Nicolai's Summer of Love, Paris and Disney (Day 5 ADDED)

DLP-Photos.com · August 08, 2013, 11:33:52 PM

I have some issues at home I need to address, so I haven't forgot you. As a matter of fact I plan on posting not only Day 4 but also Day 5 during tomorrow :-)

As a sorry for the wait I shall leave you with 6 previews from Day 5 which had both Bastille Day Fireworks and Disney Dreams!! A very magical combination from our perfect view:

Seee you tomorrow ;-)

Aurora1 · August 09, 2013, 03:06:58 PM

Holy cow! These pictures are faboulus!!! =D>

/
Where were you standing?

DLP-Photos.com · August 09, 2013, 06:25:01 PM

Day 4 - Welcome Home!

NB! First of all I will let you know that all photos despite 2 in this update is from my trips last summer. On this day I did not bring my camera in order to be able to enjoy the first Disney Day with Mie without being interrupted by taking photos and all. But of course I won't make a full day update without photos for you

So the day kicked off as usual - up early, nice sunny parisian view from the room and a big breakfast for me. This was the day, Disney was calling, I was hours from returning "home" - hours from showing my girlfriend this place for the first time. Because I love the place so much and her so much, it was equally shared emotions of excitement and fear of how she would like it. I'm sure all of you who have taken someone for their first trip know this feeling?

Well before we would take the RER train to Marne-la-vallée Chessy we had some final things on our Paris to-do. We wanted to get back to Abercrombie & Fitch as I wanted to buy another polo and my girlfriend had decided to buy the dress she had seen there the first time. We bought a book of 10 metro tickets and then it was time to be time effective!

We quickly found ourselves on Champs-Élysées and inside the overwhelming walls of A&F. I knew exactly what Polo I was going for and I quickly found it - unfortunately the dress Mie had wanted was sold out in her size. Such a shame considering they had two days before

Well we continued to Nike Store and Galeries Lafayette in order to look for some new shoes or sandals for Mie as her feet were still killing her. Unfortunately both visits were with no luck and we went back to the hotel to collect our luggage followed by the long but wonderful RER travel from central Paris to the home of the magic. I could feel that we were both nervous and excited!

As we arrived and emerged from the train station my GF had a lot of questions for me about what was what and so on. However, before answering all this we jumped on the shuttle bus to our hotel: Santa Fe. We got there around 2 I think and we were the only people at check-in so we quickly got our room which was located just a short stroll away from the reception. Great at this time with all our bags :-)

Leaving our luggage and making us ready the anticipation was killing me. I just wanted to get "home"! :lol: As we went for the bus we were greeted by no other than the Mr. Mouse himself! As if he was there to welcome me on my 15th stay and make sure my girlfriend popped straight into the Disney mode. From that moment on I knew this would be good as she was so happy:

We took the bus back to the parks and now it was time! Time to enter the magic and show my girlfriend this - for her - mysterious place that her boyfriend loves extremely much! Even before we entered the Disneyland Park I bought my first gift for my girlfriend - she knew I had been talking about her wearing Minnie ears and when she saw them she was sure. She had to have a couple :-)

Entering the park, wearing her ears we had not gotten longer than under Main Street station as she said: "Aww, I love this place!". I could relax and just enjoy being back here for 6(!) days - the longest stay ever for me :-) Having only had breakfast we quickly headed for some lunch, which would be served in the middle of the jungle in the old Explorer's Club now taken over by Col. Hathi. The pizzas are always of reasonable good quality compared to some of the other fast food choices and gave us the necessary energy to start exploring the park!

The sun was shining and the heat was burning. When that is the case there is no place in Disneyland Park I love more than Adventure Isle and is it was on the way to my must-be-the-first-ride Pirates it was obvious to just walk around enjoying each others company in the beautiful, exotic surroundings:

Adventure Isle by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

The Stream Between the Leaves by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Through the Waterfall by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Lamp Under the Bridge by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Skull Rock by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Then it was time for our first ride; a return to the pirate infested waters of the Caribbean. The queue was quite big - 40 minutes I think - and I always love to see this ride so popular considering it - luckily - has no Jack Sparrow or anything. My GF haven't seen the films so she didn't miss him either - however, she was quite scared and didn't really like darkest parts of the ride. She enjoyed the story part though and I just enjoyed being back. It was in quite good condition although the swinging pirate unfortunately was missing during our complete stay.

Caribbean Sunset by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Pirates of the Caribbean by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Having escaped the heated battles between the Royal Army and the pirates we continued towards Fantasyland - just kind of walking around, enjoying the atmosphere and giving Mie an idea of what the park had to offer

Pink Summer by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

We decided to head for the Studios as Mie was especially excited about Tower of Terror. Strolling through the castle we enjoyed trying on some on-sale Christmas hats before finding ourselves in front of an offer we simply couldn't refuse! Lovely Ben & Jerries Ice Cream from the Gibson Girl! Uhmmmmm - so good and so delicious in the sun :-)

We dropped into City Hall as we had been talking about having dinner at the Blue Lagoon - we wanted to hear if we could get a table the next day, but considering it was the Bastille Day we weren't that optimistic. However, it was no problem and we got a reservation for 7.15 on sunday the 14th :-) This would be my first visit to the Blue Lagoon so I was quite excited considering it is located within my favourite ride!

We wanted to see and try so much already that we hurried on into the Studios preparing ourselves to travel directly to the Twilight Zone!

The Hollywood Tower Hotel by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

As it was too late for fastpasses and we really wanted to try it we just got in the queue ending up with 45 minutes in the hot sun in the outdoor queue area.

Tower Details by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Entering the hotel my girlfriend quickly spotted how much in character most of the cast members are in this ride. She loved it and to be honest who wouldn't? It just helps making the ride start already before "the actual ride" kicks off!

As we got seated in the elevator my adrenaline was once again pumping although it was my 30th time or so! It just does it every single time :lol: My GF was trying to get as much information out of me as possible but I tried to tell as less as possible as I clearly remember how amazing, frightening and extremely funny my first time was when I didn't have a clue about what happened and when. (Almost) needless to say she LOVED it and already declared it to be her favourite ride!

It quickly got some competition as we went on Rock'n'Rollercoaster. It's really not my favourite as I cannot sit very comfortable in the train due to my height and I don't like the acceleration. However, I did for her and she loved this one too. She knew for sure that her dad would too so she actually wrote to him straight after getting off, that she had found an attraction that they simply had to try together, when he got there!

The studios closed and continueing our tightly scheduled first day we headed straight back to Disneyland Park where we would just catch the parade as we entered the park. However, none of us really concentrated on the parade. As we got there we were right in the middle under the station. They have this spot open for people to cross the street. As the parade neared they closed this of course. The Cast Member doing this pointed out an old man in a wheelchair wanting to get him in the front. However, none of the nearby families respected this and as soon as he moved the ropes they just ran in front of the poor man leaving him in a spot where he couldn't see anything. We both felt so sorry for him and most of all I wanted to tell all the others off! :twisted:

My girlfriend enjoyed the parade and wrote her step mum to tell how beautiful it all was and how excited she was for her to small cousins to arrive. It was happiness all over!

Finding our way through the many, MANY people leaving the parks after the parade we found ourselves in Frontierland. We had fastpass tickets for Big Thunder so we boarded the wildest ride in the wilderness! We both loved it and laughed our lungs out :-)

Big Thunder Mountain by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Big Thunder Mountain by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Feeling hungry once again we went to Lucky Nugget Saloon for food. I could get their lovely Fish'n'Chips and my GF could get spare ribs.

The Lucky Nugget Saloon by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

We queued up for 30 minutes at least and couldn't get soda as something was wrong with their machines. We finally got seated and as we got our food it was with mixed feelings. My fish was delicious as always - however, the ribs were almost nothing but fat. The amount of actual meat was very little unfortunately

Last year was actually the first time ever I was in there, so I never got to experience it when there was actual shows on the stage. This evening though we would get a little taste of how it was as we had the delightful surprise of live music on the stage:

[youtube:3c5ackwi]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IKReNjyyIQ[/youtube:3c5ackwi]

To some extent this made up for the disappointing ribs and nice and full we got out spotting an abandoned manor in its once so majestic location with the perfect view of Thunder Mesa. My GF isn't really fond of haunted houses, but having promised her it didn't contain live actors and really is more beautiful than scary we got on. Just as with Pirates she didn't like the darkest parts but otherwise she found it both beautiful and impressive. However, she didn't really catch the story and I think that is a big problem with the lack of english speak in at least one of the stretch rooms. Come on, the speak with Vincent Price is amazing, so why don't bring him back??

Phantom Manor on the River by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Phantom Manor by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

No skeletons in the end.. Otherwise the ride was in top condition ready for the summer season! We had a little time left before having to find a spot for Dreams so we headed for Indy as it would be closed some of the days during our stay. My girlfriend remembered the track design from the old Tivoli in Aalborg - and they are very similar if not exact copies! Once again it was a bumpy ride, but in the end I must say that it is still great fun if you go there when the queue is short

Before ending the night with the magical Disney Dreams we went on Pont Suspendu taking some photos of Mie :-)

We ended the day with the beautiful Disney Dreams which has just become even better with the addition of Lion King and Brave. Lion King is a major hit with the audiences - literally everybody was either singing, dancing or both along! It was a party - Brave was much more exciting and impressive compared to the Mary Poppins scene. However, I missed King Louis and Baloo :-)

On our way to the bus and hotel we quickly got into World of Disney, but it was clear that we were quite tired! So we just got back to the hotel and into bed - after all a new complete day of magic awaited with breakfast at 7 am next day. As it was Bastille Day we were prepared for crazy lines and extremely packed parks! We would be in for a surprise....

Ravenseye · August 09, 2013, 07:07:04 PM

Lovely report! Eagerly awaiting the next installment

norhel · August 10, 2013, 07:36:51 AM

Sounds like you both had a great time! :-)

mattboywonder · August 10, 2013, 02:44:31 PM

Did you notice that on Saturday and Sunday, Melanie's veil was off her face in Phantom Manor (the first time you see her just as the ride begins) but on Monday it was back over her face!!

DLP-Photos.com · August 11, 2013, 01:08:11 PM

Day 5 - Bastille Day in Paris

First morning in Hotel Santa Fe - we had been told La Cantina breakfast was completely booked from 7-10, so we should just go there when we wanted! As it was the Bastille Day we wanted to get there as early as possible so that we could catch most of the EMH expecting the day to be extremely busy and the parks to be packed. I remember being there on an earlier Bastille Day where we managed to go on 3 rides the entire day, so I had prepared my girlfriend for a busy, yet slow day with loads of queues and everything.

We were in La Cantina around 7.30 and after a classic Disney breakfast we found ourselves on the way to the parks with the shuttle bus. We just missed it, so we had to wait some time. As we arrived in the Disneyland Park it wasn't that late or busy for that matter, so we headed towards Discoveryland and a laser spin with Buzz, who luckily was back in action having been roped off during both my stays last summer. We competed a bit, but it never really got going - actually I don't even remember my score (shame on me). As we exited we wanted to try Space Mountain, but it was closed due to some technical problems.

We decided to head for the studios to get in the Crush queue early and save the big wait, I knew would be probably be even bigger on this day.

When we arrived at Town Square, however, the Horse Drawn Vehicle was out. I LOVE it as it is pure Disneyland magic to me and my girlfriend LOVES horses, so of course we had to take it back to the castle. Nothing has ever been as relaxing as travelling down Main Street in this vehicle, and Main Street has never looked more beautiful than in this vehicle. A wonderful start to the day indeed! Even a very annoying dutch man yelling at people in the street "that they didn't have any money", "welcome to youtube" and "in Holland we eat horsies" couldn't ruin the moment! :lol:

Disneyland Horse by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

... and the fact that you dropped off to this beautiful sight just makes it even more beautiful and amazing!

Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

But we would still be customers with Main Street Ttransportation and Co., because going back to Town Square we got our very own tour in the Limousine going down Main Street in the opposite direction. This really was an amazing Main Street morning!!!

One-Way Transportation to Town Square by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

It had now become a little later and as we came to the Studios they had already opened the gates, so I knew we would be in for a bigger Crush queue than wanted. However, we didn't know how many mornings we would be able to go there during the Davy Crockett stay later, so we decided to queue up anyway. We ended up queueing for around 1 hour, but luckily the ride is very funny! However it is still very recommendable to get at the Studios Gate around 9.20 in order to save a big wait for Crush :-)

After this we went to Tower of Terror to take a fastpass for later (it was actually already for around 3!!) - we continued on into Toy Story Playland. This is still quite lovely in the bright summer months even though the capacity issues are also that much bigger during these months! We got in queue for the Parachute Drop - my GF wanted to try it and I - of course - wanted to check out the Ratatouille construction site from above

We queued up for around an hour and even though the interior of the last bit of queue is quite nice, it is a LONG time to queue up for this attraction I must say! It's not that good

Toy Story Playland by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

However, the view is nice and from the top you actually get the illusion of this land being a garden - there is NO tilt shift effect on this photo, but you still get the impression

Toy Story Playland by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

I must say the view towards Ratatouille made me really excited - this area and attraction looks to be huge and I cannot wait for more information to emerge!

Toy Story Playland by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

We were getting a bit hungry and thinking about our dinner at Blue Lagoon we didn't want to have lunch that late, so we jumped over to the Disneyland Park! Blue Lagoon would be something new for me in the evening and for lunch we ended up with something new too. My GF wasn't really fond of all the fast food when it was so hot, so we looked for a buffet and ended up in Agrabah Café - it was too early for the big queues and it was really nice to sit in the shadow.

I only remember the area briefly from it wasn't a café so it was really nice to check it out again - it is very beautiful! Even though the buffet was nice, the food was great and it was lovely to sit there, I must say it is sad that it no longer is the bazar area it used to be. Considering how beautiful it is, it would be an amazing experience to walk through the bazar once again now that I would really appreciate it.

Agrabah Café by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Agrabah Café by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

As said the food was really nice and we both got a lot to eat. And I must agree with my girlfriend - it was nice to get some "real" food when it was so hot!

Taking good time to enjoy the meal and the atmosphere well aware that we had plenty of time left, so we didn't have to stress on this day, we planned that this would be the night I would bring my tripod to take photos of Disney Dreams. As a bonus I would get the Bastille Day Fireworks too by choosing this day, although my girlfriend didn't have her family to be with during the looooong wait. We decided to go to City Hall and try to move our Blue Lagoon reservation from 7 to 6 in order for me to able to get a good spot around 8 - 3 hours before showtime!

Heading towards Studios again to use our TOT Fastpasses we stopped to watch the Party Train near the castle...

Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Central Plaza Flowerbed by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

My girlfriend wanted to have her photo taken with Pluto so we followed him to his spot. However, she didn't really feel comfortable going in front of all the kids constantly being pushed in front by their parents, so we ended up with no photos having waited for 20 minutes. A situation that made me understand why we rarely see characters roaming around the park anymore. With no queue system it is completely chaos for the poor character and its best friend

Well we popped into Harringtons, which had opened at 1 and here I got a lovely present from my girlfriend as she bought me the limited edition 14th of July 2013 pin! We also admired the glass artists and thought about buying something at a later time to remember the holiday by...

Harringtons by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

I was lovely, wasn't I? :lol:

Getting to Tower of Terror and taking the drop into the Twilight Zone with a really good cast member by the lift we were ready to get back to the hotel. Just to change clothes (this would be our "good" dinner in Disney), pick up the tripod and just relax for a little bit! The first thing I did on the hotel was to change our Blue Lagoon reservation which was no problem luckily!

You want more? Okay, I'll include the evening in this update too ;-) But be aware it will be PHOTO HEAVY from now on :-)

We got to the Blue Lagoon - eventhough it was only 6 I was shocked to see no queue at all and a quite empty restaurant. Considering it was Bastille Day I would have thought all restaurants to be packed, but then again the parks hadn't been that busy during the day either. We got a table in the far back of the restaurant - I would have wanted a table closer to the Pirates scenery but then again we were still seated by the water and it was a really nice atmosphere. Especially when Pirates is your FAVOURITE ride of all

We both got the "Treasures of the Sea" menu, however my girlfriend got the starter changed to a certain starter from another menu that she had set her eyes on! So she got the Pirate Trilogy while I got the caribbean salad, which was really nice! However, my GF didn't like any of the three dishes in her starter. She hadn't seen the octopus salad and she actually got a bit sick by the sight of the octopus with everything

Our nice and understanding, yet nervous waiter could see that something was wrong and she asked if we wanted to change anything. My girlfriend had ordered the Captains Choice of Fish as her main course, so we asked if the waiter knew what fish it was, as my girlfriend feared it would be the swordfish as in the starter. Our waiter wasn't that good at english and she told us that the fish was called "Captains Choice of"... That we didn't really believe so in order for my girlfriend to have something at least we changed it to the Chicken Columbo which I also got. It was really delicious!!

For dessert we both got the Creme Brulee, which was really tasty and it was so much fun to have it served literally in flames at your table. A little boy next to us just stared at our table with mouth and eyes wide open! It didn't help when my girlfriend got her cocktail which was with lights and smoke ;-)

So in the end it was a really nice dinner and we enjoyed it very much, although the octopus was about to ruin everything :lol: As we got out we could just manage one ride before getting ready for dreams - what more fitting than Pirates itself? 5 minutes queue and it was the perfect match!

After this we went to Central Plaza and I got a quite good spot near the front right flower bed - the two best spots were already taken, but I ended up with a lot of brilliant photos. As a matter of fact one the spots was taken by the same official Disney photographer as I stood right next to last summer. Of course he was out to take photos of the Bastille Day Fireworks - but then again what is the chances of me standing right next to him two years in a row? Surely it must be a sign for my future haha :lol: (I wish)

The place slowly got more and more packed - around 9.30 they turned on the fountains and gave a little show:

[youtube:3ccoor8p]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qntpxU9K1Vs[/youtube:3ccoor8p]

As you can see a lot of people were already siiting in the flower beds and I could see that not me, but also Marc the photographer and the other guy with his tripod was getting a bit nervous. They emptied the opposite flower beds, but unfortunately they never emptied ours

However, this year it was no problem as people remained sitting throughout both fireworks and Disney Dreams leaving my camera with a CLEAR view of the castle and the fountains. Awesome and probably the only good thing about the lack of Fantillusion - I figured this must have been the main reason for why people remained sitting!

Well at 11 the Bastille Day Fireworks started followed by Disney Dreams - both were of course very impressive and I see no reason as to continue talking about it. Bring on the photos:

Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Bastille Day Fireworks by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Red Castle by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Bastille Day Fireworks by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Bastille Day Fireworks by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

A beautiful fireworks display with a nice soundtrack - it pleased the french guests indeed! A beautiful, yet noisy, lead-in to the more sophisticated DISNEY DREAMS:

Disney Dreams by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

Disney Dreams by NKA-Photo, on Flickr

An amazing Bastille Day had come to an end! We didn't get to go on that many rides - but we were aware of that and mostly it was due to the fact that we took time to enjoy the atmosphere and of course spent 4 hours to get the photos above

gemma2806 · August 11, 2013, 03:55:17 PM

I love your trip report so far, I'm so glad you both had such a lovely time. I was nervous when I first took my partner as he had never been before but he's now a complete Disney convert and we can't wait to experience Christmas season this year.

I love the photos of the Bastille Day fireworks and Disney Dreams! You have an amazing eye for detail with your photos, this is also evident in the photos of the flowers and scenery you've taken. I can't wait for the next instalment!

Sal · August 11, 2013, 04:41:17 PM

Nicolai, your photos are just AMAZING!

I love reading your report and watching your beautiful photos. I tried to take photos of Dreams last summer, but apparently I don't have any talent with a camera because none of the photos worked out. :?
I can't wait to read and see more af your and Mie's trip.

And I can't wait till it's our turn to go in 4 weeks.

/

norhel · August 11, 2013, 04:49:00 PM

I agree with the rest here: it's a great report! And I especially like the picture from Main Street.

mickeymouse · August 12, 2013, 11:13:16 AM

Lovely pictures and great report, as always!

never2old · August 12, 2013, 01:53:10 PM

You should go to DLP a lot more often, I really cannot get enough of your trip reports!! And of course your pictures... Beautiful.

Please hurry with day 6!!!

DLP-Photos.com · August 13, 2013, 12:04:26 AM

Quote from: "gemma2806"I love your trip report so far, I'm so glad you both had such a lovely time. I was nervous when I first took my partner as he had never been before but he's now a complete Disney convert and we can't wait to experience Christmas season this year.

I love the photos of the Bastille Day fireworks and Disney Dreams! You have an amazing eye for detail with your photos, this is also evident in the photos of the flowers and scenery you've taken. I can't wait for the next instalment!

Thank you so much - we had a lovely time... And for some reasons I'm not going to go into detail with just yet, I think this trip will from now on be even more precious in me memory.

Quote from: "Sal"Nicolai, your photos are just AMAZING! I love reading your report and watching your beautiful photos. I tried to take photos of Dreams last summer, but apparently I don't have any talent with a camera because none of the photos worked out. :?
I can't wait to read and see more af your and Mie's trip. And I can't wait till it's our turn to go in 4 weeks. /

Disney Dreams can be quite difficult taking photos of - a tripod is the best solution, but even then you can be having a hard time. Last year I had people standing in front of me and kicking the tripod

Oh, and great to have a fellow dane here. Ha' en god tur om 4 uger :-)

Quote from: "norhel"I agree with the rest here: it's a great report! And I especially like the picture from Main Street.

Thank you - what exact picture are you thinking about?

Quote from: "mickeymouse"Lovely pictures and great report, as always!

Thanks mickeymouse!

Quote from: "never2old"You should go to DLP a lot more often, I really cannot get enough of your trip reports!! And of course your pictures... Beautiful.

Please hurry with day 6!!!

Are you offering to pay a few trips for me, because then I'll be happy to go :lol: Haha, no I would love to go more often, but I'll continue to strive for at least once a year. I love writing these reports, so I am of course very happy to hear when people also enjoy reading them

esmeralda · August 13, 2013, 01:50:58 PM

I love your pics from the fireworks! Really amazing!!!
But i would also love to read more about the parks. Your last report was more detailed. But i guess that's a time issue. Did you like the refurb of Hotel Santa Fe? Did you take some pics?

norhel · August 13, 2013, 04:05:42 PM

Quote from: "forza_united"
Quote from: "norhel"I agree with the rest here: it's a great report! And I especially like the picture from Main Street.

Thank you - what exact picture are you thinking about?

I see that I infact forgot to add an S in pictures

But I should also add that the rest of your pictures is very nice :-D