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[Thaliel]

before I dawdle the day away again I need to finally post my report of our most recent trip.

We started on what came to be one of the hottest days of this summer. Good thing our car has proper air condition. short and thin was the look at least for the first two days, the rest...we'll come to that later. Roads wre not a big issue, since holidays had not started yet, so we got through really smoothly, enjoyed any resting place we stopped at and even thought of inorming our hotel of our later arrival. Since Chelles was full, we choose an ibis budget in Ponatult-combault this time. but still, we had to stick to our tradition of having a nice dinner at "L'asiane" Thai restaurant in Chelles before cheking in to the hotel. All 3 of us had the grilled  duck filet with honey sauce, so delicious


for dessert, my sister and I shared some cocoa balls, filled with...I think some nuts?


This restaurant is not only serving delicious food, it is also nicely decorated and has friendly personnel, though their english is almost non-existent


Since we did not know the hotel, we were really surprised to find a modernized building, with hotel-only parking lots, lift and an overall nice atmosphere. We booked a handicapped room for 3 guests, what we got was a nicely big room, queen size bed, bunk bed AND an extra bead at one wall, so nobody had to climb into the bunk bed. The new design of Ibis budget also includes the departure of that ugly carpet. Instead, our room was floored with easy to clean laminate, so we could even run around barefoot. The bathroom was spacy as well and properly equipped for handicapped people: ground level shower with led head that illuminates blue while showering. enough space to go about with a wheelchair etc.

After a good night's rest, we drove the last 30 minutes to Disneyland and checked in at the Golden Forest Club section in Sequoia Lodge.  We were welcomed by Vincenzo from Italy, who explained to us what is included in the Golden Forest Club advantages.


Only one of our two adjoined rooms was ready at that moment, the other had to be cleaned yet. So we wuickly unloaded the car with the help of the bell service and took everything into the prepared room. We were really surprised to find some welcome gifts in the room, and later even 2 more on the second room.


We then went to the RER station to meet with a friend from paris. Take a guess what a flat in the circumference of Paris costs: For her 29 square meters, our friend pays 680 euros per month  :shock:
We had a nice afternoon and sat down in the GFC lounge for a cofee and some sweet snacks...and then hell broke loose.
The worst thunderstorm since 1999 hit the area and we hardly could believe our eyes looking out of the window. The trees waved threateningly due to the wind, there was lightning everywhere and thunder that sounded like Cannons. There was so much rain that we even had to be reseated in another room since the lounge was having electricity problems due to a water leak. We waited for the heaviest rain to stop and then I took our friend to the station with the  hotel shuttle bus. She later send a message she actually was stuck on the RER for 2 hours since the tracks were flooded. Poor her. But she said she still enjoyd meeting us and even had a little surpsrise which he had no idea of at that point.

Our first day in the park was Thursday, and after all the rain of the previous hours the weather became a constant in-between for the rest o our trip: rain, sun, rain, sun, rain sun, etc.  ...bot mostly rain or at least pretty clouded and pretty chilly, so we had to wear at least 2 pullovers and a rain jacket. But we actaully managed to stay ot of the heaviest rain showers and even caught some sunny spots. Especially Thursday still held good times to be outside. This also meant that Atorybook land and caey jr were open on that day, so we boarded one of those lovely boats for a trip. We enjoyed all those neat scenes and when it was time to debark, the CM forgot to stop at the right position for us to get back to the wheelchair...so we were "forced" to go a second round  :lol:


Casey jr was being his good old self and let us enjoy the wind while rushing across his tracks


after that, the time we got assigned for riding IASW had almost come, so we switched back to the happy freindly dollies
 

We also wanted do to POTC, but they did not have ans available dates for handicapped guests on that day. Since we were hungry, we decided to see if Hakuna Matata was open. It was, and we had those awesome chiken stripes and fries, yummy!
*great, someone's hacing a BBQ ouside now, and I'm HUNGRY, those meanies*

Since the park was not as full as it would be during the weekend, we decided to also see Dreams that evening, which was as awesome as ever



Friday was the day we completely spent in the studios, since all the indoor activities are a great way to escape the rain that came down every now and then. On our way to Toystory Playland, we noticed that even though Monsters University would be staring soon, there was no Sully meeting schedulued at Boo's door. Butthat door was still tempting. for all of you who know The Big Bang Theory, you will understand why we just had to go to the door and do: Knock Knock Knock, Penny!? Knock knock knock, Penny!? Knock knock knock, Penny!?  :mrgreen:

The flying carpets was running on this day, so we decided to board a carpet for a flyover (Dumbo was closed anyways and orbitron too stuffy).


We then continued to Playland and did the parachute drop, which also gave us an insight on how the sonctruction of the new Ratatouille are is going ahead


Our way then lead us to the tram tour, which we boarded to let all the fire in catastrophe canyonblow us dry from the slight rain


Before grabbing a bite to eat, we checked in to the Hollywood Tower Hotel, but the elevator is still misbehaving


Finally, we had a nice meal in Blockbuster Cafe. I had a mushrrom and ham pizza tongue, my mom had a napolitan style noodle casserole with a small slad, and my sis had a fair sahre from both of our main courses as well as a muffin for dessert. We decided to sit in the Pirate area of the cafe, which is really nicely decorated


After eating, we tried to locate a certain blue alien in space, who had a lot of fun talking to the kids and joking around with the adults, he thought Florence from galactic communications was a monster  :lol:  

After leaving the studios, we checked out the new World of Disney Store. The wares offered were actually not that different from those you can get in the parks...and someome obviously wasn't doing their job properly


In the evening, we grabbed a little snack at the hotel bar, some nice chicken wings, luckily as we found out, the bar was closed the flowwoing days and completely blocked to the public for renovations


The next day, we wanted to do a relaxed tour around Disneyland Park with the railroad. It was a rather long wait, but when we were finally abpard, we enjoyed the view and the flourishing nature


Also, we were finally able to sail a ship around the pirate-infested area of Adventureland, which is always a nice place to do fotoshoots


We also figured out a way for my sis to ride peter pan. Originally, her handicapped card has the wrong symbol that would not allow her to ride (even though she could very well be evacuated in case of emergeny). We simply used our daily hotel fastpass that we got for being in GFC. She got out of her wheelchair near the adventureland/fantasyland passage and we woukld directly go to peter Pan's fastpass entrance. We could get onto the ride without any problems and enjoy our flight to Neverland

Once more, we ended he day by watching Dreams, this time from the handicapped area, since it was not so crowded and all 3 of us were allowed to enter.


The next morning, we made a quick visit to the studios gain, since I hadn't done Rock N Roller Coaster yet. We used the opportunity to see if HTH had fixed their elevators and also shop a bit


I have actually never seen Rock N Roller Coaster that crowded before, 25-45 minutes waiting time whenever I checked. So I used one of our fast passes and "did this like a lady"

back in disneyland park, we enjoyed a bit of sunshine and viewing al the things on Main Street


Back in Frontierland, we just had to do Phantom Manor and BTM




That evening, we also dinner in silver Spur Steakhouse to celebrate my sister's birthday. I had a beef skewer, and mom and sis had entrecote, though it was not as tender as one would think entrecote would be

We were back in the hotel quite early, so we could enjoy the nice view from our window (you could also see dreams pretty nicely from there)


My mom even had a rose in her bathroom


But even better was that the friend we had met with remembered about my sister's birthday and arranged some flowers to be delivered to our room. The bouquet looked really beautiful and we took it back home where it stayed fresh for over a week thanks to the card attahed to it, which had some fertilizer in it

Breakfast was really nice, though pretty full every day. It was nice having a character around all the time, the person changed between 2 costumes every day, with one costume being used about an hour. We met Eeyore, Tiggr, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto during our stay. That was wuite useful, since we never actually managed to meet any character running around the park.
The breakfast itself was the same as the normal one, unfortunately. I had really wished for a few more things to eat, like really frsh fruit (and not the sweetened fruit salad) or vegetables like tomato or cucumber.


Our last day in the park had already come and we packed our stuff together so the bell service could get everything to the storage. Since we had 2 oxygen containers with us instead of one, we left one with the first aid personnel. This room is always so nice to look at



We were lucky enough to be around while Captain EO was shown, so this was a must for us to commemorate MJ's heroism


Also, Space Mountain had come out of closure finally, and was pretty crowded, so once again, I grabeed another hotel fastpass to shoot to infinity and beyond



After that, we thought we could have a quick snack at Café Hyperion, but actaully it took 45 minutes waiting until we got to the counter. But at least the food was good. I had an angus premium burger, and my sis and monm shared the menu of chicken nuggets, fries and drink as well as the anniversary cake.

Since POTC was rather empty, we could immediately ride this time, but the pirate was not very keen on sharing the treasure


Therefore, we decided to try gold mining, and entered a particular off-track mining train



the evening, we spent with getting postcards ready and enjoying the sun on Main street


What we did not know when we left was even though the owner told me otherwise, our room at the Chelles hotel was NOT guaranteed to us. so when we arrived at half past 10 in the evening, the room had already been givven away and the hotel as well as all ibis budget hotels nearby were full as well. The only thing to do was drive 5 more hours to Aachen and try the Ibis Budget there, since that is located directly at he highway. We arrived there at 5 am, but were allowed to stay until 2 in the afternoon, so we cold get a few hours sleep before driving the reat of the distance home.
Judging from this experience, we will most likely permanently switch to the Pontault-combault hotel, and always call the hotel once again to tell them we will arrive after 6pm

We arrived home in the late evening on Tuesday last week, still haven't unpacked all our shopping bags, but are really happy we did this rather spontaneous trip. Of course, we hope to go again soon, maybe around easter next year, together with my sister's godchild.

[bamberrr]

Great report loved the dreams pics you got some really good ones =]

[zara-x]

I loved the Dreams pics too! Can I just ask - the second photo of the Storybook ride, whereabouts are the gravestones (at least I think that's what they are) I've never seen them before!

[tubbsy]

Lovely report and amazing photos
I am only just getting into photography and I am really hoping to catch some really good night shots and your photos have inspired me even more

[Sal]

I really enjoyed your TR!    Amazing pictures!

[Thaliel]

I loved the Dreams pics too! Can I just ask - the second photo of the Storybook ride, whereabouts are the gravestones (at least I think that's what they are) I've never seen them before!

I think the Graveyard is located near the little windmill, definately iin the first part of the course, in front the bridge that Casey jr goes over

[Aurora1]

Is it just me or are you r pictures not showing anymore?

[Thaliel]

sry for that, they are still there, but Photobucket is acting up, I don't know why

[BlackPearl]

Thanks for sharing your report, Thaliel! I really enjoyed reading it.  
Beautiful pictures of Dreams.