers Club. Having not been here before, I really like the theming and Decor! Even the grill in front of the fireplace still had the initials "EC".

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I would have loved to have had a proper table service meal here but sadly, them days are very long gone!

It was now raining But nothing would stop us seeing Disney Dreams! We headed for our favourite spot in the centre of Central Plaza.
I took this picture just after the Castle had been lit for the second time.

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And here's a panorama shot taken on an iPhone 5

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Dreams was great! But it was windy, so most of the flame throwers were either turned off or got blown out! An excuse to see it again tomorrow   Not that we really needed one  :-"

As the closing announcement came over the sound system, we sat on a bench in the Plaza and waited for the crowds to disperse before following ourselves.

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The 20 year old tree looked as good as ever

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The lights on the main roofs of the Hotel were looking great, just the entrance sign and middle strip were out!

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The world lit up!

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We headed back to Newport. It had been a long day so we didn't bother with any shopping tonight. Plenty of time for that in the days to come!

Day 2 will follow sometime soon  

[norhel]

Great report

[SwipatronSparks]

great start cant wait to read more =]

[MrsPirate]

Fab report, waiting patiently for the next installment.

[perrollaz]

What a gread report- it reads like a picture book!
Thank you for sharing it.

[Epcot_Boy]

A nice read with some lovely pics.................did like this one



 =D>  =D>

[Festival Disney]

Thanks guys Gonna continue it tomorrow (finally)   :-"

[mickeyspal]

Enjoyed reading about your trip, looking forward to the next chapter.

[Festival Disney]

Day 2 Part 1  

06:45 and the alarm sounded to get up :cry: Even at Disneyland its hard work trying to stop yourself pushing the snooze button  :lol:

We had our breakfast cards for 7-8 am, so we made our way down at quarter past.
The lady directed us towards the Yacht Club  :thumbs:

1 by glennyhj127, on Flickr
It was the usual fare of Cereal, rolls, cold meats, cheeses, Croissants etc.
And of course that wonderful fresh orange juice  /

We made our way from the hotel at half past and took the nice walk around the lake, through a very quiet Disney Village before arriving at Disneyland Park.

A bit of Discovery was in order.

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Our first attraction was to be Space Mountain, but as it happened it wasn't yet open.

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So, we wandered around a bit, taking in the beautiful canon and Nautilus.

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Just after this (rather poor) picture of me, a Cast Member working the station told us that the ride was ready and would be opening any minute, so we made our way back and just as we got there, we were allowed in !

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After our trip to Space, I noticed Autopia was just opening!

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I'd never been on Autopia before, and it was good fun! The steering on the cars is a little loose though  

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The view back towards Disco land

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It was now just past nine o clock, so the park was about to open to the masses (with it being a Saturday and all) so we took one more go on Space Mountain...

Before walking around the back of the land ...

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...and ending up getting in line for Buzz!

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It was nice and warm in here compared to the outside

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After we saved the Galaxy from Zurg, our scores were...
Mine

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Chud's (loser   )

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We were once again roaming the park

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Gotta be my favourite attraction poster...

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So by now, it was coming up to a ten o clock, so we decided to head over to the Studios!

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Where it was already quite busy

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In we went...

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The queue for Crush was almost at the exit for Studio one, so that was a big no no today... Instead, we headed around past the queue and past Cars to Toy Story Playland!

None of these attractions were open as of yet, so we started the line for Parachute drop.
After about ten minutes, we were let in to the hangar.
Although it's not an attraction I consider unmissable, when there's no queue for it, it's hard to say no  

After landing, it seemed quite busy everywhere except for the Playland. ToT had a 45 minute queue so we grabbed a fast pass for it, timed for 12:45.

We walked the path behind the Tower, before I sat on the motorcycle and posed...

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... and after some groaning resulting from a sign informing us Cascadeur's was closed all day    , we headed for Moteurs... Action!

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We sat near the centre at the top

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Although it's still a good show, the production we saw was definatley cut back since my last viewing in 2010...
There seemed less too it. Less stunts. There was no man falling off a building, and the red car didn't go up the lorry ramp on to the cushion of air. I'm sure there was probably more missing but that's what stood out. As well as the line of flame not being on, meaning the villain was set alight with a lighter  :|
Oh and the Cars bit? Jesus.  #-o
Safe to say it was just awful and I hated it.  [-(

After the show's explosive ending, chud wanted to do RNRC but as I explained it would be heaving, and the queue agreed with me.... We couldn't get a fast pass for it either seeing as we had one for ToT... so it was lunch time  
Our restaurant (or café) of choice was Backlot Express (I think that's what its called these days anyway... Alternatively the High School Musical come Pirates place  :lol: )

I had a Croque Monsieur and Richard had a slice of Pizza, both being surprisingly tasty.  :thumbs:

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By now, the time had come for our Fast Pass so we headed to ToT. The fastpass queue was rediculous, stretching all the way to the bus stop! A CM came and informed people that this was the fastpass queue, not the normal queue so that got rid of a fair amount of people, but we were still stood outside the actual queue, along the fence. (After going inside we found only 2 of the elevators working, instead of 3.)
So, we eventually got into the queue...
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It lasted about 20 minutes before we got to our library... Better than the 70 minute standby queue I suppose, but not really very "fast"  :-k

Anyway, after another 15 minute wait in the boiler room...

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 We finally got in our Service Elevator!

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And it was a great ride, as usual! It never ceases to thrill me like attractions do! It always feels unpredictable, even though you know what's going to happen!

After a little look in the gift shop, I wanted to go over and see how the Rat was coming along, so off we went!

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Before taking in some of the theming at the Playland...

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Could do with a little clean...

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Toy Crane?

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Anyway, after my fan-ness calmed slightly, we went over to Tour de Force records to try out their attraction!
Which was in pretty good nick! Great sound, great lights and plenty of smoke! And more importantly, it won't shake you to pieces a la Space Mountain  

It was now time for Cinémagique! So off we headed to rest our feet for half hour!

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It's always a lovely show, and the new scenes put in a the titanic part are seamless. Nice to have it current, but timeless at the same time!

As we left the cinema, it was raining and cold, so we decided to leave the studios!

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Studio services is so bland compared to City hall, but it does have some nice concept art!

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After leaving the Studios, we had a good hour to kill before our reservation at Walt's, so off to the World of Disney we went!


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We had a little look around the side of the building before heading inside...

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Ahhh shopping heaven!

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Part two will continue shortly, with our Dinner at Walt's. (Including food pics   )

[norhel]

Nice report :-)