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[ilovedisneylandparis]

Hi everyone! We got back from DLP last night after an absolutely magical four days  I have a LOT of photos and even more to discuss with you guys, so I am going to try and get all of my pictures in order today and then start the report tomorrow or Sunday.

HIGHLIGHTS: Meeting Duffy again (this time with Minnie in their adorable spring outfits), finally meeting Stitch (and completely at random too which made it even better), being back at the Cheyenne, the lovely weather, being able to see (and buy!) the new Phantom Manor merch, going on BTM for the first time in years, re-visiting all our favourite rides, meeting my pal Mickey again.

LOW POINTS: Some of the guest/CM behaviour at times, occasional refurbishment- or dirt-related problems around the park, aspects of Blue Lagoon (more to come!).

Well then...time to go unpack and get back to reality  I've got washing and the boring bits and bobs to do BUT we've also got all of our merch and souvenirs to look through, plus we're having a photo day today - we made a pact that we wouldn't look through any of the photos we took until we got home, so that's something to keep me going today. I also bought a few different DLP snacks (you know those Haribo bags they do, and the Mickey cookies?) so fingers crossed that they will help to drag the magic out for a little longer, too 

Thanks for reading! I'll change the title of the topic each time I update, so anyone who's interested can see as and when I add a new day Day 1, coming soon!

[gemma2806]

Welcome home geekyjo can't wait for your report I'm getting serious Disney withdrawals 

[ilovedisneylandparis]

 Hi everyone! Time to get going with the report  Just a little pre-report summary for those who didn't read my pre-trip report – my name's Sophie, and me and my boyfriend Russell go to DLP every June. We've just got back from our latest visit, which was from 9th to 12th June, at our favourite hotel, the Cheyenne, and we had an absolutely amazing time! Truthfully I'm feeling quite sad now I'm back - I keep waking up and thinking I'm in DLP and then realising I'm not, haha 

Right then... onto Day 1 (Monday)!

We'd had a fun day on the Sunday - we'd spent the day in our usual pre-Disney fashion, which involves last-minute packing, fajitas and Lilo & Stitch. We knew we had to be up early so we didn't want to go to bed too late - we were in our pyjamas and ready to sleep by about 10.30pm. We set our alarms for 4.15am and before we knew it, it was time to get up. I didn't even feel that tired when we woke up (which is really unusual for me!), just excited to get going 




We got to the airport (we live really close to Birmingham airport in the UK so it always makes more sense to fly than to use other forms of transport) for 5.15am-ish, ready for our 6.30am flight, and Russ got his annual airport Burger King (I can never handle junk food that early in the morning but he was very excited for his Bacon Double Cheeseburger haha  ). We arrived in Paris during some stormy weather, which was actually quite scary, as the turbulence made the plane really shaky and we both ended up grabbing the sick bags – I felt weirdly travel sick, which I haven't felt like since I was about 15?!

So after our flight and a quick walk through Terminal 2, we found the VEA shuttle bus area. Getting this coach is always one of my favourite parts of travelling to DLP, because EVERY time without fail you have that wonderful shivery moment where you see the Tower of Terror in the distance. Then after that you realise you can see the Disneyland Hotel and you start to spot other things and you just want to get off the coach NOW so you can go and see everything right that second! 





That said, I do really enjoy driving to each hotel to drop people off – the Cheyenne is one of the last drop-offs, so you'll see the Sequoia, the NBC and the Santa Fe on the way, which I always think is really nice. The Newport Bay was looking good – I saw that nasty BBC Watchdog segment about it a few weeks ago and I really do think it was exaggerated (as per usual, don't you feel like DLP gets all the negative press?! ). There's still scaffolding in areas but in general the hotel looked great, and think how amazing it'll look when it's done! We were considering staying at the NBC this year (this was way back in September '13 when we booked) but decided against it in the end, and I'm glad we did, as we were keen to use the swimming pool and obviously it wouldn't have been open. Looking at the refurbished rooms, though, I reckon it's something we might try next year, just as a change, as we've been in the Cheyenne every year since 2011 now.  I've stayed in the NBC before too, but not for a long time, and I think it'd be nice to give it a go.


But I digress  We arrived at the Cheyenne and EEK, I could see the bank and the gift shop and I just felt ridiculously happy to be back in the magic! It seemed like a lot of other people had had the same thought because the hotel reception was PACKED; quite literally the busiest I have EVER seen it. Russ stayed outside with the bags while I went to check in and I was in the queue for just over half an hour, which felt like even longer because I was so desperate to just get our room and get into the parks!

The man who checked us in asked "One bed or two?" which confused me because we've never been asked that before (and obviously there's just the double bed and the bunk beds at the Cheyenne?), but I said "One, please" thinking he was checking whether we were a couple or not. However when we arrived at our room, we'd been given a room with just one double bed and no bunk bed, which I've never seen before at the Cheyenne! It was fine as it was all we needed, but truth be told we quite missed the bunk bed – it makes a good suitcase/clothes area, and we always take a few plushes with us who like to sleep in the bunk bed while we're out in the parks... 




But despite this, we were really chuffed with the room. We were in Billy The Kid (a new block for us, we've always been put in Wyatt Earp, but we'd requested a Rio Grande room this time) and it gave us a beautiful view – we could see the bank and the gift shop from our window, which was perfect. We unpacked for a few minutes and I got my Minnie Ears on Although I couldn't wait to get out into the parks, something had to be done first - we turned on the TV and the familiar sounds of the Top 10 Things To Know Before You Go came blasting out. I don't know if you guys have seen Sophie (the cheesy guide for the hotel TVs) but she is hilarious and (in my opinion) a vital part of any Disneyland Paris holiday. Me and my friend Brittany can pretty much recite Sophie's lines word-for-word ("It's that fun overload again! Gotta watch that!"  ) so seeing Sophie pop up on the screen made me so so happy.



After we'd watched Top 10... to our hearts' content, we walked out of the Cheyenne, straight through Disney Village and into the area just before the Disneyland Park. Seeing the Disneyland Hotel was so magical and pretty moving. As a couple we've had a very sad and challenging year, and to know that we were actually IN Disneyland was a bit overwhelming and so special :')

We walked through and put our cards through the turnstiles (I forgot to say, I got Mickey on my card! Which was just too much, I've always secretly wanted a Mickey one) and heard "Welcome" and I could feel that the tears were about to make an appearance, haha. As we walked out onto Main Street USA I started tearing up (as usual) and Russ was there ready with the camera as he knows this is always where I get emotional 


As the check-in had taken a while it was about 1.30pm by this point and we were getting pretty hungry, but it felt plain wrong not to go on a ride first  It was absolutely packed in the parks (again, probably more than I've seen in a good six or seven years!) but it was a public holiday in France, which made sense. It was pretty busy for the rest of the week too, so I reckon people were clever and took a couple of days off to make use of the public holiday, or something along those lines?

We had walked straight to Fantasyland, so we made a beeline for It's a Small World, which was only at 10 minutes. It was a perfect first ride to start our holiday – it's one of my favourites, and hearing the music and the clock ticking made my heart hurt (in a good way, of course!)  You know when you're on it and you get into the boat and you think "Eek, here we go" and then you move round to the entrance and go through the little blue area and you know that ANY SECOND NOW you're going to come out into the ride and it will be amazing? :') That was exactly how it felt, and it was so magical. 



After IASW we decided our first meal would be at Cafe Hyperion, which we did go to last year but only on the last day, at which point I had really bad stomach ache and wasn't really in the mood for eating anything. We'd really liked it as a restaurant though, so we thought we'd try it again! Russ had the chicken burger and I had the nuggets (yum) and Russ was just finishing off his meal when I popped to the toilets. On my way back, I walked up the ramps at the side of the restaurant and as I looked down who did I see but STITCH, standing outside the Hyperion with only 3 or 4 people around him! I ran back up to Russ and we dashed outside to see if he was still there.

He was! He met a couple of people and then the CM with him said he needed a break and that he'd be back in 10 minutes. Everyone dispersed at this point so we thought we'd be first in line for when he returned, but when he came back out he wasn't in the same area, so we were waiting around while he was round the corner from us! When we worked this out we ran over to where he was and joined the crowd. There were quite a few more people around him now and I always feel so awkward just being like OKAY ME NOW and pushing past 5 year-old children, you know? But it's one of those grey areas because it's not nice to be pushy but at the same time if you're NOT pushy, you'll never get to meet the character  So I was feeling a bit tense, haha.

After a while Stitch started pointing at children who were a bit shyer and hadn't felt able to come forward and meet him, especially the ones who'd been waiting a long time, and after a few minutes he pointed at me :') Waa! I went forward and hugged him and he made little kissing noises at me while we posed for the pictures, haha. My day was made after that, it was such a cute moment and I've wanted to meet Stitch for a long time now, so it was perfect.



After all that excitement we had a little walk around the park and got re-acquainted with it The queues for everything were quite long which was fine, as we're always happy to just have a sit and take everything in on that first day. I have found for the last couple of years now that it takes me a day to get 'settled in' and to actually adjust to being in Disneyland so that I can fully enjoy myself. I don't know if this will make sense to anyone else and I really hope it doesn't make me come across like a 'bad' fan or similar, but I find that I spend so much of my year obsessing over DLP that I do actually start to think of it as another world or a magical land, and then when I actually arrive, sometimes I get a sad sort of feeling (I'm not sure if 'sad' is the right word, though?) as I come to terms with the fact that it's not actually going to solve all of my life's problems and it too has litter and grumpy people and all those things you forget it actually has when you're not there.

I run a Disneyland Paris blog, too, and sometimes I don't think that helps, because a lot of the photos I post are naturally of the park looking as beautiful and empty as possible, and of course when you're there in real life you do see all sides to the resort. I don't know if that makes sense, but I hope so. I often feel a similar way just before we go (as in 9pm the night before), because in the same way I spend so much time thinking about Disneyland Paris (it is one of THE main parts of my life) that I can feel a massive amount of anxiety, worrying about whether I will feel the same way this year. I think because it does mean so very much to me, there's always that worry in the back of my mind – what if I don't feel the magic this year? What if I don't enjoy it like I used to? How will I cope then? I find that Disney and Disneyland Paris are the main ways for me to physically deal with life, and I think as a result I have this crippling fear that one day I may not feel that way anymore and I will be inconsolable We sat in Adventureland for a little while and had a mini heart-to-heart until I felt better (Russ is very good at cheering me up in these situations) and then walked towards Main Street.





Russ had some of his much-loved DLP popcorn when we reached Town Square, and I had a very important decision to make – which balloon to buy this year  I was tempted by a princess one but in the end I went for Minnie. I think the Mickey and Minnie balloons are iconic, there's no other word for them :') We walked back to the Cheyenne (I know this might seem crazy to some people but we normally just take it easy on the first day and have a really early night, ready for some serious DLP time on day 2  ) and had just walked in to our room when it started to absolutely pour down. There was thunder and lightning too which was quite exciting



We watched some Disney Channel (Austin & Ally, Jessie etc) which is SUCH a Disneyland treat for me as we don't have Sky at home. After a while, we got showered, unpacked a bit more and had a trip over to the Cheyenne store and a walk around the hotel, before having an early bedtime, ready for Tuesday...

[ilovedisneylandparis]

Welcome home geekyjo can't wait for your report I'm getting serious Disney withdrawals 

Thanks so much Gemma! Hope this helps your withdrawals - more pics coming on Days 2, 3 and 4 

[DisneyManiac]

Thunder and lightning eh? Did you think of the Tower of Terror by chance?

[ilovedisneylandparis]

Thunder and lightning eh? Did you think of the Tower of Terror by chance?

Sure did! We've never been in DLP for thunder and lightning before so it was very interesting to see 

[babe ruth]

It sounds like a real special time, I can't wait to read the rest 

[ilovedisneylandparis]

It sounds like a real special time, I can't wait to read the rest 

Thank you so much babe ruth  It really was a special time, I'm already ready to go back 

[WalkerboyUK]

"The man who checked us in asked "One bed or two?"
LOL - we had similar when we arrived.  I was asked how many rooms were required!!
For some reason our booking had us down as 10 people, even though only 4 of us.

[amee]

what kind of phantom manor merchandise did they have geekyjo amd excellent report so far i too enjoy 5 am airport burger kings:)

[ilovedisneylandparis]

 Day 2 (Tuesday)

After a lovely long night's sleep, we were ready to get up nice and early the next day! We'd hoped to set our hotel room alarm, so we could hear the familiar "Hiya pal..." wake-up call from Mickey, but for some reason our phone wasn't working at all, so we decided to drop in to the hotel reception later to ask about it. I have got to congratulate the Cheyenne staff for this - I think it was about 8pm we dropped in and the phone was fixed by 8.20pm! The man who fixed it was so polite, too. But back to the morning  We got up and dressed (both feeling very excited) and made our way towards the Chuck Wagon for breakfast.





I don't know about you guys, as I know a lot of people find the breakfasts at Disney hotels stressful or 'too much' (I think it was my parents' worst part of our past trips) but I LOVE them. I love the whole process of getting in, picking up one of those funny little wet trays and the colourful bowls and plates, then starting the food-search and picking up WAY more croissants and bread rolls than I ever would at home, haha. I don't know why I love it so much, it just is one of the first things I think of when I consider DLP, and it makes me very nostalgic.

After breakfast we ran back to the hotel room so I could wash my hair as quickly as humanly possible, and after that we began the walk to the parks. I love the route you take from the Cheyenne; when you're walking along the Rio Grande on a sunny day it really does feel like nothing bad could ever happen ever again  It was a nice sunny day at this point (thunder and lightning returned later!) and we got into the Disneyland Park for about 9.30am. Not wanting to miss the rope drop, we walked over to Frontierland and saw there was a big crowd of people ready to go in. I remembered seeing a much smaller group of people next to the Frontierland covered walkway (you know, by Liberty Arcade?) so we dashed over to there, ready to wait in a smaller group.

This was an example of Cast Members really not having the Disney spirit – the two CMs who were waiting to let us in were so stoney-faced I smiled at them a few times and they just looked at me blankly. One was standing with her arms crossed and another was literally kicking a bit of wood on the floor like a bored 12 year-old  I understand that it was early in the morning and that everyone has days where they'd rather be at home or whatever, but stuff like this does make me sad because I think that in any customer-facing role, you shouldn't really let that show, if you can help it, because you're there to make this a better experience for the customers you're dealing with. I don't think DLP is any different – actually, I think there's even more of a need to be that way, because you're working at a magical place! I know that it might not always feel that way, but that's what you're projecting to guests, no matter your own personal feelings. I used to work at the Disney Store and I always felt like it was important to keep a magical 'front' to things in-store, even when I was feeling horrible myself. So this was something I felt a little sad about in DLP at this point. However, later in the week, we spoke to a really lovely CM, who gave us a little insight into why certain CMs' behaviour might not always be exactly as we hope for. 

At bang-on 10am, the music started to play and we got ready to RUN! For some reason, as we hit the fork in the walkway, everyone turned left, so I grabbed Russ and turned right. We came out right in Thunder Mesa, whereas the other guests came out more positioned to find Phantom Manor, so we ran faster than we've ever ran before! We made it to Big Thunder Mountain as the SECOND GUESTS OF THE DAY which felt like a massive achievement for me, haha A CM came down and took us up the ride walkway/queue, and ready to get on the ride. As we walked into the area where you see the numbers on the floor and you prepare to get on, I felt SO excited! It'd been years since I'd been on BTM, and I couldn't wait. It definitely didn't disappoint – it was such a lovely morning and it was a great feeling to be back on the ride. I felt 100% care-free at that point :')

We got off and went to have a look at the photos, which made us laugh cos my face is always the same on every ride photo for some reason, haha, all squinty and smiley. It was still fairly early, so we decided we'd head over to Phantom Manor while we were in the Thunder Mesa area! It was only about 10 minutes wait, if that, so we were on really fast. I absolutely love the first few minutes and the stretching room part – I have a ring with Melanie's face on it (the painting you see from the mirror in the first room) so seeing that picture for the first time in a year made my heart ache <3 And then when you go down and you see Melanie in all these portraits and how they're actually more sinister than they seem...wow. I LOVE Phantom Manor, even more so now my knowledge of the backstory has improved. We walked through and got into our doombuggy and I literally just sat back in it and got ready to take it all in...eek 










After a magical ride (still no phantom effect at the end but oh well!) we decided it was definitely time for a trip to the Caribbean, as POTC is one of our favourites and it felt odd being on the second day and not having been on it yet! We took a little walk over to Adventureland and saw that the queue was 15 minutes, which was perfect as it gave us a bit of time to experience the queue line too, which you don't always get to do when you rush straight on and off.



One of my favourite parts of Pirates is when you walk through into the start of the queue line and you can suddenly smell the unique POTC smell – I think that is one of my favourite smells in the world. POTC was as magical as ever, too. You know that bit where you're being pulled up to the next level and the music suddenly starts to play even louder and you can feel the water spraying on your face? That is genuine happiness for me :')

After POTC we had a little browse around Le Coffre... which I always think is such a lovely and well-themed gift shop. I love the music they play in there too – they have a nice accordion-y version of Under The Sea. Being in LCDC reminded us that we hadn't actually done a huge amount of shopping yet, so we dropped back into Frontierland for a look at the Phantom Manor merch selection. I think this is such a good move for DLP: any ride-specific merchandise is just perfect, and as a big PM fan I can't get enough of it all. I already had the music box and the little ear-hat but I wanted to see what else they had, and ended up buying the coasters (they're amazing, they have the rhymes from the gravestones on Boot Hill engraved on them!) and a lovely little Melanie tee. I also really wanted the Tomb Sweet Tomb frame, and I saw when we got to it that you could get it for 13 euros if you spent over 25! Best offer ever. The CM here was on her first day and she was really sweet, I think if you get a friendly CM it makes such a difference.

After Frontierland we dropped over to Fantasyland for an extra bit of shopping – this time in Sir Mickey's and La Chaumiere... I adore these shops, again I think the theming is absolutely perfect and so immersive! As we came out, the thunder and lightning made a return and the rain came down by the bucketload, I don't think I've ever seen rain as heavy! We waited in the shelter near the Auberge for a few minutes and then made a dash over to the Disneyland Hotel, where we waited inside and made the most of that magical smell  We only planned to be in there for a couple of minutes, but the rain was so strong in the end that we were in there a good 20 minutes, until it finally died down and we made our way to Disney Village, for our second lunch. This time – the Rainforest Cafe!





We had a lovely meal at the RC – Russ had the double burger and I had the fajitas, which I had last year and loved. The service here is always so quick, despite it being table service, so I always recommend it as one to try if you're in a hurry. Also, because it's a little way out in Disney Village, we always find it's fairly easy to get a table, even at peak times. And most importantly, it's got a great theme

We stuck around here and had a look in the cute little shop next to it (Russ had a dessert too, peanut butter ice cream sundae!) before having a quick look around the Disney Village shops. I was really keen to drop into the Disney Gallery, as this is the first year that we've been there while the Art on Demand service has been up and running. All I can say is WOW – I will report more on this on Day 4, as this was when we ordered them in the end (I needed time to think!), but I just wanted to say while I remembered today that it's such a special idea and that if you're thinking of ordering one of the posters or canvases, I really don't think you'll be disappointed.

Back to the Disneyland Park (via Liberty Arcade!) and this time into Discoveryland for Star Tours!









Again, another magical ride – I felt so happy to be reunited with all my favourites this year. I've been saying things like "FORTY-FIVE, YOU'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY" to Russ at random or inappropriate times for a good 10 or 11 months now so it was nice to actually be there, on the ride, and finally feel at home :') Since we got back I've had the ding-dong sound from Star Tours in my head, too, and I've also ordered the Starspeeder off the Disney Store site. I saw it in Star Traders and knew it'd be too big/fragile to bring home on the plane but added it to my mental list of goodies to buy upon returning to the UK 





A quick walk over to Frontierland and we were queuing for the Disneyland Railroad  I'd definitely recommend catching the train from here, as the queues do always seem to be a lot shorter - I think we got on in 10 minutes, whereas people waiting at Main Street station were waiting for a good hour or so. We stayed on the train for the whole loop, and just used it as a chance to appreciate the park and how beautiful it is. I love the music and sound effects they play on the train so much, especially the start of the Pirates music as you enter Adventureland...shivers every time!





After a magical train ride, we made our way to Fantasyland and got ready to celebrate our unbirthdays with the Mad Hatter's Teacups. I know this is such a simple ride but in my eyes it's one of the best. Russ is a big fan of rides where you can physically do something (Teacups, Buzz, etc) so this is one of his faves too. The song is a classic, too – we were humming it for hours afterwards. I think DLP is the reason I love Alice in Wonderland so much, actually, as the final scene when Alice runs away from everyone uses almost identical music to the teacups, so it reminds me of them a lot <3







By this point it was about 4pm and we were getting a bit tired, so we decided we'd head back to the hotel room for a bit, have a rest, and then come out again to eat. We dropped back for a shower and a spot of Austin & Ally (gotta be done) and then played some of our Disney card games for a bit.



At 7ish we got the bus to Disney Village, as we were in the mood for a cherry coke and a burger at Annette's, which is one of our very favourite places to eat in the resort. While we were there the waiters and waitresses started singing Greased Lightning and did a proper song and dance session for us all! I was in the toilets as it started, haha, so I had to race back out to see what was going on. I know they used to do this back in the '90s and would literally stand on the bar, but that was also when they used to all wear rollerskates, so I reckon that health & safety might have got rid of that one?! But it was SO nice to see, it felt very Euro Disney-ish I was also wearing my Euro Disney sweater that night, which made me feel even more nostalgic.

Seeing as we were in Disney Village, we thought we'd do a bit more of shopping at this stage, so we visited World of Disney and a few others, before walking back to the hotel to collect our shopping from earlier in the day and have another quick rest before Dreams. We managed to get a fairly good spot for Dreams – just to the left of the control booth! It was just as magical as ever and we both absolutely loved it – I could watch that show every night and never get bored. I noticed that they'd added a couple of little lighting features at the start, it almost looked like fairy lights projected onto the castle? I think they were new anyway, but either way, a very cute addition. We walked back and got into bed, ready for Day 3. Don't you find that time goes TOO fast when you're in DLP? It feels like you've only just arrived yet you're already about to leave You've got to focus on the positives, though, and we were very excited for using our Extra Magic Hours on Day 3...

[ilovedisneylandparis]

what kind of phantom manor merchandise did they have geekyjo amd excellent report so far i too enjoy 5 am airport burger kings:)

Thank you very much! The 5am airport Burger Kings are a vital part of the holiday we reckon  They have a great selection of Phantom Manor merchandise - mostly in the Frontierland shops, but also in the 'collectable' shops like Harrington's and Disney Gallery. We saw a photo frame, a Leota snowglobe, a candlestick (shaped like the gargoyles from the start of the ride!), a music box, a throw, a cushion, and a lot of t-shirts 

"The man who checked us in asked "One bed or two?"
LOL - we had similar when we arrived.  I was asked how many rooms were required!!
For some reason our booking had us down as 10 people, even though only 4 of us.

Haha, oh dear! I'm glad it wasn't just us 

[ilovedisneylandparis]

Sorry it's taking me a couple of days to get Day 3 sorted - I'm back at work now and very busy. Hopefully over the weekend if not Friday 

[seraphelle]

Loving this report so far    Can't wait to read the rest. We live quite close to Brum airport too so fly out, but we do Frankie & Bennys first not Burger King    (I usually have to get my hubby a bit tipsy on cocktails as he hates flying, even if only for an hour!) 

[DLRP Roundup!]

Brilliant trip report like last time! Will russ be doing a mirror one again?