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[efh2015]

As soon as I finally upload my 500+ photos and sort them, I'll add them!
Day 1
Anyhow, to the trip report. First time in visiting for 6 years for me, 10+ for my Mum. Armed with both ponchos & macs, an enormous supply of blister plasters and sandwich bags for the inevitable buffet-breakfast-stashed-lunch-sarnie, we boarded the plane bright and early on Wednesday. Upon our arrival in Paris the weather had notched itself up, and with barely a second to appreciate the fake horse noises and boot lamps in our Wyatt Earp room, we marched off to the park (20minute walk from hotel to park they say? Sure if you're four, but we're very speedy walkers at Disney!)
As we finally arrived at those park gates I tried to be an adult and not cry, so instead sang/smiled/spun my way down Main Street (a theme that continues for the next two days and requires an entire weekend to recover from before going back to work) and took the obligatory 'selfie in front of castle' before we headed off tot he rides. At 31 degrees in the early afternoon, everywhere was jammed, so we stood in line for nearly an hour for Pirates (Mum's favourite ride) and managed to annoy an Italian family by singing along to 'yo ho' for the last 20 minutes of the queue. At this point I got my first of many 'what is she wearing and Mummy look I want one!' looks from both kids and adults alike: my best friend lives in California and sends me a variety of Disney merch. Man oh man she outdid herself on my last birthday present, because I opened the box and out popped- A FROZEN MICKEY EAR HAT! (which I swear I could make a fortune flogging at Disneyland Paris!)  https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=frozen+mickey+ear+hat&espv=2&biw=855&bih=584&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAmoVChMI8Yysx9nhxwIVybwaCh0PbQZ5#imgrc=C3Amn4l2MSWUvM%3A
(it's two sided and so I sported the Anna side at the front all the time, because poor girl isn't half as well-loved as her sister.)
Due to the heat the crowds were ridiculous and lines equally hideous, so we chose rides with covered queuing areas; Dumbo, Teacups and Star Tours. Watched the parade (and grinned like a right gormless muppet when Anna spotted my hat and pointed at her head, gave me a thumbs up and waved!) Then went to Colonel Haithi's for dinner-I had the veg & grain salad from last chance cafe which, shock horror, was half decent, although I swiped a piece of Mum's pizza as well which was very nice.
Early night on Wednesday to prepare us for the full day in the morning. Made sure all 3 of our alarms were set, and my various disney hair bows were all set out.

Day 2
After waking up and realising that as you're in a cowboy-themed room, the only place you could be is at Disney, I jeapt out of bed and was up and at em, until I realised that the repetitive pattering sound was not small children in the corridor, but....... rain. But darned it, if being British doesn't prepare you fully for rainy days. We donned our industrial-strength waterproofs, put extra ponchos in bags, put purses/cameras etc. in their own little plastic bags. Basically it was a sea of plastic that actually worked and kept the valuables dry-the same can't really be said for us.
Scarfed down breakfast at 7, tried not to intervene and explain that the 'soft white cheese' at the buffet is actually yogurt and goes really well with the applesauce, snuck a week's worth of free carbs into our bags and off we went to the park. Queued for the main gate to open (still feeling sorry for the English families who didn't bring any form of waterproof that day,and the kid whose Elsa dress was already trailing in puddles at 7:55am) Park gates were open and we were off. Within 20mins we'd met Donald, Goofy and Pluto, and Mickey and Minnie. This is where my mum had a slight problem with the setup. When we went as kids (10 years ago), characters roamed the park freely, and you just shoved your autograph book in their face, or pushed your kid in front of them and snapped a pic. Mum liked the fact that you met/got more autographs this way, but as i pointed out 'Mickey would be crushed if he was let loose in the park nowadays!' This was then duly demonstrated as he took a 'rain break' and walked across Main Street, where he was duly mobbed by an enormous Italian family, and everyone coming into the park.
Anyhow, I was wearing my birthday badge and Minnie noted it, the CM asked how old and I said 25 (in French, then hurriedly checked to ensure i hadn't said 80-something), so good old Minnie got to work drawing a birthday cake with 25 candles. Bless her, but the autograph was the only thing I wanted!
After that we say Winnie the Pooh, still just as huggable 10 years on, and went to the rides that were open during EMH. Did Buzz first, after avoiding the 2hour queue the previous day, and got to level 8 (well we did have a 2 minute breakdown in the small tunnel right underneath a diamond target, but we'll just pretend I'm a sharp shooter), then Peter Pan (favourite ride from childhood, always a winner), Dumbo (unsurprisingly, nobody wants to do the outdoor rides when there's vertical rain in your face, but it's all god fun, right?!), teacups and the carousel. Stopped for one of many croissant breaks, then ran to big Thunder Mountain at 10am. We were at the back of the queue to get into Frontierland so we grabbed FPs for 11am, and went on Pirates again.
So between 10am and 6pm we did every ride in the park multiple times bar Space Mountain and Indiana Jones (we're wimps and don't do roller coasters), and noted how the park was unusually empty due to the persistent rain. All the more for us though! We had a brief period of respite from the rain when we had dinner at the Blue Lagoon, which was rather lovely, after watching the parade again, oh and when we went to the Frozen singalong. i'd like to apologise to the children whose parents asked me where I bought my ears from, and after answering California they had to tell their kids I didn't get them at Disney, to which their kids looked mighty miffed. Sorry guys.
Anyway, at around 7pm the crowds were seriously thinning out, so we walked onto most Fantasyland rides multiple times, did a couple more turns on Autopia (how am I such a terrible driver on that thing, but a good driver in a real car?!), Star Tours, Buzz and Pirates, then did some shopping around Fantasyland. The lights were on in FL, it was getting dark, and despite the rain it all looked very cheery and atmospheric. At around 9:30 they started closing FL for Dreams, so we sought refuge from the rain in the shops, after watching Elsa & Anna winding their way down Main Street, and then settled down in the rain for Dreams. Right at the front, and holy heck it's even better than watching it on youtube! I suspected this may not impress Mum, because on her last visit they still had the inimitable Main Street Electrical Parade followed by the fireworks, but she thought it was much better, as it felt like more of a 'show'. Boom!
Finally rolled/squelched into bed at around midnight, ready for EMH and Studios Park the next day.

Day 3
I.am.never.ever.not.ever.going.back.to.studios.park.
Ick. It just doesn't feel like 'Disney'. Too slick, way way WAY too crowded and just not the happy jolly atmosphere of the main park. We ran *cough, I MEAN WALKED SENSIBLY cough* to the Ratatouille ride when they opened the gates at 9:30, and after about 15mins of queueing near the front, chaos erupted. None of the rides were open for another half hour, so enormous queues instantly formed at every ride. The main queueing area wasn't open either, so people didn't know which line was the FP one, and which one was for the ride. Cue some extremely cheeky pushing in, shirty Italians and French yelling, and us Brits looking horrified that everyone else doesn't queue as well as us. To add insult to injury the ride had a technical hitch so we had another hour wait, without any CMs to enforce the line system. Anyway, the ride was ultimately worth it, and then we went to check out Crush's Coaster. I wanted to do this as a single rider, so Mum went to Animagique while I queued up, and after our rides we got the heck out of there and made it back to the comfort of the main park, where we rode our favourites and walked around in the sunshine (gasp, sunshine? what's that?), doing some last minute shopping until we had to head back to the hotel, and ultimately the airport.
All in all it was an absolutely wonderful holiday. Expensive yes, but as we haven't done it in a while and we had such a good time it was all worth it. Perversely though, you get so much more done in the rain, even in the school holidays, so all future trips will be booked in Feb/March. I'm aiming to do the runDisney half marathon next September, so hopefully that'll be my next trip!

[Puffin]

Loved reading your report!  I've never been to DLP during the peak period in summer time, so I can only recommend you to go off season. As you say, it might as well rain in March as in August, but it's way less crowded and more comfortable walk around and queue.

[Jo68]

Fab report, I feel the energy and excitement as you relived your trip!
We have 4 more sleeps before we experience the Disney Magic am I prepared? No!  are there going to be enough hours in the day? No! Are we going to last the 5 days? I doubt it!!! Are the excitement levels building? Oh yes!!!!!
Good luck next year for the marathon do you get to do it in costume and just skip around!!

[Caz]

Sounds like you had a blast despite the rain, heat and queues. Super report.

Caz✨

[Ruby Dawn]

Read this a little late but wanted to say how well written and engaging your report was. If you take photographs as well as you write they will be well worth seeing (not that I am hinting you understand). 

I also have a couple of questions if you have time to answer them?

Do the rooms in the Cheyenne have a bath or just a shower? (we are staying in October)

Does the Ratatouille Ride "spin" a lot.  As someone who can't last 60 seconds on Teacups without extreme nausea it would be helpful to know if I can survive this ride.

Thanks   

[DisneyRon]

Read this a little late but wanted to say how well written and engaging your report was. If you take photographs as well as you write they will be well worth seeing (not that I am hinting you understand). 

I also have a couple of questions if you have time to answer them?

Do the rooms in the Cheyenne have a bath or just a shower? (we are staying in October)

Does the Ratatouille Ride "spin" a lot.  As someone who can't last 60 seconds on Teacups without extreme nausea it would be helpful to know if I can survive this ride.

Thanks

the rats spin a little in some turns, but it's not constant and fairly gentle.
These are however vehicles that can move in any direction at will, and they'll usually start off by going side-ways or whatever, depending on the scene you're in.

[Zee79]

Do the rooms in the Cheyenne have a bath or just a shower? (we are staying in October)


Thanks

The times we have stayed here our rooms have had both- a shower over the bath. It may be different if they have adapted rooms.

[Ruby Dawn]

Thanks for the answer to my questions - I'm looking forward to a gentle spin on Ratatouille now!