Home

[NCC1701Q]

This is my first pre-trip report (and will be my first trip report coming back)....
We (my wife, 3,5 year old son and 9 year old daughter) will be Swinging into Spring in the first week of May. We have been annual pass holders since February last year and have renewed for free last February thanks to the parrainage-system.
Travelling by car from the Netherlands and staying offsite in an appartment near DLP, just a few (car)minutes from DLP.

First point of business is picking up a DPC for myself (severe backproblems after two hernia-surgeries). No planning yet dinner-wise, but will be eating at Buzz Lightyears Pizza Planet (as requested by the kids) for sure. Probably will also eat some nights in the appartment.

Favourite attractions: Big Thunder Mountain (daughter and wife), Phantom Manor and Toy Story Parachute Drop (son) and Ratatouille (me).

[daddyof2]

Looking forward to reading your trip report - nice username too

[NCC1701Q]

@daddyof2: thanks - that's what you get when you like Queen AND Star Trek 

[NCC1701Q]

It's wednesday morning and I'd thought to do a midweek write-up - pictures will follow when we get home in the weekend.
We left at 3-30am and arrived at the parking at 9:10am. Parked in the fifth lane from the start and walked to the entrance of the Disneyland Park.
First point business was the BPA for my DPC. Was a bit worried after some not-so-friendly CM's on our last visit but no problem this time: in and out in under 15 minutes with a DPC for the duration of our Dream-annual pass.
Then onto It's a Small World, Peter Pan, Caseys Train, Storybook-boat (don't know the correct name), Pirates of the Carribean (the blonde woman next to the duelling men still has a visible piece of ducktape stuck on her neck), Indiana Jones (just my wife and me) and some playtime for the kids in Pocahontas (finally opened!).
Next was Big Thunder Mountain (first my daughter and me, then babyswitch for my wife and daughter) and next my sons favourite: Phanton Manor. Good to see the laughing skeleton at the entrance of the underworld is back, but the one at the end is now gone (according to my son he's away on holiday). Then some lunch at Fuente del Oro.
Next was Autopia and Buzz Lightyear, where the ride paused so long I ended up getting the maximum score of 999999 (much frustration with my daughter there  ).
The last time (February) we went our son was like one centimeter too short for Star Tours so we tried again this time and he was exactly the minimum length of 102 cm. We went in and he loved every second of it!
By this time it was about 4 pm so we walked to Town Square and did a whole ride with the train to end the day. We had to pick up the key to our appartement at 5:30 pm so we left and went to the appartment. Half an hour later we did some shopping for dinner at the Carrefour next to our appartment (by now it was raining) and picked up a freshly baked baguette from the bakery next to the Carrefour. Dinner at the appartment and by then it was bedtime for kids.

Tuesday morning we left for WD Studios at around 9 am. The weather was dry but there was a very strong wind. We walked to Ratatouille and rode it twice but got stuck at the unloading bay after the 2nd ride. The whole ride got evacuated and we were guided out. We wanted to ride the Toy Story Parachutes but that attraction was closed due to the wind. The Toy Story RC Racer was closed too so that side of the Studios was very quiet.
We walked on to Studio Tram Tours and after that walked over to Animagique. My wife and I went on Crush Coaster and Rock 'n' RollerCoaster. By then it was 12:00 pm so the first round of Cars 'n' Stars was about to begin. We did two rounds and ended up with pictures and autographs of Baloo, Donald, Peter Pan, Rémy, Goofy, Lilo, Stitch and Pinokkio. The kids loved it!

By now it was 1:15 pm so we walked over to the WD Park and walked to the Royal Castle for some pictures and to see the end of the Mary Poppins-performance at the Royal Castle Stage. Then we walked to Dumbo and on to Pirates of the Carribean again by demand of my daughter. Next was some playtime at the playground next to the big Pirate Ship. One more ride on Big Thunder Mountain was planned before a quick visit to Val d 'Europe for some shopping. We asked the CM about the height-requirements at BTM and apparently they are the same as for Star Tours. So our son was ok to go! He loved it even more than Star Tours and enjoyed every second of the ride. That was a wonderful moment! He immediately wanted to go again so we rode it two times back-to-back.

Today we are having a slow start and plans are to see all the shows and performances at the WD Park including Disney Dreams tonight. Weather is still a bit windy so I hope that will not interfere too much with the fireworks.

Two things I noticed: there are A LOT of Dutch people here (it's May-break) and even more people smoking  - I knew that from earlier visits but it seems to be a lot worse this time!

- Part Two added -

We left for the park at about 1 pm to see the Mary-Poppins-show and then Goofy's Garden Party at 2:30pm. The Mary Poppins-performance was surprisingly short, I somehow had imagined it would be longer. Then the whole audience shifted towards Central Plaza for the Garden Party. About two minutes before the start it started raining very hard and within a minute there was an announcement that due to the bad weather the performance was cancelled. I have never seen so many people run for shelter from Central Plaza! The rest of the day the weather kept playing "good cop - bad cop". Half an hour nothing but sun and then some serious rain again. We did the fairytales (Pinocchio, Snow White and Peter Pan) and then went back to Central Plaza for the last performance of Goofy's Garden Party that day. I liked it, especially the fact that there was a lot to see all around us. When it ended we walked towards Frontierland for Phanton Manor and Big Thunder Mountain. By now we had been running for four downpours and the kids were getting quite frustrated with all the running. I guess they were still somehow tired from the early start on Monday, so we decided to skip the Parade and Disney Dreams and do it on Thursday-evening. We left around 6pm and the kids were fast asleep by 7:30pm.

Thursday started with a clear blue sky and lots of sun. The Studios was the first destination for a ride in Ratatouille and then taking pictures with Mickey and Woody. Woody kept my daughters pen in his bag - my son went back and took it out - laughing the whole time! Mickey took his time and posed in several positions, really interacting with the kids. We ended up with a lot of very nice pictures.
After a ride in the Cars-cars we walked over to the Disneyland Park and took photographs with Minnie who was posing at the entrance of Liberty Arcade on the Town-Square-side. We walked through Liberty Arcade and saw Thumper and Miss Bunny just leave for lunch. We walked towards Autopia and after that rode Star Tours and Orbitron. Then we had some lunch next to the exit of Liberty Arcade and waited for the afternoon-session of the bunnies to begin. My daughter brought her two stuffed toys of Thumper and Miss Bunny - they played with the toys, cuddled with my son (who almost disappeared in the fur ) and waived goodbye when we left.
Next was another ride at Big Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Carribean and then we walked to the Mad Hatters Teacups and It's a Small World. From there we strolled to the BPA to wait for the parade to begin. The weather was perfect by now, sunny and a bit of a breeze. The parade was great as always and seemed even more interactive than I remembered with a lot of characters "working the ropes".

It was about 6pm when we asked the kids if they wanted to wait for 10:30pm to see Disney Dreams or go home. Surprisingly they both preferred the 2nd option, still being somewhat tired. So we left the Park and went to the appartment.

Fridaymorning it was time to pack up and leave. We were in the car by 9:30 but got stuck in a terrible traffic jam in Belgium which added about 2 hours to our 6 hour-trip. We got home around 6pm.

Next trip: 3rd week of July for 7 days of fun and Magic!