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[never2old]

Hello!


We're back from our last trip of the year  , but I've been very busy and I'm not sure I'll have time to do a full report with pictures and all... So apologies but I'll take the lazy option and share with you the photos I've posted in Facebook, and when I have a bit more time I'll post some other pictures here... Hope the links to facebook work ok!!


So to finish our year in style, we had booked to stay for 5 nights in the Marriott Village, next to Disney; we got a great offer we couldn't refuse, really... We've stayed there a few times before, but usually for 1 night, before going to a Disney hotel. This was our first proper, long stay, and it was wonderful. If you're travelling with kids, or with a group of friends, it's simply perfect. The villas are very big, we had a 2 bedroom one with 2 bedrooms upstairs (one with an en-suite bathroom, the other with a shower room and a toilet next to it), and downstairs we had the kitchen (very well equipped) and a living area with a dining table and a couple of sofas in front of the TV. Plenty of space! Spending time in the room was a real pleasure, it felt a lot more like home than any other hotel we've stayed in... And in the evenings once Alicia was in bed, we could relax and watch TV downstairs without having to worry about making noise and waking her up....  It was perfect!


We left home Sunday after lunch (the idea was that Alicia would have her nap in the car....) and made it to the hotel around 5pm. We checked-in, left the bags in the room, and went straight to the Disney Village. Since it was Sunday (and we assumed the parks would be busy) the idea was to go to the Buffalo Bill show in the Village, and forget about the parks...


We weren't too sure whether Alicia would be old enough to enjoy it (she's 2 and a half years old), but we didn't need to worry... They had an offer for the child places, 25% off, and we got 20% off our places (thank you APs) so it wasn't too bad for all three of us. We went in, got our hats (we were in the blue area), and went in just in time to see Goofy dancing on the stage. They called everyone to their seats except us, so Alicia could get really close to the stage: live music and Goofy, she was delighted!! She even got a hug from him, when he came down of the stage...


The show was a lot of fun. We had seen it once before, years ago before they added Mickey and friends, and although I did think the original version was better, I don't think Alicia would have enjoyed it so much without Mickey, Minnie and all. But as it was she loved it, she really got into it and by the end she was waving her hat around and saying yehaaa along with the rest of us 


And the food was delicious!! The only thing I remembered from last time was the delicious chilli con carne they serve first, and it was as tasty as in my memories... But I had forgotten about all that followed! We were quite full by the end...


After the show we had a little wander around the DV, and even met Santa Claus! Then it was back to the hotel to unpack and relax for a bit in front of the TV....



You can see some pics in my Facebook album! Someone please let me know if it does not work...


Day 2 coming soon!!

[never2old]

OK, quick summary of day2!

Monday was our first full day in DLP. In the morning we had to and do some food shopping for our villa (self catering...), we would be eating lunch in the parks but dinner would be back in our hotel... There's a little market down the road from the Marriott, so we could avoid going to the huge Auchan in Val d'Europe. After dropping it all back in the room, we made our way towards the parks, and the DV car park (2 euro for a full day with an AP, really worth it!)

And finally, we were back. Of course our first destination was Disneyland Park! First thing you noticed when you arrive is the beautiful decorations on the Main Street USA station. They are gorgeous!! There's a big, Mickey-shapped garland, with sparkling lights all over, and the windows are decorated with pictures of Mickey and pals. And then you walk into Town Square, and a HUGE beautiful Christmas tree is there to welcome you, with a big pile of presents under it... And behind it, Main Street USA with its garlands (again Mickey shaped) all along... Beautiful. Christmas all over

We arrived a few minutes before the Christmas cavalcade was due to start, so we got a place in Main Street to wait for it. The music starts playing, and soon enough, we could see Goofy and his soldiers coming down Main Street, followed by Mickey, Minnie and Donald on top of their brand new float... And it starts to snow!! Goofy and the soldiers were brilliant, one of my favourite bits of the whole thing! They had a lot of energy, and were dancing all together beautifully. Although I confess, I miss the toy soldiers we used to have, and the noise they made walking down the street.... Still, these were very good. Then comes the new float, with Donald playing on his drum, and behind him Mickey and Minnie wearing beautiful, Christmas coats. Behind them on the is a Christmas tree, with Tinkerbell waving from the top, and Pluto sits on the back of the float. Oh, and Winnie and his friends come just behind. My daughter loved it, she was calling at them all and waving and simply being a very happy little girl Chip, Dale and Clarice dressed up as pastry chefs followed with a couple of gingerbread men and more dancers, wearing very colourful dresses. They were followed by an elf, sitting on a deer between some snowy Christmas trees (I'm not describing it verey well, but you know which one I mean...), with the Incredibles behind him (not sure how they fitted into the whole thing, to be honest, but their vehicles were pretty cool). Buzz, Woody and Jessie followed in their float (though personally I think they Woody and Buzz are slightly too high up to see them as well as you could). The dancers dressed as toy planes, together with some elves, come before the biggest float of them all, the one with Santa and his reindeer. And Donald's nephews are sitting with him!

Overall a great parade. The dancers are very good and they bring a lot of energy to it. And the floats, the music and the snow, make it quite magical. Very Christmassy

Right, time for some rides... And first stop, Buzz Lightyear! As some of you may know, it's one of my husband's favourite rides, and Alicia really enjoys it too (she loves Buzz, but as far as I know she only really knows him from the ride!!). There was very little queue, we had to wait outside a bit but once we were let inside we want straight in and only ended up waiting in the last corridor. I went in with Alicia, and despite the fact that she was having a lot of fun spinning us around, I managed a great score!! (Ok yes maybe stopped in front of a good target for some time.... )

When we came out Alicia saw Orbitron, and she asked to go flying on the planes. I should maybe say, my poor baby is learning 3 languages (Spanish, English and French) so she mixes them up quite a bit, and we have a lot of trouble understanding what she's saying most of the time. But she was pretty clear asking for "plane" and "flying" (wonder what it says about her upbringing that one of the few verbs she uses regularly is "flying".... fortunately it does come in useful in Disneyland ). Now Orbitron was the only ride in the whole resort that I had never done before. No particular reason, if only to be able to say that I hadn't done it all so I had a reason to go back... Well now that reason is gone (the things we do for our children!!!). It had very little queue so we really had no reason not to do it... Because I have long legs and have a tendency for clumsiness I went by myself, while Alicia and her dad were in the ship behind me. And I have to confess, it was a lot of fun!! I don't know if it was because I kept looking back to wave at them and take pictures, or because the thing moves quite fast, but it did feel... well, not scary, but something like that. Do you know what I mean?

We hadn't booked any restaurant for lunch today, and since we were starting to feel a bit hungry we went to the one place I keep saying no one should go: the Hyperion Cafe....  Even though the park was relatively quiet, it was very busy, and very slow in there. I stayed with Alicia so that she could run around a bit while my husband went to queue for the food. It took him about 15 minutes to come and join us... Then we had to find a table, and we ended up quite close to the top. On the plus side, Mickey and the Jingle Boys came on stage just when we were getting our seats, and we could see the show while we ate (Alicia was particularly happy, she loves Mickey and she loves music!!) We went for the Christmas menu and it was nice... The burger was quite tasty I'll admit, with mushrooms. But it would have been nicer it it was a bit warmer...

We came out for lunch in time to see the Christmas cavalcade one last time, this time by the Castle (so no snow, but still a lot of magic there). After that Alicia fell asleep in her pushchair, so we had a little walk in the Disney Village (Starbucks....) and then back to the park to wander around the shops a bit. One problem of not staying on site is that I couldn't really use the shopping service to get the stuff sent to the hotel (you can send it to the WOD store in the Village, but I imagine it can be pretty busy there at the end of the day...) But even if you're not going to buy anything you can still have a look and start planning all the pretty things you want to get....

After Alicia we were discussing what to do and mentioned "Mickey Mouse".... After that there was only one thing she wanted to do! So we went to Fantasyland to meet everyone's favourite mouse. Alicia was so happy!!

We came out just in time to get a spot to watch the parade (as usual we went to the start of the parade route, by Bella Notte and IASW). A lot of fun as usual, and it was great to see the new Frozen/Tangled float! The Frozen part looks great, and the back with all the new lanterns around Rapunzel's swing is beatiful.

It's becoming a tradition to go straight into IASW after the parade, and so we did Of course now it was the Christmas version, It's a small world Celebration, and I really love it. It's great how it feels like the same ride we love, and a totally different one at the same time. And Alicia loved it too, so much that in fact we had to do it twice in a row (in fact I think that during the whole trip, we never could do it just the one time, it was always twice....)

By now it was getting close to 18:00 and the new tree lighting ceremony, so we headed towards Town Square, grabbing a hot drink and chocolate brownie on the way.

The new ceremony is wonderful. There's a little dialogue between Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket (in French and English), but it's not very long. Then the music starts playing, and the tree, and the garlands in Main Street, all light up together, it's beautiful. And of course you can see it from anywhere in Main Street, unlike the old ceremony with the characters in the float under the tree, and that's a big plus. At the end we only watched it the one time, and it's one of my regrets from the trip...

After that we went to Central Plaza to grab a spot for the Christmas Dreams show. We got one in front one of the flower beds, which was great. Alicia was sitting in her pushchair watching Lilo and Stich on an iPhone while we waited (I couldn't really ask her to sit around doing nothing for 30 minutes). And even though it was pretty cold, time really flew by! A few minutes before Dreams they light up the Castle, it's not advertised anywhere but they should, because it's beautiful!! They have projections on the Castle, and use the fountains with the lights, before lighting it all up. Beautiful!!

And then, finally, the Christmas Dreams show... It's stunning. Probably the best thing of the whole Christmas season. I had managed to avoid seeing any videos of if, so it was all a surprise for me. It was gorgeous!! The pictures I took were pretty bad (and for half of the show I had Alicia with me so I couldn't really take any), and in any case no pictures (or videos, for that matter) can do it justice. You have to see it for yourselves, live. Disney magic at its best

After that, we joined the sea of people leaving the parks, and were quite soon back in the hotel, exhausted but very happy

As before, here are some pictures I posted in Facebook!

[never2old]

Apologies for the delay, been pretty busy at work and at home...

To make up for it, here are the next to days!

Day 3

Tuesday was to be another day spent in the parks. We went a bit later in the morning because my DH wanted to go for a run first thing in the morning, so I stayed with Alicia relaxing in the hotel while he got very wet...

By the time we got to the park the rain had quieted down a bit, even though it felt rather humid and quite cold... Today we wanted to get plenty of rides done, so we started in Discoveryland with a few goes on Buzz (very little queue, most times we were walking straight into the boarding area!!) before heading off to Fantasyland for Pinocchio.

By then it was time to eat, we had booked lunch at the Blue Lagoon, one of our favourites in the park, and it did not disappoint! Alicia unfortunately did not like her pasta as much as she liked my chicken colombo, and she ended up eating most of my food... Still, very enjoyable

We followed lunch with one go on Pirates of the Caribbean (you have to, really...) but although she had loved it last time, Alicia didn't seem too keen on it this time, she got a bit scared with the drops. So no more trips to  the Caribbean after that  A shame because the ride was looking quite good (even though the swinging pirate was not swinging and the dueling pirates were missing)

The sun came out in the afternoon, and we spent some time in Fantasyland. We went around the Labyrinth (Alicia really likes to run around there), went on Dumbo, Peter Pan and Snow White, had a go on the Carousel, went a couple of times around in IASW, and even met Mickey Mouse again. I just love it when the queues are practically non existent 

Alicia had had a little nap in the morning, and as the evening came she was starting to look quite tired... So we decided to go back early to the hotel (and miss out on Dreams  )  Still, a great day! And it was nice to have a longer evening back in the hotel and plenty of rest!

Here are some pictures from Tuesday!


Day 4

No Disneyland today; instead in the morning we went to Paris, to see the new Pixar exhibition. It was amazing!! Unfortunately no pictures allowed inside so you'll need to go to discover it for yourselves...  There are plenty of drawings and sculptures from all the films, enough artwork to spend days in there. Then there's the zoetrope, which is really incredible!! First it moves slowly, so you can really appreciate all the different sculptures. Then it starts speeding up, until it all become a blur. And finally they start with the strobe lighting, and everything comes to life! Finally there's Artscape, where they have a huge screen where they have artwork and scenes from the many different films, beautifully put together, and which really showcases the amazing work done at Pixar....

Alicia wasn't too bad in the exhibition... It was fairly quiet in there (a few people around), everyone was speaking in hushed voices except of course for my little princess, who kept moving from one drawing to another asking loudly "C'est quoi ca?" (What is it?) again and again  .

There wasn't much in terms of child friendly restaurants in the area around the museum, so we decided to head towards Val d'Europe and eat there. Of course Alicia fell asleep in the car, and instead of eating straight away (we were starving!!) we had a look around the shops while she had her nap...

After lunch, we went to visit Sealife, Alicia loved it!! We had trouble moving her sometimes from one aquarium to the next one. Unfortunately we were there with a couple of school groups, and it felt a bit crowded sometimes...

After a last look around the shops, we went back to the hotel. By now it was pouring down with rain, you couldn't see anything!! At least our timing turned out great, it wouldn't have been much fun if we had been in the park with that kind of weather...

Some pictures (mostly of the aquarium) here.

Next updates coming soon!

[never2old]

Final updates!

Day 5

Thursday was our last full day at the parks, and we were going to make the most of it!!

We spent the morning in the Studios (first and only visit during our stay). We did a few rides with Alicia (the flying carpets and Cars, which she adores!!) and we also went to meet Minnie and Buzz in their photo locations in Toon Studio. Before lunch we went to see Disney Jr live on stage. Alicia's favourite bit was the pre-show with Sofia and Jake. She loves Princess Sofia (she was even wearing her dress for the occasion...) and she was delighted to spend some time with her, dancing along! It was great to see. The show itself was OK, once more her favourite thing was when all the leaves fell down... In fact just last weekend she found one of the leaves (she stuffed her pockets with them...) and was telling us that they fell down when she blew... 

When we came out of Disney Jr some characters were out by Cinemagique, we tried to see Snow White but it was a bit of a struggle, lot of people trying to push their kids ahead and the CM with Show White was rather encouraging them to do so  Alicia did get a kiss from Snow White, but only could pose with a group of other kids at the end, just before Snow White left.

We had lunch in the Restaurant des Stars, hadn't been there in a few years after a rather bad first experience... It was a lot better this time. The food was really nice, a great selection. And we saw Remy, which was great, after seeing him in videos and photos everywhere it was great to see him in "person"!!

We missed the parade in the Studios (we were still having our lunch), but at least we got to see Mickey in his Christmas, so Alicia was happy 

While Alicia had a nap in her push chair we did a bit of shopping in the DV (including a couple of attraction posters  ) before going into Disneyland Hotel for the descent of the stairs. Alicia woke up just in time! It was OK, but no Mickey or Minnie. At least Pluto was there, and Alicia got to give him a hug afterwards. We didn't stay long after the show, it was horribly packed in there with lots of pushy parents!!

Instead we went into the park, to get a spot for the parade.

After that, we did a few more rides: IASW, Dumbo, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, Snow White... After that we thought we would try Phantom Manor, but walking past Big Thunder Mountain we saw it only had a 5 minutes wait... I could not resist that!! While Alicia and her dad went into the shop to keep warm, I went for the wildest ride in the west, and it was brilliant!!! First no queue, which is always wonderful, and then to do the ride when it's dark... I love it 

It was getting close to the park closing time (and Dreams), so we thought we would have one last go on Buzz. On the way across Central Plaza we saw the Castle lighting was about to start, so we stayed to watch it. It's magical, really beautiful, and a great use of the projections, the fountains, and the lights...

Then it was off to Buzz, for the last ride of the day, again with no wait whatsoever!!

And perfect timing, we came out just when Dreams was about to start. We found a good spot outside of Discoveryland, a bit to the side but still a very good view, and few people around. Beautiful!!

Here are the photos from the day

Day 6


Last day. With packing the car, checking out and all we still managed to make to the park not long after 10:00, so pretty good!

We saw the Christmas parade one last time, before getting some rides done. The usual suspects, Buzz, Peter Pan, It's a small world... We also tried Phantom Manor (Alicia's first visit!!), though she wasn't too keen on it, particularly when it was really dark... But no worries, we'll try it again next time 

We had lunch in Agrabah Cafe, our favourite buffet, and it was DELICIOUS!!

After lunch we started making our way back, stopping for some last minute shopping or pictures...

Here's the facebook album!

Overall it was a pretty good trip, a bit cold but thankfully dry overall (I remember one trip in November, a few years ago, when we had rain NON STOP!!). And pretty relaxed, I thought, it's really nice having all that time to simply enjoy it...  Hopefully we can do it again next year!!

Hope you enjoyed the report, thanks for reading!! Sorry for not posting the pictures directly in here... I'll do better next time!! 

[BlackPearl]

Beautiful trip report!  Thanks for posting! And the pictures are great, too.
It seems that your little princess really enjoyed the trip. I like the picture with her and Princess Sophie.


The Christmas decorations in Main Street look great. And how did you get the seagull on top of Buzz? 

[never2old]

[size=78%]Thanks [/size]  

And how did you get the seagull on top of Buzz? 

I had to bribe it